[from occupied ga]

Once again a realistic look at the real cost for pictures of dust and rocks. I've been saying this for a long time. Machan just jumped on my band wagon :-)

The space program is just welfare/wealth transfer for nerds with PhD and no marketable skills (outside of government)

And before you space heads start with your phony lists of the vast benefits of the space program consider a coupld of things

1. Read Bastiat
2. Consider that the definition of a liberal is someone who wants to do what he considers good with someone else's money (and then ask yourself if you really think you're a conservative)
3. remember that one of the things you have to believe if you're a liberal is that without the National Endowment for the Arts there would be no art. Now change the the name and do you believe that without the space program there would be no technological progress? If you answer yes you are either Hitlery Clinton, Al Gore, or a hopeless clueless DUer on the wrong forum
4. Also ask yourself, in keeping with the government sponsored art analogy which you think better. The NEA/taxpayer funded work of Robert Maplethorp or that of people like Constable, Turner, Van Gogh, etc

Now flame away you liberals

[BushCountry]

This article ROTFLMAO funny! It just proves that space exploration is necessary; that the author needs a spaceship to return him home. Let's face it, he doesn't live on this planet!

He is dead inside and doesn't have a clue what the HUMAN SPIRIT consists of. A poor depressed little child without dreams, using useless satistics to make a point, which is basically, "BaaWaaaBaa...."

All I can do is feel sorry for him and his ilk, the ones that are dead inside with absolutely no spirit of adventure and no dreams. They have giving up hope for humanity and don't understand what is to be human.

[mewzilla]

Won't get a flame from me. But NASA does seem to be a Third Rail around here for some.

What really cheesed me off was the woman who was handing out champagne at a NASA presser yesterday. She was congratulating all the people who made the rover mission possible. But she left out a few hundred million: American taxpayers. No wonder NASA has PR problems.

[apillar]

Like it or not our elected representatives have decided that it is in the public interest to spend money on space exploration (and just about everything else in existence).

While I'm, in principle, against wealth transfer to every program in existence, the political reality today is that the only difference between the most conservative member of congress and the most liberal is how much the rate of spending growth will increase, not wether we should be spending the money or not.

With that in mind, I would much rather see money spent for space exploration than for shopping carts for the homeless, or sex change operations for prisoners, or free viagra for rich old men.

At least with space exploration we have some sense of accomplishment and something to show for our spending, even if it is only "dust and rocks". Also, I think with China quickly become a major space player an argument could be made that space exploration may soon be a national security issue.

[kinghorse]

"Now flame away you liberals"

That line is really rich. I prefer not to be a bedrock conservative nor a bleeding heart liberal. I stand in the middle. Space exploration is ok by me. Money problems? Wel when you have despots in the middle east papering their walls with money it's kind of hard to stomach fiscal conservatism over exploration. Perhaps we should strike a deal with the powers that be. They agree to an orderly plan to phase out of the primary uses of oil in the next 20 years and in exchange we will spend a little of the oil dividend on furthering mankind's dominion.

Staunch religious types do not like folks thinking beyond ttheir nose, but the universe is too large a tract of property to ignore, eh?

This space rover should be converted to a "cam" once it's work is done and a television station should be devoted to this cam 24/7. People can sit there and stare at the screed and feel their spirits soar just by "imagining".

[Publius6961]

Consider that the definition of a liberal is someone who wants to do what he considers good with someone else's money (and then ask yourself if you really think you're a conservative)

how their funding is secured, how it deprives millions of citizens of various amounts of wealth from which they might have produced their own more or less fabulous creations –

There is a certainly a way definitely to put the lie to this pile of steaming dung... Every time I suggest it to a socialist of any party, they blanche. So here it is again...

Let the social losers who get themselves elected set the tax rate to any level they want.
Let the taxpayer (that would be me) choose from a limited list of destinations that my tax would go to fund, including space exploration, and everyone would be happy. I could choose all of my taxes to go to space exploration, and the big mouths could choose theirs to be spent on other losers' notion of what constitutes ... their own more or less fabulous creations –. Democracy writ large. Bring it on.

[scab4faa]

Man if I woke up every morning as angry as you, I'd just stay in bed.

[Gekko The Great]

Money, money, money. Gimmee dat money. I need those tax pennies in my wallet because I care about me more than anything else. Everyone else can go to hell. It's all about bucks, kid, the rest is conversation. What's worth doing is worth doing for money. It's not a question of enough, pal, it's a zero-sum game. Somebody wins, somebody loses.

[Malsua]

Once again a realistic look at the real cost for pictures of dust and rocks

And you know there is dust and rocks on Mars? How is it that you were able to divine such a proclamation? Remote Viewing? Scrying into your crystal ball?

I'll state it again. How is it that YOU are able to _KNOW_ it's just dust and rocks? Is it just garden variety dust and rocks?

[CharacterCounts]

Consider that the definition of a liberal is someone who wants to do what he considers good with someone else's money (and then ask yourself if you really think you're a conservative)

I think the definition of a liberal is a little more omplicated than that. We all (exept Libertarians, I suppose) want to spend tax dollars (someone elses money) on what we consider good. The difference "What we consider good). Government builds roads, dams, tanks, the military, courthouses,arsenals, prisons and countless other items many true conservatives would consider good. The government also spends money on social programs and on transfer payments to people it deems more deserving, entitled or needy.

A more correct definition of a liberal would be one who believes the government should take money from taxpayers and transfer the money to others for the purpose of implementing social change, leveling of the playing field, or some other type of ultimate social justice.

I think a good way to determine if a government program is a liberal program is to determine if it has a social agenda attached to it. For example, government sponsored anti-smoking ads have a substantial social agenda component and as such are supported by liberals. The building of a road has a much smaller social agenda attached to it and is usually supported by conservatives.

You obviously believe the government has no business in space exploration. I do not see a strong presence of a social agenda attached to NASA, so it bothers me less than welfare payments, for example. If you are against all government spending, your'e not a conservative but a Libertarian.

[antiRepublicrat]

The space program is really one of those functions that cannot easily be totally privatized, although much of it is contracted out. The X Prize to get into space (actually, not even as far as low Earth orbit) has been going for a while and no private concern has yet claimed it, while NASA sent people up in the 60s. Private corporations simply do not have the cash or financial incentive to do the job that the government is doing.

[mrsmith]

He doesn't like taxes.
He doesn't think we should have bought Alaska.
Well, let's sell it back to Russia for a reasonable return on the $7 million and knock it off our taxes.
Did I mention he doesn't like taxes?

"Imagine there's no taxes
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one "

[Constantine XIII]

Lol, you posted from lewrockwell.com. -10 cool points. :p

[mikegi]

The space program is just welfare/wealth transfer for nerds with PhD and no marketable skills (outside of government)

So, do you think that our spending on the military is welfare/wealth transfer to 18-22 year olds with no marketable skills?

2. Consider that the definition of a liberal is someone who wants to do what he considers good with someone else's money (and then ask yourself if you really think you're a conservative)

Do you think it is good that our government uses someone else's money to defend our country?

[FFIGHTER]

NASA's other roles and link to DOD.
1. Constructs, launches and maintains Weather satellites, monitoring natural disasters and weather.
2.Leader in development of satellites, and satellites used for military communications and observations.
3.Improvements in the safety of air traffic, through air traffic monitoring for both civilian and military use.
4.Technology that enabled GPS system which is used by both civilian and military for global positioning.
5.Computer software used for space flight is used in the design, testing and validation of data for military fighter aircraft and other military support aircraft.
6.Developed and implemented Emergency Beacon system for search and rescue. Use from ships, aircraft and individuals both military and civilian. Credited with saving over 13,000 life's worldwide.
7.MODIS(Moderate Resolution Imaging Spetroradiometer) used the U.S. forest Service to manage wildfires and protect life and property through the rapid fire deployment program, through two NASA satellites.
8.Smoke Detectors NASA invention
9.Bar Code Scanners NASA invention
10.Space Shuttle Dedicated Defense Department Missions still classified. Many. Deployment of military satellites to name a few not classified.
11.Development of launch vehicles for Department of Defense and their mission control and observation. Joint operations with DOD.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Imagine, in 800 years or a couple of thousand years that our planet is no longer or is becoming inhabital due to lack of resources, including lack of water, over population, war, and impending large asteroid, whatever the case, and the people of earth failed over the last thousands years to explore research our galaxy. The consequenses would mean that end of man kind.

Remember, our sun will not last forever. It too has a shelf life and one day will exhast itself of fuel, or it's resources if you will. This is going to happen, no question.

In the future, hopefully more private organizations will become involved in space exploration. Until then, it's my opinion that we need to do what we can to look for alternative real-estate.

[jpsb]

This artcle is trash, junk, rubbish. Here are a few things to think about.

There have been five great extinctions, the last one happen 75 million years ago and the next one might happen tomorrow. We would be very foolish not to try to get off this planet cause, there is no doubt that someday something real bad is gonna happen here.

Meteor/Comet impact:Roaches will rule again. Time since last 75my

Super volcano eruption:Humans might survive but civilization won't.Time since last 70,000 y

Gamma Ray burst: Time since last 225 my:There is a super massive star in our neighborhood it will go supernova in a million years or so.

Massive climate change: Happens all the time, could be a civilization killer.

And of course our own Sun will one day end life on earth. Right now it is in a very stable stage of it's life cycle. That will end and the Sun will fluctuate in it's energy output, bye-bye life on earth. In fact at the end of the Sun life it swells to briefly become a Red Giant, when that happens the Sun will swallow the earth. Or there will be hell on earth.

And for the really paranoid among us, our milky way in a few hundred million years will collide with a super cluster. So getting off the earth might not do it. We might need to get to another Galaxy! All in all, our space program is the best thing mankind is currently doing.

PS. I love the spell checker! Great job Jim.

[qwert]

In all due respect I think you miss the larger point,
which should be,who (whom) should be the biggest, baddest
entity on the block. "We The People" or Company XYZ.
For the sake of making a point lets say that Company XYZ
got to space or the moon first, what would stop them from telling us......that they now have to pay tribute to Company XYZ or they will destroy some city, country or person(s) from space and if anyone or anything threatens them they will destroy it, also. Company XYZ would then run and do what ever they wanted to and theres not
a damn thing you or I could do about it...

I think Govt is the one to run such projects, not AL Copone
.....
IMHO

[Dead Dog]

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Clear as the morning air. Really, it aint that difficult. Even a Libertarian could understand.