Posted on 06/14/2006 5:58:12 PM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
No relevance to the Union cause? It apparently had much relevance to the Union armies, inasmuch as one of their favorite marching songs was "John Brown's Body." Has the pro-life movement composed any odes to Eric Rudolph? Maybe I haven't been paying close enough attention.
At any rate, thanks so much for the instructive information about Mr. Ruffin. (But you might want to check out the events of 9 January, 1861. The time of day escapes me.)
No, actually the marching song was "Battle Hymn of the Republic," unless you count the regiment that first wrote the song. The song was not written about the abolitionist, it was written as a joke to tease a member of their unit with the same name. Onlookers assumed it was about the abolitionist, and lyrics were added to suit that idea. Meanwhile, Julia Ward howe was writing new lyrics...
Talk about songs all you want. Brown was a serial killer. He didn't start the Civil War, he murdered innocent men. And those murders were in response to elctoral fraud by proslavery elements and the sacking of Lawrence. If the Civil War started in Kansas, it started when the Border Ruffians crossed over from Missouri to vote in Kansas elecytions, or when a cannon was shot into the town of Lawrence. And even if we consider the Citadel cadet's engagement to be "the first shots," that puts the aggression on the South.
And I suppose that the thousands of Union regiments that marched and sang to the tune knew of its origins?
Look, you have apparently interpreted my original post to you as a serious argument that Harpers Ferry started the war. Kindly take a look at that post. If I had intended to say that John Brown fired the first shots of the Civil War I would have put a period at the end of his name, not a question mark. I am well aware of the events of April, 1861, including the prominent secessionist Edmund Ruffin who pulled the first lanyard. From the root message of this exchange it appeared to me that you were replying in a jesting way to someone who referred to the "War of Northern Aggression," and I simply responded in kind. I'll try not to make that particular mistake again.
Sorry, I didn't mean to make this conversation a downer for you.
Sorry, I didn't mean to make this conversation a downer for you.
No problem, not a downer at all. Just seemed a little pointless, given that the events that started the war are pretty much established facts, IMO.
> I pick D
You may pick D, but 1) and 2A) through 2C) were the correct answers. Their own propaganda confirms this.
Cowing is a jerk. Virginia should kick his sorry butt North of the Mason Dixon line.
Cowing needs another attitude adjustment.
I commend your mention and rejection of slavery. People in CSA fan club often do not admit the connection.
But saying the CSA was a paradise on earth except for the little matter of slavery is a little like saying Hitler revitalized the German economy and established political order but was unfortunately bogged down with a policy of genocide.
The "limited government" reb fans like to cite wasn't so limited at all. I guess when a past regime is a loser it gets a pass on its actual policies. The home rule, small government and individual liberty certainly didn't apply to the slave who could have been torn from his wife and family at the whim of his "owner". But then again, Confederates always had a problem with respecting the liberty of anybody else but themselves. I know that fairminded person today who examines that will conclude that is not consistent with the better ideals of our founding.
And I think you might be surprised if you read accounts of the reb regime's actions on the home front. There were a lot government action that doesn't sound very limited to me. The whole Confederate purpose was merely to support the continued idleness and moral decay of a decadent, nonproductive but very powerful plantation "elite". History attests to the unworthiness of the Confederate cause. The American Revolution succeeded in adversity because the cause was noble. The CSA collapsed quickly when faced with a little adversity because the cause was nothing more than an expression od selfishness. God and history have spoken.
...the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.
Daniel 4:32
Were they? Let's look at the legacy of the Davis regime. In April 1862 the Davis regime instituted conscription and forcibly extended the enlistment of soldier, in spite of the fact that they were supposed to be state militia on load to the central government. The Davis regime seized private property without compensation by placing a levy on all agricultural produce "for the war effort". They forced private ship owners to reserve a percentage of their cargo space for the government without payment "for the war effort". They forced slave owners to provide slave labor for government projects, again without payment. The confederate congress enacted a protective tariff in May 1861 in spite of the fact that their constitution did not allow it. They refused to create a supreme court in spite of the fact that their constitution required it. The government seized control of industries like salt and liquor and textiles. They proclaimed martial law in sections of the country hundreds of miles from the fighting and jailed thousands without trial. They tried to enact an income tax that was confiscatory in nature. And this is your idea of home rule, smaller government, less taxes, and individual liberty?
And that listing of Confederate national abuses does not even cover all the local abuses by low-level reb thugs and the general degenerate local feudalism in the land of the whip and chain.
Do you even have to ask?
All those actions have been detailed in "Look Away: A History of the Confederate States of America" by William C. Davis.
I live in the South and I don't have a problem with people flying their Confederate flags. People really love their Civil War history around here. I have a problem with hate groups hijacking the Confederate flag though. They distort the symbol of people's pride in Confederate history.
Thanks for the info. sw
The only symbol that I associate with slavery is the symbol of the Democratic Party.
but then of course we all know that you are FR's very own Minister of DAMNyankee Propaganda.
your stock-in-trade is denial, evasions, deceit & 1/2-truths. it is your JOB!
free dixie,sw
free dixie,sw
And your stock-in-trade is disinformation, prevarication, sham & complete un-truths. And you're very good at it.
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