[cross-posted at Austro-Athenian Empire]

Contrary to what the news media have been blaring, the most important news story today is not the sordid kangaroo-legal jousting between the deposed Iraqi despot and the puppets of the victorious American despot.

Of far deeper significance, in the long run, are the revelations coming to light -- dazzling, glorious light -- one billion miles away. The discoveries of the Cassini probe will be remembered when the names of George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein are long forgotten. It is not people of their ilk who will take human civilisation to the stars.

To paraphrase a passage from Atlas Shrugged:

There was a time when human beings crouched in caves, at the mercy of any pestilence and any storm. Could men such as Bush and Hussein have brought them out of the cave and up to Saturn? There's your proof that another kind of men do exist; think of them and forget Bush and Hussein.

It’s often said that signals from space come to us from the past. In this case, they come from our future.

See the latest Saturn images here.

Jonathan Rick - 7/5/2004

Hi Roderick,

You wrote: "Contrary to what the news media have been blaring, the most important news story today is not" e.g., Michael Moore's Farhenheit 9/11, but the revelations from the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft regarding Saturn.

I agree, but you should know that the editors of Time magazine, where I am an editorial intern for the summer, had a lively debate on whether to put Moore or Saturn on this week's cover. Moore ultimately won, but this week's issue still includes a superb, cover-story length article on Saturn: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101040712-660957,00.html

We also highlighted Saturn in last week's "Years Ago in Time" feature (which I wrote and compiled): http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101040705-658312,00.html

Also see Time's Web exclusives on Saturn, regarding the spacecraft, Saturn's rings, and its moons.

http://www.time.com/time/2004/cassini/flash/saturn.html http://www.time.com/time/2004/cassini/flash/rings.html
http://www.time.com/time/2004/cassini/flash/moons.html

Jonathan Rick
http://students.hamilton.edu/2005/jrick/