🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1989Feb24.175109.11738@utzoo.uucp> henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes:
| You should not need permission from government bureaucrats to go into
| space for purposes *you* consider worthwhile, assuming that you can pay
| the fare and that there's a vacant seat.  It's truly mind-blowing that
| to book a spaceliner seat in the "Free" World you need a very good reason,
| years of patience, and approval from 57 layers of bureaucrats, while to
| book one behind the Iron Curtain you just need the fare in hard currency.

I guess this would be truly mind-blowing if Mr. Spencer did not
correctly have to put quotation marks around the 'Free' in 'Free
World.'  Some countries in the "Free" world are freer than they
have been.  Some are less so.  Certainly, the USA is an example
of the latter, but I currently would not want to call any other
place home.  ("Sweet Home Alabama" and "Oh Fair New Mexico"
really appeal to me!)

The Iron Curtain launchers are simply facing the reality of their
need for hard currency and the results of the (until recently)
reality of the US government's foolish, all-the-eggs-in-one-
expensive-shuttle-basket, monopolistic launch policy.  They
oughtn't be credited with any love of free enterprise.

| The Earth is our mother;       |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
| our nine months are up.        | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu
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