[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB

According to my boyfriend, this planetarium and museum is supposed to be the largest of its kind in the country or something. It's a big deal to science. He says there was all kinds of chatter online after the first debate in which it was mentioned...scientists all over were pissed.

ETA: Adler is the oldest planetarium in the country.

here's some more on the so-called "overhead projector"
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/222859.php
http://cbs13.com/campaign08/obama.mc....2.836336.html
http://gizmodo.com/5060946/barack-ob...ly-pretty-cool
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archi...8/1518907.aspx (has links to a bunch of other sites that think McCain's statement sucks, too)

ETA some more: for those of you who don't think this museum and research institution benefits our country, and therefore doesn't deserve federal funding, I'd like to hear why you think the federal govt. should keep supplying nearly $40 billion of our tax money to YOUR schools every year. We do these things because an educated society is a strong society.

Well, I don't really think k-12 education should be federally funded, and I think college and university funding should be strictly tied to some national goals.

The only k-12 school funding that makes sense to me is when military bases put a big burden on the local schools without really paying into the property tax base. (And I think that the free and reduced price lunch program is probably as especially effective way to make sure kids in need get fed.)

About the planetarium, it's not that we shouldn't fund it; it's just a question of who should pay. (Three million is a figure that could be handled in a state budget. The Illinois state budget was apparently about 65 Billion for 2008 http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/pu...nor/budget.pdf) It doesn't make sense to me, unless there's some original research involved (which probably isn't related to the projector honestly, even if there is some going on at the facility), to fund a city or state planetarium with federal funds, particularly if it was an earmark stuck on to a different bill rather than something that was debated on its merits.