Bracing for the Apocolypse (Aim of the Clinton administration was to DO NOTHING)

townhall ^ | February 13, 2003 | Charles Krauthammer

[BenLurkin]

bttt

[PoisedWoman]

the 1990s, our holiday from history.

A memorable line in a great editorial.

[paul544]

This truth about that MFer KKKlinton, needs to be shouted from every mountain top.

[Brett66]

Good article. BTTT

[Licensed-To-Carry]

Scary, and unfortunately very true. Thanks Klinton.

[republicandiva]

Great article. Thanks for posting it. BTTT

[JulieRNR21]

A Must READ BUMP

[NormsRevenge]

"Never Forget" BUMP

[nvskibum]

I hate to correct the great Krauthammer, but Carl Sagan did not devise the formula to estimate the probability of intelligent life in the universe. The formula was developed by the great visionary radio astronomer Frank Drake, and is known as the "Drake Equation." I believe Drake was the first radio astronomer to use a radio telescope to search for extra-terrestrial intelligence ("SETI"), I think in the early 1960's.

Sagan only popularized Drake's work in his many books.

Krauthammer should not forget his fact checking!

[nocommies]

great article, just a reminder of how utterly miserable a president that rat fink klinton was. i do like that word "WAS" though!! klinton was, is, and forever will be, a TRAITOR!!! and NEVER FORGET, he is legally married to ANOTHER EVIL TRAITOR.

[TLBSHOW]

btt

[McGavin999]

The intelligence and knowledge of Freepers just blows me away. You are an excellent example of that. :o)

[ArcLight]

I caught the Drake reference too, but I don't recall that Drake factored in the odds of extinction. Maybe that was Sagan's contribution to the equation?

[rdb3]

*

[gg188]

What are the odds that our species will manage to contain this awful knowledge without self-destruction--not for a billion years or a million or even a thousand, but just through the lifetime of our children?

Here's how we can survive and civilization can survive:

We demonstrate that all on the planet who will use terrorism or WMD's will be destroyed from the face of the earth without question or delay. If you show no inclination toward terrorism or WMD's, you will live happily ever after. End of story.

We so believe in the rightness of our cause that we will accept the responsiblity for exacting these standards for coexistance on Earth.

(This will never happen because we do not have the will to survive and we do not have the confidence in the rightness of our beliefs.)

[kimosabe31]

Terrific article.

[Positive]

Here's another slight inaccuracy; Mr. K said WMD have been around for less than 100 years...technically true.

But only around the 1970's did humanity actually accumalate the power to distroy itself. In those years the US and the USSR had amassed sufficient nuclear stockplies to in reality eliminate all life on the planet.

[nvskibum]

Actually, the Drake Equation was intended to estimate how many intelligent civilizations might exist in our galaxy (or the the universe as a whole) that have technology enabling us to receive their radio emissions by means of a radio telescope. One of the variables measures the time that intelligent, radio-communicating inhabitants of a planet survive before destroying themselves. I think that this concept was part of the original Drake Equation.

See, for example, this link for more:

http://www.activemind.com/Mysterious/Topics/SETI/drake_equation.html

[Norman Arbuthnot]

There is a real question whether we can win the race. Year One of the new era, 2002, passed rather peaceably. Year Two will not: 2003 could be as cataclysmic as 1914 or 1939.

Unfortunately, I think Krauthammer will prove to be prophetic on this point.