On the Space race..Taming a Critic

My replies in Red to **'s critique of the Space Program.


And ironically the lack of commentary is a direct result of the corporate voice dominating every official public discussion. Isn’t this presumptuous? Are you going on feeling or actually bona fide research? How about the militarization of space and the military-NASA program? Such as building a missile shield to protect the US from foreign warheads? How awful.........

Do you ever hear any critiquing of the 'space program' in the corporate media?

Yes http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn9110-criticism-of-nasa-science-budget-grows.htmlhttp://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=17320http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/04/28/cq/glenn.html

Never. Why? Because the snow job is so intense and so complete.

Have you ever heard of Occam’s razor……….http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam's_Razor . It would be reasonable to apply it here before treading down the path of the grand conspiracy.

Sell it hard and sell it to the young kids as 'glamorous' and fun. Hey, even sell it to teachers!

It is. Space Exploration is an incredible example of the scientific spirit at work, international co-operation, creative use of brain power etc. It is a wonderful way to promote a love of the Sciences. As a Physics and Chemistry teacher I champion it with the greatest of enthusiasm. Sorry **, but sucking the life out of a subject because it does not fit in with one’s ideological framework is in my opinion a disservice to the students. Here are some side 'non-military' benefits from the Space Program:

http://techtran.msfc.nasa.gov/at_home/athospital.htm
http://techtran.msfc.nasa.gov/at_home/formankind.htm
lhttp://www.stars4space.org/Benefits.html
http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/news/20041109/


If you look carefully, you will find that NASA is mostly military and mostly a huge waste of money going into the pockets of in-the-know cronies.

Ever wondered how many people have employment and can feed their families thanks to the funding of the Space Program and the growth of its spin off industries? Would you rather they go out of work to prove your point?

"Got a wrench for $30 thousand? What a bargain. Let's buy it! A screw for $150 - sounds good!" This type of graft is going on all over, all the time.

Yes there has been waste like any other project – but why do you always focus on the negative?I believe these waste issues are being dealt with under the New NASA leadership of Mike Griffin.Besides NASA’s budget of $16 billion or so out of a total US Budget of $1000 billion ( <1.6%)>http://www.amazon.com/History-Future-Gavin-Kanowitz/dp/159594043X

And still we have media types and politicians pushing the war toys sales job on the public with the corporate media carrying the message for free. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to hear even one syllable questioning the intelligence of wasting vast quantities of public money on 'white elephants of destruction' such as these.

Point has already been dealt with.

Cheers
Gavin