<I'd respond directly to your post, but I can't because this BBS software DOESN'T WORK!

Get a real computer. Nobody else is having trouble.

...No, I won't leave you Mars 'weenies' alone and no I am not presenting at any planetary conferences, because basically it's a done deal. Mars is covered with subsurface glacial water ice and Mars is covered with bacterial remains. What more do I need to know about Mars, except how to get there and colonize it?

Wow! That saves a LOT of trouble, now that we know this for sure. We can save hundreds of millions of dollars and scrap all the probes and rovers. Why didn't you tell us this ten years ago? Now if you can just post your photos of the Europan life forms swimming around under the ice we can all share them.

Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance hopefully will answer most of the outstanding questions that I have.

You still have questions? Like what? What color the bacteria are?

I can't think of any label that provides less meaning and absolutely no information about anything in particular, than the label 'liberal'. I have no idea at all what it means, except for maybe 'freedom loving' or 'caring and giving'. I prefer the direct approach over politics. I just care about and give to the needy myself. It's more efficient as it gets rid of the greedy middle men. What you guys need is a reality check, which I am free to give here on this wonderful flame board.



I guess you conservatives are just 'weenies'. At least that sounds cool :-)



People who scorn the government charity approach and give to the needy themselves are usually called "conservatives," or at least "independent," but I'm not going to make a big deal about it.

BTW, I think your launch vehicle concept has definite possibilities, although by the time you buy the SSMEs I don't know how much money you'd have left.

Do you actually LIVE on that little island? I guess it would give you a lot of leeway in political opinions. You probably don't get elbowed much by people trying to tell you how to live. I bet you could even smoke without some health Nazi jumping on your ass. If everyone on the planet had their own island, we'd all get along a lot better. ;)