Archive for October 29th, 2007

Missing Nukes: Detailed Review

A comprehensive summary of the missing nukes story can be found here. The official story does not comport with what’s known about military procedures for handling nuclear weapons.

Stormer also makes a key point, which is not exactly a secret: “There is a strict chain of custody for all such weapons. Nuclear weapons handling is spelled out in great detail in Air Force regulations, to the credit of that service. Every person who orders the movement of these weapons, handles them, breaks seals or moves any nuclear weapon must sign off for tracking purposes.” [7]

Stormer continues:

“Two armed munitions specialists are required to work as a team with all nuclear weapons. All individuals working with nuclear weapons must meet very strict security standards and be tested for loyalty — this is known as a ‘[Nuclear Weapons] Personnel Reliability Program [DoDD 5210 42].’ They work in restricted areas within eyeshot of one another and are reviewed constantly.”[8]

Stormer unwraps the whole Pentagon cover-up by pointing out some logical facts and military procedures. First he reveals that: “All security forces assigned [to handle and protect nuclear weapons] are authorized to use deadly force to protect the weapons from any threat [including would-be thieves].” [9]

The article goes on to raise questions about electronic monitoring, command and control (C2) and the computerized tracking system, all of which should (theoretically) prevent nuclear weapons getting misplaced like a set of car keys.

Most interestingly, the author reviews the rash of mysterious deaths, reorganizations and reprimands that have taken place around this event.

This story is very creepy. If you go see, scroll down to the notes. Some of the people involved have backgrounds in meteorology-related disciplines, and one might speculate what that’s all about. It reminded me that Nova did a show on the earth’s magnetic field, which has been weakening and may be poised for a sudden reversal. Apparently this phenomenon has occurred many times over the earth’s history, but it would wreck havoc on our lives.

You could perhaps take comfort in the knowledge that these reversals happen infrequently—on average every 250,000 years—but maybe not when you consider that it’s been over 700,000 years since the last reversal, and the next one may be currently underway.

Sometimes it just feels like all hell is about to break loose.

The Department of I Told You So

I don’t enjoy the world of finance and economics. At all. However, I started reading some economics blogs regularly over the summer, when it really seemed that the wheels were starting to come off. This summer I spoke with someone I know in finance who Assured Me (in the special way that only people who make money off other people’s money can) that this economy is truly robust and vigorous. It seemed to him a little pathetic, I think, that people like me persisted in complaining about the economy, as if we just can’t figure out how to open combination padlocks or something. I did protest, though probably not very effectively, money not really being my thing.

Anyway, I would just like to call your attention to Nouriel Roubini’s blog, because apparently he has been vindicated in his dire predictions. Ha!

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

This is unbelievable.

By launching the “Write Congress to Right Justice” campaign back in June, the Committee sought to give employees an avenue to report politicization within the Department, without fear of retaliation, in the wake of the U.S. Attorney firing scandal. While anonymous tips were not allowed, confidentiality was assured to all who requested it.

In a mass Friday e-mail sent to all parties who submitted tips or complaints, the recipients’ addresses were left visible, and the message was copied to the Vice President. An attempt at recalling the message revealed the addresses again.

Honest to God.

Big Beatifaction

All right, I know I’ve posted a lot about religion the past few days, but here’s a follow-up to The Politics of Sainthood.

Yesterday the Vatican beatified 498 priests and nuns killed during the Spanish Civil War era (1936-39), which means the church considers these men and women martyrs.

The church says the priests and nuns, as well as a handful of lay religious people, were killed decades ago by pro-leftist forces because of their Catholicism - “heroic witnesses of the faith,” as the pope called them yesterday.

Many in Spain’s Catholic Church sided with the Fascists led by General Francisco Franco, who overthrew the elected leftist government, eventually won the war, and ruled as a dictator for nearly four decades, granting wide power and influence to the church. Spain remains deeply polarized today, and the nation is struggling to come to terms with its past.

Coincidentally, this week the Spanish Parliament will vote on a “historical memory” law. The law will acknowledge Franco atrocities, fund the exhumation of mass graves and pay reparations to victims. But the Vatican insisted that yesterday’s beatification ceremony, the largest in church history, was simply not political.

“To beatify a martyr, or a group of martyrs, has no political meaning, but only exclusively a religious one,” Spanish Cardinal Julian Herranz, a member of the ultraconservative Opus Dei organization, which is especially dominant in Spain, told an Italian newspaper.

Just like that, like Moses parted the Red Sea, does Harranz separate religion and politics. Miraculously. Those Opus Dei guys are something else, I tell you.

Protesters fought, and Benedict, although not attending the Mass, appeared at the end to bless the audience.

Spain was once one of the most Catholic countries in Europe. The current government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has trimmed Catholic Church budgets in public schools and pushed a liberal social agenda that includes the legalization of gay marriage and making it easier to obtain abortions and divorces.

It’s obvious that this beatification is a political statement, a ringing endorsement of right-wing power, conveniently timed to rally the political right and deflate the political left. For Cardinal Harranz to deny the politics is a…what’s the word…a Lie. Yes, that’s it. Completely disingenuous.

Ray Dubuque can explain better than I why politics and religion cannot be so easily parted.