Space Program Blues

From our brave men and women who have served our country to a legal immigrant who has fought and won his right to live in this great country there are all shades of American Pride.  But, I am not sure that there are any Americans that are not moved by the site of one of our space shuttles preparing for take off.  With the smoke billowing and the engines roaring and the ground visibly shaking and the shuttle covered in American flags, now that is patriotism at it's very best!
On July 20, 1969 an American flag was placed on the moon.  I was not even born yet, but I have seen the images so many times I feel like I was there.  I will never forget the excitement of the old TV cart being rolled into the room in elementary school so we could watch one of the take offs live.  Or in middle school when one of our beloved shuttles crashed upon lift off (will any of us ever forget that one?) and we all had a moment of silence for the loss of the teacher and her fellow astronauts and then rushed home to watch the news coverage.
This is American history.  It is a part of who we are, and who we represent as Americans.  It is part of our pride and our heritage, and it shows the world what we can do; we started it and have built it from the ground up.  It is one of the few parts of the government that many Americans are proud of these days and it has now been cut, bummer.  It really reminds me of another story that I have heard recently, very similar to the automobile industry.  As Americans, we invented the auto, built an entire industry, even built entire cities around that industry and then needed a bajillion dollar bailout for that very same industry, I say it again, bummer!
This is not only concerning to me because it directly affects Tom's machine shop, which is almost entirely aerospace, because I also feel as if the chipping away is in all the wrong places.  Instead of taking away tiny little pieces of things that are huge sources of pride for Americans, let's take a look at some big ticket items that we are not quite so proud of.  I bet if we put our heads together we could come up with a list real quick!