Open space mission total waste of money

Aberdeen American News ^ | Jan. 25, 2004 | Donna Marmorstein

[jwalburg]

Prescott: Have you heard what the president is proposing now?

Howell: Something about exploration, isn't it?

Prescott: Right. He wants to send a crew out into the great beyond to explore uncharted territory. Have you seen the price tag?

Howell: Yeah. And I understand that much of the funding goes into the pockets of the president's close buddies. One of the guys in charge served as his personal secretary for years, and the other is his good friend, William Clark.

Prescott: There should be an investigation.

Howell: Definitely!

Prescott: It's almost as bad as that Louisiana Purchase deal earlier in the year.

Howell: Talk about wasting taxpayer money on frivolities! No one was even asked about this. The president just went ahead and squandered all this money on a bunch of wasteland no one will ever use!

Prescott: You're telling me!

Howell: How much was it? Twelve million dollars??? Man, you could do a lot of important things with 12 million dollars.

Prescott: Our sailors are being starved from Navy cutbacks and we are going to send 47 men to scamper around the wilderness at government expense? And you know what? Everyone thinks this exploration deal was because of the Louisiana Purchase, but I happen to know that the president was making plans for this back in January, BEFORE there was even talk about purchasing the territory.

Howell: That's pretty incriminating stuff! The Congressional Budget Office should get on this right away.

Prescott: No, I think we'll need a special investigator for this one. The thing is, it isn't 12 million. The public is being told it's 12 million - as if that wasn't enough - but really it's 27 million, with interest figured in. Talk about deficit spending!

Howell: You're kidding me!

Prescott: No. I've looked at the figures. This stupid idea is costing taxpayers 27 million dollars! And for what? It's all a public relations move for Jefferson.

Howell: I heard he thinks that by adding all this land we'll seem big and bad to the Europeans. They won't want to mess with us.

Prescott: That, and the stupid Northwest Passage idea. Northwest Passage! Only pea-brains believe in that Northwest Passage theory. But there's Jefferson for you.

Howell: I understand the vice president has some shady motives for this expedition, too.

Prescott: Aaron Burr! That guy's got ulterior motives in everything he does. And this Lewis and Clark thing is no exception. You knew he lost his seat in the New York Assembly when suspicious financial dealings were leaked to the public, didn't you?

Howell: I heard something about that.

Prescott: Well, now I hear he's been scheming to build up a Trans-Appalachian Empire using new land from this Louisiana Purchase.

Howell: Talk about conflict of interest!

Prescott: I wouldn't be surprised if this whole deal was secretly engineered between Burr and the French. Jefferson is just a puppet, you know. He's been a failure at diplomacy on his own. Burr's behind everything.

Howell: Well, just look at the mess Jefferson made of the Declaration. "Endowed by our Creator!" You'd think the new Republic was run by Church of England fanatics, with language like that inserted in the thing!

Prescott: Did you know that Burr's grandfather was that preacher, Jonathan Edwards? The two of them are in the pocket of the religious right, that's for sure. The explorers have already started this asinine trip, with no real public input, no hearings, no committee debate, no environmental impact reports - nothing! They're taking 6 tons of supplies along, mostly to bribe Indians with. Six tons! And much of it on a stupid keelboat.

Howell: Wonder how far they'll get.

Prescott: I don't know, but there are sure better things to be done with that kind of money. You know what Fisher Ames says about the Louisiana Purchase? "Now - we rush like a comet into infinite space!" He's right! This is a crazy idea. And the Lewis and Clark business is even crazier.

Howell: About as crazy an idea as going to Mars! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Donna Marmorstein writes and lives in Aberdeen. You can contact her at dkmarmorstein@yahoo.com.

[RightWhale]

Good post. There is a lot of the same old argument in Dubya's space initiative.

[zarf]

And I understand that much of the funding goes into the pockets of the president's close buddies.

Would that be Clinton and Terry "Global Croissing" McAuliffe?

[SpaceBar]

Well, I do have news for you. The United States is roughly seven trillion clams in the hole at this time with no end in sight. You can't just keep printing it and pretend that accumulated debt is meaningless. All sane projects are subject to a cost-benefit analysis of some sort. Even public works projects without a future revenue stream are weighted on relative capitalized costs. An open ended mandate to "figure out what's out there" doesn't sound very fiscally responsible or well thought out any way you slice it. Comparison with the Louisiana Purchase is simplistic thinking at its zenith. The LP was known in extent, and it's value tangible and quantifiable. What ever happened to the word "boondoggle"? It doesn't ever seem to be used anymore.

[Aracelis]

Great post!

[Gunslingr3]

Good post. There is a lot of the same old argument in Dubya's space initiative.

If government knew what to do with resources the Soviet Union wouldn't have failed.

[RLK]

Until there in a breakthrough in basic physics and engineering resulting in a new propulsion system, talk about further space travel is a fraud. To travel any distance, it would take days, months, and years for radio communications to travel between any space vehicle and earth.

[JoJo Gunn]

Your moniker has a certain irony....

Michael miserable failureMoore

[Aracelis]

Comparison with the Louisiana Purchase is simplistic thinking at its zenith. The LP was known in extent, and it's value tangible and quantifiable.

Actually, the Louisiana Purchase was made in 1803 - Lewis and Clark began exploration of the region in 1804, thus your claim that "The LP was known in extent, and it's value tangible and quantifiable" is unjustified.

[CyberAnt]

Hmmm? I see no one is calculating ALL THE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF JOBS which will be created by this "space" mission.

And the hundreds of thousands of new products which will be developed because of this "space" mission. There were lots of threads on FR recently listing all the new developments since we have been in the space program.

Liberals are so short-sighted.

[Aracelis]

Until there in a breakthrough in basic physics and engineering resulting in a new propulsion system, talk about further space travel is a fraud. To travel any distance, it would take days, months, and years for radio communications to travel between any space vehicle and earth.

Communication between NASA and the rovers only requires 10 minutes...where'd you come up with the "days, months, and years" ????

[SpaceBar]

Your moniker has a certain irony....

Next time I'll choose a simpler freepnick so you can concentrate on the subject matter without distraction.

[Lokibob]

Do you think the money is going to be spent in space?

Absolutely NOT!!!

The money spent to go into space will be spent right here on EARTH, buying the good things.

This spending will translate into jobs, manufacturing, and prosperity.

[cake_crumb]

Good post. VERY good points. At first I thought it was about Kennedy's plans to send men to the moon until I saw the price tag.

[SpaceBar]

Actually, the Louisiana Purchase was made in 1803 - Lewis and Clark began exploration of the region in 1804, thus your claim that "The LP was known in extent, and it's value tangible and quantifiable" is unjustified.

The Spanish colonized the southwest hundreds of years before there was a United States and the general extent of the landmass was quite well known, maybe just not investigated in great detail. The first whites in New Mexico arrived in the mid 1500's. My claim is well founded. Saying otherwise doesn't magically make it so.

[cake_crumb]

We'll never get there without the government's backing. China wants to go to the moon. We can't let them decide they own it. In addition, this will create new jobs and new prodicts which will be enjoyed by the private sector. Such undertakings always spawn jobs and new inventions.

[Aracelis]

There were lots of threads on FR recently listing all the new developments since we have been in the space program.

Here's one such modest thread: The Best of NASA Spinoffs

[NYTexan]

Hey guy, did you just get "white Flamed"?

[cake_crumb]

Spain was in the hole then too, and trans Atlantic travel was expensive. The only thing they quantified were their dreams of cities built of gold.

[Aracelis]

The Spanish colonized the southwest hundreds of years before there was a United States and the general extent of the landmass was quite well known, maybe just not investigated in great detail. The first whites in New Mexico arrived in the mid 1500's. My claim is well founded. Saying otherwise doesn't magically make it so.

Your claim is not well founded. No one knew the extent of the natural resources available - thus it was a gamble...just like "Fulton's Folly".