But he's an ASTRONAUT!!!

So what. 

I forgot which general (possible Schwarzkopf) said it but during his promotion indoctrination the first thing he was told was that if the airplane taking him had crashed they would have simply picked through the list of capable colonels and replaced him with someone that was just as or maybe even more competent than him.

Same holds true for astronauts and just anybody else.

Kelly flew 4 space shuttle missions which in itself is commendable but the fact remains that if he didn't fly them then someone else would have. There's always a pretty good sized pool to choose from and the powers that be could have easily chosen someone else. It's probable that the pool actually had someone more capable than him waiting to go.

Once someone gets to that level there are factors other than outright competence that play into things. Space flight is a sought after duty and God only knows the politics that go on in the program. It's no different than a lot of other things that go on in both government and business. In fact there's a kernel of truth to the saying "He married the bosses daughter."

Still, if one looks at astronauts they were pretty much people with aircraft experience and good records that were pulled out for additional astronaut training. Most decent aviators could have been pulled off the fleet and been trained in the astronaut program and served competently. 

In fact during the Mercury program human pilots were added to the program because the White House insisted and the Mercury 7 became instant American Heroes. The first couple of Mercury flights were supposed to be piloted by monkeys.

When I see a person running for office 

I'm not trying to slight generals and astronauts here. I'm just trying to point out that they are human beings that learned a skill of some sort and that the skill is entirely unrelated to being able to hold political office.

When I see someone running for office leading his list of qualifications with a military record I simply say, "Yeah? So? What does he have to offer our future besides his past military record?"

Maynard Smith was awarded the Medal of Honor but I sure would not want to see someone like that in political office!

If you have not figured it out by now, Mark Kelly should be court-martialed. While I'm sure the paperwork overruling a court martial conviction is sitting in some activist judge's desk drawer just needing the dates filled in, it would serve as an embarrassment to him and serve as an example to others.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-f

eminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY