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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.

wrcooper - 12:05am Oct 15, 2003 EST (# 15042 of 15067)

gisterme

Now, dear fellow, I have to be honest with you. You disappoint me. You made a great show of putting rshow55 on your "Ignore Posts list," and now I see you trading barbs with him and lchic and cantabb . I thought you had learned your lesson and had sworn off that evil brew. Alas, poor gisterme .

We have, you may have noticed, actually started discussing missile defense again, and I hoped, rather, that you'd join in. Is there any hope you'll bring your eloquence and analytical verve to the real substance of this forum?

gisterme - 12:20am Oct 15, 2003 EST (# 15043 of 15067)

Will -

"...Showalter could have written six PhD dissertations and 12 books by now with the amount of effort he's expended on these forums; I'd set my own bar at about two books. How about you?..."

Funny you should say that. I've thought exactly the same thing myself. :-) However, if we enjoy the time we spend doing this, that is if the time spent doing this is valuable enough to us that we're not doing something else, then I'd say that's not really either "being in a rut" or "wheel spinning".

Folks will labor at a job for some amount of time to earn enough money to go see a movie at the theater. Most often they're going to have more fun at the movie than at work. So when are they spinning their wheels? At work or at the movie?

My point is that most entertainment is not producive in terms of income but it is productive in terms of personal well being. If you like doing a thing that entertains you and its not illegal, dishonest or harmful to anybody else, why condemn yourself for doing it?

Participating in a forum like this is no more wasteful than spending an equal amount of time at any other unproductive form of entertainment. At least doing this exercises our literacy and causes us to consider other people's views as we evolve our own. That's more productive than most other kinds of entertainment I've enjoyed.

lchic - 12:23am Oct 15, 2003 EST (# 15044 of 15067)
TRUTH outs ultimately : TRUTH has to be morally forcing : build on TRUTH it's a strong foundation

Now, dear fellow, I have to be honest with you. Cooper said.

lchic thought : how quaint that sounds - storybook - sort of 'Wind in the Willows' Toad-Mole-Badger.

If GWB Admin had to supply these characters - who'd qualify :)

He's a sequence from THE DIME bookshelf

'' Somehow, this did not make Badger feel any better; on the contrary, it caused the scowl on his face to become even blacker, if possible.

"All right," he growled, "and you can be mighty sure I'd not come if it hadn't been for Winnie Lee. I don't want you to think I'm any whatever like those other chaps who hang round you on all the time and fawn over you. I'm not built for fawning."

"I fancy not. But don't get a foolish notion into your head, Mr. Badger- don't think for a moment that I am anxious for your friendship. I'm not. I have plenty of friends without you."

"Don't worry; you'll not have it in any great hurry."

"It is positively a pleasure to hear you say so. As an enemy you have proved very interesting; as a friend, I fancy you would be a great bore."

The Kansan felt like rising and smiting Merriwell fair on his smiling mouth. He had not expected anything like this. He had come to that room with the plain intention of freeing his mind and declaring

that it was impossible for him to be Frank's enemy in the future, even though be might not be a friend; but Merry had cut him short and turned him on quite a different tack, and he realized that he was not cutting a particularly handsome figure.

"That's right!" he snarled. "Talk right out! I like it better when you talk that way!" ''

http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/dp/pennies/texts/111.html

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