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A guy at our church used to be a domestic terrorist. He had joined a KKK group. When he was finally caught and imprisoned, he had bombed dozens of black churches and synagogues. Initially, prison made him worse. But during a long stretch of solitary confinement, he finally took stock of his life and asked God to help him change into a better person.

Given that record I'm not going to take her assertions on the Verona Project at face value; only a sucker would. So if the parent can find independent support for the claims about the Verona Project, I'm interested, but if it's all based on Ann Coulter's brand of unsupported claims, forget it,

See, here's the problem, Clear Channel can't censor anyone because they're NOT THE GOVERNMENT.

Nothing in broadcasting counts as free enterprise it's more like government outsourcing to private industry. Don't kid yourself, they still keep very tight controls.

Philip Taubman was on C-SPAN's Booknotes last Sunday. They have information about the book, a transcript of the interview, and even video (not sure what format).

But we have seen this before in human history, for example, the Ming Dynasty of China and the voyages of the eunuch Zhen He (Cheng Ho). China at that time had broken free from Mongol rule, and centuries of progress in engineering, science, arts, and philosophy could justify a Chinese feeling that the Ming Dynasty was the greatest civilization the Earth had ever seen. For seven voyages Zheng He captained a stupendous fleet that explored the coasts all the way to East Africa, trading and exacting tribute. In theory Southeast Asia, the surrounding islands, and the coasts of the Indian Ocean lay at China's feet.

The problem was that China was the center of civilization. There was no immediate reason to conquer and displace inferiors. What could they offer China? China had no incentive to put skin in the game. And since China's explorations were financed and controlled by the government, once the program lost favor with the leadership, all such exploration could be swiftly terminated.

Today's space craft sent to other planets or other outer space bodies are our equivalent of the voyages of Zheng He. For a generation the idea of exploring space captured the imagination of a rising and relatively rich civilization. But now the civilization is facing other concerns, concerns closer to home. And the civilization believes that it is the greatest of all time with no competitor on the horizon. The greatest science, the greatest engineering, the greatest arts, the greatest philosophy all permeate the civilization, one which can earnestly ask if it has reached the end of history.

And the civilization has a better alternate space program than one that could actually be physically constructed. Through the magic of special effects in television, movies, and games all potential space programs and futures can be experienced by the masses, the ultimate space program of the mind.

The cycles of history teach us that such a period of self-satisfaction turns into degeneration and finally collapse. After the wise king follows the corrupt sons and grandsons who cannot hold the kingdom together let alone promote expansion. The failure of this generation to take its shot at further manned space exploration means it will be a while until the next window of opportunity opens.

Thoreau -- in an obvious way. "Civil Disobedience" has been an enormously important text. Gandhi picked it up, Martin Luther King picked it up. It was important to the Danes in World War II when the Nazis said, "We're going to put stars of David on all the Jews." The Danish king said, well, he'd wear a star, and then everybody in Denmark wore a star, and so the labeling was useless, and he'd learned that from Thoreau. And "Civil Disobedience," as an idea, has been very strong. Emerson's political importance is nothing so obvious as "Civil Disobedience," although he also came to the point of saying when the law was wrong, you had to disobey the law. And it was Emerson who said, "Good men should not obey the law too well," meaning that there are times when conscience has to be over the law.

Gene Kranz. Has a wild haircut.
Jon Katz. Has no hair.

Gene Kranz. Is admired and respected by his readers.
Jon Katz. Nope. (lothe is a better word)

Gene Kranz. Has made significant contribution to the advancement of humankind.
Jon Katz. Has made a significant advancement in helping kids find porn on the net.
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KEYBOARD DEBATE
DECEMBER 27, 1995
TRANSCRIPT - Interview with Stoll.

A documentary transcript with bits from Stoll.

An interview with him on his book "The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage"



LetterJ