In his book, Bush at War, Bob Woodward, in a one-on-one interview, asked the President about how history would see this [the war], Bush responded with a shrug and, "History, we won't know. We'll all be dead."
Plutonium. It’s kind of a fun word to say. I, perhaps, would name a dog Plutonium, or even a son, if my last name were Zappa. With a half-life of 24,200 years, Plutonium certainly has staying power. It is a key fissile component in the making of modern nuclear weapons, and can be used to make radiological weapons or poison. So it was comforting to see this headline in the NY Times:
U.S. Has Plans to Again Make Own Plutonium
The Bush administration is planning the government's first production of plutonium 238 since the cold war, stirring debate over the risks and benefits of the deadly material. The substance, valued as a power source, is so radioactive that a speck can cause cancer. Up Close, a Plutonium Pellet and a Minor Slip of the Tongs (June 27, 2005) Federal officials say the program would produce a total of 330 pounds over 30 years at the Idaho National Laboratory, a sprawling site outside Idaho Falls some 100 miles to the west and upwind of Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Officials say the program could cost $1.5 billion and generate more than 50,000 drums of hazardous and radioactive waste. Project managers say that most if not all of the new plutonium is intended for secret missions and they declined to divulge any details. But in the past, it has powered espionage devices. "The real reason we're starting production is for national security," Timothy A. Frazier, head of radioisotope power systems at the Energy Department, said in a recent interview. "It's going to be a tough world in the next one or two decades, and this may be needed," said a senior federal scientist who helps the military plan space missions and spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the possibility that he would contradict federal policies. "Technologically, it makes sense." In 1964, a rocket failure led to the destruction of a navigation satellite powered by plutonium 238, spreading radioactivity around the globe and starting a debate over the event's health effects. In 1965, high in the Himalayas, an intelligence team caught in a blizzard lost a plutonium-powered device meant to spy on China. And in 1968, an errant weather satellite crashed into the Pacific, but federal teams managed to recover its plutonium battery intact from the Santa Barbara Channel, off California.
I’ve wanted to discuss the question of whether the U.S. is preparing military action against Iran. One indication to the affirmative on this comes to mind as I listen to CNN in the background where British Prime Minister Tony Blair is ranting against the new Iranian president-elect, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, followed by a live news conference of Bush and German Chancellor Schroeder, where Bush categorizes the elections in Iran as corrupt. Well, it would be just too easy for me to glibly reply glibly to that remark, so I shall resist. “Do you remember 2000 dipshit?” Sorry. Anyway, Iran is clearly on the table, as this ominous report indicates. And I do plan on writing at length on the subject. However, between the Supreme Court’s enigmatic and frustrating rulings and the issue of PLUTONIUM, my focus a just a bit disjunctive.
By the way, if Mr. Ahmadinejad is such a religious conservative, why does he dress like a used car salesman (with apologies to all used car salesmen)? And, not to non sequitur myself into a corner, but is the Supreme Court just fucking with our heads? The Ten Commandments, IN-OUT/right-wrong…but at the same time, The United States Supreme Court declined today to hear the cases of two reporters facing jail time for refusing to testify about conversations with their confidential sources.
The case now returns to the federal district court in Washington, where its chief judge, Thomas F. Hogan, is expected to hear arguments this week about when and where the reporters, Judith Miller of The New York Times and Matthew Cooper of Time magazine, will begin to serve their time. The special prosecutor in the case, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, is likely to ask that the reporters be jailed immediately. Lawyers for the reporters may ask Judge Hogan for permission to file additional briefs. "I am extremely disappointed," Ms. Miller said in a statement. "Journalists simply cannot do their jobs without being able to commit to sources that they won't be identified. Such protection is critical to the free flow of information in a democracy." Arthur Sulzberger Jr., the publisher of the New York Times, added: "It is shocking that for doing some routine newsgathering on an important public issue, keeping her word to her sources, and without our even publishing a story about the C.I.A. agent, Judy finds herself facing a prison sentence. "That 49 states and many countries around the globe provide broad protection for journalists who have promised confidentiality to their sources, makes today's decision even more disappointing. And it is doubly painful that the court rejected our case in the face of the plea of 34 state attorneys general, prosecutors who normally seek journalists' evidence, that anonymous sources are critical to provide information to the public."
But seriously, PLUTONIUM? How apocalyptically evil are this Administration’s designs on global hegemony? I guess the question by its implications answers itself. However, why don’t we all read Robert W. Merry’s, Sands of Empire, and discuss this in five minutes. Okay. The Physicians for Social Responsibility thought about this issue and offered this policy brief on 10/22/02, and excerpt of which reads,
The adoption of the dangerous venture of preemption as a pervasive security strategy is an unprecedented move by the United States, distancing the Bush administration’s national security policy from all before it. President Bush cites the need for such a strategy due to the nature of the threats facing the United States in a strategic environment wrought with terrorism. This new strategy, however, is at least partly motivated by the administration’s aim to maintain U.S. military dominance in the future, and both elements of this strategy carry more inherent dangers than do the threats cited by the Bush administration.
Another by-the-way; when William Kristol refers to this global hegemony wet-dream, he calls it Benevolent Global Hegemony. Meanwhile, back in the world of greed and money and global political chess moves, Krugman has this article in today’s NY Times, saying,
There's nothing shocking per se about the fact that Chinese buyers are now seeking control over some American companies. After all, there's no natural law that says Americans will always be in charge. Power usually ends up in the hands of those who hold the purse strings. America, which imports far more than it exports, has been living for years on borrowed funds, and lately China has been buying many of our I.O.U.'s. Until now, the Chinese have mainly invested in U.S. government bonds. But bonds yield neither a high rate of return nor control over how the money is spent. The only reason for China to acquire lots of U.S. bonds is for protection against currency speculators - and at this point China's reserves of dollars are so large that a speculative attack on the dollar looks far more likely than a speculative attack on the yuan. So it was predictable that, sooner or later, the Chinese would stop buying so many dollar bonds. Either they would stop buying American I.O.U.'s altogether, causing a plunge in the dollar, or they would stop being satisfied with the role of passive financiers, and demand the power that comes with ownership. And we should be relieved that at least for now the Chinese aren't dumping their dollars; they're using them to buy American companies.
Just a thought: perhaps China is one of the reasons the Bush Administration plans to again make its own PLUTONIUM.
(I split infinitives; they split atoms.)
Well, I think it’s time to go have some Fun with Dick and Jane, (this 
seems like a good one) check my Weekly Reader for subliminal messages, drink a bottle of tequila, see if I can get my hands on some percocets, and find a desk that I can crawl under.
buh bye.
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