Von Braun - Great American?

On Tue, 03 Jan 2006 02:21:53 -0500, mike flugennock
wrote:

...No, but the 69-cent piece, or either the 7 or 11 dollar bills would
be apropos. Unless, of course, you want to resurrect the Mercury dime.

Welll-lll...if you wanted to bring back the Mercury Dime, wouldn't you
have to put Al Shepard's picture on it?

....Holy ****, that's IT! Guys, I've got a new crusade for us to take
up, and I'm actually serious about this one. We've got the 50th
anniversary of the Mercury program coming up, starting in 1959. We
petition the hell out of the US Mint to release a series of
commemorative dimes from 2009 to 2013 with the FDR dimes supplemented
with eight dimes honoring the Original Mercury Astronauts. One for
Gus, Al, John, Deke, Gordo, Scott, Wally and Jose. On the flip side
you put the program symbol, and a really small blurb listing the date
of the mission.

....And not only would the timing be historically perfect, it would be
politically as well. This would be the timeframe when the CEV starts
to go into test flight, and hopefully operational status. Used as a
promotional tie-in, these dimes would help boost manned space's
revival not in just a minor way.

....JO? Any comments on this?

OM
--
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] OMBlog - http://www.io.com/~o_m/omworld [
] Let's face it: Sometimes you *need* [
] an obnoxious opinion in your day! [
]=====================================[

On Tue, 03 Jan 2006 02:18:01 -0500, mike flugennock
wrote:

Man, you need to lay off that stuff. Just about the only intelligent TV
programming I can remember in my life came from 100k, 200k miles or so
out.

....Might I suggest three things: The History Channel, HBO's "Rome" and
the new "Battlestar Ponderosa"? Other than that, the only time I find
intelligent programming is when it's something intelligent that's
being rerun.

OM
--
]=====================================[
] OMBlog - http://www.io.com/~o_m/omworld [
] Let's face it: Sometimes you *need* [
] an obnoxious opinion in your day! [
]=====================================[

On Tue, 03 Jan 2006 02:18:01 -0500, mike flugennock
wrote:

And now, here in DC, they've vandalized the Mall
with a WWII veterans' memorial that looks like it was designed by Albert
Speer.

....The only problem with it is that it doesn't have a monument to the
victory over the Japs, with a stylized mushroom cloud over Hiroshima,
and representatives all the service branches who died at Pearl Harbor
waving their hats in triumphant salute.

OM
--
]=====================================[
] OMBlog - http://www.io.com/~o_m/omworld [
] Let's face it: Sometimes you *need* [
] an obnoxious opinion in your day! [
]=====================================[

On Mon, 2 Jan 2006 23:57:42 -0600, "gb"
wrote:

Eisenhower's 1919 experience (I was aware of his role after WW1) with poor,
non-existent highway system in many parts of the US plus his experience in
watching what a good highway system could provide for logistics and
defense -- was instrumental in the program.

....However, there are times I wish one element of his plan that got
dropped way early on had been implemented - truck and commercial
traffic would get their own highways so as to not interfere with
normal drivers. When it got pointed out that the trucker trash would
still be jamming the roads once they got into town and the highways
merged, Ike dropped that option and it cut the cost of the project
practically in half. Considering the way the *******s drive on the
highways these days, they need their own roads.

OM
--
]=====================================[
] OMBlog - http://www.io.com/~o_m/omworld [
] Let's face it: Sometimes you *need* [
] an obnoxious opinion in your day! [
]=====================================[

On Mon, 02 Jan 2006 23:44:01 -0600, Pat Flannery
wrote:

"We were terrified of the Russians, we despised the French,
and the British couldn't afford us."
That's not exactly seeing the glow of Liberty's torch.

....I wouldn't say that, Pat. The Russians didn't know liberty if it
bit them on the ass, the Frogs love to give it away at the first sign
of an ass beating, and the Limeys only know liberty as the time when
US sailors came ashore and took advantage of every pub and woman in
town. Looks to me like they went towards Lady Liberty for the right
reasons.

OM
--
]=====================================[
] OMBlog - http://www.io.com/~o_m/omworld [
] Let's face it: Sometimes you *need* [
] an obnoxious opinion in your day! [
]=====================================[

On Tue, 03 Jan 2006 05:43:13 GMT, "Von Fourche"
wrote:

And who is wasting bandwidth with their non funny jokes?

....Ok, that's your one "Get out of Killfile Hell Free" card now
burned. Keep it up, and you're gone.

OM
--
]=====================================[
] OMBlog - http://www.io.com/~o_m/omworld [
] Let's face it: Sometimes you *need* [
] an obnoxious opinion in your day! [
]=====================================[

I think it would be a great idea - but I'm not American.

Why don't you yanks put forward the idea to your local elected
representative?

Either that, or that place that does all the minting of commerative items...

...Holy ****, that's IT! Guys, I've got a new crusade for us to take
up, and I'm actually serious about this one. We've got the 50th
anniversary of the Mercury program coming up, starting in 1959. We
petition the hell out of the US Mint to release a series of
commemorative dimes from 2009 to 2013 with the FDR dimes supplemented
with eight dimes honoring the Original Mercury Astronauts. One for
Gus, Al, John, Deke, Gordo, Scott, Wally and Jose. On the flip side
you put the program symbol, and a really small blurb listing the date
of the mission.

...And not only would the timing be historically perfect, it would be
politically as well. This would be the timeframe when the CEV starts
to go into test flight, and hopefully operational status. Used as a
promotional tie-in, these dimes would help boost manned space's
revival not in just a minor way.

...JO? Any comments on this?

OM

In message , Pat Flannery
writes


Herb Schaltegger wrote:

He (and the rest of the Germans from Operation Paperclip) were honored
quite nicely by the communities where they lived and worked. The big
civic center in Huntsville, AL is still called the Von Braun Civic
Center, and the MSFC headquarters building is still, to this day,
referred to affectionately as "the Von Braun Hilton".


It might be good to remember why exactly the Peenemunde team wanted to
fall into American hands at the end of the war; IIRC it went something
like this: "We were terrified of the Russians, we despised the French,
and the British couldn't afford us."


Oddly enough, one of the best films showing the care and feeding of a V2
is from the British Project Backfire.
Possibly we weren't prepared to whitewash a war criminal, having been on
the receiving end.
The US was quite happy to take the boss of Unit 731, despite his habit
of cutting up his victims while they were still conscious, and the
torturer Klaus Barbie.

In message , gb
writes
"Von Fourche" wrote in message
nk.net...

I don't know much about Von Braun except for what I've seen on TV. I
have some questions about him:

3. This question has really been on my mind: If Von Braun was not a
former NAZI, you think there would be a statue of him in Washington D.C.
or something? If Von Braun was as important as they say, it sounds like
he should be put in the one dollar bill. I guess what I'm really asking
is if you think he has not been honored enough because of his NAZI past?


Von Braun received significant credit before his death in 1977. He became a
US citizen on April 14, 1955.

In the past 10 to 15 years some vocal historians and activists have been
very critical US actions after WW2 with the German scientists and engineers.
During the WW2 some of the later V-2 rockets were built with concentration
camp and slave laborers. V1 and V2 rockets bombed London causing fear and
loss of life.

And if he had lived a few more years he would have been involved in the
controversy surrounding Arthur Rudolph and probably been treated
similarly, as he was no longer of use to his adopted country.

On Tue, 03 Jan 2006 02:36:11 -0600, OM
wrote:

...Holy ****, that's IT! Guys, I've got a new crusade for us to take
up, and I'm actually serious about this one. We've got the 50th
anniversary of the Mercury program coming up, starting in 1959. We
petition the hell out of the US Mint to release a series of
commemorative dimes from 2009 to 2013 with the FDR dimes supplemented
with eight dimes honoring the Original Mercury Astronauts. One for
Gus, Al, John, Deke, Gordo, Scott, Wally and Jose. On the flip side
you put the program symbol, and a really small blurb listing the date
of the mission.

Well, except for presidents, a person needs to have been dead for
10 years before his/her image can be on a US coin or stamp. But
then, you didn't say all their portraits needed to be on the coins...

Dale