karl@sugar.uu.net (Karl Lehenbauer) (12/23/88)
In article <5141@brspyr1.BRS.Com>, miket@brspyr1.BRS.Com (Mike Trout) writes: > all other things being equal, our extravangant highway system would permit a > mechanized invader to cover massive amounts of territory with little effort So, we shouldn't have roads because it would help our enemies invade us, eh? This sounds like a variant of the sort of "the automobile is a tool for the bougeois lackeys of the imperialist warmongers" stuff I used to read in the Boston Globe and hear from Boston city planners. I note your Newtonville, MA address. I assume you have "bought in" to make such a remarkable statement. -- -- "We've been following your progress with considerable interest, not to say -- contempt." -- Zaphod Beeblebrox IV -- uunet!sugar!karl, Unix BBS (713) 438-5018
miket@brspyr1.BRS.Com (Mike Trout) (12/29/88)
In article <3144@sugar.uu.net>, karl@sugar.uu.net (Karl Lehenbauer) writes: > In article <5141@brspyr1.BRS.Com>, miket@brspyr1.BRS.Com (Mike Trout) writes: > > all other things being equal, our extravangant highway system would permit a > > mechanized invader to cover massive amounts of territory with little effort > So, we shouldn't have roads because it would help our enemies invade us, eh? I never said nor implied that. You did. > This sounds like a variant of the sort of "the automobile is a tool for the > bougeois lackeys of the imperialist warmongers" stuff I used to read in the > Boston Globe and hear from Boston city planners. I note your Newtonville, > MA address. I have never been to Newtonville, Mass., and don't even know where it is. I have visited Boston maybe three or four times in my entire life. > I assume you have "bought in" to make such a remarkable statement. What statement was that? I don't recall saying anything particularly remarkable. On the other hand, I note your Houston, Tex. address and wonder about your connection with the oil companies :-). -- NSA food: Iran sells Nicaraguan drugs to White House through CIA, DIA & NRO. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Michael Trout (miket@brspyr1)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BRS Information Technologies, 1200 Rt. 7, Latham, N.Y. 12110 (518) 783-1161 "God forbid we should ever be 20 years without...a rebellion." Thomas Jefferson
kurt@tc.fluke.COM (Kurt Guntheroth) (01/03/89)
Guess what. Our extravagant highway system (at least the network of interstate highways) is precisely designed for military transport. It is designed to rapidly move large defensive forces across the vast expanse of the united states to repel evil enemy invaders. Have a look at the authorizing legislation, passed just after WWII. Why is this in comp.misc?
miket@brspyr1.BRS.Com (Mike Trout) (01/05/89)
In article <6453@fluke.COM>, kurt@tc.fluke.COM (Kurt Guntheroth) writes: > Guess what. Our extravagant highway system (at least the network of > interstate highways) is precisely designed for military transport. It is > designed to rapidly move large defensive forces across the vast expanse of > the united states to repel evil enemy invaders. Have a look at the > authorizing legislation, passed just after WWII. Well, that was sort of the original idea, and that's the approach that had to be taken in the language of the legislation. But there was actually quite a controversy about this at the time. A lot of folks expected that when complete, the Interstate Highway System would be virtually unused by the public, and that crews would have to walk the highways pulling weeds out of the cracks. This was expected partly because the roads were accused of going "from nowhere to nowhere", and partly because it was expected that the motoring public would not want to get tangled up with the giant military convoys that were expected to be frequently using the roads. There was some talk that during major military maneuvers (which were quite frequent in those days) all Interstates might be closed to the public anyway. I remember some anti-Interstate magazine ads with artist's conceptions of completed Interstates, with not a single vehicle visible from horizon to horizon. As a result of the controversy, there were some minor redesigns of some of the major Interstate rights of way, to better serve public transportation needs. It wasn't too long before it was realized that US automobile traffic was growing at a virtually uncontrollable rate and the Interstate system would help accommodate the demand for new highways. The military function was slowly forgotten and the Interstate Defense Highway System quietly became the Interstate Highway System. If only we knew then what we know now... It is often overlooked that although US WW2 production was of truly titantic quantity, moving the stuff and troops around within this admittedly gigantic nation was also a gargantuan task. For example, although over 300,000 (yes, 300,000!) airplanes were built in the USA, probably less than a third of them left our shores. It's not much of an exaggeration when people say that we couldn't have won the war without our railroads. But the war virtually wore out the US railroad system, and the military wanted a transport backup, thus part of the reason for the Interstate Defense Highway idea. But as has been stated before, well-developed transport systems aid invaders as well as defenders. > Why is this in comp.misc? Why not? This group is so catch-all anyway. Maybe we should start misc.transportation... -- NSA food: Iran sells Nicaraguan drugs to White House through CIA, DIA & NRO. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Michael Trout (miket@brspyr1)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BRS Information Technologies, 1200 Rt. 7, Latham, N.Y. 12110 (518) 783-1161 "God forbid we should ever be 20 years without...a rebellion." Thomas Jefferson