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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.

lchic - 08:53pm Sep 18, 2002 EST (# 4388 of 4409)

FAIR ... that's very unfair Showalter, regarding those itchy fingers in your e-mail pie!

The Poster said to strike him out - so i just did that - and the thread has improved flow and readabilty. Thanks for the tip 'poster'!

I was thinking about Models of Government wondering if the model tolerated by USA citizens could be improved ... by making the postition of president a figurehead one (pull down that son of a gun JohnWayne image for a wisely cultured one) ... the 'b' movies of Wayne flowed under the media bridge long ago ... folks moved on .... seems strange that the Wayne image prevails in the Whitehouse.

If the Whitehouse were turned into a museum it could be a money earner ... a figurehead president could work from home ... the real business of the country be carried out via the Parliament. Make those responsible for policy responsive, have 'elected' folks making decisions, have them compliant with modern demands for transparency.

What happens to the tax dollar?
How is it split?
Where is it spent?
Can those paying tax (the superRich don't) have a say in how their dollar is spent ...
Should it go to MD .. should they employ thousands of people to 'polish' unusable missiles daily ... or - if folks had a say - could they opt for their dollars to be used functionally, futuristically and in humaine ways... as Showalter suggested (above) ... why not gradually move the engineering corpse over to projects that have real 'value', why not?

lchic - 05:14am Sep 19, 2002 EST (# 4389 of 4409)

"" Mr. Romero tries to avoid the abstract when he talks about the importance of safeguarding civil liberties: "I just say that most Americans would think it's wrong to hold people without charging them with a crime, and without letting them see a lawyer, and to consider them guilty until they're proven innocent."

This latest campaign to uphold the rights enshrined in the Constitution has not done the A.C.L.U. any harm. Memberships and contributions have gone way up since Sept. 11, 2001. My guess is that for most Americans the sorrow and the fear have not overwhelmed their devotion to freedom or their commitment to fairness. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/19/opinion/19HERB.html

lchic - 05:51am Sep 19, 2002 EST (# 4390 of 4409)

"" "Thor's Day" or "Thorsdagar" in Old Norse (Thursday), was named for a huge and hearty Norse God who was a defender against the world of chaos with his hammer, referred to as Mjollnir, the Destroyer. http://www.earth-dancing.com/thorsday.htm

Now they've thrown in the spanner - it's a nuclear hammer!

commondata - 06:24am Sep 19, 2002 EST (# 4391 of 4409)

Mo Mowlam, who was responsible for UK drugs policy, knows that legalising the $400 billion a year trade in drugs will do more to safeguard US security than missile defense:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,794691,00.html

Jeb Bush has actively opposed a proposed ballot initiative that would send an estimated 10,000 nonviolent drug offenders into treatment instead of jail. He knows his daughter is different:

http://www.salon.com/news/col/huff/2002/09/16/war_on_drugs/index.html

lchic - 08:28am Sep 19, 2002 EST (# 4392 of 4409)

My 'dimple' post's gone into the 'recount' box ... should re-appear

commondata - 08:32am Sep 19, 2002 EST (# 4393 of 4409)

re. the dimple, you should judge for yourself lchic:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/nbush1.html

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