The Outer Space and Moon Treaties and the Coming Moon Rush

spacedaily.com ^ | 18 Apr 02 | Bill Carswell

[general_re]

They're getting ready to send Lance Bass of N'Sync to the ISS later this year.

In order to shove him out an airlock, I hope... ;)

[Brett66]

I wasn't aware that China was trying to build a shuttle with nuclear thermal propulsion. They seem to go back and forth with talk about shuttles,space stations, moon landings, etc. Sometimes omitting one and emphasizing the other. Maybe they want a "swiss army knife" that can haul payloads anywhere in cis-lunar space. They could be in for a major dissapointment.

[Brett66]

Space ping.

[ReveBM]

You must not travel in the same circles as that Chinese general who threatened to nuke Los Angeles over the status of Taiwan.

Believe me, no one in America spends their time "keeping the poor down". How do you define that.

A different question for you. How do you define democracy? Please describe the local city or municipal government where you live. Is it freely elected by the citizens where you live? Do you care? Is that going to change?

This past Tuesday I voted here in my local town of 40,000 for the high school and primary school budget, which believe it or not is US$47,000,000 for the upcoming year. The budget passed about 1,800 to 800, which shows you that most people don't vote in this type of election. Perhaps 30,000 in the town are elegible, so we had a participation rate of under 10%. If the budget had not passed (which it has not in some cases) it would be required to be sent back to the town council and cut by at least 10% and then re-proposed. Do you have any kind of participation like that in Guizhou? Do you care? What about corruption?

[RightWhale]

They could be in for a major dissapointment

All they have to do is log in at FreeRepublic. We'll give them a total design for a viable space development for free, and it will work. A lot of expertise lives on FR, retired and sitting on the front stoop watching people walk by, just waiting for somebody to ask. :)

[ReveBM]

Thank you for saying something positive about the American Revolution. It's a long time since I heard someone from China say anything positive about the United States, but maybe I spend too much time in the political forums on lundian.com

[ReveBM]

China is an unholy mess, in terms of her attitude to the environment, and the way we're going now its easier to just push forward in the old vein rather than sort out the mass of problems we've got down here -

I'm curious, do you invest in any Chinese companies listed on the stock markets in Shanghai or Shenzhen? A lot of them are available to US investors now, like Guangshen Railway and Yanzhou Coal Mining.

What do you think about the honesty and openness of management of those companies? Are you worried about investors losing their money due to corrupt management, such as recently happened here with Enron?

Last question. If I told you you could invest in a random listed Chinese company, a random company listed in Taiwan, Japan, or the United States, but you had to hold it ten years before you could sell, which one would you pick? Why?

[ReveBM]

Disparities have been evident among humanity since the industrial revolution. Mankind as a whole probably lives better than it did in the 1800s, but some nations have not embraced progress and the free market yet, and have not progressed. To the extent nations saddle themselves with rules and regulations, and hinder the power of the individual, they will stagnate at their current technological level until they are far surpassed by individuals and nations in the front rank.

[Constantine XIII]

geez. If things keep on going the way they are, in a hundred years Russian Freepinskis will be sneering at "those socialist American swine." }:o{)_

sigh...

IDEA! Anybody want to start a petition to privatize the U.S. space program?

[Constantine XIII]

What's wrong with exploiting space? It's not like we're going to be disturbing any "endangered species" or anything. Like we could really make a dent in the 10^8 stars in our little galaxy anytime soon.

It's not like soil erosion is going to be a problem if we stripmine an asteroid.

er, um, sorry, I can get carried away when it comes to space explortation, he he. ;o)

[john in missouri]

There's electric gold in them thar hills.

[weikel]

Ill sign it.

[weikel]

Sounds good to me Russia is privatizing their space program they our going to be less socialist than us soon.

[weikel]

The US had a similiar project in the late fifties I believe codenamed "Orion" it was abandoned due to the fact they thought using a nuclear blast to power a shuttle would create too much fallout.

[Darth Dan]

We're not the landlords, we're part of the whole scheme of things. It doesn't do well to foul your own nest.

"Simba, everything the light touches is our home." (Elton John blaring "Circle of Life" in background)

[Constitution Day]

You do realize I was joking, right?

I certainly don't believe they were a hoax, but their promise has not yet been fulfilled.

[weikel]

Thats what Ive been trying to tell Freepers Paranoid about China you guys don't want war you want money except for the crazy guy who wants to nuke LA( now your North Korean neighbors on the other hand are crazy they still actually believe in communism).

[jimkress]

Good analogy.

In addition, look at the economy as an upside down pyramid with the same structure as you suggest. In that case we see that just the productive few are supporting the entire society on their backs. This is true for the economy and the tax system. Think of the weight that these few have to bear. shouldn't we be more appreciative of the few that support us all? Shouldn't we give them a break?

Gives you some new insight into it feels to be Bill Gates, doesn't it?

[RightWhale]

Anybody want to start a petition to privatize the U.S. space program?

What's to privatize?

[lds23]