Obama's education plan

[Azure]

Originally Posted by blankall

um.... i dont know where you are getting you sense of priorities from. You are posting spending on education and farming in a recession like it is unbelievable that people would consider it above NASA.

What is unbelievable is that the government keeps spending the same amount of money 'despite' the US heading into a recession.

A lot of people depend on farming for substinance and the US requires it to feed their population. In the middle of a recession you do not cut funding to projects in those areas to send people to space.

I suppose its alright to fund a curriculum development to study mariachi music too, right?

I only posted a 'few' examples of pork that 'could' be cut from the budget. I'm sure if someone did some more research they could find billions being spent on less important things than NASA 'or' education.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

Like...?

The 450 billion dollar deficit the US runs every year?

[Azure]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I agree. Education is the backbone of EVERYTHING. In fact, I would say that finding cures for things like cancer and AIDS is much more important that NASA... all of which will should benefit from improving education. Funny how those things are so reliant on charity from everyday people.

Yeah, because NASA does absofricklutely nothing in regards to cancer or AIDS research. But hey, saving lives is clearly not as important as federally funded education.

Is it just me or are a lot of people ignorant to what NASA actually does?

[4X4]

Originally Posted by Azure

The 450 billion dollar deficit the US runs every year?

Don't you have to cut spending to cut a deficit? Either that, or make more money..?

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by Azure

The 450 billion dollar deficit the US runs every year?

You mentioned cutting pork, so tell me, which "pork" should the gov't cut spending on.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Don't you have to cut spending to cut a deficit? Either that, or make more money..?

Exactly my point.

Cut the pork. Not NASA's budget.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Azure

Yeah, because NASA does absofricklutely nothing in regards to cancer or AIDS research. But hey, saving lives is clearly not as important as federally funded education.

Is it just me or are a lot of people ignorant to what NASA actually does?

How will NASA... or better yet, how will the NASA Constellation Program help find cures for cancer and AIDS?

I admit it... I'm ignorant when it comes to how the Constellation Program will do that.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

You mentioned cutting pork, so tell me, which "pork" should the gov't cut spending on.

AHHHH!

Did you not read the entire thread? There was even a link to a report done showcasing some of the pork in the annual US budget.

And I'm not about to go scour through the entire US budget just to highlight some of the projects that need to be cut.

Fact is....the US has had a runaway spending problem for years now, meaning some of the projects that aren't THAT important 'need' to be cut. NASA is NOT amongst that.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

How will NASA... or better yet, how will the NASA Constellation Program help find cures for cancer and AIDS?

I admit it... I'm ignorant when it comes to how the Constellation Program will do that.

You never said that.

.....

I would say that finding cures for things like cancer and AIDS is much more important that NASA

When in fact the two go hand in hand.

All I'm trying to say is that there are 'other' LESS important programs that could be cut in order to fund Obama's education plan.

And again, I am NOT going to scour through the entire US budget to find those programs for those who believe they don't exist.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Azure

Cut NASA? Shouldn't education be a 'state' issue?

And what about the rest of the pork that could be cut from the budget to pay for this?

Sorry, but this is sheer lunacy. There are TONS of other programs Obama could cut to pay for his education plan. Tons.

We've pretty much explored planet Earth, and space should be next on the list. But it sure won't help when political leaders feel the need to hold us back from doing that.

Ugh.

Now, on to something I can agree with.

This statement is such BS. We don't know a thing about this planet. Biologists think we've discovered less than 10% of Earth's species and have studied in-depth less than 1%. I say we get to know a lot more about our home, the cradle of all human life, before we starting frivolously spending billions of dollars to go visit the Moon. And for what?

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by Azure

AHHHH!

Did you not read the entire thread? There was even a link to a report done showcasing some of the pork in the annual US budget.

And I'm not about to go scour through the entire US budget just to highlight some of the projects that need to be cut.

Fact is....the US has had a runaway spending problem for years now, meaning some of the projects that aren't THAT important 'need' to be cut. NASA is NOT amongst that.

I did and unless I'm missing something, there were no examples in the article aside from the 25k for a music study and the fertilizer development.

[Azure]

And for those of you who do not even know what the constellation program is...which I'm sure are a lot of you.

The main purpose of the Constellation program is to design and build the spacecraft for America's next generation of human spaceflight. The program's current projects arethe Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles, the Orion crew capsule, the Earth Departure Stage and the Altair lunar lander. Once completed these spacecraft will be able to perform all of America's duties in space such as supplying the ISS, to fulfilling its goals such as landing on the moon.



The main goals of the NASA's Constellation program are to keep an American presence in suborbital space, to return to the moon and hopefully establish an outpost, to prepare to explore Mars and possibly get humans there by 2050.

And for those who actually want to read up on it.

http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache...nk&cd=15&gl=ca

[peter12]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

How will NASA... or better yet, how will the NASA Constellation Program help find cures for cancer and AIDS?

I admit it... I'm ignorant when it comes to how the Constellation Program will do that.

No, I'm with you on this one. Certain things have more priority than astrophysics. Even though I'm cool with discovery and all that, we should make allocations based on a human need first.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by peter12

This statement is such BS. We don't know a thing about this planet. Biologists think we've discovered less than 10% of Earth's species and have studied in-depth less than 1%. I say we get to know a lot more about our home, the cradle of all human life, before we starting frivolously spending billions of dollars to go visit the Moon. And for what?

I never said we 'understand' it.

But I would think that part of understanding the planet around is would be exploring the galaxy, solar system and universe around us. No?

[Displaced Flames fan]

Man is the word recession getting thrown around a lot. Pretty sure, by economic definition, we aren't in one.

Yet.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

I did and unless I'm missing something, there were no examples in the article aside from the 25k for a music study and the fertilizer development.

Oh well.

Those were 'two' examples....and like I said twice before, I'm not going to find more.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by peter12

No, I'm with you on this one. Certain things have more priority than astrophysics. Even though I'm cool with discovery and all that, we should make allocations based on a human need first.

So you would support cutting funding for NASA....instead of other less important programs to fund education?

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Azure

I never said we 'understand' it.

But I would think that part of understanding the planet around is would be exploring the galaxy, solar system and universe around us. No?

No, the point of exploration is achieving understanding. We haven't even scratched the surface of our world and already we should move on?

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Azure

So you would support cutting funding for NASA....instead of other less important programs to fund education?

In a perfect constitutional world, no. I would say the Feds should do what the Feds should do and the States do as States do. In the actual case of Federal intervention, Obama's education program is just as legitimate as any other policy.

Do I philosophically agree with it? Probably not, but that's a different question.

The NASA exploration program I see as being totally pointless. What does humanity actually achieve in terms of actual interest?

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Azure

What is unbelievable is that the government keeps spending the same amount of money 'despite' the US heading into a recession.



I suppose its alright to fund a curriculum development to study mariachi music too, right?

I only posted a 'few' examples of pork that 'could' be cut from the budget. I'm sure if someone did some more research they could find billions being spent on less important things than NASA 'or' education.

Well most economic theorists state that the best way to get out of recession is actually to increase spending. Simple Keynsian (spelling?) economics.

I'm sure there are lots of less important things than NASA and education, but you've kind of changed your argument here. And feel free to post examples.

I think the main consensus is that NASA is great, but it is something reserved for good economic times. IE it is not a necessity like other programs. It also benefits the world more than it does Americans specifically. A good government should always worry about meeting the needs of its citizens first.

One last point, how is NASA supposed to have the brightest minds, if the majority of the US population is not getting proper education.