Democrats and Republicans Find Common Ground

[UTAH]

Democrats and Republicans find common ground - On Mars

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/techn...?ocid=msedgdhp

Pulled it from Drudge.

“Fortunately ... there’s overwhelming support from what I define as the rational center in Congress to continue to do this.”
- Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.)

I agree, Rep. Lucas.

Hunter

[Kevin]

Cool, but I prefer my tax dollars to be wasted here on earth rather than 150 million miles away.

[UTAH]

Well, Kevin - I agree fully.

Having said that, I do think an argument can be made that Man benefits from our space exploration efforts. I'd be hard-pressed to put a dollar number on it, but it is there to some extent.

Hunter

[Truckman]

I do think an argument can be made that Man benefits from our space exploration efforts.

I agree, and not merely from the standpoint of increasing our common knowledge...The tax dollars Kevin mentioned are not on Mars, but rather right here on Earth in the pockets of those who worked on this project...Many people were employed to put hardware and software on another planet...Many others were encouraged by these efforts enough to initiate research and construction projects of their own, which will go on to employ others while increasing our knowledge of the worlds beyond our own...The gift just keeps giving......Ben

[Kevin]

And if those tax dollars, in addition to winding up in someone's pocket on earth, had also produced something on earth, such as a bridge or road, then the entire benefit would have been here. Instead of a little helicopter on another planet.

Just sayin'.

[Mike]

So, without the space program, when the Earth dies, we die. Not a very forward looking philosophy.

[Kevin]

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

[Kevin]

I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

Shelley, "Ozymandias"

Nothing is forever.

[Kevin]

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

2
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

And a time for us and a time when we are no more. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity and vexatious to the spirit.

[CactusCurt]

So, without the space program, when the Earth dies, we die. Not a very forward looking philosophy.

That is the absolute truth. And besides, it’s what humans do.

[Dave Grubb]

Cool, but I prefer my tax dollars to be wasted here on earth rather than 150 million miles away.

I'd argue that every dollar has been spent here and not there.

[Kevin]

And produced a helicopter on another planet which does me zero good back here.

Had they been spent on a road or a bridge, we'd have had the benefit of the product of this spending. A helicopter on another planet does nothing for me. Might as well have come around with a big old slop bucket of money to hand out to everyone.

[Kevin]

Here's a challenge:

Show me what product of any practical use has come from flying a helicopter on Mars. We spend beaucoup bucks to do it, including all those other trips. Show me what I'm getting for my money.

Then I'll show you a dozen things right here on earth that would have benefited people directly and immediately. Space exploration is the ultimate first world vanity project. While we are off flying helicopters on Mars, Doctors Without Borders is begging for money to treat human beings in Africa. Save the Children needs money to invest in food programs in Bangladesh. ****, the SPCA could sure use help keeping shelters from having to euthanize dogs. I'd support a dog here on earth before flying some damned helicopter around on a planet 150 million miles away.

[CactusCurt]

Some people think poetry is a self indulgent waste of time.

I’m with Dave, every cent was spent here. And your trickle down economics would tell you that the little helicopter paid for those roads and schools.

[Dave Grubb]

I don't have an answer to your question Kevin---mostly due to my own ignorance of the details of this particular endeavor. However, without a doubt there is or will be benefit here on earth. It is nigh onto impossible to do any scientific research that does not yield some benefit to mankind. Anything that expands the envelope of our understanding, ultimately returns benefit to us.

If you care, begin here to see just a few of the results of space exploration.