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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.

lunarchick - 05:41pm Jan 10, 2003 EST (# 7577 of 7588)

Iraq - DITHER/London - Editorial

There's a call from London that any move into Iraq be postponed to September. Were this to happen it would allow a 'dither' period for talk and negotiation.

Editorial:

There can be no wavering from the goal of disarming Iraq, but all chances of doing so peacefully should be explored before the world is asked to decide on war. Before that point is reached, Washington should share its evidence with the public.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/10/opinion/10FRI1.html

lunarchick - 05:47pm Jan 10, 2003 EST (# 7578 of 7588)

DI-THER-PLOMACY

Showalter what would you think if the word DI-PLOMACY were changed to DI-THER-PLOMACY ... would it give more time to find the ugly-frayed edges and re-sort and adjust them back to beauty and smoother functionality.

lunarchick - 05:53pm Jan 10, 2003 EST (# 7579 of 7588)

When ever people from different contries/cultures come together there's a WestSideStory aspect - fights

between gangs - 'Jets' and 'Sharks'

JETS

The Jets are gonna have their day
Tonight
The Jets are gonna have their way
Tonight
The Puerto Ricans grumble
'Fair fight'
But if they start a rumble
We'll rumble'em right

SHARKS

We're gonna hand'em a surprise Tonight
We're gonna cut'em down to size
Tonight

http://www.musiclinks.nl/songteksten/Westside_Story_Soundtrack/7108.html

lunarchick - 06:06pm Jan 10, 2003 EST (# 7580 of 7588)

Movements of peoples ... migrations ... refugees ...

mean re-settlement into a 'new' and very 'different' culture

In the USA those migrants who may have come in as babes and known no other culture, who speak only American-English and are through and through, thoroughly AMERICAN .... are, if they commit a misdemeanor and haven't been put through the process of full-citizenship by their adoptedfamily/family ...

being DEPORTED

to the land of their birthplace

there - imprisoned for weeks or month in foul crowded cells until released into the community.

America offers no re-settlement grant.

~~~~~~~~~

America will have the highest ratio of 'social-adjustment' specialists per head of 1000 population in the world.

What went wrong?

Why did the social and political adjusters FAIL youth.

Cambodia has had over 1400 young American people pushed into it.

South America is having young Americans re-directed.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Is there no attempt by the USA to 'straighten the thinking of these 'children' out' within US society?

Why do 'gangs' become a phenomena?

What factors are at work?

How can a host Culture transform failure to success within it's own borders.

What 'damage' is USA failure doing to the countries that are receiving these 'well fed, well developed muscular people - in suits, who are culturally abhorations within their parent's and grandparents old culture - and may not even speak the language.

Is the US just 'copping-out'!

lunarchick - 06:15pm Jan 10, 2003 EST (# 7581 of 7588)

Gisterme says he's at war ... I'm not sure with whom, but, wars have both orbital-debris and human-debris in the form of disoriented peoples who have to be accommodated elsewhere!

America (above) demonstrates that it - as a society can't manage to iron out the 'ugly - frayed' aspects of re-settlement.

If it's integration policy, and that's a country with the highest number of social specialists per 1000 head of population in the world, hasn't been sufficient to get people up and running and integrated .... then what chances have refugees - anywhere ?

lunarchick - 06:24pm Jan 10, 2003 EST (# 7582 of 7588)

Eurasian land mass

- baltic sea may freeze over (last did this in 1948)- 300 frozen dead collected from the streets/subways/homes of Moscow

- Afganistan - many dwellings unfit for wintering over in - mass movements of peoples into Pakistan

- Germany - FOUR MILLION UNEMPLOYED

~~~~~~~

It seems there's plenty of opportunity to put people to work to improve the quality and standards of life without unnecessarily flushing more people as refugees into overloaded systems.

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