Apollo: One gas environment?

You all paid to fight Argentina in 1982, after all.

...Yeah, and the Limey *******s wouldn't let us get in our two cents
worth, either. They hogged it all :-(


No; they just didn't want to wait until 1989 for our mandatory political
wrangling.

I guess I'll take that as a yes! Perhaps then, if you changed your belief
of what governemnts are for, then the rest of the world would look at you
a little more fondly.

The world has never looked at us fondly, and wishing for it to do so isn't
worth the trouble.

But seriously, what do *you* think Government is for?

Regulation for public health? No, government existed long before that.

Professional licensing? No, same reason.

Regulation of trade and finance? Somewhat older, but really, gov't existed
when people still used bags of salt as a means of exchange.

Licensing for safety of transportation eg. cars and aircraft? No--there was
government long before such things were ever dreamt of.

Providing of basic human needs in subsistence and insurance, ie, the "welfare
state" that has become an art form in Europe and Canada? Come on--that use of
government began within living memory!

Really, the only thing government has done consistently and well, since it
evolved, is warfighting and preparation therefor. It's the way human life
works.

Cheers,

GEA

On Wed, 12 May 2004 01:33:00 GMT, "Greg D. Moore \(Strider\)"
wrote:

And we paid him back in WWI in Pershing's famous words (though I understand
his aide actually spoke them) "Lafayette, we have returned."

Er, I think you misspelled "Lafayette, we are here."

MacArthur returned, not Pershing.

Mary

--
Mary Shafer Retired aerospace research engineer

On Wed, 12 May 2004 03:14:19 GMT, "Greg D. Moore \(Strider\)"
wrote:

Which is one reason to look forward to Passover at least, Kosher Coke and
Pepsi in these parts. :-)

....Wasn't available this year in the local kosher delis. Since Mexico
switched to corn syrup, it was very hard to get ahold of this year.
They did have kosher Sprite, but since I equate Sprite to probably the
only soda product in the world that should be relegated to
female-imbibing only along with 7-Up, I decided to suffer with the
rest of the local persons of Jewish descent of whom I'm a honorary
member in good standing.

Of course, if they ever make kosher Mountain Dew or Big Red, and it's
available, I'm converting completely...:-)

OM

--

"No ******* ever won a war by dying for | http://www.io.com/~o_m
his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
poor dumb ******* die for his country." | Human O-Ring Society

- General George S. Patton, Jr

"Mary Shafer" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 12 May 2004 01:33:00 GMT, "Greg D. Moore \(Strider\)"
wrote:

And we paid him back in WWI in Pershing's famous words (though I
understand
his aide actually spoke them) "Lafayette, we have returned."

Er, I think you misspelled "Lafayette, we are here."


Ack, you are right.


MacArthur returned, not Pershing.

True.



Mary

--
Mary Shafer Retired aerospace research engineer

In article ,
(Nicholas Fitzpatrick) wrote:

In article ,
OM om@our_blessed_lady_mary_of_the_holy_NASA_researc h_facility.org wrote:
On Tue, 11 May 2004 21:43:41 GMT, (Derek
Lyons) wrote:
(Nicholas Fitzpatrick) wrote:

Or to put it simply; your 'example' is laughable to anyone actually
possessing a clue.

...As are most of his other "arguements" and "examples", alas.

Hang on ... someone made an arguement that the US being a republic
protects minority rights, while other democracies go with majority
rule (or something like that). I pointed out that minority rights
had less protection in the US than most other democracies (take
G7 for example) ... so the arguement doesn't hold up.

What's your basis for disagreeing with me?

Nick

You don't know jack **** about U.S. Constitutional freedoms and
protections for "minority rights", obviously. That's a good enough
basis to disagree with you.

--
Herb Schaltegger, B.S., J.D.
Reformed Aerospace Engineer
Columbia Loss FAQ:
http://www.io.com/~o_m/columbia_loss_faq_x.html

"Nicholas Fitzpatrick" wrote in message
...
Hey ... who isn't? It seems a national pastime!

There was a movie- "Virus"- but NOT the one involving some lame-assed space
virus.

This one had George Kennedy as the leader of an American Antarctic base, and
Chuck Connors as captain of a British attack submarine.

When it's discovered that the Russians had built a doomsday automatic
missile launcher that was sensitive to earthquakes, and a whopper of one was
about to his Moscow (and whereupon the Russian nukes would launch, at least
one of which was targeted on the American Antarctic base), one Russian
observer at the base said, "America has no monopoly on stupidity."

Fine movie. Happened to catch it on cable. Haven't been able to find it, and
all my searches provide that #&*%^@@(! POS instead.

"Herb Schaltegger" wrote in message
...
It's an even bigger shame that schmucks from other countries who've
obviously never studied U.S. Constitutional Law think they understand
the U.S. Constitution.

Especially when most of us in *this* country don't understand it.

I've found that most "Constitutional scholars" don't know that much about
the Constitution- they seem to think that if they can out-shout their
opponent, regardless of the actual merits of their position or the evidence
against it, that somehow their position will magically be accepted by
everyone. They Are Right, and you are stupid if you don't agree with them.

Of course, if you asked them about the Federalist Papers, they'll say "the
what?"

In article ,
Brett Buck wrote:

Warfighting
is the main business of government, everywhere,

Ah ... perhaps that is the fundamental problem with the USA. Is this
a common belief there?

Uh, almost any concept of civilization is that people group together in
order to provide for the common defense. It's a fundamental principle of
human society, so yes, it's a common belief. I personally would argue that
common defense is nearly the *only* valid function of collective government,
but even if you think it should so more than that, common defense is central
to any theory.

And it's certainly not a "problem with the US". People who threaten our
way of life and liberty will be quite properly be attacked and hopefully as
effectively and "asymmetrically" as possible in order to minimize our
casualties, and maximize theirs.

Self-defence ... and even the ability to pre-emptively attack another
nation, is certainly an important of business. I'm just surprised that
anyone would think it was THE main business of government. Perhaps
diplomacy should be a little higher on the list.

Nick

"Nicholas Fitzpatrick" wrote ...
Brett Buck wrote:

Warfighting
is the main business of government, everywhere,

Ah ... perhaps that is the fundamental problem with the USA. Is this
a common belief there?

Uh, almost any concept of civilization is that people group together in
order to provide for the common defense. It's a fundamental principle of
human society, so yes, it's a common belief. I personally would argue that
common defense is nearly the *only* valid function of collective government,
but even if you think it should so more than that, common defense is central
to any theory.

And it's certainly not a "problem with the US". People who threaten our
way of life and liberty will be quite properly be attacked and hopefully as
effectively and "asymmetrically" as possible in order to minimize our
casualties, and maximize theirs.

Self-defence ... and even the ability to pre-emptively attack another
nation, is certainly an important of business. I'm just surprised that
anyone would think it was THE main business of government

Not to mention the /slight/ difference in nuance between 'warfighting' and
'self-defence'.