Mar 22, 2011 -- 4:35AM, Yavanna wrote:

Mar 22, 2011 -- 1:29AM, Ebon wrote:

I think the USA can be proud of this. Lord knows, if we devoted half as much time and money to space as we do to war, we'd be terraforming by now.

Amen. Preach it, brotha'! =)

Can I get a WITNESS??

AMEN!

Stardove -

Threads morph into different directions all the time.

In any case, you'd think you'd want to hear all sides and all opinions, even if they don't all bow down and worship your idea that space exploration is the second coming.

As for my opinions - Well, I don't  have 'faith' in a 'higher power,' and I do believe that our poor, benighted planet and ourselves are doomed, and that fooling around on Mercury missions is not going to change anything one iota except to make Americans yet more proud of themselves and their country, yada, yada, yada.

And, yeah, Shmuel, if anything, we humans should have at least tried to make life better here on earth before messing around in outer space which, at this stage of the game, is a big friggin' waste of time and money.

Mar 22, 2011 -- 12:40AM, solfeggio wrote:

Jane -

The older I get, the more cynical I become.  I don't believe anything any government spokesperson says anymore.  Nobody has explained to the common folk like us why this Messenger project is so bloody more important than seeing that workingclass people don't get a decent health care system, or why so many American families have to live in their cars because the banks foreclosed on their mortgages.

Geeze.  Just once I'd like to see some leader of a country do something for the downtrodden, the poor, the homeless without looking to make a friggin' profit out of it.

And, you know, I'm just so bloody tired of seeing countries going to war and soldiers and civilians dying and all because some wretched arms manufacturers want to make yet more millions.  I'm just fed up with governments and their hypocritical leaders, I guess, and I've come to the point where I don't trust any of them any further than I could throw them.

So much money is just wasted on these dumb projects that are only going to benefit the already super-rich. 

Ok, so I'm venting.  But, when I look at the news on TV, it depresses me so much that I can't help it. 

 

Solf

You've been venting often of late. Most of us are not unaware of the problems created by unbridled capitalism.

I'm a moderate slightly left of center. The majority of Americans are moderates with a slight bend right or left. I know very few Americans, left, right or center, who disfavor our space initiatives. All mankind  benefits from what we have learned. The program also shields militarily. You may not see this but others do.

Trust is a strange term. One should be constantly assessing : this comes naturally to me and was very reinforced by my education--in a small Catholic college for women in the fifties. Even our theology and philosophy courses encouraged us to seek truth on our own.

There are so many small joys in life. My younger daughter just sent me the dvd of JFK in Ireland.  It played recently on the Documentary Channel which I don't get. My son found the name of a fave runner of mine who just ran the big marathon here--I didn't know her last name and sent me her race statistics. He also e-mailed that my granddaughter remarked when he bought chocolate milk and orange soda because his son is on spring break that it was like nana's house.

I cannot and will not tie myself up in knots about "things" over which I have little control.

I agree with Stardove's post #51.

Jane