Curiosity, and Rover

If you've been reading me for a while, you know that one thing I really hate, are Bush Republicans. About six months ago I got a mail from one of my Bush Republican relatives (yes, I still love her, but no, I do not forgive her) who wrote that "Obama is killing NASA...rise up and fight against OBAMA".

Anything that kills scientific exploration should be read with an open mind. Sure, there are alot of Bush Republicans that just don't understand science. There's even a Bush Republican presidential candidate who can't figure out which agency he wants to cut, and counts to three like this "One, two... uh. durr... Oops. " Yea. National spotlight on that guy, please? Right?

But by and large Science is apolitical, so whenever anyone talks about killing off scientific exploration you have to kind of be a bit like me, and be independent about it. I was more than willing to hear what evil Obama was going to lay down. Then, I heard the mass-re-emailed missive's point. It was that Obama was going to kill off the Space Shuttle.

Oh, so NASA = The Space Shuttle? It should be obvious by now that, in general, Bush Republicans don't dig deep. They can handle things like checking the font from a supposedly typewritten memo, against what they've got loaded now. But , in general, if you're Bush Republican - you're surface deep. So, the Space Shuttle is up for being mothballed along with any other 35 year old technology (think: of a computer built in 1980, on your desk)... a 1972 dodge dart running in low earth orbit, making us pay millions to put anything in outer space , and not high enough to do any good. The russians were beating us in a dead walk - again. Obama comes and kills it off.

The key thing, is, there's no curiosity. No wonder. We weren't pushing the limit. Do these Bush Republicans care? What about the fact that we're saving billions by cutting the program? Bush Republicans couldn't think their way out of a paper bag, if you put it on their head.

In fourteen days, the United ( please spell that correctly) States of America is sending Rover heading to Mars, bigger and better than anything we've ever sent before. Her name is Curiosity; she'll take nine months to get there, and when she arrives - she'll send back more data than ever before. The last rover was a huge success. For less than the cost of a single shuttle mission , opportunity and discovery... are... still going after FIVE YEARS? .

Curiosity killed the cat, but this rover is taking over (reference to Jimi Hendrix song applies). Nasa is turning towards deep space. Since Obama is really the only adult in the room anymore - we are bringing the free market to low earth orbit, and freeing up NASA to go deep. That's right kids - Virgin Galactic has set up flights out of the spaceport (thanks Bill Richardson!) in New Mexico, and you can ride for 100,000.00 a pop, into low earth orbit. Which means that. With proper planning .. we could have a weekend of romance, candlelight dinner, and soft music one can take a girl named Amber into low earth orbit and give her a spanking. As I protect my identity carefully here , please note that I've cleverly utilized the secret code name "One" , in that last sentence so as not to give away my true location.

This is assuming, of course, we don't blow our 401k on that new organ printer we've always wanted.