  In this paper we reply to recent claims by Ciufolini and Pavlis about certain
aspects of the measurement of the general relativistic Lense-Thirring effect in
the gravitational field of the Earth. I) The proposal by such authors of using
the existing satellites endowed with some active mechanism of compensation of
the non-gravitational perturbations as an alternative strategy to improve the
currently ongoing Lense-Thirring tests is unfeasible because of the impact of
the uncancelled even zonal harmonics of the geopotential and of some
time-dependent tidal perturbations. II) It is shown that their criticisms about
the possibility of using the existing altimeter Jason-1 and laser-ranged Ajisai
satellites are groundless.III) Ciufolini and Pavlis also claimed that we would
have explicitly proposed to use the mean anomaly of the LAGEOS satellites in
order to improve the accuracy of the Lense-Thirrring tests. We prove that it is
false. In regard to the mean anomaly of the LAGEOS satellites, Ciufolini
himself did use such an orbital element in some previously published tests.
About the latest test performed with the LAGEOS satellites, IV) we discuss the
cross-coupling between the inclination errors and the first even zonal harmonic
as another possible source of systematic error affecting it with an additional
9% bias. V) Finally, we stress the weak points of the claims about the origin
of the two-nodes LAGEOS-LAGEOS II combination used in that test.
