Jimmy Duncan, Tennessee Congressman sez: "I believe there are a number of areas ripe for savings. One example is the proposed lunar mission, which carries a price tag of $104 billion." (Ala Instapundit.)
What tripe! As a Congressman, Duncan should know that the entire budget for the lunar mission is coming from existing NASA dollars. If he thinks otherwise, he is welcome to debate the point with the 400+ contractors that have already been layed-off from NASA Glenn, and the additional 400+ civil servants who are targeted for RIF's. (All to free up dollars for the Space Program, at the expense of "pure science" jobs whose dearth is lamented, somewhat ironically, in a nearby Instapundit post.)
And as NASA Administrator Griffin has already pointed out, the lunar and shuttle programs are conducted almost entirely at NASA's Space Centers, which are located--- you guessed it--- all along the Gulf Coast. So in Mr. Duncan's world, government pork in the form of Katrina Relief is better than good-paying aerospace jobs in Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and Alabama.