Without knowing specifically what the money in the bill would be spent on, it seems premature to criticize/ridicule McCain on this. Of course McCain also did a great disservice with his “one liner” that does not explain what the money would be used for or why he finds this objectionable.

I am specifically against (2) because in my own experience astronomy offers such a punishing and insecure career path that I would not want to put anyone else through the career frustration, lost time, and depression that I’ve experienced in graduate school. Yes, astronomy is fascinating, and I believe that our society should continue to support astronomical research at a reasonable level. However, I think we have to be realistic in our expectations; only a very small number of people (few thousand at most) in our country will be able to have long-term full-time jobs in astronomy, and a handful of astronomy/astrophysics graduate programs at the top-tier institutions are fully capable of educating enough astronomers/astrophysicists to fill ALL the jobs available for PhD-level researchers working in this field. The surplus PhDs will be discarded by the research enterprise after a few years and these people will struggle to compete for technical/engineering type jobs that they are overqualified for. Since we are already drowning in engineers (both our own citizens and the foreigners that we bring in to fill the perpetually proclaimed and forever nonexistent science/engineering labor “shortage”), there is no need for engineering firms to look beyond those with engineering degrees when they are searching for employees.

Preparing an excessive number of students for careers in astronomical research is a significant mis-allocation of educational funds and intellectual talent when these bright people could be making valuable contributions in other areas with greater economic benefit to themselves and society.

This is not a compelling argument at all. It is the old ‘NASA is worthwhile because of velcro’ argument, and nobody rational still believes it. Yes, there are often unexpected ancillary benefits to wasting money. That doesn’t mean we should waste our money.

Astronomy and space sciences are important to the economies of both Arizona and Hawaii.

See todays “Washington Sketch” by Dana Milbank

“He went after Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), the 84-year-old chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. ‘We’re going to spend $2 million for the promotion of astronomy in Hawaii,’ McCain said with disgust, glancing at Inouye. ‘I ask the senator from Hawaii: Why do we need $2 million to promote astronomy in Hawaii when unemployment is going up and the stock market is tanking?’ ”

Well, it’s pretty clear, as a previous poster noted. We should be spending that $2M to promote it in Arizona!

But really, astronomy has become, for John McCain, a convenient example of earmarking run wild. It’s a tiny amount, but it’s like Joe the Plumber for the middle class. It’s a triviality, but hugely memorable.