![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Discover-over-DC.jpg\" "\\"Discover")
\n(Shuttle Discovery flies down the National Mall 17 April 2012 in a last pass of glory. Photo CBS News.)<\/p>\n
\n(Shuttle Discovery flies down the National Mall 17 April 2012 in a last pass of glory. Photo CBS News.)<\/p>\n
My knee feels better today but my back is killing me. One step forward and half a step back, I guess. But life is good. I was thinking that, among other things, when the Shuttle Discovery was touring the capital, perched on the custom Boeing 747 that was bringing the spaceship to its final destination at the Smithsonian\u2019s Udvar-Hazy Really Big Ass Airplane Annex at Dulles International.<\/p>\n
The Porters were in the unit at that precise moment, doing the semi-annual inspection to make the cut-over from heating to cooling seasons. I had the furniture all pulled away from the convector units for their convenience as I heard the sound of jet engines roaring on the other side of the building. I hobbled out to the balcony and peered toward the roar.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you see it?\u201d I asked Old Jim later at Willow.<\/p>\n
He nodded.\u00a0 \u201cI just looked up from my computer and out the window and there it was, just over the trees.\u201d<\/p>\n
John-with-an-H had captured a tiny image on his phone and he passed it down the bar. \u201cI missed the first shot since the airplane was actually below the tree-line,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was low. They say under 1,500 feet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAmazing,\u201d I said. \u201cI missed it, but I did hear the sound of the jet engines. Pretty cool, and makes you proud of NASA.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is sort of like being proud of the British Empire as they lower the flag on a former colony,\u201d growled Jim. \u201cThere is nothing to replace it. We are done.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh hell,\u201d I said. \u201cRemember, the Shuttle was never anything except a space truck for low-earth orbit. Plus, the SpaceX guys are going to launch an unmanned Dragon capsule to rendezvous with the International Space Station in just two weeks. Maybe it was time for the Government to get out of space.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jim and John-with looked dubious, and I decided to have another glass of wine, just for a change. Liz-with-an-S topped me up and I asked if she had heard back from the Inspector General\u2019s office of the agency down the block. She shrugged. \u201cI sent them a nice note thanking them for interviewing me. I told them I found their office engaging.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is a polite way to talk about the IG,\u201d said John-with.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing since?\u201d I asked, looking a the late afternoon light through the amber color of the Australian Hay-Burner White in my glass.<\/p>\n
She shook her head, and her chestnut ponytail danced on her lithe shoulders. \u201cNope. But I have hope.\u201d She walked back along the bar as Jim said something rude but appreciative about her beauty.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere there is life\u2026\u201d I said. \u201cBut we seem to be out of the hope business, even though we keep trying.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBill Clinton was from Hope, Arkansas,\u201d said John-with, owlishly. \u201cI think I am going to change from red to white wine in honor of the season. I hope that is acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd of course Mr. Obama was about Hope and Change,\u201d said Jim.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe read a book by General Gordon Sullivan at the War College called \u201cHope is Not a Method,\u201d\u201d I said. \u201cThe General said that hope by itself is no substitute for planning. He was Colin Powell\u2019s Army Chief of Staff. That was the last time we took a big whack in the dense establishment. It sucked.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are going to have to be doing a lot of hoping, then, if you are going to try to stay on the gravy train,\u201d said Jim.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know,\u201d I said, \u201cUnless something else happens- Korea or China or Iran- we are going straight down the tubes in terms of force structure. I don\u2019t see hope saving much. It is like the Shuttle- a grand last hurrah and then off to static display.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCan\u2019t abandon hope,\u201d said John-with. \u201cIt is a question of what you hope for.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is what Pascal Bruckner said.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBruckner. He is a crazy Frenchman who thinks that a paradigm shift in our thinking happened around Y2K. The era of revolution ended, and the Age of Catastrophe began.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou mean like the Global Warming thing?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe says it\u2019s everything. Science, demographics, global warming, sea level, food. The whole nine yards. In five years or in ten years, temperatures will rise, Earth will be uninhabitable, natural disasters will multiply, the climate will bring us to war, and nuclear plants will explode.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, it might, right? Look at the Tsunami and the Fukashima reactors.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is exactly the point. They just keep moving the goal posts. That is why people are losing interest. But the West has adopted a basic philosophy that we have despoiled the planet, ravaged the habitat and we must act immediately to change everything. Or else.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI certainly agree with that,\u201d said John-with. \u201cThe Europeans have taken leave of their senses, and they seem to have convinced everyone here, too. Even NASA says so.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot all of it. Mostly that idiot James Hansen. Did you see the letter from the 49 Astronauts telling Director Bolden that his chief of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies is becoming a public embarrassment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDoesn\u2019t he want an immediate international carbon tax? Isn\u2019t that what Vice President Biden was calling for the other day? I say the hell with it. Apres moi, les deluge,\u201d growled Jim.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are people who think the world would be better off without us,\u201d said Liz-S, topping up my tulip glass.<\/p>\n
\u201cApres nous, le deluge,\u201d I said taking a satisfying sip. \u201cJust don\u2019t go on without us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is some question of whether Louie XV said that, or his mistress Madame Pompadour,\u201d said John-with. \u201cIt is a matter of some controversy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether he did or didn\u2019t say it, his attitude managed to weaken the power of the state, gut the treasury, discredit the monarchy and set the stage for the French Revolution.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot bad for a dilettante at government,\u201d I said. \u201cEvery Age has its little challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat Bruckner guy might be on to something,\u201d said John-with.<\/p>\n
\u201cFuck that,\u201d growled Old Jim.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Willow-budweiser-307x281.jpg\" "\\"Willow")
<\/p>\n
Copyright 2012 Vic Socotra<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(Shuttle Discovery flies down the National Mall 17 April 2012 in a last pass of glory. Photo CBS News.) My knee feels better today but my back is killing me. One step forward and half a step back, I guess. But life is good. I was thinking that, among other things, when the Shuttle Discovery […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-socotra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2886"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2889,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2886\/revisions\/2889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}