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"Musk has given lavishly to politicians, especially Arizona Senator John McCain (R). In return, McCain added Section 1615 to this year's defense authorization b

by make3 9y ago

"Musk has given lavishly to politicians, especially Arizona Senator John McCain (R). In return, McCain added Section 1615 to this year's defense authorization bill, which includes language to restrict the military from investing in new launch systems." As much as I love Musk, this is fucked up. Just a normal day in the American democracy I guess

Footkerchief 9y ago
That argument is presented for context in the introduction. The entire rest of the article is about debunking it: > The central canard of these attacks is that John McCain did not, in fact, add "Section 1615" to the Defense Authorization Act, which is now being finalized by a conference between the House and Senate. This clause does not exist at all in the Senate language. Rather, it was inserted into the House legislation by US Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican from Alabama. > Two sources familiar with the legislation told Ars that Rogers added Section 1615 specifically to benefit Aerojet and its AR1 rocket engine. > "The purpose of the provision is simple," one Washington DC source said. "Instead of the Department of Defense continuing their open-ended, market-friendly risk reduction investment across several providers to enable Russian-engine-free launch capabilities, Rogers wants DOD to fund Aerojet to build AR1 to be inserted into Atlas V." In other words, the language benefits Aerojet by favoring its "drop in" engine solution over building a completely new Vulcan rocket.
nullymcnull 9y ago
If you had read the article beyond a few paragraphs, you would have realized that McCain introduced no such section to the bill in question. You're definitely part of the problem to have read that and taken it away as fact. The article is illustrating a much deeper level of fucked up - the fact that Brietbart and other media outlets are singling out SpaceX here and misrepresenting the facts to demonize them, while turning a blind eye to the real pork - deeply entrenched interests like Boeing and Lockheed Martin, who've been siphoning billions out of government on space tech for decades. If anything, SpaceX has been disrupting the status quo there, opening the door to real market competition, in the long run reducing costs to taxpayers. The entrenched interests under threat are almost certainly behind these strangely framed (and outright dishonest) hit pieces.

by make3 9y ago

Footkerchief 9y ago

That argument is presented for context in the introduction. The entire rest of the article is about debunking it: > The central canard of these attacks is that John McCain did not, in fact, add "Section 1615" to the Defense Authorization Act, which is now being finalized by a conference between the House and Senate. This clause does not exist at all in the Senate language. Rather, it was inserted into the House legislation by US Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican from Alabama. > Two sources familiar with the legislation told Ars that Rogers added Section 1615 specifically to benefit Aerojet and its AR1 rocket engine. > "The purpose of the provision is simple," one Washington DC source said. "Instead of the Department of Defense continuing their open-ended, market-friendly risk reduction investment across several providers to enable Russian-engine-free launch capabilities, Rogers wants DOD to fund Aerojet to build AR1 to be inserted into Atlas V." In other words, the language benefits Aerojet by favoring its "drop in" engine solution over building a completely new Vulcan rocket.

nullymcnull 9y ago

If you had read the article beyond a few paragraphs, you would have realized that McCain introduced no such section to the bill in question. You're definitely part of the problem to have read that and taken it away as fact. The article is illustrating a much deeper level of fucked up - the fact that Brietbart and other media outlets are singling out SpaceX here and misrepresenting the facts to demonize them, while turning a blind eye to the real pork - deeply entrenched interests like Boeing and Lockheed Martin, who've been siphoning billions out of government on space tech for decades. If anything, SpaceX has been disrupting the status quo there, opening the door to real market competition, in the long run reducing costs to taxpayers. The entrenched interests under threat are almost certainly behind these strangely framed (and outright dishonest) hit pieces.