Despite being the single largest nuclear power in the world, the United States is building more missiles. Maybe it’s an echo of the saber-rattling going on in Iran or North Korea off the Oval Office door, but this is just disgusting. The goal is, according to this “NYT article”:http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/03/washington/03nuke.html?ei=5088&en=ed161959958c796a&ex=1330578000&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1172936294-dgS7tY5dDxejG69oMkkkMQ , to replace the arsenal of aging warheads with a generation meant to be sturdier, more reliable, safer from accidental detonation and more secure from theft. Nuclear weaponry has absolutely no place at all on the modern ‘battlefield’, if we can use such a term. Is the US actually considering using these weapons, and if not why would billions of tax dollars go to such a program? Does anyone remember what happened last time somebody used a nuclear weapon?
!http://www.westbynorthwest.org/summer02/vop/abomb.victim01.gif!
As if the US re-arming wasn’t enough to get the whole world back in the nuclear market, Col. Khadafi of Libya adds another disincentive. In a rare interview with the BBC, Khadafi complains that western countries never followed-through on their promises of development aid in exchange for his country’s nuclear disarming. For more on that story go “here”:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6414387.stm
Tag Archives: us politics
The fate of the internet
Check out this brilliant video about net neutrality from the directors of ‘Four Eyed Monsters.’ Their website is a bit confusing so I couldn’t figure out exactly who ‘they’ are except that their names are Arin and Susan and they host one of the best videos I’ve seen on the subject of net neutrality and the future of the internet. Please see this clip (it’s a little over 10 minutes long) and show it to others. This is a very important issue and it’s critical that we educate ourselves about what’s going on. Let’s exercise some democracy!!
http://foureyedmonsters.com/neutrality/!
Save the Internet | Rock the VoteThanks for the link “Jeff”:http://jag85.com
No red carpet for most recent Newberry winner
The most recent recipient of the Newberry Medal (the Pulitzer for children’s literature) is not being greeted with open arms as most have been in the past. The reason? On the first page of “The Higher Power of Lucky” the 10 year-old main character hears the word scrotum in reference to another character’s dog getting a snake bite in that most sensitive area.
??“Scrotum sounded to Lucky like something green that comes up when you have the flu and cough too much,” the book continues. “It sounded medical and secret, but also important.”??
All over the country now there is a debate raging among school and local librarians as to whether they should stock the book, despite “the word” that graces its first page. To include the book would force librarians and teachers into an awkward vocabulary lesson, but to not do so would be censoring what must otherwise be a very good book. The age old debate takes another turn.
Here is a “NYT article”:http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/18/books/18newb.html?ex=1329454800&en=0abee84c6d8ad9f4&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss on the story.
Iraq war predictions were a little off
The National Security Archives have just secured a pre-Iraq war slideshow by the US military given to civilian leaders detailing their projections on how Iraq would look 3, 12, 45 months after invasion. At this point in the conflict (we are just beginning the 47th month of the war) we are beyond their scope of prediction. The last prediction given in the slide show is 45 months at which point we should be completely disengaged with direct military action, with a possibility of 5,000 troops in the area just in case.
Surprise! Last month President Bush approved another troop increase of 20,000 troops which would bring the total number above 150,000.
Thanks to the “National Security Archives”:http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/ for their work in securing the information. I”m just glad people still now what the Freedom of Information Act is. For more detail, check out the “New York Times article”:http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/15/washington/15military.html?ex=1329195600&en=ab52e1ac30c1c717&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss that led me to this interesting revelation.
For the MPAA it's Republicans over refugees
Actor/director Clint Eastwood is set to receive the first humanitarian award ever given by the MPAA. The reason given for the award is "decades… of decency and goodness of spirit in his movie making" which I”ll admit is true. Eastwood”s recent movies have been heartwarming and admittedly both decent and good, but should this award be going to someone more rewarding?
In the last 6 years Angelina Jolie has exemplified humanitarianism bringing millions of dollars, an international spotlight, and legislative attention as a UNHCR goodwill ambassador to the problem of refugees and displaced persons. Eastwood, the former mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA is hardly in the same league.
BBC Article on Eastwood”s upcoming award and another to an Angelina Jolie fan site that I may or may not have spent two hours exploring.
Kudos Gov. Perry
Texas Governor Rick Perry has just mandated that all female students aged 11 and 12 be vaccinated against HPV, the leading cause of cervical cancer.
nn Cervical cancer is one of the worst diseases out there and it has only recently become preventable with the development of a vaccine. Governor Perry’s decisive move to support a comprehensive vaccination program for girls in Texas shines as an example of visionary executive leadership and I’ve written him a letter and you can find it in the letters section of my website.