Other than the Chang-Diaz letter, most of the posts are pretty ill-informed, if not outright kookery. I especially liked the one suggesting there is some sort of classified project that has produced element #116, which happens to decay into antimatter, thus solving our propulsion problems.

Even C-D's letter is only mildly optimistic, in the sense that he acknowledges the radiation problem is "severe" and requires a fairly large spaceship and short transit times. No problem once his VASIMIR is flying, but still not the sort of response that would lead me to expect a manned mission in the next 15-20 years.