Spaced-Out Invaders

Newsweek ^ | 1/20/04 | Gersh Kuntzman

[erasmus605]

Spaced-Out Invaders The Bush administration's designs on Mars and the moon are, well, a little spaceyWEB EXCLUSIVE By Gersh Kuntzman Newsweek Updated: 12:53 p.m. ET Jan. 20, 2004Jan. 20 - The Earth has depleted all its natural resources. Life has become grim and hopeless. The only viable option for mankind is to colonize the moon, mine its surface for minerals and provide a limitless source of clean energy for the home planet.

That's not just the basic plotline of the disastrous 1975 television series "Space: 1999," it also describes President Bush's latest energy proposal. You might not have heard this idea in Bush's "Back to the Moon" speech last week (mostly because there was so much to ridicule that plenty of eye-roll inspiring proposals slipped past reporters), but the White House's latest long-term strategy for dealing with the global energy crisis is to turn the moon into a huge mining colony.

Here is what the president said: "The moon is home to abundant resources. Its soil contains raw materials that might be harvested and processed into rocket fuel or breathable air." Here is what the president meant: "My friends at Halliburton are very eager to strip-mine the moon and since most of my policies seem to come from outer space anyway, I said, 'What the hell?'" As a fan of "Star Trek" and "Total Recall," I am, of course, in love with the president's plan to harvest the mineral wealth of the moon. As an American, I'm dubious. Most important, as an entrepreneur, I'm saddened that someone out-hustled me in setting up a crackhouse on Pennsylvania Avenue, next to the White House (seriously, if Hollywood science-fiction is now the basis of American public policy, someone is on the pipe at 1600).

-snip-

But the biggest problem as I see it is that mining the moon for U.S. profit violates the Outer Space treaty of 1967 (not that the Bush Administration has shown much loyalty to international treaties). Then again, as a sci-fi fan, I hope Bush goes ahead and claims the moon's resources for the United States. That'll set up a truly titanic battle: The United States vs. China. World War III. On the moon! Now there's a sci-fi movie I'd pay to see!

Gersh Kuntzman is also Brooklyn bureau chief for The New York Post. His website is at http://www.gersh.tv

© 2004 Newsweek, Inc

[erasmus605]

An article using the space program as a vehicle to bash Bush and Halliburton. Aaaargh.

[erasmus605]

Sorry I couldn't post the whole article. You have to excerpt MSNBC stuff.

[KellyAdmirer]

I don't think the tired liberals at Newsweek are the authorities on what the President "meant." That they print trash like this speaks volumes about the decline of that magazine.

[prion]

Gersh Kuntzman is also Brooklyn bureau chief for The New York Post.

Huh. The Post? That's surprising.

I think if my name were Gersh Kuntzman, I'd keep a low profile.

[No.6]

Apparently also in Salon and the Chicago Tribune, all from original wacko speculation from the liberal "Center for American Progress".

See http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110004584

[Mr. Bird]

I just made the critical mistake of reading the entire article. I can't tell whether the author is just trying to be funny (and failing), or whether he's really serious. He speaks of "raping" the moon. And rendering asteroids or comets "slag heaps".

Rape the moon? I suppose he hopes to keep the moon in its natural, gloriously fertile state in perpetuity. And someone should probably tell him that asteroids and comets already are slag heaps, in a fashion.

Scientists (and possibly more importantly, the visionary sci-fi writers) of all political leanings agree that the solar system holds great promise for humanity. If Clinton was proposing this, the author would call it "bold" or "daring". It is bold, and it is daring. We won't see the fruits of any current initiatives for decades. But it doesn't mean it's not worthwhile.

One last note: the author refers to NASA scientists as the "ones who crashed 2 space shuttles in the past 17 years". He's a putz.

[SengirV]

You are what you eat.

[hripka]

Is there anything that Bush will not spend money on??