Confederate flags on space station draw ire

MSNBC ^ | 6/13/06 | James Oberg

[Oshkalaboomboom]

Confederate flags flown aboard the international space station — and seemingly signed by a NASA astronaut — showed up last week on the online auction site eBay.

The original eBay listing indicated that the 4-by-6-inch flags were brought aboard the space station by Russian cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov in 2004, and an accompanying photo showed a sample flag that seemed to bear Sharipov’s signature as well as that of Leroy Chiao, his NASA colleague on the station. Yet another photo showed several of the rebel flags floating in a space station module.

The item was pulled from the auction on Monday by the seller, Alex Panchenko of USSR-Russian Air-Space Collectibles Inc. in Los Angeles — and on Tuesday, Panchenko told MSNBC.com that he removed the items from sale because he had concluded the flag and the authentication documents were forgeries.

However, Robert Pearlman, editor and founder of CollectSpace, said he believes the flags are authentic.

“The picture taken of the flags aboard the station says a lot,” he said. “It would be difficult to fake, given the style and I couldn't see the motivation to do so.” The “onboard-the-ISS” stamp, added Pearlman, is not known to have been counterfeited anywhere."

The disappearance of the flags followed a round of criticism over the weekend from former space scientist Keith Cowing, publisher of NASA Watch, an independent Web log. He cited the Confederate flags as an example of “bad judgment on the ISS.”

“You'd think that someone on the U.S. side of the ISS program would have expressed some concern about flying a symbol on the ISS that many Americans associate with slavery,” Cowing wrote.

[stainlessbanner]

Small world indeed. Since you know the FL area, you might be interested in meeting Nelson Winbush, whose grandaddy went to war for the Confederacy. To hear this man talk, tell his stories, and show pictures of his grandaddy is amazing. He's down in Kissimmee, FL.

Another great story from Tarpon Springs, FL is that of Christopher Columbus, a proud black Confederate soldier. I posted the story on FR sometime back: Former Slave's Family Sees Him Honored At Last

[CurlyBill]

It is totally a misnomer to compare the Republicans of yesteryear with the Republicans of today, and the same applies to the Democrats.

Amen!! This is one of the primary tactics of those south-bashers here on the FR. They somehow feel that equating political affiliation of the Civil War era to that of today somehow will convince people to change their minds. It's comical!

[Hunble]

There is audio of him from 1975...

Oh bless you!

Like you, I had the honor of talking with an actual slave when I was a child. What she taught me will never be forgotten.

Today, children are brain-washed into a form of hatred and they will never understand what life was like in 1860.

I can not thank you enough for sharing your experience with me.

[stainlessbanner]

There were some folks trying that line on another thread here last week. Complete ignorance of liberalism vs. classic liberalism and party platforms thru US history (esp around 1860). Shameful, I say.

[PhilipFreneau]

>>>I was born in the North but I respect the Stars and Bars more and more these days. Especially when liberal wankers try to discredit it.<<<

What? The Stars and Bars has been discredited by such 'patriotic' Americans as Jesse Jackson, the NAACP, the ACLU and the Main Stream Media.

Well, on second thought, I agree with you. I has four ancestors who fought for the Confederacy, and all were very honorable men.

Please join the Sons of Confederate Veterans is you have a Confederate ancestor, or if you support the mission of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, as follows:

"The memory and reputation of the Confederate soldier, as well as the motives for his suffering and sacrifice, are being consciously distorted by some in an attempt to alter history. Unless the descendants of Southern soldiers resist those efforts, a unique part of our nations' cultural heritage will cease to exist."

http://www.scv.org/

[CurlyBill]

usmcobra is yet another PC-indoctrinated hater of all things southern.

[BnBlFlag]

Amen!

[LeoWindhorse]

Alabama was a warship , not a slaver .
Most of those were home ported in New England

[AzaleaCity5691]

Well, let's rehash political history from Reconstruction shall we. During Reconstruction, those were of the liberal perspective gravitated to the Republican Party, which is why there was such a Republican presence in North Alabama in the post-Reconstruction period. The Republicans in Reconstruction Alabama held their power due to a combination of old Jacksonians and well, carpetbaggers and blacks. The Democratic Party of today relies roughly on that same coalition. On the other hand, the Reconstruction Democrats, later Redeemers, though I'll use the term Bourbon, they consisted of former Whigs, the planters, industrialists, and they represented the Conservative wing of Alabama politics. Once again, you can take where the Republicans are strongest today, and superimpose that over where the Democrats were strongest in the 1870's

During Reconstruction, Republicans in Alabama championed land redistribution, the disenfranchisement of anyone who had been a member of the pre-war aristocracy, wealth redistribution, and the destruction of traditional Southern culture in favor of some idealized model based on what was being done up north. Now is it just me, or does that sound like the Democrats of today. Not to mention the fact that these Reconstruction morons bankrupted what was at the time Alabama's largest city, and they also did a good job bankrupting most of the South's other major cities. They also had a habit of using blacks for their votes, but then not doing anything for them, much like today's Democrats.

Abraham Lincoln upheld a liberal tradition first espoused by men such as Andrew Jackson, and so it should be no surprise that the one Republican who all liberals admire is Lincoln. He increased the authority of the central government at the expense of the states, and men such as Thaddeus Stevens engaged in expansive government escapades to try and remake a region of the country in the image he thought proper.

[beezdotcom]

Side note: The author of the article, James Oberg, used to enjoy arguing on USENET threads, some of which included alt.alien.visitors...I remember some of those rhubarbs.

[azhenfud]

She flew a Confederate navy jack, not a flag of the Army of Northern Virginia..

[azhenfud]

usmcobra doesn't know the flags of the Confederacy, either - so maybe we can help him out a bit..

[PhilipFreneau]

>>>Just remember that the majority of your countrymen have NO RESPECT for the cause your ancestors fought for.<<<

How do you know that? Have you taken a poll?

[stainlessbanner]

The majority of our countrymen serving in the military hail from the South.

Clem's statement is just his opinion and nothing more.

[PhilipFreneau]

>>>So tell us your opinion of slaveholder George Washington.<<<

Don't forget General U.S. Grant and Thomas Jefferson.

[NavyCanDo]

More Nazification of the people that shaped Americas Government, Military, and the religious freedoms we enjoy.

[DocRock]

"Small world indeed. Since you know the FL area,"[snip]

Actually, I grew up in a neutral state. I'm a Kentucky Hillbilly, so I don't really know this area that well. I used to visit my grandparents in the Dundee, Winter Haven area and they would visit my great uncle every day. That is when I got to meet and know Charlie Smith.

I enjoyed your link. I haven't heard the term "soda jerk" in a long time. And I found this quote interesting in regard to southern hospitality:

"I didn't grow up with the prejudice even when I rode the bus with my great-grandmother. The bus driver would say, `Mary, you can sit up in the front.'"

FReegards,
DocRock

[CurlyBill]

How do you know that? Have you taken a poll?

I'm sure he just has a high degree of confidence that most will parrot what their teachers have programmed them to believe about the Civil War.

[LeoWindhorse]

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-us-cs/csa-sh/csash-ag/alabama.htm

[usmcobra]

Not true, I am a true son of the south that has recently changed his mind on what we are defending.

I refuse to defend all democrats because they are racist, I especially refuse to defend those democrats that forced the bloodiest war in this country's history, and I refuse to defend those that allow the Klan to use The Confederate flag as their symbol of power in the south.

To Me Defending the confederacy means defending the brave men that fought for it, not the Democrat leaders that threw away so many of lives of those brave men for a lost cause.

If you can't understand the difference then it isn't my fault you are confused.

This is not a Confederate Battle flag, it is a Naval Jack, Jacks are flown at the bow of a ship, while the National flag is flown at the stern.