A weird article by John Lasker on Wired Magazine's web site claimed that the participants in this week's March Storm on Capitol hill were sent by aerospace companies to advocate policies designed to establish the basing of weapons in space. The piece seems to rely heavily on the input of Bruce Gagnon, an activist who seems to be somewhere to the left of MoveOn.org.
ProSpace President Marc Schlather has responded in a letter to the magazine's editor, posted here at SpacePolitics.com.
By far his most grievous mischaracterization is this sentence: “Some of the lobbyists represent the aerospace industry, but most have been hired by smaller space startups and entrepreneurs.”
I was very clear with Mr. Lasker about the fact that our members are volunteers and private citizens. For instance, at this week’s March Storm those in attendance included:
Ten college students (from the University of Michigan, University of Illinois, University of Colorado and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical).
An emergency room doctor
A materials scientist (who does not work in the aerospace industry).
A software engineer
A corporate training specialist
A Wall Street executive
We do have one member in long standing who is employed by a major aerospace company as a systems engineer on the Hubble Space Telescope, which could hardly be described as a weapons system.
In addition each of our members pays their own way to Washington. As some came from as far away as California that represents a substantial expense. No aerospace company paid the airfare or hotel bills of our attendees, nor was any member compensated for attending March Storm (except this author, who is the only paid employee of ProSpace).
This is the way we have done things since our founding twelve years ago. And it is chief among the reasons we are warmly welcomed back by members of Congress and their staffs each year – they know our agenda is one that is not based on any possible personal gain for our members, but rather a genuine concern for the direction of our nation’s space efforts.
UPDATE: The Wired article linked above has now been modified to correct the more outrageous misinformation about ProSpace that was present in the original posting. Also, Marc Schlather's letter has been published on the Wired web site.
1 comment:
I feel that hospice is discretely killing the sick.My mother got cancer and no cure was possible.My father was taking care of her and I was also helping.Although she was going to die eventually I resented Hospice when I found out that they told my father not to feed her if she did not request food..Who would be hungry when being given morphine?I was very upset and feel that hospice does not have the right to end anyones life when they are not in the right state of mind when being given morphine etc..What the courts allowed with terri was a crime and one day all thise who were envolved will pay for it severely!
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