Obama Nominates Gen. Charles Bolden To Head NASA
I have followed General Boldens career for some time now. He is the best man for the job! Congrats General Bolden!
President Barack Obama on Saturday named the first African-American to head NASA, the nation’s space agency.
The announcement was designed to coincide with this week’s return of the space shuttle Atlantis, now pushed back to Sunday.
Gen. Charles Bolden is to be administrator of NASA, and Lori Garver is to be deputy administrator of NASA.
“These talented individuals will help put NASA on course to boldly push the boundaries of science, aeronautics and exploration in the 21st century and ensure the long-term vibrancy of America’s space program,” Obama said.
Here are the bios from the White House’s “intention to nominate” announcement:
Gen. Charles Bolden, Nominee for Administrator of NASA
Charles Bolden retired from the United States Marine Corps in 2003 as the commanding general of the Third Marine Aircraft Wing after serving more than 34 years, and is currently CEO of JackandPanther LLC, a privately held military and aerospace consulting firm.
Gen. Bolden began his service in U.S. Marine Corps in 1968. He flew more than 100 sorties in Vietnam from 1972-73. In 1980, he was selected as an astronaut by NASA, flying two space shuttle missions as pilot and two missions as commander.
Following the Challenger accident in 1986, Gen. Bolden was named the chief of the safety division at the Johnson Space Center, with responsibilities for overseeing the safety efforts in the return-to-flight efforts. He was appointed assistant deputy administrator of NASA headquarters in 1992.
He was senior vice president at TechTrans International Inc. from 2003 until 2005. Gen. Bolden holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis and a M.S. in systems management from the University of Southern California.
Categories: Politics Tags: African-American soldiers, Black scientists, cosby show, NASA
Dick Cheney on the warpath
Dan Quayle played golf in Arizona. Al Gore taught journalism in New York. But Dick Cheney is breaking with the tradition that former vice presidents quietly leave Washington and the public eye when they exit the White House. Even Cheney’s ex-boss, George W. Bush, has refrained from criticizing the Obama administration, saying the new team deserves his silence. But Cheney was positively gabby on a Sunday talk show.
While many in official Washington were recovering from Saturday evening’s White House Correspondents Association dinner — where President Barack Obama got off some memorable one-liners and comedian Wanda Sykes took aim at radio talk jock Rush Limbaugh, among others — Cheney gave a lengthy interview to “Face the Nation” on CBS television. The replay of clips from that chat were still reverberating on Monday’s morning shows on CNN, NBC and ABC.
On waterboarding terror suspects, which critics say doesn’t work in getting useful information — aside from it being torture — Cheney disagreed. “Khalid Shaikh Mohammed … an evil, evil man that’s been in our custody since March of ‘03 … did not cooperate fully in terms of interrogations until after waterboarding. Once we went through that process, he produced vast quantities of invaluable information about Al Qaeda.”
Any regrets about his time in the White House? “No regrets. I think it was absolutely the right thing to do. I’m convinced, absolutely convinced, that we saved thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of lives.”
What about the detention center at Guantanamo, which Obama has said will be closed within a year? “We had to have a place, a facility, where we could capture these people and hold them until they were no longer a danger to the United States … we released hundreds already of the less threatening types. About 12 percent of them, nonetheless, went back onto the fight as terrorists. The group that’s left, the 245 or so, these are the worst of the worst.”
And what about Cheney’s Republican Party, now dealing with the defection of high-profile Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania? Should it move to the left to broaden its appeal to voters? “We are what we are. We’re Republicans … I think we win elections when we have good solid conservative principles to run upon and base our policies on those principles.”
If he had to choose between Rush Limbaugh and Colin Powell — the former Secretary of State and former head of the military Joint Chiefs of Staff — Cheney said he’d pick Limbaugh.
“Well, if I had to choose in terms of being a Republican, I’d go with Rush Limbaugh, I think. I think my take on it was Colin had already left the party. I didn’t know he was still a Republican.”
Does any of this matter? After all, Cheney is no longer in government. You tell us: should Cheney continue to speak out or does he owe the Obama administration his silence in its early months?
Categories: Politics Tags: Republican, right-wing, tea party, white privilege