[Peace-discuss] Obama lies about nukes, too

Stuart Levy slevy at ncsa.uiuc.edu
Sat Jan 16 11:28:37 CST 2010 

On Sat, Jan 16, 2010 at 11:21:34AM -0600, Morton K. Brussel wrote:
> The 10% increase in the budget for these laboratories is large. The labs are
> considered valuable national resources, which need to keep attracting
> scientists, so this increase may be intended to keep the morale up at these
> labs. But it is clearly a move in the wrong direction from the standpoint of
> nuclear weapon de-escalation. 

OK.

Mort, do you think it's likely that the proposal for a new generation of
nuclear weapons will actually be followed through?  It seems to me to be
something that's politically in play, so that speaking up against it
might make a difference.

 
> Incidentally, Stuart, is there something amiss with the
> peace-discuss at anti-war.net address. I've received rejections of messages I've
> sent to that address. 

I'm not sure.  I haven't had trouble with it yet, but Barbara Kessel had reported
a similar problem -- I passed it on to the IMC people who run that mail server
but haven't heard anything back.   Has anyone else had trouble with mail, which had been
sent to peace or peace-discuss, bouncing back and not getting through to the mailing list?
The error message Barbara got back (via google mail) included the notice:

    <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>: Recipient address rejected: User unknown in virtual alias table  

Has anyone else seen that?  If so please write back to me, not peace-discuss.

> Mort
> 
> On Jan 16, 2010, at 10:37 AM, Stuart Levy wrote:
> 
> > On Sat, Jan 16, 2010 at 10:11:35AM -0600, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
> >> [Obama was praised for his pious posturings about eliminating nuclear 
> >> weapons. What a shameless liar he is. --CGE]
> > 
> > It may be so, but seems we need answers to the unanswered questions
> > mentioned here before knowing whether this is indeed a step away
> > from eliminating nuclear weapons.  The two definite items in here
> > are $600+ million for nonproliferation funding, and $145M from DoD for
> > "nuclear weapons surveillance".
> > 
> > If a new-improved-nuclear-weapons program gets funded, then I would agree with you.
> > 
> > But why count monsters before they're hatched?
> > 
> >> 	Saturday, January 16, 2010
> >> 	Nuke Budget May Rise 10 Percent
> >> 	By John Fleck
> >> 
> >>    The Obama administration is preparing to ask Congress for a 10 percent 
> >> increase in the U.S. nuclear weapons budget, according to an internal memo.
> >> 
> >>    The National Nuclear Security Administration' s budget for nuclear 
> >> weapons research, development, maintenance and manufacturing would rise to 
> >> $7 billion in 2010, up from $6.38 billion this year, according to a Dec. 22 
> >> memo from Energy Secretary Steven Chu to the Office of Management and 
> >> Budget.
> >> 
> >>    The weapons program funds work at Los Alamos and Sandia national 
> >> laboratories, which together employ about 20,000 New Mexicans.
> >> 
> >>    The memo, a copy of which was obtained by the Journal, outlines a 
> >> preliminary deal worked out between OMB and the Department of Energy, the 
> >> federal agency with jurisdiction over the weapons program.
> >> 
> >>    Administration officials have repeatedly declined comment on the budget 
> >> request pending its formal release next month, but the increase discussed 
> >> in Chu's memo has been widely expected. The budget request goes to 
> >> Congress, which must then determine a final spending level for fiscal year 
> >> 2011, which begins Oct. 1.
> >> 
> >>    According to the memo, the Defense Department has agreed to contribute 
> >> some money from its budget in future years to help the Energy Department 
> >> fund nuclear weapons work.
> >> 
> >>    The memo says the Defense Department money — $145 million per year 
> >> — would be used to fund nuclear weapons surveillance, in which old 
> >> nuclear weapons are routinely removed from the arsenal and dismantled to 
> >> look for problems caused by aging. The additional money also would support 
> >> basic nuclear weapons science, engineering and technology work done at the 
> >> labs.
> >> 
> >>    The proposed funding increase comes as the Obama administration is 
> >> trying to win support for a new arms control treaty with the Russians.
> >> 
> >>    In a Dec. 15 letter, 40 Republican senators and independent Joe 
> >> Lieberman wrote that any arms control reductions need to be accompanied by 
> >> money to modernize the remaining U.S. nuclear arsenal, along with the labs 
> >> and plants that maintain the nuclear weapons.
> >> 
> >>    Chu's memo is silent on several key questions, including whether the 
> >> administration will heed the Republicans' request to fund design of a 
> >> next-generation nuclear weapon. The memo also is silent on how much the 
> >> administration might request for replacement of Los Alamos National 
> >> Laboratory's cold war-era plutonium laboratory. Federal officials have long 
> >> pushed for a new plutonium lab, but the multibillion-dollar price tag has 
> >> repeatedly gotten in the way.
> >> 
> >>    In addition to the increase in nuclear weapons spending, the 
> >> administration also anticipates asking for a 26 percent hike in spending on 
> >> nuclear nonproliferation programs, to $2.7 billion, according to the memo.
> >> 
> >>    Significant parts of that work also are done at Sandia and Los Alamos .
> >> 
> >> Copyright © 2010 Albuquerque Journal Journal Staff Writer
> >> URL: http://www.abqjournal.com/north/16231643north01-16-10.htm
> >> 
> >> 	###
> >> 
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