The Inane Asylum

October 19, 2006

Katie Couric Must Die

Posted at October 19, 2006 10:37 AM

I've only said one other person must die before, but this time I'm really serious.

The Bad Astronomer has a write up about it that says it best:

Katie Couric is a bonehead

Sigh. Another clueless talking head opens her mouth and jabbers on a topic about which she has no idea.

Katie Couric opines on NASA. After a basically fluffy intro (where she says we’ve orbited the Earth "dozens of times"– um, Katie, that takes about two days worth of orbiting, and we’ve had people in orbit for years), she wonders if the NASA budget is money well spent.

No argument there, as I’ve said the same thing, though our details may differ. What kills me is this line:

It’s been wondrous, but has it really been worth it? NASA’s requested budget for 2007 is nearly 17 billion dollars. There are some who argue that money would be better spent on solid ground for medical research, social programs, and in finding solutions to poverty, hunger, and homelessnees… I can’t help but wonder what all the money could do for people right here on planet Earth.

I wonder: does she think we ship payload-bays full of twenty dollar bills on the Shuttle and release them into space? That might be an apt metaphor for the Shuttle, but the money is in fact spent right here on Earth. It goes to factories, manufacturers, engineers, and all the support lines to keep NASA running.

Also, I have heard the this argument that NASA money should be diverted to social programs a million times, and it’s wrong every time. First, 17 billion bucks sounds like a lot, but on the scale of the US government it really isn’t. NASA is the smallest of the government agencies, and the budget is not very big compared to others. Did you know we are spending 11 million dollars per hour on Iraq? That’s nearly 2 billion dollars every week! Now does NASA’s budget sound so big?

The money spent on space has direct results here on Earth as well. The irony is that the ability of Katie to appear to millions of people (well, fewer every day according to her ratings — oh, snap!) is due to the space program. Or does the term "satellite TV" mean something I’m missing? Maybe she could ask whoever the weatherman is on her show if (s)he thinks the space program is a waste of money. Does she think about all the instruments and the designs of the planes she flies on which owe their existence to the first "A" in NASA’s name?

Look, I know a lot of people don’t know this stuff. I know, too, that NASA could do a better job of talking about this kind of stuff. I also know Ms. Couric is not a journalist, but c’mon, she plays one on TV. It’s simplicity itself to actually, y’know, do some research.

I also love this comment from the CBS site about her views:

That was one of the most ill-informed commentaries I've heard in quite some time.

It is said that NASA returns $7 to the US economy for every dollar put into it. Reality check: for comparison, Americans spend more than $160 billion per year entertainment, sporting events, movie tickets, etc. That's nearly ten times NASA's budget!

So you gotta ask yourself Katie, would you fund a program that provides excellent jobs and a myriad of benefits to humanity, or would you rather watch millionaires running around on a field playing a child's game or one of Hollywood's awful remakes?

I think CBS should fire you and use your salary to fund a scholarship program for needy kids. By my calculation you could send nearly a thousands kids to college on full scholarships. I wonder what impact that would have down here on planet Earth? I guess we'll never know...

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