NASA at the Crossroads

It was more than a generation ago when JFK set the national goal of landing on the moon.  To be sure, it was a political goal because the Soviets had already beaten us with their man in space, but at least this would be a step ahead.
In the intervening years, NASA made sure to trumpet any technical achievement that resulted from the effort.  But few asked whether the same result could have been achieved from either doing the same experiments on earth or in an unmanned vehicle.
They made the best of the repair of the Hubble space telescope, with mentioning that the same effect could have been achieved by simply blasting up a complete replacement, as has been done in other instances.
Let's face it, NASA's manned space program is simply put, a jobs program.  The International Space Station is a total waste of money.  Bring the people home and let it decay in orbit and be replaced by......nothing.
Those scientists in the know are ecstatic about the unmanned space shots, since they actually bring back useful results.  Look at the Mars rovers, once still working years after its 90 day designed lifetime.
Let's call it a day on manned spaceflight. We did it and don't ever have to do it again.  Unmanned spacecraft can and have been routinely launched by unmanned rockets instead of by the shuttle.  The idea of sending people to Mars or even farther is so unrealistic as to be laughable.  There is so much to be on done on earth to which the same money could be applied.  Let's do that instead.  Congress can work the pork so that useful monies can be spread around their various districts in the same way that wasteful expenditures can.