Shat-chan's Wakeup Call

The crew of STS-133 were treated to a wakeup call from Shat-chan yesterday. It's part of the farewell to the USA's civilian shuttle program which is coming to an inglorious end. American astronauts have gone from ticker tape parades to bumming rides on Soyuz flights. Meanwhile, the Pentagon is flush with cash and ramping up its military shuttle launches, determined to boost our tribal squabbles into orbit at taxpayer expense. But as Arthur C. Clarke observed, "There is hopeful symbolism in the fact that flags do not wave in a vacuum."