Lunar Lunacy

I've seen sporadic rumors about the Net over the last day or two that President Bush wants to send Americans back to the moon. While I would be thrilled to see space exploration once again become, you know, important to the American people, I don't want to see just some repeat of the Apollo missions. Neither does Buzz Aldrin. I want our space policy to reflect a long-term goal of permanent colonization, not just because the planet's dominant Communist power is ramping up its space program. We've done Apollo before, and it was a staggering achievement. What is needed is a new stunning achievement, not a re-achievement of something we did over thirty years ago before we got bored and went about developing cable TV.

And reports out of the White House are that the rumors are just rumors. Of course, the White House has lied before. It's one of the standard functions of the modern White House. So we'll see.