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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.

lunarchick - 10:31am Nov 23, 2002 EST (# 6214 of 6219)

Debatable (Cultural Styles)

"" This event, free to the public, will feature four debaters from the Cambridge Union Society and four debaters from the TU Speech and Debate Team. The topic for the evening’s debate will be: “This House believes the world should have an international criminal court.”

The debate will be conducted under the rules and traditions of the Cambridge Union Society.

Cambridge Union debates are unlike American debates in that they encourage spontaneous rebuttal - not only from the debaters, but also from the audience.

This British style of debate also uses humor and wit as well as factual evidence.

So be prepared for an evening of intellectual fun and games!

In the end, the audience will vote for the team they believe has won.

The Cambridge Union Society was founded in 1815 as an amalgamation of three College debating clubs - Trinity, St. John’s, and Gonville & Caius Colleges. Between 1817 and 1821, the University authorities attempted to close the Union down, as its debates were deemed too contentious. Despite the authorities’ best efforts, the Union survived and swelled in popularity. Over the past century, nine US presidents and every British Prime Minister have addressed the Cambridge Union Society. Its former officers have gone on to fill the churches, governments, boardrooms, judiciaries, and universities of Great Britain and the world.

http://www.towson.edu/news/campus/msg01961.html

rshow55 - 10:45am Nov 23, 2002 EST (# 6215 of 6219)
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.

This posting by Almarst is a superb contribution:

6195 almarst2002 11/22/02 10:55pm
6195 almarst2002 11/22/02 10:55pm
6195 almarst2002 11/22/02 10:55pm
6195 almarst2002 11/22/02 10:55pm

With so many problems - each so large - each complicated and messy - how could a leader, or a staffed organization - reasonably and efficiently deal with problems - so as to actually achieve improvements?

That's partly an analytical problem. Some simple notions can help. The people who "play games" of this sort of complexity, and actually succeed, today - work in the movie business. They handle complexity when they have to - in the ways they have to. They check what matters. They are meticulous about what matters - and flexible elsewhere - all the time taking care about what things really cost, and what can really be done.

But what they do can be done, and some other things can be done - in areas that are of more life-and-death concern to us all.

We need to set priorities, and do the things that can actually be done - step-by-step. Gracefully and efficiently. There's some room for improvement.

A little simple arithmetic - some simple benchmarking - might be useful in a few spots.

What does it mean to "do the best you can?"

A point come where questions of quantity - have to matter - in ways that make sense in terms of the specific situation as it actually is. Even if that means questioning some cherished rules.

lunarchick - 10:54am Nov 23, 2002 EST (# 6216 of 6219)

If there is a section here on USA Foreign Aid - i don't see it
http://www.fedstats.gov/cgi-bin/A2Z.cgi

some here
http://www.fas.usda.gov/

lunarchick - 11:06am Nov 23, 2002 EST (# 6217 of 6219)

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