That's sad enough, but the saddest thing is: a bunch of passionate guys (the planetary society) are begging a measly quarter million bucks to save that priceless data, and the administration just stands there! That's like the cost of running a humvee for a week in Iraq or something.

Ahh, yes. Welcome to the joys of budgets. There isn't enough money to fund everything that everyone wants and everyone things that their (small) project is certainly important enough to warrant getting funds. Problem is that everyone thinks that, and all those small projects add up. Lines have to be drawn, decisions have to be made. You will likely not agree with all of them, but that's why you vote.