To Infinity, and Beyond!

There are no better things.

Welfare for sustinence and survival? A necessary evil at best. Waste at worst.

Welfare to advance the masses? A fine concept, but its dollar-for-dollar yield is a lot lower than space exploration.

Medical advances? The space program will generate some, and anyway, the advances we have are becoming harder and harder to afford in their own right.

Foreign aid? It's the same as welfare--sometimes it pays off, but often it's payoffs.

More guns and ammo [the military]? We've already got the best one on the planet, but maybe an administration focused on space will need a few less bucks to fund 'peacekeeping' and 'police actions.' Besides which,there's always the 'Moon is Harsh Mistress' scenario. Somebody on Earth misbehaves, and we can send them a completely non-nuclear, non-chemical, non-biological WMD from the moon--a large rock. Interdict that.

Tax cuts? No. This is INVESTMENT. Live with it. And consider this--if we don't develop something new and original, there are a couple of billion+ population countries out there that are liable to walk all over us economically in the real near future.

Mark Schynert

after several good bitch slaps.

the pc is more a product of a failure of imagination by one company. pc's could have been good by now.

I'm British, not a "euros".

Really??

Jimi

"Mark Schynert" schreef in bericht news: snipped-for-privacy@news04.west.earthlink.net...

But what do you expect from this abitious space program? Investment in what? It won't pay off either. I don't believe it. Spin offs? Sure, like many money devouring events such as wars and past space projects it will produce some benefits. But they will mainly be of technical and scientific n ature, not economical in the foreseeable future. Perhaps for the next generation while the current generation will have to pay the price. What good does it do to see PC's in the shopwindow if one can't even afford proper medical care. It seems to me a valid question to ask yourself at what and whose expense you want to persue scientific progress and in what field. Besides I heard that scientists (who usually do not protest when having large sums of money in prospect) doubt the benefit of the planned manned flights and think that unmanned flights will suffice for doing what has to be done scientifically. If I had to choose between an expensive project for possible future benefit, or invest in better quality of society in present time I would choose for the latter.

Am I right in saying that Bush said he wanted to put a man on Mars by 20:30?

Well, it's now 20:17 by my watch and I don't see much happening!!!

He's gunna fail, I tell ya!!!

Spence

Hmmm. I think the "give me whatever I want but don't make me work or pay for it" concept is what's been bankrupting more than a couple of states and placed a tremendous burden on federal agencies as well.

"The world would be a much simpler place if every one could pick and choose their obligations, but we can't and we shouldn't." Major Charles W. Whittlesey

Wait a minute.....I thought Al Bore said he did that ;~)

"The world would be a much simpler place if every one could pick and choose their obligations, but we can't and we shouldn't." Major Charles W. Whittlesey

Just another politician making big plans in an election year that he never intends to follow through on. I don't know about you, but I need cheap health insurance alot more than something crawling around on a dead planet.

Ron R

It's not their elbows I'm worried about getting hit with. ;-)

WmB

To reply, get the HECK out of there snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net

Yeah...and when we get there again, he'll take credit for inventing the moon...

Now there's an oxymoron...we need to SPEND money to get CHEAP health insurance?..

Don't get me wrong - I agree on that point. In fact, I'd like to see insurance as we know it wiped off the surface of the earth and just be able to pay my own bills out of my own pocket. Seems to me we pay the people we elect HUGE bux to do just that for us - why give them any more? Besides, there's not really much a President can do about either the insurance rackets or NASA - the real power to do something is in the Congress, and you know what you get doing anything by commitee - the "follow through" really isn't up to the President. At most, all he can do is be a cheerleader.

Go ahead and go to the moon, I say.

My sister has that same stupid attitude. It's people like her that have given us the rediculous tax burden that we now have.

Amen to that! All part of the "gimme" generation.

-- John ___ __[xxx]__ (o - ) --------o00o--(_)--o00o-------

The history of things that didn't happen has never been written - Henry Kissinger

Bassie, I'm glad you don't believe in it. It's sort of a good check on reality. And as far as I can tell, you won't have to pay for it either. Think of the opportunity it will give you over the next twenty years to laugh at us. Cheap entertainment, no? In the meantime, issues we face like the adequacy of health care will either be resolved or continue to fester because of the will devoted to their solution, not the money that might be thrown at them. The existing health care system in the US is absolutely awash in money, but there never seems to be enough. The existence or not of a space program will have absolutely no impact on that, even if all the money spent on the one is poured into the other.

Mark Schynert

Think of the additions to the model stash......

RobG

That would make life easier on some Mormons. :)

Bill Banaszak, MFE

Umm.... cordless tools have been around for centuries. They used to be the only ones available. Go have a look in Grandad's tool box sometime - no electricity required, just skill and elbow grease. And I'm still waiting for VR that is IS realistic. :-)

RobG

LOL! Not original, but funny.

RobG

Also ..... lots of engineering overtime in 1974 during the space shuttle design. Enuf to git me paid off on a shiny new Corvette convertible, dark green, white soft top, 350 cu engine, 350 horses, four speed manual, disk brakes ....... and then, when my work on that project was over, they (Rockwell) were kind enough to lay me off so I could go on unemployment for a year, play tennis every workday in Griffith Park, and finish my MBA at USC night school.

I really did look for work ........ and it really helped that the Vette was paid for. ........ thank you NASA.

.../V