It is time to Loose The Blogs of War and make some bureaucrat lives absolute hell. It seems the State is being even more annoying than I had imagined possible. I should have known better.
US Government idiocy is delaying Virgin Galactic; it is bureaucratically effing Richard Branson around and it is delaying the time at which you and I will be able to fly into space.
“At this point we are not able to even view Scaled Composites’ designs for the commercial space vehicle,” Mr Whitehorn (Virgin Galactic President) testified before the House committee.
“After US government technology-transfer issues are clarified, and addressed if deemed necessary, we hope to place a firm order for the spacecraft,” he said.
Mr Rutan added that the regulations have already affected financing for the project, which originally was to come from Mr Branson’s London-based Virgin Group.
“We have had to move away from the basic concept of this being a foreign-funded development,” he said.
I myself had believed that a UK company would not be treated so shabbily. As Burt Rutan quipped in a recent US Congressional hearing about commercial space flight:
“I thought Britain was a relatively friendly nation,”
So did I. Brothers-in-arms and all that? Remember who else is in Iraq? Anglosphere and all that rot? Hmmm?
PS: If you can be in the DC area May 19-22, drop by the International Space Development Conference. Burt Rutan and the Virgin Galactic President are both on the program. See you there!
This is entirely understandable given the way UK policy – particularly on defence and security – is moving towards Europe (ie the EU).
Britain probably looks less and less friendly from the US point of view, as we slowly get into bed with the French and the Germans, and do nothing about the various Muslem maniacs in our midst.
No surprises really.
Slowly? If the EU constitutional treaty is ratified, say good-bye to independent UK participation in NATO. It is very dangerous to consider what is going on at the moment a slow process.
Wow, I knew some swivel-eyed loons would turn up suggesting the EU was the US’s traitorous enemy…
If you’re a believer in freedom, the only response to this issue is to bash the US government for its insane paranoia and corresponding restrictions on freedom.
john, I tend to agree with both sides, here.
But lets not kid ourselves. The EU is not our friend, and is being established for the express purpose of opposing US interests (that’s what all that “counterweight” blahblah means, after all). The US should do everything it can to make sure the EU stays at least a generation behind in military technology. Various EU members have shown no hesitation whatsoever in selling arms to US enemies, so we can pretty much assume that whatever the EU has, our enemies will have as well.
http://www.conservatives.com/games
John B. Traitorous no, Enemy, yes. The United States of America fought the Soviet Union for almost 50 years in what was misnamed ‘the cold war’. So when we see the Politiboro moving lock stock and sauna into Brussels, we become concerned. Throw in the anti-civilization habits (homosexuality and abortions) producing a declining birthrate with the tide of Muslims flooding Europe and from this side of the pond it looks like the battle for europe has been lost. The EU economy sucks(10%+ unemployment, budget deficets that as a percentage of GDP dwrarf America’s), there is no effort toward self defense being made and there is rioting in Berlin. Rumor here is that Notra Dame will become a mosque as soon as the Mulsims can find a hunchback Imam to do prayer calls (joke).
The UK is going to have to decide if they want to be part of the EU, or maintain thousnds of years of a proud heritage. Please note that the British for co-production of the F-35 was denied because it was felt that the Technical secrets involved would be shared with the EU.
France is the linchpin of the EU and France is a self-declared enemy of the USA.
BTW, since Edward III, (IIRC, English history was never more then mild interest of mine) a main strategic aim of England’s Foriegn policy has been the prevention of Europe being dominated by a single power. Now your buddy Tony has decided to throw away over a thousand years of effort by men vastly superior to him.
Why isn’t the LO pointing out that TB is lining himself up to be the LAST PM? The entire purpose of the EU is to destroy the Nations of Europe as sovereign states. Why do the voters want that? Or are they really stoopid enough to believe the lies that joining the EU will not mean the loss of sovereignty?
Do NOT ever forget that the US Senate has already declared war on the EU. The moment Brussels issues a warrent for an American to appear in front of the kangroo court called the ICC., the USA will legally be at war with the EU. The ICC people think we are just kidding and eventually they will put it to the test. Boy, are they in for a shock.
Hey Stehpinkeln, you ever lived in Europe?
Stehpinken, a bit of a hysterical analysis there. I am certainly no friend of the EU. And I hope that the British public will vote down their silly constitution. Hopefully the EU will realise that the French hunch was right; the UK really is a perfidious partner in the Superstate (TM) project, and eject it.
You, however, seem unable to pick the difference between hard policy and domestic political grandstanding. Continental EU pollies naturally crap on about countering the US, because it plays well with their limp wristed, peace-at-any-cost constituents. However, is the EU actually putting their money where their mouth is? Not on your nelly. They have no intention of even attempting to become a counterweight – they couldn’t afford to any time soon. Okay, some moronic deluded Gaullist types might spout off about the multipolar future. It’s called hollow rhetoric. You’re taking it too seriously. Within the EU there are two broad camps – minimalists and federalists. ‘Ever closer union’ is an ambiguous statement; don’t read too much into it. And what about the new EU members; many of whom are only too keen to cuddle up to the US. Do you think they won’t be heard once they settle in in Brussels?
The EU and the USA are natural allies, despite their recent disagreements. The grownups on both sides know it – see GWB’s kiss-and-make-up whistlestop tour of Europe. Went down great, on the whole. Sure, some EU politicians make ranty comments about counterweights. Americans shake their heads in wonderment and sense danger. American politicians make ranty comments like yours above. Europeans shake their heads in wonderment and sense danger. Thing is, both sides are preaching to the choir. Let’s not lose our heads over it.
Back to the original topic, isn’t it equally likely that Branson and Rutan have merely crossed paths with your ordinary, garden-variety paper-shuffling, foot-dragging bureaucrats? I thought this kind of interference was what big government does by default.
The EU has no hesitation about pushing anyone around that will not push back. Look at Cote d’Ivoire and Chirac saying that the Eastern Europeans had “missed a good opportunity to shut up”. Unfortunately for them, they are running out of victims. A significant danger exists, however, of EU tyranny over many weaker nations, from Slovenia to Central Asia. The US can counter this through economic pressure quite easily, though, especially through ending agricultural subsidies and other forms of protectionism. If we play our cards right, in ten years the EU will be petitioning to become part of the US, on grounds of general consanguinity. Their GDP will be one tenth of China’s and minuscule compared to ours. They will be a non-parrot. So, in short, the EU IS “the traitorous enemy” of freedom, but not a very effective one.
This is really just a logical (if you can call it that) extension of existing rules and issues around any non-US organisation having anything to do with airlines (among other things).
Wow, some of you guys are certifiable. You seem to think that everybody outside America is still banging rocks together and only recently became aware of the wheel. No wonder America has such a trade deficit if you make it so difficult to export.
Stehpinkeln is the king of the loons, and in his honour I shall pop down to a gay bar and get myself a girlfriend, she might very well be Muslim or French. After lunch I’ll have an abortion.
Whilst I understand that many neo-con Americans regard torture as being a good old American pastime you have to realise that torture is not only an evil act, it is illegal.
My broomstick got potential military applications as well. It’s easier to jump forth and bop someone in the head than draw your pistol, cock it, aim and shoot the broomstick-toting loon.
“A significant danger exists, however, of EU tyranny over many weaker nations, from Slovenia to Central Asia.”
EU *tyranny*? They’re begging us to let them in, for Christ’s sake!