So Iran has nuclear ambitions. Meh. So what? The way I see it, they just wanna be players on the world stage. They want to be called a nuclear power. India did it and look at how that worked out for them. Pakistan has ‘em. Unconfirmedly, so does Israel. So what’s the big deal?

I’ll tell you what the big deal is: Iran is a Islamic nation whose leadership has no qualms about telling the U.S. where to stick it. They feel that if they become a nuclear (nucular?) power, they will have the same bargaining power that India was able to yield back when Bush visited them. Let’s imagine for a minute that they’re lying through their Arab teeth. What happens next?

Well, if you’re the Whitehouse and the Pentagon, you get scared. Very scared. The last thing we need, according to them, is a hostile Islamic country with the ability to create nuclear warheads. Couple that fear with Tuesday’s announcement that Iran has successfully enriched uranium and you can see why the Pentagon has drawn up plans that include the use of tactical nukes. According to Seymour Hersh, these are not just your run-of-the-mill contingency plans either. They are very detailed to the point of assigning targets as well as supposedly having “regular military guys” already on the ground in Iran collecting intelligence. If one were to ponder the recent past, you’d almost think they were talking about Iraq with the planning for a pre-emptive strike already well in the works. The Hersh article, which is to be published in the April 17th New Yorker Magazine, indicates that the Joint Chiefs have also been pushing to get President Bush, Vice-President Cheney, and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld to pull the nuclear option off the table, but as has been stated numerous times by the administration “all options are on the table.” This, if true, presents an even scarier situation than Iraq ever was. The use of a bunker-busting, tactical nuclear bomb would, as Hersh puts it, “create chaos in the region.”

Now, let’s flip this scenario on its head for a minute. What if Iran’s claims are true? That it is only pursuing this technology for peaceful uses? What then? According to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (wiki), or NPT, of which Iran is a signatory, they have the right to utilize uranium enrichment to be used as fuel for nuclear reactors. Specifically, it is the third pillar of the NPT that authorizes this (my concern highlighted in bold):

Third pillar: the right to peacefully use nuclear technology
Since very few of the nuclear weapons states and states using nuclear reactions for energy generation are willing to completely abandon possession of nuclear fuel, the third pillar of the NPT provides other states with the possibility to do the same, but under conditions intended to make it difficult to develop nuclear weapons.

For some states, this third pillar of the NPT, which allows uranium enrichment for fuel reasons, seems to be a major loophole. However, the treaty gives every state the inalienable right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, and as the commercially popular light water reactor nuclear power station designs use enriched uranium fuel, it follows that states must be allowed to enrich uranium or purchase it on an international market. Peaceful uranium enrichment can arguably be considered a small step away from developing nuclear warheads, and this can be done by withdrawing from the NPT. No state is known to have successfully constructed a nuclear weapon in secret while subjected to NPT inspection. However, according to many sources, Israel has succeeded in developing over two hundred nuclear warheads without having been questioned or investigated by the UN Security Council.

Countries that have signed the treaty as Non-Nuclear Weapons States and maintained that status have an unbroken record of not building nuclear weapons. In some regions, the fact that all neighbors are verifiably free of nuclear weapons reduces any pressure individual states might feel to build those weapons themselves, even if neighbors are known to have peaceful nuclear energy programs that might otherwise be suspicious. In this, the treaty works as designed.

Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN’s nuclear regulatory body, has said that if they wanted to, forty countries could develop nuclear bombs.

So that makes me wonder why we are being so damn hard-nosed with Iran about this. Even though we are “pursuing a diplomatic solution”, shouldn’t we be a little less of a jackass toward Iran? Nation-states, similar to people, can only take so many demands by another–in this case, the US demanding Iran suspend its uranium enrichment program, before the gloves come off and they refuse to play nice in the sandbox anymore (no pun intended).

I’m not saying that I know one way or the other which way Iran is heading with their enrichment program, but I will say this: The mere suggestion of using tactical nukes in an already unfavorable, unstable region will spell chaos for the US as well as the rest of the Middle East. In fact, it can be pretty much guaranteed that if we use them, others could very well use them on us. And that is a future we don’t want realized.

I shoulda done this a long time ago. Since I didn’t, I’m awarding myself this week’s Asshat of the Week Award. (I know, it hasn’t really been weekly, but it sure sounds good, right?)

As of today, I am listing my fellow bloggers from Main and Central. They are as follows:

Fixer

Commander Huber’s Pen and Sword

CAFKIA

and last, but not least Terry

So feel free to throw tomatoes (beers hurt, if you catch my drift) or whatever else you feel like throwing.

They marched. They protested. They made their voices heard. And here in Wisconsin, teachers and school boards across the state allowed them to do so. Some of them waved American flags, some waved Mexican flags. All because they want to stay here–the land of opportunity. Unfortunately, there are some who want to close up our borders and become even more isolationist than we already are. Never mind the plaque on the Statue of Liberty that says

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

The following is my take on the pending Immigration Reform. I’m letting you all know upfront that I do not claim to be the most knowledgeable about this debate, but from what I have heard and read so far, I want to offer my views. If any of you reading want to educate me on the specifics, please do so. This blog is not just my soapbox, but also my classroom as I have learned a lot from each of my commenters. Hopefully, I’ve done the same with my posts.
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Caught this over at Driftglass via FDL:

This will be the First and Last time I will ever defend anything to do with Wal-Mart, and I do it fully realizing that they’re probably punk out tomorrow.

Driftglass is basically backing Wal-mart’s decision to stock the “gay cowboy movie” Brokeback Mountain. As one would expect they are getting a shitstorm of criticism from the Religious Right about selling such a morally-reprehensible piece-of-trash movie such as this. The heart of the controversy, as DG points out in his long post is this concerning the religious right:

Of course, they could just not buy that which offends them. Just not read what gives them those guilty, gladiator-movie, big-pants-feelings “down there”. Just not watch what, in the immortal words of Lewis Black, “makes them feel icky.”

But no: It’s always with the bonfires, these people.

Books. Churches. Humans.

Always gotta put the torch to what they fear.

And therein lies the problem with fundamentalist Christians today. Those of us on the left have said time and again that if you have a problem with something, i.e. Brokeback Mountain, DON’T WATCH IT OR BUY IT! The easiest thing you can do is to keep something like this out of your home. Is the packaging of this movie gonna turn your kiddies gay? How about the cover-art? Will that do it? No? Didn’t think so! If you don’t agree with the premise of the movie, which by the way most fundamentalists haven’t even watched, don’t buy it. Simple enough, right? But, as I quoted above, Driftglass hits the nail on the head. It’s not enough that they not purchase such filth, they have to eliminate it altogether. Nevermind that some people might like to watch it and would be able to see beyond the “gay cowboy movie” moniker it’s been given to see a a tale of love, loss, and loneliness.

However you feel about this, I strongly encourage you all to click on over to Driftglass to read his entire (long) post and the comments. Can’t forget the comments!

When Scotty said he had a few surprises for me, I wasn’t quite expecting this. After making my way from his burned-out apartment to our secret room, I found myself surrounded by more gear, equipment and weapons than I could ever have hoped for. Scotty always was a pack-rat. If only I could ask him how he procured this much stuff.

Since this place is still concealed under a CoD, I figure I have all the time in the world to check out everything he left. Over on his old bench, I find a somewhat-corroded inventory list. That’s Scotty for you. Or was it Carla? Checking the handwriting, I find it was Carla after all. She was the neat-freak of the group. Scotty and I were the most disorganized, at least when it came to day-to-day dealings. Our weapons, on the other hand, were an entirely different affair. We kept them meticulously maintained and always in tip-top condition. We wouldn’t have had it any other way. Like the old Marine Corps Rifleman’s Creed said “I will learn its weaknesses, its strengths, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will keep my rifle clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready.”

The list, looking more and more like an old grocery list the more I stare at it, begins like this:

1. 16 plasma rifles
2. 2 million plasma rounds
3. 45 fragmentation grenades circa 1991
4. 4 sets of Ironskin body armor
5. 4 mini-CoDs
6. 4 thermal wet-suits with mini-rebreathers
7. 1 underwater demo kit with 10 HE armor-piercing charges
8. 4 high frequency, long-range, encryption-capable comm sets

The list goes on and on. I’m puzzled as to why there seems to be 4 sets of most equipment. Did they know something I don’t?

After checking the inventory, I quickly find what I was looking for: a portable scanner. I power-up the scanner and begin the process of scanning myself for any tagging beacons. Thankfully, I find none. There’s one worry gone. I suppose if I’d really been tagged, I would have never made it this far. I very easily could have suffered the same fate as my brother did.

Among the various other items in Scotty’s “ancient arsenal” were several carbon-fiber boot knives. Besides being lightweight and concealable, they also never need sharpening and are damn near indestructible not to mention untraceable by government scanners. Also stacked neatly on a shelf are a few antiquated lasers and their power packs. The only problem with them is the power packs are old and the lasers can be detected. I don’t think I’ll be taking them with me, but I do think I could find some use for them down here. In the wall-locker on the east side of the room, I find 4 sets of utility uniforms in urban camouflage. Four sets again. What the hell did Scotty know that I don’t? That question is going to bug me until I find out.

On the old military-style desk I find a stack of various papers. About half-way through the stack, I find the answer to my question. It seems that Scotty had been quite a busy boy while we were separated. He created a list of about 10 other service members who were sympathetic to the resistance. Tops on the list is Capt. Roderick Wilson, my old platoon commander. Son of a bitch. That old salt never once let on he was one of us. We all knew he was being fast-tracked to Colonel before an ion mine put him on the permanently disabled list. Maybe he blames the government for that. Who knows? Either way, Rod was a good guy who never lost faith in the abilities of his Marines. Even after he was forced out, he still kept up with some of us. Me being the rebel, I got the hell away from anything that seemed to be government-sponsored immediately after being discharged. I guess that’s why I never found out about Rod’s distrust of the government.

Directly beneath Scotty’s list are directions on how to locate the individuals on it. He has listed a bunch of frequencies to be used in the event of an emergency such as the one I’ve found myself in. That explains the comm gear he left and the 4 sets of everything. He also wrote down the challenge code to be used to identify each list member, but if I know Scotty, the ones wrote down aren’t the real codes.

I let my eyes wander about the room searching for the compartment I know Scotty has the “real” info hidden in. Scotty never did take chances when it came to concealment. He almost always left “bait”. It would appear that the challenge codes are the bait this time. God only knows what other surprises are waiting down here. Just overhead I note the faint lines of a shadow box. I’ll have to check that out later when I continue organizing my supplies in the morning and before I bug out of here. I’m gonna need to try and find any remnants of the rag-tag bunch of mercenaries Scotty listed if I ever want to beat these bastards. But first, I desperately need to get some real sleep.

On to Chapter 7

Read from the beginning?

Well, as some of you saw Saturday and yesterday, I made a pretty shitty attempt at an April Fool’s Joke. Kind of half-hearted and rushed is what it was. Fortunately, it was just that–a joke. I want you guys to know that I haven’t been completely dormant here. Yes, I know I’ve left you guys without a good post for some time, but trust me I haven’t been idle. I guess you could say I’ve been lurking in the shadows. Sort of like the character Jake from the book I’m writing and debuting here chapter by chapter : Instinct and Reflex.

Speaking of Jake and his exploits, I’ll be posting a new chapter probably tonight yet, but maybe tomorrow. I highly urge you guys (and girls) to start from the beginning here–> Instinct and Reflex, Chap. 1. Each chapter so far has a link to the next and also a link back to the beginning for any of you newcomers. I think I’m starting to get an idea of what Jake does next, but I’ll let you guys ponder that while I do the writing. As I promised in my New Year’s post awhile back, I want to really get cracking on this book. In the past I’ve made a couple attempts at writing what I hoped would be a book, but I’ve never had the story jump out at me like Jake’s story. So with that, dear friends, I bid you adieu. I promise I’ll try to get some post out here with a little bit more substance.

I’m done.

I’m done dealing with the bullshit. I’m packing it in. In accordance with the infamous words from the Borg Collective, “You will be assimilated”, so I have been. If I was to really look into my core beliefs, I’d have to say that I am not really the progressive I tried to be, but rather a moderate Republican.

I can no longer keep trying to separate my personal beliefs with my political beliefs. It’s tearing me apart bit by bit and I’m sick of it. I don’t quite know yet if I’ll be continuing this site or not. If I do, it will most likely change drastically. Probably with a bit more of a conservative tone.

Below the fold I will try to explain in better detail why I have made this decision. I know some of you are shocked right now, but if you read on, you’ll understand. You may not like it, but you’ll at least understand.

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