Searching for common sense....on Pluto

Recently the New Horizon's mission to Pluto set underway to go where no man made object has gone before. Typically, things that have anything to do with the word Pluto get stepchilded. Think about Mickey Mouse's pet dog Pluto, the only character in the Disney animated world who doesn't speak. Personally I think Mickey bit him and after a fever, he lost his angelic voice, but I digress. There's also the jacked up and often ridiculed Eddie Murphy film "Pluto Nash." If that doesn't prove my point, well you need to get in a hot tub of "nigga are you crazy" and soak for a bit.

Now there are some advantages us spending billions of dollars on this mission. We'll finally have a snapshot of yet another uninhabitable planet in our solar system. Plus finally they can finish the explorer stamp series from the United States Post Office. Pluto is the only planet in our solar system that has not been explored. In fact, there's no real image of the planet at all. All images we've ever seen of the far off world has been artist renditions. I think they do a great job of illustrating a place I'll never be interested in going. It's like asking someone to paint Hell frozen over... but in space.

I searched the NASA website to make me feel better about this expensive endeavor and found some things I didn't know. The major scientific question they're searching for is how did Pluto come to be a part of our solar system.

Let me exlain.

Pluto is not only the farthest planet in our solar system, but it is a phenomenon in our system. unlike the other planets beyond the asteroid belt which are gas giants (planets that are have liquid cores and no solid mantle like Earth) the ninth planet in our solar system has a solid mantle. There's a lot of controversy to this date on whether Pluto is actually a planet or wayward debris from the Kuiper Belt . Yeah, I know it's fascinating and will keep you up at night, but in the big scheme of things, does kinda make you a little smarter, so there.

Knowing what you know now, doesn't it make you feel good? Hell Naw!

On Monday of this Week, President Bush released the 2.7 trillion dollar budget . Here's a breakdown of some of what we're facing:
Community development block grant cuts - $1.6 billion
Public Housing Modernization cut - $401 million
Local Law Enforcement Grants Eliminated - $1.1 billion
Community Policing cut $275 million
Safe and drug free school programs eliminated - $437 million
TRIO, GEARUp scholarships cut but $683 million
Adult Literacy cut by $16.4 million
Low income energy assistance cut by $103 million
Social services block grant cut by $300 million
Support of community action agencies eliminated $630 million

I looked for any references to NASA space programs, but didn't see anything on the initial analysis. So, what this means is the NASA's search for extra terrestrial intelligence (SETI ) efforts will continue, but kids won't have safe schools and the drop out rate will continue. We'll move forward on colonizing the moon, but won't do anything to help people who live in poverty find their place on this planet. What the Hell, or should I say Charon, the Roman mythological underworld is going on here. As a science buff, I love reading how we make progress everyday to improve our way of life, but i'm always perplexed on how life never really get better.

Oh yeah, a 10th planet has been discovered in our solar system. To the scientific community, it's a great find, to me it's just another $150 billion dollar postage stamp.