Obama Would Redirect NASA Funding to Education

QuantumG writes "In a recent article on The Space Review, Greg Zsidisin reveals that Barack Obama plans to delay Project Constellation for at least five years, using the redirected funds to nationalize early-education for children under five years old to prepare them for the rigors of kindergarten and beyond, if he is elected president. It is feared that if this happens the Vision for Space Exploration will flounder and that may be the end of human spaceflight altogether."

This remids me of...

[niklash]

an old star trek episode called First Contact.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Contact_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation) [wikipedia.org]

Re:I call shenanigans

[Cookie3]

Source seems to be:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/-/HQpress/112007%20education%20plan%201.pdf [barackobama.com]
barackobama.com, of course, being the official Barack Obama website.
This link then redirects to the 3cdn hosting site, where the PDF is located.

Re:I call shenanigans

[toolie]

This story has been all over like a month ago. The Orlando Sentinel had a story that they ran where it compared things Obama said outside of Florida to things he said while in Florida. Outside of FL, he goes on about slashing the NASA budget. Then, when talking to people that directly affects, he changes the story to spending less on education and more on NASA to try to get votes.

Fuck, I hate politicians.

flounder

[in_fla]

It's founder [google.com], not flounder. A flounder 1) is a bottom-dwelling flat fish [google.com] 2) was a Delta House pledge. Either could give NASA a run for its money,

Re:Not a bad idea

[Richard W.M. Jones]

.... [the X-Prize winner] never came close to leaving Earth's orbit

They never came close to being in Earth orbit either. That requires 20 times the speed and 60 times the energy [wired.com] than they achieved.

Rich.

Re:That's disappointing

[Falstius]

My hint for those keeping score at home is that quickly pulling out of Iraq would generate a lot more spare funds.

The Iraq war is paid for almost exclusively with special funding initiatives, it is not part of the budget. So ending the war won't suddenly free up trillions of dollars for other uses, it will just slow our descent into debt from the Demon Drop speed it is currently.

Re:That's disappointing

[ravenshrike]

Unless you're in an open state of war with said country, which technically speaking the US was, and said country readily breaks the cease-fire, thinking that there's no way in hell you'd end up retaliating. Admittedly, the actual reasons for the invasion were different, but the fact remains that the US and Iraq were still in a state of war.

Re:Sixty-six billion dollars

[blueg3]

Bear in mind, of course, that the actual funding of schools is done at the state and local level, whereas NASA's budget is NASA's budget.

Re:That's disappointing

[Mr. Slippery]

The Iraq war is paid for almost exclusively with special funding initiatives, it is not part of the budget. So ending the war won't suddenly free up trillions of dollars for other uses

Do these "special funding initiatives" somehow not have to be paid for? If so, let's just declare "special funding initiatives" for universal health care, a trip to Mars, and a pony for every American.

Of course ending the war would free up funds. The fact that war spending isn't accounted for in the regular budget is just accounting mendacity.

Re:Err. Can we mod summaries?

[JohnnyGTO]

Who said: "A primary purpose of the educational system is to train school children in good citizenship, patriotism, and loyalty to the state"?

A. The commissar of education of the former Soviet Union
B. The minister of education for the government of Communist China
C. Adolph Hitler
D. Justice H. Walter Croskey of California Court of Appeals

The answer is "D."

"Writing for the court of appeals' 3-0 decision, Croskey held that parents without teaching credentials do not have a constitutional right to home school their children

The court's decision was the result of a dispute between two parents who chose to educate their children in their home. The Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family services disagreed and brought suit to end this practice.

While all this took place in California, it has caught the attention of teachers' unions and home school parents everywhere, not to mention those of us who view Croskey's perspective as a basis for politically correct state indoctrination.

According to the court's opinion, parents must send their children to a public or private school, or if taught elsewhere, the teacher must hold credentials accredited by the state. Not surprisingly, a member of the California Teachers Association board of directors was pleased with the ruling.

"We're happy," he said, "We always think students should be taught by credentialed teachers no matter what the setting."

Translation: The teachers' union doesn't like competition."

Re:Err. Can we mod summaries?

[RevRigel]

Roosevelt never served in the military, except for being Undersecretary of the Navy during the Wilson administration. Perhaps you have him confused with Theodore Roosevelt (who was also Undersecretary of the Navy), who served during the Spanish-American War.