Two emails:
Yes–Safire “slipped in” the reference to God. But about 10 years
ago he wrote in his “On Language” column that wording was, in fact,
in error, because it should have been “Here men from the planet Earth
first set foot upon the Moon, July, A.D. 1969.”
The column was about copy mistakes in general, and he was musing/
confessing that one of his mistakes was in BRONZE, ON THE MOON. You
just can’t top that.
I’m a fan of your work.
And:
“Little things are often deliberate. “
Sure. Your “offhand” reference to “A. D.” on the moon plaque is certainly a plant, paying off some debt to someone in the aerospace industry, to motivate Democrats to send another mission to the moon so they can fix the plaque.
After all, you surely don’t expect anyone to believe that someone named “Goldberg” finds a reference, even abbreviated, to “The Year of Our Lord” on the moon to be amusing. And don’t think your Augustine reference the other day throws us off the scent — we’re on to you.