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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.

gisterme - 07:37am Jul 22, 2003 EST (# 13075 of 13091)

lchic - 11:06pm Jul 7, 2003 EST (# 12887 of ...) <a href="/webin/WebX?14@13.NYdsb8hqrl3.349180@.f28e622/14563">lchic 7/7/03 11:06pm</a>

"...California's Democrats show more interest in the rights of transgendered citizens or whales than, say, Latinos..."

Not the Democrats in general, just the people they seem to vote for. California democrats are so partisan that they will vote against anybody who does not run as a Democrat, regardles of how awful their own party's candidates may be.

"...The Republicans' leader in the Senate, Jim Brulte, threatened to campaign against any party member who voted for tax rises to solve the budget crisis (even though tax rises are inevitable). Partisan loyalty is more important than solving a statewide crisis..."

The thing you might not be aware of, lchic, is that when California's current governor, Gray Davis took office about five years ago, the state had a seven billion dollar budget surplus. That usually means that there has been some good fiscal management going on. Today, the state has a 38 billion dollar budget deficit. In my opinion, that's the result of fiscal incompetence. Even though having no money to spend seems so far to have not been any deterrent to Gov. Davis's spending habit, I think that the Republicans hope that not supporting that habit with tax increases will eventually make the governor come to his senses. It's not just a partisan issue.

The real flaw in California is not a mechanical one to do with how smoothly the machinery of government is working (though it plainly isn't doing very well). The real problem is that politicians have become divorced from the changing nature of their state..."

Umm, well, if Californians, wheter politicians or ordinary citizens, are suppsed to get used to the fact that their state's economy has gone from one of the most robust in the country to one that is now circling the drain, then it would seem they're not being very successful at it.

Governor Davis who was re-elected last year is now facing a recall election. It seems that this will be the first successful recall effort in the gubenatorial history of the US. That's mostly because in media interviews (with friendly interveiwers) just before the election Davis claimed that the California budget deficit was only about 8 billion dollars; "nothing we can't handle" he said. A couple of weeks after the election, after he was safely reelected, he had to admit that the deficit was really about 38 billion. The state's credit rating has been reduced and even it's bond ratings are now in danger. If that's the sort change you're talking about, you're right...there is a divorce going on.

gisterme - 07:41am Jul 22, 2003 EST (# 13076 of 13091)

lchic - 10:24am Jul 8, 2003 EST (# 12890 of ...) http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?16@13.NYdsb8hqrl3.349180@.f28e622/14566

"...nb : Sweden, with a lower per capita income than the US, has on average more functionally literate adults and fewer people living in poverty."

No doubt that's because Swedes are not compelled to be educated in the US public education system.

gisterme - 07:45am Jul 22, 2003 EST (# 13077 of 13091)

lchic - 03:37pm Jul 8, 2003 EST (# 12895 of ...) http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?16@13.NYdsb8hqrl3.349180@.f28e622/14571

"...It's said that the USA is 'acting out' the policies of it's own right-right-wing-'religious' in the 3rd World .... implementing policies against the world's poorest-neediest women that would NOT be acceptable to the broadsweep of wimmin within the USA."

Huh? Do you mean policies like lberating the women of Afghanistan from the clutches of the Taliban? Get real, lchic.

gisterme - 07:52am Jul 22, 2003 EST (# 13078 of 13091)

lchic - 10:28pm Jul 8, 2003 EST (# 12902 of ...) http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?16@13.NYdsb8hqrl3.349180@.f28e622/14578

"...NO minimum wage in the USA..."

Huh? That's just not true, lchic. Where did you get that little nugget? Whomever told you that is someone you shouldn't listen to any more. You're guilty of publicly quoting faulty intelligence. :-) Based on US media spin, that's apparently a crime worse than mass murder.

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