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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?

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rshow55 - 08:11am Jul 30, 2003 EST (# 13182 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.

I'd be enormously grateful if someone on NYT staff would tell me how to make email or telephone or mail contact with Howell Raines. I understand he has not even a shadow of an obligation - but if he would talk to me - I'd be grateful - and he might find it interesting, as well. I'm sure that Raines would bend over backwards to keep faith with the TIMES - and I'd want to do the same, as well.

I'm going for a vacation, to visit my wife's mother and my parents and family for the next ten days - but will check my email, and call into the New York office. I'm sending a copy of this to staff@nytimes.com as well as to you - perhaps getting a way to contact Mr. Raines is simple.

I very much admire your work, and appreciate your time.

Respectfully,

M. Robert Showalter Bob Showalter

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

I thought, and still think, that it was reasonable for me to write this note - because I wanted to see what would happen. Would a contact with Mr. Raines really have been difficult? People at the Times may know what happened, and who was consulted after this letter was sent. If anything. If anyone. I can only guess. I'm guessing about the response to to the note - not guessing about some of the responses on this board since the 23d.

No one can be totally straightforward - and Richard Friedman makes clear that, one way or another, everybody lies at some level, about some things. Within my circumstances, I've worked to be straightforward.

Truth About Lies: Telling Them Can Reveal a Lot By RICHARD A. FRIEDMAN, M.D. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/29/health/psychology/29BEHA.html

Have my statements had anything to do with the events that led to Magruder's recent statements? I can only guess - some other people will know.

New Details, Same Nixon By DAVID GREENBERG http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/29/opinion/29GREE.html

Solving the mystery of Richard Nixon's foreknowledge of the Watergate break-in will not change our basic judgment of him or his presidency.

As Greenberg points out - plenty about the past is not reconstructable. A great deal is .

If you follow this board, it is easy to see that I couldn't do the things I propose in

13039 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.Z9exbJU7wf8.2132825@.f28e622/14716

13040 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.Z9exbJU7wf8.2132825@.f28e622/14717

13041 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.Z9exbJU7wf8.2132825@.f28e622/14718

- I'd be blocked - quite often on status grounds. If someone with the stature and connections of Howell Raines were involved - the work could actually get done. Moreover, it could be done honestly - and, I believe, in a way "the average reader of The New York Times " would approve of.

rshow55 - 08:16am Jul 30, 2003 EST (# 13183 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.

To do things I've promised to do, and feel I have a right to do, I have to have a certain independence - too many government promises are not met for me to think I can get much done if I can be stopped at the whim of the government.

The Great Catfish War http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/22/opinion/22TUE1.html

The fate of Vietnam's catfish offers a warning to poorer nations that try to play by the big boys' rules in the world trading system.

I haven't compromised about that, so far, and don't feel I can, or should.

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New York Times on the Web Forums Science Missile Defense