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Newsroom: (541) 346-5511
Suite 300, Erb Memorial Union
P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
E-mail: editor@dailyemerald.com
Online: www.dailyemerald.com
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Oregon Daily Emerald
COMMENTARY
Editor in Chief:
Brad Schmidt
Managing Editor:
Jan Tobias Montry
Editorial Editor:
Travis Willse
E DITORIAL
President’s
NASA plans
lack funding
In one of his most daring and longest-term plans to date,
President Bush announced last Tuesday an outline that's
out-of-this-world, both fiscally and otherwise, for the fu
ture of the space program.
If Congress agrees to Bush's "new course," the long-term
focus of the nation's space program will shift from shuttle
missions and the International Space Station to a new
manned space vehicle that will lift off in the next decade;
NASA's three remaining shuttles would be retired.
He wants America to make a return hop to the moon by
2020. (Oddly, that gives National Aeronautics and Space Ad
ministration engineers a much longer time to hash out de
tails for a moon mission than President Kennedy did when
he promised a man on the moon by the end of the '60s.)
Moreover, Bush called for an eventual manned mission
to Mars as early as 2030.
And if high-end field trips outside earth's sphere of grav
itational influence didn't command enough eyebrow rais
ings, the initiative calls for the stuff that afternoons of play
ing with Lego sets are made of: the establishment of a
permanent moon base.
The price tag? Well, that depends on how you do your
accounting: Bush asked Congress for a $ 1 billion budget
hike for NASA over the next five years, just a fiduciary
nudge compared to NASA's current $86 billion budget.
But, the plan also calls for the reallocation of $11 billion
from other NASA programs.
Still, big numbers and big plans aren't impressing many
Americans, particularly in a recovering economy: More
than half of respondents would prefer that the budget in
crease be spent on domestic programs, a recent Associated
Press poll found.
Those Americans would presumably be displeased if
even this short-term projection dramatically increased, as
some Capitol Hill pundits warn.
"The first year after Kennedy announced the Apollo pro
gram, the NASA budget doubled," explained Sen. Bill Nel
son, D-Fla. "And in the second year it was doubled again.
That's not realistic today. But 5-percent-a-year increases are
not going to get us to the moon."
Nelson is more than a politician concerned about fiscal
accountability, too — he's the only current member of
Congress who has flown in space.
The Editorial Board shares Nelson's monetary concerns,
as well as the importance of maintaining funding for criti
cal domestic programs, but believes too in the importance
of exploring the unknown.
The fruits of space exploration, as the last decades of
space flight have demonstrated, go beyond satisfying the
intrinsic human desire to stretch the boundaries of under
standing; they include valuable new technology and infor
mation, from improved rocket design to a starkly deepened
understanding of the structure of the universe.
Given that policy decisions factor in feasibility and fiscal
common sense before fantasy, the Editorial Board gives a ten
tative thumbs-up to the first few years of Bush's space plan.
EDITORIAL POLICY
This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald
editorial board. Responses can be sent to letters
@dailyemerald.com. Letters to the editor and guest
commentaries are encouraged. Letters are limited
to 250 words and guest commentaries to 550 words.
Authors are limited to one submission per calendar
month. Submission must include phone number and
address for verification. The Emerald reserves the right
to edit for space, grammar and style.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Brad Schmidt Travis Willse
Editor in Chief Editorial Editor
Jan Tobias Montry Jennifer Sudick
Managing Editor Freelance Editor
Ayisha Yahya
News Editor
Steve Sack KRT
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Young blood
This weekend, 14-year-old Michelle Wie
came within one putt of making the cut at a
professional men's tournament.
Umm, when I was 14, I was worried
about pimples and why I suddenly liked
girls. Maybe it's something in the water these
days, but everything's happening faster and
younger. I used to laugh at people who said,
"These kids these days..."
But, man. These kids these days...
In China, pianist Li Yundi, now 22, was a
pop icon at 18. And it's not because he wears
schoolgirl outfits and sings "Hit me baby
one more time" Yundi is supposed to be the
best thing to happen to die piano since
Mozart, another child prodigy. Yundi's first
album went platinum in Asia in 2001. I
know Mozart never made an album, but
you can bet he would crush Clay Aiken on
the charts just like Yundi is now.
In Pennsylvania, 14-year-old Alia Sabur
just enrolled in a doctoral program at Drexel
University. She already got her undergradu
ate degree in applied math from Stony
Brook University in New York. She
graduated summa cum laude Most 14-year
olds can't even say "summa cum laude"
Doogie Howser, M.D.; anybody?
And of course in the alternate dimension
that is the NBA, there's LeBron James. He's
Peter Hockaday
Today is Hockaday
19 and already has $200 million in the back
of his Hummer H2. I couldn't afford a toy
Hummer! Seriously, Nieman Marcus sells a
candy-stuffed toy Hummer for $55.
Then there's Freddy Adu, who was se
lected first overall in the Major League
Soccer SuperDraft on Friday and
therefore anointed with the crown as
"the future of American soccer." Not that
it's much of a future to be anointed with,
but still, good luck, buddy.
Imagine being "the next Michael Jordan"
at 19. Or the "future of American soccer" at
14. Or a "graduate student" at 14. It boggles
my mind more than "Boggle" the game. I
mean, Michelle Wie has already almost
reached the pinnacle of her profession! At 14!
Wie is often compared to Tiger Woods, him
self a child prodigy. Woods is proof that the
"child prodigy" thing can work out. Woods
and Drew Barrymore And Michael Jackson.
Well, maybe not Michael Jackson.
So I'll just grab my cane and throw in my
dentures. I'm getting old. The kids are getting
younger. In my day, we never had these "child
prodigies." And we had to walk to school
every day in the snow. Backwards uphill.
Kids these days.
Contact the columnist
at peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com.
His opinions do not necessarily represent
those of the Emerald.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Litwer’s efforts
are one-sided
The Oregon Daily Emerald ran a highly
visible front page story ("An international
education," Jan. 16) on Lach Litwer's mis
sion to "educate" the University community
about American-Israeli policy and "the im
portance of, not only Jewish students, but all
students connecting with the state of Israel."
And I'd like to respond to the messages
in the story by asking Utwer, if, in addition
to "educating" us about the stoic suffering
of a kind, golden retriever-owning Israeli,
will you also "educate" us about the many
thousands of Palestinians who have been
massacred by, or continue to suffer under,
the Israeli army?
Will you educate us about the powerful
and far-reaching influence of the American
Israel Public Affairs Committee, of which
you are a member, in our own government?
(Even the supposedly "dovish" Howard
Dean boasts former AIPAC President Steven
Grossman as one of his top advisors.)
Will you "educate" us as to why the state
of Israel is so often at odds with such well
established humanitarian organizations as
the United Nations, the International Red
Cross and Amnesty International?
And will you also "educate" us as to why
we the vast majority of Americans who are
not Jewish, should feel obliged to spend
what meager good will America still receives
from the global community, for the sake of
the Zionist-Israeli vision for the Middle East?
Paul Griffes
senior
geography
ONLINE POLL
Each week, the Emerald publishes the
results of the previous poll and the
coming week’s poll question.
Visit http://www.dailyemerald.com to
vote.
Last question: Does the city of Eugene
need a housing code?
Results: 44 votes.
• Yes, it will be a benefit to students:
43.2 percent or 19 votes.
• Yes, it’s the ethical thing to do: 43.2
percent or 19 votes.
• No, Eugene is fine without: 6.8
percent or three votes.
• No, it will force landlords to raise rent:
6.8 percent or three votes.
This week: Which of the seven
Democratic presidential candidates’
views most closely match your own?
Choices: Wesley Clark; Howard Dean;
John Edwards; John Kerry; Dennis
Kucinich; Joe Lieberman; Al Sharpton.