On Sun, 26 Dec 2004 19:09:02 -0600, in a place far, far away, Bill the
Cat made the phosphor on my monitor glow in such a way
as to indicate that:

And, finally, space hero in the public space category. House Majority
Leader Tom Delay for standing like a stone wall against the House
Appropriators' attempts to gut the President's Moon, Mars, and
Beyond Vision.

We shall see. The props to Bush and DeLay are well-deserved for getting
NASA a 5% increase for FY2005 while everything else except DoD and Homeland
Security got a cut. However, this year is not the end. NASA's funding plan
for the new program requires another 5% increase in FY2006, and 2%
increases in FY2007-09. Meanwhile, the word in DC is that Bush is
considering a domestic spending freeze that would only give NASA a 1%
increase for FY2006. We'll know in February, when the budget is due to be
released.

On the other hand, if the difference between a 1% increase and a 5%
increase in next year's budget is really the difference between going
beyond earth orbit or not, then NASA undoubtedly needs new management.