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NASA To Team Up With Russia For Future Mars Flight
xp65 writes "NASA has invited Russia to carry out a joint manned flight to Mars, the head of NASA's Moscow office said on Tuesday. Russia is currently planning to send its own expedition to Mars some time in the future. Marc Bowman told an international aviation and space conference in Moscow that the Mars mission should take advantage of the achievements made by the International Space Station and use a multinational crew."
"The US is a Federated Republic. As originally laid down it was never imagined that the Federal Government would get involved in everything from gun control to the welfare state. Why should I believe that a Federated World Government wouldn't be subject to the same mission creep and erosion of personal liberty?"
Simple. Local governments are good at screwing things and running to the federal government for help. This allows federal government to gather
strength, eventually reaching a balance.
USA began as a de-facto confederation, so strengthening of federal government is more pronounced there. A lot of other countries have already reached the balance.
"Do you believe that people have the right to defend themselves (self-defense) when confronted with someone who doesn't share our enlightened morality? If the answer is yes then why don't they have the right to have access to the tools that enable them to defend themselves effectively? "
Mostly because guns are useless for this purpose?
"A gun is an equalizer. Nothing more, nothing less. Few of us geeks here on /. would be capable of prevailing in a fight against a hardened criminal who spent the last ten years in prison pumping iron. Put a gun in your hands and the odds change considerably."
A fairy tale. As I've said in another post, guns are mostly useless in a real warfare. They are also mostly useless at preventing crime - good police departments help much better.
In fact, let me ask you a question. Do you remember stories about 80-year-old grandma shooting robbers with her Magnum?
"There's also the argument that an armed population provides deterrence against external aggression. Switzerland is the best known example"
Switzerland is a poor example. It was not invaded only because invading it gave nothing to Hitler. In itself, invading Switzerland was easy, however Switzerland threatened to destroy bridges and tunnels in case of attack. And Switzerland government also agreed to transfer goods in sealed train cars.
Had Hitler won, the Switzerland would have fallen in one month.
Population of France and the USSR were also armed at that point. Made no difference.
"If none of those arguments hold water with you then I don't know what to say other than why do I have to prove that my rights are "necessary"? A Chinese person might argue that the right to free speech isn't "necessary". Many countries get along without it. I don't think we want to emulate them though."
I think, we can agree to check only the most successful countries - fairly large countries, with a big enough population and good enough quality of life. If you use this criterion, then you'll notice that almost all successful countries (with very few exceptions like Saudi Arabia) have freedom of speech, jury trials, etc. So we CAN make a case that these freedoms are necessary.
Not so with gun control.
"So now you are making more assumptions about what I wrote, unsupported by the actual text of my comments? Please point out the post of mine in this thread where I used the word "handgun". "
Because handguns are the main point of difference between European and USA laws. It's legal to own semiautomatic "hunting rifles" in Europe, so it's a non-issue.
"I don't have to use my handgun. I've got a Mini-14 and M-1 Garand for that scenario."
Most people don't have them even in the USA. So it's a moot point.
"The handgun is primarily useful against thugs of the more mundane (criminal) variety and as a last resort in a pitched battle. The only advantage to the handgun is that it's easy to carry around with you. Rather hard to conceal the AK for the trip to the grocery store. "
If you need a gun to go to a grocery store, than you have BIG problems.
"As an American male between the age of 17 and 45 I'm already a member of the militia :)"
Just wait for the next civil war then :)