I can't get off how ridiculous this proposal to go to the Moon and Mars is. And it's not just because it was proposed by George Bush. Though, think about it -- any self-respecting Democrat who would prefer to spend money on, oh, I don't know, helping the people who walk on Earth, wouldn't even propose such an outlandish proposal like this. Unless we had to do it before the Russians did.

But seriously, what do I know about walking in space other than from watching Star Trek? Maybe this guy can help us understand why this plan is wackier than putting a hungry ferret in your trousers. Here's a really long quote.

...the president laid out a big plan today here. The money, though, to pay for this was something that was not mentioned, except to say that he‘s going to ask NASA to rebudget $11 billion and ask for, as I understood it, $1 billion over the next several years from Congress. That's not enough to do the whole thing.

I think, back in 1989, when the president's father, then President George Bush, was asked to do the same kind of thing, he asked for a study to be done. And they said, when it came back, that to go to the moon and do Mars like he was proposing would be somewhere around $400 billion. And I think that was questioned at the time. But I suppose, to put that in today's dollars, it would be $700 billion or $800 billion.

So, I think the main thing I'm concerned about, though, is that we not reprogram money in NASA that is now on the International Space Station. We're just about to get it completed in another couple years, once the shuttles are flying again. And that's where we've been promising people for 20 years that we're going to have a good research return coming back from that station that would be of value to everybody right here on Earth.

. . .

It is going to be difficult at a time when we're all running record deficits of nearly $500 billion a year in this country. But I think the money is going to be crucial to whatever the president wants to do.

. . .

And the things he's talking about are going to require far, far, far more money than just an $11 billion reprogramming within NASA, which only has a total budget of $15 billion.

So why spend the money on something that offers little merit to humans when we're running a huge deficit when we've already comitted to an outer space plan that offers direct benefit to us on Earth? Well, I'll be damned if that don't make sense.

You'll be especially pleased to note that these statements were made by John Glenn, first American in space and former Democratic senator from Ohio.

Things sure could have been different had he better managed his presidental campaign in 1984.

By the way, the quote was taken from John Glenn's interview on last night's Countdown on MSNBC, still the best news show you're not watching.