Shine On, Crazy Newt

Not only does Newt Gingrich want to build a permanent base on the moon by the end of his second term (wishful thinking, dude), he wants to set things up for it to become the 51st state:

He added that he had once proposed legislation that would allow a moon colony of at least 13,000 Americans to petition to become a US state, and that he still supported the idea. I don’t recall, incidentally, what the proposed state would be called – perhaps readers could suggest names in the comments below.

In any case, the Gingrich plan faces some difficult – some might say insurmountable – hurdles. Under George W Bush, NASA was trying to build a moon base by 2020, but a panel of experts appointed by the Obama administration in 2009 said in a report that it would take much longer and cost more than initially estimated – and Obama eventually canned the idea.

However, all credit should be given to Black President Bush from the Chappelle Show, who was a real innovator in the field of space travel:

This article appears in Jan 26 – Feb 1, 2012.