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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.

commondata - 01:41pm Jan 3, 2003 EST (# 7273 of 7287)

torture can be an essential part of a system

Rshow, that's lunatic; I look forward to the justifications once your head's reorganised.

gisterme - 01:57pm Jan 3, 2003 EST (# 7274 of 7287)

lunarchick 1/3/03 10:31am

Lunarchick quotes from: gisterme 1/3/03 4:14am

"...Do you disagree that where there is no infidelity in a marriage there is no question about paternity of the children that result?..."

She then makes a request:

"Could you rephrase your tautology Gisterme thanks!"

From Mirriam-Webster....

"...tau·tol·o·gy

Pronunciation: to-'tä-l&-jE

Function: noun

Inflected Form(s): plural -gies

Etymology: Late Latin tautologia, from Greek, from tautologos

Date: 1574

1 a : needless repetition of an idea, statement, or word b : an instance of tautology

2 : a tautologous statement..."

Looks like definition 2 is the only one that applies to the context; so, what is a tautologous statement?

Again from Mirriam-Webster:

"...tau·tol·o·gous

Pronunciation: to-'tä-l&-g&s

Function: adjective

Etymology: Greek tautologos, from taut- + legein to say -- more at LEGEND

Date: 1714

1 : involving or containing rhetorical tautology : REDUNDANT

2 : true by virtue of its logical form alone..."

Once again, definiton 2 is the only case that fits the context.

So I'm glad that you don't disagree with the statement and don't want egg on your face, lunarchick; but just to humor you I'd be glad to restate the "true by virtue of its logical form alone" statement:

Wouldn't you agree that when there is complete sexual fidelity within a marriage, the paternity of the children that result from that union is known beyond any reasonable doubt? You would unless you want egg on your face.

There...and of course, unless you do want egg on your face, you'd also agree that that statement is true in more than just logical form, wouldn't you lunarchick?

lunarchick - 03:06pm Jan 3, 2003 EST (# 7275 of 7287)

... but the sentence hasn't been re-phrased ...

reason?

Fivestar Salesmanship diatribe perfection - can't be improved upon.

gisterme - 03:15pm Jan 3, 2003 EST (# 7276 of 7287)

rshow55 1/3/03 12:28pm

"...Commondata - I'll get back to you - and if not, ask me again - but for now - torture can be an essential part of a system..."

Well, Robert, now you're even giving folks who are more or less on your side the same run around as the rest of us. I'll get back to you. Uh huh.

I think the reason that you want to leave the door open just a crack to the idea of torture is that torture is the method used by totalitarian regimes to remain in power. Right Robert? After all, communist regimes are totalitarian by nature and torture has been and is an essential part of those systems. Gotta keep those free-thinkers in line somehow I suppose.

Of course if you admit that you might bust the bubble of an idealist like commondata. You have few enough fans already don't you?

So, once again, you evade. What it seems that rshow doesn't want to admit, commondata, is that communists must maintain the dichotomy between reality and perception at least until the revolution is over. Then, when perception and reality are found not to be the same, it's too late for the common folk to do anything about it. It's a classic bait-and-switch deal. That has proved to be true in every single case where a totalitarian government has gained a firm grasp on power. History shows that once set, that hook is far more painful coming out than it is going in.

Fortunately for the rest of us, that disingenuous dichotomy is also an inherant and fatal flaw in those systems. People in one place see the truth about what happens in another and decide for themselves. That public awareness of the difference between perceptions projected and reality is the ultimate unbreachable substance of the containment vessel that prevents the spread of totalitarianism.

Take current events in Venezuela as an example. Looks to me like the people of Venezuela would prefer that torture not become an essential part of thier system. They must understand the truth better than their president had hoped.

Ignorance is the prerequisite for deception. The level of publilc knowledge about real conditions in the real world has grown to the point in most places that there is an insufficient level of ignorance for a "gentle coup", like the one being attempted by the president of Venezuela, to ever succeed. The people there will spit him out like a rotten peanut.

I don't mean to single out and pick on just the poor communists, though. They're not the only ones who try that bait-and-switch technique. Muslem fundamentalists are attempting the same thing. I believe that ultimately, they will also find the world has become too small for them to succeed. As was the case in a growing America, word gets around... and before long, the snake-oil peddler discovers that there's no place where he or his marvelous cures are welcome.

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