Stop Fooling Around!

You wouldn't think that the perpetual delay of the Senate in confirming Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense and a meteor hitting the outskirts of a town in Russia might not be related, but they are, in a way. Rather than confirm Hagel on an up-or-down vote, John McCain and a few other Republican senators would rather delay his confirmation to express a grudge over Hagel's apostasy regarding the Iraq War than give President Obama the Pentagon chief he wants and let Hagel get a handle on the Defense Department's problems with its budget and with helping to strengthen national security while drawing down in Afghanistan. They'd rather fool around. Also, congressional budget hawks would rather fool around with NASA than give them enough money to study meteors and asteroids and how they can impact the earth - literally. Because not only did a meteor hit Russia, an asteroid came within 17,000 miles of the planet. Astronomers believe more meteors will hit the earth and that it's only a question of when, not if, an asteroid slams into us. Studying them could allow us to do something about it. But there's only so much NASA can do with what little it has.

So here's what I say - make Congress do its job! It's the only way we'll protect ourselves from threats abroad . . . and above.