[Grovenet] NK/Star Wars was: Shuttle launch

[allnutt]

I think there was a collective sigh of relief when NK's taepodong 2 missle 
fell into the sea within the first minute of flight.
When it was on the launch pad there was the unknown about whether it would 
work.
Same with our Star Wars program.
The rest of the world will know whether it works or not when we use it. 
Until then they can only speculate and they have to plan based on the 
possibility that it will work.

What is that saying.....you can keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool 
or you can open your mouth and remove all doubt.
That is the position that NK finds itself in right now.  Many speculated 
that the big rocket would not work, but they also speculated that maybe it 
could.  Now the doubt has been removed.

Of course NK probably learned a lot from the failure and will have a few 
bugs worked out for the next launch that they try, but we learned a lot too.
>From our perspective it is the same with Star Wars.  From the failure rate 
in our own tests, many speculate that it will not work in the real world. 
But the question remains whether we have learned enough from our failures to 
date.  As long as we keep our missles in their bay and don't fire them we 
are the ones with the most information.  If we fire them at NK's rockets we 
remove all doubt.

Of course the NK televisions have been silent about the failure of their big 
rocket, even though the rest of us know.
I'm with Geri.  If we had tested our Star Wars system and it failed I doubt 
that George would tell us.

And speaking of George, even though he turned 60 yesterday I bet he aged 
more than a day when NK launched their rocket.  Poor guy.

Katie

PS I've accompanied spouse to enough James Bond movies to entertain the 
thought that our Navy Seals are good enough to sneak in and either interfere 
with the rocket's GPS system or get into their control room or hack into 
their computers.  But as entertaining as that fantasy goes, the other post 
said to eliminate all the immpossibilities and what is left is the truth, 
stupidity or simple error being two that are often remaining.  They likely 
didn't mix inches with centimeters as we sometimes do, but there are lots of 
ways to mess up a rocket.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Morelli" <jo.david at verizon.net>
To: "Forest Grove local interests list" <grovenet at rdrop.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 05, 2006 10:06 PM
Subject: Re: [Grovenet] Shuttle launch in about 20 minutes!!


>
> On Jul 5, 2006, at 9:31 AM, Geri wrote:
>
>> Would we hear about it, if the "antis" had been tested?  I think, 
>> probably.  (What do you think, David?)  Did we know the N. Korea  missile 
>> tests would happen on July 4th and would fail after less  than a minute 
>> and fall into the Sea of Japan?  What if they had  gone farther?
>>
>> This is a weird situation.  Is it possible those in power in the  U.S. 
>> will figure out the least destructive route to take in  responding and 
>> dealing with N.K. from this point on?  So far, I've  heard mention of a 
>> cooperative plan with Russia, China, S. Korea.
>>
>> Are there any firm allies of N.K. who will stick with them in this 
>> matter, against the U.S.?
>>
>> Geri
>
> Geri,
>
> I was thinking that we have paid plenty for the development of anti- 
> missile missiles since the 1950's.  After 50 years we should have 
> something to show for it, right?  The President has shown a desire to 
> spend big bucks for the renewed "Star Wars" technology.  Since it has 
> been a few decades since the Reagan administration started dumping  money 
> into an anti-ICBM program, we should have something to show for  it, 
> right?  So, why not have some of that rather expensive technology  sitting 
> on one of our cruisers in the Korean Sea and every time North  Korea pops 
> something into the air we knock it down.
>
> If they can't get the data from their launches, they can't really  develop 
> their systems.  They won't know what does and doesn't work.
>
> Of course, this proposal only works if the multi-billion dollar  systems 
> work.
>
> After all, the Star War's system was supposed to protect us from  scores 
> of ICBM's launched from a variety of locations with no advance  warning. 
> North Korea is launching their missiles from known points  after they load 
> them on the launch platforms.  Either we can respond  to them or we 
> cannot.  If we cannot, then what possible value is a  "Star Wars" system? 
> We would be better off hiring suicide bombers to  attack North Korea.
>
> David
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> GroveNet mailing list
> GroveNet at rdrop.com
> http://www.rdrop.com/mailman/listinfo/grovenet
>