I never thought I'd see the day when I enjoyed a Charles "Al Gore is a Psychopath" Krauthemmer piece more than the Toles cartooon on any particular date. The devils must be dying of hypothermia even as I write. Yet another reality that I was able to peruse early this morning...the 'werkz is now getting the Post every day instead of just on Sundays. Such a novel occurrence has even inspired me to consume breakfast, something that I haven't done in years. The breakfast table we purchased soon after moving to the city is now being used for its intended purpose instead of as a kipple-staging area. But back to the issue at question: yesterday I heard a co-worker loudly decrying the fact that EPA gets any money at all. He's a rapid Republican, and knowing their penchant for reducing government services, I asked what he thought about the space program. I was already prepared to rebut the typical charges of "it doesn't make money" and "it hasn't done anything good for us" but he surprised me by answering simply "I really haven't ever thought about it."

Wow.

That's the most critical assesment of the space program I've ever heard. The fact that some people in our nation don't really care about the program (and probably still wouldn't if Columbia had made it back okay) is a searing indictment of our national priorities. We should be firing people up about space travel, about exploring distant stars and galaxies; about setting up bases on the Moon and Mars. We should, in short, be expanding NASA rather than merely trying to limp along. Instead of worrying about safety first, second and last, we should be worrying about going farther, faster and in new directions. Our nation deserves nothing less.