We're going where?

This is one that took me by surprise. The Bush administration is going to announce plans to found a moon base to eventually colonize Mars. Now, as cool as this all sounds, and it does sound very, very cool, there is a little bit of reality to get around here as the article from the New Scientist states. Will this have a negative effect on current exploration plans that don't involve astronauts? Can we afford a cost like this in the current fiscal environment? Although I support ideas like this in general, I think there's going to have to be a great deal more exploration into how this is all going to go down. Needless to say, I'm sure China is pleased now that the thunder of them going to the moon for the first time is going to be usurped by these possible plans. Although then again, maybe that's the point.

To remain somewhat 'fair and balanced,' at least up to Fox News' standards, Secretary of State Colin Powell has issued a release defending the WMD intelligence from the recent report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, stating that there is much area still to be searched before coming to the conclusion that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction. Now, while this is true in principle, it must be stated that the United States has had over half a year now to find these WMDs, and has come up with nothing. Given that the UN inspectors found some stocks even under the intense scrutiny of Iraqi officials, this lack of results does not bode well in the defense of his thesis.

Finally, an example of the way the news should be reported. The CBC released a report stating that Hong Kong heads a list of countries with the greatest 'economic freedom.' While this is a pretty routine story, what I like about it is that it clearly identifies both at the beginning and the end of the article the bias of the organization that released the report. Too often news reports are printed from organizations whose names don't give any clue as to their purpose or viewpoints. This is important since readers should know if there is a conflict of interest, or whether the organization is created only to produce exactly the results that are stated. Media should be more diligent in providing this information as it can help the public to better understand the meaning and relevance of the article.