


I have to agree with Ward.  The problem with your approach is they add
up what you can reasonably claim as 'spin-offs', add up what's been
spent on space, and then come back with something like, "You spent $X
billion for that?  Wouldn't it be better just to spend the money on
direct research and forget all this space stuff?  We could have got
all that stuff a *lot* cheaper that way.  Space is wasteful and
inefficient."

Then they cancel your funding and spend it studying mating rituals of
New Guinea tribesmen or something.

-- 
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
 in the real world."   -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden