Volcano monitoring

From Jim Wallis' article in the Sojourners email this week:

"When we look at the president's budget, we have to ask ourselves whether the deficits it will incur are good debt or bad debt. Are the things being paid for a want or a need? While Bobby Jindal publicly mocked spending on volcano monitoring, this week's eruption in Alaska and past eruptions such as Mount St. Helens have shown that a small investment now can save far greater sums of money in the long run -- and even save lives."

I believe Talinn made exactly this point about volcano monitoring as we were watching Jindal deliver (in rather an odd way, I must say) the Republican reply to Obama's address to Congress last month.

It would be odd---and sad---if the only things that the United States decided it was worth incurring debt for were (a) a war and (b) tax cuts.