After getting over the initial stun-gun of Bush's new fervor to reach into space, return to the moon, and place some humans on Mars (which may not sound like such a bad idea to those New Englanders who suffered through the recent cold spell), I tried my hardest to summon up some excitement about the idea.
I assure you that when I was 10, I would have bathed all week in the waters of this idea. One of my favorite books and TV movies of the 70s was Stowaway to the Moon, a yarn about a young kid who stows away on an Apollo mission. Preposterous, I know -- but it certainly wasn't at the time!
Now I'm a stupid grown-up, and all I can think of is where else all that money devoted to this problem could be used. Which might be narrow-minded. There should be money for both the research resulting from space exploration and more earthbound social causes. But now? With the economy still in so much trouble, and hardly on a clear road to recovery?
And then it hit me: A big bump for NASA means major funds for G.W.'s home state of Texas. Well, it's a good thing that at least one other state will reap major benefits from this new space program. I mean, it's not like Bush has any perceived benefit from helping Florida too, right?
Oh. Wait a minute.
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