Thursday, February 06, 2003

HIGH NOON AT THE U.N.:
Colin Powell's Iron-Clad Case Against Saddam


Yesterday, before the United Nations Security Council, Secretary of State Colin Powell gave a 90-minute presentation of recently declassified US intelligence data which apparently confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt that Iraq possesses chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction, as well as continues to develop more of them in massive quantities. For example, Powell noted, the Iraqis have manufactured and still possess over 4 tons of the lethal agent VX, a poison so deadly that only "[a] single drop" on a person's skin "will kill in minutes."

Moreover, said Powell, the data proves that Saddam Hussein was not only refusing to comply with all U.N. resolutions passed against Iraq, the Iraqis been systematically and deliberately deceiving the U.N.'s inspectors for the past 12 years.

The case Powell made was so compelling and convincing that life-long liberal Democrats Joe Biden and Ted Kennedy finally agreed with President Bush about the danger Iraq presents to the US and the rest of the world. Even The Washington Post's resident Clintonista, columnist Mary McGrory, wrote that she was "pursuaded."

Yet, we are told today, three key members of the Security Council --France, China, and Russia-- continue to resist using force to make Saddam disarm. Instead, they want to "respond" by sending more inspectors to Iraq. Perhaps they want to drag this on for another 12 years, by which time Saddam could very well be up to his eyeballs in nuclear weapons.

Tuesday, February 04, 2003

"LOVE TO ALL, LAUREL":
A Columbia Astronaut's Last E-Mail to Earth


Today the Associated Press released the text of an e-mail sent by astronaut Laurel Clark to her friends and family the day before her death. She happily tells them in some detail about her experiences in orbit. For example, she described the views from space of "our magnificent planet Earth" as "truly awe-inspiring," but adds that she and the rest of the crew were so "busy doing science round the clock" that "getting a moment to type e-mail is precious."

Clark vividly describes her seeing "lightning spreading over the Pacific, the Aurora Australis lighting up the entire visible horizon with the cityglow of Australia below, the crescent moon setting over the limb of the Earth, the vast plains of Africa and the dunes on Cape Horn, rivers breaking through tall mountain passes, the scars of humanity, the continuous line of life extending from North America, through Central America and into South America." While over Japan, she says, "Mount Fuji looks life a small bump from up here, but it does stand out as a very distinct landmark."

She also describes clearly seeing her native Lake Michigan area, especially the area of Wisconsin she came from. She didn't get a lot of chances for sight-seeing over Planet Earth, she said, because "much of the time I'm working back in Spacehab and don't see any of it." But "[w]henever I do get to look out, it is glorious. Even the stars have a special brightness." She noted that she took as many photos as she could, and felt she got some especially beautiful shots though expressing concern over their sharpness since zero-gravity can affect one's focusing. On that note, it would a nice turn in this tragedy if her camera is eventually recovered.

She writes, "I feel blessed to be here representing our country and carrying out the research of scientists around the world" and adds that "[t]he food is great and I am feeling very comfortable in this new, totally different environment." But eating and drinking in zero gravity has its challenges: "It still takes a while to eat as gravity doesn't help pull food down your esophagus. It is also a constant challenge to stay adequately hydrated. Since our body fluids are shifted toward our heads our sense of thirst is almost non-existent."

Clark closes her e-mail thanking her family and friends for "hav[ing] supported me and my adventures throughout the years. This was definitely one to beat all. I hope you could feel the positive energy that beamed to the whole planet as we glided over our shared planet."

"FLYING FOR ME"
John Denver's Tribute to the Space Shuttle Astronauts


According to a story published in 1997 in Florida Today, back in the 1980s the late singer-songwriter John Denver --an outspoken supporter of the space program as well as an avid amatuer pilot-- was seriously considered by NASA to be the first civilian non-astronaut to ride into space aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger in its ill-fated January 1986 flight. As we now know, school teacher Christa McAuliffe was chosen instead, apparently per President Reagan's wishes.

This is the song Denver wrote in honor of McAullife and the entire Challenger crew. It seems equally fitting for the Columbia crew as well:

FLYING FOR ME
by John Denver

Well, I guess that you probably know by now
I was one who wanted to fly
I wanted to ride on that arrow of fire right up into heaven
And I wanted to go for every man, every child, every mother of children
I wanted to carry the dreams of all people right up to the stars

And I prayed that I'd find an answer there
Or maybe I would find the song
Giving a voice to all of the hearts that can not be heard
And for all of the ones who live in fear
And all of those who stand apart
My being there would bring us a little step closer together

They were flying for me, they were flying for everyone
They were trying to see, a brighter day for each and everyone
They gave us their light, they gave us their spirit, and all they could be
They were flying for me

And I wanted to wish on the Milky Way and dance upon the falling star
I wanted to give myself, and free myself, enjoin myself with it all!
Given the chance to dream, it can be done
The promise of tomorrow is real
Children of spaceship Earth, the future belongs to us all

She was flying for me, she was flying for everyone
She was trying to see, a brighter day for each and everyone
She gave us her light, she gave us her spirit, and all she could be
She was flying for me

They were flying for me, they were flying for everyone
They were trying to see, a brighter day for each and everyone
They gave us their light, they gave us their spirit, and all they could be
They were flying for me

According to reports published soon after the song was released in 1987, Denver gave any money he earned from it to the families of the Challenger crew. In October 1997, Denver too died in a flight accident when he lost control of his experimental ultra-light aircraft, which plunged into the Pacific off the coast of California.
SADDAM'S SMOKING GUN:
Key Defector Reveals Secret WMD Sites


According to a piece in yesterday's edition of the Australian news daily Herald Sun,

SADDAM Hussein's senior bodyguard has fled with details of Iraq's secret arsenal. His revelations have supported US President George W. Bush's claim there is enough evidence from UN inspectors to justify going to war. Abu Hamdi Mahmoud has provided Israeli intelligence with a list of sites that the inspectors have not visited.

They include:

AN underground chemical weapons facility at the southern end of the Jadray Peninsula in Baghdad;

A SCUD assembly area near Ramadi. The missiles come from North Korea;

TWO underground bunkers in Iraq's Western Desert. These contain biological weapons.

William Tierney, a former UN weapons inspector who has continued to gather information on Saddam's arsenal, said Mahmoud's information is "the smoking gun".

Mahmoud, according to this article, paints a picture of an increasingly paranoid Hussein who "is a walking arsenal" with "concealed guns all over his body," especially after a 1996 assassination attempt on the life of his eldest son.


Monday, February 03, 2003

DAVE BARRY REMEMBERS COLUMBIA:
The Popular Humorist's Personal Tribute


In this light-hearted yet touching story on his weblog today, writer Dave Barry reminisces about the time an astronaut took one of his books into space aboard the Columbia

Thanks, Dave, for reminding us how human and down-to-earth our fallen heroes really were, and for giving us something to smile about in the midst of this sad time.



Sunday, February 02, 2003

TRAGEDY IN SPACE:
The Space Shuttle Columbia Is Gone


Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds --and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of --wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence, hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along,
And flung my eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.


--"High Flight" by WW2 pilot John Gillespie Magee Jr.

Our prayers go out for the families, friends, and colleagues of the seven heroic astronauts who lost their lives yesterday in the NASA space program's worst accident since the 1986 Challenger tragedy.

May God bless and comfort them all.

PS: Especially noteworthy are the comments by syndicated columnist Peggy Noonan (from whom the above-quoted poem was taken), as well as the words of Junk Yard Blog's Bryan Preston, a NASA employee who once watched the Columbia take off.