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Strange maneuvers involving two Chinese satellites have some space-watchers worried — not just because the orbital maneuvers apparently resulted in a close encounter and perhaps even contact between the satellites, but also because the Chinese have said so little about the matter.
The worriers are concerned that the orbital shifts involving two Shijian ("Practice") research satellites were aimed at practicing techniques for disrupting other governments' satellites in the event of an international crisis. The nightmare scenario would involve a fleet of spacecraft that went after America's telecom and Earth-watching satellites, cutting off military communications and orbital surveillance capabilities.
There could be a far more benign explanation for the maneuvers, however: On-orbit rendezvous is a basic skill that would have to be mastered by any country seeking to build up infrastructure in orbit, as China is aiming to do. Such a skill would come into play not only for docking with a space station, but also for refueling or servicing satellites in need of help. For years, NASA and the Pentagon have been working on robotic procedures for on-orbit inspection and servicing of satellites.
Over the past couple of weeks, reports about the Shijian satellite maneuvers — and the worries about them — have shown up on a smattering of news websites. One report, based on Russian commentary, even made its way onto the website of China's Xinhua news service. But to date, Chinese officials have made no official statement explaining what's going on.
Brian Weeden, technical adviser for the Secure World Foundation, lays out virtually everything that satellite-watchers have been able to glean about the maneuvers today in a report published online by The Space Review. He says the Shijian 12 research satellite, which was launched from China's Jiuquan space complex in June, was observed going through six sets of orbital maneuvers between June 20 and Aug. 16. The final maneuver put it in nearly the same orbit and location as an older satellite in the series, known as Shijian 06F, or SJ-06F.
At some point on Aug. 19, SJ-06F's orbit appeared to undergo a relatively slight change due to an anomalous perturbation, Weeden said. It's hard to say whether the satellites touched, or whether the appearance of a shift in SJ-06F's orbit was due to other factors — ranging from the effects of space storms to inaccuracies in satellite tracking data.
"It appears as though the anomaly on August 19 does reflect an actual change in the orbit of SJ-06F, although only time will tell for certain," Weeden said. "Analysis of its orbital position over the coming weeks and months will provide further evidence as to whether its orbit was changed or whether it was simply an anomaly in the data."
In the meantime, experts on military space operations are left to wonder why Shijian 12 was put through such a complex series of moves. One of the wonderers is NBC News space analyst James Oberg, a veteran of NASA's Mission Control and the author of "Space Power Theory." In an e-mail, Oberg said he found Weeden's article "technically sound, and fairly persuasive."
"But if the article is accurate, the secrecy implies an ominous and probably military intent on the part of China," Oberg wrote. "There are potential innocuous justifications for developing the technology — but in those cases, I would have expected China to brag openly about having done it."
Chinese and U.S. space operations sparked a debate over the potential for space warfare over the past few years, beginning with a Chinese satellite knockdown in 2007 and a similar operation conducted by the Pentagon in 2008. This latest satellite story could be a cause for serious concern about international space security. It could also be a misreading of innocuous rendezvous tests, or a phantom whipped up from faulty observations.
My view is that it's way too early to start rattling the sabers — but what's your view? Feel free to weigh in with your comments below.
Update for 2:15 a.m. ET Aug. 31: Oberg sent questions about the Chinese satellite maneuvers to the U.S. Strategic Command and received this e-mailed response from a Defense Department spokesperson:
"As reflected in the United States' new National Space Policy, the DoD [Department of Defense] believes it is in the shared interest of all nations to act responsibly in space to help prevent mishaps, misperceptions and mistrust.
"Based on your questions, our analysts determined there are two Chinese satellites in close proximity of each other.
"We do not know if they have made physical contact. The Chinese have not contacted us regarding these satellites."
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Like they are going to advertise to the world what they are doing. The good part is that through our satellites we have discovered this. With satellites we have eyes to see what is going on in other countries without having to be inside them. The element of surprise has been taken away.
I think you're wrong. I think we should be worrying about these nationalistic, provocative moves on the part of the Chinooks. First we give them a pass on killing Wales and now they're in space?! You know they want Washington and Oregon back, and it's practically impossible to eavesdrop on them when their fur lined parkas are positioned so close together. Rubbing noses my ass! They're passing goddam state secrets. Line 'em up like baby seals, I say! ...jews control...blah blah blah...blacks just want...blah blah blah...
Time tells all
IDIOT, we give a pass to,lol first off all Japanese kill Whales not Chinese ok MORON,secondly we whoever you think that is have no power to let anyone do anything,China is a sovereign nation and can do as they please.
Folks, please keep your comments classy ... You're making me nervous with all this talk of idiots, morons, etc. And Melg ibson is starting to cross the line a bit, although I realize it's a shtick.
Umm, Japan hunts whales, not China.
...and Chinooks are a native American tribe and delicious species of salmon...
Melg ibson: This is a One Race World, And the sooner people understand that the better off we will be. If you don't think this is a one race world just look back as far as you can and watch the inter- marriage between Races. Unless you do a genetic history of you or the person you intend to marry there is no way you can declare yourself as pure white, red, Black, Brown or any other Race or Color because you have no Idea as to your remote family history, And my guess is that somewhere along those lines there is a mix somewhere. I also don't believe there is one "PURE RACE" anywhere on this Planet. Have a Great Day.
What I find so amazing is that the nation that do have all this stuff are getting there nose out of joint when somebody else tries to develop it.
Get over it. Same for the Iranians if they want to put a monley in to space let them have all the fun. Now suddenly yhe UN and America is getting all upset that oh with that rocket they can launch missiles.
He guys, how are YOU getting your stuff all in to orbit. You just are p*ssed of that you are not the only ones that can do things like this.
You just don't want to share your sandbox.
....I believe I told you - I bought and read your book - and I recommend it - and to check out "Cosmic Log" - daily as I do.
Thanks, Charles, I appreciate that!
stop buying chinese goods you idiots, and walmart and other companies should be tried for treason!
fusseltier, have you tried not buying Chinese goods yourself? Please do share how it goes!
You are correct Spock. Some time ago I had to buy a new coffee maker for the office. I was determined not to buy one made in China. The only one I found was made in Germany and sold for over $300. I went Chinese!
Buying "made in China" is financing the war your children will fight!
Knee jerk reactionary idiocy. That conflicts completely with the free market.
"Knee jerk reactionary idiocy. That conflicts completely with the free market."
If China actually HAD a free market, that might make some sense.
But who has the upperhande in this struggle, the US with our buying power or the Chinese with their production power? For now, I still go with the US. What would happen to the Chinese economy if the US stopped buying? When their society can start buying in the volumes that the US buys, then we are in trouble.
@Jose: The subject of China's commerce laws aren't in question. The subject of American commerce is.
I seriously doubt China would try anything that would cripple us, since we are in the top of their biggest investments. They own somewhere around 1/2 - 2/3's of the U.S. However, that doesn't mean they wouldn't try to cripple the armed capabilities. Cut a leg off the investment, so it will still be able to function but not fight back.
Sorry Josh, but China held (in 2009) only about 21.9% of the public debt, a long way from owning 1/2 - 2/3's of the United States. I remember when everyone was up in arms about Japan owning so much of America...turned out that the Brits owned more at the time.
I had thought that this issue turned out that the French were the major owners at the time??
The deal with China is they take the long view. Their investment strategy is way secondary to their military position in the world. If they could cripple us in any way, and get away with, it they would do it in a heartbeat. We are engage in cyber war already, they attack us all the time. They have stolen plans of our nuclear weapons. We are their main competitor for global energy. They have been maligned and taken advantage of by the West for centuries, think the don't want respect. That is one reason they have their own space program. I worry more about the Chinese Military than I do about Muslim Terrorists!!
I would have to agree with laht. Their ideas and goals are always long term and strategic. As for "not buying Chinese goods" it's much too late for that idea. They have billions of dollars to build their military machine and their Space efforts. Their spying efforts in this country were framed in an expose' on "60 Minutes" last Sunday night. Go to CBS's sight and watch it. We have EVERYTHING to steal of any value, while we would like to know what the Chinese have in regard to military technologies, in fact, most of it was stolen from the us or one of the other Western countries. So what we would probably find is OUR STUFF!
We need to know what the Chinese are doing but they are here in DROVES stealing from us while we're watching them! A lot of the help they get, they get through Americans selling their own country out. We really need to consider the death penalty for selling out to anyone.
Does that include our corporations giving them our technologies to make items they then copy. As in just about anything you buy now?
joshmartin,
You are completely wrong about China owning a large part of America. National debt is NOT the country. Think of it this way... you take out a loan for a $3000 sofa from a furnichur store. Your total debt is $12000. Does that mean that the store owns 25% of you? Hell no! You just owe them money! Your worth more than $12000 by a long shot!
Same goes for America... if memory serves me (and i'll post a source for this figure later when i find it) if you add up the total landmass and infrastructure, raw resources (that we know of) etc... USA's total value exceeds 10,000 TRILLION dollars. Seriously... Think about how much property costs in cities and such... then take into account that the federal government also owns the majority of the landmass of the USA (think reserves and land not allowed to be zoned for use yet). USA's line of credit is absolutely enormous! Why do you think other countries are so willing to loan to us? Cuz they know we have the capacity to pay it off. We're not nearly at our max yet (although i really, REALLY hate the fact that we are accumulating debt <live within your means>)
In any case, a conflict between the US and China will only end badly for both. I hope the Chinese are smart enough to avoid such an event.
In addition to my previous post:
http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/Z1/current/default.htm
Click the "Complete File"
It can be a little confusing going through all the charts... so to make it easy, go to the very last page. The three important figures would be the 2010 Q1 Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth. This is the federal estimate on the total value of all of the US's Households and Non-profit Charities. The total assets are set at over 68 TRILLION. This STILL isn't accounting for the trillions we've spend on:
infrastructure
what the government owns (including hardware <tanks, satellites, vehicles, computers... anything you can think of> buildings, land)
what people own other than households (cars, boats, computers... things in general)
total raw value of all the resources in this country (which is enormous! We're the 3rd largest country on the planet!),
intellectual property (which is also enormous, 3rd most populated country in the world)
Also, another asset that is often overlooked is the monitory value of a person. I know... it's cold, but people are still worth something for their potential labor and achievements. It's hard to say, cuz money changes so rapidly, but if you take 50,000 and multiply by say... 40 years of working, you get 2 million dollars in one lifetime. Not bad, and also not unreasonable. This is the potential value of said individual.
Of coarse, it's all a bit more complicated than just adding up all these seperate values... for example, the potential value of a person is partially (note the 'partially') dependent on the US tapping into part of its resource base, which minuses from that value. But all in all said individual is still easily worth over 1 million dollars.
I'll add more sources as i come up with them, but this is just a brief overview on what the US is really worth, and why china doesn't even come CLOSE to owning 1/3rd of it.
The comments I've read so far are a pretty out there, but I wouldn't doubt there's a bit of ill intent with these maneuvers. With as much tension as there's been between North Korea, China, and the US it's definitely possible they're trying to prepare. Kim Jong-il is back from his trip from China...I wouldn't be surprised if he knows what's up.
Then again, we could just be looking too far into it...
Its sad to see how much China appreciates the Trillions of dollars which the depraved and utterly corrupt Bush Family has given to China over the past 20 years. From the refusal to stop the skyrocketing price of Silver ingots which China was sitting on millions of ton's of near worthless silver until the price skyrocketed under Reagan-Bush sr. and China literally overnight became filthy rich. Extending to Bush jr. giving China multi-Trillion dollar Iraqi Oil field leases for pennies. The biggest reason for China's wealth, power and military expansion is the Bush Family. Like what you see? If not then vote Democratic across the board or begin learn to read Chinese!
You're kidding, right? You blame Republicans for silver going up? You forgot that Clinton gave the Chinese top secret US weapon info. If any group in this country is close to communism, it is without a doubt a liberal Democrat. That satellite that the Chinese shot down a few years ago...you can thank Bill Clinton for that. No doubt the Dems contributed secrets to build "killer" satellites as well.
It was more likely the Russians whom helped China, not an American party. The Russians were developing a satellite seeker-destroyer system too, where they would ram their satellites into our own (this was all around the time that Regan was trying to put up the SRI system (often called the star wars system, which would have destroyed ICBM's from space))
Re: Melg ibson. . .someone is either very funny or very drunk and very funny. LOL.
You'd have to be an idiot to ignore the Chinese military. Take it from someone who lived and did business in China: The "Old Guard" Politboro advisors hate the USA to a degree that you will not find documented in our newspapers. Their military is pervasive throughout their society, and their banks are used to channel billions upon billions of yuan secretly, which is the real reason why the Chinese refuse to incorporate credit ratings. Business credit would expose the many sham corporations that are in fact fronts for the Chinese military.
Lance:
The Chinese satellite manuevers are in reality secret plans to target US satellites. Their rockets are in fact all nuke missiles. Their corporation are shams for military conquest of the world. China's refusal to incorporate credit ratings like WallSt's Moody, S&P, and Fitch has caused the Great Recession in America by misleading investors as to the true value of their investment papers. Our newspaper will not document or expose the degree of fraud perpetrated upon the American people.
When the Chinese fart, it's really a secret gaseous weapon of mass destruction. Military experts calculated that if the one billion Chinese fart all at once in the direction of America, the resulting plumb of toxic gas cloud would obliterate the entire Western United States. Like the missle gap confronting America during the Cold War with the Soviet Union, America, today, has a Fart Gap. High level Pentagon officials have awarded billion dollar contracts to the Military Industrial Complex to design the AAFM (Advance American Farting Machine) to counter any Chinese threat.
Even though China has not sent military forces to wage war upon foreign soil for at least 700 years whereas since 1776, US has waged a dozen of wars on foreign soil such as War of 1812, Spanish American War, Mexican-American War, WWI, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War, Iraqi War I and II, Afghanistan War, Panama War, Bosnia-Kosovo War, various Middle East squirmishes, not counting the wars against native Americans.
Hence, history conclusively shows the Chinese as the military aggressor. To confront the military adventurist within the Chinese Communist party, America has surrounded China with the 7th and 5th Fleet, comprising half of American nuclear aircraft carriers and submarines. While the Chinese bought almost one trillion dollar of US debt that permitted America to wage two wars, stimulate the domestic economy, paid unemployment benefit, TARP, and bailout WallSt FatCats, the real purpose behind China's investment in USA is take over of America. As the evidence shows, the Chinese space program cleverly tried to conceal their true ambition: Cosmic domination.
@FatCat: High score!
With so much stuff up there it is pretty idiotic to play bumper sattelite. A docking manuever is one thing, a bank-shot is quite another. They appear to be flexing at key moments but what we don't see about their space program is bothersome. It surely is not open. All I can hope is that private industry from the likes of http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/ on thru to 4th world countries like http://www.isro.org/ and up to current and capable international companies wtih products like the http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/ic/sis/x37b_otv/x37b_otv.html will keep the chinese et all playing catch up, knee jerk reactionary, guess as guess can space science. IF so, the ones with a real purpose and reason will be at the developmental forefront of new space technologies and reap the rewards, those same rewards which have already touched just about every one's life on the planet for the better. In the meantime, bumping one of the birds out of the sky could very well mean that it would land in their backyard, unusable and possibly glowing a little bit...with such a large landmass surely some statistician advising some chinese general somewhere suggested a distinct possibility that bumper sat is not a very cool game to play....and if nothing else, some boyscout sharp adviser overhere will be playing the congressional funding circut over here to be prepared and spend lots more for ...what else...lots more!!....there is no way of avoiding it, space tech is already big money and with or with out these sort of articles to spur us along, more people time and money is surely going to follow the technology forward. The chinese may be doing us favor by posturing something dumb, the article already has me thinking maybe we need a dozen of these x-37's...heck we could salt our luck a bit further, maybe euroland and aussie land and canadaland and south ameriland and indialand may want a half dozen or so x-37s themselves!!....cause you just never know.....In the meantime, being on this side of the freelands line is good. We don't need to pretend like we could take out their major operating satellite network. NO, no pretenses about it.
There is no guessing necessary. It must be assumed that the Chinese ability to rendezvous with a satellite will be used for all military benefits possible. United States' military planning must be redesigned to operate in this new environment unless it has already anticipated the possibility of conducting full scale war maneuvers without satellites. No GPS, intel, communications, nothing. Even if we had satellites which could intercept their interceptors, the likely debris field would have the same ultimate effect in denying us the use of our own satellites. It would be a mistake to miss this warning provided by this silent and almost un-noticed test by China. It just means that non-space based redundancy must be built into any weapon, platform, or operation which had previously relied exclusively on space based assets. Easier said than done. The party's over gentlemen.
Now, Bob, don't you go thinking that the Pentagon hasn't got a couple thousand scenarios for this worked out already.
"It just means that non-space based redundancy must be built into any weapon, platform, or operation which had previously relied exclusively on space based assets. Easier said than done. The party's over gentlemen."
No, you're just reacting to the news. Good tactics doesn't necessarily mean responding directly to your adversary's movements. A better idea would be effective counterstrike, the likes of which would neutralize any advantage gained by disrupting our satellite systems.
And by the way, it isn't just the Bush family. I've seen many other ex-GOP leaders like Phil Gramm selling out our country to the Chinese (in case you're curious I'm a former Republican). I always thought being Republican meant upholding our country, but in a perverse way the Bush and Gramm types conveniently confuse self-interest with the canons of capitalism. The Chinese have bought off both sides of the aisle, but mostly it has been the flag-waving Republicans. Go figure.
Without a doubt, the Chinese are up to more sneaky stuff all the time. They do everything for a reason, and a reason for everything. They have been stealing trade secrets from everywhere for the past thirty years. Thank you Richard Nixon. They have planted industrial spies, Governmental spies and financial and computer spies in strategic locations for the same time period.
Now they have the capital to follow through on their endeavors.
Tracy Griffin:
The sneaky Chinese are up to everything. They have been stealing trade secrets from America for more than thirty years. First, the Chinese stole the the invention of the wheel from America. Later, the alphabet. Today, they stole trade secrets such as rocketry, shoes, coffee makers, TV, DVD, flat screen, PC, and even Richard Nixon's mind. They have spies everywhere, and even have spies upon spies upon spies.
The Chinese also keep a tab on how much Strawberry ice cream we've consumed. Their leaders roll steel balls between their palms while calculating who toke liberty with second helping of ice cream without authorization. "Now they have the capital to follow through on their endeavors."
We will have war with china its our destiny. The entire theme of the fallout game series is the aftermath of a huge nuclear war with china and russia. History will always repeat itself and the naive fools that don't look back into time will pay the same price as those in the past. We however won't witness the future if there is a nuclear war cause most of us will ether be burned alive or experience the slow death of radiation.
Honestly I can only hope that china willl join with us in peace and clean energy and work together to better the human race but have we really advanced any socially in the past 100 years I think not. History will always repeat unless you learn from the past and we haven't
"Honestly I can only hope that China will join with us in peace and clean energy and work together to better the human race......" No truer statement ever made. If history is an indicator, America only fought a few wars: War of 1812, Spanish American War, Mexican-American War, WWI, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War, Iraqi War I and II, Afghanistan War, Panama War, Bosnia-Kosovo War, various Middle East squirmishes, not counting the wars against native Americans.
"..but have we really advanced any socially in the past 100 years I think not." Of course, America has advanced socially. Why else would the Chinese copy the superior Western culture. For example, in addition to the cultural advancement from McDonalds, BurgerKing, Kentucky Fried Chicken, punk-rock-rap, wrestling, and Budweiser, the Chinese have their adapted their own version of Jerry Springer, Oprah, The Simpsons, among other equally enlightening TV programs. The truth is that the superior American culture is the standard upon which the Chinese society shall be judged.
What is the big deal? If we, the west, can do it why are we getting all in a huffwhen the Chinese do it.
Sort of the Iranian nuclear debate. We can have nuclear power. Anybody that we can control can have nuclear power. But anybody else that disagrees with us is not allowed to have it.
Get of your high horse and shutup on what the Chinese can or cannot do. What is good for the goose is good (the US) for the gander (anybody else).
"Get of your high horse and shutup on what the Chinese can or cannot do. What is good for the goose is good (the US) for the gander (anybody else)."
Interesting, but very morally wrong, position. There is a huge difference between democracy and the freedoms you enjoy, vs. the autocratic government of an Islamic republic bent on imposing its theocratic government across the world, vs. the devastating corruption and repression experienced by most Chinese as a routine part of their lives.
So in the contest of power, there may be many things which are okay for many nations to practice, but we (who believe the U.S. should maintain an upper hand so as not to give way to these powers in the world)... will most certainly not shut up.
@ Wordifier
There you go with the morality garbage. Isn't it easier if we live and let live and not impose arbitrary notions of what is good and bad? What about just having choices as policy?
So anyone or any country can choose to do as they please. On the same token, anyone or any country can choose to react as it pleases in return. So any country, friend or foe can choose to develop their nukes and drop it on us. We then have the choice to empty out our nuclear arsenal in return. An easier and clearer defensible policy in my opinion.
"the devastating corruption and repression experienced by most Chinese as a routine part of their lives." Have you lived in China or at least visited China? I have lived there and can tell you that MOST Chinese are not repressed.
Man, SO many uniformed people here just spewing inaccuracies. I am an American WORKING and living in China, and I can tell you that the Chinese don't want to have war with us any more than we do. China ONLY cares about China, plain and simple. If we ever DID go to war with them, a large number of them are afraid to fight, and many don't posses the intelligence to even plan/use weapons here! China not talking about what they are doing is normal protocol, a communist govt will NEVER reveal all of what they are thinking or intend. To naturally assume that a satellite doing what was said to MOST LIKELY be space station docking exercises is jumping the gun. Stop watching TV, the media spins everything to the negative JUST to get people riled up!
LOL your right fully! I guess if the media wasn't into pessimism they wouldn't get any ratings look at fox news for instance.
"Man, SO many uniformed people here just spewing inaccuracies. I am an American WORKING and living in China, and I can tell you that the Chinese don't want to have war with us any more than we do. China ONLY cares about China, plain and simple."
Living and working in China does not especially qualify you to be the final arbiter on what precisely these maneuvers mean.
Furthermore, it is well known that China would like Taiwan back, and many average citizens would support war in that aim. Ask your friends and you'll get the truth alright...
@ Wordifier
...and you qualify because you have first hand knowledge of the Chinese plans about space and Taiwan? I suppose you were there at the planning committee table.
I'd put more weight on Ron Turner's opinions. Then again I'm just a fool.
Considering that China has every right to take Taiwan back I dont blame them for supporting it.
America is a hypocrite nation, the US seems to be the sole parent and guardian of the world, the moment they draft their war plan agaisn't Iran they too signed a nuclear deal with Vietnam, the problem is not other superpowers like Russia or China, the issue with America's rotten domestic governance that they think capitalism is democracy which it is not, free market is good for everyone but its a different thing, China prosper because it embrace free market and not capitalism and our enemy is not communism, it is capitalism aka the Casino System so for the love of this world Americans should open up to the world because we are not living in the era of medieval church and the times of Copernicus.
Choong
Malaysia.
Ron Turner-2094054: About the the people of China being afraid to fight. I think not. Have you forgotten the Korean war ? For someone afraid to fight they did one hell of a job in Korea don't you think. They just kept coming.
There is a big diff between countrys that will only retaliate with nukes as a response to a nuke attack. China has killed thousands just for protesting and wanting what we have here in America. A few years back there was some college kids protesting they send in police and shot them all and when the paramedics came they shot them too. The chinese people are innocent but thair goverment is all based the what the 8 people that control everything.
They have no chance of voting or choose who is in power like we do. They just have to do what the people in power tell them and thats it and when you have power what do you want only more power. The day the chinese people decide for themselves is the day they will truely be free.
Tommy:
The American people are against bailout, nationalization of private corporation, and freebies to FatCats. What did the American government do instead?
America has waged wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for almost 10 years without a Congressional declaration of war as required by the US Constitution. Same thing happened in the Vietnam War that caused over 55,000 deaths, sons and daughters of American families. American people are truely a free people who decides for themselves.
"They have no chancee of voting or choose who is in power like we do." The two party system, Demo and Republican, allows the American voters to vote for the ones the party bosses have selected. Without the massive money contribution from the political parties and their control of the media, an outsider politician has no chance.
Actually they do get to vote but you have to be a party member, which is really no different than having only 2 real choices here. And considering that the Communist Party Of China is the LARGEST political party in the world as far as members go I would say the people do have a say. This is the problem with america, they think that everyone else needs to have the same systems as we do here, but the fact is that democracy will not work everywhere.
The media does have a profound impact on our thinking and behavior. Spinning the news sells. Telling the facts can be boring. Stability and piece of mind is what we want in life. Responsible journalism just doesn't seem to be the same. Many of these writers seem to aspire to Orson Wells. They must get their kicks out of reading our responses. As much as they go after our politicians someone needs to go after them as well.
After all we went after some Facebook Mom.
Have faith everything will balance itself out naturally
Don't you know? The chinese are actually smuggling illegal aliens - from Mars!
Haven't you heard of the martian underground? The RED planet??
Lotta spaced out comments here today...
born_7_4
The Chinese are selling illegal aliens from Mars ..... through Walmart.
The RED planet? Does that mean Mars is Made-In-China also?
honestly I think there are very valuable fossile fuels on other planets such as mars whoever can get mining on them first will have a bitter tip of the balance of power in thair favor.
"honestly I think there are very valuable fossile fuels on other planets such as mars whoever can get mining on them first will have a bitter tip of the balance of power in thair favor."
Unfortunately, Mars is such a long, long distance away that any mining would be absolutely useless for earthbound purposes. The energy cost of delivering materials back to earth would devour any energy advantage of the material mined.
Sorry to burst your bubble but we need to learn to live within our means here on Earth. That's a fact programmed into the Universe...
@ Wordifier
Wow! Good thing you weren't around during the Age of Discovery. I suppose you also know the programming of the universe. From the looks of your posts, seems you're omnipresent and omniscient. You remind me though of a person I know and call Dr. No.
Received this message from US Stratcom public affairs office late on Monday:
From: "Curry Steven M LCDR USSTRATCOM/J020"
Mr. Oberg - Thank you for your email. After coordinating with OSD/PA, below is the response to your
question. Please attribute the following response to a "DoD spokesperson."
###
As reflected in the United States' new National Space Policy, the DoD
believes it is in the shared interest of all nations to act responsibly
in space to help prevent mishaps, misperceptions and mistrust.
Based on your questions, our analysts determined there are two Chinese
satellites in close proximity of each other.
We do not know if they have made physical contact. The Chinese have not
contacted us regarding these satellites.
Buying all these foreign products being dumped in our markets has not only hurt the American workers but has cost us financially. This has been going on for decades since we opened up free trade. Now don't get me wrong businesses can make a hansom profit from opening up to the free world but Walmart makes 18 billion on the slave labor provided for products they sell off their shelves. They pay their workers here in America barely a livable wage and have been caught and sued for breaking employment laws. The money that Wally worls pay out is peanuts considering the billion and half profits they haul in every year. I don't trust China, or anyone in the Middle East and I feel by this decades in we will be in yet another war!
If you don't think the U.S. has been thinking about this for a very long time, I've got some ocean-front property in Arizona for sale...
Does anyone really think the U.S. doesn't have a plan for space warfare?
Remember when stealth airplanes were still a secret for many years?
Let's hit all the topics covered. 1. The Chinese are aggresive; there was a recent article in the Smithsonian Magazine about a city on the western end of their country. They are importing Chinese people to overrun, population-wise the indigenous people; to the point of destroying their cultural buildings and restrict use of their language. Do you really think they care about any other country, but their own. 2. Chinooks are Canadians, you bonehead! If you want to use cultural (racist) slang, it's Chinks.
N.E.B. :
Let's re-hit all the topics covered.
1. Americans are aggressive
2. History books tell us of the many wars waged by the American throughout the world
3. American allowed European people to overrun, population-wise the indigenous people, the nativee Americans to the point of destroying their cultural buildings, restrict use of their language and land.
4. Do you really think American can about any other country but their own?
5. Before Chinooks became Canadians, they originated from Asia. Chinks is of unknown origin. Perhaps its a derivative of the word, Chinese, misspoke by an illiterate American who failed geography as well as his english language.