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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 - 04:43pm Jul 2, 2002 EST (#2847 of 2856)

Some questions for a 4th of July discussion seem well worth discussing.
MD2812 rshow55 7/1/02 8:51am

MD2641 rshow55 6/20/02 12:57pm

The things Eisenhower warned of in his FAREWELL ADDRESS of January 17, 1961 http://www.geocities.com/~newgeneration/ikefw.htm have happened.

There are a lot of things that need to be fixed. They can be. A lot of it will take reframings - - redemptive solutions.

Every once in a while, I daydream, and ask myself "what's the best thing that might happen, right here, to make a lot of things better, in an aesthetically interesting way?" Here's a thought:

What would happen if J.C. Watts did decide to run again - but as a Democrat?

I think that would be beautiful, and a great service to his constituents, to Watts himself, and to the country.

There's an ugly situation described here - one that Watts is partly responsible for:

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

Watts knows about a whole lot of related ugly situations - and is complicit in them. I can't imagine him quitting, if he wasn't uneasy about what he'd done and been associated with. Watts could redeem that ugly situation, and a lot else, by changing parties.

You could write a good story about the good things that might happen if he did so! Maybe a warm, real, heartwarming story.

Liked this quote:

I once sent a dozen of my friends a telegram saying 'flee at once - all is discovered.' They all left town immediately. . . . Mark Twain

Sometimes, when all is discovered, there are better resolutions.

Going off to see A Beautiful Mind a second time.

rshow55 - 10:56pm Jul 2, 2002 EST (#2848 of 2856)

Rumsfeld Says U.S. May Not Join Future Peacekeeping Missions By THOM SHANKER and JAMES DAO http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/02/international/02CND-FORCE.html

"The policy says much about how the last, lone superpower will project force abroad. When added to the emerging policy of pre-emptive military action against nations or shadowy terrorist cells armed with weapons of mass destruction, the United States is saying boldly that American power will be exercised unilaterally and, if exercised in alliance with others, on Washington's terms.

"This presents America's partners and the world with a stark choice: If American military power is needed to quiet the world's trouble spots, the rules of that operation will be written by America, not by international legal bodies.

Rumsfeld is taking an insane, pernicious position. International legal bodies have to have real power.

The rest of the world has a very real stake in seeing that they do.

Anthrax? The F.B.I. Yawns By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/02/opinion/02KRIS.html

Everyone Is Outraged By PAUL KRUGMAN http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/02/opinion/02KRUG.html

Could the Bush administration really be as irreponsible, corrupt, and criminal as it often seems to be? Nation states all over the world have a stake in determining that answer for themselves - and in asking Americans to look at the facts.

The contrast between the situation Kristof describes, and my situation - illustrates a good deal. There may be other explanations, but for the life of me, I can't come up with any explanations that can decently stand the light of day. It seems to me that both the Bush's, father and son, should be ashamed.

I believe that the following articles bear careful reading by responsible people all over the world.:

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

Elder Bush in Big G.O.P. Cast Toiling for Top Equity Firm by LESLIE WAYNE http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/05/politics/05CARL.html

ARMED TO EXCESS by Bob Kerrey http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/02/opinion/02KERR.html

Concerts Rock the Tiny Kingdom of Skullbonia by NEIL STRAUSS http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/30/arts/30SKUL.html?pagewanted=all

lchic's Cartoon GU - Bush - World Court .... http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoons/0,7371,337484,00.html seems all too appropriate and fair, and I think Americans should be ashamed - and concerned enough to pay attention, and get some things changed.

Question: In the last two years, anybody found a technical mistake in anything I've left standing on this thread that has mattered? Some things need to be fixed.

Some progress has been made.
MD1999 rshow55 5/4/02 10:35am ... MD2000 rshow55 5/4/02 10:39am
MD2001 rshow55 5/4/02 11:36am

lchic - 06:59am Jul 3, 2002 EST (#2849 of 2856)

Showalter, interesting to re-read Kline's letter, his writing is so considered yet encompassing http://www.wisc.edu/rshowalt/klinerec

A second trip to the Cinema to see 'A beautiful mind' .. it certainly is a presentation that leaves one a little stunned by the time the credits roll.

lchic - 07:01am Jul 3, 2002 EST (#2850 of 2856)

Plane Crash: The Swiss air traffic controllers are admitting that their automatic system was switched off - and the pilot of the Russian plane had under a minute to respond. Why all the focus on the ONE plane - what's the story with the Boeing?

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