I know I’m late on this, but I still felt it was worth writing about.

Newt Gingrich promises to build a moon colony by 2020; make it a U.S. state
By Tecca | Today in Tech – Thu, Jan 26, 2012

The race for the Republican presidential nomination is about to blast off into outer space: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich announced that, if elected, he’d establish a colony on the moon by 2020. READ MORE

Okay, first of all, Gingrich is still a hate-filled ego-maniacal nutcase, however, that being said, I actually think this is a pretty awesome idea (& no, Fidlerten, that doesn’t mean I’d ever vote for him). Seriously, our space program is weak. It’s been almost 43 years since we first landed on the moon, and what have we done since?!? We should not only have colonized the whole darn place, we should be living on Mars by now, and heading toward Jupiter! There should be permanent space stations floating around. I know a lot of folks dismissed Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, but that’s another good idea, in my opinion. Space-based protection from enemy missiles!

I know, you may think that this all sounds very “science fiction-y” (& I will admit to being a huge fan of sci-fi), but space protection is a serious issue. We don’t want to end up like the dinosaurs, do we? Speaking of which, did you know there’s a big asteroid heading in our right direction, right now, which might hit us in 2036? And if it hits us, it could have the impact of over 500 megatons of dynamite? I’m not kidding, it’s called 99942 Apophis, read it about HERE.

But don’t worry, scientists are pretty sure it won’t hit Earth.

Anyway, I know some people say we shouldn’t waste time exploring space when there’s still so many problems on Earth, but that’s short-sighted thinking. The space program has already given us many inventions that make our lives better. Who knows what other further advances we could discover, with a more advanced space program? So, beam me up, Scotty!