Yes,

Please hie thee hither the moon youR Affluency,

And don't trip over any Corporations on your way out.

In just 7 years

Who does he borrow that money from?

"At one point early in my career I introduced the northwest ordinance for space and I said when we got, I think the number is 13,000. When we have 13,000 Americans living on the moon they can petition to become a state," Gingrich said, telling the crowd this was the "weirdest" thing he has ever done. "And I will as president encourage the introduction of the northwest ordinance for space to put a marker down that we want Americans to think boldly about the future…"

WOW, please stop talking like that or you can say goodbye to winning Florida.

Im all for it as long as Newts one of the first colonist.

Send Newt! Send Newt! Send Newt!

Dennis,

Exactly. And Mitt and wants to invade Iran. I guess more tax cuts are in the mix. I mean, how else are we going to pay for it unless we cut taxes?

And deficits don't matter.

...yeabut...
...yeabut...
...yeabut... Spanky says we are "broke"...so how does juniors choice propose we pay for this? The same way they proposed paying for two wars?

Conservatism truly IS a mental illness.

Right you are Mickey, but the important question everyone is over-looking is sending 13,000 people to the moon-costing trillions- to do WHAT?!

Broke or not, I wish we'd pull some cash from the war chest and toss it back at NASA. Having an active manned space program for the simple sake of exploration was one of the few positives this country's had. I don't care where the endorsement comes from - the right or the left - lets put money back into nobler scientific endeavors.

But I thought government spending didn't create jobs!

But I thought we were cutting and cutting to recover from the Bush deficit debacle!

This HAS to be the most disconnected candidate in history...

It's one thing to plant seeds and visions and hope and all that, but what the hell is this?

"By the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon. And it will be American," Gingrich told the crowd of roughly 700, taking them to their feet in applause.

Gee Newtie, presume much? Whose pockets will you pick to fund that program?

If NASA promises to take all these GOP loons to moon and leave them there, I'll pay for the one way trip.

i think Newt would be better off just going back to wherever the hell he came from.

I don't think he could find his own way to the moon.

Please Newt, by all means, lead the way and be the first resident! The sooner the better!!

SemperFiman2,
And you are correct as well... And how about the GOP/Tea Party stop wasting valuable time and resources trying to put one man out of work at the cost of millions of jobs...

Wow.... I vote for Newt and his gal to go first. America has a space program? I thought America only hitches rides to space.

Old Mr Chicken in evey pot. His rhetoric is targeted to the majority in any audience he visits. Today in South Florida he said we should overthrow the government of Cuba. Wonde why.

Bonus! I understand his lady doesn't need a helmet.

The 13,000 colonists will all be one percenters and they will establish their colony on the moon for one purpose and one purpose only -- the Special Olympics for Twits.

The gravity being about half what it is on Earth, the colonists will hold their own athletic contests in which each will beat the pants off any Earth-bound record, thus getting into the Guiness Book of World Records and winnng all kinds of Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals.

They will return to Earth from time to time to scold the 99% for our laziness, our willingness to accept free government handouts, our resignation in the face of the Democrats' efforts to redistribute wealth. "Get Up Off Your Behinds!" will be their motto. (The designated State Gas will be helium.)

They will claim that nobody deserves any government help, that it's already a level playing field although, pressed, they may grudgingly admit to a slight difference in pounds per square inch from one playing field to another.

They'll run a candidate for president after they become a state. He will be unable to read and write. He will believe that the principal ethic of Buddhism is "Every Man For Himself." But he will promote his own ignorance as evidence that, despite his having graduated from Harvard after 20 years in residence, he is not a member of the elite. His chief claim to fame will be having used an ordinary driver to put a golf ball into permanent orbit around the moon.

Newt, you couldn't locate Uranus with both hands, therefore, it is preposterous to believe you could orchestrate landing on another planet!

I would love to see this, but I think a few details on how this will be done would be nice, and what will they mine and how will it benefit us and how will the product be transported to the planet. I know we have the technology to build a facility but 13,000??? pretty big number. maybe by the time those seven years is up they might have a plan to propose. my guess is he will be looking at a starter population of 15 people. but hay maybe he knows something you don't. America was built on dreams.

LOL - That's for sure it's because he can't see with his head so far up it! Picture that - sort of a numbus-loop like image!

Right now we just need to come up with the money to be able to take our own people to the space station and back. I don't feel real comfortable having our people hitchhike with people who still don't really care for us very much. There is not a whole lot of security there, and makes us look kind of weak.

An interesting statement. Jack Kennedy made a similar one a few years ago.

At the last debate Gingrich said we could do this by offering prizes and allowing private companies to share in the cost and benefit in the profits from the finds. It would be a group effort between NASA, the Military, and Private industry. We already have several private companies working on transporting people into space and back.

We can sit around ridicule, and do nothing letting China, the European Space agency or Russia pass us by or get moving as the powerful team we can be.

Awesome idea by Newt.

Ahhhh!! Finally Newt revealed what he is going to do to get rid of the Moonbats! He's going to send 13,000 of them off the planet... My goodness, I'm starting to like Newt more and more every day. I might suggest to him that he can start with the moonbats that post to First Read. By sending 13,000 of them it will level the playing field with the conservatives that post here. Maybe then we can have some reasonable discussions without all the moonbattery that occurs on this board.

Just think, all the moonbats can hold daily conventions on the moon... they can throw their liberal ideas around all they want... They won't have to worry about global warming, the seas rising, the endangered polar bears, or pollution. They can leave those imaginary problems to those on the Earth to not worry about anymore.

I'm not certain Red Betty will fit into a space suit though... and she'll have to quit smoking... Oxygen is quite explosive ya know.

It is great to dream, but considering we currently do not even have a manned space flight capability, I would say his time line is a little unrealistic. I would think that a permanent moon base is in our future, the only question is how far in the future. I also wonder where Newt thinks the money would come from for such a major undertaking. It does not seem like something the country can afford right now.

GRAT IDEA!

Send Newt, The 1% Flip- Flopper Rom-nut the TeaParty Clowns and the rest of the conservative morons to the moon where they belong Lunatics all! LMAO!

Justice and Independence, you mean something like a Newt Continuum?

The GOPee Clown Circus becomes more and more bizarre everyday first we had the Pizza Clown followed by the Crazy Lady and the Ignoramus Perry and what are they left with an Amphibian who wants to go to the moon and a 1% Flip-Flopping politician the Rom-nut

This is the biggest Clown Show I have ever seen in my life

LMAO!

I thought the same thing when People like Bill Gates, and Steven Jobs were playing with things in garages, there's no way you can shrink down a computer to have in every household, nope no way. and a phone that can do everything, must be a Chinese dream. where is that American sense of adventure. nothing ventured nothing gained. go ahead be cynical, me I'm a adventurist I'll try anything, well most anything there are limits. after all I do have morals.

DB, really.

It cost $25,000,000,000 to get to the moon, when the annual federal budget was about $100,000,000,000 a year.

And the was to get a total of FOURTEEN guys onthe surface and back.

Where is the MONEY going to come from to ship 13,000 people, PLUS all their equipment and regular supplies (since we STILL don't know how create a self sustaining environment - Earth Two was a failure). My guess, this will cost something approaching a trillion dollars.

People yawned about going to the moon in the 70's. They will yawn again at Newt's idea. Been there, done that. We are finding out much more from the Hubble and through probes than we learned going to the moon, and you don't have to send people to do it.

We've got thousands of unemployed teachers throughout the country due to budget shortfalls and continual cuts to education funding, and Newt is talking about building colonies on the moon--in seven years, no less. Just shows you how megalomanic and out of touch Gingrich and his ilk are. It makes me wonder if Oxycontin is involved.

After Newt overthrows the Castro government, he will do all in his power to keep Cubans out of the U.S.

Two thoughts:

1. Where is the money for this being printed??

2. I got your "moon" colony right here!

Newt strikes me like John Kerry- He seems to think he's entitled to the Presidency. I don't see how he's going to get much done in DC, which won't help the country. I don't think President Obama deserves another term, nor do I think any of Congress deserves another term.

I AM all for space exploration, just based on all of the technological bonuses we've reaped from the past's exploration. Per the note above, just imagine all of the inspiration the last 6-10 generatins have had by seeing people go into space (think sci-fi, movies, etc. and then translate that to actual science technology, and products). Big time stuff.

@ Brian,

Edible toothpaste? Where would we be without edible toothpaste? I am thankful for what the space program has brought us, and am excited about unmanned space exploration, but we don't need and can't afford a moon base! Honestly, and you right wingers are always talking about small government and, "Where are we going to get the money, China?"

Obviously you didn't know them either, or you wouldn't have had to look them up.

I don't know of anyone who says that there are no benefits from NASA or space exploration. But resources are finite, and how much should be invested in a long-term space program in the middle of the worst economy since the Depression is a legitimate question.

Look at it this way; If George Bush had funded the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Medicare Part D, and TARP, we'd have the money for NASA.

Dennis - You must not have read the article about where the money is coming from. Might I suggest you actually read what his ideas are to pay for this. Conservatives do not think like liberals do. We actually believe in Capitalism.

Brian we all love NASA, there is no need to post a laundry list of accomplishments. It's The Newt channeling JFK that most find nauseating.

When Newt is in the next state he will condemn NASA as a left wing plot to sneak illegal aliens in from mars,m state by state he will change his story.

Brianb - congratulations!!! You finally learned how to copy and paste!

The only use I ever had for the republican party was it's support of NASA. Our going to the moon and establishing a base there would be an important stepping stone on the way to Mars.(G.W. Bush's idea and distraction from bad things going on around him). The problem is the republicans have been"Starving the Beast" for so long with their useless wars and give a ways to the wealthy via tax cuts that funding will be a major problem.

All of which leads me to believe that Newt is talking to the base in Florida (Cape Canaveral and all those space engineers, support industries and families that have been thrown out of work lately.) and is selling some stale GWB pie in the sky.

Brian B You forgot Tang.

Does Gingrich know the definition of "grandiose" includes "absurd exaggeration"?

Brian: NASA more than any other agency understands the consequences of "selling" it's grand vision to taxpayers. They have not done that in a number of years--on MANNED exploration. It's a pittance of the budget, but before attacking "liberals", you ought to look at recent history of which party has refused to support that budget. Apparantly, you would be hugely surprised.

WHY DO THESE IDIOTS SAY STUFF LIKE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wouldn't it be more effective to just put a shotgun into your political mouth?

MORONIC!

Pssssst, psssssst, uh, say, there Newt. Uh, you think maybe, while you're being so grandiose, you might arrange to send some pipefitters down to the northernmost environs of hell? Let'em install running water and some decent toilets? Tell'em to bring plenty of "angel soft" too. Too many down here sweating like working mules, and walking spraddle legged from galled asses. Be christian Newt! You can moon the northwest colonies any old time. Could help you out in the long run too Newt.

Hey Brianb

Nice cut and paste but how you going to pay for your right wing nut moon base?

How about the deficit that you right wing moonbats are always yammering on about? Where were you hypocrites when the village idiot Bush turned a record federal surplus into a record deficient by launching two unpaid for wars and than cut taxes for the rich not once but twice yet the right wing nuts yammer on and on about the deficit and the near economic collapse they caused

So tell me how you going to pay for your right wing moonbat base?

AP - and I'll address you because you are at least somewhat reasonable... all the others here making derogatory comments that I don't know, I'll simply dismiss as passing through.

One of the problems we have is that if a republican comes up with an idea, no matter how small OR grandiose, it is put down by the liberal faction. The space program is something I can get behind because I've seen the benefits of sending men into outerspace and on to the moon. I watched Neil take his first steps on the moon live that summer night in 69, I was 12. The space program and NASA is something we should all be proud of, but Obama has no vision for them. Newt does, so in my book, he may be stepping out a bit on the fringe, but so did Kennedy in 61 saying that we will put a man on the moon before the end of the decade. Well, we did, didn't we? In my mind, it's one of the greatest American accomplishments occuring in my lifetime. It set us apart from all other nations.

It is absolutely correct to dissect what Newt said. I have no problem with that... but people don't think, they react. The immediate reaction from the left is - Newt's crazy and then comes the tyrade of names, insults and everything but the kitchen sink. Why? Because they aren't thinking of the country, they are thinking in their own ideology... a corrosive and non productive process that inhibits the growth of any idea... because a dreaded republican said it.

You say they haven't done manned exploration in years. What is the international space station all about then? You don't consider that exploration? You don't consider space walks outside of the shuttle, exploration? Please. NASA hasn't thrown the books away on their accomplishments. We took the baby steps already. Now it's time to step out further. The logical sequence is to place a station on the moon. Maybe manning it with 13,000 people is a little much, but you gotta admit, it's a grand idea... and we do have the imagination and the brain power to make the accomplishment. What do you think the space shuttle program was designed to do? Orbit the earth? It was a stepping stone to the moon. We have the ability to shuttle to the moon and back with the next generation of shuttle.

Partisanism is going to ruin this country. That's our biggest danger.

This Trekkie has lost it big time, he already has gone where no man has been before, this guy really needs his Meds ........ Guess screwing Mother Earth is not enough now they want to go into Outer space and see what they can Fu_kup out there ....

you want the money to pay for this? Stop all wars and bring all troops home, Stop ALL foreign Aid, Cut defense budgets by 25%. theres all the money you need.

DENNIS, COLUMBUS, OHIO, WHERE DOES HE BORROW THE MONEY FROM? YOU MEAN OBAMA BLEW IT ALL, WE GOT NO CREDIT? SAY IT AIN'T SO! Hey man sorry about them tearing down The Kahiki in Columbus,it's a bitch tearing down a landmark only to build a Walgreen's, I know. But hey if you see Eric Clapton in town,tell'm I said," Hi, and that he should lose the Strat and get back to the Gibson Firebird 1 and Marshall's".

Call it a retirement community for the 1%. Sadly, they're going to need a suitable getaway long before 2020 arrives. The world's a small place when you're in exile.

He seems to be getting ahead of himself, making outrageous statements like that. He'll need to get elected for that to happen and from what I've been reading in the comments, that doesn't seem likely... Of course, he'd be the perfect 1st candidate for his plan. His head's as empty as the vaccum of space.

Puff puff pass Newt

Radical 1 - some conservatives would take your comments in a negative light. Not this conservative. I happen to agree with you. If we started this process several years ago, we wouldn't be as deep in debt as we are now. In fact there are more programs than just defense we could cut and shrink goverment with. A proposal is in the works now to reduce our deficit by a Trillion dollars in 10 years.... I'm wondering what these politicians are thinking about... They have to be crazy. Not when they are running $1.3 trillion in deficits a year now.

Somebody in Washington has to get serious about the debt and deficits. I keep waiting on the American public to bring out the tar and feathers... but then they'll send out the military and slaughter those who want things done right.

Talking about moonbats... did you notice the criticism created by the left? The lunkheads don't realize what benefits they use everyday which were created by the space program.

Then why are all the calls to cut funding to NASA - or in some cases abolish it altogether - coming from the right?

Every time I read an article about NASA's next big project, I see that over half of the people commenting on said article say something along the lines of "WHY ARE WE WASTING TAX DOLLARS ON THIS??? OBAMA'S A SOCIALIST!!! TEA PARTY!!!"

Right, left, rich or poor, I like the idea of investing in the space program. When you invest in the science that it would take - the technologies it would lead to, it is a win/win for all sides. Besides, truth be told, when I was young, I always wanted to be an astronaut. At that time "girls" weren't allowed. Now, maybe my granddaughter could go! (I still remember Alan Shepard, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, you know the right stuff guys)

John Kennedy challenged us, and foraa decade, we believed and strived. And what we got from it was wonderful. Nothing wrong with that kind of dream.

Brian you do realize we could go back to the moon and have a REAL colony with 1970 's Tech. right ?

Who killed NASA 's Budget ? Ohh right repubs . too expensive , no return in value . LMAO , you do realize not all of us are 20 right ?

Those Saturn 5 's laying on there sides at Canaveral and johnson are NOT mockups those are actual real boosters . In case ya missed it , YOU , Rebublicans killed the Space Program in the 70's . PUH-leeze do not act like now it's a good thing .

Newt is a master sophist

You know, they used to complain in the '60's about the money spent going into space. America is the place one is supposed to dream big. You have to dream big to obtain big things.

Carpenter - do you know the difference between a republican and a conservative? We are called independents. Just because I am a conservative does NOT mean I am a republican. I just thought you should be educated. Do I agree with the republicans for not funding NASA? The answer to that is NO! For people like you that only see in terms of republican and democrat, you have to start enlightening yourself to the fact that there are a huge group of independents out here that disagree with both sides of the democrat/republican divide. I'll bet you weren't aware that there is no simple 2 party system in this country anymore. It is split along 3 lines. Republican, democrat and independent. It won't be the republicans or the democrats deciding who the next president will be. It will be the independents, like it or not.

phancy - you are absolutely correct my dear. The problem the space program has been facing is lack of vision. Not by the people at NASA, but by politicians. I have absolute confidence in those working for NASA. I have zero confidence in politicians. Look how many things they have screwed up... As far as I'm concerned they can clean out the whole lot of them and replace them with all freshmen. Our country would be a lot better off by getting rid of those that are destroying this country from within. We need a true political revolution to replace all of those POS's in office. I have no loyalty to anyone sitting there now and my most highest political dream would be to see everyone of them lose their job.

Actually, Guys, the first president to start the de-funding of Nasa? Lyndon Baines Johnson! A democrat. He started in 1965, accellerated it into 1967, By '68 they had already cut three of the Saturn V flights to the moon, one stage one flight and two stage two flights. Congress stopped flights to the moon in '70 by ending all funding and ordering the assembly plants for the Saturn 1b and Saturn V shuttered.

Johnson with the aid of a Democrat Congress killed Apollo and walking on the moon.

Sure.....what the heck is a few more trillion.

Brianb, if you suppose all the funds would come from private funding, then you may need to be the first passenger on that train to the moon. All those things you bored us with that came from space research, were paid for by US. Even if some money came from private funding, it would only come if the reps created some super duper tax cut incentive. Then they would only sell whatever is found on the moon to a select group of mega rich people and probably work out a way it would be considered capital gains and only pay half the tax.....

the other issue is past space exploration was done when money flowed freely from the gov... these days it is all about cuts. How does Newtie's vision mesh with the Ryan plan (or as I call it the scortched earth plan)...???

It is sad how dreaming in this country, maybe the world, has died. People profess to believe in God, Allah or Jehovah, but the supreme being they worship is money. The big dreams are all about money. Once, there was a time when man dreamed of crossing an unknown ocean. Then crossing an unknown continent. Then going into space. I wish those dreamers would come back.

It is not God bless America anymore. It is God bless the dollar. And shame on all of us. :(

This must be were he wants to send all the poor people that recieve government assistance. I bet It'll be on the dark side of the moon.....

"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will be as one."

John Lennon

I wish he was still with us... I would like to hear what he would say...

It hasn't been a year since Boehner, McConnell, and the TEAparty saught to cut $82 billion from NASA's budget that virtually mothballed the space shuttle replacement because we couldn't afford the space program, but that doesn't matter to Newt when he is stumping for votes in Florida.

This man is a pathological lair, but the GOP base eats it up.

Brian is one of those self hating republicans you always here of.

Egilman,

Knowing John Lennon, I am sure it would be both profound and profane!

Newt seems to be unaware of the scientific reasons we are aiming at Mars and the asteroids instead of the moon. The moon is another deep gravity well, so it will be very expensive to get resources out of the moon and out of the moon's gravity. Due to the nature of the moon, there are limited resources there that we can use, compared to the asteroids. We also know that sending humans is expensive and very risky. Unmanned probes let us explore much more for the money invested; then we can figure out how to safely get people to the places of interest.

Not believing in science is not a good basis for inventing a mission for NASA that comes out of a 1930s comic book.

"Newt Gingrich promised Wednesday on Florida’s space coast to create a moon colony by 2020 if elected president."

Meanwhile, Romney promises triple mileage rewards for all flights.

Alas, people today also have no imagination. Some machine or video or movie does the thinking for them. But, everyone is great at attacking each other.

I look at the space program as dream, a goal to achieve - not through the prism of politics.

Brian:

I think a more relevant list would be the different crap these politicians say as they pander to the locals of swing states, because anyone who thinks Newt Gingrich, as President, would put in place a plan to shuttle 13,000 people to the moon, is pretty gullible.

I'm all for commercial space travel, but that is ridiculously unrealistic and just BS he is saying to get people excited in Florida.

LMAO....so....I guess this is where the GOP intends to move the middle class???

Lord have mercy....so that's where the saying comes from....I'll promise you the moon???

Typical dysfunctional Republican wingnut.

Is anyone keeping a tally on his grandiose promises?

1. Lets see how many trillions for this moon colon?

2. How many more trillions for a Mars mission?

3. How many more trillions for a war with Iran?

4. How more billions for a capital tax cut for his 1%'er friends?

5. How many more billions for entitlement programs for the illegal aliens? (on route to be great Americans citizens who parade with their homeland flags waving, sorry but those demostrations really freaked me out, lol)

6. Come on help me out, what am I leaving out?

Obviously he is having a hard time understanding the Constitution of the US. Maybe he should go back a start by studying and understanding the Magna Carta, first.

Phine,

1. The trajectory right now for space exploration by this Administration is to send humans to orbit Mars and return them safely, by 2015 or so. That is ambitious and will cause a lot of research and break-throughs. We already went to the Moon. It would cost a lot to go again. (Newt and his colonies..!)

2. BTW, my comment that is second, up top, got posted without me being able to edit at all. And it got shoved in between two threads that were put up at different times. However they are shown as being in order of appearance (not).

Gotta be Newt's technology at work.

Corrrrrrection: The trajectory right now for space exploration by this Administration is to send humans to orbit Mars and return them safely, by 2035 or so.

Gaa. Can you imagine if it really was by 2015? We'd have to catapult them up there with very large elastic bands on stilts.

Backhouse,

they still haven't even decided how they are going to do it, whether direct launch, or from a "Base on the Moon"....

Now, is the Grinch dreaming or revealing a decision he would actually make, as if he had the knowledge to tell the difference between a booster and an ullage motor.

I had thought the idea was to launch for Mars from the Moon. I am no rocket scientist (for once meaning it literally), but I would think that would be the better option. However, with the right boosters, I could see it launching from earth.

What can I say except I am a product of the 1960's and can remember JFK's speech about going to the moon and still I am inspired by it!

I think the hubby and I need a Cocoa Beach weekend. I haven't been to the space center in a few years (only a 2 hour drive, so we go quite often). I know we loved going down to watch shuttle launches. Coolest launch I saw was from a cruise ship just off the coast! (Nice cruise port in Canaveral)

....so

I see a a lot of complaints above me, but for all the left wingers whining, try this on for size. The almighty O has spent more in 3 years, than Bush did with 2 wars in 8. What has improved?? tell me, I would like to know.

I think he said, If I cant fix the economy in 3 years, I am a one term President. Well, he has not fixed teh economy, but he has saddled the U.S. with infinite debt, and is still working without a budget, forcing a healthcare reform down the throats of Americans, even though most Americans opposed it.

Our Astronauts are learning to speak Russian, so they can 'hook a ride' into space since our space shuttle program is defunct, thanks again O. It is an insult to the U.S., but hey, what the hell.

Kennedy, John F., would not be considered a Democrat by today's standard. He would be a right wing "nut job", I mean really, who would vowe to go to the moon in 9 years.....50 YEARS AGO? Who would say, "ask not what your country can do for you...but what YOU can do for your country"???

He must have been a right wing whack job....or an AMERICAN with some pride, and common sense.

Think about it....

E, But can he tell 'rooster from umbrage'?

With my superdoubleplusvision, I bet it'd go direct from Earth. It is such a vantage point that unless we are all on the same page, the moon will be a place to control something/someone by then.

By "moon", I'm sure he means his ass...because that's what he's talking out of...

Spin Jim, Balderdash.

And lots of it.

Again, check your sources.

Lost count how many times I've read of Republican Tea Partiers saying they want to eliminate NASA. Newt, you're going to need a lot of luck getting American men back on the moon in just seven years time when you want to cut all the tax revenue that's needed to pay for this unilateral dream of yours. And in your party's dream, it won't be another American flag planted on the moon, it'll be the flag of some private corporation bankrolled by Wall Street interests that paid no taxes with you as President.

What a dingbat, with delusions of grandeur..... Doesn't he realize nobody cares or will be impressed!!

Here is a fact: NASA already HAS a plan to colonize the moon. Most of the technology for a sustainable colony has been developed. From shelter to growing some food to concentrating oxygen and making water. That is what a lot of the experiments that are being done on the ISS is all about. What is stopping us from doing it you ask? Money!

The shuttle program ended because it was designed to after the ISS was complete with all of it's modules. Obama had nothing to do with ending the shuttle and all thinking people knows that. It is far cheaper to launch satellites by rockets. We have a new "space plane" nearly complete in testing stage to ferry astronauts and supplies to the ISS.

Now back to Newton. What the hell is he talking about a colony of 13,000? I doubt it will take that many to make some kind of fuel to launch space ships to Mars. I can see a couple dozen, maybe 100, and an international effort at doing it. Where will (would) he get the money? How can he even joke about claiming the moon US territory? Would he get the money by charging everyone in the world a dime each time they look at the moon?

WOW, the moon. I thought Newt and helmet head Callista would be more comfortablw on a red planet like Mars.

I must admit, I don't understand Republican policies at all.

1. Cut Taxes

2. Cut Spending

3. ????

4. Moon Colony

Isn't it true that "LOONEY" comes from the word Lunar? I'm just sayin' ....

I wonder what if he will cut Capital Gains to 0% on the moon?

I have to admit I do not understand Republicans. They were mad becaues we bailed out General Motors and saved American jobs. but it is ok to rebuild Iraq. They say we wasted money on all the bail outs but most of it has been paid back. Obama Has been a bad president. How he has not been able to do much because of the party problems in Washington. both sides. And last but not least Newt says his cheating on his wife should not matter but it sure did when Clinton did it. We are broke but we can live on the Moon. must be cheaper living there. and the rich should not pay taxes. Just the man I want to send to the moon. Mars would be better it is farther away

Telling people who have the most mortgages under water ... that he wants to build on the Moon?????

I get it now ... all those meetings with Trump ..............

Understand the GOP agenda:

1. Bankrupt the nation...by unnecessary wars or space programs or anything you can think of that will cost so many trillions of dollars that no one can keep track of it all and guys like Haliburton can just "lose" billions with absolutely no consequences. Make sure all your rich corporate buddies get the no-bid contracts.

2. Once the nation is bankrupt, tear apart all programs that might give tax dollars back to the 99% in any way. No more tax credits unless you are uber-rich, no more medicaid, social security, welfare, unemployment benefits, nothing. They are just stealing all that free tax money away from the wealthy.

3. Now remove all funding for education at every level. Only rich kids need an education, the 99% should remain too stupid to know what's being done to them.

4. Abolish the minimum wage. Pass laws saying employers no longer have to have health care...buy another house and a jet with the profits.

5. Crown yourself king. Now that 99% of the population is in abject poverty, they don't own their homes, they work for peanuts just to survive, they have no rights, no health care, no education, no hope for the future and you can't tell them apart from the serfs of old.

6. Buy a third world country and repeat.

MoonBat extraordinaire ... here's another one ..

During the GOP Florida Debate last week, Mitt Romney and the other candidates with the exception of Ron Paul pretty much wished Castro to hell.

Both Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney hoped Castro meet his "maker" in the very near future.

Romney ~ "Well first of all, you thank heavens that Fidel Castro has returned to his maker and will be sent to to another land." (I'm assuming "different land" means hell).

Newt ~ "I don't think Fidel is going to meet his maker," Gingrich said. "I think he's going to the place."

And Castro's response ~ "The selection of a Republican candidate for the presidency of this globalized and expansive empire is — and I mean this seriously — the greatest competition of idiocy and ignorance that has ever been."

Yes 2012 Bush neocon Republicans ... wage global wars, kill Americans, kill thousands of our Armed Forces boys, loot American wealth & bankrupt America & blow-up the world ... to kill one man ...

Yes colonize the moon for you and your ilks' incarceration ...

The same people making sarcastic comments above would be glowing with praise if Obama had made the statement. Whether you are a fan of Gingrich or not, an ambitious space program is great for the USA. Small narrow-minded brains didn't make America the great country that it is.

Guys, take the partisan blinders off.

I heard this on C-Span driving home yesterday. If I knew nothing else, I'd be a Gingrich supporter right now. He's right about the impact of big goals on just about everything, and he's making Romney look foolish for the "grandiose" line of attack. So, basically, my advice to everyone is not to be as foolish, unthinking, short-sighted and dismissive as Romney.

Can we afford to do something like this? That's a good question. But I also liked Gingrich's approach to offering prizes to the private sector. What was it - about eight years ago maybe - when we all watched the X-prize suborbital flight? I've thought all along we ought to pursue that approach with multiple scientific and engineering needs. And we have, but not to the degree I would advocate.

You know - it's hard to believe the big fig NEWTON on this considering his past hatred of NASA.

Not a single candidate indicated they were in favor of continuing to fund NASA. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had the strongest argument against NASA saying it had “become an absolute case study in why bureaucracy cannot innovate.”

WOW you liberals sound scared. Not sarcastic, but scared little puppies who are all worried about their but-wiper barack being taken away. Sorry if it scares you to actually have someone who has a vision to set some serious dreams into motion. To at least provide some vision so that people in this country feel that anything is possible again. That's how this country was founded you nit-wits. JFG didn't have a clue how they would put a man on the moon. But he set a target, and the country (NASA) rose to the challenge and again, we were the first and the best.

But you liberals are a joke. You'd just assume have a guy who spits out the same BS every time he opens his verbally diseased ridden mouth instead of someone who can inspire with a vision instead of division.

You guys are going to vote for your "great divider" no matter what happens so why are you so scared? Why are you even piping in on this? According to most of you barack is a shoe-in so why are you wasting your time worrying about, as you put it, "this crazy person". According to so many of you it's all but over and barack will have your vote no matter who the right side runs.

You guys love the absurd "us vs them" argument that your leader has implanted so deeply in your pea-brains. You enjoy the thought of having someone wipe your ass for you so you don't have to take the responsibility. You love the entitlement mentality that goes hand and hand with liberalism. That's cool though, just vote the 'waste of a presidency' back into office and soon enough we will be like Greece; Lot's of entitled brats screaming and throwing rocks because the country can't afford to pay for their college, demanding something just for being born, all while the currency depletes to zero. Liberalism is anti-American. Newt is a bit eccentric but compared to barack one could argue he's the greatest person to ever live...what's that say about your messiah?

But what do I know? I'm just some right wing wacko diseased conservative. The difference is that my "hopes" for this country are real by definition and I'd bet good money that most of you share them. Compared to your messiah's hopes that are to bring everyone down to an equally dependent level while he and those like him rule from above and dine on the "peasants" labor. Your messiah is a fraud, he's snowballed you and you raised up your hands like zombies and just followed right along.

I think I'll go clean my gun(s) while reading the Bible and listening to Fox news in the background. That should make your skin crawl, and I love making liberals skin crawl. Enjoy that whole "ignorance is bliss" thing.

I'd just like to say: thank you, Newt, for running for the presidency - despite the fact that the money your campaign costs could be used for more useful things - it affords you the opportunity to provide the American People with so much laughter and entertainment

...something we all need in these difficult times...

Gee, Brianb, if you don't like the "moonbats" here, I suggest you go to where the real moonbats are...Faux Noise.

For you guys commenting about "where the money would come from?" What would you rather have your tax money spent on? Multiple wars that gain us nothing but more foreign enemies and dead American men or put towards science and exploration? Remember that space exploration has led to most of the technology we can't live without today and that the moon is likely full of resources that could be used on earth and for future exploration.

I, for one, would rather see us explore space and expand technology that send our boys overseas to trying to help a country full of people that hate us.

By Rightwingwacked ~ think I'll go clean my gun(s) while reading the Bible and listening to Fox news in the background.

That should make your skin crawl, and I love making liberals skin crawl.

Enjoy that whole "ignorance is bliss" thing.

LOL ... its all ya had, all ya have now and all ya ever will have ... LOL.

I'm not a particular fan of Newt... but getting our space program back online and moving forward with inspiring projects like colonizing the Moon and Mars is a far better use of our tax dollars than all this redistributive class war bs Obama has been blathering on about.

Good, send the Lunatic back home!

And how is it that Newt plans on paying for this??? Seeing as he's promising to cut taxes to the point of nonexistent. Perhaps he'll propose we use a giant sling shot built by poor people and than fling their children there to work as moon slaves?

Can no one see what he is doing here? Mining colony? Private companies competing? Let us all realize that without the moon, we all perish. I do not want anyone up there blowing holes in it. I like gravity.

I'm old enough to remember (I was in 7th grade) the day they pitched Alan Shepard 300 miles downrange in a Mercury capsule for the first manned sub-orbital flight. I've always supported the US space program, and have folowed it from the days of Sputnik, even though that was a Soviet accomplishment.

Unfortunately I think Newt's blowing smoke. It plays well for unemployed NASA workers, but the practicalities aren't there.

I'd rather support a manned Mars mission lauched from Earth orbit, but we currently don't have the hardware capibility to do that, and since a Mars mission would of necessity be a pure science mission I don't see private corporations picking up the tab for something which wouldn't return a profit next quarter.

For that matter I don't see any private sector interest in any space missions outside of LEO because there's no quick money to be made.

So while I think a major reinvestment in a US space program would be a very good thing I don't believe it will ever happen under a Gingrich administration.

That bullet proof "hair don't" is one of Newts budget cuts ! It takes a lot of money to look that cheap .

Now, if he would just promise to be the first one to go! He and his wife!

Mr. Gingrich, let me show you a full moon and your phony colony there....UU

The same boisterous rhetoric as when he was a Speaker - all talk, all bulls...t

Ron Paul is the only candidate that can put brakes on the Federal govermnent

I see a lot of criticism on here. What are your ideas for the future? Technology and exploration are the reasons that humans crawled out of the cave. If we don't do something we will stagnate as a species.

Wakeup - about 70% of all R&D money spent in US goes towards defense related projects, as opposed to 10% in EU. Yes, we DO need to invest in progress, but not in progress of killing people. Newt will not change that, because he is yet another neocon chickenhawk who bankrupted America by starting 2 most expensive wars in US history.

Newt, hate to tell you but colonizing an airless moon is just useless.

NASA is embarking upon Deep Space. The same goal we had back in the 1960's after the moon missions. That is until Nixon killed that goal and restricted NASA to low-earth orbit missions only. Now once again we are reviving the dreams of human exploration of Deep Space. Manned missions to asteroids between Earth and Mars and then finally a manned mission to Mars.

.

Max,

I asked for ideas. 70% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

I think Nutty Newt might have eaten a bad moon-pie. bwahahahahahahaha

Where the hell does he think the money is going to come from, and why the moon? Why not another planet that is more habitable than that moon.

This man has eaten way too many moon-pies and needs to be sent to the moon for a good probing by some martians to see wtf is wrong with his head.

He really should have opted for a real school instead of Sunday school for lessons and an education.

Nutty Newt is a lost cause, and there is no saving this loser. NEXT!

How about repairing our broken colonies here in the U.S. first. That's the problem with this country ---- we have this carriage before the horse mentality.

Besides, no one has ever been to the moon. Why would anyone want to go there?

Wake Up,

Here are some ideas I think we should focus on first...

Repeal the Bush Tax Cuts which will bring debt as a percentage of GDP to below 50%.

Fix the miss aligned interests of Wall St and the American citizenry. We currently have a system in place which incentivizes dolling out debt to the American people, as opposed to investment and innovation. Transparency, capital requirements, fiduciary duty on the part of lendors, and limiting bank size will fix this.

Instead of taking advantage of China's human rights violating labor market, using it as reasoning for devaluing American labor, and having zero penalities in our tax code for doing so, and zero incentives to not do so, let's incentivize American manufactoring and penalize Chinese manufactoring. Why are we racing them down to the standards of the guilded age? We should penalizing that, not trying to beat them there.

Stop the currency manipulation, take back their "Most Favored Nation" status, and equalize the tariff rates.

Reform entitlements to be means tested and raise the retirement age. Cut defense spending, end Afganistan and use the extra funds for an infrastructure bank, research and development, education and Healthcare reform. Real healthcare reform, that not only gets everyone coverage, but ends the current monopolies we have and focuses on proactive health. Real education reform, as in not funded by property taxes which increases and ensures the cycle of poverty.

Regulate the labor unions, get rid of first in last out, and create/increase penalties for nepotism/cronysim, while protecting whistleblowers against unions better.

Immigration reform that utilizes and invests in our immigrants instead of demonizes them. Legalization of drugs, and taxation on them which will be invested in mental health.

Equal rights for gays, an end to the Patriot Act, the overturning of the BS voting laws, and anti-immigration "papers please" laws.

Campaign finance reform, and a Constitutional Amendment to ban money in politics, overturning Buckley v Valeo and Citizen's United.

Let's start with that, and when congress gets that finished, we'll talk about "moon colonies".

For that matter I don't see any private sector interest in any space missions outside of LEO because there's no quick money to be made.

In that case you should go to the spacex.com web site and look at their plans to send paying passengers to mars in the next 10 to 20 years.

Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it is not there. Eyes wide open.

Besides, no one has ever been to the moon.

Yeah! And no one has ever climbed Mt. Everest, and Magellan didn't circumnavigate the globe either.

.....Legalization of drugs

Really? You want the increased chance that somebody sharing the road with you might be on one of those "legalized" drugs? .....or perhaps that intern that is working on your IV when you go to the hospital might be on one of those "legalized" drugs?

Reform entitlements to be means tested and raise the retirement age.

Absolutely.

Moon Colony?????

Maybe, Newt can run for "President of the moon"........

Maybe we can mine the moon for it's natural energy resources (like the movie "Moon")...there'd be a hell of a pipeline though.....

Is there something about being a politician that rots your brain? Because most politicians (on either side of the isle) are a "bit off" in their thinking.....

JamesP,

Truth and Lies don't mix. They are like oil and vinegar ---- shake them up together all you want ---- they always separate and will not mix.

Toxic,

Really? You want the increased chance that somebody sharing the road with you might be on one of those "legalized" drugs? .....or perhaps that intern that is working on your IV when you go to the hospital might be on one of those "legalized" drugs?

I'm sorry, did I say somewhere that I wanted the legalization of Driving While Intoxicated, or to lower ethical and malpractice standards to allow for drug use while at work???

Rumor has it Newt tripped out back in the day on some good acid while watching that old Flash Gordon flick and never got over it. Let him do all the "Space Trukkin'" he wants and the sooner the better!

Sarah, you didn't specify that they couldn't. You want what are currently illegal drugs legalized so they would be on par with cigarettes and alcohol. There will be an increased frequency of people using while doing "normal" everyday activities such as driving, working. etc...when you advocate legalization, of course there will be a down side to it.

I have to get back to work as I am on my short lunch break......I have alot of people on entitlements that I need to support with my payroll taxes....

Toxic,

I'm sorry I can't specify every tiny nuance. Most people with common sense don't presume that legalization of drugs means legalization of everything. There won't be an increased frequency, because the people who do those things, already do them. Just like with alcohol.

You made an illogical point. Just own up to it.

In that case you should go to the spacex.com web site and look at their plans to send paying passengers to mars in the next 10 to 20 years.

Hell, I'd fly with them if I were still alive and could afford it. But how many people could afford to make the trip? And the spacex plan assumes that a lot of other companies are going to spend a lot of money to make a lot of other things happen first. And that's not likely.

And that's not likely.

I doubt that a man like Elon Musk, the founder of Paypal and SpaceX, would even consiter it if he didn't think it could be done, and at a profit. This is not a hobby for him. It is business for profit.

.....because the people who do those things, already do them.

And, you don't think that without the "illegal" stigma attached more people would be williing to experiment with narcotics? Now, who's without common sense?

Why do you feel the need to diminsh those who's opinion of which you disagree? Does it make you feel better about yourself?

Now, I am sure you will have some sort of comment that will dimish my point of view while showing us all just how smart you are....have at it.

And, you don't think that without the "illegal" stigma attached more people would be williing to experiment with narcotics? Now, who's without common sense?

No, and you. There is no link, between breaking the law and recreational use of intoxicants. That's why people drink everyday and the majority don't go to work drunk or drive drunk. Addiction leads to those things, and addiction is about the addicts mind, not the substance. That's why we see people addicted to natural things like sex or food.

Again, you have no point. Just give up.

Newt Gingrich = Presidential(wannabe) "Moon Beam". Very appropriate for the bombastic blowhard to shoot off his big mouth. Maybe they can launch directly from his mouth to save on fuel costs.

Remember he was in Florida. The remark should make a lot of voters happy. However, I would name the moon colony "Terminal Towers." or perhaps "Happy Dale" or even "Colonville. You cannot imagine how many people would qualify for residences there. Maybe McDonalds would introduce a McNewt to celebrate the new colony. God knows what Walmart would do.

It would seem in the Official Gingrich Lexicon that the term "grandiose" which he ascribes to himself is a substitute for the more precise Everyman's Language word "grandstanding."

I fully expected the final Republican nominee to promise us heaven (and give us hell). Newt is not yet the nominee, but he is already promising us the Moon. C'mon Willard, call him and raise him Mars. We've all seen how the Mitt can outspend the Lizard.

(Sarah) No, and you. There is no link, between breaking the law and recreational use of intoxicants.

Yeah, I guess you're right, my bad.....I'm just ignorant. Oh, but you might be interested in some reading....

Legalization proponents claim, absurdly, that making illegal drugs legal would not cause more of these substances to be consumed, nor would addiction increase.

It’s clear from history that periods of lax controls are accompanied by more drug abuse and that periods of tight controls are accompanied by less drug abuse.

The consequences of legalization became evident when the Alaska Supreme Court ruled in 1975 that the state could not interfere with an adult’s possession of marijuana for personal consumption in the home. The court’s ruling became a green light for marijuana use. Although the ruling was limited to persons 19 and over, teens were among those increasingly using marijuana. According to a 1988 University of Alaska study, the state’s 12 to 17-year-olds used marijuana at more than twice the national average for their age group.

By 1979, after 11 states decriminalized marijuana and the Carter administration had considered federal decriminalization, marijuana use shot up among teenagers

From 1984 to 1996, the Dutch liberalized the use of cannabis. Surveys reveal that lifetime prevalence of cannabis in Holland increased consistently and sharply.

Switzerland, with some of the most liberal drug policies in Europe, experimented with what became known as Needle Park. Needle Park became the Mecca for drug addicts throughout Europe, an area where addicts could come to openly purchase drugs and inject heroin without police intervention or control. The rapid decline in the neighborhood surrounding Needle Park, with increased crime and violence, led authorities to finally close Needle Park in 1992

It’s clear that there is a relationship between legalization and increasing drug use, and that legalization would result in an unacceptably high number of drug-addicted Americans.

This from the USDEA: www.justice.gov/dea/demand/speakout/06so.htm

Now, go back and look at Prohibition in the 1920s. People still drank. A lot of the organized crime got their foothold then. Legalizing illegal substance will take a lot of the profit margin away from criminals and put a lot of tax money in the IRS coffers.

Not that I'm saying we should legalize anything, but there is another side.

I always believe anything the USDEA tells me. Like that movie Refer Madness really opened my eyes. Harry J. Anslinger was tops too! A man of honor in which one could put their trust. I believed absolutely everything that perfect angle said.

Indeed, if you can't trust the government, who can you trust?

Newt is just doing what a demagogue does. Pander for votes. Most of the space program of the 50s and 60s was just a way of hiding military expenditures in the budget. It is no longer needed. Many people in FLA either had jobs in NASA, contractors of NASA or business that profited from the space program. Newt wants their votes and as we all know he is a master of pillow talk. While the space program provided the seed money for our modern electronic lifestyle it is no longer need for that. Basically that means that two of the major reasons for a space program are now dead. Hiding military spending and actual life improving research. Billions are already being spent on space exploration. They are announcing discovering new planets every day. Big deal when never will reach them and we already knew there is trillions and trillions of them.

we already knew there is trillions and trillions of them.

Scientists are careful about stuff like that. They will say that they believe the chances of there being other planets is large, until they find one. Then they will say, yes indeed there are.

Proper scientists never say an unconfirmed idea is true without proof, no matter how compelling the argument. If they did, then found they were incorrect, they would loose credibility.

I'm all for space exploration, but a base on the moon seems as useful like t1ts on a boar hog. The moon doesn't provide a single thing to sustain life.

Devil's Son, nobody knew what was to come from JFK's race to the moon. There were no shortage of naysayers or critics of that day. NASA brought us technological advances beyond our wildest dreams. I was a believer. I was never more proud to be American than July 20th, 1969. The most terrific accomplishment by man on Planet Earth to date.

1776 proved us to be a nation of men willing to die for our freedom. 1865 proved us a nation of men willing to fight our own brothers for a moral and righteous cause. 1945 saw the results of a determined U.S.A. that lead the way for Allies of the free world to defeat the all powerful empires of the mighty Axis powers that were determined to rule the world.

July 20th, 1969 was the first time in world history that the mightiest nation on Earth led the world in a race to new technology, fantastic discoveries and goodwill to all by openly sharing that experience with the entire planet. Apollo 11 was the first to deliver Eagle, the Lunar module, to land men on the Moon. Their destination was called, "The Sea of Tranquility" . A fitting name for a peaceful mission to be celebrated by all of mankind.

We face great challenges today divided by opposing ideologies that threaten to tear us apart. We must never forget that generations of brave Americans met even greater challenges in the past to finally unite as one to meet and defeat those seemingly insurmountable problems. We must always remember that a united people can dare dream to achieve tomorrow what may appear to be impossible today.

Toxic,

Glad you admit it. Think about it this way, if someone's going to break the law in HOW/WHEN they use a susbstance, than they will break it TO use the susbstance.

I don't know about you, but Meth could be legalized tomorrow, yet I know very few people who would jump on the opportunity.

No, and you. There is no link, between breaking the law and recreational use of intoxicants. That's why people drink everyday and the majority don't go to work drunk or drive drunk. Addiction leads to those things, and addiction is about the addicts mind, not the substance. That's why we see people addicted to natural things like sex or food.

so drunk driving isnt against the law? drunk in public isnt against the law. what about the people that break the law by stealing so they can buy it, or beat someone up to take it, hmmmm non of that is against the law..... addiction is in the mind? maybe yours, did you ever see someone going through withdrawals? being shot up with narconex? try telling them its all in their mind oh great scholar of people.... i guess we are all just ignorant, you seem to know better than the rest of us

Dave,

Did you read all of the posts or just that one??? Listen, making something legal, doesn't mean making it legal to do that something in conjunction with something else, nor does it me, free unregulated usage. I.E. Drinking is legal. Drunk Driving isn't. Ergo, stating that legalizing drugs automatically means legalizing the free usage of it, is assinine.

You also, apparently, can't grasp the difference between something being a problem with your brain, and something being only a problem in your brain.

Reading comprehension, work on it.

and then there is the code of honor for people like you who think in their own minds they are superior to others and the only way they can get on with their meager existence is to put others down.

human race try joining it

and for the record drinking is not legal for all people, oops, bet your mind cant comprehend that one either

tell us again how addiction is only in the mind. wait let me catch my breath im still laughing too hard

A repost and expansion from another discussion

Do I want to see a moonbase in time, yes. Gingrich has no idea the amount of will or money it will take to create a habitable base. Assuming it costs $20,000 dollars to get a single pound into orbit, multiply that by 20,000,000 pounds. It will at least cost as much as $400,000,000,000 to get the people and materials into orbit. Assuming multipling that by 5 to get all that to the lunar surface and setup into a habitable structure. It will require the same dedication as a war does now. I'm not saying it can't be done. I am saying Gingrich is not willing to do what it takes to make a lunar colony viable.

Nor is the 2 trillion dollar price tag the end of it. Until the colony is truly self sufficient, it will require, periodic delivery of food and other items. Has Newt considered the hazards inherent to living on the moon. Hard Radiation that will have to be taken into account; lack of potable water; burying the complex deep enough to survive an asteriod impact on the moon. The colony will have to be carefully designed. There can be no shortcuts in the design process.

A repost and expansion from another discussion

Do I want to see a moonbase in time, yes. Gingrich has no idea the amount of will or money it will take to create a habitable base. Assuming it costs $20,000 dollars to get a single pound into orbit, multiply that by 20,000,000 pounds. It will at least cost as much as $400,000,000,000 to get the people and materials into orbit. Assuming multipling that by 5 to get all that to the lunar surface and setup into a habitable structure. It will require the same dedication as a war does now. I'm not saying it can't be done. I am saying Gingrich is not willing to do what it takes to make a lunar colony viable.

Nor is the 2 trillion dollar price tag the end of it. Until the colony is truly self sufficient, it will require, periodic delivery of food and other items. Has Newt considered the hazards inherent to living on the moon. Hard Radiation that will have to be taken into account; lack of potable water; burying the complex deep enough to survive an asteriod impact on the moon. The colony will have to be carefully designed. There can be no shortcuts in the design process.

A repost and expansion from another discussion

Do I want to see a moonbase in time, yes. Gingrich has no idea the amount of will or money it will take to create a habitable base. Assuming it costs $20,000 dollars to get a single pound into orbit, multiply that by 20,000,000 pounds. It will at least cost as much as $400,000,000,000 to get the people and materials into orbit. Assuming multipling that by 5 to get all that to the lunar surface and setup into a habitable structure. It will require the same dedication as a war does now. I'm not saying it can't be done. I am saying Gingrich is not willing to do what it takes to make a lunar colony viable.

Nor is the 2 trillion dollar price tag the end of it. Until the colony is truly self sufficient, it will require, periodic delivery of food and other items. Has Newt considered the hazards inherent to living on the moon. Hard Radiation that will have to be taken into account; lack of potable water; burying the complex deep enough to survive an asteriod impact on the moon. The colony will have to be carefully designed. There can be no shortcuts in the design process.

Please pardon the multiple posts, I kept getting an error each time I went post it.

And how are we going to get the money, hmmmmmmm? Exactly, by taxes and making our already unimaginable debt soar to knew heights!

Wade, Tampa Florida. It is ok Wade, that happens when the Server is S L O W and hence they over ride one another, the Post Server Vs the Correction Server.

Did you happen to read what I posted about " Making Mars Habitable"?

moonbat, howling at the moon, luna(moon)tic, attributes we all want in a president

When JFK proposed going to the moon, the US economy was booming, the national debt was modest, and his proposal was inspiring and uplifting.

When Gingrich proposed setting up a moon colony, the US economy was just starting to recover from the biggest recession since the Great Depression, the national debt was a staggering 14 trillion, and his proposal was pandering for votes, out of touch, and moonbat crazy.

Brianb: That list you posted of "things created by NASA" includes several that were invented and developed long before NASA got started. to name just a few: Automotive design, Chemical warfare hood, convection oven, electric car, home insulation, wireless communications, and velcro. Velcro was developed by a Swiss engineer in the 1940's, it both predates NASA and was not developed in the US.

Of the things that really were developed by NASA or their research partners, none of them came from manned space flights or lunar landings, they all came from basic scientific research. We could have received all of those breakthroughs at a fraction of the cost had we funded basic research and forgot about manned spaceflights.

And here I thought conservatives were supposed to be concerned about costs and wasteful government spending. Here's a Capitalist clue - private enterprise is not funding moon launches, because there is no possibility of making any money from it. Private enterprise will gladly build spacecraft if the Government pays all the costs, that's been the way of NASA, and it still is.

Mitt is out of touch with the people. the Newt is out of touch with reality.

Newt could get there on his supply of hot air alone.

Who's the next mistress he's going to boink? Does he have another one lined up already? Probably. What is the average on how long Gingrich can last without committing adultery? Anybody have any idea?

Gotta' love those republican family values!!

I didn't know Bill Clinton was a Republican.

Feeling a bit isolated already are you, Newt?

'MOON' GINGRICH !!

Damn, now I have to vote to Newt. I think he's the only one talking about space at all.

The Kepler Mission WIll be a milestone of our civilization for a long time.....we'll have big telescopes on the moon and large sturctures out past jupiter AND STILL refer back to the data collected by this mission....IF this mission IS generating real data AND needs more time to complete it's core data gathering mission....HAVE AT IT!!!....it would only be the idiocracy of congress to kill it in november, which would not surprise me. The future will bring more streamlined and better equipment to the task, and with luck WE, THE USA, will lead the data gathering task and profit from the processed information, lest of course we capitulate and just hand over space exploration to china, which is what I gather some of my fellow americans desire (some, not all, thankfully). We can build a moonbase, We will build a moonbase and WE MUST build a moonbase....everything else is just a shortcut, even our beloved keplar mission.....now, would it not be nice to examine some of the closer stars for planets? If you dare ask why, I need you to leave the country right now, go somewhere where freedom is only a dream, but you best not dare and keep it (freedom) from them, same as you best not keep this dream of civilization expanding into the realm of space from me. A lot of americans run at the mouth. They say things like can't and never. At least that makes it easy for me to see which americans really do not understand our culture, our history, our dreams, OUR VERY OWN DECLARATION OF INDEPENDANCE!!! (I decided to post the same thing in two different threads since they ARE related.)

Another sociopath ! And where he is going to get the money for this ?? Funny how he think he can afford this folie but cannot afford to give all americans universal and affordable health care

Americans are suffering and dying by the tens of thousand because they cannot afford the outrageous health care system and this nut case want to conquer the moon ?

La folie des grandeurs des republicans never stops to amaze me ! these morons really have their priority wrong. No wonder they are unfit to govern ! Republicans are incompetent, morally, ethically and intellectually bankruped !

poodlefan, did you ever think that the infrastructure built to put a base on the Moon would put people to work and provide them with health insurance?

On the health subject, universal healthcare is a grand idea, but no one has really put forth a good plan. I would support a good and stable plan, I just have not seen one.

A repost and expansion from another discussion

Do I want to see a moonbase in time, yes. Gingrich has no idea the amount of will or money it will take to create a habitable base. Assuming it costs $20,000 dollars to get a single pound into orbit, multiply that by 20,000,000 pounds. It will at least cost as much as $400,000,000,000 to get the people and materials into orbit. Assuming multipling that by 5 to get all that to the lunar surface and setup into a habitable structure. It will require the same dedication as a war does now. I'm not saying it can't be done. I am saying Gingrich is not willing to do what it takes to make a lunar colony viable.

Nor is the 2 trillion dollar price tag the end of it. Until the colony is truly self sufficient, it will require, periodic delivery of food and other items. Has Newt considered the hazards inherent to living on the moon. Hard Radiation that will have to be taken into account; lack of potable water; burying the complex deep enough to survive an asteriod impact on the moon. The colony will have to be carefully designed. There can be no shortcuts in the design process.

A more worthy cause than a war, and if Newt (not that he will get elected) or some other American politicial will work with other countries rather than against them, we can get all nations on the Moon and in a Lunar base.

Brewer is a piece of work .. She claims government is a necessary evil. Talk about a load of crap. Apparently she hates the idea of the military amongst other services the government provides.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/gov-jan-brewer-government-evil/story?id=13011884#.TyCru6XOydY

I can wait for the rest of the story.... but that was sooo disrespectful. In my opinion there is and has been an undercurrent of racism against this president. I don't know where he gets his patience with this crowd.

Great White,

Like to play the race card, don't you left wing nuts get tired of playing the race card, after all he is half white.

BTW in last nights SOTU he mentioned that fewer illegals were coming across the border and he wants to take the credit. He failed to mention there aren't jobs here anymore that is why they aren't coming right now. Didn't his idea on creating a pathway to citizenship should a lot like Newts?

["By the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon.]

Maybe someone should tell Noot he has to have a FIRST term before he can have a second term...

Great White, that's not a good argument. If you think we're short on jobs, how bad do you think it is in Mexico?

Hey its about time...I would vote for him if this were true but I cannot because he is already a space cadet moron who has no idea what he is doing past collecting fees and campaign contributions from large corporations...perhaps we could have moon base and have a bunch of urban poor black kids keep it clean and the janitor squad!!!

Well, at least Newt is thinking about the future instead of pretending to be living in the middle ages, where his base resides.

In an interview, Newt Gingrich said he cheated on his first two wives because he was consumed with love for his country. Yes, apparently he misundertood the phrase - Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. Conan O'Brien

sfcret,

after all he is half white

You're joking, right? So long as he has a drop of black blood and his skin is dark he is, to many, many people in this country, a black man.

What Great White said about an undercurrent of racism? I would say it's not an undercurrent at all, it's racism right out there in the open. All the questions about his birth certificate and his college transcripts are racist-driven. The transcript business is a sly, insidious insinuation that he's not smart enough to be president because he's black.

You think Gingrich hasn't been playing the race card in S.C.? Why would he play it if the president were not black? To put it another way, playing the race card would have no meaning if the president were a white man with white skin.

Jeez. Are you really so dense?

sfcret-Didn't his idea on creating a pathway to citizenship should a lot like Newts?

sfcret, all you right wing nuts like to conveniently forget that it was your boy, G.W. Bush that first introduced the Pathway to Citizenship. And if you right wing nuts-I'm borrowing part of your term wing nuts to address you right wing nuts that refuse to be confused by the facts-would ever do a little bit of research before opening your mouths, you might just learn that President Obama has deported more illegals,400,000 in his first 3 years than Bush did in 8 years. Not that I agree with that but you right wing nuts like to say he is soft on illegals. Btw, you all like to worship Ronald Reagan, well he granted an amnesty to illegals during his presidency and you named airports, schools and much more after him!

And many people, myself included, have deduced (look it up in the dictionary) from the party of NO and others who have stated outright from day 1 of his presidency that they will oppose anything President Obama proposes to the congress no matter what it is, that the only answer for such a behavior is his race. Don't try to hide behind the obvious as if it were not true.

I reiterate, I know I'm wasting my breath here because you right wing nuts refuse to be confused by facts.

Thank you Jack - I didn't want to come right out and say it was out and out racism - seeing as I'm not an American. I have seen this with my American relatives when they will not come right out and say that they feel that people of color are bleeding the system - but it is definitely what they mean. They think that I "don't get it."

Believe me, I get it, its RACISM, pure and simple!

What I don't understand is, back when Dubya was sitting in his stolen oval office, anyone who even so much as criticized the president was immediately labeled "un-American", "a traitor", "disrespectful" and so on. Remember Natalie Mains? Remember all the right-wing nutjobs out there screaming at everyone who dared to disagree with them that their dissent was unpatriotic? More on this in a moment...

How does a political party who allows it's representatives to stand up and shout down the sitting president during a State of the Union by screaming, "You Lie!", and a governor point a finger in the face of that same sitting president, reconcile the fact that less than five years ago, they insisted that so much as rolling one's eyes at a comment made by their party's president was a treasonable offense?

These are the same people who want to categorize abortion as murder, and yet cheer that one of their party's state's governor put in an express lane to the electric chair. These are the same people that sanctify marriage, exalting it, and then sanctimoniously turn around and define it to suit their own narrow, intolerant, religious beliefs.

Any political party that claims that its sole agenda is to unseating the incumbent president is clearly not the least bit interested in benefiting the common American. How can they claim to love America when they clearly hate Americans?

Why, the very word they use to define themselves is one that means, among other things, "unwilling or unable to look forward." All they really want to do is tell you how good things used to be, how they will be able to bring that back because the people who are in office now are the ones who have caused things to be different, and therefore worse. They don't have solutions to problems. They only have blame, caustic hatred, and intolerance.

Jack,

You are the dense one. Everyone knows Obama's campaign and supporters play the race card all the time. Even Bill Clinton stated that Obama played the race card when running against Hillary. Get your head out of your rear end and smell the coffee. Even on these boards I constantly hear you left wing nuts claiming we on the right are racist no matter what we say. So get a life, if Obama is a big boy then he can handle criticism without mentioning the race card. Why is asking about college transcripts considered racist? George Bush and John Kerry both released their transcripts, most college records are or should be available just like ones tax records.

Why did Obamas speach lean so far to the left when his actions lean to the far right. I liked allot of what he said but thats not what he is doing, He would make a great used car salesman, it only looks like a VW its really a Cadillac.

Charles great post! Newt- Fly me to the moon, and I will be the supreme commander, but Callista has to stay on earth while me and 12,999 women astronauts.... LMAO But we won't raise tax's!

sfcret,

I once thought that maybe people played the so called "race card" too often. Then when I read an article about Michelle Obama being upset at being labeled an angry black woman, the conservative racists came out of the woodwork saying things like, "well, if the shoe fits!"

Turnabout is fair play. I say the racist shoe fits many conservatives quite snugly.

A repost and expansion from another discussion

Do I want to see a moonbase in time, yes. Gingrich has no idea the amount of will or money it will take to create a habitable base. Assuming it costs $20,000 dollars to get a single pound into orbit, multiply that by 20,000,000 pounds. It will at least cost as much as $400,000,000,000 to get the people and materials into orbit. Assuming multipling that by 5 to get all that to the lunar surface and setup into a habitable structure. It will require the same dedication as a war does now. I'm not saying it can't be done. I am saying Gingrich is not willing to do what it takes to make a lunar colony viable.

Nor is the 2 trillion dollar price tag the end of it. Until the colony is truly self sufficient, it will require, periodic delivery of food and other items. Has Newt considered the hazards inherent to living on the moon. Hard Radiation that will have to be taken into account; lack of potable water; burying the complex deep enough to survive an asteriod impact on the moon. The colony will have to be carefully designed. There can be no shortcuts in the design process.

I guess he didn't live long enough to be really successful.

Rob - the space program started by Kennedy was a space race, and was against the USSR. That is far different than going to the moon and building a 2 bedroom, 2 bath ranch house with a view.

Raab, just last week you were saying how "broke" we are...
...here's your sign...

Maybe we should get back into the space arena. It was Obama that grounded the manned flights and assigned the job of making friends with Muslim countries to the Head of NASA. We now have to depend on the Russia's to get our astronauts and supplies to the International space station.

Hi Sarge,

Actually Bush did not fund the much needed replacement space transport ship.

Mickey,>

Newt's proposal should be to your liking. It's a populist idea. If Obama was elected to a second term I think there will be plenty of people raising their hands for a chance to go live on the moon instead of hanging around for the implosion here at home!

more crazy talk: President Obama 'making friends with Muslim countries" like when he tore Osama a new one in Pakistan's backyard.

"We now have to depend on the Russia's" Are those the Russia's Palin saw from her backyard?

Can't make this stuff up.

#8.4-sfcret, let the Russians pay for it and we'll hitch a ride, whats wrong with that?! Since when is saving billions and billions of dollars a bad idea?!

Red Dew ,

You have uncovered the truth. Newt is Still working for Freddie Mac and trying to build new mortgage opportunities on the moon with taxpayer funding.

I miss Sarah Palin...she would make it a 2 br 2 ba condo with a view of Russia!

Semper, For your information the Russians are charging us for the ride, it's not free.

Semper is typical lazy American.

In essence, he's saying,"Why should we do any work? Lets just sit on our collective American dumb ass and let someone else take care of us. Did my food stamps come in the mail today? Damn... I gotta get down to the unemployment office today."

@Dennis in Columbus - Bush funded the next generation of multipurpose spacecraft to get us to the space station, the moon, and beyond. Read up on it - it's the NASA Authorization Act of 2005. In February 2010, Obama proposed cancelling the program, and in October 2010, signed the law that made it so, killing thousands of jobs in the process.

If it was a Democrat suggesting it, it would make more sense. After all, they are the ones who support larger government programs. However, a fiscal conservative saying we should engage in a costly, government funded expedition to create a lunar colony sounds a bit bizarre. I can only assume Newt is attempting to appeal to the idea of American exceptionalism and pride in order to get more votes because other than that, it doesn't make sense.

For you Republicans defending it as a good idea, how do you reconcile the increase in spending this endeavor is going to require with your belief in lower taxes and lower spending and lower debt? Think how those of us who are not Republican view this strange paradox. If Obama had suggested this you would all be up in arms over the cost, but because a conservative suggested it, all of a sudden it makes perfect sense to you, and Democrats who question the soundness of the expedition are accused, unsurprisingly, of not having enough pride in America.

Is it surprising many of us view the majority of Republicans as basically conservative automatons who believe whatever their conservative leaders tell them to? Never mind that the things they are telling you to believe are at odds with each other! It's enough to drive a person insane!

I can only assume Newt is attempting to appeal to the idea of American exceptionalism and pride...

It's called pandering. He has dozens of such performances, tailored to each consequential state. It sounds like he has so many "visions" as to be the modern-day Joan of Arc. Noot is no doubt every bit as looney.

"But the sun is really really hot. How would we survive there?"

"It's easy. We'll go at night."

Why not colonize the sun.

Yeah! And we should colonize the core of the earth too.

Unless it's part of his plan to indenture the unemployed for moon development work -- you know, out of sight out of mind. All paid for by raising taxes on the middle class while reducing taxes for everyone else to 0. <sarcasm>

Actually, I regard him (even more now) as a perfect Reagan descendant. Except, Reagan had a medical reason for his stupidity. Noot is just plain stupid.

Not going to disagree that this might be a looney plan, but I bet if it were reality John Deere could come up with something. If this were to come to reality you could bet that hundreds of companies would be designing new "moon base" products with their label slapped all over them. As far as going, if it comes down to it, I would volunteer to go.

I'd volunteer to go, too.

And what will these Lunar mechs run on

Can we say solar energy? There you go. Now that wasn't so hard, was it?

Holy Christ! They get $700 for s stinkin hammer-- can you imagine what an electric BULLDOZER would cost???!

If President Obama had said that the Repugs and teabaggers would go nuts defaming him.

SemperFiman2

If President Obama had said that the Repugs and teabaggers would go nuts defaming him.

They'd be threatening to impeach him - to tar and feather him. But because a right wing flake said it - even though the spending to do it would dwarf every bit of the spending that Republicans scream about Obama doing - they won't say a word.

The cost of putting a colony on the moon within such a short time would be trillions upon trillions. FAR, FAR MORE THAN OBAMA HAS COST AMERICA DURING HIS ENTIRE PRESIDENCY. Yet the right wingers won't say anything negative - won't hardly say a peep. In fact - many will flock to this false conservative 'because of his bold ideas'..... Even though they are costlier than what Obama has done.

Gentlemen - Thank you for your service!

FormerMarineSgt - even during Apollo, NASA's budget never went over $34 billion per year, or around 3 - 4 % of the national budget. We wouldn't need to spend nearly that much to establish a base on the moon this time. NASA's budget would need to be raised a little to allow for multiple flights of their new STS upon its completion, but the actual base building can and should be handled by the private space industry. Bigelow Aerospace, for example, has stated that for around $100 million it could provide 3 of it's expandable modules, which all together would have double the living space of the ISS (which cost us $100 BILLION and took over a decade to complete). And Newt didn't say that this base would be completed by 2020, merely that there would be a base there by the end of his supposed 2nd term. That is really perfectly feasible.

Has anyone else noticed that Newt said we'd have a moon colony by the end of his SECOND term? I'm assuming that he means "as President," not as an inmate in the nearest booby hatch? He and the 700 people who stood and applauded this nonsense must have been passin' the crack pipe, big time. They was all high. Had to be.

I'm a huge fan of the space program, have been since the Apollo days. That said...just where is the broke/busted/bankrupt USA gonna get the money to build and support a lunar colony?

Where's the plan to fix the economy for the working man? I mean a REAL plan, not a con-job to justify giving more handouts to the transnational corporations...

What a Moe-ron...

Da moon. You went da moon, uncle Bugs!!!?

Because a huge space effort wouldn't create a bunch of jobs for everyone from the "working man" to the aerospace engineers?

"Gingrich told the crowd of roughly 700, taking them to their feet in applause." Was it a crowd of 700 retarded 5-year-olds?

Actually, it could be fairly simple: Raise NASA's funding by about 2 billion (making it 21 billion, up from 19, still a tiny amount of our national budget) and use the new STS to launch the necessary supplies up to the moon. Get the private space companies to help out on this effort (Bigelow Aerospace can supply their expandable modules to give use plenty of living space for a very low price when compared to the ISS). As for where the extra 2 billion a year would come from - bring our troops home out of Afghanistan, as each troop stationed there costs a little over 1 million per year. ( http://www.csbaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/2010.06.29-Analysis-of-the-FY2011-Defense-Budget.pdf ) So even if we withdraw only 2,000 troops, we'd have the $2 billion needed right there.

I understand the budgetary perspective sir. The question is why? Is this even in our current list of national objectives. NASA is involved in pioneering work all over the universe. I wonder if Mr. Gingrich has any knowledge of any of this? Secondly, he represents himself as the conservative choice. We have done our research on the moon since the sixties and we already have a plan that could be implemented. Bringing home our patriots,caring for their needs and getting our house in order seem to be the call of the times. Does this suggestion align with any of that? I am for spending what is necessary and providing for what is needed for our security. Im not sure a moon base fits that model.

R

Bella - If we only spent what was necessary to provide for our security we would never advance as a nation. A base on the moon would provide huge research opportunities, something this country has been woefully behind in the last couple decades...

Gingrich wants to involve private industry. Where is the profit in that -- does the moon have enormous gold reserves only Gingrich knows about? Tourism? How many millions of dollars per passenger would that cost? In other words, there would be profit for private industry only if the government subsidizes it. Halliburton, anyone? I agree with another post, that Gingrich was playing to the Florida crowd, but that's really some statement to make just to pander to a regional audience. On the other hand, he could promise little green men from Mars and it wouldn't matter, since he won't get elected anyway -- which he probably realizes.

IBEW673wireman, as much as I'd like to see Mitt & Newt continue tearing each other apart as long as possible, I wouldn't wish or pray for anyone to get cancer or any other horrible illness. Very sad to see anyone posting such a comment. Even sadder that anyone voted that comment up. :-(

@IBEW

now now, brother. I get your need for humor while watching the Mitt and Newt parade of freaky. Just remember only teapublicans pray for hell fire and personal destruction of anyone not a tea-ho. Please don't pray for cancer, the patients suffer enough. They don't need mittens among their ranks.

IBEW6: Shame on you for wishing cancer on anyone.

You are an evil ass to wish cancer on anyone. May God forgive you for such evil thoughts.

I think his wish that Mittens get cancer is a swipe back at him for saying that a woman impregnated by a rapist should "make the best of God's gift". Cancer is also "God's gift" so if he gets it, he should make the best of it and not get it cured.

Let us pray …. Omnipotent creator of great and small, conservative and left-wing union schill commie leaning blathering idiots, I come to you as a representative of the freedom loving people of America to beg that you please allow Newt the wise to prevail in the fight against the forces of darkness and evil. We know that your wisdom will prevail as it did when you smote the libtards at Sodom and Gomorrah who ignored the warnings of your Angels. Amen

Lettuce prey....Omnivorous eater of great and small, vegetable and chicken-wing, onion grilled creamy gravy...

It's lunchtime. Bye.

As much as I don't like Newt G. and wouldn't vote for him, I think that this is something that is OK to aspire for. Our space program used to be something that we were ALL proud of. I know that economic times are tough but I would like to see a renewed space program in the not too distant future and a base on the moon is not such an unrealistic thing to shoot for. I don't know the full details of Newt's plan. he probably made it sound crazy. However, actual scientists might have better idea's about how to accomplish this. Newt's probably thinking of putting lasers up there and aiming them at Iran and North Korea.