ZOT! Bush has promised the moon (and all I got was this lightning bolt)

Washington Post, New York Times, The Guardian ^ | Friday January 16, 2004

[jhhoeffler]

The president launches a mission for the moon, Mars and re-election

...

Nasa estimated it would take more than $400bn [£220bn] to get to Mars.

[jhhoeffler]

Is it moral to spend hundreds of millions on space adventures while there are people suffering from hunger and diseases that could be cured with minimal financial effort? The war in Iraq cost $ 87 billion, but how much do we help the poor? Should a Christian spend more money on rockets than on the misery that we still see so much in this world? Our yearly agricultural subsidies cost more than the total amount the UN estimates to be needed for the world development program ensuring basic health care, education, food and water for the poor all over the world. We even drive Africans into unemployment by dumping our subsidized food and cotton into their markets, perverting our own ideal of free trade. This has to be changed.

[DallasMike]

Hate to break this to you, but scientific advances come along with scientific research. If it hadn't been for the technology that we gained from the moon missions in the 1960s and 1970s, there probably wouldn't be such a thing as the internet so that you could post your silly ramblings.

If it would take only a minimal financial effort to end poverty, then why haven't the trillion-plus dollars we've spent on social programs ended it? Hint: it's not the money.

[Diogenesis]

Space exploration is good. Excellent.

Liberating Iraq AND Afghanistan wasa good. Very excellent.

[dr_who_2]

Right on.

[WorkingClassFilth]

Defense is the job of the government. Benevolence is yours.

[brazucausa]

I think this is very sensitive subject for many. I guess many have different opinions about it and they are welcome to share it. We surely need to look beyond one line of facts and think about things as a whole situation as it evolves. NASA days of blank check is surely gone however that 400 billions is like 40 Billions in 1960's money. Can we afford it I think yes should we complain maybe yes. There are many freepers who know more about space and engineering and what is going on then I do and they surely know what is going on.

[Prodigal Son]

Is it moral to spend hundreds of millions on space adventures while there are people suffering from hunger and diseases that could be cured with minimal financial effort?

Yes.

[dr_who_2]

Precisely what technology did we "gain" from the moon missions?

[Diogenesis]

They have been liberated. The question is whether they will keep their freedom.

[Prodigal Son]

Well, tell us. What causes poverty? How do you solve it? Do you really believe if you throw enough money at poverty we would solve the problem?

[dr_who_2]

A NASA mission to Mars doesn't have anything to do with national defense. Americans can afford to be more benevolent when the government stops spending their tax dollars on pet projects of no practical use to anyone besides a few aerospace companies.

[Diogenesis]

Oh, I think I've gotten a good look inside BOTH Afghanistan and Iraq.

Therefore, it appears that it is YOU who are reading off of someone's "spin sheet".

[Cultural Jihad]

Is it moral to spend hundreds of millions on space adventures while there are people suffering from hunger and diseases that could be cured with minimal financial effort?

Judas Iscariot asked similar questions a couple thousand years ago.

[Diogenesis]

And welcome to FreeRepublic, Emitter.

[WorkingClassFilth]

NASA has plenty do with national defense, but that wasn't what I was commenting on. You stated: "The war in Iraq cost $ 87 billion, but how much do we help the poor?"

The government has no business in the benevolence business. With your apparent thinking, there is NO sphere of global expenditure for altruistic purposes that we cannot be held liable for simply because we are the richest, biggest, whatever.

Send me your paycheck. I'll be far kinder to the poor with what you make than you would ever be. Trust me.

[jhhoeffler]

Hate to break this to you, but the internet was an invention of CERN, Switzerland.
And the US money spend against poverty is neglectable, the entire amount of economic aid (ODA) was only $6.9 billion in 1997, cf.
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/us.html
and do not tell me this was mainly used for humanitarian aid. It is a shame if people do not understand that terror can be prevented better by helping and convincing than by bombing and ignoring the other side's arguments.