Dale.Amon@CMU-RI-FAS@sri-unix.UUCP (06/14/84)
If anybody got the latest Larouche show on tape, quite a number of us in L5 would be interested in getting copies of it. I mean what better publicity can you get than to be panned by LaDouchebag? To be classed right up there with Henry Kissenger? The sad part is, this must mean we're establishment now! Dale Amon Pres Pgh L5 & Spacepac Chapters Coordinator
myers@uwvax.ARPA (06/15/84)
>If anybody got the latest Larouche show on tape, quite a number of us in L5 >would be interested in getting copies of it. I mean what better publicity >can you get than to be panned by LaDouchebag? To be classed right up there >with Henry Kissenger? > >The sad part is, this must mean we're establishment now! > > Dale Amon > Pres Pgh L5 & > Spacepac Chapters Coordinator The sad part is that LaRouche is a very contradictory phenomenon. Many of his facts are right, but he draws the wrong conclusions (problems with the international banking system); much of what he attacks deserves attack (Kissenger (sic) and L5), but he employs the Big Lie to achieve his own ends. Much of what he supports is certain suicide for the world (massive arms build-up and Beam-the-Bomb proposals), yet many of his stated goals are noble and accurate (his contention that the world has the potential to eliminate hunger). Since this is net.space, and Dale Amon is an L5 type, let me get to the point. Dale (the pot (only a metaphor, no implications about body shape or drug consumption intended)) is calling LaDouche (an excellent name! (the kettle)) black, when they both support escalating an arms race in space. As Freeman Dyson has pointed out, a space-based defense system is not a priori a bad thing -- only in certain historical circumstances. He correctly argues that offensive weapons must be controlled first, followed by building a defensive system (if it's determined to be worth the investment of scarce natural and human resources). Going ahead full-steam with the development of Beam-the-Bomb schemes now will only fuel both an offensive and defensive arms race -- but it *will* keep gadgety scientists searching for a form of immortality happy. -- Jeff Myers ARPA: myers@wisc-rsch.arpa uucp: ..{seismo, ihnp4}!wisc-rsch!myers P.S. For those of you interested in Freeman Dyson's argument, consult his four-part article which appeared in *The New Yorker* earlier this year. JDM