re: "boggles the mind"
"Just think about expensive no-fly NASA boondoggles like the soon to be cancelled or radically changed ARES job stimulus program. "
Hats off to the SpaceX team.
But Falcon is not a heavy lifter.
The Jupiter launcher will be put into development
1) because Ares 1 is a dog
2) to preserve the US technical base
It's not simply a jobs program for southern states.