July 20th, 1969 – The Apollo 11 moon landing, 40 years later

On July 11th, 1969, an event occurred that was momentous not for the sycophants of a particular administration, not for the citizens of one nation, but one of epic significance for all of humanity. On this date 40 years ago, man took his first steps on an alien world, one that we have looked upon for millenia in the night sky, and in so doing took his first baby steps into the cosmos.

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first privileged two to leave their footprints on lunar soil while Michael Collins orbited them above. Armstrong’s words are now ingrained into our consciousness as the whole world watched with awe and fascination as two men bounded across a landscape and looked on our own planet from many miles away. Their courage in the face of the unknown is without equal, as is the determination and endurance of the many NASA staffers at Mission Control that sweated and feared every second along with those three lonely astronauts on a different world.

Call me a space nut, but science and space exploration are one of the few areas for which I think government support is imperative. I understand some folks concerns about spending money on space when we have so many problems down here. I hear them, but I still have this unshakable desire to see humanity sprout its wings and soar into the heavens.

To this end I could recount the numerous technologies that have arisen because of the space program. I could cite the scientific discoveries that would have been otherwise impossible without a human presence in space. But instead, I will point to the humbling and unifying experience of that summer day 40 years ago. For one day, we were not Democrats or Republicans, black or white, rich or poor, American or Russian. We were merely residents of Planet Earth, and that day we watched our brethren make our triumphant entry into the greatest adventure the human race can ever know.

Obama admin delays economic update as health care support dwindles

The Obama administration acknowledged today that it would delay the release of a congressionally mandated report on the country’s economic status until mid-August. The announcement was played off as historical precedent as the spin is that every incoming administration has put off the report. The only problem is that this time around, the administration is pushing a mammoth government health care plan that may prove disastrous to the economy.

Let’s assume the administration is being honest and the delay is just a normal part of Presidential transition. Wouldn’t the responsible thing to do then be to delay debate on the health care bill until the American people have a more recent and clearer snapshot of the economy and how universal health care will affect it?

Instead, the Obama administration is continuing full speed ahead on a health care proposal that is becoming increasingly unpopular and an economic report that the AP anticipates will be negative will take more wind from the sails of universal health care. Is it really that much of a stretch to imagine that the administration is delaying the report to give itself more time to coerce Congress into passing its monstrosity?

Adding more credence to that thought is that support is falling sharply for Obama’s health care proposal. Governors, both Republican and Democrat, are balking at the plan, and the Mayo Clinic doesn’t support the plan either. Polls show eroding confidence in Obama on health care, and with good reason – people want lower costs for their health care, not a government mandated plan that will perhaps increase the number of people covered but will increase costs and force people out of a private plan as their employers decide it’s just not worth providing one when there’s a “free” one available.

Sen. Jim DeMint is calling the health care debate Obama’s Waterloo, which will see the President come to my home state of Ohio to stump for the plan before a press conference on Wednesday. I have increasing faith that this train wreck of a plan will be defeated in Congress – but the battle isn’t over yet. Pressure is mounting, but with Democratic majorities in both houses, with enough arm-twisting the plan could yet prevail. The question is whether Congressional Democrats value party loyalty over political self-preservation, as many of them who vote for this beast will likely find themselves out of a job after 2010.