8.1.04
The Imperial Conquistador of Space or Political Points for Re-Election?
BBC says, "President George W Bush will announce proposals next week to send Americans to Mars, and back to the moon, senior US officials say. He is also expected to reveal plans for a permanent lunar space station. "
Will the Solar System (or the Earth) be safer because there are Americans on Mars? Or will the Solar System (or the Earth) be safer because there will be a permanent lunar space station, ironically like an occupation? The man needs some lessons on gravitational equilibrium and the dangers of WMD disrupting this and sending us ALL plummeting into oblivion. He's obviously no Copernicus.
Also, the symbolic significance of this is enormous. Imagine, everybody on Earth that isn't American looking up to the Moon, saying, "The Americans occupy the Moon." Will there be an ILSS (as in ISS... International Lunar Space Station)? Or just an American one? Could Nationals from other countries be trusted with the custody of the Moon??? This verges on the absurd, but he will capitalise upon any chance he gets this election year. (i.e. The suddenly new Immigration "Amnesty Plan") And, personally, I think Bush and Co. are salivating for Dean to be the Democratic nominee. Facing a Ret. General would be much more of a challenge, but if he had the Moon...maybe he could pull it off.
I've always understood we are in the age of the image. We consume millions of more images today than, say, our parents. Was the Prez so awe inspired by these 12 million mega pixel panorama shots from the rover to score political points on "2004 Space Odyssey" Maybe the Prez needs to read some Homer. The Odyssey and The Aenied come highly recommended. Or maybe a glance through Thucydides' Peloponnesian War might persuade him to do otherwise. The parallels in history are mind boggling at times. Attempting to take Sicily was the end of Athenian power. Attempting to occupy Iraq could be the end of American Primacy. (Immanuel Wallerstein, a Yale professor wrote a spectacularly haunting essay about the decline of American hegemony beginning shortly after the first Gulf War. I'll try to find that later, but here's a piece by him from FP, "The Eagle Has Crash Landed," for now.) But, seriously, G and co. symbolically taking the Moon and possibly Mars, ergo projecting American power in yet another obtrusive manner...Please, give me a break.
I'd say it's for political points, yet he does not or cannot comprehend the symbolic impact of it on the world in the long term. But this administration cannot comprehend a lot of things in the long term, so I'm not surprised by the lack of foresight in "selling" this product to the American people. "You don't introduce a product in August." Isn't that what Andy Card said about the war in Iraq?
I was tired tonight, and about to go to bed. But I couldn't resist chiming-in on this news.
p.s.
And do not get me started on the extremely important topic of the Militarization of Space. Obviously, this is a step in that scary direction.
Otherwise, things are great!!! I'm glad I'm from Jupiter.
;)
Will the Solar System (or the Earth) be safer because there are Americans on Mars? Or will the Solar System (or the Earth) be safer because there will be a permanent lunar space station, ironically like an occupation? The man needs some lessons on gravitational equilibrium and the dangers of WMD disrupting this and sending us ALL plummeting into oblivion. He's obviously no Copernicus.
Also, the symbolic significance of this is enormous. Imagine, everybody on Earth that isn't American looking up to the Moon, saying, "The Americans occupy the Moon." Will there be an ILSS (as in ISS... International Lunar Space Station)? Or just an American one? Could Nationals from other countries be trusted with the custody of the Moon??? This verges on the absurd, but he will capitalise upon any chance he gets this election year. (i.e. The suddenly new Immigration "Amnesty Plan") And, personally, I think Bush and Co. are salivating for Dean to be the Democratic nominee. Facing a Ret. General would be much more of a challenge, but if he had the Moon...maybe he could pull it off.
I've always understood we are in the age of the image. We consume millions of more images today than, say, our parents. Was the Prez so awe inspired by these 12 million mega pixel panorama shots from the rover to score political points on "2004 Space Odyssey" Maybe the Prez needs to read some Homer. The Odyssey and The Aenied come highly recommended. Or maybe a glance through Thucydides' Peloponnesian War might persuade him to do otherwise. The parallels in history are mind boggling at times. Attempting to take Sicily was the end of Athenian power. Attempting to occupy Iraq could be the end of American Primacy. (Immanuel Wallerstein, a Yale professor wrote a spectacularly haunting essay about the decline of American hegemony beginning shortly after the first Gulf War. I'll try to find that later, but here's a piece by him from FP, "The Eagle Has Crash Landed," for now.) But, seriously, G and co. symbolically taking the Moon and possibly Mars, ergo projecting American power in yet another obtrusive manner...Please, give me a break.
I'd say it's for political points, yet he does not or cannot comprehend the symbolic impact of it on the world in the long term. But this administration cannot comprehend a lot of things in the long term, so I'm not surprised by the lack of foresight in "selling" this product to the American people. "You don't introduce a product in August." Isn't that what Andy Card said about the war in Iraq?
I was tired tonight, and about to go to bed. But I couldn't resist chiming-in on this news.
p.s.
And do not get me started on the extremely important topic of the Militarization of Space. Obviously, this is a step in that scary direction.
Otherwise, things are great!!! I'm glad I'm from Jupiter.
;)
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