Here's the old bad news" Killer asteroids and comets are lurking stealthily in our solar system. There are about 20,000 of them which pose a threat to our lives. The good news is that NASA says it can detect these space monsters and devise a plan to save life on Earth as we know it.

Here's the new bad news: Washington says that even if NASA reduces its proposed budget by 70 percent, the answer is still no and the plan is denied the funding necessary to save us all. It leaves NASA - and the rest of the world - sightless to defend itself. Simon "Pete" Worden, director of NASA's Ames Research Center said "We know what to do, we just don't have the money."

After reports rattled the world of an asteroid which may hit the Pacific ocean in 2008 were released and debunked, the U.S. congress ordered NASA to devise a way to track down such threats and propose a way to avoid a catastrophe. NASA did just that, and the budget proposed rings to the tune of one billion dollars.

Asteroids that measure 460 feet in diameter are considered threats. To contextualize just what kind of horrors can happen if one enters the atmosphere, NASA had this to say:

Even if the asteroid burns up and shatter to pieces in the atmosphere, the particles raining down can obliterate a small American state like Maryland. If it hits the ocean, colossal tidal waves will follow, and if it's big enough to land intact for deep impact, the blast can rival the one that supposedly wiped the dinosaurs from the face of the Earth.