Ah yes, we're a great nation of mourners are we not? We mourn the passing of folks here, and the passing of folks there but it seems we never mourn the passing of freedom and liberty and justice. How proud God must be!!

Eze 9:4 And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.

As goofy as it sounded, Newt Gingrich's call for space exploration was a good thing. While we may not be able to put a colony on the moon by 2020, anyone who grew up during the late 50's, 60's and 70's remembers how pumped our nation was. Kids learned math and science and dreamed about going to the stars, our best military pilots competed for a spot as an astronaut. The value of the technology that came from the Space Program is beyond comprehension, it was certainly a time of greatness for America. Today we are ruled by a small minded, unimaginative, Maxist and his mob whose only contribution is to take away our freedoms as mentioned by akaangrywhiteman. It is time to stop this pig and make America a great nation doing great things again. If going into space is a catalyst for national recovery then let's go!

It is important to note that Newt emphasized the need for private interests to compete in the American race back into space. Once we create a suitable business climate in this country - anything can be done. The US Government cannot give up manned space flight. There is an obvious national interest in mantaining a dominant capability for space flight.

I found it interesting that Obama wanted the Governmnet to take over every aspect of US business, while at the same time getting the governmnet out of the space business. He could not wait to shut down NASA programs following the planned Shuttle program phase out. Could it be that he intentionally wants to diminish our space capabilty - perhaps because of it's military applications?

I applaud Newt's recognition of the importance of leadership in the exploration of space. Perhaps he is guilty of working the crowd in Florida, but the fact is that the space program is based largely in Florida, along with Texas and Alabama, and represents a large pool of American talent that can use the work.

The loss of the Challenger and the upcoming anniversary of the Columbia disater on Feb 1, remind us of the dangers inherent in manned space exploration, but the valuable lessons learned throughout the program should not be overlooked.

We must move on to the next generation of space flight, and getting the beaurcracy out of the way will help launch us in that direction.