20 JULY - THOSE WERE THE DAYS, MY FRIENDS!

We had ambition, the spirit of adventure and discovery, the will to confront a gigantic task and succeed! What a heady era!

On 20 July 1969, under President Nixon and set into motion by Kennedy, "men from the planet earth first set foot on the moon."

In terms of distance, not to mention other dimensions, the years have only shrunk us. Typical missions are 100 miles, not 250,000 - that's contraction by a factor of 2500, by the way - and presently we lack even the facility for shooting a guy into space and retrieving him. We plan to rely upon our still spy-happy pals, the Russians, for that, and how long will it be until our space program, if any, is outsourced to Chinamen? (Don't wax apoplectic E. and W. Coasters; people habitually say "Englishmen," "Scotsmen," and "Irishmen," and thus far not even the nuttiest of liberals mind those appellations.)

The new NASA head is another racial appointee, and already Pres. Bush's idea of getting to Mars has been scrapped. Hmm. Where might that budget money go? Possible targets are

1. Breakfasts for the "poor" school children, probably overweight, whose parents haven't the inclination or the brains to cook them and whose welfare handouts go for cigarettes, booze, fast food, and other essentials.

2. The overwhelming deficit this pixilated "health" program will create.

3. Litigating a state with the sense to try and preserve a degree of integrity in our laughably porous, federally-ignored borders.

4. Pelosi's plane.

5. The Worst Lady's trips to New York City.

The possibilities are endless. " ... we thought they'd never end," but, sadly, they did.