You also aren't a child who will do worse in school, and is more likely to end up committing crimes if you don't get that help.
It is odd that we have a program that will help society as a whole, and people are upset because of it. God forbid the govt. actually provide some beneficial education to children in our society. What an awful thing.
If the ISS fails I will be dissapointed but not broken up over it. As Sam Fisher and others have noted the ISS is a boondoggle. The problem is given the nature of it it was destined to be a boondoggle. If you want to keep it going I believe there are more cost effictive ways of doing so than what we are currently doing but as long as we stick to the traditional way of dumping money into big budget space projects we won't. I will do some digging later but if I recall off the top of my head you had mentioned making cuts in the defense budget. That's fine but consider that we are fighting a war on two fronts even as veteran benefits are being cut. Its going to be hard to justify to many people taking money from defense for space exploration. That's fine as long as you do understand that nationalistic interests is driving your concern over this issue. I was not offended by it just surprised by your use of it. There's a lot of things that I am very uneasy about Obama. I really think that he has yet to fully get a handle on running a national campaign and think this has to do with experience. Obama has great political skills and charisma but experience on the national stage does count and for all of Obama mania this is a man who was only a State Senator just two years ago.
I'm in favor of that as well. But once the children are here we are too late to prevent them from being born. At that point we should work on helping them become productive individuals that can contribute to our society.
If its that far out then why all the handwringing about potential cuts now? You can't say that this is terrible that there might be cuts and then say well this isn't a big deal since there is a long timetable. Of course most of our budget is being taken up by entitlement programs and things like the space program and a bridge in Ketchikan Alaska are drops in the bucket but as any financial planner will tell you small things add up. The problem with pork barrel politics is that everyone will try to justify pet projects based on how valuabley they are to their district and also that they really don't cost that much so individually while shuttle booster, ethanol and dairy subsidies aren't that expensive they do add up.
And under that reasoning then why are those of us who don't think space travel should be a government priority are forced to pay for it? Why don't we just have a check box on our tax forms where we can voluntarily contribute to a space travel program than force all of us to pay for it. For that matter why not have any budget priority done on the same basis?
For the record I'm not in favor dismantling manned space exploration. But pre-K education is different than day care. That was why I mentioned it. But at the same time one can compare helping a child have a solid education and contribute unknown good contributions in society to almost anything there is.
This is totally off topic but since it has taken up 2 pages already I want to weigh in. I went to a poor public school and I made it out of there with 15 hours of college credit from AP courses and tests. Our public school is system IS great. Like most other things you can get out of it what you put in. I think our scores are so low compared to other nations because we make everyone go, including people who have no desire or need to finish a 12 year education. Alot of other countries have a 9 year education then vocational training.
I would go visit my mom who taught at SFA high school in the 2nd Ward for 10 years. The students would intentionally break and steal the school equipment along with her own personal items. They would also call her a racist when given bad grades. Most of the parents didn't care or know how their child was performing.
No doubt that is a crappy thing to do, and those students are wrong, and should suffer consequences for that behavior. It would have been great if there had been a way earlier in their education that might have helped them to get more out of education and be successful at it rather than the failures that would do such horrible things.
do you think vandalism doesn't occur in the suburbs with immature kids. but where I was going was the condition of the school. the condition of text books. computers, etc.
I don't know. . . . When I was in High School I remember the news reporting that SFA students didn't have schools books and counselors were Assigning them to classes in rooms that turn out to be bathrooms who's fault was that the Parents or the Students? Rocket River
