Money allocated by President Bush to increase NASA’s budget in order to encourage space exploration, a replacement for the Space Shuttle, finishing the International Space Station, establishing a manned base on the Moon, and planning for manned trips to Mars:
One billion dollars spread over the next five years.
Money allocated by President Bush in a planned drive to “promote traditional marriage values”:
One and a half billion dollars, apparently over a single year.
I guess we’ve all got to have our priorities, don’t we?
As a long-time science fiction geek, I’d really like to get excited about the new emphasis on space exploration and research, and even a little more budgetary increase is better than none. Somehow, though, it comes across to me as nothing more than election-year grandstanding than something that’s really going to have much impact.