aw. RE: Von Braun

[Henry]

<sigh> Kai, you've been on this list a long time.  Don't you know me better
than that?

The Morgenthau-plan was exactly that, a plan, and by... Them, and better
spirits prevailed.  The V-2's and camps took project planning the likes of
which we didn't have stateside (as far as I know) until... WVB came here!
Hmmm...  
Very different, IMO, from bombing Dresden, the history of which I don't
claim thorough knowledge, and I'm sure that some people "know" (without
documentation) that it was planned secretly (like Iraq) months, if not years
before, but that was an instance, i.e. not something that occurred every day
for an extended period.

I'm really a good guy, by the way, but I just have issues with the idea that
I/we can never say that something is just plain bad (female "circumcision,"
anyone?  Who are we to say that it's bad?), and that something else, while
not simply/purely good, is better, and maybe even rather good, at least for
a particular period/application.

HENRY MU

http://www.urdomain.us/scuffling.htm 

-----Original Message-----
From: Frederik Lorentzen
Subject: aw. RE: Von Braun

Henry schrieb:
>I have been thinking about this subject for years, as I'm sure have many if
>not most or all of the P-Liste.  One thought that I keep returning to is 
>the
>difference between starting a fight and ending it.  (Ever read "Ender?"  
>Not
>a great book, but a very good read.)  That there were Americans who wanted
>to punch the hell out Germany and make sure that they didn't get back up,
>while not kindness and light, makes sense.  I don't think that we wait for
>"three strikes" to put a convicted cold-blooded sociopathic murderer away
>for life, do we?

This is hopefully nothing but a terrible misunderstanding ... You are not 
really suggesting that the so called Morgenthau-plan which would have meant 
Germany's complete de-industrialization and thus the death of at least 
several hundred thousands, probably millions of German people (most of them 
women and children) would have been the right thing to do? Say it ain't so!

>
>From memory:
>
>Once all the Germans were warlike and mean,
>But that couldn't happen again.
>We taught them a lesson in 1918,
>And they've hardly bothered us since then.
>
>So...
>

Ever read J.M. Keynes' "The Economic Consequences of the Peace" [1919]? 
Could be an eye-opener. For me at least it was.

Peace! Kai