PLANTING THE FLAG

NASA announced plans on Monday for a permanent base on the Moon....

While the Bush administration and NASA have spoken in general terms about plans for a return to the Moon, followed by human spaceflight to Mars, the lunar outpost plan is the first time officials have proposed a permanent presence.

"We're going for a base on the Moon," [NASA's Scott] Horowitz said. "It's a very, very big decision." ...

--New York Times today

Well, I guess they were under pressure to declare some territory fully conquered before Bush left office.

And I guess we're reasonably certain that, in this case, insurgents won't fight back.

Actually, as the story notes, the base probably won't be built until about the year 2020. Maybe we'll be able to use some of this money to celebrate our triumph -- I doubt we'll have had much reason to dip into it by then.