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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.

rshow55 - 02:46pm Jul 27, 2003 EST (# 13163 of 13267)
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.

Were Sanctions Right? by Dadid Rieff http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/27/magazine/27SANCTIONS.html is superb, and the piece is somewhat related to 13110 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.Z9exbJU7wf8.2132684@.f28e622/14789

. Many of the most miserable, muddled, gruesome messes and tragedies in the world are traceable to the fact that containment works as it does - and results in paralysis, and systems of deceptions and evasions that completely close off clear action - for any purpose - right or wrong.

"I've been contained on this thread - and have accomplished less (and had to speak more publicly) than I had hoped or intended. But I have worked to keep my promises, and to serve the United States, and the cause of human decency, in ways that I promised to do (and got trapped into doing.)

"Much in America, and in the rest of the world, has been contained - for reasons that make some sense - but should be subject to exception handling.

- - -

We're all fallible.

A Bad Trip Down Memory Lane by Bruce Grierson http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/27/magazine/27CLANCY.html

12499-12500 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.Z9exbJU7wf8.2132684@.f28e622/14153

People can be wrong. They can decieve themselves and others - and they do. When it matters, things need to be checked - and we need to worry when barriers to checking prevent the needed clarifications - because people have to made decisions on the basis of what they believe to be true.

Iraq Flap Shakes Rice's Image: Controversy Stirs Questions of Reports Unread, Statements Contradicted by Dana Milbank and Mike Allen http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51224-2003Jul26.html

Changed by Terror, a Nice Guy Converted New "Outrage" Drives Graham by Manuel Roig-Franzia http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50965-2003Jul26.html

The world would run much better if barriers to checking were less .

Sometimes, though things go slowly, it seems like progress may be being made.

I'm trying to work constructively - and more into the future. But there are times when the past needs to be faced.

rshow55 - 05:07pm Jul 27, 2003 EST (# 13164 of 13267)
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.

U.S. Must Act on 'Murky' Data to Prevent Terror, Wolfowitz Says By BRIAN KNOWLTON, International Herald Tribune http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/27/international/worldspecial/27CND-POLI.html

What does the phrase "murky" mean? Clearly, action can't wait for absolute certainty

Unheeded Warnings: Why America slept before 9/11 http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/27/weekinreview/27WORD.html

- but there is good reason to ask for good judgement.

C.P. Snow's Science and Goverment tells some very interesting true stories about judgement.

A good reason to ask

who is Gisterme ?

is that this thread offers a large sample of his reasoning - his arguments - and the way he explains his judgement.

We face problems are large scale life and death where there are no solutions unless we improve our judgement.

. Nuclear Breakout http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/27/opinion/27SUN1.html

Which, if we were more honest, we could readily do.

It is dangerous when American leaders lie - or lie to themselves. And dangerous when they set up procedures that restrict conversation - and the consideration of evidence, in ways that make a mockery of the need to check.

And make a mockery of the theatrical certainty delivered in Bush's speeches.

People are expected to have good judgement - if they are to be trusted. Nobody's perfect. But the public reasoning about the Iraq war has been astonishingly off the mark. If that's fraud, it is serious. If it is incompetence, it is also serious.

fredmoore - 06:36pm Jul 27, 2003 EST (# 13165 of 13267)

Rob,

"You need to get out more often"

Not getting out enough leads to intense depression and negativity such that all you see in the world is evil and threatening. Do I sound negative to you??? Didn't think so!

On the other hand the negativity in your posts is overwhelming and we all on this forum are wondering if you actually know how to take your own advice.

My advice to you: find an engineered wetland to visit and walk around or just a park with a good sized lake. Reflect on how this low entropy environment captures and stores the energy of the SUN and imparts some of it to you ... then report back to us.

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