Posted on 05/12/2007 6:53:15 AM PDT by theothercheek
When Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip visited Goddard Space Flight Center, they dropped in on mission control to listen to an exchange between British-born NASA astronaut C. Michael Foale and the three astronauts aboard the international space station, and later toured an exhibit with British astronaut Piers Sellers, who explained how a spacesuit's life-support system operates. The Washington Post reports that Prince Philip inquired, "What do you do about natural functions?" and "the astronaut gave a discreet answer."
Not only this is the most unoriginal question the Prince could have thought to ask, but it is rather rude as well. No one asks him or his wife about their bodily functions, so why does he think this is a proper question to ask someone else? Instead of sending a platoon of protocol advisers to our shores to teach us bumpkins how to behave, the advisors would have done better to concern themselves with how the Royal Consort – who is clearly the product of inbreeding – behaved.
NOTE: See also: "G-d Save (Us From) The Queen" (second item, The Daily Blade).
One would think most 5th graders know the answer to this.
This sort of tripe is not News. There is a reason we have a blogger/personal area
This author would be no fun to go partying with!
It may be “rude” but it’s the first question everyone has about spacesuits. At least he wasn’t afraid to ask.
Ugh. The Stiletto just went down in my estimation. What a bitter, pointless rant.
after a while all that inbreeding comes back to bite you.
How about a brick?
Given the media treatment of our president, attempting to portray him as some sort of ill-mannered bumpkin in comparison to the British royal couple, I beg to differ.
Who appointed you hall monitor, MNJohnnie?
It’s the most common question asked to astronauts. They’re used to it.
Do you know how many protocol advisors the Brits sent over to prevent any of the non-royal masses the Queen and Consort were forced to mingle amongst from asking them a question like that? I never thought I’d be in a postion to defend Nancy Pelosi, but the MSM made a big deal over her uncouth “gaffe” at sticking her hand out to shake the Queen’s hand, before her “royal” high-and-mightiness had offered her had to be shaken. What BS! Pelosi acted like a friendly, forthright American over whom no mortal being is sovereign (no matter how deluded they are about their bloodline being superior to anyone else’s). I think the point of this post is that the Queen and her husband think they are better than us, and he ends up asking the most hackneyed, obvious question there is - which proves they are no better than us.
Idiotic premise, idiotic article.
Sheesh.
The case of former astronaut Lisa Nowak revealed the truth about NASA’s solution for bodily functions.......Britains first-Husband apparently missed the story.
But did he wink when he asked?
I don’t think it’s pointless at all. The point is (and the second link at the end of the post sets the context) that we fought a revolution to rid ourselves of royalty. Then when the Queen visits us, she insists on pointless standards of behavior and protocol which only apply if you are her subject. We are Americans. We bow before no one and we answer only to G-d. That’s one of the main reasons I am so very, very, very glad to be an American.
Oh well, different stroke ...
Why was this pointless piece of nastiness posted on FR? Who cares about an elderly foreigner’s knowlege of the space program?
Actually, I am surprised that fifth graders are doing so well considering how coursework has become steadlily less rigorous over the years, and is steadily being replaced with liberal dogma (i.e., instead of learning astronomy, they now watch Al Gore’s movie).
It’s not what he knows or doesn’t know. It’s the assumption that Americans are boors who need lessons in manners from advisors sent over from London - haven’t you been reading about all this in the WaPo? - and the he goes and asks a question that no one would have dared to ask HIM. Out of politeness - and maybe after being instructed by a protocol officer not to (who knows?) I guess what’s sauce for the royal gander is not sauce for the hoi-polloi masses.
Gee, I certainly hope so.
Americans are such big girls blouses. If Prince Phil doesn't insult you personally, count yoursaelf ahaed of the game.
You’re a true republican (small r).
What offends me is the idea that - aside from the basic good manners we were taught by our parents and grandparents - we “have” to behave a certain way before the Queen (don’t speak to her unless she speaks to you, don’t shake her hand before she offers hers to be shaken, etc.) What nonsense! She is just flesh and blood just like everyone else - and if she were wearing a spacesuit, she would go to the bathroom just like any other astronaut.
Depends on what - the particular bodily function in question, or whether you’re a nutjob?
More pointless waste of electrons. I pay very little attention to the Wash Post. They make most of it up, so it is useless to speculate on imaginary instructions to imaginary hoi poloi. It was a logical question, asking him the same question, since he doesn’t travel in space, would be nonsensical. Now I have to leave and go polish my tiara.
And this is why they invented Google:
http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/970411a.html
He could have asked one of his retinue to look it up for him - heck, he could have also asked his valet or some other aide to come up with a smarter question for him to ask.
“Why was this pointless piece of nastiness posted on FR?”
My guess is that there is at least SOME response to these “stilleto” articles frequently posted here at FR......the blog itself looks sort of barren and irrelevant, IMO. For the large number of “stilleto” postings here at FR, you’d think an FR link ought to be available on it.
(hundreds of them, more exposure here than on the blog, and no reciprocal courtesy)
http://209.157.64.201/focus/keyword?j1=and;k=thestilettoblog;p1=
Y’know - you don’t have to read this or any other Stiletto post. You can just skip to the next post. No harm, no foul.
I dunno. He may not be an astronaut but he is an even rarer bird - someone who lives in a country that believes his wife and his family are soverign over them. Relatively few people on the planet can claim that kind of power/position over others (not even the leader of the free world, who can get replaced every four or eight years). What makes him “royal”? Maybe he doesn’t even go to the bathroom at all? Tiara polishing can be tedious - lots of nooks and crannies - so this’ll give you something to think about.
I assume THAT means you don’t want to place an FR link on your blog, and that you will continue to spam the blog content here as often as you have been?
You must not know much about Britain if you think the Queen (much less her consort) has any sovereign power over anybody.
While she still technically has the power to "counsel, advise, warn" as (I believe) Bagehot said, the Queen has no role in government other than as a figurehead and rallying point. Which she does very well. She gives up a lot (most notably her privacy) and she handles it all quite graciously.
Which is more than I can say for this venomous screed.
Prince Philip is notorious for speaking his mind, which I find somewhat endearing. Glad I'm not a Briton, I wouldn't "glory in the name", but GB is a longstanding and faithful ally. A lot of water has gone under the bridge since Yorktown, the burning of Washington, and the Battle of New Orleans. . . . and if anybody was holding a grudge I'd have as good a right as any, with four Revolutionary Ancestors.
Spam? Lots of people read and enjoy these posts - maybe not this one (had no idea that FRs were so into royalty and all its trappings). I have seen references to FR discussions on The Stiletto - especially when someone points out a factual error, she always says whether it was a Freeper, another reader, etc. who brought it to her attention. But if you think it’s important for her blogroll to include a link to FR, then I’m sure she’d be happy to. No reason not to, right?
most fifth graders do.
The blogger is a megalomanic. The blog is really awful, derivative, smug, half-baked stuff, not worth our electrons.
I don’t feel inferior to anyone, but I do resent the implication of inferiority evidenced by all those protocols one has to observe when in the presence of someone who is in no way superior to any of us. Good manners - yes, of course. Worrying about how long to wait before it is “safe” to shake the Queen’s hand? Rubbish.
“Spam? Lots of people read..........”
Of course they do.....thats the whole point! You object to me calling it what it is, when it was YOU who made this particular post with the added piggyback of hoping that FR readers would click BOTH “stilleto” links you included, thereby doubling the potential hits on the “stilleto” blogsite with the google ads?
Lets just call it what it is, OK? The least you could and SHOULD do is place a FreeRepublic link prominently on your blog......BECAUSE IT’S THE DECENT THING TO DO! The one-way street you have benefited from sucks.
o.k. I’m not a fifth grader - can someone give me the answer? Thanks. (I’m 73 yrs. old)
I am wondering if when Paul Jacob posted this commentary on Townhall.com - The Queen of England makes me sick - everyone got their shorts all in a knot:
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/PaulJacob/2007/05/06/the_queen_of_england_makes_me_sick
There’s lots of things on FR that I skip over because I disagree or the topic doesn’t interest me - the stuff people ping me is more likely to get my attention because the topics interest me. The thing is, there are thousands of posts on FR every day and no one could ever hope to read all of them, whether they agree or disagree with one or more posts. From the blurb you pretty much knew what the post was about and probably should have skipped it because reading and commenting on it is obviously a waste of your time.
Check out the NASA link I posted in response to someone else on the thread.
I only included the link to the second article because I thought this post needed the additional context. Again, I cannot control whether (a) you or anyone else reads anything I post and (b) whether you or anyone else clicks on the links within the items I post (in fact, until a Freeper explained to me how to imbed the links in my post, I was just telling people to go to the original source if they felt like clicking the WaPo or other article that was quoted). As for Google ads, my understanding is that if an ad isn’t clicked on (and I don’t think anyone can force you or anyone else to click on those ads) no one makes any money (each click is worth a fraction of a cent).
Bottom line: no one is forcing you to do anything you don’t want to do.
However, I do agree that since some of the items I have posted from The Stiletto generated a respectable number of views on FR - plus lots of comments - that there should be a reciprocal link to FR. I totally disagree with you on the amount of “respect” to accord “royalty” - no more and no less than any other human being, IMO - but I do agree with you on this.
You’re a sweet young thing, compared to Prince Philip!
Also, that’s probably the most dignified version of that particular question I’ve ever heard. :p
That’s assuming that the protocol advisor didn’t edit the WaPo quote before it got pulished ...
That’s assuming that the protocol advisor didn’t edit the WaPo quote before it got published ...
Who cares about an elderly foreigner’s knowlege of the space program?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000P9T23C/ref=sr_1_olp_1/104-1708473-0205541?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1178983845&sr=8-1
why don’t you just stop beating around the distraction bush and PUT UP A FreeRepublic link on your “blog”, since you “agree with” me.
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