Holy. Crap.
About a minute and a half into this interview with Al Jezeera, NASA administrator Charles Bolden reports the three missions President Obama has charged NASA with:
When I became the NASA Administrator — before I became the NASA Administrator — [Obama] charged me with three things: One was he wanted me to help re-inspire children to want to get into science and math, he wanted me to expand our international relationships, and third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, math, and engineering. [emphasis added]
Not to be picky, but shouldn’t there be something in NASA’s mission about, like, you know, going into space? Hey Obama—how about less “Muslim” and more “Mars?”
And what possible contribution are we looking for from the contemporary Islamic world, anyway? The Space Burkha? The Martyr’s Re-Entry Module—no parachute required?
What has the international Muslim community done to warrant this sucking up? Is Israel safer? Have the attempted attacks against the US stopped? Is Iran ready for peace?
Speaking of Iran…
A 43-year-old Iranian woman is facing death by stoning unless an international campaign launched by her children forces the authorities to quash what her lawyer calls a bogus conviction.
In a case that highlights the growing use of the death penalty in a country that has already executed more than 100 people this year, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was convicted in May 2006 of conducting an "illicit relationship outside marriage." [emphasis added]
It’s not NASA that needs to send a message to the Islamic world. The Department of Defense already has its hands full with that mission right now.
[h/t Instapundit and Reihl World View\
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