Amazing: Germans warn US to stay off of their part of the moon

[asthmaticeog]

Futuristic lunar labs are great in theory, but a tiny community in the hilly depths of rural Germany fears US President George W. Bush (news - web sites)'s ambitious space programme will harm their pieces of moon.

More than 60 worried owners of lunar real estate have written to the White House warning Bush not to let astronauts soil their property.

(snip)

Three years ago more than 1,200 people there paid 30 to 40 marks (15 to 20 euros, or 18 to 24 dollars, in today's money) each to buy pieces of moon rock in parcels of 700,000 square metres.

(snip)

The parcels were bought from Dennis Hope, a US entrepreneur who claims he secured legal ownership of the moon and most other bodies in the solar system 20 years ago by exploiting a loophole in the 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty.

More: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040311/ts_afp/lifestyle_germany_us_space_offbeat_040311165807

[PATRICK]

1. Swap some Florida real estate

soon to be submerged by the rising ocean. Is there anything left to sell the suckers?

[mobuto]

2. Jokes on them

Under German tenant law, squatters have rights if the land isn't continuously occupied. This US entrepreneur has never occupied his moon, the US has, and so the US gets it by default.

Or something like that.

[demnan]

3. God help them all

if oil is ever found there!

[SoCalDem]

4. Why am I suddenly hearing the Rolling Stones in my head??

Hey...YOU.. Get offa my Moooooon :)

[MikeG]

5. You know, the Nazis colonized the moon in the late 40s.

It isn't widely known, but they did. It was kept hush hush.

[Cooley Hurd]

6. Hi asthmaticeog!

Per DU rules, the subject line should be identical to the title of the article (which is Germans to Bush: keep off our moon rock). Please feel free to repost with the corrected subject line.

Thanks! :hi: