New York Times on the Web Forums Resource Area for Forum Hosts and Moderators

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 - 10:05am Sep 27, 2002 EST (# 4581 of 17697)
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.

I went to a talk by Rick Bragg last night, got his signature on my old, cherished copy of his All Over But the Shoutin' and my new copy of his Ava's Man . A lot of people stood in line a long time to get a chance to say a word to him, and get a book signed - I was one of them - and I was glad I did, and impressed at how gracious Rick Bragg was.

I gave Bragg copy of the disk rshowalt 7/19/02 9:16am described in the text of 4572 rshow55 9/26/02 5:15pm , along with a printed copy of that text. I was honored that he smiled, and didn't shun me - I'm sure he gets a lot of unsolicited stuff at book signings.

Bragg put on quite a good and moving show, and I was proud to be near him, and have him lay hands on books of mine - and he seemed like a fairly disarming "good ole' boy." I'll be emailing him a copy of this, but thought I'd post it here, as well, because I don't know how reliable my email is - - since I'm not the only person who reads it - and things seem, sometimes, to be discarded before I can read it -- so I'm leery of email as a communication channel -- in fact, I sometimes feel pretty isolated.

Anyway, the disk includes references to Bragg, and articles by Bragg, as follows:

Auxiliary_and_Summary_Files\aaSumm8062-8070Wcites\ cross1405 cross1409

Auxiliary_and_Summary_Files\NYT_MD_Articles_and_Links\ MDartsJun18_03

Auxiliary_and_Summary_Files\Putin_Briefing\ md1409_1418

Auxiliary_and_Summary_Files\Search_rshowalter\ bob047

Auxiliary_and_Summary_Files\Search_CitedInThisThread\ CitedNYTarts_05

. McVeigh Dies for Oklahoma City Blast by RICK BRAGG http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/12/national/12MCVE.html

a_md01000s\ md1409_1418

a_md5000s\ md5382

a_new_0100s\ md160n rshow55 3/3/02 4:21pm

md752n rshow55 3/22/02 8:38am , which includes RICK BRAGG Afghan and Pakistani Tribe Lives by Its Own Set of Rules http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/21/international/asia/21PASH.html

a_new_1000s\ 1150 almarst-2001 4/6/02 1:23pm especially rshow55 4/6/02 5:47pm , which ends with this:

" I asked myself who I'd want to talk to about this, if by some chance someone at the TIMES were interested. I'd be honored to talk to any NYT reporter. A name that occurs to me especially, that might not occur to others, is Rick Bragg. I have an idea that he's a hard man to lie to. "

In Bragg's readings, he gives plenty of evidence why people need to find common ground, shared space, with people as they are -- so that we can be human, warm, safe and effective. Including people who don't read the NYT:

Seems to me that Bragg, if he thought hard, might know somethin' about Huntin' for Nascar-Lovin', Moon-Pie-Eatin', Bluegrass-Listenin', Shotgun-totin' Democrats By Matt Bai http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/15/magazine/15STRATET.html .

Rick Bragg sure knows How a Story is Shaped. http://www.fortunecity.com/lavendar/ducksoup/555/storyshape.html , and knows about finding shared space for communication. A Communication Model http://www.worldtrans.org/TP/TP1/TP1-17.HTML

I'll be emailing this to him, and I hope he doesn't mind my amateur quality of writing:

commondata - 10:50am Sep 27, 2002 EST (# 4582 of 17697)

I'm currently unable to see the NYTMD archives here:

rshowalt 7/19/02 9:16am

Do I need any more than patience?

And more generally I'd like to be able to take some GU and NYT threads away on a disconnected laptop. Has anybody found a good way of doing that?

rshow55 - 11:44am Sep 27, 2002 EST (# 4583 of 17697)
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.

The disk rshowalt 7/19/02 9:16am is a standard (small diameter) CD - works in just about any computer or laptop. It includes parts of this thread since March 2002, but also the part - from May 25, 2000, that was deleted then.

email me at mrshowalter@thedawn.com

(and if I don't respond, please telephone me - 608-829-3657) - and I'll be honored to send you a copy of the disk.

I've been slow to get the disk out - because I've kept hoping that the government would act in the national interest, and talk to me. (Instead, they seem to be acting only in the interest of people committed to wasting huge amounts of money and concealing key things all Americans should be able to know.)

I'd be happy if everybody in the Senate and House of Representatives - and everybody running for major office, had a copy - but that, I know, is just a dream. Though it seems to me that if the material on the disk were available, and checked, we'd live in a much safer world - and the national security would be much stronger.

If any U.S. military officer on active duty, with stars on their shoulders, would like to discuss why I think so, in public, I'd be happy to do so.

(13114 following messages)

New York Times on the Web Forums Resource Area for Forum Hosts and Moderators Missile Defense