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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 - 10:54pm Oct 14, 2003 EST (# 15030 of 15067)

Great rap, Fred! :-)

gisterme - 11:11pm Oct 14, 2003 EST (# 15031 of 15067)

Fred -

"...The equations are thus:

300million Rules 6billion ===== CRASH BANG

6Billion Rules 6Billion ===== LONG PROSPEROUS FUTURE

KAEP: 300million/6Billion >>>>>>converting slowly but steadily >>>>> 6BILLION/6BILLION..."

Ummm, Fred, and with all due resepct, I'd suggest that you might need to explain some of the variables in your equations if you'd hope to have them make sense to anybody but yourself.

300 million what / 6 billion what ?

How can: (300 million anything / 6 billion anything) EVER equal (6 billion of it / 6 billion of it) ?? ??

Have you invented a new arithemetic operator? :-) If you you ought to pick a different symbol to represent it. Most folks take the one you used to mean "division".

lchic - 11:14pm Oct 14, 2003 EST (# 15032 of 15067)
TRUTH outs ultimately : TRUTH has to be morally forcing : build on TRUTH it's a strong foundation

Think Nationally & Globally!

gisterme - 11:19pm Oct 14, 2003 EST (# 15033 of 15067)

Fred -

"...The equations are thus:

300million Rules 6billion ===== CRASH BANG

6Billion Rules 6Billion ===== LONG PROSPEROUS FUTURE

KAEP: 300million/6Billion >>>>>>converting slowly but steadily >>>>> 6BILLION/6BILLION..."

Ummm, Fred, and with all due resepct, I'd suggest that you might need to explain some of the variables in your equations if you'd hope to have them make sense to anybody but yourself.

300 million what / 6 billion what ?

How can: (300 million anything / 6 billion anything) EVER equal (6 billion of it / 6 billion of it) ?? ??

Have you invented a new arithmetic operator? :-) If so, you ought to pick a different symbol to represent it. Most folks take the one you used to mean "division". And, just out of curiosity, where do the other 5 billion 970 million come from? (Using US billions here). What's the "conversion" that slowly creates the extra 5.97 billion?

gisterme - 11:22pm Oct 14, 2003 EST (# 15034 of 15067)

"Think Nationally & Globally!"

Great Scott!! Lchic, I think you've coined an oxymoron!

wrcooper - 11:28pm Oct 14, 2003 EST (# 15035 of 15067)

In re: http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.UsrvbnVpODi.2598762@.f28e622/16709

jorian319

I agree with Will ,,,

Of course you do.

[A]n ineffective MD system is worse than none at all.

I can hear Dubya now: "We got us a missile shield. So if any terrorist group launches a missile at us, we can shoot it down. So bring 'em on! I say to every terrorist who thinks he can threaten America, go ahead, fire your missile! You'll see that America is ready for you. Bring 'em on! But, beware, you can run but you can't hide. Just ask Ossama Bin Laden. I mean Sadaam Hussein. No, I mean, uh, Dick Cheney!"

And falsely elevating the importance of missile defense will take an unfathomable toll on our economy, our resources, and worst of all, on our national gestalt.

I hope what it will do, once the American public figures out it's a scam, is topple this smarmy regime of corporate hacks and oily fundamentalist creeps.

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