"Moon Landing" Claims Disputed by Free Skies Foundation Founder
Washington, July 13, 1969
Leading NASA gadfly Lucius P. Barbour took to the Sunday morning talk show circuit to press his claims that the agency has been maintaining a sham program, that we are woefully behind the Soviet Union in every area of space technology and weapons systems, and that the sham is intended to deflect Americans' attention away from the "fearsome enemy of Godless Communism". When pressed to offer evidence of his contentions, he answered by saying NASA had not shown him any Moon rocks.
"Marco Polo brought rice to the West, why can't we see some dirt?", said the red-faced and sweating Barbour. When informed that astronauts had in fact done so, he said he wanted to hold those rocks in his hands. When told they were reserved for scientists to study, he responded "Pointy-headed intellectuals aren't who Americans want to hear from."
Ranging farther afield, Barbour warned that a federal assistance for mental health care was funding a facility in Alaska, which was planned for housing political dissidents in the manner of the Soviet Union. That subject was, unsurprisingly, not mentioned on the CBS Evening News by Walter Cronkite, who is known to be slow to pick up on the more intemperate right-wing charges like President Nixon's claim, when he was Eisenhower's vice-president, that White House files had contained "a blueprint for socializing America.".
Barbour waxed eloquent, or at least windy, about the need to build space battleships, not Moon voyagers. "We need to take the high ground, so the communists will know they are not on top, but under our eagle eye. The alternative is to be ground under their heel."
Recommended reading:
In America, Crazy Is a Preexisting Condition: Birthers, Town Hall Hecklers and the Return of
Right-Wing Rage, by Rick Perlstein
Loose Network of Activists Drives Reform Opposition
False 'Death Panel' Rumor Has Some Familiar Roots
Is there an address for this facility in Alaska? I guess I should turn myself in since I am an avid dissenter of the manner in which the majority of Congress 'governs'. Truth is, I could use the rest. (I just hope they don't have cable 'news'!)
Or maybe I should just relax and learn to moonwalk instead.
Thanks for this.
August 16, 2009 12:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
I can't seem to fix a font issue, but thanks for reading. It was the Perlstein piece, along with my current reading about the Kennedy administration, that got me riled up.
August 16, 2009 12:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
I appreciate this 'reminder' about the 'Whackos of our History'. Now that's an ongoing topic needing to be regularly posted.
I am very fearful, yet at the same time more hopeful! I find myself dizzy from trying to reconcile the two. Up and down I go in this current maelstrom we seem to be both willing and unwilling participants in now.
Again, hope you do more of these.
August 16, 2009 1:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
What the 'oly-'ell does he think Star Wars is? Sheesh!
He should talk to the people in this country who are afraid NASA is actually helping toward weaponizing space. I confess, I have my own worries on that score...
Plus, he really meant, "Pointed-headed ELITIST scientists. So many wack-jobs really don't care for smart people. Oh, so many voters, too.
August 16, 2009 1:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
hat subject was, unsurprisingly, not mentioned on the CBS Evening News by Walter Cronkite, who is known to be slow to pick up on the more intemperate right-wing charges like President Nixon's claim, when he was Eisenhower's vice-president, that White House files had contained "a blueprint for socializing America."
Today this story would open all cable news for a week.
I love this post. I mean I really love this post Tom.
If it was delivered without a byline, I would never have guessed it was you.
With all that is going on...I render unto you the Dayly Blog of the Day Award for this here TPMCafe Site given to all of you from all of me. Even though you could give a damn. hahahahaha
Yeah, I would have guess Wolfrum or Dondi I guess.
This just encapsulates about ten blogs of late...
August 16, 2009 2:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
If you haven't, you must read "Nixonland" Perlstein's chilling book about the unscrupulous Nixon approach to winning. It is older than Nixon, but he exemplifies it.
The culture war is still hot.
August 16, 2009 2:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
He was later quoted: "Until I have that moon rock's birth certificate in my hand, I will continue to doubt! The one in the Federal Registry and also in the window of the National Cathedral are obvious forgeries.
"However, whatever the Bible says, no matter how contradictory or absurd, I will continue to believe."
"Why do I believe? Because they tell me to. Why do I disbelieve? Because they tell me to. You don't expect me to think for myself, do ya?"
Plea from CVille Dem: Can we please stop interviewing insane people as though it is an appropriate way to have all legitimate sides of an issue represented? Is it not asking too much to have only SANE sides of an issue represented, and is it not too much to expect the MSM to know the difference?
August 16, 2009 7:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tom, his thoughts seem somewhat inconsistent, he believes we didn't go to the moon in one statement and then we should build battleships instead of moon voyagers in the next.We cant build a moon lander but we can build a moon voyager and even a space battleship,ala Battlestar Galactica. My grandpa didnt believe we landed on the moon either, he said it was all just cartoons they were showing us on TV. The difference is, grandpa wasn't crazy, he was just old and from a pre technological day. This fellow is clearly confused, he believes that truth is a fairy tale and that fairy tales are truth. Thanks Tom for the blog and the name of the Perlstein book.
August 16, 2009 7:57 PM | Reply | Permalink