A billion here, a billion there
... and pretty soon you're talking real money. Before we have all the details on the President's bold plan for space exploration I'd like to make one comment about the objections that are already being raised.
One billion dollars. It sounds a lot like Dr. Evil if you say it right. But spread over five years, this is chump change to the federal government. In this article, Stephen Moore of the very conservative Club for Growth (and someone whose economic thinking I generally admire) says that the new program is a "total fiscal absurdity."
Well, I call bullshit. If the liberals and old people can have $400 billion for drugs, well I want a goddamn flag on Mars for .25% of the money needed to keep grandpa in viagra.
It is all well and good to provide for the needs of our citizenry, and to build bombs to smite those that offend us. But we can spend a little (relatively speaking) to do something that merely expands the horizons of our knowledge, inspires us with pride in accomplishing something truly unprecedented, and lays the groundwork for our grandchildren's exploration of a boundless frontier.
Screw you, penny pinchers.
[wik] Of course, there are also very real benefits. There are the nifty technological spin offs. There is the pleasing thought that this will maintain our strategic dominance of space in the face of possible Chinese or even European interference. Also, it keeps us at the cutting edge, and assures that all the smart people will keep coming here to work with the smart people already here, and keep us on top. And don't forget, condos on Mars will piss off the environmental wackos no end!
[alsø wik] Johno comments,
"But I'm a sentimental man and place a LOT of stock in grand historic gestures of combined human enterprise. We can either embrace the stars, or turn our backs on them. It's this dicking around in low-earth-orbit with expensive and delicate experimental machinery that I can't freaking stand. "
Too true. As I commented over at Insults Unpunished, the space station and shuttle were entirely useless unless there was a large goal, or at least enterprise in space. Its like building a billion dollar greyhound bus to travel back and forth to a four billion dollar bus station in the middle of Death Valley. Unless we go to the moon or planets or asteroids, or actually create a "there" in orbit ourselves, neither of these expensive technological gimcracks have any purpose or utility.
People who favor robotic exploration go on and on about scientific bang for taxpayer buck, blah blah blah; but they can never answer the question, "well can your robot plant a fucking flag on Mars, and feel the exhilaration that every man on Earth can identify with?" The answer is no. Grand Guestures are expensive, but they are grand; and no penny pinching, cost cutting bureaucrat will ever get them for us.
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I can't wait to hear what the
I can't wait to hear what the Dem candidates have to say about this.... They've already been throwing around the "spend it at home line."
Someone-- Dean, Gephardt, Kerry, whoever-- should step up and take the line that the more money we spend on space exploration and a Mars project, the better. You're right, Buckethead, the collateral benefits alone are worth the effort. But I'm a sentimental man and place a LOT of stock in grand historic gestures of combined human enterprise.
We can either embrace the stars, or turn our backs on them. It's this dicking around in low-earth-orbit with expensive and delicate experimental machinery that I can't freaking stand.
Buckethead will no doubt be
Buckethead will no doubt be pleased that the Bush "administration" has just announced $1.5 Billion (pocket change!) to promote MARRIAGE amongst low-income folks!
Yeah, that'll solve everything.
The poor don't need to be told that they need to get married. They need the administration to stop ALTERING (http://www.calpundit.com/archives/003024.html) reports to suit their political ends. Particularly when the report describes how low-income folks and minority folks are treated pretty damn badly by the medical system, and how it can be made better:
"The scientists draft concluded that disparities come at a personal and societal price, including lost productivity, needless disability, and early death. The final version drops this conclusion and replaces it with the finding that some priority populations do as well or better than the general population in some aspects of health care. As an example, the executive summary highlights that American Indians/Alaska Natives have a lower death rate from all cancers.