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Missile Defense

Russian military leaders have expressed concern about US plans for a national missile defense system. Will defense technology be limited by possibilities for a strategic imbalance? Is this just SDI all over again?

rshowalter - 01:14pm Mar 10, 2001 EST (#908 of 908)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Here's rshowalter "Science News Poetry" 2/10/01 2:05am

Work in Progress . . . .

Notions of beauty,
joyful discovery,
pleasing proportion,
hopeful effort

all depend on
a culture,
a context
a set of standards
that some group agrees on.

We need a better connection
of aesthetics
and our moral sense of rightness,
so we can see,
and feel,
and show
clear notions of what's

ugly disproportion

Notions of disciplined beauty
shown here

focused here
sweat into focus by Dawn Riley,
(and I'm sweating, too )

Are making it easier, clearer, more sensible
to say "See that"

- isn't it beatiful, this way?
And yet specifically, sharply ugly , this other way?

How do we choose?
How to balance?

With notions of disciplined beauty
different cultures can talk
and be judged, and compared

and maybe, sometimes, better proportions,

more pleasing proportions,
and new, interesting insights
can be found, and disciplined in their turn.

With the Science Times people, of THE NEW YORK TIMES
offering an exemplar, of what disciplined beauty
and unity of mind and heart
can BE !