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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.

jorian319 - 08:43pm Sep 6, 2003 EST (# 13546 of 13553)

"I will certainly not impersonate the President or any other government official. "

Woah - I was only kidding, gisterme. I'd never encourage dishonesty anyhow. I guess I should be more literal in this medium.

Re The Guardian, how would you describe the "narrow demographic" of their target? I, for one, am surprised that someone as articulate as Rshow would actually find credence in that pub.

rshow55 - 08:51pm Sep 6, 2003 EST (# 13547 of 13553)
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.

Gisterme , I'm not overwhelmed by your unsupported argument.

Sometimes, I want to think about things, and move fairly slowly. Carefully. I don't have to respond instantly to everything - nobody else does.

I've made arguments about what it would take to check about missile defense - and repeated them. I think the following references all put the argument in contexts worth looking at.

Some responsible politicians, of both parties, ought to be asking careful questions. Leaders of other nation states should be asking them too. And wondering about the motivations behind things being done.

789-90 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.nanMbJfHETr.7700767@.f28e622/991

877 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.nanMbJfHETr.7700767@.f28e622/1116

1075 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.nanMbJfHETr.7700767@.f28e622/1368

1239-40 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.nanMbJfHETr.7700767@.f28e622/1582

1575-6 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.nanMbJfHETr.7700767@.f28e622/1582

1895-6 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.nanMbJfHETr.7700767@.f28e622/2367

2101 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.nanMbJfHETr.7700767@.f28e622/2605

4063-4 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.nanMbJfHETr.7700767@.f28e622/5117

5333 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.nanMbJfHETr.7700767@.f28e622/6688

5840-1 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.nanMbJfHETr.7700767@.f28e622/7267

6167 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.nanMbJfHETr.7700767@.f28e622/7645

9254 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.nanMbJfHETr.7700767@.f28e622/10780

12878 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.nanMbJfHETr.7700767@.f28e622/14554

13534 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.nanMbJfHETr.7700767@.f28e622/15226 contains things I'm standing by - including this:

. Gisterme denies that he wants people to think he's a powerful personage. People can click http://www.mrshowalter.net/PostsBy_Gisterme.htm - look at the links, and judge for themselves.

Since Bush is making an important speech tomorrow - I thought I'd wait and give him some benefit of the doubt.

jorian319 - 10:03pm Sep 6, 2003 EST (# 13548 of 13553)

Gisterme,

I can only imagine your consternation after visiting PostsBy_Gisterme.htm at Robert's site. I'd be pretty creeped out too.

wrcooper - 10:55pm Sep 6, 2003 EST (# 13549 of 13553)

I have met Bob Showalter, and I can assure you all that he doesn't have horns growing out of his head, and his eyes weren't spinning around in their sockets. He spoke to me evenly and calmly. He doesn't come across in person as nuts. However, his posts do most unmistakenly come across sometimes as completely wacko.

I agree with Jorian319 that Showalter's obsession with gisterme is creepy and nutty. I think it is a sign that Bob's, to some degree, delusional and paranoid. I also think he's grandiose--his conviction that he's conversing online with seniro administration officals and affecting national foreign policy at the highest levels is a sign of deep insecurity.

From the little I know of Bob's background--assuming that everything he's told me is true--he has had a rough time of it, professionally and personally. He's suffered from a physical condition that I won't disclose, since he may wish to keep it quiet at this point.

I do not believe Bob's dangerous in any way. I really don't. He's just confused and out of touch. That said, I think he's right on in some of what he says. I mean, the Bush missile defense program is an expensive scam and a meal ticket cum power prop thrown to the DoD boys and their federal trough-feeding corporate übermeisters.

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