How upset are you about Bush dumping the Hubbell satellite?

[billbuckhead]

Poll question: How upset are you about Bush dumping the Hubbell satellite?

Astronomers Surprised by White House Plan to Scuttle Hubble
By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
posted: 21 January 2005
03:36 pm ET


The prospect of the White House cutting off funding for any possible mission to service and save the Hubble Space Telescope caught the astronomy community largely by surprise Friday.


Scientists who have studied Hubble's science value and the safety and practicality of servicing missions have concluded it is well worth saving. Congressional hearings in coming weeks were expected to discuss the options to extend Hubble's life.


Many astronomers deem such a mission crucial to the ongoing work of studying the origin and evolution of the universe, while some analysts view the $1 billion or more mission as too costly to be practical.
----------------snip---------------

<http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/hubble_reaction_050121.html>

[billbuckhead]

1. I think this proof positive America is descending into a dark age.

Isn't this the logical conclusion of faith based science?

[meegbear]

2. Utterly ridiculous

If he's gonna be that much of a shithead, he should at least offer to sell it to a group or country that GIVES A FUCK!!

[Vinnie From Indy]

They Are Afraid that the Telescope Might Actually Find God

sitting in some distant galaxy wearing a Kerry/Edwards button!

[paineinthearse]

5. Or at least prove the Universe is >6000 years old.

Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have uncovered for the first time a population of embryonic stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a companion galaxy of our Milky Way. Hubble's exquisite sharpness plucked out an underlying population of embryonic stars embedded in the nebula NGC 346 that are still forming from gravitationally collapsing gas clouds. They have not yet ignited their hydrogen fuel to sustain nuclear fusion. The smallest of these infant stars is only half the mass of our Sun.

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2005/04/

[Greylyn58]

9. I Love It!!

I'm still laughing as I type this. Thanks...I needed that!!!

:)

[Demeter]

3. What's Next?

After all, he's recycled the paper that had the Constitution on it, banned basic research into genetics (stem cells), chopped down the public forests and mined the public lands, dissipated the budget surplus among his friends and now trying to do the same with the Social Security funds; so why not destroy our window on the universe?

Eating the seed corn, folks.

[autorank]

4. The is the perfect symbolic statement of *: anti science/intellectual

Nevertheless, the universe will continue to exist!

[RC]

6. WTH?

Who's the freeper that voted for "The space program should only be used for military purposes"?


WTH - What The Hell

[bermudat]

7. This is an anti-science, anti-intellectual administration.

This president has the verbal skills of a 6 year old and the intellectual curiosity of a toddler. Since bushler believes the rapture is coming, why invest in science? All the money in the world for a missile defense shield that absolutely everyone says is unnecessary but no funds for Hubble. Well, at least gays can't get married, and isn't that the only thing that matters?

[MrModerate]

8. Where science is involved, you can rely on Bush . . .

to make the wrong choice.

[fortyfeetunder]

10. What do you expect from a scientific idiot?

The man acknowledges he cares not one whit about science, starting with him blowing off the Kyoto protocol....

[neebob]

11. They need the bux for the space elevator

which won't be used to deploy weapons or anything like that.

[utahgirl]

12. Science and Industry

I think cutting Hubble is incredibly short-sighted (no pun).

As we look around the United States today, we can see that many of the traditional manufacturing jobs have been lost to other countries. Science always creates jobs. With new discoveries, new industries are born. Do you remember the glorious days when we, as a nation, came together to celebrate the thrill of space? I think this cut is part of a larger question: What jobs do the Republicans see as part of our future?

I see underlying motives behind cutting Hubble's funding as a plan to further disable the country. There may be a religious context but I always follow the money. This is a divisive action. This polarizes people and factions are easier to control than unified populations. When I try to find a rational explanation for the gutting of the middle class, I can only find a push for power. Who would support Hubble? Who would gain prestige and power from Hubble?

Yet, we are in a financial crisis. Some things have to be cut. That's the way it is, but the Omnibus Budget bill had millions in pork, so nothing fits together logically. The cuts are selective and I don't see any unified approach to fiscal responsibility behind selecting the Hubble program for cutting.

utahgirl

[neebob]

13. No, seriously, they're developing the space elevator instead.

The space elevator is essentially a giant orbiting cable that vehicles will move along. You're supposed to think it's just a swell new way to get to the moon, but it's actually a cheap weapons transport system - cheap once it's built, that is.

As they say where you and I are from, "Oh, my heck!" And I'll just add, "Fetch! It's the flippin' space elevator!"

[utahgirl]

16. lol

Ohmyheck, LaDau'naSue. I can tell, you've been in the neighborhood.

Yeah, I know about the space elevator. Clarke thought of it decades ago. Works just ducky until someone nukes the elevator and then it's a disaster.

utahgirl

[neebob]

17. LaDau'naSue isn't that far off, actually.

I'd tell you my real name, but it's sooooooooo unusual, I'd be instantly stalkable. I'd be surprised if there are more than a few hundred people on the planet with my exact first name, and most of them would probably be comfortable using the word RECcommend as a noun.

[spanone]

14. It's fuzzy science to george, he can't grasp why you'd wanna look

at the heavens. Everybody knows that's where Jesus' house is.

[annabanana]

15. Very sad..........

How many kids imaginations have been fired by those spectacular pictures of the "star nurseries" or a really evocative shot of the "Horsehead Nebula"?

[Fleurs du Mal]

18. *'s idiocy will *not* be outdone.