Some recommended reading – do your homework.<\/p>\n
Saving the World By Stopping the Pentagon’s Programs<\/a> All that work against nuclear proliferation – gone, gone, gone. Another way we make the world a more dangerous place.<\/p>\n Then there is “Complex 2030,” a proposal to consolidate and update the entire nuclear complex, including the opening of a new plutonium “pit” facility capable of producing 125 new bombs a year. Estimated price tag: $150 billion over 25 years. The Bush administration and the Department of Energy argue that the overhaul is necessary to maintain the country’s deterrence and close aged plants, but arms control experts who have read the fine print say otherwise.<\/p>\n “The current nuclear stockpile is not in need of replacement, all of the existing nuclear weapons sites would still be in operation under the new plan, and the fundamental environmental problems of weapons production would not be solved,” states a joint report issued by more than a dozen nuclear watchdog groups, including Physicians for Social Responsibility and the Union of Concerned Scientists. “Furthermore, the increased design, production and testing capabilities of Complex 2030 could spark a new nuclear arms race.”<\/p>\n …The major nuclear powers cannot continue to simultaneously refine their arsenals while keeping the rest of the world in 1944 by threat of force; only a madman thinks threats and preemptive strikes constitute a coherent or sustainable nonproliferation strategy. Nor can we continue to allow the production of fissile material and expect it to remain forever out of dangerous hands. We cannot have our yellow cake and eat it, too.<\/p>\n If we don’t come to grips with the dead-end of the nuclear double-standard, and begin soon the brave and historic grapple with the nuclear genie, we race toward a climax as awful as it is certain.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Take a look at Payson’s blog entry<\/a> (Think Progress)on Chuck Hagel’s claim that the White House originally wanted the 2002 Iraq War Resolution to cover the entire Middle East<\/a>. No-one else picked this up from the men style column at GQ? It ought to be on the front page.<\/p>\n Scooter Libby and Me<\/a> Childhood friend of Scooter Libby’s shares questions he wants to ask him, and comments on the differences between liberalism and fundamentalism as they affect current US policy. This is worth a read just for the clear explanation of the difference between truth and the Truth (How did I miss Lynne Cheney’s article “The Roots of Today’s Lying Epidemic<\/a>: The English Department Virus”? ). Oh, on lying<\/a>?<\/p>\n Keep an eye out for fact checking<\/a> updates<\/a> on the State of the Union Address<\/a>. The discussion<\/a> on Charlie Rose<\/a> was pretty good, and ABC has collected some citizen comments<\/a>. To my ears, all Bush is saying…. is give war a chance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Some recommended reading – do your homework. Saving the World By Stopping the Pentagon’s Programs By Alexander Zaitchik, AlterNet All that work against nuclear proliferation – gone, gone, gone. Another way we make the world a more dangerous place. Then there is “Complex 2030,” a proposal to consolidate and update the entire nuclear complex, including the opening of a new plutonium “pit” facility capable of producing 125 new bombs a year. Estimated price tag: $150 billion over 25 years. The…<\/p>\n
\nBy Alexander Zaitchik, AlterNet<\/p>\n
\nBy Nick Bromell, The American Scholar, posted at AlterNet<\/p>\n