To my regular readers, I apologize for not writing for more than two weeks, but I have been ill. Thanks for waiting and for continuing to read The Controversy.
For centuries...humans have wondered whether life exists on planets other than Earth. The people of our world have questioned if there are beings - or any forms of life whatsoever - inhabiting the celestial bodies of our galaxy...our universe...or other universes in the far beyond.
My interest in space exploration stems back to the early days of NASA when Alan Shepard, John Glenn and the original Mercury astronauts rocketed above the clouds. With legendary CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite as our national tour guide, I became fascinated that we were "boldly go(ing) where no one had gone before"...long ahead of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek, Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock.
As the NASA program grew...to Gemini, Apollo and Neil Armstrong's first footsteps on the moon - July 20th, 1969 - I, as a 14-year old boy, was more and more intrigued by every astronaut who followed Armstrong's "small step for man" and "giant leap for mankind."
Over the nearly half-century since the Apollo 11 crew of Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin made their historic voyage...we Earthlings have triumphed with space successes...and we have suffered space tragedies. Let us never forget the brave men and women of the Space Shuttles Challenger and Columbia.
From the sad to the happy, the International Space Station has teamed together nations, some of which - at times past during World Wars and cold wars - were unable to find friendship on the ground, let alone in a sophisticated working space lab. But scientists from the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada, England, Germany, Italy and other participating countries of the European Space Agency...have been accomplishing great efforts jointly since 1998.
So with all this enthusiasm and cooperation in outer space - and with unmanned journeys to Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and elsewhere...the mystery remains whether life - similar to humans - can survive on worlds other than Earth. Therefore, I pose this question. If there is intelligent life making homes in the remote skies of the cosmos...why have they not made comprehensive personal contact...globally... with us? Think about that for a moment and we'll get back to it later.
Over the nearly four years of writing columns for The Controversy, I have been chastised by my Conservative readers for sometimes - if not, in their minds, always - being too critical about Republicans in Congress. After a U.S. Senate vote, which couldn't capture enough bipartisan support on a series of gun control measures - Monday, June 20th, 2016 - GOP Senators deserve to be condemned...and cussed with caustic comments.
It's appalling that four Senate Bills were each voted down just eight days after a deranged gunman - who claimed allegiance to ISIS - shot to death 49 innocent souls in an Orlando nightclub. Despite the fact that the Sunday, June 12th rampage was the worst mass shooting in American history...Republican Senators failed to agree with Democrats...to pass any of the amendments...which would have strengthened background checks - including closing loopholes - and would have blocked suspected terrorists from purchasing any guns.
Do Republicans in Congress not care about the brutal slaying of 49 people? What the hell are Republicans waiting for? Will it take another murdering madman...and the slaughter of 100 people...before the GOP gets out from under the thumbs of the NRA? Must 500 people in a mall be riddled with bullets? Or is the Republicans' magic number...one-thousand...killed in a sports stadium shooting spree? What amount of people need to die before Republicans get off their behinds and do what nearly every American wants? That's right. According to a poll by Quinnipiac University - conducted after the Orlando massacre...between June 21st and 27th...93 percent of Americans support requiring background checks for all gun buyers. And 86 percent of our country are in favor of a ban of anyone on the federal government's terrorist watch list from purchasing guns.
We live in a society where a person being killed by gunfire is a daily occurrence in nearly every U.S. state...and watching it being reported on most local evening news broadcasts...has horribly...and fearfully...become the norm. Over the weekend of the Orlando bloodbath, the Gun Violence Archive - which keeps records of deaths and injuries from firearms - says a total of 121 people in the United States were killed by guns during that two-day period. And when not adding the tragic loss of the 49 murdered in Orlando...one person in the U.S., on average, was fatally wounded by gunfire every 40 minutes that weekend. Meanwhile, the Chicago Police Department reports there were 315 homicides in "The Windy City" throughout the first half of 2016 with an average of 10 shootings everyday. Furthermore...from bullets to beheadings to bombings...tens of thousands of people...from all walks of life...in countries around the world...are savagely being executed by acts of terrorism. According to the Global Terrorism Index, 32,658 people were killed worldwide in terroristic attacks in 2014...and that total is sure to be higher when the figures are calculated for 2015.
In the recent weeks of 2016, a multitude of lives have been stolen by gunfire and terrorism. Be it Orlando, Chicago, Istanbul Turkey, Dhaka Bangladesh or elsewhere... people have died at the hands of sick-minded individuals.
Now back to my earlier question. Why would someone from another
planet have a desire to meet and communicate with Earthlings? I have always been a true believer that we cannot possibly be the only intelligent beings in a vast universe of planets. To think differently would be extremely arrogant. That said, let's toss science aside and not include it in the equation of whether there is life anywhere besides Earth. Who are we to say that air...as we know it...and water...as we know it...are necessary means of life for all of God's creatures? But will those organisms be hostile...or friendly? Are we to assume that visitors from other parts of our solar system...or other solar systems...will be synonymous to those destructive beasts that are portrayed in the motion picture, Independence Day? Instead...I prefer to visualize extra-terrestrials to be like Elliott's lovable friend, "E.T." And...if "E.T." is indeed more of what would be brought to Earth by so-called "flying saucers"...or other spaceships...then why would any alien come here? No one can definitively state that there are not other homelands...hundreds of light years away...with populations of life forms...unlike human beings...in appearance, size or any other characteristic...but smarter than us...in that they live in harmony with each other. Therefore, on this Independence Day - July 4th, 2016 - the 240th birthday of the United States of America...our nation...and the civilized nations of our planet...must somehow join hands and defeat the evils that keep "E.T." from visiting us...and "phon(ing) home." For me, I must be open...and I must envision with the utmost clarity...that non-human creations from distant worlds have been observing the violence of their Earth neighbors for generations...and they don't like what they have seen and heard. Too often, our blue, white and green sphere is splattered with the red blood of our people. When we, here on Earth, can't get along with each other...why would "E.T." and his little buddies...want a close encounter...with OUR kind?
And that's The Controversy for today.
I'm Gary B. Duglin.
"We'll talk again."
The Controversy is a publication of GBD Productions. Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Controversy is Gary B. Duglin.
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Photo credits: nasa.gov (the late Rear Admiral Alan Shepard, Jr.), pics-about-space.com, nj.com and NASA (former Senator and Retired Colonel John Glenn, Jr.), pinterest.com and CBS News (the late Walter Cronkite), startrekships.tumblr.com (the late Gene Roddenberry), bluemoonhuntress.wordpress.com, NBC, Desilu and Paramount Pictures (William Shatner as Captain Kirk and the late Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock), batanga.com and NASA (the late Dr. Neil Armstrong, Retired Major General Michael Collins and Dr. Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr.) and paulfrasercollectibles.com, Amblin Entertainment and Universal Pictures (Henry Thomas as Elliott with "E.T." in E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial)
Copyright 2016 Gary B. Duglin and TheControversy.net. All Rights Reserved.
GBD,
ReplyDeleteFour bills, two Democrat sponsored bills, two Republican sponsored bills. Both parties voted straight down party lines with few exceptions. But only the Republicans are responsible for all four failures? No Dems voted for the Republican sponsored bills!
No one wants terrorists buying guns but the NCIC background check system isn't catching felons and terrorists now, so you want to add a secret list of people too? Tell me how do you get your name on the "Do not fly" list?
You missed the point of my commentary. However, with everyone having access to guns in so many easy ways, we unfortunately are going to see more massacres in our country similar to the tragedy in Orlando. As I wrote in my column, are Republicans waiting for a thousand people to be shot to death? As for the last question in your comment, there is no reason for me to be on a "Do Not Fly" list. I don't own a gun, have never owned a gun, will never own a gun and I am NOT a terrorist. GBD
DeleteAnd you missed my point, GBD. We are supposed to be a nation of laws. "Innocent until proven guilty in a court of law." There are American Citizens that find themselves on the "Do Not Fly" list that simple have a name similar to another individual and spend years trying to get themselves free of the burden of "Being on the list" so they can conduct a normal life. I am only saying that American citizens are entitled to their day in court before we strip them of their Constitutional Rights. Owning a gun doesn't earn you a spot on the "No Fly" list, nor are you required to be a terrorist. Does anyone even know who decides you get a spot on the "No Fly" list? Are Democrats waiting for a thousand people to be shot to death? There are NO clean hands in the halls of congress. That was my point. Neither side will support an idea from the the other and there is no one willing to compromise. Clear the decks we need new representation on DC.
DeleteYes of course...innocent until proven guilty. But that doesn't mean we need to hand out guns to any person without first finding out if that person has been guilty before...or is someone who is likely to commit a crime...which can sometimes - not always - be determined through very strict background checks. That's why I support a 90-day waiting period before anybody is able to purchase a gun. There are too many people who have bought a gun because they were angry with someone...and then you know what happens. With a 90-day waiting period, that gives a person time to cool down and hopefully think twice, three times or more before committing a crime that under normal circumstances that person would never have thought of doing. Background checks and long waiting periods will save lives. So there is a compromise. The compromise is allowing law abiding citizens their right to own a gun, but only after being thoroughly checked out - in every which way possible - and for a period of time that would hopefully prove that the person will be using that gun ONLY for legal purposes. GBD
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