National Planetary Exploration Car Wash and Bake Sale 103
An anonymous reader writes "To attract media and Congressional attention to the deep NASA planetary exploration cuts proposed to take place October 1, and the need to restore the planetary budget to present or higher levels, a National Planetary Exploration Car Wash and Bake Sale is being planned for June 9th. Organizations already involved include planetary groups at many universities, research institutions, and Moon Express (Google Lunar X Prize)."
Re:I've got a better idea... (Score:2, Interesting)
You can say just about the same thing about all other government services. You want medical care, school systems, highway infrastructure, social security?? Then why don't you get out your own checkbook and pay for it yourself, and give me back the taxes I paid for the services you use.
I like the way you're thinking. The sooner people decide where to spend their own money the better. The enlightened way to look after the needy is via compassion, and compassion cannot be forced - it is a voluntary action.
A step further (Score:3, Interesting)
"It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber."
Re:Public vs. private funding (Score:4, Interesting)
Now imagine if these people instead went out and spent their time trying to raise the money they need from private benefactors, rather than this silly attempt at shaming the government into giving them more stolen money.
Now imagine that they have been trying that tack, and they're still broke.
Going into space benefits us all. It has already paid dividends. It can pay more. It makes more sense than blowing the money on highways when we could be building rail, which can carry ten times as many passengers per dollar spent in the best case, and achieves parity in the worst case.