It seems to me that you're trying to answer an unanswerable question - "Why are we here?" - and it's reasonable to ask, "Why spend money to learn what can't be learned?"
Even so, this striving to learn from space exploration has resulted in the discovery of many technologies that "make life worth living" (such as computers, the internet and blogs) that might not have happened but for this search.
Therefore, it becomes a matter of priorities & I think that's what the President is saying. Mankind's resources are limited; mankind's needs are almost unlimited. Each choice to address a need is done at the expense of a resource, leaving fewer resources to address the remaining needs. So, which needs are the most important? Perhaps this is the best explanation for why anyone would seek a career in government & politics
What a shame. RCordone tells Adirondackal the truth that the whole Sundwall challenge was 100% an operation of the Tedisco campaign, and Adirondackal responds with a ludicrous conspiracy theory. Hopefully the true Libertarians will recognize who their enemy actually is!
If you think a multi-party system is so great, take a look at Turkey. They had years & years of "minority party coalition" governments which actually turned out to be "fronts" - each carefully & completely controlled by the nation's military leaders. When a single party was FINALLY able to obtain a simple majority, the military leaders tried to execute a coup d'etat which narrowly failed when a few key people decided that democracy (as in a majority rule that respects minority rights) was better than an indirect military dictatorship.
Alexander Hamilton & Thomas Jefferson were totally opposed to each other's political philosophy, but they were both smart enough to recognize that a strong two-party system was far better than coalition government.
We still don't know which candidate is behind this challenge. Whether Sundwall ends up on the ballot isn't as important in this news story as which candidate is so unsure of himself that he's got to resort to legal gamesmanship in order to have a tiny bit better chance of winning. Can it be that hard to find out whether the persons who filed the challenge are Rep's or Dem's?
As a veteran myself, I've been wondering about Tedisco's position on war, veteran's affairs, etc. It doesn't say much on his website. But now I know. I "Googled" the press release and came up with this from the Reuters newswire, dated Fri, 10/26/01:
`Gerry Solomon was a true patriot,' Bush said in a statement released by the White House. "A decorated veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, he was a tireless advocate of the men and women of the United States military who continued to work to protect the interests of America's veterans long after his service in the U.S. Congress ended."
So now I know, by reasonable extension, that Tedisco probably wouldn't argue if you called him "A HUGE SUPPORTER OF PRESIDENT BUSH."
And I don't care much for plagiarism either. Just compare the press realease with the 2001 presidential message.
I'll try to make myself a little clearer, too. It seems to me that it all comes down to mankind's need to SORT everyone else. Tall, short, fat, thin, blond, grey, European, Asian, pretty, ugly, smart, slow, winners, losers and on and on.
Where do we learn this? Is it at home? Is it at school? Is it at work or play? Wouldn't it be so much better if people were only sorted by a true estimate of their worth? Or best, if they weren't sorted at all, but just appreciated as fellow human beings.
For a time, I worked to assist persons who were applying for Social Security Disability payments. Too many times, I felt the need to advise someone that they should remember two things. A disability is nothing to be ashamed of and, just as importantly, nothing to be proud of (as in having "gamed the system).
Posted on March 26 at 4:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Oh, how wonderful to be so young as to not remember the works of Woody Guthrie!
On Music for the recession