Re: Retooling the Vision for Space Exploration
- From: BradGuth <bradguth@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 29 Feb 2008 19:07:25 -0800 (PST)
On Feb 27, 4:19 am, Willie.Moo...@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
On Feb 26, 9:04 pm, BradGuth <bradg...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Feb 26, 12:33 pm, Willie.Moo...@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
On Feb 26, 2:23 pm, BradGuth <bradg...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Feb 25, 11:56 pm, Willie.Moo...@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
Please forgive a mistake I made in my earlier comments.
I said earlier that Jackson abandoned reonstruction - I meant to say
Hayes - sorry bout that - had a mental slip about my US history.
Jackson didn't come after Grant, he came about 40 years before.
lol. A major figure in the war of 1812 and a great war hero won
eletion handily.
Grant was to Jackson as FDR was to Reagan lol - in terms of time.
It was Hayes that came after Grant. It was the closely fought eletion
of 1876 that led to the back room deal for Hayes that caused
abandonment of the reconstruction and a withdrawal of the Federal
troops in the South. Hayes was the first use of Federal troops to
break a strike at the Balitomore and Ohio Railroad and first to have
Federal troops fire on US Citizens in 1877.
I am fascinated though by Grant and his writings, which I've recently
discovered.
From this source
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican-American_War#General_Ulysses_S.._...
I copy the parts I find fascinating...
In 1879, while in China during his post presidential world tour, Grant
told John Russell Young: "I had very strong opinions on the subject. I
do not think there was ever a more wicked war than that waged by the
United States on Mexico. I had a horror of the Mexican War, and I have
always believed that it was on our part most unjust. The wickedness
was not in the way our soldiers conducted it, but in the conduct of
our government in declaring was. We had no claim on Mexico. Texas had
no claim beyond the Nueces River, and yet we pushed on to the Rio
Grande and crossed it. I am always ashamed of my country when I think
of that invasion
Grant also expressed the view that the war against Mexico had brought
God's punishment on the United States in the form of the American
Civil War:
"The Southern rebellion was largely the outgrowth of the Mexican war.
Nations, like individuals, are punished for their transgressions. We
got our punishment in the most sanguinary and expensive war of modern
times."
I confused Jackson with Hayes, because they mimic one another very
closely. Hayes abandoned reconstruction after the Civil War. Jackson
pursued an unjust war against native Americans abandoning US
commitments made by the government to these people denying them of
their civil rights as well.
Prior to the Mexican American war which Grant believed caused the
Civil War we carried out a continuing war to 'pacify' the nation
against the native-Americans, even where treaties existed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trail_of_tears
and even if it involved the wholesale destruction of native-American
people
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Wars
Now, there are those that argue the peaceful continental power we take
for granted today would not be possible without the visionary sort of
leadership that led to these wars and their successful prosecution by
Jackson, or even the hard actions of Hayes - such is the cost of
greatness.
There are those that say without forceful action like that of putting
down the Strike of 1877 - we would be stymied as a great industrial
power.
Perhaps - but what are the costs of such actions?.
Like Grant I think how one does a thing is an important detail of how
it is to be judged - not just by its outcome or intended goal. One
may think the acquisition of a prized possession - say an automobile -
by someone is needed and support them in this end. Yet, the detail as
to whether the automobile is stolen or honestly purchased is an
important one.
So too does the manner in which a nation is created and expanded and
made productive reflect upon it later stature and character for good
or ill.
As I said elsewhere, Hayes (not Jackson's) abandonment of the civil
rights for all Americans did not avoid the conflicts it merely delayed
and postponed their eventual resolution. The failures of Jackson have
yet to surface in any meaningful way that has been usefully addressed
or rectified - yet we can be assured that some day they will no matter
how long delayed.
As I said, we are a nation in decline. This did not come upon us
suddenly. It came by a gradual accumulation of decisions that denied
the challenges of true and lasting achievement - decisions that
embraced death because they seemed like the smart thing to do at the
time. Yet they were the dumbest thing we could do - being informed by
a narrow and vile concern while ignoring our higher nature.
That is, one may decide to steal a car because they can - and any
thief you talk to will say it was the smart thing to do. Somone who
gets a job, saves up money, and negotiates a fair price and arranges
to legally purchase a car - they consider fools or worse. This is the
character and nature of a thief. Such people if they are stopped by
the police and the car is remove from their possession and they are
put in jail, blame the police, or their misfortune on bad luck - never
their own behavior. This is evident in a career criminal - they never
see that their behavior and lack of principled care of other's rights
- are the cause of their own misfortune.
Our nation faces the troubles it faces today because of its own
behavior and its own lack of leadership in the past, even to the point
of destroying true life affirming principled leadership when it rose
to power - and undermining that leadership when it threatened our
commitment to the seemingly easy way.
In the post-world-war-2 era the United States had a brief moment of
leadership - which it quickly lost, and has yet to reap all the
sorrows its poor decisions will yet bring. Just as a pilot of a
doomed ship may not see the iceberg ahead and sail blithely on for a
while - the US is on an arc that unchanged by thoughtful principled
knowledgeable action - will lead inevitably to its demise as a great
nation.
:
My hope is that by doing the right thing now, the US might take a
position of true leadership in the world, and begin to reverse ts long
decline..
Once again you're saying all the right things, except using better
words than many of us as having been saying the exact same rant.
It is not like any of your rants at all Brad, since it is based on
carefully reasoned analysis of reality.
A reality as based upon government and religious lies and/or at best
distortions of the truth.
You are seeking the solution where the problem is not.
Lets go back to what we know is absolutely true.
Reality is. What is true is true regardless of belief. This doesn't
change regardless of what people say jthink or do about it, regardless
of what social positions those people hold. Reality always wins out
and doesn't need our defense doesn't rise or fall on the basis of our
belief. Reality cannot be changed or attacked - it can only be known
or not known..
Lets think a little further about this.
Only lies need to be defended. Only lies seem true one day and not
true the next. Only lies create fear of being found out, fear of not
being true enough, fear of being lost if not believed in, fear of the
belief that others hold that might disagree with it, fear of attack,
fear of loss..
So, the question you must ask is of yourself. Are you afraid? Do
you fear others? Do you blame others? Do you argue incessantly
about your beliefs? Do you fight over beliefs? Fear of losing?
Fear of being attacked?
If so, then your beliefs are based lies and are not true.
So, in that case, the solution for you Brad and for anyone who lives
in fear uncertainty and doubt - is to forgive others the
transgressions you wrongly imagine they're guilty of - since they
cannot attack reality - and to release the fear uncertainty and doubt
surrounding your beliefs and realize that if those beliefs do not
bring certain and lasting knowledge, joy and peace - then those
beliefs are not real and do not serve you.
When you do these things.. look upon others with forgiveness, and
look upon yourself with forgiveness, and let go of any belief that
does not bring joy, and peace and certainty - then you can begin to
realize the truth and understand reality.
However, for that better plan of yours to happen we'd have to get rid
of most of our political puppets of those faith-based puppet-masters
in charge of most everything that counts.
The only people' behavior we can be assured of controlling 100% is our
own. All Americans - each one of us - contribute in some small way
toward life and growth and hope - or to death, and disease and
defeat. Each day we have a choice. All of us need make the right
choice.
A choice as based upon disinformation
You have the ability to know what is true and to know what is not true
by turning to your feelngs. Does a thought bring peace and joy or
does it bring fear and uncertainty? If a thought does not bring
peace and joy - then it is not true.
There are ...
read more »
Running low on drugs, are we?
Are you overdosing on those drugs, again?
Just being Mook stupid, bigoted and arrogant, are we?
Missed that critical day of training in your Semitic Third Reich boot
camp?
All of the above, plus screw remorse and then some?
. - Brad Guth
.
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