moon, but that was 40 years ago. the u.s. is essentially sitting on the bench in the current space race. will that hurt it back here on earth? and is america coming apart? that s what the author of a controversial new book says. i ll ask him about it. but first, here s my take. something caught my eye the other day. pat robertson, the high priest of the religious right, had some startling things to say about drugs. i really believe we should treat marijuana the way we treat beverage alcohol, mr. robertson said recently. i have never used marijuana, and i don t intend to, he said, but it s just one of those things that, well, i think this war on drugs just hasn t succeeded. the reason robertson is for legalizing marijuana is that it has created a prison problem in america that is well beyond what most americans imagine. he s right. here are the numbers. the total number of americans under correctional supervision, prison, parole, et cetera, is 7.1 million, more than