That is a good summary. The main thing I take from it though is that slow funding has been the most important recent cost driver. Brinksmanship in Congress imposes extra costs as money is delayed. So, the question is, why does Congress not pay for its grandstanding?

Not too sure why JWST is being blamed for this. JWST does impact support for other astronomy missions, but planetary exploration is its own program. Might just as well say that not closing the space station is to blame if these kinds of games are going to be played.

This description of the study seems a little more informative: "The total mass ice loss from Greenland, Antarctica and all Earth’s glaciers and ice caps between 2003 to 2010 was 1,000 cubic miles, about eight times the water volume of Lake Erie. “The total amount of ice lost to Earth’s oceans from 2003 to 2010 would cover the entire United States in about 1 and one-half feet of water,” said CU-Boulder physics Professor John Wahr" http://summitcountyvoice.com/2012/02/09/global-warming-cu-led-study-pinpoints-earths-ice-loss/

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/09/us-usa-nuclear-license-idUSTRE8181T420120209

Got to do the guitar solo....

Weapons making peace necessary is an interesting thought. Kind of harmonizes with libertarian ideas about an armed society being a polite society. My thinking was more along the lines that tech development, even when military, has peaceful applications as well.

There are keyboards designed to withstand 100% of coffee spills. Reactors could be designed to withstand 100% of earthquakes. Likely, naval reactors could do so already. Don't be silly.

Let's suppose there is 15 lb/square inch of atmosphere to punch through and the projectile is 7.5 tons with 100 square inch profile. Then its surface density is about 150 lb/square inch. So, it needs to shed about 10% of its momentum to get through the air. Not a lot.