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Science
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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(8588 previous messages)
tlawrens
- 10:06am Feb 5, 2003 EST (#
8589 of 8591) It is the business of the future to
be dangerous...The major advances in civilization are
processes that all but wreck the societies in which they
occur.
What is an American?
You probably missed it in the rush of news last week, but
there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had
published in a newspaper an offer of a reward to anyone who
killed an American, any American. So an Australian dentist
wrote the following to let everyone know what an American is,
so they would know when they found one.
An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish,
German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may
also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese,
Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani, or Afghan.
An American may also be a Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho,
Apache, or one of the many other tribes known as native
Americans.
An American is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or
Buddhist, or Muslim. In fact, there are more Muslims in
America than in Afghanistan. The only difference is that in
America they are free to worship as each of them chooses. An
American is also free to believe in no religion. For that he
will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed
thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.
An American is from the most prosperous land in the history
of the world. The root of that prosperity can be found in the
Declaration of Independence, which recognizes the God given
right of each man and woman to the pursuit of happiness.
An American is generous. Americans have helped out just
about every other nation in the world in their time of need.
When Afghanistan was overrun by the Soviet army 20 years ago,
Americans came with arms and supplies to enable the people to
win back their country. As of the morning of September 11,
Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in
Afghanistan.
Americans welcome the best, the best products, the best
books, the best music, the best food, the best athletes.
But! they also welcome the least. The national symbol of
America, The Statue of Liberty, welcomes your tired and your
poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the
homeless, tempest tossed. These in fact are the people who
built America. Some of them were working in the Twin Towers
the morning of September 11, earning a better life for their
families. I've been told that the World Trade Center victims
were from at least 30 other countries, cultures, and first
languages, including those that aided and abetted the
terrorists.
So you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did.
So did General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung, and every
bloodthirsty tyrant in the history of the world. But, in doing
so you would just be killing yourself. Because Americans are
not a particular people from a particular place. They are the
embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds
to that spirit, everywhere, is an American.
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