Quote Originally Posted by walterick
I'm sure the last thing any of us want is to see NASA go under or the space shuttle stop flying, let alone watching people lose their jobs. It's always fun to poke fun at beaurocracies, but we mean no harm to the people underneath...
I was really struggling with how to respond to spacey's comments, but you summed up my feelings perfectly...

Despite appearences sometimes, as a writer I choose my words very carefully, and when I used the term "wacky" in the subject of this thread, I felt it was clear from the rest of my post that I was targeting the government beaurocracy and mocking the way it is handcuffing and perhaps suffocating our once mighty space program.

And I'll say it again: I think this is a case of you, spacey, as a new member of this site, jumping into a discussion without really knowing anything about the backgrounds or personalities of the others posting.

I too, feel there is no need for anyone to apologize, but I would like to make it clear if there is anyone here who can say they represent the blue collar aspect of the space program, it's me.

My dad worked as a machinist for Grumman Aerospace for thirty years (hard work, low pay), and as such we WERE members of this "space community" you mention. FWIW, I was born in Bethpage, and if anyone here doesn't know what role that small Long Island town played in this country's space race, look it up.

Over the years we lived and died many times with NASA's successes and failures...

To think for a second with my background that I was belittling the men, women, and families that do the lion's share of the work and depend on the program for their livelyhood is to not have read my words very closely.

BTW, many of us here often use humor to make points about very serious issues, so you'd better get used to it. There is a phrase, "laugh to keep from crying", and it means you sometimes make light (as in shaking your head in disbelief) of things even though you're upset by them.

To simply rant aimlessly about an issue in a deadly serious way is not always the most healthy thing to do. I started this thread for one reason only: because I care about NASA, the space program, and the shuttle, and I'm bothered by what has been happening.

BTW2, now if you guys want some GOOD news about NASA to help balance things a bit, check out this report from ABC news:

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/story?id=2152449&page=1

Seems one of NASA's programs is partly responsible for a record streak of US airline safety... :thumbsup: