Janesville GM plant > Space Center > Hope and Change.

[Atman]

Sorry, I tried to fit a lot into the sub line. But this discussion about Paul Ryan's outright lies about the Janesville, Wisconsin GM plant struck a certain chord. I grew up in Cocoa Beach, Florida, home of what was then known as Cape Kennedy. Most of my family and friends worked in the "space industry." Summer jobs for some Cocoa Beach HS students included gluing heat tiles onto the Space Shuttle. It was a bizarre place to grow up.

The town transformed over the years as Congress played with NASA's funding, never taking into account the impact on our small town. Thriving businesses disappeared and some shifted towards beach tourism instead of space tourism. Then the death knell came under George W. Bush as he announced the end of America's space program -- or, at least, the privatization of it. I guess since he couldn't give his other buddies our Social Security accounts.

Well, today Cocoa Beach is a horrible mess of a town, trying anything to survive, including newly-installed pay-by-cell-phone-only parking meters which charge your credit card $2.50 an hour. I am not making this up. But you know who is to blame, at least according to my old Florida buddies, most of whom turned out to be Republicans, despite the science which created our town? Of course, it is OBAMA's fault. They hate him. I only know of a few old high school buddies who will vote for him. The town is in tatters, they claim, because of the loss of the space program.

But wait, didn't GEORGE BUSH shut down the space program? Well, sure, they say. But Obama could have overturned it, and he didn't so it is all Obama's fault. Seriously. I have had "discussions" with some of my very best friends about this. Bush may have ended the program, but Obama should have saved it. No blame on Bush at all.

I see why Paul Ryan is doing this with the Janesville, WI GM plant. Sure, Bush did it. But it is time to stop blaming Bush...Obama should have saved the plant!

Hey, guess what, Republicans? YOU GOT SCREWED JUST LIKE DEMS DID! We wanted single-payer health care, an end to the tax cuts, an end to the wars...we didn't get 'em. And Obama didn't end Bush's closing of the GM plant, either. Deal, motherfuckers.

[Octafish]

1. EVERY engineer I've met who worked for NASA...

...said it was their best job. Creating new technologies, they loved exploring the New Frontier.

Thank you, Atman, for setting the record straight. Nixon killed Apollo. Imagine where we'd be if President Kennedy had lived to lead the nation through a second term?

[Johonny]

2. Donald Rumsfeld was suppose to re-energize space.

seriously that's what people thought. He understood military space and its needs. I was told this over and over. Instead he did nothing for space. All that money went to Iraq. At the time space was/is still digging out of the mess of the faster, better, cheaper era and then funding went down again.

Bush spent 8 years on science fantasy that he basically didn't fund anyways. It takes years to start a program and see it through to the end. The programs of today were the programs that should have started 12 years ago. But there really are no new significant programs. Most significant programs were already in the pipe when Bush hit office. There is little new stuff in the pipeline. Obama can't retroactively go back 12 years in time and create projects. Obama could though actually set up some realistic short term, mid-term and long term goals and try to get funding for them... but to fund them you have to go through the Republicans house and we know how that will go. Particularly now that you have so many billionaires with a rocket in their pocket... it is messy. What SMC, JPL and NASA have done with such a mix of support in congress and the White House is pretty amazing.

It isn't a surprise that the US didn't continue the massive economic support of the Apollo era in space. But it is surprising with all the success the US has had the past 20 years (we have built an entire orbiting space infrastructure no politician ever tells you exists) that there isn't more support and vision. No bucks, no Buck Rogers.

[Submariner]

3. If I'm not mistaken, the Janesville plant was a Chevy Suburban

Last edited Thu Aug 30, 2012, 02:23 PM - Edit history (1)

assembly plant, which was a gas guzzler like the Hummer. With Bush's gas prices up in the $4/gallon neighborhood, I recall a lot of threads calling for the elimination of the big gas guzzling SUV's.

This closure was the result of the gas price rise. It was not set up to assemble small cars.

As shown here, Ryan didn't seem to care for his hometown folk anyway;

Janesville native Lou Kaye has been covering Paul Ryan for years and points out that Ryan's personal politics clashed with what a town in recovery desperately needed - including making the choice to skip every government meeting related to helping his hometown recover:

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/paul-ryan-didnt-work-all-hard-help-hi

[Tennessee Gal]

4. The media should be reporting this!!!!

From the link:

That's right, Paul Ryan, the guy who often refers to himself as the area's go-to "federal guy", did not participate in the district's most important plans for economic recovery during what was arguably the most stressful time in its history since the Great Depression. These two important meetings were not only in his congressional district, but Janesville is his hometown. Now, I do recall during the summer of 2010 that Paul Ryan was starting to bounce around on the national scene promoting his hyper-partisan GOP recruitment book, "Youngs Guns." So it becomes obvious he had more important things to attend to at that time. It's also possible that he may have written a letter to whom it may concern in support of these economic recovery meetings, but we recently discovered how routine his letters of support really are. So.

In addition to Ryan's glaring absence, what must not be overlooked is the fact that local leaders in business, education and government had no choice but to present their list of 8 projects totaling $40 million to a federal official other than their own congressional representative.

Also, these meetings were not held behind closed doors with hedge fund managers, corporate fatcats or select campaign donors. They were held in broad daylight under full public scrutiny and with full disclosure. The folks in attendance were his constituency. But perhaps they (including some of his supporters) already knew Ryan would turn a deaf ear to their cries for help. Perhaps they knew Ryan would view their comeback plans and requests for revenue as little more than hand-outs and earmarks, putting his delicate conservative reputation at risk. But most important, perhaps they knew they had no choice but to go over his head if they ever wanted a chance to get something done.

Paul Ryan had the opportunity of a lifetime to be part of the solution and do great things for his congressional district. Instead, he chose not to show up.