Only 1,500 Nukes Left

Obama's new proposed nuclear weapons reduction treaty with Russia will reduce our arsenal by roughly 30%:

Washington - President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev committed Monday to reaching a new nuclear-arms reduction agreement that would set both strategic warheads and warhead delivery vehicles, such as missiles, at post-cold-war lows.

Yet despite the upbeat tone at the first of two days of summit talks in Moscow, the two leaders offered few specifics on how the looming stumbling blocks to a new era of cooperation will be overcome. Those issues include American plans for a missile-defense system in Eastern Europe and US-supported expansion of NATO to Ukraine and Georgia. The two presidents issued a "joint understanding" that commits the two countries to reducing strategic warheads to a range of 1,500 to 1,675 – down from the current ceiling of 2,200 – and to a maximum of 1,600 launch vehicles. The goal is to
reach an agreement in time to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which expires on Dec. 5.

Although the Obama-Medvedev statement speaks only of reaching an agreement "at the earliest possible date," Mr. Obama affirmed at a joint appearance of the two leaders Monday that the treaty "will be completed this year."

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0706/p02s01-usfp.html

Which means we'll only have the capacity to destroy the planet nine times over, rather than the prior twelve times over. I suppose this is good progress, but I doubt that these numbers will convince the rest of the world to abandon their nukes. 1,500 is still a hell of a lot.
I'm just waiting for the right-wing attacks on Obama for "weakening America." I guarantee they're coming.

McNamara

Robert McNamara...for people my age, his name evokes anger and pain. Before Rumsfeld brought us Iraq, McNamara's Vietnam was the greatest example of military wrongheadedness in American history. In later years he expressed regret and remorse for his actions, but it was much too little too late to wash the blood of some 58,000 American, and countless Vietnamese, souls from his hands. The simple fact that he lied and escalated the war, even after he "knew" it was lost, is enough to condemn him to a legacy of shame.
I suppose I shouldn't speak ill of the dead, but that's one bastard I won't miss.

(Added: Read Attytood for a much deeper analysis)

Happy Independence Day

What a great holiday! Barbeques, beer, and blowing up stuff! It doesn't get much better.

Actually, as much as I love explosives, I avoid fireworks up here in the mountains. Too high a risk of fire.

Oh yeah, there's another thing to celebrate. This little document:

Still well worth reading.

Should a 'Socialist' go to a 'Tea Bag' Party?

We have a local wingnut who I thoroughly enjoy debating politics over a beer with. It's so much more entertaining than debating with people who agree with you. Anyway, he's one of the organizers of the local 4th of July "tea party", and last evening he invited me to attend (maybe they're really desperate). "Free food" was his main selling point; "I know you Socialists like free food." (most of our debates involve him calling me a 'socialist', and me trying to get him to define 'socialist'. As best I can tell, anything that involves government, society, or civilization is socialist, and Obama is the most evil socialist ever. Like I say, it's entertaining.) Actually, the food isn't a compelling offer, as the local Democratic party is also having a barbeque to celebrate the 4th and the opening of the new headquarters. But since the two groups will be on opposite sides of a local park, I may go to both. There is something delightfully ironic in the thought of me, a well known "flaming liberal" on the local political scene, walking up and having a burger with the local wingnuts. Could be fun.
Afterwards I'll be going to a sane friends party.

Palin Resigning

OK, that's a shocker. Was it because of this picture?

(snarky pic stolen somewhere on the net)

I just hope she doesn't start campaigning for 2012 right away. That would be way too long to maintain an appropriate level of satire.

Or (pure speculation) is there an Argentinian hiking type story about to break?

At least it's not another Michael Jackson story.

Independence Boobies

"It's Friday"

"Is today a holiday?"

"Sort of."

"How should we celebrate?"

"We're Boobies. We just hang out."

"Oh. OK."

More Truth, Too Late

As the Iraqi people celebrate our withdrawal from their cities (but not their country), we are starting to get more of the facts about the lead up to this horribly unethical war:

Saddam Hussein told an FBI interviewer before he was hanged that he allowed the world to believe he had weapons of mass destruction because he was worried about appearing weak to Iran, according to declassified accounts of the interviews released yesterday. The former Iraqi president also denounced Osama bin Laden as "a zealot" and said he had no dealings with al-Qaeda.

Hussein, in fact, said he felt so vulnerable to the perceived threat from "fanatic" leaders in Tehran that he would have been prepared to seek a "security agreement with the United States to protect [Iraq] from threats in the region."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/01/AR2009070104217.html

I knew most of these things already, but in the media's war lust they got buried. Shrub wanted a war, and no facts were going to stop him. Smart analysis showed that there were no WMD's, and even if there were a few they weren't really a threat.
As we've seen, getting into a war in Iraq was a whole lot easier than getting out will be. But I wish for one big first step: Can we put shrub and the cheney on trial for war crimes yet? That would be the best first move toward healing the damage they've caused.

Mixing Drugs

I've got a bit of a personal interest in the FDA's move to ban Percocet and Vicodin because of the liver toxicity problems associated with Acetaminophen.

ADELPHI, Md. — A federal advisory panel voted narrowly on Tuesday to recommend a ban on Percocet and Vicodin, two of the most popular prescription painkillers in the world, because of their effects on the liver.

The two drugs combine a narcotic with acetaminophen, the ingredient found in popular over-the-counter products like Tylenol and Excedrin. High doses of acetaminophen are a leading cause of liver damage, and the panel noted that patients who take Percocet and Vicodin for long periods often need higher and higher doses to achieve the same effect.

Acetaminophen is combined with different narcotics in at least seven other prescription drugs, and all of these combination pills will be banned if the Food and Drug Administration heeds the advice of its experts. Vicodin and its generic equivalents alone are prescribed more than 100 million times a year in the United States.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/health/01fda.html?_r=1&ref=health

During my recovery from my broken humerus, I went through some serious pain that is treated with Hydrocodone (Vicodin). The main problem for me was the limit I could safely take (I have a tolerance level for opiates that rivals that of an elephant) because of the Acetaminophen content, and it's potential for liver damage. In the hospital, they could give me morphine, which is much safer, but once out of the hospital, that wasn't an option. (aside: Oxycodone (Percocet) does almost nothing for me when it comes to pain. All it does is make my brain as mushy as Lush Rimbaugh's. Stupid and still in pain is not a desirable situation.) I repeatedly wished that I could get Hydrocodone (which I needed) without Acetaminophen (which I didn't need), but thanks to the pharmaceutical lobby that wasn't an available opton.
I'm way better now, and rarely need to take a pain pill. But for millions of people with chronic pain, this could be really major. Getting rid of the Acetaminophen is a good idea, but Hydrocodone and Oxycodone need to still be available for those who need them. That's an issue that is still unresolved, what alternatives will be offered.
How typical of health care in America. The pharmaceutical companies can push Acetaminophen (which can kill you) into a wide variety of medications. But most of us can't get Medical Marijuana, which is safe AND effective.