posted 10-25-2007 06:15 PM               

Coughlin was responding to Leo DeOrsey's op-ed in "a Sunday supplement" entitled "Let's Stop Picking on the Astronauts" regarding primarily the LIFE contract. DeOrsey was president of the Washington Redskins and prominent attorney who worked pro bono representing the men. Coughlin was a pro-business editor of Missiles and Rockets.

I'll write up just the first graf and the poem, as the whole thing is quite long:

quote:

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We present herewith a poem for astronauts which we composed after consideration of the fact that the nine new astronauts to join the seven senior astronauts in a $3.2 million contract for exclusive rights to their personal stories. We call it the 32d Palm:

Here we go, up and around
We'll all be rich when we get to the ground
Camps for the boys, apartments for rent
Invest in motels, count every cent
Don't write it for Look, write it for LIFE
They'll even pay to talk to your wife
We make money up in the sky
The ante goes up every time we fly
Have no fear, new astronauts, all is serene
The Mercury capsule was a money machine
And there's more to be made, some of it soon
When we write it for Field [Enterprises] on the way to the moon.
So take advice from us seven
And all your bills will be paid
Just sign up with Leo and Harry
And we've all got it made.

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Edited by KC Stoever on October 25, 2007 at 09:13 PM.