WHAT'S NEW Friday, June 25, 2004

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 25 Jun 04   Washington, DC

Paul Gresser contributed to this week's issue of What's New.

1. SPACE TOURISTS: MAYBE I'LL JUST WAIT FOR THE SPACE ELEVATOR. 
Even as SpaceShipOne was clearing the 100 kilometer bar, usually
accepted as the edge of space, Space Adventures Ltd. announced
that more than 100 people have put down a $10,000 deposit on a
$100,000 ticket to space.  Just the thing for a short vacation;
you won't be in space long enough to get sick, but if you want to
upgrade your ticket to an overnight on the ISS, it's going to
cost another $20 million.  Even then it's no guarantee.  Greg
Olsen, who made his fortune in optics (WN 9 Apr 04), trained for
three months to ride on the Russian Soyuz, only to be rejected
this week for medical reasons.  I called Ada Parvenu at NASA who
is in charge of billionaire relations.  I told her there was
grumbling about using the ISS to entertain the super rich.
"That's so unfair," she groaned, "rich people need vacations too,
but you can't expect them to go to Disney World."
                                                                 
2. POLITICAL SCIENCE: REPUBLICANS INSIST THEY LOVE SCIENCE, TOO.
Republicans rushed to defend their science credentials, following
the endorsement of John Kerry by 48 Nobel laureates on Monday. 
"Only John Kerry would declare the country to be in scientific
decline on a day when the country's first privately funded space
trip is successfully completed," a Bush spokesman snorted.  Kerry
meanwhile vowed to lift the Bush restrictions on stem-cell
research and "listen to the advice of scientists."  In February, 
more than 60 prominent scientists, including 20 Nobel laureates,
had charged the administration with politically manipulating the
science advisory process http://www.aps.org/WN/WN04/wn022004.cfm 

3. IRAN'S WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION: HERE WE GO AGAIN.  
A week ago, the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is
responsible for verifying compliance with the Non-Proliferation
Treaty, charged that Iran is not cooperating fully with nuclear
inspection teams.  President Bush believes Iran is attempting to
produce a nuclear bomb, and he has all that great intelligence.
He says a defiant Iran "will be dealt with, starting through the
United Nations."  And then what?  This is the macho posturing
used to justify the Iraq war!  At the six-party talks in Beijing
meanwhile, North Korea proposes to freeze its nuclear weapons
program in exchange for energy help and security assurances.  

4. CORONATION: REVEREND SUN MYUNG MOON CROWNED IN U.S. CAPITAL. 
The NY Times and Wash Post have just now discovered the bizarre
March 23 crowning of Korean-born news mogul, Unification Church
founder and self-declared Messiah, as members of Congress looked
on.  This is big.  We don't get many Messiahs in Washington.  The
appropriate action, we believe, is to rename the Reagan Memorial
Moon (WN 11 Jun 04).  It will henceforth be known as "the Moon."

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND.  
Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the
University of Maryland, but they should be.
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