Bush supporter opposes plan for space program

Bush supporter opposesplan for space program
EDITOR:
I have been and will continue to be a strong supporter of President Bush; however when it comes to his space program, I must fervently disagree.
The Vindicator's recent page one article quoting Warren native Dr. Ronald Parise has prompted this letter. While I highly respect and admire Dr. Parise's intelligence and courage as a former astronaut, his livelihood does depend partly on the success of NASA; thus his comments are less than unbiased.
He avers that "a lot of people have jobs because of the space program." By using the billions of dollars improving our nation's infrastructure many more, less skilled people will be afforded jobs. Dr. Parise was also quoted as saying, "Everyone likes their new gadgets every year." That is true. We will always be grateful for velcro, but we also appreciate the hundreds of gadgets supplied by the ingenuity of Edison and his fellow inventors, who were not part of the NASA team. American ingenuity for producing gadgets can also be a spinoff of other noble projects, such as improving the educational system in America such that we no longer have to outsource computer technology to India, where most of the PC brain power resides, and assisting Third World nations in their quest to crawl out of the dark ages.
Dr. Parise says that the space program can be likened to the discoveries of the Spanish, British and Portuguese explorers. The vast difference between their discoveries and those of NASA has to do with the fertile, occupied, life-giving and producing, resource rich continents of North and South America as opposed to one dead satellite (the moon) and one dead planet (Mars). Dr. Parise's last statement in the article reads, "The moon gives us a place that's not quite as far away." He said that in context with his hope that the United States can tap into its natural resources. I would suggest that Alaska is much closer, and with the proper use of American ingenuity, like that which Dr. Parise obviously possesses, we can tap that rich field without disturbing the ecology about which so many people are concerned.
We did learn one great thing in NASA's numerous trips to the moon. Based on the relatively shallow layer of cosmic dust, it is not nearly as old as once thought. That is a major slap in the face to the theory of evolution, which requires a much greater amount of time to accomplish its ends than the moon's apparent age affords.
C.H. McGOWEN, M.D.
Howland
Council should offer helpto minority contractors
EDITOR:
I am responding to the letter regarding using some of the federal funds for Youngstown State University. The writer has every right to his opinion.
I have a very big problem with his statement that the councilmen are more concerned about getting bonding for minority contractors for the building of Youngstown schools then about the convocation center.
I'm assuming that the writer is a white male living in Poland, with no fathom of how difficult it is for the poor black and Hispanic contractors to afford to bid on any contracts unless there is financial assistance. They are not asking for handouts, only help to get started.
Why shouldn't the councilmen try to help? The funds are there -- they only need to be allocated.
White contractors are working not only on the school project but many federally and locally funded projects. The ratio of working minorities to whites is probably 1 in 20. The excuse for not hiring minorities is no skills. Even with the skilled, they are often not hired.
The writer is not from our inner city, so evidently he has no idea what goes on here.
I would also like to see some agreement among the city officials before the allocated funds are lost. Personally I could care less who builds what, where or how -- just give us some jobs.
OLLA L. TATE
Youngstown