Dr. Charlie gets on the correct side of an issue for once

[thatcrazycajun]

All the gods that ever were or will be forbid I should ever agree with right-wing pundit Charles Krauthammer, MD on anything whatsodamnever. But so help me John Glenn, his column today shows he and I are singing from the same hymnal on an issue for once: the shameful state of our human-crewed space exploration program...or more accurately, our almost total lack of one:
"For the first time in history, the moon is not just a mystery or a muse, but a nightly rebuke."
His tirade is far more eloquent on the matter than anything I could come up with. I would only add another very good reason to venture to (and settle) the Moon again, as well as Mars and other planets: at seven billion and counting, we're rapidly running out of room and resources on this one...

Comments

[ladyqkat.livejournal.com]

It is often pointed out that even a stopped clock is right at least twice a day.

[faxpaladin.livejournal.com]

And speaking of normal states of agreement or nonagreement: The link to that column on Balloon Juice, and the comments thereon, are filled with amazing vituperation: The manned space program is an obscene waste of money, just another way for neocons to dickwave and go imperialistic ("the other planets will greet us as liberators"). Robots can do the job just as well, we have to fix Earth's problems first, all the usual bullshit and then some FOR TWO FUCKING DAYS RUNNING. There's maybe three or four commenters other than me who have defended spaceflight. It's depressing as hell is what it is.

[ladyqkat.livejournal.com]

I wonder how many of them realize that the things they take for granted today - computers, cell phones, GPS systems, medical telemetry, etc. - are a direct result of the space program? Also, no money has, as yet, been spent in space, but plenty of it was keeping the economy on a fairly even keel while the space program was a priority.