It's easy for Congress to say "sink the Hubble" and "launch the Shuttle", but in reality, the Hubble is still serviceable, while the Shuttle is a rickety bucket of bolts. One does not harm and benefits the scientific community, while the other has a huge potential for catastrophic failure (as we've seen now on two occasions). It's clear that Congress and NASA use the Shuttle and the International Space Station as PR tools for funding (er, waste of tax dollars), and that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Do we really need to launch satellites from the Shuttle? No, but it sure looks pretty when they do. (See what I mean.)

Why put the lives of astronauts at risk when we know the Shuttle isn't doing the trick anymore? Scuttle the Shuttle and let's build something that's better, safer, is more efficient, and has more range. (Notice, I didn't include "cheaper" there. If you're going to spend tax money, let's at least do this right the next time around.)