If you watched the Presidential Debate last night you might have noticed John McCain’s mention of a $3 million earmark, supported by Barack Obama, for an Overhead Projector.

“He [Obama] voted for nearly a billion dollars in pork barrel earmark projects, including, by the way, $3 million for an overhead projector at a planetarium in Chicago, Illinois. My friends, do we need to spend that kind of money?”

Now, I know the projector he’s talking about. The old one, in need of replacing, is pictured above. In fact, I’ve seen many a sky show at the Adler Planetarium as a youth and it helped ignite my excitement for the larger world around us. The galactic vistas and interstellar reaches projected on that dome were more inspiring than you’d think possible with a collection of Zeiss steel and glass. Unfortunately, this projector is over 40 years old - its nebulae have grown dim. It’s time for a replacement. What price would you put on reaching untold millions of children over another 40 years? I think $3 million out of the Federal Budget is a bargain. Click here to read the Huffington Post’s take on the AP debunking of McCain’s “Overhead Projector” as well as a statement from the Adler Planetarium itself.