1. Odds are against it and for it, at the same time. Can't see us iniating a contact within the next century or two.
2. Heck yeah.
3. It's definitely a talking point!
SETI@home and Astropulse are funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and donations from SETI@home volunteers. AstroPulse is funded in part by the NSF through grant AST-0307956.