Obama versus the Moon men
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Obama versus the Moon men
Can you imagine the outcry -- from the Tea Parties, your typical Republican congressman, and your favorite Fox media personality -- if President Obama came out an announced a multi-billion dollar taxpayer-funded initiative which would involve thousands of government-created jobs and a vague promise that it would spur economic activity elsewhere. It would be branded as socialism at best, or at the worst another example of Obama's Marxist tendencies.
At least it would if Obama were creating "green jobs." Or promising a big investment in high-speed rail.
But I wonder how conservatives and like-minded citizens will react to the all-American heroes of the Apollo space program blasting Obama for not pouring enough money into NASA. Here's an excerpt from the letter from three heroes of the Space Race, including the first man to walk on the Moon, Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong, and the commander of the crippled Apollo 13 mission, James Lovell, to the president :
For The United States, the leading space faring nation for nearly half a century, to be without carriage to low Earth orbit and with no human exploration capability to go beyond Earth orbit for an indeterminate time into the future, destines our nation to become one of second or even third rate stature. While the President's plan envisages humans traveling away from Earth and perhaps toward Mars at some time in the future, the lack of developed rockets and spacecraft will assure that ability will not be available for many years.
Without the skill and experience that actual spacecraft operation provides, the USA is far too likely to be on a long downhill slide to mediocrity. America must decide if it wishes to remain a leader in space. If it does, we should institute a program which will give us the very best chance of achieving that goal.
I'm not unsympathetic to the plea from the retired astronauts. I remember vividly the debates during the 1960s over why we were spending so much on NASA when we had poverty and so many other problems at home. In hindsight, though, some of the science that emerged from the American space program was priceless, and the national pride and fleeting moments of unity that came from the successful moon landings probably played a role in keeping the nation from coming apart at the seams.
But times change -- this is the 21st Century, and it seems clear that our scientific enterprise and American ingenuity needs to turn inward, to solving the problems of finding clean and renewable sources of energy and better modes of transportation. In other words, I think Neil Armstrong and his colleagues have the right concept, but the wrong mission.
In other words, NASA was not "socialism" in the 1960s -- and we need that type of endeavor once again. But in this American century, it is saving this world -- and not exploring new ones -- that will be one giant leap for mankind.
Seriously- Obama and pelosi and reid are the worst EVER. This is an Epic debacle- Cannot wait until the November elections! Hundreds of Scott Brown;s rolling in. While the metrosexual liberals do their nails......— Manny Trillo
Obama made billions for the big bankers with Stimulus and Stimulus 2 and billions more for insurers with the health care bill. Just watch the earnings reports as they come out. In the mean time, NONE of the lenders are lending money and insurers are still raising rates, while the rest of us starve and get hit with massive taxes.- we will not be living in space, on other planets, etc. We need to take care of this planet, space travel is nice, but more pressing needs on this planet then out there.— kramer65
It's not too surprising that modern liberals aren't too keen on the space program. After all, there's no one to control out there, no constituencies, no votes to get. The universe makes them, and man, insignificant. Most of all, the space program is real science. Liberals are more comfortable with their kind of science i.e global warming. Yes the space program costs money, but we should acknowledge that there's more to this existence than just jobs or healthcare. The space program helps us get a little closer to that.— jmc
Manny Trillo -- they are far better then the last group! thats for sure- ---}}} Liberals are more comfortable with their kind of science i.e global warming. {{{--- Heh! Climate study is a "liberal science." Too funny.— Talking point sleuth
What's rolling - is the stock market because consumer confidence is back and the manufacturing sector. I know these thing bore the average right wing froth mouth - but all these things tanked under REPUBLICAN mismanaged leadership. George Bush II and his miserable help - led this country into near ruin. Yes - Pres. Obama dragged this country back into prosperity!- First of all the bank bailout came from George W. not Obama. Second of all, you fools have a problem with spending on healthcare, unemployment benefits, and ecenomic stimulus but have no problem spending billions to explore space? There is something wrong with this picture.— crkreg
- sleuth: When you bastardize climate science the way liberal have, it should carry their name.— jmc
- Why every blames Obama for things not of his doing is beyond my understanding. The past 20 years have seen a decline in the Space program. We've got more pressing issues to overcome. Some people need to realize you can only do so much with the money we have.— skolman
Comment removed.- Comment removed.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections2/election_2012/election_2012_barack_obama_42_ron_paul_41 Enough said.- I wonder have my left wing liberal science and astronomy college professors feel about this?— SPRUI02
- Hey all you "conservative" financial geniuses, try to remember whose genius idea brought us the unfunded Medicare Part D. The brilliant minds whose answer to a balanced budget was to cut taxes and go back into debt. The same people who used to insist that deficits don't matter. The space program is going to have to wait. It's not being shut down, it is just being slowed down.— SteveMG
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