{"article":{"id":99923,"heading":"Bush to announce manned Mars mission","author":"Malcolm","created":"2004-01-11 00:53:38","modified":"2004-01-14 23:32:03","last_modified":"Thu, 15 Jan 2004 06:32:03","article":"

Bush is taking the JFK route by announcing a manned mission to Mars within two decades. The $70bn dollars spent on Iraq will be a drop in the ocean compared to this fiasco.<\/p>\n","contact":"","link":"news.bbc.co.uk","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"BBC carries a story claiming that Bush is to announce next week a manned mission to Mars. The cost is expected to be around a trillion dollars. He will also announce plans for a permanent lunar base.","numcomment":12,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2004\/01\/99923.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":100004,"heading":"engineers are not apolitical","article":"Nonanarchist, you don't know what you're talking about.\r\n\r\nEngineering isn't apolitical. There's always politics involved, whether it's making weapons systems, building a road, or deciding to never make weapons or work for the military-industrial complex.\r\n\r\nI've met a lot of engineers and scientists who won't work in defense. It's not an unusual thing. It might be part of the reason why defense jobs pay more. They are choosing from a smaller talent pool than other industries. \r\n\r\nReally, where's the appeal of designing a hinge for a door on a missile that is designed to blow up a small city? Some days will be boring, and other days, horrifying.","author":"johnk","parent_id":99923,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-01-12 02:07:14","modified":"2004-01-12 02:07:14","fileurl":""},{"id":100005,"heading":"Well, Johnk","article":"Your message just proves what an innocent, naive little fellow you are. Thses German scientists were working for Adolf Hitler, there was no question of choice in the matter if you wanted to stay alive.\r\n\r\nYour naivety explains a lot to me. Now I see why so many young people protested last year to keep Saddam Hussein in power for 20 or 30 more years. I see it now though, it's just that you kids really don't have a f***ing clue.","author":"Barney","parent_id":99923,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-01-12 02:11:40","modified":"2004-01-12 02:11:40","fileurl":""},{"id":100014,"heading":"overdue?","article":"gOgoGOgo for it.\\\\ space based weapons appear to reside in the 80's, but what the hey!!?,,we gotta go, so let's go, y'know?\r\n\r\n***this overly positive adventuristic viewpoint can be dismantled by socialists, in their "below" "retro" grade scribblings, sorta like..well__any corkscrewing methods of zero intent, cept to alleviate their fears&laziness&outwardly seeming intentions, are to be considered as world-blowing, or something.\r\n\r\nthe hash: fried potatoes, onions(green preferably), any meat, anything else...or in numerical veg order,..142.154.fuk,yuu\r\n","author":"ant","parent_id":99923,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-01-12 02:43:30","modified":"2004-01-12 02:43:30","fileurl":""},{"id":100015,"heading":"johnk, I hate to be the one to break it to you...","article":"...but politics is not the be-all and end-all of humanity.\r\n\r\nReally. There are people in every walk of life, in every occupation who just want to do their jobs as well as they can, then go home to the family.\r\n\r\nYou know these people. They're the "proles" you guys constantly belittle. The folks in flyover country. The folks you need to accomplish your goals, yet have no chance of winning over to your cause.\r\n\r\n"I've met a lot of engineers and scientists who won't work in defense. It's not an unusual thing."\r\n\r\nYou mean it's not an unusual thing among the engineers and scientists you're likely to meet. You don't meet a good cross section of the scientific community. Don't for even a minute think that the feelings of the ones you've met are representative of the feelings of the whole group. \r\n\r\nAnd that's a good thing. Without people willing to build better weapons systems, we wouldn't have precision-guided munitions, which, of course, are designed to minimize civilian casualties. Even the most rabid peace protestor cannot deny that...and not look like an idiot, that is. Or would you have us go back to the bad old days, when it took hundreds of bombers dropping thousands of bombs to take out one target? No, it's better to just have one aircraft drop one bomb to destroy one target...and not even get the building next to it dusty.\r\n\r\n"But wouldn't it be better to do away with war entirely?" says Mr. Peace Protestor.\r\n\r\nYes, it would. How do you propose to bring that about? Marching, chanting, and singing aren't gonna do it. Until the ENTIRE WORLD wages peace, you'd damn well better have someone on your side willing, trained, and equipped to kill the people who want to kill you. Diplomacy sometimes doesn't work. Appeasement NEVER does. So, given the current state of affairs, unless you don't mind converting to Islam or being enslaved or killed, and having your girlfriend get a mandatory clitorectomy and covering up from head to toe (and getting stoned if she gets raped), you had best be thankful there are people willing to build better weapons...and people who are willing to use them on your behalf.\r\n\r\nnonanarchist\n\n*** This comment was posted from an IP associated with a disruptive poster. The MD5 hash of their IP is 3d1cb767fe4087bf4011b1780dce0407. This value is the same even if the user uses another name. Only posters deemed disruptive by the editorial collective will have this text appended to their posts. We apologize for any erroneous misidentifications.","author":"l;kjkljkjhg","parent_id":99923,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-01-12 03:02:06","modified":"2004-01-12 03:02:06","fileurl":""},{"id":100138,"heading":"The KGB in the Collective","article":"Nonanarchist, looks like you have been tagged by the thought police. All those who disagree with the mindless "collective", must be singled out for eventual termination. Hey man, keep it up and your posts seem the most logical I've seen in indy media. This will mos likely be my last post until I figure out how to change my IP at will, the "collective" will mark me for exclusion. \r\n\r\n\r\n*** This comment was posted from an IP associated with a disruptive poster. The MD5 hash of their IP is 3d1cb767fe4087bf4011b1780dce0407. This value is the same even if the user uses another name. Only posters deemed disruptive by the editorial collective will have this text appended to their posts. We apologize for any erroneous misidentifications.\r\n\r\nHey Ashcoft would be proud of your internet survelence. \r\n\r\n","author":"Gestapo","parent_id":99923,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-01-14 16:15:32","modified":"2004-01-14 16:15:32","fileurl":""},{"id":100168,"heading":"Gestapo","article":"Thanks. I know the kolektive is trying to assimilate me. Barring that, they'll settle for assasinating me (figuratively, that is...although I've gotten Hex mad enough to give me death threats before...hee hee! And he's always whining about getting them. What a wus!)\r\n\r\nI'm not worried about being singled out with the MD5 hash.\r\n\r\nIt proves I'm doing something right, and they're worried.\r\n\r\nDon't mistake what I'm doing here with surveillance, though.\r\n\r\nI'm just laughing and pointing at the political freakshow.\r\n\r\nnonanarchist\n\n*** This comment was posted from an IP associated with a disruptive poster. The MD5 hash of their IP is 3d1cb767fe4087bf4011b1780dce0407. This value is the same even if the user uses another name. Only posters deemed disruptive by the editorial collective will have this text appended to their posts. We apologize for any erroneous misidentifications.","author":"';lkjlh","parent_id":99923,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-01-14 23:32:03","modified":"2004-01-14 23:32:03","fileurl":""},{"id":99930,"heading":"Caling Major Tom","article":"Okay web activists, let's start a web-based petition drive to make sure all the shills who infect this site like a bizarre form of psoriasis on that maiden flight away from Earth.\r\n\r\nIt will be worth the billions in tax dollars to get these freeloaders off the planet once and for all.","author":"Parmenides","parent_id":99923,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-01-11 02:00:50","modified":"2004-01-11 02:00:50","fileurl":""},{"id":99945,"heading":"another suspicious program from bush","article":"What good is a manned mission to a planet that appears to hold no life? A colony on Mars?\r\n\r\nSome have suggested this is a plan to push a nuclear program under the guise of a space program. That sounds pretty reasonable, because the original Star Wars anti-missile program had an energy weapon component.\r\n\r\nThis would be another case of neo-con camouflage, turning NASA into a war machine, and a way to get political support for NASA from the warhawks. The "manned mission" part sounds like a red herring. Unmanned missions will always be cheaper, safer, and from the looks of the current Mars missions, plenty effective.","author":"more rational","parent_id":99923,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-01-11 09:18:43","modified":"2004-01-11 09:18:43","fileurl":""},{"id":99947,"heading":"Explore this planet","article":"Develop systems where 3 guys can live happily in a space just larger than an average bathroom for 6 months and you have a real solution to cost cutting in education.\r\n\r\nJust think, dorm room fees would be cheaper!\r\n\r\nOn a serious note.... there is NOTHING on the moon that is commercialy "interesting" or the mega-corporations would be exploiting it. Also there is NOTHING that an orbital space station can produce that is of interest, or useful to us on earth otherwise we would have a robotic ball bearing manufacturing frog growing vaccine producing vacation hotel complex in orbit now.\r\n\r\nI want us to explore the oceans. I want to see a 20ft long shrimp being farmed at 20,000ft depth.\r\n\r\nI want an 18oz shrimp steak!!! not a thimble full of read dust!!!!!!!!!!!\r\n\r\nWe explored the moon and planets, we did it..... now use that technology and bring it back to earth.\r\n","author":"Rational Normal Person","parent_id":99923,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-01-11 09:36:39","modified":"2004-01-11 09:36:39","fileurl":""},{"id":99972,"heading":"NASA","article":"Looking at the personal that were employed into this organization ( thank you, operation paperclip ) I believe the NASA stands for\r\nNazis\r\nAwarded\r\nSanctuary in\r\nAmerica.\r\nAs there was a huge amount of technology transferred into the ICBM delivery systems\r\nas well as just about all the other tax supported research under the guise of civilian programs.","author":"reader","parent_id":99923,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-01-11 18:03:48","modified":"2004-01-11 18:03:48","fileurl":""},{"id":99980,"heading":"Well, duh, Reader.","article":"There's not much difference between the technology required to loft MIRVs to Moscow and that required to place comsats into geosynchronous orbit so you can watch Al Zazeera in English.\r\n\r\nNow, I may be wrong, but I think the scientists we brought over from Germany post-WWII were pretty much apolitical. As long as they had their rockets to work on, they were happy. Engineers are like that.\r\n\r\nSo your little acronym revision is pretty much meaninless, then, wouldn't you agree?\r\n\r\nnonanarchist\n\n*** This comment was posted from an IP associated with a disruptive poster. The MD5 hash of their IP is 3d1cb767fe4087bf4011b1780dce0407. This value is the same even if the user uses another name. Only posters deemed disruptive by the editorial collective will have this text appended to their posts. We apologize for any erroneous misidentifications.","author":";lkjlkjhkjg","parent_id":99923,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-01-11 21:43:28","modified":"2004-01-11 21:43:28","fileurl":""},{"id":99999,"heading":"Wener von Braun","article":"Yep. Von Braun was never interested in fascism, he was just interested in building engines which could escape from earth and possibly get to the moon.\r\n\r\nIn fact, there's a lot of evidence that German scientists actually stalled and sabotaged their own work, particularly the nucular reasearch.","author":"Barney","parent_id":99923,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-01-12 01:34:34","modified":"2004-01-12 01:34:34","fileurl":""}]}