[Coco] Re: off-topic, space program

[Brad Grier]

Lawrence Weeks wrote:
> Once upon a time (Sun Jan 18), Brad Grier wrote:
> 
> 
>>I think those that "simplistically" blame Bush of being evil are
>>taking a page from the man himself; a president that proudly admits
>>he doesn't read the news and has a simplistic habit of seeing the
>>world in black-and-white. Just ask any "evil-doer".
> 
> 
> Whatever. 

I take it you don't find it troublesome that the leader of the free 
world doesn't read. (The one verifiable exception being the children's 
story he read for twenty minutes after being told "America is under 
attack". Oh, he can also handle a teleprompter.)

Anyway, to each is own - or "whatever" as the case may be.


The polarisation this country has gone through, first under
> Bubba, now Dubya, is very bad for us as a people. 

Agreed. I'm still waiting for the uniter, I'm sick of the divider.


>Don't be a lemming, use your brain.  

Interesting, I was in a band in college called The Lemmings - really. As 
for not using my brain, well, I'll try to not be insulted.


 >Bush is the president. He isn't a dictator.

I'd be the first to agree we're incredibly lucky to have Bush as a 
President and not a dictator. We're also fortunate all the jokes he's 
made about being dictator are just jokes and not some reflection of some 
subconscious desire.


> He, along
> with the 535 morons in Congress, do some bad stuff. They do some good
> stuff. Regardless of party. The partisan simpletons who impugn every
> last thing Bush does as part of some grand conspiracy to enrich his
> "corporate buddies" and "steal the oil" are just as stupid as the rabid
> Clinton haters. These people love to hate so much, they are blinded.

Is it stupid to be outraged by an unnecessary war started with lies? 
Forget about our national treasure, people are dying. If that makes 
someone angry, it only proves to me they still have a conscience. I 
wouldn't call them stupid. I wouldn't even call the Clinton haters 
stupid - ridiculous and sexually repressed perhaps, but not stupid.

On this point though, I don't know anyone that hates everything Bush 
does - quite the opposite: In the "red" state where a live, most people 
love everything he does (regardless of how many people have died).


> 
>>As far as the space program, I'd like to see a man on Mars in my
>>lifetime but I have serious doubts. We heard similar proposals from
>>Bush I and nothing came to pass. Furthermore, Bush and the congress
>>are spending money like there's no tomorrow. You can only splurge
>>on the credit card for so long. NASA is a favorite chopping block
>>when things get tight and with the boomers set to retire, we ain't
>>seen nothin' yet.
> 
> 
> There's one reason we'll get to Mars: China. Despite the True
> Believers, this isn't one big happy family here on Earth. The fall
> of the USSR made it seem possible for a little while, but China
> will be bringing us back to reality. As their space program ramps
> up, ours will too. The Europeans are also getting into the game,
> trying to become independent from us. That's another aspect to the
> Bush revitalization program. Bush wants us to build a new payload
> delivery system. One reason, I am sure, is the current dominance of
> the European Ariane booster in the commercial world, and the coming
> dominance of China. While those who think national competition is
> an evil thing, the reality is that much technological innovation
> comes from such competition, and such innovation is a huge driver of
> economies. The funny thing is that we now see Russia as our partner
> in this: in the days following the Bush announcement, there has been
> increased interaction between Russia and NASA. I think it will be
> pretty ironic if in the future, if France gets its way (which I sort
> of doubt, enlargement came back to bite them!) and re-orients the EU
> as a strategic competitor to the US, we will see a US/Russia alliance
> of sorts against the rising powers of the EU and China.

True - my first reaction to the Chinese sending a man into orbit was 
"that should restart the space program". The lizard part of the human 
brain was the reason we went to the moon in the first place. Not that we 
shouldn't have gone  - it was a amazing accomplishment. I can't wait 
fifteen years to see us do it again!


> As for budgetary concerns, NASA is a drop in the bucket. A tiny
> drop. Congress won't be slashing that budget, it is rightfully
> perceived as a sacred cow, one that actually produces milk
> sometimes too. If the Moon/Mars goal is shown to be likely capable
> of producing more milk, it'll get the little incremental funding
> increases desired. Bush Sr made the mistake of letting NASA produce
> a proposed budget for the program, which, NASA being NASA, was
> astronomical. Dubya, or at least his panel, apparently is smarter
> and has made no such mistake.

I don't think NASA's budget is seen as a sacred cow. If that were true, 
we wouldn't be losing the Hubble. The space station has been scaled back 
so many times over the course of its development it's difficult to 
count. The Mars sample return mission was canceled - most likely because 
of budget concerns; that program was near and dear to me. Never 
underestimate the crushing power of mammoth deficits to scale back the 
best laid plans.


> Larry


Brad