The House Appropriations Committee has quietly slashed NASA’s budget by 16%. Rep. Mollohan (D-WV) described the move as a “time-out” in the budget process so the White House can get the findings from a panel reviewing NASA’s future manned exploration plans. Of course, Congress and the White House hasn’t let that stop plans in the recent past (i.e. the DC Vouchers, where the study results supporting the program were suppressed until after the decision to kill it was made). Rep. Mollohan also commented that it gives the president time to establish his “vision for human space exploration”. Excuse me? President Obama has a vision for human space exploration? And he derives this from what? His extensive knowledge of the science, astronomy, and the community organization needed in space? Past democrat presidents have done a better job at this. President Kennedy issued a challenge and remained out of the way to allow NASA to execute against it. The returns, in jobs, technology and human knowledge, that this country experienced during the “space race” were substantial. So at a time where more jobs are needed, growth is needed and technology is advancing rapidly, the Obama administration is putting the brakes on an avenue for growth.

Of course, NASA could get up to $15M via earmarks – remember those things that Obama promised to review line by line and remove? Feel free to review the Commerce, Justice, Science and related Agencies Subcommittee’s earmark list here. Note that this is one of 12 appropriations subcommittees and doesn’t count the “Emergency Supplementals”.  As Obama faces a $1.26 TRILLION deficit (three times the size of the deficit he complained that he  “inherited”), NASA’s out-year funding is flat which doesn’t bode well if the economy turns around and the costs of services and technology rises.  So much for investing in the future.

GorT

GorT is an eight-foot-tall robot from the 51ˢᵗ Century who routinely time-travels to steal expensive technology from the future and return it to the past for retroinvention. The profits from this pay all the Gormogons’ bills, including subsidizing this website. Some of the products he has introduced from the future include oven mitts, the Guinness widget, Oxy-Clean, and Dr. Pepper. Due to his immense cybernetic brain, GorT is able to produce a post in 0.023 seconds and research it in even less time. Only ’Puter spends less time on research. GorT speaks entirely in zeros and ones, but occasionally throws in a ڭ to annoy the Volgi. He is a massive proponent of science, technology, and energy development, and enjoys nothing more than taking the Czar’s more interesting scientific theories, going into the past, publishing them as his own, and then returning to take credit for them. He is the only Gormogon who is capable of doing math. Possessed of incredible strength, he understands the awesome responsibility that follows and only uses it to hurt people.