<Big-Business Bank-Account Stimulus Scheme To Abundantly Reward Donors (B-B-BASSTARD) Act...

Wow! Did you stay up all night to think that one up? A little cumbersome, but cute.

One company alone, General Electric, will receive a Treasury check for somewhere between $1.5 and 4 billion dollars...and the lower amount just happens to be what's needed to fund both the Pluto and Europa missions.

Those billions were earned by General Electric by providing products and services to people around the world. It rightfully belongs to that company, not to you, not to the government, and not to the scientists who want a look at Pluto. This fact is violently suppressed or ignored by those who think that all wealth should be the property of the state, and that General Electric is damned lucky to be allowed to keep any money at all*. I can see where watching all that swag go back to its owner would piss off those who were hoping for their cut.

Be careful. Once you have established looting as a legal political system, you will find that there are a lot of people out there with their hands out. There are many people who would fight you for that $1.5 billion, who could make a much better "claim" to it than the space program. Heck, if General Electric has no right to the money, what makes you think you do? ("Do you think a mission to Pluto is more important than The Children and The Poor?")

By the way, $4 billion is peanuts in Washington. It also happens to be the amount in grants and low-interest loans that the American Society of Travel Agents is telling the Congress they need to "protect" them from the losses generated by the WTC attack. This may put the money in perspective.

*You would be astonished at the number of people I have talked to who think a 100 percent income tax on businesses would be a great idea.