Beccy, I agree that the space program has produced many gains in science and technology that have been useful. I could also give you a long list of medical advances -- including almost all of modern trauma surgery and intensive care -- that resulted directly from our involvement in the Korean and Vietnam wars. I appreciate these advances, and recognize that they may one day save my life or the life of someone I care about. But I am still opposed to war. Your argument is a common one, but not, as Mr. Spock would say, logical. And I say that as someone who is not inherently opposed to the space program--just the way it's been militarized from the very beginning.

Aloha,
Mark