Space program inefficient, irrelevant

[struggle4progress]

<snip>
In the Cold War glory days, the space program made a lot more sense. Even President Kennedy's seemingly idealistic challenge to put a man on the moon by 1970 was, first and foremost, part of a race against the Soviets to establish and demonstrate our military and technological superiority.

The trouble is that the space program's purposes are inseparable from its Cold War-era context. The whole idea of interplanetary travel is premised on a naive, macho, 1950s-style jingoism, which placed limitless faith in the power of technology as an agent of progress. The very concept of a "space station," for example, is a 1952 brainchild of Nazi rocket scientist-turned-American-Cold Warrior Wernher von Braun, who was later caricatured as "Dr. Strangelove" in Stanley Kubrick's 1964 Cold War satire film.
<snip>

Bush may succeed in pressing his pointless, distracting space travel agenda, beginning with a repeat of Kennedy's 1962 goal of putting a man on the moon.

If so, and if Bush is re-elected, maybe his next goal will be to win the Cold War again by 2035.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/182103_space15.html

[LoZoccolo]

1. Yeah but it's fucken kewl.

I say all the time - the coolest thing Bush* proposed was that we're gonna send an astronaut to Mars!

And I mean it!

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. chimp has forgotten all about this

He made some kind of stupid remark about canceling the Hubble, and they have been backpedaling ever since.

[struggle4progress]

4. He plans to cancel all unmanned stuff like the Hubble ...

... to have the money to pay for the manned missions, which (in terms of dollars spent per bit of info) are much more expensive than the unmanned missions. The Hubble fight is still going on.

[The Zanti Regent]

5. The Christians want the Hubble destroyed

ESPECIALLY right at the point where it photographs the Big Bang and it's more than 6,000 light years away.

Lying Christians can't afford the competition

[laconicsax]

6. They already have an explanation

I read a 'creation science' website for kicks and they addressed the fact that light from celestial bodies is frequently more than 6,000 or even 10,000 years old with this one:

The light was created in transit.

That's right--even if something is found to be about a million light years away, it's light is only as old as creation because the light was created in transit--how brilliant is that? It may not make any real sense from a rational standpoint, but hey, it works for them.

http://emporium.turnpike.net/C/cs/ for the main Creation "Science" arguments.

[struggle4progress]

7. Astronomical research really doesn't upset most Christians. eom

[The Zanti Regent]

3. China will get to the moon and Mars years before we do

America is collapsing, and it has been on a downward path since the first Oil embargo in October 1973. The Nazi Party has done everything they could to destroy education in this country, and the imposition of Christian Lysenkoism by the Nazi leadership is triggering a reverse brain drain. Educated people are leaving and if the Nazi Party rigs the machines and steal another election, the floodgates will open and educated people will emigrate en masse.

Meanwhile, the Nazi Party has made it clear that the only book they want to use in education is the Holy Bi Bull, a book of fractured fairy tales. Their idea of education is having the masses study the Bi Bull and following Christian Lysenkoism teachings.

China has committed itself to getting a man on the moon by 2010 and they want to get to Mars by 2030. They will get there and claim the Moon and Mars as Chinese property. As for America, nobody cares about going back to the moon. According to Christian Lysenkoism, it doesn't matter since Jesus will come in a week or 2...