Just a few comments...
* Education spending is a state matter, and that actually is passed down to the districts in many regards. Funding is a completely different matter, and is a multi-level effort, where the Feds get to hold the majority of the purse strings. Has been that way for a very long time and will continue o be that way. Bush's "No Child Left Behind" (a massive failure) is the latest interation of fderal funding programs. For any program to be effective it has to be well designed, administered with as little overhead as possible, and provide equitable access. I will have to see more of Obama's plan to see if it fits those criteria. The fact that he's already thinking of where the money is coming from shows the guy is thinking two steps a head. Beats the hell out of Bush's implementation of his solution without having any idea of where the money is going to come from.
* NASA should be a very important facet in our society and be looked to for the development of new technologies. The best and the brightest should find their way into the agency and help advance our collective knowledge. NASA's budget should be increased, not decreased.
* The contradiction displayed by certain posters here in regards to NASA is somewhat confusing. In this argument, NASA is now an incredible agency that is leading the way in everything we do. In the climate change debate, NASA's view is marginalized and considered biased and unimportant. Interesting that such an incredible agency that has lead to so many of our technologies we take for granted today is marginalized, or completely discounted, so easily in certain arguments.
* NASA should be leading us back to the moon. The answer to our global energy needs may exist in the rocks laying on the surface of the moon. If helium3 fusion energy can provide the amount of energy that scientists report, the future energy needs of our planet are sitting on the surface of the moon. Colonization and mining operations may save our atmposhere and lead us to a new age of global energy self-sufficiency.
* A new launch vehicle likely does not have to be developed by NASA, and likely should NOT be developed by NASA. NASA should instead develop a contest to design and develop the new vehicle. Put that into the hands of private industry and see what they can do. Private industry turns out new plans and products quicker and more efficiently because they don't have the bureaucratic strata to deal with. This is where the new vehicles and launch systems should be coming from.
* Education is probably the most important thing the United States could invest its money in. The once massive intellectual divide that existed between the United States and the rest of the world has disappeared and even swung the other way. The United States produces fewer and fewer scientists each and every year. The majority of those produced in American universities are foreign students who return home once they attain their education. The brain gain that the United States used to achieve when they kept these foreign students has disappeared completely, and the opposite is taking place. American scientists are moving abroad where they can get research grants and not have to deal with the anti-scientific views becoming ore evident in America. The intellectual advantage that the United States once had is completely gone, and it is because the education systems in America do not encourage the study of sciences and the encourage bright students to pursue advanced degrees in sciences.
Final point about funding of government programs... if the United States withdraws from Iraq all the money required to fun anything imaginable will become available. $18 million (updated this past week) is being spent every hour in Iraq. Cut that, and you can fund education, healthcare, NASA, revitalizing the nation's infrastructure, etc.
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