1115.org

(1)
The Orlando Sentinel reported yesterday:

NASA paid $26.6 million to the families of seven astronauts who died aboard space shuttle Columbia — a settlement that has been kept secret for more than 21/2 years.

Anyone who fancies themselves as an apologist for this administration, feel free to explain to me why this needed to be kept secret.

If you feel up to it, go ahead and tackle this too:

The documents were released to the Sentinel last month after a reporter filed requests in 2005 and 2006. Stephen L. McConnell, NASA’s principal FOIA officer, insisted the agency was not trying to delay the records release.

The Sentinel story explains how little information was actually provided by NASA in response to the FOIA request. But a covering letter explains why:

McConnell’s letter also states that further details are exempted from release because they expose NASA’s deliberations in the matter..

And we can’t have that at all, now, can we? Exposing to the people the deliberations of a government agency. Why, the very idea! It’s almost as if the Sentinel is under the illusion that we are living in a democracy, as if the government of the people, by the people and for the people is somehow accountable to the people.

(2)
NASA’s carefully crafted statements make it sound like the government, out of its innate sense of nobility and honor, offered the families of the victims very fair settlements in order to spare them the pain and indignity of suing for damages. For example:

“The Columbia astronauts were our friends and co-workers,” (NASA spokesman Allard Beutel) wrote. “Our concern always has been with the crew’s families and their loss…”

One of the few family members who was apparently willing to speak to the Sentinel about the settlement offers a somewhat different perspective:

Dr. Jon Clark, widower of astronaut Laurel Blair Salton Clark, said NASA was “deferential” in dealing with the families through a turbulent period in their lives.

“We were in a state of shock,” he said. “To go the lawsuit route, it’s very painful and very protracted. So we settled.”

That doesn’t sound too bad, really. Unless the government squeezed the families, knowing that they would prefer to avoid a painful and protracted process of litigation?

Jon Clark … said he spent $200,000 consulting with his own lawyers. The settlements, he said, were on the “low side” of what survivors sought, though he wouldn’t give an exact figure to protect the security of families.

Parents, spouses and children all received compensation, he said. Astronauts with doctoral degrees also received slightly more than those with master’s degrees.

“It wasn’t a lot of money. A few million [dollars] isn’t much,” he said. “We had to prove our loved ones were worth something.”
[...]
Two astronaut families ordered preflight insurance policies through NASA, but the agency failed to obtain the additional coverage before the accident.

All the families threatened to go public, Clark said, before the agency paid the two families the additional insurance.

Your government. Working hard — every day, and in every way — to make you proud to be an American.

(3)
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to read just one single story — just one — about how the federal government (or a federal agecy) in the time of Bush managed to do the right thing. All on their own. Without kicking and screaming. Without holding their breath and turning blue first. Without being forced to by a court.

Maybe they actually did, and I’ve just forgotten. If so, feel free to remind me.