[meteorite-list] NASA sues Moonwalker Astronaut

From: MexicoDoug <mexicodoug_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 04 Jul 2011 11:29:19 -0400
Message-ID: <8CE087646ED18FF-1B44-38FBF_at_webmail-d139.sysops.aol.com>

Yes, Mike, the misplaced priorities given NASA's budget woes were not
lost on me when thinking of the young lawyers working for or being
retained by NASA to harass these true Human (and American) heroes, for
the little perks enjoyed by the guys that were the common practice at
the time among all astronauts, and just as well could have ended up in
a garbage dumpster or some warehouse which was later auctioned off to
the public for two cents per item if that.

These are all violations of the Astronaut's rights under the US
Constitution's Bill of Rights: Fourth, Fifth as well as Fourteenth
amendments. As for the statute of limitations question, usually
statutes of limitations doesn't apply to governments ;-), but that is
predicated on the premise that they weren't allowed to have these
mission scraps at the time and that they just as well couldn't have
been thrown away or lost forever if not for the nostalgic instincts of
these guys. (sound familiar?)

Norm's comment on the shoulder patch was a good one. Lots of authentic
patches out there now that the number of Astronauts are dwindling.
Michael Collins flight suit was recently up for sale also. It was
recovered from his old locker when they cleaned it out by his personal
trainer at the time ...

Best wishes
Doug


-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Gilmer <meteoritemike at gmail.com>
To: MexicoDoug <mexicodoug at aim.com>
Cc: Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Sent: Mon, Jul 4, 2011 10:26 am
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] NASA sues Moonwalker Astronaut


Hi Doug and List,

Happy Fourth of July to our astronauts who are being harassed for
having garage sales!

What an absolute waste of taxpayer money and manpower (again).

At what point did our government go an Syd Barrett acid trip and not
come back?

This kind of thing sickens me. It makes me ashamed to be associated
in any way with our mentally-defective government.

Has all common sense and decency gone out the window in this day of
lawsuits and ignorance?

The elites and their sycophants don't care that people are losing
their homes, going hungry, and going without medical care in this
country. But yet we can piss away vast sums of money to investigate,
harass, and prosecute people for selling dusty swatches of tape and
old obsolete cameras. It's friggin disgusting.

I've been saying this for 20 years and now the people are finally
catching up with what I have been saying - this government needs to be
replaced from the ground up. It's broken, it's been co-opted by
megalomaniac elitists, and the fed is being used as a tool to oppress
the people. Our founding fathers are rolling over in their graves
over 1000 things, and now this campaign of astronaut harassment makes
it 1001 things.

What message does this send to science-inspired youngsters who might
pursue a career in the space program? ---> "Hey kids! You'll retire
poor and your pension won't cover your basic expenses, so when you try
to have a garage sale, you'll be harassed for it and threatened with
criminal charges so we can prevent the spread of dirty tape and
obsolete cameras! God Bless America!"

I really need to stop reading or answering these posts before my
coffee kicks in. Is my vitriol running too freely this morning? LOL

Best regards and best of luck to our HERO astronauts,

MikeG

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On 7/4/11, MexicoDoug <mexicodoug at aim.com> wrote:
> 
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/90053154?U.S.%20government%20sues%20former%20astronaut%20over%20lunar%20camera#ixzz1R7PMDp3p
>
> Dear list,
>
> This is a very relevant case to meteorites and should not be taken
> lightly.
>
> They're at it again ... rewriting history and after 40 years of NASA's
> permission to take mementos from the Apollo era - now suing the sixth
> man to walk on the moon, Edgar Mitchell of Apollo 11, for trying to
> sell the camera they allowed him to have ... the precedent, I suspect
> is the identical one to the dust on the tape, which didn't exist, but
> they are gunning for now.
>
> Again, we are faced with the erosion of sensible property rights, a
> violation of traditional English and Roman law regarding the 
importance
> of possession IMO, in an effort to legislation effort from the bench 
at
> its finest (sarcasm). The question at hand: Can we apply today's
> standards retroactively to say NASA was wrong to allow astronauts to
> have things that were of no use to NASA at the time and with the full
> knowledge of NASA allowed to be kept by those involved. After 40 years
> of knowledge that the astronaut possessed this camera and other sundry
> things, it becomes a precedent, and NASA is even painting an American
> hero with a scarlet letter of "T" for "Thief"....
>
> From the article:
>
> "During the Apollo mission era, Mitchell said he and other astronauts
> got permission to take mementos from the spacecrafts. "We have dozens
> of pieces. All of us who flew to the moon," he said in a Palm Beach
> Post report.
>
> Mitchell?s lawyer, Donald Jacobson, said, "Objects from the lunar 
trips
> to the moon were ultimately mounted and then presented to the
> astronauts as a gift after they had helped NASA on a mission."
>
> The government is asking the court to order Mitchell to hand over the
> camera, and declare that it has "good, clean and exclusive title" to
> the piece of space history.
>
>
> Best wishes
> Doug
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Received on Mon 04 Jul 2011 11:29:19 AM PDT