Perspective

I started to note that I hadn't hit the weblog in a while, when I realized I just did it Wednesday. And that isn't that long ago. Some new people are reading the blog, and I'm pleased to find that some like it and others want to kill me for my anti-Bush stance. It's important to be incendiary. Also, hey, I know that no man is ever going to agree to cut NASA spending. I have yet to meet the guy who doesn't retain adolescent fantasies of visiting other planets or solar systems. Maybe it's Barbarella, maybe it's just the phallic nature of rocket ships, but boys won't let the space thing go. If we spent as much time and money trying to fix the problems here on Earth as we do trying to escape it, we'd have much less reason to want to leave. I don't get the whole exploration jones, though. I mean, I know men like to find new places and kill or enslave all of the inhabitants to compensate for their small penises or premature ejaculation or whatever their problem is, but give it up on space, already. Try exploring American slums to kill viruses or enslave minds through education. Something, anything but more money spent to send people up on some cosmic roller-coaster ride. What has the space program taught us that enriches our everyday lives? Anything? Theone thing I can think of is that Kennedy made a committment to get to the moon, and it so inspired the government that it was done. What kind of committment matches it today? If we made a similar scale committment to stopping HIV, could we do it? Maybe we should try that. Or say, a moon-project scale committment to provide reasonable healthcare to all Americans. I know it's all very exciting, the space thing, but people don't even watch the shuttle launches on TV anymore. In our lifetimes, we will not see Star Trek style space exploration, not even Enterprise style. What's the point? You guys won't evenlisten to me. Too busy clutching your girlie mag in one hand and your model rocket in the other. Bah.