Washington Affairs

5 April 2004


White House Back Pedals on Rice's Testimony
The Bush White House is one of the most controlled political environments this side of the old Soviet Politburo. Moreover, it is one of the politically most astute, knowing how to keep its base energized against all opposition. So, it came as a huge shock when Condoleezza Rice, the National Security Advisor, initially declined to testify before the 9/11 Commission. The reversal of that decision last week undoubtedly hurt, but the White House will benefit from it.

Hypersonic Jet -- NASA Turns to Weapons Research
NASA does more than just shuttles and space stations. It has had airplane research as part of its brief since the beginning. Its latest foray into that field, the X-43A hypersonic jet, just flew at 7 times the speed of sound. NASA flaks say it is the beginning of scramjet technology that will make it easy to travel from London to Sydney in a few hours. Unfortunately, the only application of the scramjet for years to come will be military.

Foreign Born Citizens Need Equal Presidential Rights
This is not a plea to make the Terminator the 44th president, but rather an acknowledgement that the founding fathers plain screwed up when they wrote the requirement that only native born citizens could be president. In a country of immigrants and their descendents, it is ridiculous to deny equal rights to citizens on the grounds that they weren't born in the US. By most measures, they would make better presidents than the locals.