[BITList] deranged

[x50type at cox.net]

      I wonder why the US constitution allows the mentally deranged to run as a possible presidential candidate?
      only this week this one said the moon will become the 50th state in the union with >15000 US citizens living there by 2020............................?
      he apparently does not know the USA already has 50 states.
      see video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or1Mb1Vje1Q
      ct

      Newt Gingrich's History in Outer Space
      By Robert Wright 

      Jan 27 2012, 10:34 PM ET 
      Newt Gingrich's recent proposal to colonize the moon is nothing new. Gingrich has been generating visionary extraterrestrial ideas at least since 1984, when he published a book called Window of Opportunity: A Blueprint for the Future. 

      And what a blueprint it was! Here are just two of the space-related ideas Newt trotted out in that book: 

      1) Nocturnal Illumination. Gingrich wrote: "A mirror system in space could provide the light equivalent of many full moons so that there would be no need for nighttime lighting of the highways." The implications of this technology for law enforcement did not escape Newt's attention: "Ambient light covering entire areas could reduce the current danger of criminals lurking in darkness." 

      2) Helping the Handicapped. Gingrich saw and emphasized "the possible benefits of weightlessness to people currently restricted to wheelchairs." This may sound farfetched, but Gingrich had done his homework; he reported that when he shared the idea with paraplegics they "begin asking questions in an enthusiastic tone." 

      I gleaned these two examples from a column for The New Republic that I wrote back in 1995, when Mickey Kaus and I were writing TNR's TRB column on alternate weeks (and when TNR was a weekly). I'm reprinting the column, below, for two reasons: (1) I actually kind of like it; (2) it shows how long Newt has been giving conservatives good reason to doubt his bonafides. 

      The context for the column is that Gingrich had just gotten a lot of publicity for landing a $4.5 million book contract. 
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