Confederate flags on space station draw ire

MSNBC ^ | 6/13/06 | James Oberg

[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.

[orionblamblam]

> Today, as a Conservative, you are fighting for the exact same things, that the people in the South did 150 years ago.

I'm *not* fighting for this: "a Southern Slaveholding Confederacy." See post 34.

> The Federal government has abused it's powers under the Constitution and we must restore our citizen rights once again.

Indeed true. But worshipping at the altar of slaveowners who wanted to re-created a feudal society of landed aristocrats is *not* the way to go about it.

[Fiji Hill]

Our flag is proudly floating
On the land and on the main,
Shout, shout, the battle cry of Freedom;
Beneath it oft we've conquered
And will conquer oft again,
Shout, shout, the battle cry of Freedom.

Our Dixie forever, she's never at a loss
Down with the eagle and up with the cross.
We'll rally 'round the bonny flag, we'll rally once again.
Shout, shout the battle cry of Freedom

[orionblamblam]

> a war criminal like Sherman

What war crimes did Sherman commit? Specifically, what "war crimes treaties" were in force when Sherman demonstrated how one wins a total war... a lesson that we need to re-learn for today's war against the Islamofascists?

[NaughtiusMaximus]

Well, I was born and raised in Minnesota but I've taken to referring to "the late unpleasantness" as The War of Northern Aggression. (Just to horrify my liberal friends.)

[DocRock]

[Praxeus]

Play with words all you want..

It doesn't take much gumption to run down someone you have never met or have no chance of meeting.

If you are looking for that, hunt who you despise up and do it right. Otherwise, have some manners.

[Hunble]

On the issue of slavery:

Slave were brought to America while under English colonial rule.

Question: When did England, Spain and France abolish slavery?

Question: Why are you attacking almost half of the United States, for something that they also wanted to abolish only a few years later?

Pride about Dixie and what it stands for, is obviously something you will never know. I feel rather sorry for you, because you have not learned a very important segment of American history.

The people of America's South are very proud of their history.

[AzaleaCity5691]

So brutalizing old men, robbing widows and raping teenage girls is an appropriate strategy in warfare. Burning the shelters of people who had no food so they would be vagrants, another great strategy of warfare, right?. Just know that the Nazis learned many lessons from Mr. Sherman and know they if he had tried his crap in modern times, he'd be a perfect candidate for a Nuremberg like set up.

[orionblamblam]

> The people of America's South are very proud of their history.

I somewhat expect that not all Southerners are proud of *all* of their history.

[Clemenza]

1. Lincoln had his faults, but he is far from a tyrant. He did what had to be done considering the circumstances. No I don't buy into the "Saint Lincoln" myth, but I do regard him as a man of courage, intelligence, and leadership. Jeff Davis, on the other hand, was a fine Secretary of War.

2. Sherman, on the other hand, deserves nothing but respect and admiration for FIGHTING TO WIN and by destroying infrastructure that allowed the U.S. Army to win a quicker victory than would have been possible.

My own belief is that the Civil War/War of Northern Aggression/War of Southern Treason was a TRAGEDY that COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED had the Henry Clays of the world won out over the Sumners/Calhouns, etc. Thanks to a bunch of egotistical hotheads who made the political personal and the personal polticial, tens of thousands of young American men, north and south, had to die.

I don't glorify the civil war. I do, however, cast my lot with the U.S. Government, which was FIRED ON by a bunch of misguided separatists in South Carolina.

[orionblamblam]

> Just know that the Nazis learned many lessons from Mr. Sherman

As did Curtis LeMay.

Although... I suppose you are right. Perhaps a better approach for Sherman would have not been to burn the south to the ground, but to leave it in place... and shackle and enslave those who owned slaves and/or were officers in the military force that fought to maintain the slave status of the blacks. Wouldn't that be nice? All them nice young "southern flowers" stripped, shackled, beaten and forced to work in the fields for the rest of their lives?

That's honorable, doncha know.

[Hunble]

England abolished slavery in 1832.

If you want to attack a proud people, have fun with the English.

When did France and Spain abolish slavery?

In the future, please study a little history. You may learn something.

[TomServo]

But worshipping at the altar of slaveowners who wanted to re-created a feudal society of landed aristocrats is *not* the way to go about it.

And who on this forum is doing that? Who on this forum is "worshipping at the altar of slaveowners"? Who on this forum wants to re-create a "feudal society of landed aristocrats"? Who on this forum wants to enslave their fellow human beings?

Name names...

[Windsong]

doesn't anyone work for a living anymore... so much free time

You mean like Freepers, right? :)

[KevinDavis]

[FrankR]

"Confederate flags on space station..."

Git'er done!

[orionblamblam]

> England abolished slavery in 1832.

Irrelevant to this discussion. Now, if an English astronaut flys sysmbols that show pride in the English slave trade at taxpayer expense to the space station, then we can talk. I'm sure some Irish could become annoyed at some English symbols, but that would be for them to work over.

This, unless you may have missed some history classes, is *not* England or Spain. It's America, and we have a dark and unpleasant patch in our own history. Being proud of the greatest evil in American history... that's distubring.

[CurlyBill]

Each of your lefty professors are probably giddy knowing that you are firmly LOCKED into the PC mindset having bought what they programmed ...um, taught you about the Civil War.

[Hunble]

Git'er done!

Now that is a Southerner talking! *GRIN*