NASA Pulls Out of Astrophysics Missions

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I am an astrophysicist, and, despite the fact that I am absolutely blown by this, I agree with Richard. Although these missions help us figure out and shed light on the darker parts of the universe (haha), we should work on our own problems before even considering funding them.

James Lewis 1:32AM April 25, 2011

Cheshire's comment is typical of people who have no concept of our current dire economic straits, who look at government as some massive free source of cheese and entitlements, and who blindly support every great idea that comes along.
Even more maddeningly interesting than astrophysics and gravitational waves is the concept of reversing the current global trend to pay for fun today at the expense of our children's and grandchildren's future.
We're not living in a Star Trek fantasy world. We're in a world of malnutrition, world hunger, and preventable disease. We're in a world that takes corn that could feed the starving masses and turns it into fuel for our cars. The folks on minimum wage can't afford an hour's pay for a gallon of gas, and yet there are still nuts complaining that we're not spending billions on interesting astrophysics research.
If I dedicated my life to research regarding the perfection of bacon, a food that's incredibly popular, should I get unlimited access to the federal gravy train? Wouldn't want you anybody who knows nothing about my subject telling me what I can and cannot research, right?

Richard of MD 9:04AM April 21, 2011

This is quite typical of a government that is systematically trying to shut down all means of research in the coutry in order to dumb down the masses. It is unfortunate, yes, but should not be suprising, really. If people want to do research on this, then they should fight for it and never take no for an answer. I agree that this is a maddeningly interesting subject, and I am VERY interested in learning more about black holes and the extreme side of astrophysics, but I am only one voice. I feel that we should never let scientists who have dedicated their lives to the research of black holes just lay down and let people who have nothing to do with science, with the process of science, and are not even very knowledgable on the subject tell them what they can and cannot research. It's bull, man.

Cheshire of CA 4:04PM April 19, 2011