Two links from NASAWATCH below tell very different stories.

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=902

Some Key Quotes:

"WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush will propose a sweeping new vision of U.S. space leadership that will call for use of the Moon for technology development and partnerships between NASA and the Defense Department to make maximum use of existing or planned U.S. space systems, this column has learned from informed sources.

NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe will be tasked with leading the effort, aimed at presenting Vice President Dick Cheney and the president with a roadmap to what some are calling "renewed U.S. space dominance" during 2004."

"Bush will call for renewed U.S. activities leading to leadership of space exploration "in the Earth-Moon system" that could include manned lunar landings, the employment of a series of commercially-available launch vehicles and upper stages, new robotic lunar probes that will include orbiting communications and navigation relay satellites, and the development of a "flexible" manned spacecraft that is likely to be a form of the proposed Orbital Space Plane, but no new advanced launchers, large Apollo-style space vehicles or reusable replacements for the shuttles. Creation of a manned lunar base would evolve from more limited landings, if at all."

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http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/custom/space/orl-asecnasa30113003nov30,1,4169089.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-space

Some key quotes:

"No final decisions have been reached. However, closed-door meetings of administration officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, appear to be developing plans committed to the status quo, with no major new programs or specific destinations, no timetables and most importantly, no significant spending increases."

"There are no concrete plans to go to Mars, return to the moon or otherwise extend manned spaceflight beyond low Earth orbit. In fact, NASA maysqueeze existing programs to help raise an estimated $280 million needed to return the space shuttle to flight after the Feb. 1 Columbia disaster."

"There were rumors that Bush would unveil new space plans -- including a possible call for an eventual return to the moon -- at a Dec. 17 commemoration of the Wright brothers' first powered airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, N.C., or during January's State of the Union address. However, officials familiar with the process say it now appears unlikely any substantive proposals will be announced at the Kitty Hawk ceremony."

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I wonder whose "inside source" is right? Pretty depressing if all we have to look forward to is more of the same.