Tyler Durden (2004-01-15 18:00Z) wrote: > Thank goodness Mr Bush is finally thinking long term. > > Not only will the Lunar Base focus all of our attention away from the wars > and other nastiness down here, it will get us to the moon before Al Qaeda > and bin Laden ever have a chance to start spreading their filthy ideas > there. If we control the moon, then we can control who goes there. And if > we control who goes there, then we can make damn sure that no raghead ever > reaches orbit. > > Even more importantly, we can basically make the entire moon the perfect > model of American culture in action, without any other nation to contest > our policies there. It could be a paradise, and since no terrorists or > ragheads will be allowed, we can also take the opporutnity to make sure > that no other undesirables ever get their either, if you catch my drift.
But bankrupting America will allow the ragheads to win. A lunar colony within 10 years will certainly bankrupt the U.S. given our current financial situation. Does anyone think it will take less than trillions of dollars to establish a moon base? It takes close to a billion dollars just to launch a 20-year-old, poorly designed space vehicle into low-earth-orbit. If Bush were serious, he would be his own worst enemy. But he's not. This is just a reelection ploy, combined with some pork for NASA-Houston. Of course, bankrupting the U.S. and getting a base on the moon are both useful objectives. With no financially viable country owning the lunar outpost, things could get quite interesting.
