Ed Hudgins

I choose to comment on whatever I think interesting or important. And I judge it a major story that: 1) the black community is in tragic shape, with 400,000 murdered over the past five decades; 2) that race hustlers like Jesse and Al bear a major responsibility for this crisis; 3) that white liberals—and especially those in the media—bear a major responsibility for anointing these lowlifes as representatives of what is in the interest of blacks; and 4) that white liberal RFK Jr. in his own words essentially acknowledges the nature of the likes of Jesse and Al yet continues to support them, perpetuating the black tragedy. If you are interested in other major stories as well, fine, so am I. If you think this story is unimportant, you’re wrong. If you think there’s something wrong with commenting on the contents of RFK’s diary—or the Pentagon Papers, the Snowden leaks, anything from a whistleblower—then you are misapplying Objectivism and had better stop it immediately before you do permanent damage to you brain!

It strikes me as odd that it strikes anyone as odd that I comment on a major story about RFK Jr.'s views. I sometimes can't follow the twisted applications of Objectivism.

RFK Jr.’s Racial Honesty—and Betrayal By Edward Hudgins September 13, 2013—The New York Post has obtained a copy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s personal diary and published excerpts, much to the chagrin of this scion of the country’s most storied liberal Democrat family. Much public attention has been paid to the passages concerning his extramarital affairs and his struggle with sex addition. But more revealing for the state of our nation are his candid observations about Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Buffoons Kennedy writes that both black leaders “give me the creeps.” Kennedy writes that Jackson has “a desperate and destructive addiction to publicity.” RFK Jr. was shocked when, at the funeral of labor activist Cesar Chavez, Jackson pushed “Cesar’s friends and family out of the way to make himself lead pall bearer.” Kennedy opines that Jackson’s “love affair with [Nation of Islam boss] Louis Farrakhan and his Jewish xenophobia are also unforgivable.” Kennedy adds, “I feel dirty around him, and I feel like I’m being used. I feel like with Jesse, it’s all about Jesse.” He calls Sharpton a “buffoon” who still has the “stench” of his involvement in the case of Tawana Brawley, who famously and mendaciously claimed she was raped by a pack of white men. Sharpton was always at her side accusing the world of racism, and when her lie was exposed, he never apologized or showed contrition for his behavior. Kennedy writes that “Al Sharpton has done more damage to the black cause than George Wallace [the 1960s racist Alabama governor]. He has suffocated the decent black leaders in New York.” Kennedy writes that “His transparent venal blackmail and extortion schemes taint all black leadership.” Not just personal Kennedy was simply writing what anyone not self-deluded by liberal dogma or scared of being called a “racist” already knows about Jesse and Al. But this isn’t just about personal taste in people. It’s about the tragedy of blacks in America. Since Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech 50 years ago, many blacks have been able to realize the America dream, thanks in part to the elimination of government-supported racial barriers. But black communities today are plagued by crime, gang violence, broken families, and a general sense of hopelessness. Since King’s speech, over 400,000 blacks have been murdered, mostly by other blacks. And this sewer culture has been perpetuated by Jesse, Al, and a long list of lowlifes like them. Betrayal Liberals like Kennedy have known all along that their refusal to speak up perpetuates such race hustlers as black “leaders.” Now, with his views, revealed, RFK Jr. might have shrugged off his cowardice and called on fellow liberals to relegate the Jesses and Als to the dustbin of history. Instead, Kennedy complained that his diary wasn’t meant for publication and “I have nothing but respect for … Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, … [who] have distinguished themselves as extraordinary national leaders over the past decade.” RFK Jr., like many other liberals, consciously betrays the betterment of blacks to support Jesse and Al, who he knows to be demagogues who exploit their own people.-----Hudgins is director of advocacy and a senior scholar at The Atlas Society. For further information: *Edward Hudgins, “King’s Dream and Today’s Racial Nightmare.” August 27, 2013. *Edward Hudgins, “Obama’s Inauguration: Celebrating Enslavement.” January 21, 2013. *Edward Hudgins, “Thoughts on Racial Thinking.” January 17, 2009.

Weiner's Insatiable Lust: For Power By Edward HudginsSeptember 12, 2013 — To no one’s surprise Anthony Weiner lost in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary. But just before his defeat he was a guest on liberal Lawrence O’Donnell’s TV talk show and the interview—a cage match, really—was as revealing about Weiner’s lusts as were the sexting pictures he sent to random bimbos. O’Donnell had just one question: “What is wrong with you that you cannot seem to imagine a life without elective office?” O’Donnell characterized Weiner’s desire as an “absolute desperate need.” Weiner, as is customary, defended his career as noble public service. He started as a Capitol Hill staffer, won a seat on the New York City Council, and then went on to win seven terms in the House of Representatives, before resigning in 2011 for tweeting photos of his junk and lying brazenly about it. Weiner has lost his bid at an electoral comeback due to his physical lust. But he should have lost it for his power-lust. O’Donnell stumbled toward a deeper truth that all citizens should keep in mind concerning those who purport to serve us as elected officials: many really want to rule us. There are power-hungry politicians of both parties, to be sure. But directing the lives of others is at the core of the Democrats' leftist ideology. But for some, like Weiner, it goes beyond the particulars of their agenda. We humans need to control the world around us and to work through mutual consent with our fellows in order to secure ourselves materially as well as spiritually. And with productive efforts and success come feelings of efficacy and the self-esteem of achievement, the satisfaction of psychological needs. But some people—politicians especially—direct their efforts not at controlling the material world, in cooperation with their fellows but, rather, at controlling their fellows. This desire to rule can take the form of an out-of-control psychological urge. It’s like an uncontrolled, misdirected, insatiable sex drive that takes perverse forms, which might give momentary pleasure but in the end is torture, never yielding deep satisfaction. The essence of Weiner’s ideology is that he and elites like him must control our lives, supposedly for our own good. But what O’Donnell and most Americans saw in Weiner was a power drive that mixed in an ugly synergy with his policy agenda. Weiner seemed to be an individual who could only get a sense of self-worth—a false and warped one—in the political arena. He seemed oblivious to the fact that he was a national joke and that he’d get whacked at the polls! Because of his character flaw he couldn’t resist the lust for power. Americans should appreciate that it is this lust for power rather than erotic proclivities that make all politicians potential dangers to our freedom. The checks and balances in the Constitution were meant to protect us from just such lusts in our elected officials. -------- Hudgins is director of advocacy and a senior scholar at The Atlas Society. For further information: *William Thomas, “Freedom, Achievement, Individualism, Reason: Objectivism.” December 2004. *William Thomas, “What Is The Objectivist Position In Morality (Ethics)?” *Edward Hudgins, “The Servile Citizen.” *David Kelley, “Obama's Era of Responsibility.” Summer 2009.

Folks - Missing your points about rape and soup. By the way, I'm against the former and in favor of the latter. And my point indeed is not to offer empathy but, rather, analysis of what in philosophy and culture needs to change is the Muslim Middle East is to change, so we don't always find ourselves in the position of having to empathize with people who are regularly subject to the repressive and murderous designs of their rulers. Baal - Try a good overview book on the Enlightenment. A couple of Will Durant volumes might do the trick!

September 11 and the Need for Enlightenment By Edward Hudgins September 10, 2013 — Twelve years after the attacks on America by Islamist mass murderers, mass murder proceeds apace in the Muslim Middle East. Unfortunately, the real nature of the bloodshed still eludes many American policymakers and the public as well. The dictators Consider the three forces that have been involved in that region for decades. First, there are the traditional dictators: the now-dead Saddam Hussein in Iraq, the now-deposed Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, and the always-despised Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Their corrupt, brutal regimes have been relatively secular because they haven’t wanted challenges to their power; to the extent they’ve used religion, it has been to keep the masses in line. But in this region there have never been the values, culture, institutions, and practices of a free, open society. It’s always been kings and strongmen ruling servile subjects. The Islamists Second, there are the theocrats: the Muslim Brotherhood, the Taliban, al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, the ayatollahs, and the mullahs. They are the medievalists, the pre-moderns, infused with the ideology of Islam, with the goal of even more repressive and brutal dictatorships under Sharia law. Americans are wrong to imagine that the Islamists and their program, which brought down the World Trade Center towers twelve years ago, are simply blowback for real or imagined recent U.S. government foreign policy slights. The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna, who hated everything modern. Its slogan: “Jihad is our way; and dying in the way of Allah is the highest of our aspirations.” Its goal: to make the savage past the future. Islamism is a virulent ideology just like Communism and Fascism and its acolytes are not motivated by traditional geopolitical logic. Everyone else And third, there is everyone else. There are the masses in Egypt who were frustrated by poverty, lack of economic opportunity, and political corruption of dictatorship. They helped overthrow Mubarak and then, facing Islamic repression, helped overthrow the Muslim Brotherhood, hoping that the new military dictatorship might be better than the old one. There are the masses in Syria who were frustrated by poverty, lack of economic opportunity, and political corruption. They rose against Assad and 100,000 of them have been slaughtered. Sadly, their ranks are becoming dominated by Islamists. So the Syrian civil war now pits a traditional dictator against the partisans of theocracy. It’s a no-win situation. The need for Enlightenment What is clearly needed and clearly lacking in the Muslim Middle East are strong voices for Enlightenment, modernist values: a respect for human reason as opposed to blind faith; individual liberty and autonomy; free markets; and honest governments limited to protecting life, liberty, and property. Those voices might come from Muslims in the West. But too few do. Since the 9/11 attacks, there have been no masses of American Muslims in the streets of American cities denouncing Islamists and making the promotion of Enlightenment values among their coreligionists Job One. Europe is worse. When a Danish paper in 2005 published cartoons of Mohammed, thousands took to the streets of European cities demanding death to the infidels. Increasing numbers of Muslims choose to live in the West and enjoy what life there offers. But the vast majority of them fail to uphold the values on which the West is based. The Muslim Middle East is going through a wrenching transformation from pre-modern to modern, a process that took many bloody centuries in Western Europe. What it needs most desperately are strong advocates for the philosophy of reason and freedom that underlies the modern world. ----- Hudgins is director of advocacy and a senior scholar at The Atlas Society. For further information: *Atlas Society Select Articles on 9/11 and Terrorism. *Edward Hudgins, “Islam’s Dreary Cultural Darkness.” September 14, 2013. *David Kelley, “Does Islam Need A Reformation?” September 2011. *Edward Hudgins, “Are The People Of The Middle East Fit For Freedom?” May 14, 2004.

A quick point: There are decades of excellent research by scientists done on the topics concerning traveling to and settlement of Mars. I've offered the Mars Society website as one good gateway. There were at least three discussions on radiation issues at that group's conference about two weeks ago. Scholars will disagree on various issues but they always approach the issues from a rational, evidenced-based perspective. Anyone seriously interested in these issues should check out the materials.

The stats I used were reported homicides, which I think differ from suicides. I suspect that drug prohibition was a major factor in the deaths. Yes, there's the question of what proportion of deaths in the white community related to drug prohibition. I suspect that dysfunctional drug abuse is worse in the black community but that this is a manifestation of the deeper cultural/value issues.

King's Dream And Today's Racial Nightmare By Edward Hudgins August 27, 2013 -- Fifty years ago this week Martin Luther King led the March on Washington for black civil rights. Look at the aerial photos of the 200,000 participants in the rally, stretched out in front of the Lincoln Memorial, down the Mall, and around the Reflecting Pool. Now imagine double that crowd. That’s how many blacks have been murdered, mostly by other blacks, since King made his inspirational “I have a dream” speech. As thousands more gather in Washington this week to mark the anniversary of that day that held so much hope, they must ask, “What happened to that dream? Why is so much of it a nightmare?” Much of the answer is found in the perverse persons on the podium who’ve worked against all that was right in King’s vision. Content of character In 1963 laws in many states actually mandated segregation of blacks, in schools, public facilities, retail outlets, you name it. And “separate” was never “equal.” Blacks were forcibly denied most opportunities to realize the American dream. Worse were the actually racist attitudes toward blacks, the belief that they really were genetically inferior, degenerate, or just too stupid to take care of themselves. Best to keep them separate from genteel white culture lest they ruin it. In this world, King voiced one of the most inspirational and aspirational speeches in American history. The highlight was: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” That should be the moral ideal for all. It’s not accidents of birth that are important. Rather, we should take our pride in what we as individuals make of ourselves. Racist thinking continues Since King’s speech, laws aimed at keeping blacks segregated have been struck down. Sadly, they were replaced by laws giving blacks special privileges. At first these were meant to make up for the past wrongs. But they soon created an entitlement mentality among blacks on the unspoken assumption that blacks can’t make it on their own and, thus, require special privileges. With a few exceptions, explicit racist attitudes among whites have disappeared; whites were instrumental in electing the first black president. But black leaders have built on the entitlement mentality. They’ve foisted on their fellow blacks a world view based on black versus white, us versus them. They blame crime, broken and fatherless homes, drug abuse, and most of the miseries of life on a zero-sum game in which blacks suffer because whites haven’t given enough. Too few focus on the individual vices, perpetuated by culture, that are the real root problems. The demagogic leaders relegate virtues such as personal responsibility, self-discipline, and getting ahead through hard work to occasional throwaway lines at best. Too few stand up against it (but here's to you, Bill Cosby!). The new oppressors Consider a few of the morally corrupt usual suspects--self-proclaimed black leaders some of whom are keynoting the 50th anniversary rally to mark Dr. King’s march. Jesse Jackson made a career as a shakedown artist. He demanded that businesses hand over money to his Operation PUSH, a financial and fraudulent mess, under the threat of being denounced as racist and subjected to black boycotts. Jesse can be found in front of the camera to exploit any situation into which he can insinuate race. Al Sharpton has incited anti-Semitism. He was the leading loudmouth in the case of Tawana Brawley, a black teen who lied about being raped and abused by white police. Al still hasn’t apologized for his role in that hoax. Al can be found, standing next to Jesse, at any photo op to create racial divisions. Barack Obama, as the first black president, could have made transcending race Job One. He could have used the bully pulpit to promote a values revolution in the black community. Instead, he has promoted the statist programs that have perpetuated its economic misery. At the 1963 march, the great singer Marian Anderson inspired the crowd with “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.” As a child I listened to her rich contralto on TV at my grandma’s house. By contrast, Obama has honored at the White House rapper Jay Z. The lyrics of his songs, replete with references to “niggas,” “motherfuckas,” and “shit,” would perhaps be appropriate for the 2013 event featuring Jesse and Al. Speaking of gangsta culture, in the week before the 50th anniversary of the march, two black teens and a white teen shot to death a white jogger in Duncan, Oklahoma because they were “bored.” In Spokane two black teens beat to death an 88-year-old white World War Two veteran. No sign of Jesse or Al on the scene. But, then, they’ve been equally unconcerned about some 400,000 blacks murdered by other blacks since King’s march. Those gathered in D.C. this week should celebrate the knocking down of legal barriers to black opportunity since Dr. King’s time. But they must also reject the race-based world views perpetuated by their new oppressors. Whatever their race, they must accept the morality of individualism that will allow them to build strong moral characters so they can both prosper as well as take pride in their achievements. ---- Hudgins is director of advocacy and a senior scholar at The Atlas Society. For further information: *Edward Hudgins, “Character and Color.” January 17, 2003. *Edward Hudgins, “Thoughts on Racial Thinking.” January 17, 2009. *William R Thomas, “How Racist Are We?” Summer, 2010.

A quick object lesson about Objectivist ethics. First, self-sacrifice, for example, allowing one’s self to be robbed by a rapacious government, is not a virtue. Second, shrugging, that is, depriving a rapacious government of victims, is. Each individual must decide when and under what conditions they will say “Enough!” The Obama administration claims that Americans working overseas avoid paying tens of billions of dollars in taxes. Good! They are patriots for depriving the beast of food as well as making a point about the evils of a looting government. Of course, there are others who are patriots for staying in America, even at the cost of being looted, in order to fight the beast head-on. Patriotism comes in many forms.

The biggest problem with Antarctica is the Antarctic Treaty, which bars pretty much every activity needed to build and sustain human communities. Antarctica is governed by a government consortium and private settlements to exploit local resources are prohibited. Otherwise it would hold interest. Living on Mars or even the Moon would not pose the problems of living on the bottom of the ocean. Seasteading is a very interesting concept. See http://www.seasteading.org/ Patri Freidman, Milton’s grandson, heads up the operation. But it still has a way to go in terms of funding. The Mars Society just concluded its 16th annual conference. At least three talks were on radiation issues among others and there is a rich archive of materials going back a decade and a half on every aspect of Martian exploration and settlement. (You can view talks that were live streamed on the website http://www.marssociety.org/ . I was expecting Baal to be the last speaker, to refute all of the accumulated reasoning, thought, and wisdom concerning the challenges of settling Mars. But I’m sad to see that his intellectual contribution to the debate was “Mars is a shit hole.” Sigh!

Leaving America for Freedom, Earth for Mars By Edward Hudgins A record number of Americans are renouncing their U.S. citizenship in order to avoid confiscatory taxes. And 100,000 individuals have signed up with Mars One, a company seeking volunteers for a one-way trip to be permanent settlers on the Red Planet. Both of these facts indicate that the best in the human spirit is still alive. Pioneering prosperity America is a country built by immigrants, but immigrants did not come here to build this country. Rather, they wanted—and still want today—to better their own lives and pursue their own dreams. They wanted to prosper through their own productive efforts and were tired of rapacious overlords limiting their economic liberty and looting the fruits of their labor. They wanted to explore and to tame frontiers. They wanted to create new societies that reflected their values. And they welcomed the challenge of acting as the entrepreneurs of their own lives. Hunting down producers Today over six million Americans work overseas; after all, we are in a global economy with opportunities crossing national boundaries. But the United States is the only major nation to tax its citizens no matter where they live. On top of that, as part of its envy-driven war on producers, the Obama regime’s 2010 Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act puts new, onerous regulations and taxes on overseas Americans, strong-arming foreign institutions into cooperating with U.S. tax collectors bent on squeezing every dollar—Euro, yuan, yen—possible out of these producers. Tired of rapacious overlords limiting their economic liberty and looting the fruits of their labor, more than a thousand Americans renounced their U.S. citizenship in the second quarter of 2013 alone. These now-non-Americans are true patriots of liberty, standing up for the right to prosper through their own productive efforts and depriving the beast on the Potomac of victims. Rising on red hills The wonderful, universal spirit that gave birth to America is also manifest in Dutch entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp’s Mars One plan to send humans to colonize the Red Planet in the next decade. Mars One will select 40 astronauts this year out of the 100,000 who applied, with the aim of launching four of them in September 2022. Cynics might scoff about sci-fi geeks who can’t find their way out of their parents’ basements much less to another planet. But those desiring to leave Earth want to explore and to tame a frontier planet. They want to create new societies that reflect their values. And they welcome the challenge of acting as the entrepreneurs of their own lives. The many entrepreneurs planning space missions have the intelligence, drive, and even the money to make such missions possible. SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who already has launched rockets to the International Space Station, says he plans to die on Mars. And what more fulfilling end of a life than to look at a city on the red hills of that planet that he and others like him have built. That pioneer spirit is reflected in the lyrics of one of America’s most inspiring songs: O beautiful for patriot dream That sees beyond the years Thine alabaster cities gleam Undimmed by human tears. Let’s hope that spirit will again triumph on this planet as well! -------- Hudgins is director of advocacy and a senior scholar at The Atlas Society. For further information: *Edward Hudgins, “From Apollo 11 to Martian Missions.” July 18, 2013. *Edward Hudgins, “Atlas Shrugging in Late 2012.” December 14, 2012. *Edward Hudgins, “Taxed to Shrug.” April 17, 2012. *Edward Hudgins, “Atlas Chased.” August 6, 2004. *Edward Hudgins, “The Spiritual Significance of Mars.” August 12, 2003.

Brant - There have been five astronauts who spent over 300 days in an orbiting space station, about the time of a one-way trip to Mars. The longest stay was 437 days. Bone depletion was always a problem but they survived okay. Lots of working out on exercise equipment was essential. Some sort of simulated gravity with a rotating spacecraft on the way to and from Mars would be the best. Whether it is financially doable in early privately-funded flights is questionable. The Inspiration Mars mission, planned for five years from now, will probably be the first to carry humans to Mars, in a 500 day flyby mission. But they're still working on what sort of craft they'll send. It would be neat if they could use a Bigelow habitat module with engines fixed to the rear to propel it to Mars and small thrusters on the habitat module itself to give it a spin during most of the journey!

Oh wow! With all that time I spent writing about private individuals putting their own private money into privately-funded trips to Mars (and the Moon!), I missed the parts where I endorsing those private parties putting their hands in your pocket and your bank account. Please include the citation in your conference paper on Mars. I've very curious to read what I said!

Ba’al – I don’t deny the current state of Mars, re. the radiation problem, CO2 atmosphere, etc. What I deny is your certainty that the planet can never be terraformed to make it another habitat for humanity. Note: habitat for humanity. Not just a planet to exploit in order to benefit humans on Earth, though as you suggest it could serve as a base for asteroid mining. Yes, the helium 3 on the Moon is valuable and nearby; there are entrepreneurs aiming to exploit it and they’ll certainly do so before Mars is terraformed or, I would conjecture, before asteroids are mined. I look forward to your “impossible to terraform Mars” paper at a future conference or in a journal. But make sure you read the literature on the subject and address specifically the details of the arguments concerning how an atmosphere could be created, how the radiation problem could be dealt with, etc. Otherwise readers will infer that you yourself contain a mixture of about three-quarters nitrogen, one-quarter oxygen plus traces of other elements and molecules at an elevated temperature. Ad Luna! As Ares!

P.S. - As I wrote in my piece my piece The Spiritual Significance of Mars, "In 2002, the British astronomer royal Martin Rees lamented the possibility that private companies would get to the Red Planet before governments and make it into another Wild West. Let's hope so! The spirit of pioneers who settled America is just what will be needed to settle Mars."

Ba’al – The folks investing billions of dollars and years of time in Mars missions and settlements know more about the various sciences—physics, biology, geology—than you and me combined. On the lack of a magnetic field, the UV radiation problem would not be simple to solve—nothing about terraforming is “simply.” But CO2 in the atmosphere would block out a lot of UV. The trick would be to free up nitrogen from the rocks as well as other elements to create an ozone layer, which would block out potential deadly UV in higher rangers. But seriously, if you know so much more than all the folks working on this problem, present a paper at a Mars Society conference or in any of the other forums dedicated to Martian missions and settlement. These forums welcome serious discussion and dissent. Otherwise your assertions simply ring hollow in a little corner of the internet. Brant - On dominating the High Frontier, recent historical research suggests that Eisenhower didn’t push to have America get a satellite in orbit first because we wanted the Soviets to fly one over U.S. territory first and thus to establish an open sky principle that would mean that America would fly its satellites over Soviet territory. He thought that in the long term we’d have more to gain than the Soviets. America’s early human space flight mission did have as one of the benefits a capacity to work in and dominate the High Frontier if necessary. But by the time of the Moon landings it was clear that such efforts contributed little to national defense, so there wasn’t much resistant from defense types to eliminating future lunar missions. As to non-collectivist reasons for going to Mars, I don’t see how private parties that want to put their own money and efforts into missions to the Red Planet and settling it are anything but individualistic. Ad Ares!

Ba'al - The reason Aldrin, Musk, Tito, Zubrin and an army of others disagree with you is that they look at the facts and science involved rather than simply making assertions. Would terraforming be tough? Yup! But I'm confident that humans are up to the task. See you on the Red Planet, maybe with a stopover on the Moon just for fun!

Actually, the reason the U.S. government took up the mission of going to the Moon was a three-fer. First, it was to demonstrate to non-aligned countries as well as some of America’s allies that our open and generally free system was technologically superior to the Soviets. They should hitch their wagons to America. It was for prestige. Second, while the Moon missions were civilian activities, the U.S. was developing a capacity to dominate the High Frontier for defense purposes, if needed, and developing a lot of duel-use technologies. Third, going to the Moon was an important scientific endeavor. It was something that a private consortium of universities, National Geographic, and others might have done if they had the money. As to Baal’s remarks about Mars, I might suggest looking at the scientific information coming from the probes above and on the planet in recent years showing the abundance of water in the regolith. I might suggest looking at the knowledge coming out of those probes that brings us closer to answering one of the greatest scientific questions of all time: whether life arose on a planet other than Earth. I might suggest considering the Inspiration Mars project paper on the habitat issues involved with traveling 500 days to and from the planet. I might suggest looking at the new work done by the Mars One folks—building on Zubrin’s work in The Case for Mars—on settling Mars as the goal, not only doing missions with a return to Earth. I might suggest we should take seriously the fact that Moonwalker Buzz Aldrin as well as a lot of folks with money—Musk, Tito—see Mars as most important target for human attention. Or I might just say, stop being on old, curmudgeonly grumpy-stomp!

Might as well post a photo of me with Buzz Aldrin and Dennis Tito. This was taken around March 2003 after the explosion of the Shuttle Columbia. I was part of a group of space experts met in California to discuss the future of human spaceflight.

From Apollo 11 to Martian Missions By Edward Hudgins On July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made those historic first footprints on the Moon. But the ensuing decades have been frustrating to those who assumed that Apollo 11 would lead to permanent lunar bases and colonies on Mars. NASA, a government agency, could not bring down the costs of spaceflight, ensuring that such visionary goals would be multibillion dollar boondoggles. But today those who want to see Mars become a future human habitat might have their aspirations realized. The Buzz about Mars Aldrin’s new book, Mission to Mars, with journalist Leonard David, argues for the Red Planet as the principal target for future explorers. Aldrin, with an astronautics Ph.D. from MIT, has designed an interplanetary “cycler” system. (Aldrin published a first description of the system in my book Space: The Free-Market Frontier.) A spacecraft would be launched to Mars on a trajectory that would use that planet’s gravity to fling the craft back toward Earth, where it would use Earth’s gravity to fling it back to Mars in a never-ending cycle. (A similar system could be set up with the Moon.) Aldrin still needs to work out how astronauts get on and off the speeding ship at their planet of choice. But hey, he’s a rocket scientist! Flyby and one-way Dennis Tito, the first individual to pay for a trip to the International Space Station, founded and is helping to finance Inspiration Mars, a private effort to send a man and a woman on a 501-day flyby mission to the Red Planet, similar to Aldrin’s cycler but with the craft landing back on Earth. To hit the planetary alignments right, the mission must be launched in January 2018. Dutch entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp has founded Mars One with a plan to send humans on one-way missions to begin colonizing Mars, with the first mission in 2023. He will finance the project in large part as a "global media spectacle." Making it real In the past such missions would have been impossible dreams since cost-effective technologies were unavailable. But today private space entrepreneurs are stepping in to make such dreams come true. For example, Elon Musk’s company SpaceX has already launched three private rockets to berth with the ISS for a fraction of the cost of the NASA Shuttle. He is testing larger rockets that could travel to the planets. Musk’s ultimate goal is Mars and he says he wants to die on the Red Planet—but not on landing! Robert Bigelow’s company has developed innovative, low-cost inflatable habitat modules that he wants to put into orbit. Bigelow already has launched two one-third size prototypes and NASA will test a full-size module at the ISS in 2015. These modules could serve as habitats for bases on the Moon or Mars. These are just a few examples of entrepreneurs, inspired by Apollo 11, putting their money and their minds toward other space achievements that will inspire future generations and make us a spacefaring civilization! ---- Hudgins is director of advocacy for The Atlas Society. For further information: *Edward Hudgins and William R Thomas, Video: “Crony Capitalism in Space?” June 19, 2013. *Edward Hudgins, "Neil Armstrong, America Hero.” August 27, 2012. *Edward Hudgins, “SpaceX’s Entrepreneurial Triumph.” May 25, 2012. *Edward Hudgins, “When We Walked on the Moon.” July 17, 2009. *Edward Hudgins, “The Spiritual Significance of Mars.” August 12, 2003.

I'll repost the link to my piece here: Egypt Revolts Against Islamists And Obama

Immigration And The Republican Death Spiral By Edward Hudgins June 18, 2013 -- Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) rightly warns about the demise of the GOP if his party does not help pass reasonable immigration reform. He argues that if the party fails, “it doesn’t matter who you run in 2016. We’re in a demographic death spiral as a party and the only way we can get back in good graces with the Hispanic community in my view is pass comprehensive immigration reform.” His “death spiral” description is on the mark. In 2012, Barack Obama received 71 percent of Hispanic vote, compared to Mitt Romney’s 27 percent, down from 31 percent for McCain in 2008 and 44 percent for Bush in 2004. Hispanics are a fast-growing portion of the population. Today nearly 17 percent of nation’s citizens are Hispanic, with that percentage rising to 30 by 2050. Further, many traditional Republican states as well as swing states have significant and growing Hispanic populations: 37.6 percent are Hispanic in Texas; 29.6 percent in Arizona; 26.5 percent in Nevada; 22.5 percent in Florida; and 20.7 percent in Colorado. The GOP should not take comfort in Romney garnering 59 percent of the white, non-Hispanic vote. That’s because the white, non-Hispanic portion of the population dropped from 75.6 percent in 1990 to 63.7 percent in 2010, and it is on a downward slide. America will soon be a majority “minority” nation. Many Republicans complain that the party should stand for principles rather act on electoral expediencies. But many Republicans hold the wrong principles on immigration. Most illegal immigrants came here because rather than suffer in poverty and destitution, they sought employment opportunities in order to provide better lives for themselves and their families. And when faced bureaucratic obstacles and years of delays to legal immigration, they said “To hell with idiot America lawmakers and paper-pushers. I’m coming here to make money!” That’s the American way, and it should be celebrated! Many Republicans, bizarrely, are enraged that these immigrants failed to jump through the sort of government hoops that GOPers normally loathe. But these immigrants are exactly the kind of folks Republicans should welcome into the country and their party. The devil in the immigration bill is in the details. Paternalist Democrats want to add millions of Hispanics to the welfare rolls, destroying their work ethic and making them dependent on government. A morally equitable solution would be to bar illegal immigrants from receiving federal benefits—Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid—as the “price” for staying in this country, while exempting them from all taxes that Americans are forced to pay for these entitlements. How’s that for a deal? The hard reality is that if Republicans truly want limited government and free markets, they must sell that vision of the country to all groups rather than disparage those seek the American dream. -------- Hudgins is director of advocacy and a senior scholar at The Atlas Society. For further information: *Edward Hudgins, “Four Facts for Conservatives About Immigration Policy.” June 20, 2012. *Edward Hudgins, “The Golden Door: Immigration, Liberty, and the American Character.” The New Individualist, Summer 2006. *Edward Hudgins, “Webinar: Republicans & Libertarians: What's Really Possible In Politics?” March 25, 2013.

WS - The sex allegations against O'Donnell in 2010 might well have been bogus but still ignited a media frenzy. But her years of stupid statements certainly made her a target.

WS – Thanks for posting the video of Dawkins. I’d add this. O’Donnell and Jackson were not making honest points in a discussion of human origins. They were pushing a religious agenda and revealing both their ignorance on the subject. If they don’t know what they’re talking about they should shut up and not advertise their ignorance. Or, after the “gotta” sting of finding an old statement about this matter, they should have responded as Marco Rubio did. But she ventured her chimp comment in the context of saying “evolution is a myth.” Sorry, that and other statements marked her as an idiot.