Obama's Planetarium Projector Earmark Explained

John McCain accused Barack Obama of a seemingly outlandish request for Chicago's planetarium during the second presidential debate Tuesday, saying that the Democratic candidate backed a "$3 million [earmark] for an overhead projector at a planetarium in Chicago, Ill. My friends, do we need to spend that kind of money?"

The AP fact-checked the claim:

McCain's phrase suggests Obama spent $3 million on an old-fashioned piece of office equipment that projects charts and text on a wall screen. In fact, the money was for an overhaul of the theater system that projects images of stars and planets for educational shows at Chicago's Adler Planetarium. When he announced the $3 million earmark last year, Obama said the planetarium's 40-year-old projection system "has begun to fail, leaving the theater dark and groups of school students and other interested museum-goers without this very valuable and exciting learning experience."

But McCain's remark was enough to make Adler Planetarium officials issue a statement defending the scientific validity of the request:

To clarify, the Adler Planetarium requested federal support - which was not funded - to replace the projector in its historic Sky Theater, the first planetarium theater in the Western Hemisphere. The Adler's Zeiss Mark VI projector - not an overhead projector - is the instrument that re-creates the night sky in a dome theater, the quintessential planetarium experience. The Adler's projector is nearly 40 years old and is no longer supported with parts or service by the manufacturer. It is only the second planetarium projector in the Adler's 78 years of operation.

Science literacy is an urgent issue in the United States. To remain competitive and ensure
national security, it is vital that we educate and inspire the next generation of explorers to
pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

Senator McCain's statements about the Adler Planetarium's request for federal support do
not accurately reflect the museum's legislative history or relationship with Senator Obama.

Sen. Dick Durbin and six Chicago-area Congressman, three of whom are Republicans, also agreed to sponsor the unsuccessful $3 million earmark.

Planetariums in New York and Los Angeles recently replaced their Zeiss projection systems with federal funding, the Tribune reports.

Comments

[11907281]

Why does half of America despise education? I bet that same half would gladly support giving a "creationism" museum the money for a diorama that shows how the humans domesticated the dinosaur. Old Joe Six-pack's grampa wasn't a monkey.

[Collielady]

These are the kinds of earmarks the American people WANT! McSame blundered again.

[DaNoid]

What do you expect from Republican'ts?

"Ugh! Science BAAAAAAAAAAD!!!"



"That One" / Biden '08!!!!

[Collielady]

Rethugs are afraid people will discover that the world isn't flat. (Didn't Thos. Friedman write a book about that? And we thought it was a metaphor!)

[JackND]

They were even talking about this at my children's middle school.

Congratulations , John. Even eleven year olds find you despicable.

[TruthfullyYours]

mccain and palin would very much qualify to appear in "who's smarter than a 5th grader?" the only thing is they will not win against the grade schoolers on the show. palin would certainly ask for a lifeline and mccain would ask what a lifeline is.

[autochrome]

How many more people visit that planetarium each year than drive the highway project that Palin got $600 Million for?

[Shabba]

My friends, The issue of Science is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.

[DavidK08]

The same people who attack this type of spending would also attack the spending of millions to understand and write the DNA of a fruit fly. This is where ignorance blinds us. Both are very important in different ways. Because some/most people don't understand it......it becomes "stupid"

The theater is for education. Not much wasted money goes into education and furthering of it. Understanding the fruit fly is the baby step to understanding us/humans. You wont knock a drug or thearapy that saves your life or someone close to you that is derived from this "waste of money". Will you?

[thegiver]

McVain does not know about computers, but he claims he had a hand in the invention of blackberry. He does not know squat about science and he is talking about "alternate forms of energy" - oh boy, will someone please teach him an elementary science class, else he would not understand squat when his committee will inform him about a new scientific discovery. God Bless America.

[jiml1956]

$3 million for a planetarium? Wouldn't it be better to spend 80 times that for a "bridge to nowhere"?

[DinSea]

right on.

[CommonSenseAmerican]

I love how the "fact check" from the AP uses the words..."McCain's phrase suggests Obama spent $3 million on an old-fashioned piece of office equipment that projects charts and text on a wall screen." Why is it that when its something negative about a Democrat, its always about their "intentions" or "what they meant to say" or trying to "suggest" what others were saying. Are they mind readers? Are we mind readers? NO! I could point out at least 10 instances right now if there were space enough.

Bottom line is...should the Federal Government be funding things that clearly should be funded by the City of Chicago or at the very least by the State of Illinois? What good are MY tax dollars doing me funding a palnetarium in Chicago??

[marquitin]

Some kid from Chicago might be inspired to become the astronomer who comes up with a way to harness solar energy in space and beam it to earth in such a way that all our energy needs are met without relying on fossil fuels? You never know... beats the heck out of some other options the Federal Govt might spend your money on.

[HowIronic]

It is a good use of your federal tax dollars to make sure every child in this country is educated to the highest level possible. This is so they have a good chance at finding a job that pays more than minimum wage, thereby contributing to the tax base and helping pay for your social security and medicare when you retire.

[JamesAndre]

CommonSense...right.
Planetariums are a valuable resource - and expensive. Did you read the response from the planetarium? Every city can't afford one. There is no reason the federal goverment shouldn't help sustain something that benefits us all.

Or perhaps you think the major cities should provide airline service for the entire U.S., but never receive any assistance?

Just try and think about it.

http://mentalshift.newsvine.com/

[Nikola Tesla]

Maybe so that a child will grow up educated, make money, pay taxes and fund YOUR Social Security?

Or does thinking that far into the future hurt your head?

[jstrat]

CommonSense writes: What good are MY tax dollars doing me funding a palnetarium in Chicago??
What the hell is a palnetarium? Maybe YOUR tax dollars might be better spent on a dictionary.

[palindrom]

This may have been posted before, but there's a good article on the Scientific American website about the grizzly bear DNA study that McCain loves to cite as an earmark waste of money:

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=mccains-beef-with-bears

It's very easy to caricature scientific studies to make them appear ridiculous, but almost invariably such characterizations out to be ignorant hatchet jobs. This is no more a waste of money than Ayers is a terrorist. Unfortunately, there's a lot of anti-intellectualism out there. He'll get the "I'm a dummy, and I'm proud of it!" vote ...

[TheRealMacDaddy]

The thing you aren't ever going to hear is that JOHN MCCAIN VOTED FOR THAT BILL. that's correct The Sheriff voted in favor of the Bill that had that earmark in it. Actually he spoke on behalf of it because of it's environmental implications.

Addititonally, I wonder if McCain is aware that Sarah Palin requested and received $3.2M to study Harbor Seal DNA.

[TruthfullyYours]

there's a very big difference between studying the dna of a grizzly than the crabs which palin had asked for millions of earmarks for.

[harriscrl3]

McCain is just angry cause all that money was wasted on something educational.

Carol

[demfriend]

The highest level of education for McCain was at the Naval Academy how many years ago? He was in the bottom percentile for the class he was in and is often thought of as someh=one who graduated merely because of the ast name he bears rather than his abilities. So has he gotten much more education since? As he has shown in the past he has little regard for much in education and therefore is not a good person to attempt to place any value on any equipment which might further many people's minds and education.

[ILikeH00ters]

Republicans don't believe in science and technology. They want you to go to church and pray.

[contemporarymom]

That comment contributes a lot - NOT - frustrated much?

[ILikeH00ters]

Yes I am frustrated. Can you help me out? Please see my moniker.