I was a bit surprised by Bush's original plan given his lack of care of most things scientific until I did a little analysis. The general rule in politics is to follow the money and in this case it points directly at Texas and Florida, states fondly in the hearts of the Bush clan. Houston is the home of the MANNED Spaceflight center and all launches for the proposed missions are going to go out of the state governed by Jeb Bush.

Doubt our fundamentalist president really wants to discover life on other planets. It's very much like his proposal to push hydrogen fuel-celled vehicles. Great sound bite to calm the environmentalists but that technology and the infrastructure to deliver it is decades off. Our immediate solution for lowering our dependence on foreign oil and reducing pollution is simply to make our current vehicles more fuel efficient. Hybrid technology is here and it works. Put the immediate money and legislation into pushing efficiency first while not ignoring the R & D necessary for future breakthroughs and you give us some breathing room.

I'm certainly glad for the emphasis on our continued manned exploration of our solar system but I'm forever suspicious of Bush's motivations.