Obama announces historic manned mission half way to Mars

[Enrique]

via CrooksandLiars.com

http://newsifact.blogspot.com/2011/08/obama-announces-historic-manned-mission.html

US president Barack Obama has announced a "bold and historic" American-led mission that will see humans traveling halfway to the planet Mars a decade from now. The NASA mission, set to begin in 2022, will involve astronauts traveling approximately 100 million miles towards the Red Planet before turning around and heading back home.

President Obama hailed the trip as a significant compromise, noting "There were those who argued we should travel all the way to the Red Planet, while others argued that we should not go at all. I rejected these extremes and believe that this compromise will significantly bend the curve towards an ultimate full Mars trip some time in the future."

The spacecraft that is set to carry six astronauts on the one year round trip is currently being designed at NASA. It will be half fueled by a revolutionary ion propulsion system and half fueled by coal. The compromise came after several Republican Senate leaders threatened to filibuster the trip if fossil fuels were not part of the mix.

As for funding, Obama had insisted that the roughly $30 billion trip be paid for by increasing taxes on the wealthy, who currently enjoy some of the lowest rates in decades. However, after much wrangling in Congress, a "compromise" was hammered out with Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell in which half of the costs will come from cuts to welfare programs and half from tax cuts.

(...)

[Hart2008]

1. Self delete

[tridim]

2. So, Obama is bad huh.

:eyes:

What a stupid article. I want my time back.

[vaberella]

5. Oh is this article supposed to be negative?! Sounds pretty cool stuff to me. n/t

[Tesha]

10. The title made it clear that the article was satire.

Why did you bother to click on it?

And then you spent even more of your precious time
complaining about it!

Tesha

[Tesha]

12. (posted in wrong place)

[tridim]

14. Obviously I spent time complaining just so you would waste time responding

Do you really think I didn't know it was satire? Extremely stupid satire.

[Fuddnik]

17. If you had spent that time working.

You could have saved up enough to buy a sense of humor.

[tridim]

19. Hypothetical Obama bashing is not funny, unless you're a Republican.

[frylock]

15. you have devoted so much time defending obama at every step that you can't even recognize satire

just fucking wow. i want the time i've lost reading all your whiny posts back.

[vi5]

3. So sad, because it's so plausible.....

You can insert any bold initiative in there for a Mars trip, and the results would be the same.

[vaberella]

4. That's pretty cool. I'd love to go to Mars. I wanna see if women do have three breasts there. n/t

[valerief]

6. But no Medicaid. nt

[virtualobserver]

7. considering that the competing Republican proposal involved Uranus..

it was a reasonable compromise.

[Armstead]

8. Go wash your mouth out with soap right now LOL

[Fuddnik]

18. They've already been to Uranus. And my anus too.

Several times.

[rusty fender]

9. LOLOLOLOLOL!

:rofl: :wow: :eyes: :rofl: :spray:

[Armstead]

11. But half-way to half-way, he'd agree to abort the mission at the demand of the teabaggers

[Tesha]

13. I'd prefer a compromise where the space ship flies just halfway to Mars, period.

Of course I'd expect the vehicle to be fully staffed by the only folks
intellectually suited for the journey: Republican Congressmen and
Senators.

Tesha

[swilton]

16. DISTRACTION