We haven't screwed up Earth badly enough, so let's screw up space

[uberllama42]

The Chinese government, true to form, has blown up a satellite in a space-weapons test. This has created a hazardous, debris-ridden area around where the satellite used to be. Guess what the Bush Administration's response is going to be? That's right, they're going to spend more billions of dollars developing another generation of space weapons so they can further pollute our natural environment in the name of U.S. military superiority. There are two things which really burn me here:

1) Most people don't even know that we have a current generation of space weapons. I wasn't aware, but when I read about it I was completely and utterly unsurprised.

2) We don't have the money to build and test these weapons. Where do you think the military is going to get it? I would again be completely unsurprised to learn that we're going to borrow it from China.

[Bitwit1234]

1. I heard a report that the Chinese did not

do what they said they did. The government is just trying to build up their prestige....All the British Newspapers said it was an untruth.

[uberllama42]

4. I read just the opposite

I read that the Chinese are completely silent as to what happened, but U.S. satellites observed the event through various sensors.

[pitohui]

2. i'm pretty sure there's no life in outer space

if we must screw up something, honestly, better it be outer space than planet earth

[uberllama42]

3. If only screwing up space meant we stopped screwim up Earth

Our destructive involvement in space is an extension of our destruction of Earth, rather than a replacement. If we litter a huge amount of space in orbit with debris by destroying each other's satellites, space travel will become a lot more difficult. Seeing as how we're not going to stop destroying the environment here on Earth, I predict that space travel will some day become very important.