NASA Encounters Problems With Ares 1 Launch Vehicle Design

Has anyone (Paging Mr. Oberg, Mr. Jim Oberg, please pick up the white
courtesy phone.) asked Mike Griffin in an open forum about alternatives
to Ares I & V? If so, what was his response?

Personally, I find it extremely hard to find fault with the proposal of
the Direct Launch advocates at http://www.directlauncher.com/ Yeah, I
understand about higher variable costs/launch, but the overall savings
in time, dollars, and risk look enormous.

What am I missing here? Jim, Henry, anyone?

And when is that first Ares I dummy launch scheduled, the one with the
four segment SRB topped with an empty fifth segment and a mocked up
CEV? Isn't that on for summer '07? Is it actually going to take a
destruct command from the Range Safety officer as that top-heavy Wanda
spirals out of control to get NASA to reconsider?

Flummoxed,

Frank