AlterNet Readers' 10 Best Comments of the Week

By AlterNet Staff, AlterNet. Posted August 18, 2007.

Another week, another fine bunch of comments from the best online community on the net! Let's get to it.

We begin the week's selection with two very different views of Ted Daley's "Why Progressives Should Care About Human Destiny in Space." First up was rue, who said that while the sentiment was nice ...

… in the end, we have more important things to be spending our time and money on.

Although it may be true that those who have had the chance to see the earth from afar in person see the earth as a whole, it takes no stretch of the imagination to realize that as soon as people figure out how to exploit space exploration for the sake of a greasy buck, idealism will take a back seat as it always does.

How many kids could be fed with the money the US government spends on these trips to space? How many folks could have their health care taken care of?

This is not an anti-science rant - I believe science and exploration are important for the betterment of people in general. But let's have our priorities straight - from the moon, you can't see all the people starving.

Libertine saw it differently …

Earth is the only planet in the solar system capable of supporting life, human and otherwise, without artificial aid. Our solar system is part of the Orion Arm, a minor spiral arm of the Milky Way Galaxy, which is far from the galactic center. Though I'm certain there are other Earthlike planets capable of supporting human life in other planetary systems in our galaxy and in countless other galaxies, such planets are many light years away from us. They are effectively unreachable at our current level of technology ...

Planets capable of supporting life are a rare thing in our universe, and ours is suffering from years of pollution as indicated by global warming.

It is the birthplace and home of humanity; of every human being that has ever lived until the present time. We are all in the same boat together: Americans and Iraqis, liberals and conservatives, terrorists and pacifists, Christians, Muslims, Jews, Atheists, black, white and Asian, men and women, and every other category of human on Earth.

Viewed in this way, all the petty things that divide us and seem to matter so much to us in our short lives on this planet don't really amount to hill of beans in the long run. The sooner we all learn we're all in this together and cooperate to save our planet from destruction and stop concentrating on the minuscule things that divide us, the better off we'll be.

Before anything else, we are all citizens of Earth first.

We were kind of moved by that one.

Speaking of being sentimental, Col. Jackleg responded to the article "Fatigue Cripples U.S. Army in Iraq," by invoking the classic war anthem, "Over There" …

In 1917, George M. Cohan wrote the lyrics to this beloved song and it thrived through two world wars. Its inspiration at home, abroad and to the conscripts and volunteers was so notable that FDR awarded Cohan the Congressional Gold Medal in 1941. There was no fatigue in those days because there was a purpose to what was being done and it embraced more than Americans. There hasn't been a purpose since, and the world is paying a steep price for the consequences. There can be no song in defense of murder, crimes against humanity, lies, deceptions and greed, unless of course it is a dirge in response to a failed nation that not only perpetrated the crimes but also tired in the process of committing and abetting them.

From a sick society to a sick body -- it's a nice segue into the piece "Our Assumptions About What Causes Chronic Diseases Could Be Wrong." Sheena2u made a point with which we can't disagree: "We must stop poisoning ourselves and our planet" …

We have already greatly poisoned the planet. Many of our waters are unsafe. Our air is often unsafe to breathe. Our soils are becoming depleted of nutrients and over fertilized. Fertilizer and human waste pour into our oceans and many of our beaches and shores are not safe. Wildlife and our forests and oceans are in great peril. We must work harder to protect our oceans and our forests. We must do more to save the arctic ice caps and glaciers. We must end the wars now, and find a way to live in peace with one another before it is too late.

We must learn to live in harmony with nature. We have to stop living in a 19th century frame of mind, and as if we can continue to use coal and burn fossil fuels, pollute, wage war, tear down forests, etc. We must demand renewable energy and organic products. We must demand the immediate end to coal plants and coal mines, and stop cooking our planet. We must impeach and disempower those corrupt politicians who are leading us to certain destruction and ruin!

We must look ahead and stop thinking in terms of greed and denial and try to live sustainably, responsibly, and with common sense… We have to act now or all the civilizations of the earth will soon collapse.

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