Agenda: Fly me to the moon?

Posted: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 9:09 AM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: Congress, Economy

It's tough to fly over the moon when you're broke. The Hill reports, "Obama faces a decision at the end of April on whether to continue the Space Shuttle initiative, which NASA otherwise plans to shut down." More: "Extending the program would come at a high cost; two shuttle flights a year cost $3 billion, according to outgoing NASA administrator Michael Griffin. That's even more expensive with a $1.2 trillion fiscal-year deficit as a backdrop."

“A majority of voters say their confidence in the federal government’s ability is falling, according to a new Public Strategies Inc./Politico poll. Sixty-two percent of respondents say their confidence in Washington has decreased over the past 12 months, while only 8 percent said their confidence has increased. Less than a third of those polled said their confidence in the federal government remained the same.”

Still the third rail? "Some of President-elect Obama's closest allies on Capitol Hill think he should take a page from President Bush and push entitlement reform as far off as his second term."

CQ says, "Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., said Tuesday that he is moving on several fronts to try to prevent the incoming Obama administration from moving detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Fort Leavenworth in his home state. Brownback's effort is just one example of the pitfalls awaiting President-elect Barack Obama as he tries to handle perhaps the most complex legacy of the Bush presidency."

Roll Call writes, "The Federal Election Commission today will begin two days of hearings designed to catalog criticisms of the much-maligned agency. The marathon bloodletting also will be a coming-out party for Steven Walther, the agency's new chairman -- and, heretofore, its George Harrison."

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Comments

We ought to put anyone who wants to keep Gitmo open in Gitmo and throw away the keys. Gitmo is the epitome of our country's shame, along with Abu Ghraib, flaunting international conventions on torture. Time to put all the criminals of the bushwhacker's admninistration in Gitmo and try them all with no rights.

We should invest more mmoney into the space program as that will provide good jobs for more Americans. We need to keep the shuttle flying until we get the Ares program going. We should not have any gap in being able to launch space flights on our own. If anything we should slow down this nonsensical race to the moon and bring on international partners to help defray the expense.

Gitmo for Tyrants Bush and Cheney!

Eric, Salinas, CA (Sent Wednesday, January 14, 2009 9:23 AM)

Everyone, please listen up ~ Fiscal conservatism did not work. We gutted our infrastructure and weakened us strategically while lining the pockets of greedy individuals at the expense of affordable health care, quality education, secure retirement, and -- last, but definitely not least -- our civil liberties. Government programs like space are NOT useless spending. Unnecessary wars and government bailouts for Wall Street bankers and dinosaur automakers -- THAT'S useless spending.

The problem is that republicans -- deliberately, perhaps -- have all but bankrupted the government and completely tied its hands. The irony is that those who spent your money profligately for the past eight years are once again trying to tell you what's good for you.

As George Bush once said, 'Fool me once, shame on you; fool me ... well, you can't get fooled again." The final irony being, of course, that he's probably wrong about that, too.

The Moon Maid (Sent Wednesday, January 14, 2009 9:45 AM)

Obama - yeah, do what's right for the country. Shut down Gitmo, Bring in some inexperienced loon to run the CIA, abolish the Space Shuttle program but continue to secure funding for teen abortions and spend other monies on free entitlements even though your own party thinks you should follow President Bush and NOT secure more free entitlements until your second term, if there is one.

Palomino (Sent Wednesday, January 14, 2009 9:54 AM)

The Gitmo issue can be easily solved by quickly sending the appropriate Judges to Guantanamo to charge these prisoners and to hear their cases rather than moving the prisoners to Levenworth. Charge them, try them, and then imprison/execute or send them home depending on the outcome of their trials. And then close Gitmo. The issue is not placing these priosners somewhere else in order for one to close Gitmo. The issue is that these prisoners be charged and provided a speedy trial and sentence so that one can close Gitmo. Leave the prisoners where they are and send the Judges and required court staff to the prisoners.

C A, Tuscaloosa, AL (Sent Wednesday, January 14, 2009 9:55 AM)

As much as I love space it will always be there. Fix the country's problems first. NASA can stay busy for years analizing mountains of data, designing new space vehicles, retraining it's personnel and perfecting it's technologies for the next space missions. One thing NASA should really look into is spotting killer astroids before they hit Earth and think of ways to keep us from becoming extinct like the dinosaurs. I would say that's best investment we can make for the Earth's future. Come to think of it, no Earth, no problems.

Joe Sepeda,Early,Texas (Sent Wednesday, January 14, 2009 10:38 AM)

Joe Sepeda,Early,Texas (Sent Wednesday, January 14, 2009 10:40 AM)

With regards to NASA, I would love for NASA to get all the money it wanted. That being said, I think it would be important to keep the shuttles flying until the other lauch vehicles are ready to go. We can not and should not rely on Russia to get the rest of the International Space Station up. It is a matter of national security and pride. Space exploration and devlopment of science will benefit us in the long run.

S.B. Stein E.B. NJ (Sent Wednesday, January 14, 2009 10:45 AM)

"Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., said Tuesday that he is moving on several fronts to try to prevent the incoming Obama administration from moving detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Fort Leavenworth in his home state.
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ANOTHER fine example of the Republicans trying to "work together" for the betterment of the country, isn't it? All rhetoric. Always has been, always will be. Guantanamo has been one of the most horrific stories of the Bush Administration, keeping people locked up but not charging them with any crimes and Sam Brownback now wants to prevent Obama from doing what should have been done a long time ago by opposing him? That's pretty arrogant, isn't it? Although he probably feels fairly safe with Kansas being a Republican strong hold. These Senators better beware; more people (82%)want Obama to succeed in his presidency. People are more engaged with this presidency than ever before and are watching. They will remember when the go to the polls in the future.

Diane from Illinois (Sent Wednesday, January 14, 2009 12:05 PM)

Can we afford to go to the moon again? Personally I think we should delay moon trips for a few years until our economy gets back on track. I realize some great things have come from space exploration but the moon just seems to extravagent right now.

eagle1776 (Sent Wednesday, January 14, 2009 12:26 PM)

Here is an idea for NASA. The next space shuttle mission can have 5 crew, Bush, Cheney, Rove, Meiers, Gonzalez. Once they are up in space, we can let them know it was a one way trip!

Is it Inauguration Day Yet? (Sent Wednesday, January 14, 2009 2:57 PM)

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