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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?

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rshow55 - 09:50am Nov 23, 2002 EST (# 6211 of 6215)
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.

Sometimes, after muddle has been tried long enough - without adequate results - clarity becomes necessary.

2454 rshow55 6/3/02 4:33pm

We're living in a world where ideas can be tested, checked, compared, as never before - because matching, and crosschecking, are far easier than before, and illustration that permits people to look for themselves is also much more advanced than ever before.

The stakes on information are very high - in capital markets, and everywhere else where decisions have to be made based on information. Trust matters -- and, over the long run, for safety, trust has to be justified - which means that people have to be checked, and judged.

Is the level of honor, or competence, in the military industrial complex much higher than that found among investment advisors? It would be worthwhile to check. Both our money, and our safety, depend upon it.

Everything we hold dear depends on reasonable decisions - decisions that make human sense.

Even religions have to be asked to meet human needs - and are being asked to do so . . . . .

IDEAS & TRENDS O Ye of Much Faith! A Triple Dose of Trouble http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/02/weekinreview/02GOOD.html By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

This is a rare moment in history, like a planetary alignment: three world religions simultaneously racked by crisis.

Basic human needs: MD666 rshow55 3/18/02 11:13am

2456 lchic 6/4/02 4:38am

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Miss World Pageant Moves as Nigerian Riots Intensify By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Nigeria-Miss-World.html

KADUNA, Nigeria (AP) -- The Miss World pageant was canceled in Nigeria after about 100 people died in rioting triggered by the contest and a newspaper's reference to the prophet Muhammad. Organizers on Saturday moved the event to London.

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9/11 Report Says Saudi Arabia Links Went Unexamined By DAVID JOHNSTON and JAMES RISEN http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/23/international/middleeast/23TERR.html

The report concluded that the F.B.I. and the C.I.A. did not aggressively pursue leads that might have linked the terrorists to Saudi Arabia.

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There are some things that need to be clarified - - and the process of doing that - taken too fast, too brutally - can cause instabilities. More carefully done - the necessary can be done - in ways that benefit everybody of real good faith in the world. Including, I have to believe, a lot of sensible Islamic clergymen who are very concerned. And clergy of all other faiths who care about consequences to real people, as well.

lunarchick - 09:58am Nov 23, 2002 EST (# 6212 of 6215)

Nigeria - Sharia
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/ops/war/2000/04/000426-islam1.htm

rshow55 - 10:02am Nov 23, 2002 EST (# 6213 of 6215)
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.

Debate? Dissent? Discussion? Oh, Don't Go There! By MICHIKO KAKUTANI http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/23/arts/23STUD.html contains a lot of wonderful stuff -- I was struck especially with this line:

" the Internet, which instead of leading to a global village, has created a multitude of self-contained tribes - niche cultures in which like-minded people can talk to like-minded people and filter out information that might undermine their views."

That explains a great deal about how the optimistic, bouyant argument in Thomas L. Friedman's The Lexus and the Olive Tree falls so tragically short -- and the optimistic, simplistic claims for "globalization" have fallen short. Friedman and many others didn't think enough about the barriers to communication that the new communication technologies do not strip away.

We have to think about them now.

We have time to do so.

And the consequences of not doing so are so dire that we have to do so.

Again - it seems to me that if people keep up some of the standards they've shown in the last ten weeks - there's time to do the things that have to be done for good solutions.

Enough time - but not a lot extra. Things are, I believe, about as dangerous as they look.

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