New York Times on the Web Forums Science

Missile Defense

Technology has always found its greatest consumer in a nation's war and defense efforts. Since the last attempts at a "Star Wars" defense system, has technology changed considerably enough to make the latest Missile Defense initiatives more successful? Can such an application of science be successful? Is a militarized space inevitable, necessary or impossible?

Read Debates, a new Web-only feature culled from Readers' Opinions, published every Thursday.

rshow55 - 07:54am Feb 19, 2002 EST (#11622 of 11635)

From Stephens' article:

"Reed's memo stresses that his firm's "long history of organizing these groups makes us ideally situated to build a broad coalition" benefiting Enron. He said Enron's arguments for deregulation were less important than commanding attention by enlisting the aid of elected officials' friends and supporters.

" "There are certain people -- a friend or family member, key party person, civic or business leader, or major donor -- whose correspondence must be presented to the [elected] official for his personal reading and response," Reed wrote.

"Such prominent figures could act as surrogates for Enron while pressing lawmakers to rewrite statutes, Reed said.

""We have the capacity to generate dozens of high-touch letters from an elected official's strongest supporters and the most influential opinion leaders in his district," he wrote. "Elected officials and regulators will be predisposed to favor greater market-oriented solutions if they hear from business, civic, and religious leaders in their communities."

" Reed's memo said his organization had a record of harnessing the "minority community" and the "faith community" to support his clients.

" "Reed proposed two lobbying strategies, one costing $177,000 and the other $386,500.

" "I will assume personal responsibility for the overall vision and strategy of the project," he wrote. "I have long-term friendships with many members of Congress."

" Reed proposed sending 20 "facilitating letters" to each of 17 members of the congressional commerce committees that handle deregulation. Under the proposal, Enron would pay Reed's firm $170,000 for generating the letters, each signed by a third party.

"Reed asked Enron to pay his firm $25,000 to generate letters to the editors of newspapers, each signed by a prominent figure. "These op-eds and letters are then blast faxed to elected officials, opinion leaders and civic activists for use in their own letters and public statements." He said his firm had recently "placed" opinion pieces in The Washington Post and the New York Times.

"A $79,500 telemarketing campaign would have cold-called citizens and offered to immediately patch them through to Congress.

" "For one recent client, we generated more calls to a U.S. Senate office than had been received since impeachment" of President Bill Clinton, he wrote. "The result was a major victory for the client."

" Finally, Reed said he had enjoyed "great success" in using conservative news-talk programs to spread his clients' message to "faith-based activists."

" "Our public relations team has extensive experience booking guests on talk radio shows, and has excellent working relationships with many hosts," he wrote, proposing a $30,000 fee.

" We look forward to working with Enron," he said.

These tactics have long been used, to enormous effect, by people involved in military contracting and the "military industrial complex" -- and the incentives to bias action from the rational interest of the United States are great, with military expenditure amounting to about half a billion dollars per congressman and senator every year.

rshow55 - 07:58am Feb 19, 2002 EST (#11623 of 11635)

I feel that this article merits special attention, because it relates to the manufacture of "consent" and the projection of "artificial sincerity" according to patterns perfected, in detail, by the Nazis.

... In Virginia, Young Conservatives Learn How to Develop and Use Their Political Voices by BLAINE HARDEN http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/11/politics/11CONS.html linked to md4771

....

Almarst , you may ask:

"how can facts be clearly established, and central to the interests of the United States itself, and yet be ignored?

In the face of this "political technology" it can happen easily.

But facts can be effectively presented, and when voters are actually paying attention, when they care about basic issues of truth and accounting, our political leaders, as a group, are capable of honor.

With the internet, some of the force of the "culture of lying" that Reed so effectively represents can be countered, and countered effectively. But people with influence have to care enough to see that facts are actually influential. And format matters, too.

rshow55 - 08:03am Feb 19, 2002 EST (#11624 of 11635)

Pentagon Readies Efforts to Sway Sentiment Abroad By JAMES DAO and ERIC SCHMITT http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/19/international/19PENT.html?pagewanted=all

(11 following messages)

New York Times on the Web Forums Science Missile Defense