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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 - 05:44pm Aug 2, 2003 EST (# 13214 of 13267)
Can we do a better job of finding truth? YES. Click "rshow55" for some things Lchic and I have done and worked for on this thread.

If we had the courage to connect the dots more carefully, and discard notions that "seemed to fit" yet didn't - we'd be a great deal better off.

Has this thread contributed to shaping the thought of our culture? I can only guess - but there are people, including some who work for the NYT - who could judge that pretty well. I do notice that this thread goes on.

rshow55 - 05:47pm Aug 2, 2003 EST (# 13215 of 13267)
Can we do a better job of finding truth? YES. Click "rshow55" for some things Lchic and I have done and worked for on this thread.

Social pressures can be severe in all cultures - though they vary.

For an Iraqi Family, 'No Other Choice' Father and Brother Are Forced by Villagers to Execute Suspected U.S. Informant By Anthony Shadid Washington Post Foreign Service Friday, August 1, 2003; Page A01 http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A10829-2003Jul31?language=printer

Social pressures are severe in our own.

I've had very good reasons to work on this thread - and to say the things I've said on it. Or I wouldn't have bothered. I've been aware of the risks and costs involved.

And I've said and done the things I've said and done very aware of the costs - and with a reasonable degree of fear. In my particular circumstances, I've felt I've had little choice.

I'm grateful for Wrapping our future in betterment http://talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?13@@.ee9cff9/2379 - - but peace isn't "all" I want. I want a workable ability to function. In the world as it actually is.

That doesn't seem so far away.

If you follow this board, it is easy to see that I couldn't do the things I propose in

13039 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.Z9exbJU7wf8.2133285@.f28e622/14716

13040 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.Z9exbJU7wf8.2133285@.f28e622/14717

13041 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.Z9exbJU7wf8.2133285@.f28e622/14718

- I'd be blocked - quite often on status grounds. If someone with stature and connections were involved - the work could actually get done. Moreover, it could be done honestly - and, I believe, in a way "the average reader of The New York Times " would approve of.

I've moved slowly sometimes - in part because I've been afraid - for reasons that a lot of people ought to understand - and that some people with solid institutional connections do understand. I'll be asking some NYT reporters who have made their email addresses available for a contact in the next day or two. Based on past experience, I don't expect a response - but if there was one - it would be easy to imagine (though not expect) a "happy ending."

How a Story Is Shaped http://www.fortunecity.com/lavendar/ducksoup/555/storyshape.html

A Communication Model http://www.worldtrans.org/TP/TP1/TP1-17.HTML

wrcooper - 06:31pm Aug 2, 2003 EST (# 13216 of 13267)

Showalter:

You do owe me an apology, for maintaining endlessly that I was lying. I have never lied to you or anyone on these forums about anything, and your imputation that I was was deeply insulting.

That you don't apologize is dishonorable, especially since I apologized to you for having posted a satirical message in which I pretended to be George Johnson, long after you had been asserting that I was he.

You're not only a confused person; I think you're lacking character.

mazza9 - 10:19pm Aug 2, 2003 EST (# 13217 of 13267)
"Quae cum ita sunt" Caesar's Gallic Commentaries

WR Cooper: I've blanked out RShow and his sidekicks Lchic and Alarming. But now that you mention it Robert's lies can mean only one thing. He is ex-Prez Clinton, Lchic is Hillary and Alarmist is really James Carville.

When I spoke with Robert before your meeting I was curious about his drawl. Now the truth is out. The NYTimes is a hotbed of subterfuge and superciliousness! I guess when it Raines it's Gore!

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