Mandating that a certain amount of money (especially a percentage) of budget be spent on something (no matter how noble or desirable or effective) is one of the ways that California has managed to ballot initiative itself into failure. I think I actually prefer the system where people decide what to spend money on, I just wish there was a better way to dislodge the beneficiaries of the current money spigot before they become institutionalized automatic rubber stamped welfare recipients...
This presupposes that funding is a limiting factor. I don't know enough to know if that's true. However, in many areas of life, more money does not always equate with more success. I worked in pharma for years and there was no wanting for resources. That didn't make a bit of difference in new drugs discovered. Biology is hard and is unimpressed by money. I'm confident our success rate would have been unchanged, even with unlimited funds.
There's dozens of these penny for NASA websites. In my opinion, one vote on the Petitions website[0] is worth more than a 10 dollars donated to an armchair lobbyist.
Alternatively, you can actually send money directly to NASA[1]. I'm waiting for a new box of checks to arrive, but that'll be the first thing I use em for.
is it me or is everyone tired of signing yet another online petition to get our government to do the right thing? I feel extremely discouraged by the state of our nation yet I have no idea how to fix it. Signing online petitions to just be ignored by our representatives doesn't do it for me anymore. I wonder if a secession of the nerds and geeks from the rest of the nation would be a good idea? bah, i'm gonna drink another beer and wallow in some self pity now. ignore me.
