Time for a budget blitz

If you’re read all the budget information and then said to yourself, “gee, what can I do to convince Congress to support this budget?” (and you happen to be in the Washington DC area and have some free time later this week), you may want to check out the “Space Budget Blitz” being organized by the Space Exploration Alliance (SEA). This appears to be the standard Congressional lobbying effort, with people going to offices to talk to staffers about the importance of supporting the Vision for Space Exploration. In the words of the introductory document:

With tight budgets being the rule after the hurricanes and with the continuing war in Iraq, it is extremely important that we not only tell Congress and the administration that we support human exploration of the Moon and Mars, but that it is vital for our nation to remain the world’s technological and scientific leader. It is also extremely important for national morale and prestige. Although some may argue that those are not good enough reasons to spend the money, they are wrong. Morale and prestige have a dramatic impact the economy and how others view our nation.

The blitz schedule calls for training Wednesday night and meetings on the Hill Thursday and Friday. (Of course, on Thursday there are no fewer than three space-related conferences taking place in downtown DC, as well as a luncheon speech by Mike Griffin, which may dampen turnout.) It’s probably not too late to sign up, though; contact the NSS.

[Speaking of blitzes, I think I have posted more here today than any single day since this blog started over two years ago. Time to call it a night—especially since my day started at 3:30 am and there’s still work to do…]