"Chris writes: Hum, yes, really. A block of ice works fine for cooling on the Moon, as in a vacuum, not so on Mars."
It's true that water's boiling point is lower on Moon than Mars. And it's true that a block of ice was used for cooling suits in Apollo program. I don't think a block of ice is used in modern space suits. Space suits currently in use in LEO *could* be used for Lunar exploration- though modifications or redesigning these suits will probably be done for lunar exploration, but it's unlikely that we will go back to the same suit as used in Apollo. These new suits used for Lunar exploration, probably could be used for Mars exploration, but these are likely to be modified or resigned specifically for Mars.

'"Even if they are on the Moon they are too far away for us to help them so they might as well be on Mars."

Geoff wrote: Days instead of months

Chris writes: Still dead in days or months.'
You can die in couple minutes in LEO. Resupply of ISS currently takes days or longer. It's true that emergency return on ISS is hours instead of days if at Moon distance.

"I'm not going to bother with NASA's job definition. Business should do things at the Moon not NASA."
It's true that there is private efforts as far as exploring the Moon & it's possible that NASA may, if it doesn't do anything, become unneccessary as far as Lunar exploration- and if you look far enough into the future, Mars may be privately explored. The point of NASA is to accelerate this process of exploration of Space. NASA should do things which enable space development.

"Addressing all who say the Moon should be used to test equipment meant for Mars... Name these pieces of equipment that can't be better tested here on Earth or in orbit or on Mars, cheaper easier and with some rationality."

You, of course, first test equipment on Earth. Think of miltary equipment it's tested in a lab, tested in miltary training, and finally tested in an actual battlefield. For "battlefield type" testing, lunar exploration should useful for future Mars exploration. Which equipment?- all of it.

"Anything using ISRU is best tested here and on Mars. Spacesuit testing might marginally be useful, but costly. The regolith of the two worlds are not the same and are vastly different in weathering...suit cooling, comms and other components of the spacesuit would have to be modifed to work on the Moon (Mars has an atmospere and atmospheric propagation)."
It wouldn't count on much "atmospheric propagation" on Mars. Mars will not be uniform- there will be variability in different locations. The Moon is more uniform, but there will some variability (an obvious example is equator vs Poles). The regolith of Mars is altered by wind erosion and "affects" from CO2 and water. The erosion processs on Earth are obviously more active than Mars- Earth is a water planet with an active plate tectonics. The only wind on the Moon is the solar wind. So there will of course be big differences between the regolith of the Moon and Mars, but in comparison to Earth, Mars be similar to the Moon.

"What about aerocapture or aerobraking or parachute decent? Non of these are even remotely possible on the Moon and the list goes on and on. At best a hand full of components could be tested on the Moon, just so the emotions of some moonstruck folks can be satisfied...sorry...I don't think so."

The sole purpose of going to the Moon is not to test equipment for Mars- that's foolish. If it can be determined that the Moon does not have minable deposits of water (or other useable compounds of Hydrogen) then I see no reason to explore the lunar surface. But if at this point, rather then shifting to "going directly to Mars", the next step should be to explore NEOs. Exploring the Moon and exploring NEOs should be something NASA should be focusing on.
The argument against focusing only on NEOs, is the Moon would better (quickier and easier) to start with than compared to NEOs- if there is minable deposits of water at the Lunar poles. If a NEO is discovered which is in a favorable location and has usable resources, then it could become the first priority.