ahiggins@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu (01/19/89)
Shortly after the November election, there was a rather drawn out discussion of Vice-President Elect Dan Qualye's stand on the civilian space program. Unfortunately, no one seemed to have any concrete information on Qualye's position. I recently came across an article which makes him look like a promising chairman of the National Space Council. Quayle wrote an article entitled,"The Other Space Race: Space Science Education," which appeared in the October 1988 issue of _Journal_of_Defense_ and_Diplomacy_. He seemed *very* well informed and made several insightful comparisons to the Soviet and Japanese programs. His article dealt predominately with a critical shortage of engineers and scientists in this country and the effect this dearth would have on our space program. To quote Quayle,"It if fine to budget grand space programs, but if we do not get on with educating the manpower, these programs will not be doable at any cost." Of course, Quayle cannot be judged on one article, but he looks very promising. I suggest those who have criticized Quayle read this article before sounding off again. -- Andrew J. Higgins | Illini Space Development Society 404 1/2 E. White St apt 3 | a chapter of the National Space Society Champaign IL 61825 | at the University of Illinois phone: (217) 359-0056 | P.O. Box 2255 Station A e-mail: ahiggins@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu | Champaign IL 61820 "A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject" - Sir Winston Churchill
tneff@well.UUCP (Tom Neff) (01/21/89)
In article <45000017@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu> ahiggins@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu writes: > ... Quayle wrote an article entitled,"The Other Space Race: Space Science >Education," which appeared in the October 1988 issue of _Journal_of_Defense_ >and_Diplomacy_. He seemed *very* well informed ... >Of course, Quayle cannot be judged on one article, but he looks very promising. >I suggest those who have criticized Quayle read this article before sounding >off again. And if whatever bright young aide who wrote the article for dumb Dan was transferred to his VP staff and happens to be in a position to continue to ghost-manage for his boss, specifically on the Space Council, then this might actually be good news. Do not, however, bet your house and grounds on it. -- Tom Neff tneff@well.UUCP or tneff@dasys1.UUCP
gordonl@microsoft.UUCP (Gordon Letwin) (01/21/89)
In article <45000017@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu>, ahiggins@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu writes: > > Shortly after the November election, there was a rather drawn out discussion > of Vice-President Elect Dan Qualye's stand on the civilian space program. > I recently came across an article which makes him look like a > promising chairman of the National Space Council. > > Quayle wrote an article entitled,"The Other Space Race: Space Science > Education," which appeared in the October 1988 issue of _Journal_of_Defense_ > and_Diplomacy_. He seemed *very* well informed and made several insightful > comparisons to the Soviet and Japanese programs. Of course, Mr. Higgins is a bit naive about the way that politicians and other honchos operate. There's absolutely no chance that Quayle wrote this article, and I personally consider it debatable that he's even *read* his "own" article... This article may indeed give insight into the direction the program might go, since it was probably guided by the same Quayle staffers that will actually do the space program work, but it's really naive to suggest that Quayle actually WROTE it, and that it somehow reflects upon Quayle's knowledge or thought processes. gordon letwin microsoft
gtww2z9z@umiami.miami.edu (Jason Gross) (01/21/89)
Frankly, the whole concept of having Dan Quayle head the Space Council just
so his VP post will mean something scares the bee-jeezus out of me. Doesn't he
know that Veeps are not supposed to have anything to do except break the rare
tie in the Senate?! For Bush to select this yahoo from Indiana to head what
could potentially determine whether or not we in the Space Race or not when I'm
sure he could've selected far more qualified personnel makes me wonder about how
Bush will decide on other equally important selections. Who knows, maybe he'll
have a former combative Secretary of Education as drug czar...:-)
--
Jason Gross Comp Sci Ugrad University of Miami Class of '91 (?)
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Disclaimer: The univeristy and I basically do not agree on anything. Ever.ahiggins@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu (01/23/89)
From tneff@well.UUCP (Tom Neff): >In article <45000017@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu> ahiggins@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu writes: >> ... Quayle wrote an article entitled,"The Other Space Race: Space Science >>Education," which appeared in the October 1988 issue of _Journal_of_Defense_ >>and_Diplomacy_. He seemed *very* well informed ... >>Of course, Quayle cannot be judged on one article, but he looks very promising > >And if whatever bright young aide who wrote the article for dumb Dan >was transferred to his VP staff and happens to be in a position to >continue to ghost-manage for his boss, specifically on the Space >Council, then this might actually be good news. So What? If you want to be really cynical, you could argue that John F. Kennedy's "We will put a man on the Moon..." speech wasn't written by Jack himself, but we put a man on the Moon nonetheless. Of course, we all know Dan Quayle is no Jack Kennedy :-). The point is, the byline of the article reads,"by Dan Quayle." Whether he wrote it or not may be unimportant. He *does* have to take the responsibility for it. If Quayle fails to live up to our hopes as Chairman of the National Space Council, articles and statements like the one in question can be very powerful tools. Reminding politicians of statements "he" made years before is a potent political tactic. -- Andrew J. Higgins | Illini Space Development Society 404 1/2 E. White St apt 3 | a chapter of the National Space Society Champaign IL 61820 | at the University of Illinois phone: (217) 359-0056 | P.O. Box 2255 Station A e-mail: ahiggins@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu | Champaign IL 61825 "A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject" - Sir Winston Churchill
tneff@well.UUCP (Tom Neff) (01/24/89)
Andrew Higgins shifts his ground with all the admirable agility you'd
hope for in someone with the unenviable job of defending Dan Quayle
before this newsgroup. :-) At first we were supposed to believe that
Dan wasn't really that dumb or uninformed after all, on the strength of
a defense policy article dealing with space issues. Then a bunch of
responses come in pointing out that these things are ghost-written by
aides to serve the boss's constituency interests and political agenda,
and don't tell a thing about Quayle's ignorance or lack thereof. Oh,
well, ok, <*SHIFT*> what really matters, we're now told, is that Quayle
is *responsible* for those articles appearing. Yeah, and if he doesn't
do what we want (who's this we, white man? Aha, there's an NSS in the
signature) we can REMIND HIM OF THE ARTICLE! Wow, *that* ought to have
heads rolling in the EOB, don't you think? :-)
In reality any politician who can't sidestep some policy article his
aides ghosted last term isn't electable material to begin with; and
dumb as Danno is, we do know he's electable. It takes more than a soft
spot for hiring Trekkies as summer interns to be a leader in the space
program: you have to have the personal (slightly irrational) vision
that will keep your eyes riveted on the goal when other stuff intrudes;
and you need the respect of the White House. Dan has been given this
job as a sinecure, and no matter how many articles his gophers put out
and no matter how many speeches he gives on the swiss steak circuit,
the White House will still thank him very nicely for his work and put
it on the agenda... SOMEWHERE, after the Seychelles but before the
potato treaties. This is the sense I get at the moment. Dan can
surprise us by exerting tons of personal initiative. My only point is
that nothing we've seen so far hints at this.
--
Tom Neff tneff@well.UUCP
or tneff@dasys1.UUCPahiggins@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu (01/25/89)
From: tneff@well.UUCP (Tom Neff) > Andrew Higgins shifts his ground with all the admirable agility you'd > hope for in someone with the unenviable job of defending Dan Quayle > before this newsgroup. :-) It's an ugly job, but... :-) Seriously, I still contend that the article is a promising indication of Quayle's stand on the space program. Granted, the _Journal of Defense and Diplomacy_ article wasn't much, but it was more than anyone else on Usenet has been able to provide regarding Quayle's position on space. The purpose of my second response was that even if Quayle didn't pen the article himself (which I will now acknowledge is not outside the realm of possibilities) it is still of some significance. That is why I started it with,"If you want to be really cynical..." > Dan wasn't really that dumb or uninformed after all, on the strength of > a defense policy article dealing with space issues. Then a bunch of The essay was *not* a defense policy article. > .... Yeah, and if he doesn't > do what we want (who's this we, white man? Aha, there's an NSS in the > signature) By "we" I mean all who would like see a more active civil space program. > ....Dan has been given this > job as a sinecure, and no matter how many articles his gophers put out No. George Bush announced before his selection of Dan Quayle that his Vice President would head the National Space Council. -- Andrew J. Higgins | Illini Space Development Society 404 1/2 E. White St apt 3 | a chapter of the National Space Society Champaign IL 61820 | at the University of Illinois phone: (217) 359-0056 | P.O. Box 2255 Station A e-mail: ahiggins@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu | Champaign IL 61825 "Don't try to get the last word, you might get it." - Robert A. Heinlein
tbetz@spies.UUCP (Tom Betz) (01/27/89)
Quoth ahiggins@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu in <45000017@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu>: | |Shortly after the November election, there was a rather drawn out discussion |of Vice-President Elect Dan Qualye's stand on the civilian space program. |Unfortunately, no one seemed to have any concrete information on Qualye's |position. I recently came across an article which makes him look like a |promising chairman of the National Space Council. [... excerpt deleted ...] |Of course, Quayle cannot be judged on one article, but he looks very promising. |I suggest those who have criticized Quayle read this article before sounding |off again. Better yet, find out which member(s) of his staff actually wrote the article, and whether or not they followed him into his new job. I mean, you can't actually believe this doofus could have strung that many words together consecutively to form a coherent >paragraph<, much less a whole article. Or are you really that unaware of how these things are produced? Now, if those staffers have influence upon the output of the Council, (and the COuncil actually manages to obtain the President's ear, and he manages to convince Congress, etcetera, etcetera, down to the last flea) there may be some hope... -- "One of these days the Hoover factory | Tom Betz EAA#48267 is gonna be all the rage in those | ZCNY, Yonkers, NY 10701-2509 fashionable pictures." - Elvis |------------------------------ UUCP:tbetz@spies or ...philabs!spies!tbetz | "Empty, try another." - Joni
jcbst3@cisunx.UUCP (James C. Benz) (02/01/89)
In article <328@spies.UUCP> tbetz@spies.UUCP (Tom Betz) writes: >I mean, you can't actually believe this doofus could have strung that many >words together consecutively to form a coherent >paragraph<, much less a whole >article. Voted Democrat, did you Tom? Sour Grapes. -- Disclaimer: All opinions expressed herein are mine alone. I wear an asbestos suit to work, so flame away. Pitt doesn't care *what* I do, so long as I appear to be working behind this terminal. Jim Benz, University of Pittsburgh, UCIR