NASA Watch reports that Patrick Rhode, the deputy to Michael Brown, of Hurricane Katrina FEMA infamy, has been appointed to a NASA position. His total lack of experience at anything except getting Bush and Cheney elected makes this a very bad bit of corruption.
Evolving Thoughts
One man's struggle against impermanence
Search
Profile
John Wilkins is an eternal student, who thinks philosophy of biology is at least as interesting as politics or sport and twice as important. He has a PhD from the University of Melbourne and worked at the University of Queensland, in Australia, before taking up a research fellowship at the University of Sydney. After a varied career, involving factories, gardening, civil service, publishing, graphics, public relations but not, unfortunately for the CV, driving a truck, John finally completed his thesis on species concepts in 2004, which he has worked into two books.
This blog is designed evolved to host any random thoughts that happen to be passing through my forebrain at a given moment. So there will be errors...
Recent Posts
- My new blog
- Evolving Thoughts moves
- We will resume transmission as soon as we can
- No, it's not an ancestor either (probably)
- Alpha Fail
- Philosophy and evolution
- Creative Commons and textbooks
- Punnett on Mendelism and species
- Quote
- Moral atheists
Recent Comments
- Thony C. on We will resume transmission as soon as we can
- Susan Silberstein on We will resume transmission as soon as we can
- Thony C. on We will resume transmission as soon as we can
- Bob O'H on We will resume transmission as soon as we can
- Chirs' Wills on We will resume transmission as soon as we can
- Karen James on No, it's not an ancestor either (probably)
- John S. Wilkins on Philosophy and evolution
- John Dupre on Philosophy and evolution
- cromercrox on We will resume transmission as soon as we can
- zayıflama on There is no missing link
Archives
- August 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
Blogroll
- Aetiology
- Afarensis
- Bad Astronomy
- Brooke McEldowney's blog
- Darwin Central
- De Rerum Natura
- Deanne Taylor's Blog at Nature
- Dienekes' Anthropology Blog
- Dispatches from the Culture Wars
- Ediacaran
- Galactic Interactions
- Ether Wave Propaganda
- Genomicron
- John Hawks Anthropology Weblog
- Laelaps
- Musgrave's Astroblogger
- NASA Watch
- National Center for Science Education
- Pharyngula
- Rationally Speaking
- Sandwalk
- Scott Page's All-too-common dissent
- Siris
- Small Things Considered
- Sunbeams from Cucumbers
- The End of the Pier
- The Lippard Blog
- The Loom
- The Panda's Thumb
- The Questionable Authority
- The Thinking Meat Project
- Thoughts in a Haystack
- u n d e r v e r s e
- Unscrewing The Inscrutable
- When Pigs Fly Returns
I also have an Australia-focussed blog: The Drought Resistant Philosopher
Search old and new blogs
Other Information
The previous instantiation of this blog is accessible here.
« Solomon obit | Main | Hilaly does it again, but so what? »
More political interference and cronyism at NASA
Category: Politics
Posted on: January 11, 2007 12:35 AM, by John S. Wilkins
Did you like this post? If so, please click on the "Share this" link above and add it to your favourite social bookmarking service, or submit it to the Open Laboratory 2009 via the link on the left bottom of the page. Many thanks. John.
Comments
Jesus H. Christ, this is familiar....
Posted by: Nick Anthis | January 11, 2007 11:09 AM
From the NY Daily News:
Never fear, though: Rhode has covered disasters--as a TV anchor for local network affiliates in Alabama and Arkansas, in which capacity he developed "an acute interest in what responders do in times of crises." Perhaps not acute enough. He recently said that FEMA's response to Katrina was "probably one of the most efficient and effective responses in the country's history.
I'm sure he'll do just fine...
Posted by: Mike the Mad Biologist | January 11, 2007 12:01 PM
Is it any wonder that it's so easy to believe the new review process for USGS will add focus to Administration policies instead of sticking to the science, or that the Administration provides anti-science support to the National Parks system?
Posted by: mark | January 11, 2007 12:04 PM
Since NASA policy increasingly emphasizes meaningless engineering exercises like the proposed moonbase over cost-effective science, it doesn't matter so much who administers the program. He'll be like the guy the pharoah put in charge of building his pyramid. Whether the pyramid ever gets built or not, the same amount of money and energy will be wasted in the process of building a monument to vanity.
Posted by: Jim Harrison | January 11, 2007 2:02 PM