Death of the Space Program
Barack bin slama-licka Ali Obama, in his usual two-faced manner, pretty much cut the balls off NASA while touting a trip to Mars. It's a shame that NASA got a bent over, not because we aren't in space as much as we're missing out on some tech spinoffs and potential role models.
Spinoffs
A lot of today's tech toys were direct result of needs generated by the space program. Grappling with a problem as complex as leaving earth and navigating space drives great minds to come up with solutions. It may be said that the challenge increased brain power in the US substantially. Now China and Russia will take the lead on space and derive benefit from the exploration, leaving the US far behind and cementing our place in the Third World.
Heroes
When I was kid, after we got over wanting to be cowboys and right after the Mercury program there wasn't a kid in the neighborhood that didn't want to be an astronaut. Now, unless you are a billionaire and can hitch a ride with the Ruskies, you're shit out of luck. The media offers up hollywood whores, ball monkeys, and thugs on MTV.
Bottom line is we need a space program, not to bring cheese back from the moon, but the invaluable side benefits. I figure some drastic pay cuts for congressmen and high government officials, pulling out of Afcrapistan, Iraq, and Libya, allowing the arabs to fix their own mess, should free up enough money and manpower (there are a lot of brilliant military techs) to keep the space program going for the foreseeable future.