This may be a controversial opinion, or it may not. I’m never exactly sure what gets people riled up these days.
Anyway, so I was walking around Kennedy Space Center with my family Wednesday, and was amazed like everyone else at some neat stuff: Actual rocket boosters on display, lifelike re-creations of some space missions, all that great history and record of achievement.
And I got to thinking, not for the first time, about why we spend so much money exploring outer space.
Look, I get the usual arguments: All that exploring and discovery makes life better here on Earth, every society has to constantly look forward to evolve, yada yada yada.
But did you know the NASA budget for 2009 was $17.2 billion, all from the federal government? Seventeen billion dollars. You know how many hungry people can be fed for that much? Do you know how many roads fixed, bridges built, and sick people cared for that money can provide?
I know NASA’s important, and outer space is cool, and that 17.2 billion in the federal budget is barely a drop in the ole’ bucket. But is it really more important than solving our current problems?
I don’t think so. But here’s someone who disagrees with me.
*** So this is just so utterly perfect. My good friend Steve Master, a heck of a writer and all-around good guy, alerted me to this. Apparently the Republican National Committee, as staunch a foe of abortion this side of Randall Terry, has had an insurance plan since 1991 that covered its employees … abortions.
According to this story on Politico.com, Federal Election Commission Records show the RNC purchases its insurance from Cigna, and two sales agents for the company said that the RNC’s policy covers elective abortion.
Until Thursday, the RNC’s plan had covered elective abortion – a procedure the party’s own platform calls “a fundamental assault on innocent human life.”
Of course chairman Michael Steele, a world-class buffoon, quickly disowned the policy. But I just love it. So until Thursday, a woman who runs a department advocating the complete elimination of abortion, would have the procedure covered if she got pregnant?
Just wanted to make sure I got that straight.
***So as Canadian singers go, I love Bryan Adams. Loved “Summer of ’69″ the first time I heard it. Love his ballads, love his cheesiness, and I love his earnestness. I am not ashamed to say I own Bryan Adams’ greatest hits CD. Haven’t listened to it in a while, but I own it.
Anyway, I’m awfully disappointed in the man who once told me it cuts like a knife. Was reading a story about the incredible show “Glee” today (and how good was Wednesday’s episode? They finally gave the wheelchair kid Artie some back story! Though I admit that it was very weird hearing a slow version of Billy Idol’s classic “Dancing With Myself.”) and I came across this nugget:
Apparently, Mr. Adams is the only singer who the show’s creator approached for permission to use one of their songs who actually said no. “Glee” wanted to have Finn sing “Everything I Do, I Do it For You,” but B.A. said no.
Bad job, Bryan. Bad, bad, job. I will now go spit on the cassette single of “Do I Have to Say the Words?” hidden in my closet.
