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 [F] New York Times on the Web Forums  / Science  /

    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.


Earliest Messages Previous Messages Recent Messages Outline (12526 previous messages)

rshow55 - 02:07pm Jun 14, 2003 EST (# 12527 of 12537)
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 can't presume that Bill Keller reads this thread. But there are postings on this thread that fit in with, and might inform, his

The Boys Who Cried Wolfowitz By BILL KELLER http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/14/opinion/14KELL.html

The information-gathering machine designed to guide our leaders in matters of war and peace shows signs of being corrupted.

for instance, 12393 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.rL3rbgbgfnm.603612@.f28e622/14046 includes these stories:

The Wolf Who Cried Wolf in Sheep's Clothing by William Saletan Updated Tuesday, April 1, 2003, at 2:53 PM PT http://slate.msn.com/id/2080889/

"Let's consult the expert, Aesop. In the Wolf in Sheep's Clothing http://www.bartleby.com/17/1/39.html , he wrote:

"A wolf found great difficulty in getting at the sheep owing to the vigilance of the shepherd and his dogs. But one day it found the skin of a sheep that had been flayed and thrown aside, so it put it on over its own pelt and strolled down among the sheep. The lamb that belonged to the sheep, whose skin the wolf was wearing, began to follow the wolf in the sheep's clothing; so, leading the lamb a little apart, he soon made a meal off her, and for some time he succeeded in deceiving the sheep, and enjoying hearty meals."

"In the Boy Who Cried Wolf http://classics.mit.edu/Aesop/fab.1.1.html , Aesop told a different tale:

" A shepherd-boy, who watched a flock of sheep near a village, brought out the villagers three or four times by crying out, "Wolf! Wolf!" and when his neighbors came to help him, laughed at them for their pains. The wolf, however, did truly come at last. The shepherd-boy, now really alarmed, shouted in an agony of terror: "Pray, do come and help me; the wolf is killing the sheep"; but no one paid any heed to his cries, nor rendered any assistance. The wolf, having no cause of fear, at his leisure lacerated or destroyed the whole flock.

"Separately, each fable makes sense: Watch out for wolves dressed as sheep, and don't commit serial deception, or people will stop believing you. But what happens when the two stories merge into one? What happens when the serial deception consists of wolves dressing as sheep? What if people begin to suspect not that every boy who cries wolf is lying, but that every sheep is a wolf in sheep's clothing?"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.rL3rbgbgfnm.603612@.f28e622/14046 also includes this: - - - -

I've written plenty on this thread that cannot be traced (at least, without the active cooperation of the CIA - and they may have destroyed their records.) But can anyone find anything I've written on this thread, regarding facts, that can be shown to be wrong - where intentional deception can be shown?

I've tried to "tell the truth or nothing" - not saying everything I know, by a long shot - but not lying either.

- - - - -

Some of the things I've said the NYT can readly check - thought of course different people have different recollections. For example, in September 2000, I met at the big art museum on the Washington Mall with a NYT reporter who I'd expected to meet - and another who I hadn't expected. From time to time, people, including NYT editorial writers, use the phrase "what would Jesus do?" - or "what would Jesus have done?"

One can ask similar questions of other characters who inhabit our consciousness. I think it is interesting to ask, of that meeting, which went awkwardly, what James Bond might have done in my place.

I feel sure James Bond http://www.bondsupp.freeserve.co.uk/movie/drno.htm would have gone to that meeting, as I did - but at a "moment of truth" - I wonder how he would have behaved.

I think he might have behaved very much as I did - and might have gotten no better results.

But he might have laughed about it more spontaneously than I did at the time

lchic - 03:35pm Jun 14, 2003 EST (# 12528 of 12537)
~~~~ It got understood and exposed ~~~~

James Bond they say is smart

    He'd 'hang around' as living art
Fleming
http://www.klast.net/bond/fleming.html

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 [F] New York Times on the Web Forums  / Science  / Missile Defense