Volconvo is a debate forum for the discussion of political, religious, and news-based topics.

Major Billy · Dec 15, 2004, 11:25 am

In the past 20 tests of this $500 billion monument to Ronald Reagan it has failed to shoot down our own missiles 17 times!

President Clinton was right.

Nono · Dec 15, 2004, 12:35 pm

Well the idea that you could erect a system that would -- in total violation of Murphy's Law, apart from anything else -- stop each and every nuclear warhead proceeding your way was always patently absurd. You had to have the hypnotic powers of Saint Ronald Reagan to even suggest this without being hooted out of court.

Let's not forget that this is what Star Wars was being touted as: something that would make treaties and verification irrelevant.

bishop · Dec 15, 2004, 12:55 pm

Quote:

The Missile Defense Agency has attempted to conduct the test several times this month, but scrubbed each one for a variety of reasons, including various weather problems and a malfunction on a recovery vessel not directly related to the equipment being tested.

Quote:

In earlier testing of tracking and targeting systems, which critics derided as highly scripted, missile interceptors went five-for-eight in hitting target missiles.

heh... so basically, this POS system will only work if the environmental settings are perfect.. maybe we could ask the bad guys to only attack us on a perfectly sunny day and give us time to set up before they launch?

what a joke.. god only knows how much of the total r&d budget this single program has wasted.

as an aside, increased threats from n. korea fits into the neocon agenda for increasingly containing china. we've effectively used this issue to reposition ourselves more strategically - around china. the missile defense system isn't protecting anyone - except defense companies.

Dieval · Dec 15, 2004, 01:08 pm

Best to just give up and not even try to protect ourselves, eh?

harumscarum · Dec 15, 2004, 01:16 pm

Well with $500 billion dollars you could probably do a shitload more to protect the US then wasting it away on a doomed project. I guess fiscal responsibility and reality is a concept that is not yet grasped by the ones keeping this project alive.

bishop · Dec 15, 2004, 01:17 pm

Quote:

Best to just give up and not even try to protect ourselves, eh?

hardly. please, be more intelligent in your replies, rather than these off-handed assumptions.

this system isn't helping us protect ourselves. if it did, that'd be a different story. but this POS system fails time after time. and even if it did work, it can't protect us against multiwarhead missiles or cruise missiles, so it's usefulness is severely limited. and like i said in the previous post, they need the environmental factors to be PERFECT before they can actually test the system - and even then the thing fails.

maybe instead of pissing money down the drain like usual, they should look for a program that would better defend the country? of course, these idiots spent over a decade working on the commanche before they finally decided to scrap it because it was garbage. most likely star wars will end up the same way, after pissing away billions of dollars that could've been better used elsewhere.

what's the solution to a system that doesn't work? more money of course. funny that the opposite is said when politicians ask for more funding for education in urban areas. people cite how test scores keep going down while funds keep going up.. likewise, star wars keeps failing while its funds keep going up.

Technosoul · Dec 15, 2004, 01:23 pm

Will the star wars defense sheld stop individuals with box cutters? And what is the real target here? Is the target those missles that might come from North Korea? Or is the real target your tax money?

That's right folks. It is the attempt of some big company to attack our Piggy Bank at the IRS and they get those Republican Presidents to spearhead the raid and the "occupation" of our money.

But you guys do like these so-called imaginary conspriacy theores so it is pointless to point out that G.E. got special defense contracts from Reagan who once worked for them as their P.R. man. Nope, we should not make any such "connections" like that.

So it costs us billions to hire Halliburton to supply our war effort in Irag. But hey, no connection between CEO Tricky Dick and Halliburton should warrent such any far out conspiriacy complants, after all, where is my proof? Poof the magic dragon?

Who cares if the war on Iraq or the defense shield is not working, let's ask Congress to turn over more tax money for those projects, after all freedom is not free, and so you got to give them companies all our bread to make sure it stays that way.

Technosoul.

Dieval · Dec 15, 2004, 01:31 pm

I'm sure there are quite a few other uses for $500 billion....but if a missle(or missles) were to be launched at us, and we could have prevented their impact and the untold billions(or trillions) in damages and loss of life, I'm sure you guys would the first to start the bitching and moaning about how the government SHOULD have finished what they started, and how they SHOULD have done this, and SHOULD have done that, and how it's all Bush's fault for not following through, etc, etc, etc... :rolleyes:

See whats happening? We're thinking ahead and spending money trying to prevent future attacks and people complain. Yet, people keep saying that we didn't plan ahead about Iraq, so they complain. People say that we didn't plan ahead to prevent 9/11, and they complain more. Now we're thinking ahead, trying to prevent attacks and there is STILL complaining. Some people, IMO, are just born complainers... :p

RickSp · Dec 15, 2004, 01:33 pm

The only thing being protected by Star Wars is the paychecks of the corporate execs at the government contractors.

The greatest threat from a nuclear weapon is one transported into the country in a shipping container. Realtively few containers are now inspected. A tiny fraction of the money being wasted in the SDI nonsense could pay for the hardware needed to inspect the containers.

All claims to the contrary, security is not Bush's first priority.

bishop · Dec 15, 2004, 01:34 pm

looks like they're making great progress too...

i'm not saying that we shouldn't look for ways to defend ourselves against such attacks. actually, i support the idea of defending ourselves against them. (you perpetually forget the fact that i voted for bush in 2000 and was a registered republican until i grew disaffected with the bushistas in 2003.)

they should look for a better solution because this star wars solution clearly isn't working.

bishop · Feb 15, 2005, 10:12 am

here's yet another failure of the program.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/...in666433.shtml

the might as well just set the money on fire and study the flame's colors.

Samildanach · Feb 15, 2005, 06:08 pm

hmm I hate to say it but a near miss ie a nuke on American soil might just wake you all up. A nuke that was stopped two minutes away from going off in Manhattan might actually get more people a bit more interested in what is really going on instead of just sticking their head in the sand.

Evil Baby · Feb 15, 2005, 06:20 pm

Certain adventures are certainly worth the money, however I don't think this is one of them. I'm glad Canada has decided not to join this program. It has been and continues to be a waste of money. I can't see any bright future for this project. It's not creating new technology that might help in other areas and it certainly isn't doing what it set out to do. Perhaps in a few years when technology advances a little it could be picked up again.

Dec 15, 2004, 11:25 am	#1 (permalink) (top)
Major Billy Molten Ash Posts: 90	"Star Wars" flops again In the past 20 tests of this $500 billion monument to Ronald Reagan it has failed to shoot down our own missiles 17 times! President Clinton was right. >>>--~(ô¿ô)~--->

Dec 15, 2004, 12:35 pm	#2 (permalink) (top)
Nono Throbbing Member Location: Old Europe Posts: 7,444	Well the idea that you could erect a system that would -- in total violation of Murphy's Law, apart from anything else -- stop each and every nuclear warhead proceeding your way was always patently absurd. You had to have the hypnotic powers of Saint Ronald Reagan to even suggest this without being hooted out of court. Let's not forget that this is what Star Wars was being touted as: something that would make treaties and verification irrelevant. "I wish I was as cocksure of anything as Tom Macaulay is of everything." -- Viscount Melbourne

Dec 15, 2004, 01:08 pm	#4 (permalink) (top)
Dieval Right of Center Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 3,007	Best to just give up and not even try to protect ourselves, eh? "You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life." -- Winston Churchill

Dec 15, 2004, 01:16 pm	#5 (permalink) (top)
harumscarum Igneous Magma Posts: 183	Well with $500 billion dollars you could probably do a shitload more to protect the US then wasting it away on a doomed project. I guess fiscal responsibility and reality is a concept that is not yet grasped by the ones keeping this project alive. under construction....

Dec 15, 2004, 01:31 pm	#8 (permalink) (top)
Dieval Right of Center Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 3,007	I'm sure there are quite a few other uses for $500 billion....but if a missle(or missles) were to be launched at us, and we could have prevented their impact and the untold billions(or trillions) in damages and loss of life, I'm sure you guys would the first to start the bitching and moaning about how the government SHOULD have finished what they started, and how they SHOULD have done this, and SHOULD have done that, and how it's all Bush's fault for not following through, etc, etc, etc... :rolleyes: See whats happening? We're thinking ahead and spending money trying to prevent future attacks and people complain. Yet, people keep saying that we didn't plan ahead about Iraq, so they complain. People say that we didn't plan ahead to prevent 9/11, and they complain more. Now we're thinking ahead, trying to prevent attacks and there is STILL complaining. Some people, IMO, are just born complainers... :p "You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life." -- Winston Churchill Last edited by Dieval; Dec 15, 2004 at 01:34 pm.

Dec 15, 2004, 01:23 pm	#7 (permalink) (top)
Technosoul Volcanic Erupter Posts: 8,936	Will the star wars defense sheld stop individuals with box cutters? And what is the real target here? Is the target those missles that might come from North Korea? Or is the real target your tax money? That's right folks. It is the attempt of some big company to attack our Piggy Bank at the IRS and they get those Republican Presidents to spearhead the raid and the "occupation" of our money. But you guys do like these so-called imaginary conspriacy theores so it is pointless to point out that G.E. got special defense contracts from Reagan who once worked for them as their P.R. man. Nope, we should not make any such "connections" like that. So it costs us billions to hire Halliburton to supply our war effort in Irag. But hey, no connection between CEO Tricky Dick and Halliburton should warrent such any far out conspiriacy complants, after all, where is my proof? Poof the magic dragon? Who cares if the war on Iraq or the defense shield is not working, let's ask Congress to turn over more tax money for those projects, after all freedom is not free, and so you got to give them companies all our bread to make sure it stays that way. Technosoul.

Dec 15, 2004, 01:33 pm	#9 (permalink) (top)
RickSp Volcanic Erupter Posts: 9,589	The only thing being protected by Star Wars is the paychecks of the corporate execs at the government contractors. The greatest threat from a nuclear weapon is one transported into the country in a shipping container. Realtively few containers are now inspected. A tiny fraction of the money being wasted in the SDI nonsense could pay for the hardware needed to inspect the containers. All claims to the contrary, security is not Bush's first priority. Rick "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." Sinclair Lewis

Dec 15, 2004, 01:34 pm	#10 (permalink) (top)
bishop moderat-e/o-r Location: boston Posts: 11,184	looks like they're making great progress too... i'm not saying that we shouldn't look for ways to defend ourselves against such attacks. actually, i support the idea of defending ourselves against them. (you perpetually forget the fact that i voted for bush in 2000 and was a registered republican until i grew disaffected with the bushistas in 2003.) they should look for a better solution because this star wars solution clearly isn't working. hope for america... http://www.ronpaul2008.com/

Feb 15, 2005, 10:12 am	#11 (permalink) (top)
bishop moderat-e/o-r Location: boston Posts: 11,184	here's yet another failure of the program. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/...in666433.shtml the might as well just set the money on fire and study the flame's colors.

Feb 15, 2005, 06:08 pm	#12 (permalink) (top)
Samildanach Pragmatist Location: UK London Posts: 1,979	hmm I hate to say it but a near miss ie a nuke on American soil might just wake you all up. A nuke that was stopped two minutes away from going off in Manhattan might actually get more people a bit more interested in what is really going on instead of just sticking their head in the sand. I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs and insanity for everyone, but its always worked for me. Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime." (Ernest Hemingway)

Feb 15, 2005, 06:20 pm	#13 (permalink) (top)
Evil Baby Igneous Magma Posts: 313	Certain adventures are certainly worth the money, however I don't think this is one of them. I'm glad Canada has decided not to join this program. It has been and continues to be a waste of money. I can't see any bright future for this project. It's not creating new technology that might help in other areas and it certainly isn't doing what it set out to do. Perhaps in a few years when technology advances a little it could be picked up again.