Glad that the funding NOT going to the space program is going to fund such useful projects...

[Noah]

US develops lethal new viruses

A scientist funded by the US government has deliberately created an extremely deadly form of mousepox, a relative of the smallpox virus, through genetic engineering.

Just read this, and it kinda ticks me off. The US Govt. is funding projects such as this, yet questioning if human spaceflight is worth funding or not and stalling our current progress.
WHY do we need to create YET ANOTHER virus that could mutate into another deadly human disease? I can understand wanting to be able to eradicate rodents such as mice/rats on a large scale, but I think creating a deadly virus such as this is taking it just a bit too far.

Other thoughts on this? Does this disturb you as much as it does me, because there are about a million other things we could spend this money on. I seriously think that this would fall under "pork spending", yet another example of it

[syndicated]

I totally agree with you, and I think it also highlights the hypocrisy of the US government and it's policy concerning chemical/biological weapons.
Why should the US be allowed to develop these horrid and deadly WMDs, yet, when any other country does, it's the end of the world and "someone has to stop them". I am all for the war on terrorism, but if it takes away from exploring our universe and making progress, we may as well just let the terrorist win!!