While I am not a supporter of Newt Gingrich, bringing public attention to the possibility of an EMP attack or a solar megastorm may help save many millions of lives.

See the Aesop Institute website to understand that statement.

Multiple meltdowns of nuclear plants are a very real potential threat from the sun.

A wise program to prevent the worst can sharply boost the economy and may change the political landscape.

and another way to consider this article on Newt is that NO other candidate for the Presidency has as numerous, momentous and CORRECT predictions ergo they reside in his shadow

The article smacks of pure bias and a unjournalistic attempt to portray Newt as a nut not a serious thinker and may I remind Sharon, a credintialed professor. Currently Newt is not running on any of these ideas and they are very dated. It does show that he is very forward thinking and the fact that he mentioned Iran and not Afganistan is not laughable given the fact that A) Everyone in the national defense aparatus has been focusing on Iran and not Afganistan, nobody really paid it any attention until 9-11, B) Iran is a much, much more dangerous foe and we should have gone to war with them several years ago. Further the EMP weapon is a viable threat to the US given that we are so increadibly dependent on technology that can be wipped out in a single hit, indeed reports are that Iran is developing such a weapon and was conducting or attempting to conduct EMP missile tests in the Gulf of Mexico. Perhaps it would be better of Mrs. Weinberger's time to chase down those leads rather than try to run down and over Newt.

I cannot believe how snarky and unprofessional the tone is from Sharon Weinberger here. Even people who are dubbed as "futurists" are wrong in their predictions more often than not. Gingrich looks much more like a visionary in his predictions than the goofball the author's mocking tone suggests.

Take a Look Around5bucks

You should brush up on you facts before you knock Newt. All of the systems that you mock are have or do exist. You are probably too young to remember Project Echo. Sandia labs uses their terrestrial lasers to vaporise space junk in their spare time. EMP was proven to be true when after the first h-bomb test the newly installed digital phone switch was knocked off line - yes, Sharon EMP is real. By the way smart phones in the field were a reality in 2009( not 2010) although they were satellite phones, so Newt beat that one by a year. You should actually research a subject before you actually start to write about it( as should your coffee shop 'scientists'). If we had paid attention to Newt in the 90's to the threat of radical Islam we could have saved thousands of lives world-wide.

Ms. Weinberger should do a bit more research before writing on a subject in which she is decidedly, no expert. I will elaborate.

Quoting:
“...his vision of future warfare that blends fact and fantasy”

Commenting:
Fantasy, no. Science fiction. That you don’t know the difference is quite obvious.

Quoting:
(on space tourism)... such a future, while not yet here, is likely on the horizon. (though it appears that the "Hiltons and Marriotts of the solar system" that Gingrich also predicted are not yet in those companies' business development plans).

Commenting:
Space tourism is in fact years old and the first “Hilton” of space was the ISS. A hotelier named Bigelow is developing private habitats and has two prototypes already in orbit. That IS his business development plan.

Quoting:
“...worried about Iran, not terrorists setting up camp in Afghanistan. He also, in that same speech, worried about another attack on the World Trade Center, but his focus wasn't box cutters and commercial aircraft, but a nuclear weapon.”

Commenting:
Nuclear terrorism is indeed on the near term horizon and Newt was quite right to worry about Iran.

Quoting:
“A number of scientists have questioned whether an EMP bomb would have the massive effects claimed by Gingrich and others.”

Commenting:
This is not just some theory. Nuclear explosions DID have that effect. Upper atmosphere blasts (before the test ban treaty) knocked out power and communications over wide areas, despite locations chosen to minimize effects on populated areas. Solar outbursts are a lesser threat.

More comments:
Your ridicule of science fiction is misplaced – again you confuse it with fantasy. Let’s take the old Star Trek for example. The audience found these unlikely: A handheld device that contacts people and spaceships at great distances (communicator)? A compact computer that senses and records sound, video and environmental data (tricorder)? A portable device that can stun or kill (Phaser)?
The first two, I have in one device in my pocket. It is smaller than Kirk’s communicator was. The second is carried by police (although the “kill” part is quite old)..

Hey, futuristic weapons means more jobs right

Here are some ideas that are WAY crazier than any of those described in the article:

(a) legalizing "free trade" with low-wage countries, so all our manufacturing jobs would be exported to low-wage countries;

(b) failing to enforce our immigration laws so millions of poor people from a country with historical claims on our territory can come in and sign up for welfare, take service jobs from Americans, and depress wages generally;

(c) borrow more and more money to get out of debt;

(d) spend more and more money to get out of debt.

Sharon Weinberger has demonstrated the limitations of a liberal arts education. LA majors often end up in journalism or politics or teaching. They like to believe that they understand the forces shaping the future. But in that regard, they are like historians trying to understand the ancient Egyptian civilization without any knowledge or understanding of the religion of that culture. It was the driving force behind it. Likewise, Ms. Weinberger doesn't understand the primary driving force in our own culture, technology. I am a retired engineer. I worked on military high energy laser systems back in the 1970's, and on the space program in the 80's. Newt's vision of the future of military technology is actually quite conservative. And as far as her disparaging remarks about science fiction are concerned, science fiction has long been recognized as being an innoculation against future shock. As Arthur C. Clarke said, "Magic is any technology you don't understand". The odds are, to Ms. Weinberger, electric lights constitute magic (by Clarke's definition), albeit familiar magic that she takes for granted. Newt, at least, is trying to look ahead.

Newt Gongrich is a new production of corporate greed . . . viva la democracy :)

Don't be too hard on Newt, according to one press story he's got some old shyster who made his billions in the gaming industry who's that kind of Zionist-- the kind who wants Israel to exist so he can vacation there but never move there because the taxes are too high and it's not safe-- who offered him $20 million for his campaign if he promises that as President he'll finish the Iraq-->Iran War Bush had promised Israel. With all his mass-mailing schemes Newt never saw so much money and for that much money Newt would not only say that the Palestinians are an "imaginary" people but he'd also say that about the whole of Europe so he could spend Christmas loose in Tifanny's to take whatever he can hold. Republicans have two ways to go: Mr. President or mass-mailing shysters.

It'd be kinda nice to have a president who actually had ideas that hadn't been proven wrong in the 70s like our current one.

he might still be a good option

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The article smacks of pure bias and a unjournalistic attempt to portray Newt as a nut not a serious thinker and may I remind Sharon, a credintialed professor. Currently Newt is not running on any of these ideas and they are very dated. seslichat It does show that he is very forward thinking and the fact that he mentioned Iran and not Afganistan is not laughable given the fact that A) Everyone in the national defense aparatus has been focusing on Iran and not Afganistan, nobody really paid it any attention until 9-11, B) Iran is a much, much more dangerous foe and we should have gone to war with them several years ago

This needs to stop, or at least slow down. We need a strong military, but the way things are going we will just keep spending and lose focus of what really matters and that is our home soil. We need to get things squared up at home and focus on education. There is so much going on at home that does not get any attention and slips to the wayside and gets neglected. It is time we actually focus on what matters and it is not money or power, these things are not important austintxapartments.net they are glamorized and really lead us in a downward spiral which we are currently in. I hope we can pull out of it before it is too late airambulancex.com but it looks like we are too late.