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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.

wrcooper - 12:28am Jul 27, 2002 EST (#3320 of 3327)

rshowalt 7/26/02 10:34pm

Don't you get it? Nobody of any consequence monitors this forum. Why would high government officials or nationally prominent journalists or secret agencies give a hoot about what Bob Showalter, a Madison grad student, thinks about missile defense? That's just nuts. Who are you that anybody would really care what you said or thought about this issue?

First of all, if you really wanted to have some impact on the debate, why pursue it in an online forum? You should be writing daily letters to politicians, donating money to Washington pressure groups who take your side in the issue, visiting Washington to protest, or writing articles for your local newspaper or for magazines. Nobody cares what's written in these ephemeral boards.

I am pretty sure that George Johnson doesn't read them. He quit as host of the "Mysteries" boards, because he didn't have the time to devote to monitoring them. Believe it or not, George is a very busy writer and family man living in New Mexico. He's working on another book, I'd wager, which is a full-time occupation, in addition to his regular submissions to the NYT. If you hae communicated with him personally, he probably knows of your existence, but I would be greatly surprised if he ever visited these forums. He's got much bigger fish to fry.

You're simply living in a delusional fantasy world if you think your hypergraphic repetitious rants on this board have any impact in the real world. People who do serious things in the world have more important matters at hand than to worry about the inconsequential ruminations of an obscure person from Wisconsin.

Mind you, I am saying nothing about the validity or worth of any of your criticisms of BMD. I share many of your same concerns, as I've written here. But these forums are more or less created and are funded with the purpose of drawing people into the online NYT world, so that they'll see the NYT ads. They also help encourage people to buy the newspaper and to stay loyal to the NYT. It's a marketing tool for the company.

You're seriously wasting your time and fooling yourself if you think that any influential people in power pay attention to what you write here. That's truly nutty, if that's what you think.

I imagine that if you do believe this is true, it's because that's how you justify to yourself the incredible amount of time you devote to this activity. You have to convince yourself it's important, that it counts for something. Bob, I'll tell you brutally and honestly what it amounts to, and that is nothing. This forum, and all your thousands and thousands of words, will eventually be erased, just like seven other forums in the Science section that were archived today, and will be erased shortly.

These forums mean nothing, except to the people who find them diverting or fun or interesting. They're not a serious venue where movers and shakers come to sample the pulse of America. Nobody cares what you write.

If you want your ideas on BMD to count for something, then ally yourself with a group that lobbies against it. Write the MIT physicist--is his name Victor Postel? I forget--and offer to help him. He's been a lightning rod on the issue. Spend your time writing politicians or other academics whom you might persuade to get involved in signing a petition. Do something real. This isn't real, and if you think it is, you are crazy.

That's the truth.

And I am William Cooper, Chicago, IL, wcooper@21stcentury.com, a subdivision of RCN Chicago. You can check that.

kalter.rauch - 03:17am Jul 27, 2002 EST (#3321 of 3327)
Earth vs <^> <^> <^>

Rshowalt......

I just recently tuned into THIS forum for entertainment...THAT'S ALL!!!

I don't have time to sift through tons of posts to uncover the roots of your morbidly byzantine suspicions. Like, I mean, I've never heard of George Johnson, but you're making "him" out to be a MIB masquerading as a NYT reporter. For that matter, how can you be certain "lchic" is on the level ?!?!? So far, it seems "she" is continually promulgating extraneous anti-"Establishment" positions...perhaps in order to buttress your own suspicions??? After all, you're bound to be far more accepting of "her" indictments, at least on a sub-conscious level, because "she" has been your stalwart ally.

If it will help your peace of mind, (((I))) deleted that earlier bit of doggerel in favor of a nearly as bad analogy likening "lchic" to an enemy warhead......

lchic - 03:23am Jul 27, 2002 EST (#3322 of 3327)

Interesting how the above two monikers are so talkative - one about the other - like characters in a work of fiction! Posting at all hours - that's loyalty to the Shadow - or - a grab for overtime rates of pay.

lchic - 03:39am Jul 27, 2002 EST (#3323 of 3327)

One fifth of Palestinian children 'are chronically hungry' Justin Huggler in Jerusalem

Palestinian children 'chronically hungry'

The Israeli re-occupation of West Bank towns is on the verge of causing a humanitarian crisis among Palestinians, diplomats and aid agencies are warning. As many as a fifth of Palestinian children are suffering acute malnutrition, according to the preliminary results of a new survey by an American aid organisation.

Seventy per cent of Palestinians now live on less than $2 (£1.30) a day, according to a new figure that is being circulated in Israel.

So pressing is the concern that fears of a humanitarian crisis were raised at the last meeting of the so-called Middle East quartet of the US, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union.

The US ambassador to Israel, Daniel Kurtzer, told the Israeli authorities this week that the situation in the occupied territories was "a humanitarian disaster".

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=318820

fort23 - 06:42am Jul 27, 2002 EST (#3324 of 3327)

Er, yeah, and there's a whole big forum dedicated to the Palestinian issue where you can discuss it! Bon Voyage!

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