Comments (18) Jump to Comments Form

1. 

   Margueritem said, 4 months ago

   A penny saved…

2. 

   Sisyphos said, 4 months ago

   Holy afterburner, Broomie!

3. 

   Yukoner said, 4 months ago

   So just imagine how the people orbiting in the space shuttle feel. Each part supplied by the lowest bidder.

4. 

   farren said, 4 months ago

   Not true. NASA doesn’t go low-bid on their equipment.

5. 

   SchmoozeMinkey said, 4 months ago

   Nothing from China. Ever.

6. 

   D-i-c-e-R said, 4 months ago

   Does the international space station have any parts from China?

7. 

   GJ_Jehosaphat said, 4 months ago

   Looks like she’s getting an early start to the 4th of July celebrations!

8. 

   Bdaysuit said, 4 months ago

   I wanna know where she is buying the brooms. I want one. lol

9. 

   Lewreader said, 4 months ago

   Can my wife get a bulk discount?

10. 

    JanCinVV said, 4 months ago

    Keep it until after the 4th. Good fireworks.

11. 

    N7326 Foxtrot said, 4 months ago

    How ‘bout my former mother-in-law?

12. 

    puddleglum1066 said, 4 months ago

    Yukoner, Farren: according to his obit in the Washington Post, the remark about the lowest bidder was uttered by Wally Schirra after the Gemini 6 booster shut down its engines on the launch pad. The astronauts had to spend a very nervous several minutes wondering whether the rocket was still tied to the pad (in which case they could get out and try again a few days later) or unhooked and about to fall over (in which case they’d better pull the eject handle before the thing blew up). A reporter asked Schirra what he was thinking during those minutes, and his reply was that every part of the rocket was made by the lowest bidder.

    As for the Shuttle, I’d suggest a look at the Smithsonian’s official history of the project, particularly Volume 1, “The Space Shuttle Decision.” The history makes it very clear that the entire design of the shuttle, including such dangerous compromises as the segmented solid boosters (Challenger), the delicate tiles (Columbia) and the lack of an escape system were dictated by the Nixon administration’s extremely tight-fisted Office of Management and Budget.

13. 

    nighthawks said, 4 months ago

    Nixon needed that extra dough to fund Liddy and his gang, not to mention those gazillion tons of bombs dropped on the ho chi min trail…..
    now, THERE was money and lives well spent!
    take the war budget and we’d have a base on the moon now.

14. 

    prasrinivara said, 4 months ago

    puddleglum1066, was it also Nixon’s OMB who decided on Arrow Air (charter cargo carrier) to ferry troops back from Europe?

    (known for cheapness, the airline critically failed to de-ice an aircraft, designated flight 1285, leaving Gander 1985/12/12–248 passengers and 8 crew were killed)

15. 

    bald 716 said, 4 months ago

    my ex wife’s cousin got hers from the government surplus sales every spring, she was a witch with a capitol B

16. 

    treered said, 4 months ago

    lowest bidder, liked the line out of ARMAGEDDON….

17. 

    Skyhawk_maintainer said, 4 months ago

    The Douglas A-3D Skywarrior didn’t have ejection seats and only had an ejection chute. Other than combat, the only times bad nasty things happen in flight are usually during takeoff and landing, and since they had to depend on gravity to clear the aircraft in an emergency, they needed at at least 600 feet to clear the aircraft and pull their ripcords, flight crews said A-3D meant “all three dead.” Just because something is mil spec doesn’t mean its the best.

18. 

    John Rieth said, 4 months ago

    Hey Bald: she would have gotten along beautifully with my ex mamma-in-law. I would prefer Broomie anyday.