We can still go into space if the Russians now, and maybe even the Chinese will take us. Please...........may we ride your rocket??

The International Space Station about to get three more crew members by Andrew Malcolm - Investors.com

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-...space-station/

Get Moonbeam Gingrich into the White House and he will put an American colony on the Moon. Rick Santorum could be Mayor and Sarah Palin could be Governor - except that she would quit halfway through her term - again. Two space cadets, for sure!

Originally Posted by buggyone

Get Moonbeam Gingrich into the White House and he will put an American colony on the Moon. Rick Santorum could be Mayor and Sarah Palin could be Governor - except that she would quit halfway through her term - again. Two space cadets, for sure!

LOL - certainly can't refudiate that.

What would a President Mitt Romney do with the space program? Probably the same thing that President Barack Obama has done. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politic...of_Mitt_Romney

And, I do not mean what the candidate Mitt Romney said he would do when trying to get votes here in Florida back in January from the Space Coast.

Originally Posted by RichieLion

I'm always really pleased when what I write causes you to defend Obama AGAIN. You rarely disappoint.

I've always been proud of our nation's space program, and it only took this anti-American president to practically shut it down.

But, I posted this aiming at a sense of ironic humor, considering all the outsourcing charges made by "The Amateur" in recent days.

You really need to make up your political mind, and also rediscover some semblance of humor.

I've always liked Social Security, Medicare, VA benefits, public TV, the national parks, the FDA, FBI, SEC, EPA and lots of other three-lettered government departments. I like being protected by the most powerful, most technologically-advanced military in the world. I even like the lower Bush tax rates.

But guess what, Richie? All that stuff is going to change. Our lives are going to change. It has to. We can't afford all the stuff government provides and continue not to pay for it. Either a president and Congress will decide to make the cuts and change the taxes...or the Chinese will!

NASA was just the beginning.

I would have expected Obama could have easily offset any amount needed to fund our American space program by merely going after the pork, special interest and lobby programs that ALWAYS remain untouchable.

To emasculate the American space program without describing what America will need to do to maintain it's position in space exploration is a typical lack of leadership.

Why aren't there more demands for the reduction of the frivilous spending? The known waste programs? The elimination of known fraud within many, many MANY spending programs?

Re-election that is why and they know the constituency will just follow along with the business as usual.

The space spending reduction was and continues to be a joke while bigger savings continue with the voter allowed business as usual.

Shame on we the people.

btk

Everyone has the right to have an opinion on what our national priorities should be. This list of possibilities is a very long one. What we do know for sure is that we can't afford to do everything that everyone wants.

Looking at just two spending items--spending to assure broader and better healthcare for all Americans, or continuing to explore space--it's an easy choice for me. We can't afford to continue the space program.

Originally Posted by billethkid

I would have expected Obama could have easily offset any amount needed to fund our American space program by merely going after the pork, special interest and lobby programs that ALWAYS remain untouchable.

To emasculate the American space program without describing what America will need to do to maintain it's position in space exploration is a typical lack of leadership.

Why aren't there more demands for the reduction of the frivilous spending? The known waste programs? The elimination of known fraud within many, many MANY spending programs?

Re-election that is why and they know the constituency will just follow along with the business as usual.

The space spending reduction was and continues to be a joke while bigger savings continue with the voter allowed business as usual.

Shame on we the people.

btk

Herein lies the problem with politics and cost-cutting. The cost cutting is, for a segment of the electorate, always the wrong place to cut. It could be done to somebody elses favorite program, not mine. The reality is that some cost cutting is going to forced upon us and most, if not all, are not going to be well accepted. We the people have encouraged the spending binge by continually reelecting those politicians who have brought home the most pork.

One of these fine Florida morning we are going to wake up and find that the United States Dollar has been replaced as the Worlds Reserve currency. When that happens we will not have to worry about reducing spending. It will be done for us. Read what happened to the UK when the pound sterling was dropped as the WRC. It does not look as if it could happen, but when will it happen. Yours, mine and everyones life style will take a big hit.

Originally Posted by eweissenbach

Herein lies the problem with politics and cost-cutting. The cost cutting is, for a segment of the electorate, always the wrong place to cut. It could be done to somebody elses favorite program, not mine. The reality is that some cost cutting is going to forced upon us and most, if not all, are not going to be well accepted. We the people have encouraged the spending binge by continually reelecting those politicians who have brought home the most pork.

I agree with you, Coach. But it's going to have to be more than just "some cost cutting". It'll have to be huge spending cuts, cuts that will effect, hurt in fact, each and every one of us. That goes for increased taxes too. We won't skate by without having to open our pocketbooks. More than just the rich too.

Originally Posted by Figmo Bohica

One of these fine Florida morning we are going to wake up and find that the United States Dollar has been replaced as the Worlds Reserve currency. When that happens we will not have to worry about reducing spending. It will be done for us. Read what happened to the UK when the pound sterling was dropped as the WRC. It does not look as if it could happen, but when will it happen. Yours, mine and everyones life style will take a big hit.

We can always go to bartering.

Let me get this straight its better to continue to provide food stamps/welfare so people can go out and purchase $42.00 ice cream cakes then it is to provide an effective budget for our military defense and space program

As richielion pointed out the space program is the reason we can blog here today. Something as commonplace as the performance evalution sprang from the military. The research and development created by the military and space program has been a plethora of innovations capitalized by private industry. The well paying jobs lost by Obama's shortsightedness is well documented

The lack of vision by some who chide Gingrich's Mars/moon colonies is also shortsighted. I can recall as a kid the notion that a Dick Tracy watch was just plain fiction. Is ther a need to expand further?

However what is not a surprise is Obama's actions toward our space program. As he has made clear we are not exceptional and he is making every effort to prove that point.

I would not want this guy mentoring my children, educating students or advising corporations.

As the old saw goes: "We are the total sum of our experiences" well what does that say about Obama? I made my choice you make yours

Originally Posted by rubicon

Let me get this straight its better to continue to provide food stamps/welfare so people can go out and purchase $42.00 ice cream cakes then it is to provide an effective budget for our military defense and space program

As richielion pointed out the space program is the reason we can blog here today. Something as commonplace as the performance evalution sprang from the military. The research and development created by the military and space program has been a plethora of innovations capitalized by private industry. The well paying jobs lost by Obama's shortsightedness is well documented

The lack of vision by some who chide Gingrich's Mars/moon colonies is also shortsighted. I can recall as a kid the notion that a Dick Tracy watch was just plain fiction. Is ther a need to expand further?

However what is not a surprise is Obama's actions toward our space program. As he has made clear we are not exceptional and he is making every effort to prove that point.

I would not want this guy mentoring my children, educating students or advising corporations.

As the old saw goes: "We are the total sum of our experiences" well what does that say about Obama? I made my choice you make yours

I agree, Rubi. Our national priorities are all screwed up. But our Congress has one overriding priority...getting themselves re-elected.

Read the following article about how the House can't agree on how or even whether to cut the Farm Bill that's been bouncing around the House and Senate for weeks now. You suggest that the food stamp program be cut. I did too--I suggested it be eliminated over ten years. But what can't our "fiscally conservative" Republicans agree on? Whether or not to cut $16.5 billion out of $750 billion in proposed food stamp spending. As a percentage what's that, a couple less moon pies and RC colas?

What do they seem to agree on? Gutting the school lunch program...cutting payments to farmers for not growing crops a bit (remember that increasingly farms are getting bigger and are corporate-owned). Not many lost votes there.

What don't they want cut in the bill? Subsidies to the sugar beet industry, corn, peanut, soybeans, cotton and other crops. Why, I wonder? Do you think the farm lobby money has anything to do with it?

But the House didn't have the cajones to vote on the bill and offend anyone before the election. The Republicans kicked the can down the road and tabled the bill until sometime after the election!

Remember all you committed conservatives out there. The GOP absolutely controls the House. They can pass whatever they want, whenever they want. They sure don't want to take a whack at the food stamp program, but they've wasted two weeks of time and millions of dollars voting to repeal ObamaCare thirty-three separate times? But they don't want to vote on anything if by voting they don't meet their top priority...getting re-elected. Until they have the boldness to do what really is necessary, we'll just keep speeding towards the financial cliff that's coming up. This is the party that you all say is our hope for the future? Baloney...they're no different than the Democrats.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/13/us...farm-bill.html

The sorry state of our manned space program is not the result of any decision made in the last 8 years. George W. terminated the Shuttle program in 2004 and then encouraged private industry to develop a space program. After all, the private sector can always do it better and cheaper. It may yet happen, but while we wait the Russians are using their technology which is nearly unchanged from the 60's to get the job done. In the meantime NASA is trying to meet the challenge of unmanned exploration and the dream of an eventual Mars mission without a moon stopover.
The cost per person to fly to the International Space Station on a Russian craft is about 63 million USD, which is cheaper than the cost to fly on the retired shuttle.

Originally Posted by blueash

The sorry state of our manned space program is not the result of any decision made in the last 8 years. George W. terminated the Shuttle program in 2004 and then encouraged private industry to develop a space program. After all, the private sector can always do it better and cheaper. It may yet happen, but while we wait the Russians are using their technology which is nearly unchanged from the 60's to get the job done. In the meantime NASA is trying to meet the challenge of unmanned exploration and the dream of an eventual Mars mission without a moon stopover.
The cost per person to fly to the International Space Station on a Russian craft is about 63 million USD, which is cheaper than the cost to fly on the retired shuttle.

Just for the sake of being accurate, Bush did not simply cancel the program but with a replacement program that the Obama administration would not fund. I think the replacement program was Constellation Program, but to say he cancelled is not correct.