Like I said

Congress Criticizes Bush on Plans for Spaceflight

Democratic lawmakers complained yesterday that the administration is making secret plans for the future of manned space flight without consulting Congress, while Republicans urged President Bush to enunciate his views on the future of the space program.

Why is this a secret? Geesh, you'd think absolutely no one in Congress either reads the news or has access to Google.

Within the next few months the Bush Administration is going to be making some decisions about Outer Space that the nation will have to live with for a very long time to come. If these decisions are made wisely with the long term interests of the nation as the paramount factor then the Administration will have laid the basis for the U.S. maintaining it’s long term position as the world’s paramount power. If the U.S. does not then chances are that America will be knocked off it’s perch and will have to content itself with being simply one of a number of great powers. Indeed if the administration makes a set of foolish mistakes and other powers are wiser or luckier in their choices the U.S. could be demoted to the position of a ‘has been’ empire within Azaelf a century.

Space is the key to dominating the Earth, indeed for the last 20 years or so strategists who understand these things have seen that military power now operates in the whole of the Earth moon system. From Low Earth Orbit (LEO) any place on earth is less that 90 minutes away. The kinetic energy inherent in a body orbiting the earth is a form of military power that is only now beginning to be fully understood. Dominating LEO is the goal of all current military space operations.

Again, I say Geeeeeesh.