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An Ohio State linebacker said that the Buckeye goal was to make sure that Texas QB Vince Young didn't leave as a Heisman candidate. Whoops. Heisman candidacy status: Intact. At any rate, it certainly wasn't Young's best night. 2 INT's,...

I wish to add to the discussion of the umpire/judge analogy. Of course the analogy is imperfect, but it is effective as far as it goes. I would simply add this. If there was an umpire who said, Some are...

I hear people saying we don't need this warI say there's some things worth fighting forWhat about our freedom and this piece of groundWe didn't get to keep 'em by backing downThey say we don't realize the mess we're getting...

Labor Day weekend is always a busy one for me. Saturday was my birthday, so I usually take an extra day off and make it a four day bonanza of non-work. So needless to say, I'm not going to spend...

Power Line: Happy Anniversary, Guys...

Start-up Firm Building New Space Capsule System

No links to this YET - but the October issue of Popular Science reports on a firm called T/Space which is developing, with NASA backing, and some project collaboration with Rutan's Scaled Composites, a capsule system called the CXV or Crew Transfer Vehicle capable of carrying three or four astronauts to low Earth orbit, and returning for a wet landing, like the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo had.

The launcher is an aircraft launched propane & liquid oxygen rocket. The whole emphasis has been on economy and simplicity of design - and seems to be making some real progress - possibly having things ready to go b\y '08 or '09 - an unheard of timeline for NASA projects.

Best of all, this will be privately owned/operated, flying as contractors to NASA, or whoever else wants/needs to get to orbit. Meanwhile, NASA is proceeding with its plans for vehicles to replace the shuttles also apparently based on a larger, more advanced capsule design for personnel, and a heavy lift cargo launcher, for well, cargo. NASA doesn;t plan to be ready to fly before 2012 at best, so the T/Space CVX could fill a gap to help keep the International Space Station in business until then.

The folks at T/Space emphasize that they are NOT building a shuttle replacement - but perhaps a modern replacement for the truly antiquated Soyuz technology.

This is truly good news - the US must maintain an effective capability for space, if for no other reason, to prevent a default ceding of the ultimate high ground to China, Russia, or whoever else goes after it.

Methinks that Instapundit is right on the money: THE PRESS WANTS TO SHOW BODIES from Katrina. It didn't want to show bodies, or jumpers, on 9/11, for fear that doing so would inflame the public. I can only conclude that...

In blaming FEMA and POTUS for the disasterous response to Katrina, the Press seems altogether uninterested in how these relief efforts compare to past Hurricaines. Here's Jack Kelly from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Jason van Steenwyk is a Florida Army National...

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