WEAPONS IN SPACE AND VOTING AGAINST OURSELVES...HUH?

THE LAWSON FILE: WEAPONS IN SPACE AND VOTING AGAINST OURSELVES...HUH?

Oread Daily http://oreaddaily.blogspot.com/

On Monday, Feb. 11, 2008 several groups will come together to protest

"the global terrorists Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, University

of New Mexico and other war profiteers who are creating an arms race

in space." The protest will take place at the Space Technology &

Applications International Forum sponsored by the University of New

Mexico's Institute for Space and Nuclear Power Studies.

New Mexico is a major weapons development center for nuclear and space

warfare planning.

Are you excited about spending billions of dollars to develop a whole

new class of weapons to raid down destruction on us from outer space?

I doubt it.

A recent survey found most Americans and Russians agree that their

governments should work together to prevent an arms race in space.

Large majorities in both countries favor unilateral restraint and a

treaty to keep space free of weapons.

The WorldPublicOpinion.org poll of 1,247 Americans and 1,601 Russians

developed in conjunction with the Center for International and

Security Studies at the University of Maryland (CISSM). Knowledge

Networks in the United States and the Levada Center in

Russia conducted the interviews.

Majorities in both the United States (78%) and Russia (67%) say that

as long as no other country puts weapons into space, their own

governments should also refrain from doing so. Most Russians (72%) and

Americans (80%) favor a new treaty banning all weapons in space.

The US poll revealed strong bipartisan consensus: majorities of both

Republicans and Democrats believe the US should refrain unilaterally

from deploying space weapons. There is also bipartisan backing for a

treaty to ban these weapons, though support is higher among Democrats.

And yet our government(s) don't pay any attention to us...once again.

What about those who want to lead us after Bush is gone?

Well, I can tell you this, unfortunately Barack Obama, though he has

called for a "worldwide ban on weapons to interfere with satellites

and a ban on testing anti-satellite weapons," does not endorse a ban

on nuclear weapons in space as called for by virtually the entire

international community. And, though critical of the enormous wastes

incurred from Bush's missile defense program, he has announced his

support for the continued development of missile defense capabilities.

Hillary Clinton said in a recent debate she supported the multilateral

international ban but committed herself only to constraining testing

and deployment of weapons in space "as much as possible, while

continuing to protect our satellites from any threats that remain."

In fact of the three Democratic contenders still left it is only John

Edwards who has endorsed a multilateral international ban on space

weapons with no qualifiers.

As for the GOP, don't even go there.

We live in what is supposed to be a democracy only the government and

our elected leaders seldom pay much attention to what we think.

What's worse seldom do we pay much attention to what we think either.

Time and again Americans vote for candidates and political partys with

whom they disagree on major issues. Time and again Americans vote for

someone because they seem likable or something.

We can blame it on the media, the system or whatever. Some of it we

have to blame on ourselves.

The case of John Edwards seems to me to illustrate this point clearly.

On almost all major issues Edwards is much more attuned with the so

called "Democratic base" and is far and away the most progressive

candidate out there. Yet time and again when the votes are counted he

finishes last. What is that all about? Admit it, working Americans

agree with Edwards on virtually every issue, and yet they vote for

someone else. Is that dumb or what? Am I missing something here? The

corporate media (whose interests are threatened by Edward's populism

as much as the next conglomerate) tells those Americas Edwards can't

win. So the PEOPLE insure that and vote for someone else. Give me a

break.

I know, I know there are a hoard of reasons why our electoral system

is a big flop, but sometimes in the deep dark recesses of my mind I

have to think that "we the people" are one of those reasons.

The following is from OpEd News.com.

RESEARCHING SPACE WAR IN NEW MEXICO

By Bruce K. Gagnon

For many years a peace group in Albuquerque, New Mexico has been

teaching and organizing in their community about the Star Wars issue.

Led by activists Bob Anderson and Jeanne Pahls, the group called Stop

the War Machine, has developed considerable expertise about plans to

move the arms race into space.

Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque is a key Star Wars research and

development facility. The base hosts the military's Directed Energy

and Space Vehicles directorates. The combination of both is called the

Phillips Research Site.

The year 2007 marked the 10th anniversary of the Air Force Research

Laboratory's consolidation of all air, space, and cyberspace

technologies under one umbrella.

In 2007 the Directed Energy program boasted that their scientists and

engineers had continued "to improve the nation's ability to use

directed energies, such as high-energy lasers, high-powered microwaves

and to precisely project these directed energies at the speed of light

anywhere, at any time to detect, track, and deter or use lethal force

to destroy any threats to the U.S. and the Warfighter."

Translation: The Pentagon is making progress with their testing

program to fire lasers from earth to space, through space, and from

space to the planet below.

Also in 2007 the directorate claims they "successfully attained full

transmitting capacity of 180 antenna elements with a radiating power

of 3,600 kilowatts at their Alaska program called high frequency

active auroral program (HAARP)." This directed energy project is one

that is believed to be testing the capability to lift the earth's

ionosphere to manipulate global communications and modify weather.

In their October 26, 2007 Kirtland AFB newspaper called Nucleus, the

Air Force bragged that they were "Leading the world in research and

development for supremacy in the cosmos.....The use of ground based,

airborne, and space-based directed energy weapons will alter current

and future defense and warfare concepts."

In addition to Kirtland AFB, Albuquerque is loaded with key aerospace

weapons corporations that are making big money by supplying the

workforce and technologies for space war. Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and

Raytheon now have huge production facilities in the city and even the

University of New Mexico has become militarized as many departments at

the institution receive funding to help provide basic research for

these classified weapons programs. The growing secrecy on a public

campus has been a key issue that Stop the War Machine has campaigned

against.

On February 11 the Global Network and Stop the War Machine will

organize a protest in Albuquerque at the annual meeting of the Space

Technology & Applications International Forum. This event brings

military, aerospace industry, academia, and NASA together to promote

the nuclearization and weaponization of space.

These war making centers are growing all over the U.S. and around the

world. It is crucial that we teach others about what is happening in

our communities and that we publicly protest this consuming drive to

endless war.