YAY! LET’S SHOOT OUR TAX MONIES INTO SPACE! YIPPEE!

From today’s New York Times; “Millions of Children Face “Dire” Wait for Hunger Aid”

The US has spent $486 billion over 57 years on human spaceflight, an average of $8.3 billion a year.

Long before this terrible pandemic struck I could not understand why, when our infrastructure was/is crumbling, when our people were/are going hungry, when our environment was/is being destroyed, we were so many of us thrilled and delighted to shoot obscenely expensive rockets into space. More than ever now, I am appalled at this misplaced use of our tax monies in the pursuit of some vainglorious bragging rights to something so unnecessary while all these deficiencies in our society existed – and are now far worse. And please, do not tell me of all the ancillary benefits accruing from this misadventure such as certain medical advances and firefighting equipment and the Dustbuster – yeah the Dustbuster! We could have invented these things without the “space” middleman. And isn’t there something inherently insane about the need to colonize another planet because ours is becoming unlivable, and yet spending the money that could be used to clean our living conditions on something as transparently wasteful – in view of our problems down here- as going into space?

Here is the lyric to”Goin’ Into Space” a song I wrote in 1986. It’s from my CD “Who Could Imagine.” When I wrote it the space tab was 200 Billion dollars now it’s 500 Billion dollars. I have made this change in the lyric.

GOIN’ INTO SPACE 

Everybody’s feelin’ great 
It’s like a national holiday 
We’re gazin’ up all weepy-eyed 
Puffed up to the gills with pride 
A hundred eighty miles high 
We’re orbiting across the sky 
Now I don’t mean 
To bring us down 
But it’s still a bitch 
To get cross-town 

Hey, we’re goin’ into space 
I’ll watch it on the tube unless 
The junkies robbed my place 
It’s a great day for 
The human race 
I’ll catch it on T.V. 
If I can find 
A parking space… 

What a wondrous sight to see 
A triumph of technology 
In point of fact the perfect gift 
For people who have everything 
What a party, what a thrill 
Not to mention what a bill 
But what’s five hundred billion bucks 
And so what if mass transit sucks 

Hey, we’re goin’ into space 
It’s much more fun to read about 
Than crime or toxic waste 
It’s a great day for the human Race 
What a swell idea to send our money into space 

Lighting up Tampas with 
Dollar bills can be appealing 
Lighting Havanas with hundreds 
Is another feeling 
Betting the rent on a long shot 
To win it all 
Has to be some kind of juice 
But for a taste of a peach, 
Or a day at the beach, 
I’m into my pocket 
But not for no rocket!!! 

Bang the bugle, blow the drum 
Tell the planets here we come 
To build a station far from earth 
(Just five hundred billion worth) 
And when the housing, 
And the schools, 
And the jobs, and all the fools, 
And the water, and the air, 
Get so bad then 
We’ll go there 

Hey, we’re goin’ into space 
Whyn’t you bring 
Some sandwiches 
‘N I’ll go get a case 
It’s a great day for the human race 
We’re all done down here 
Let’s go fuck up 
Some other place 

La  la la la la                                                                                                                                      La la la la la                                                                                                                                   La la la la la                                                                                                                                   La la la…

From my CD “Who Could Imagine” (downloads available on Amazon)

To see some info and reviews: https://tonypowersmusic.com/home

© tony powers and Barking in the Dark, 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to tony powers and Barking in the Dark with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.