Death Star Petition

This petition makes as much sense as many of the defense projects we pay for with our tax dollars each year.


White House Petition: Secure resources and funding, and begin construction of a Death Star by 2016

Star Wars 2010? U.S. military launch space plane on maiden voyage... but its mission is top secret

Back in the 60's, I had a weather changing machine that was, in essence, a sophisticated heat beam which we called a "laser." Using these "lasers," we punch a hole in the protective layer around the Earth, which we scientists call the "Ozone Layer." Slowly but surely, ultraviolet rays would pour in, increasing the risk of skin cancer. That is unless the world pays us a hefty ransom.

President Obama, Robert Gates not always eye-to-eye on new nukes

This is not surprising, especially since Gates was a big proponent of SDI during the Reagan administration, which, in my mind, is one of his, albeit few, faults.

Too bad they both don't have mustaches. Then they could do battle like this:

Star Wars on a Saturday night...

This sounds like a good plan to me, despite the complaints from the developing countries of Eastern Europe. We can do much more for those nations through microfinance, NATO training missions, strengthening nation-state partnership programs with National Guard units, and educating their populace in our universities...

Among the alternatives are dropping either the Polish or Czech site, or both sites, and instead building launching pads or radar installations in Turkey or the Balkans, while developing land-based versions of the Aegis SM-3, a ship-based anti-missile system, officials said. The changes, they said, would be intended not to mollify Russia, but to adjust to what they see as an accelerating threat from shorter-range Iranian missiles.

U.S.-Russian Team Deems Missile Shield in Europe Ineffective

Not surprising, if you ask me. The key to this piece is in the second paragraph when it states, "if Iran attempted such an attack, the experts say, it would ensure its own destruction." Are we returning to the days of mutually assured destruction (MAD)? While we are on MAD, here is a lovely song by Nena from 1983:

Contractors Defend Their Programs as Pentagon Cuts Loom

A continuation of the Bush 43 version of SDI/Star Wars should be the last priority for this Congress and the President...


How about President Obama just calls one more prime time news conference and announces, "My fellow Americans, good evening. Tonight I will outline my three-part nuclear deterrence policy. The first part is called 'massive retaliation.' If you have any questions regarding this phrase's entomology, please reference President Eisenhower's massive retaliation policy and visit our new website http://www.visittheflintstones.gov/ which outlines the policy. The second part involves an affirmation along the lines of, 'Yes, we maintain second strike capability and we will make sure that I stay king of the First Strike Mountain; no one will ever push us off.' Finally, here is a picture of my family's new dog. His name is Airp... he is pretty fat now, but I won't give him any more biscuits until he looses some weight. What country or terrorist organization would attack us now that I am starting a worldwide fashion trend leading to gross overpopulation of such cute Portuguese Water Dogs? God Bless America!"

Airp's Cousin, NorthyG

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U.S. operates anti-missile radar in Israel: report

We are improving our relations with the Arab world, Iran, and Russia, on a daily basis!

JERUSALEM (AFP) — The United States has recently deployed an anti-missile radar in Israel that is mainly to warn of incoming Iranian ballistic missiles, Israeli state radio reported Sunday.

The radar with a range of more than 2,000 kilometres (1,240 miles) is sited in the south of the country, the radio added.

It is operated by a permanent 120-strong US army staff.

Questioned by AFP, a defence ministry spokesman said he did "not know about such a deployment".

A senior Pentagon official had said in late July that US Defense Secretary Robert Gates agreed to explore deploying a powerful missile defense targeting radar in Israel.

"The idea here is to help Israel create a layered missile defense capability to protect it from all sorts of threats in the region, near and far," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Besides the radar, Gates also agreed to explore sharing missile early warning launch data, as well as US funding for two costly Israeli projects designed to counter short-range rockets and mortars, he said.

The official said deploying the X-band radar was a near-term proposition, adding "all this is moving pretty quickly."

"We are going to station this land-based system there, and the Israelis would plug into it," said the official.

An X-band radar is a powerful phased array radar that can target the warhead of a long or medium range missile in space. The United States has deployed one in Japan and plans to install a larger X-band radar in the Czech Republic.

The official linked the assistance to the US administration's push for progress on a roadmap for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

But it appeared to be more directly related to Israel's concern about Iran's nuclear program.

Russian Star Wars

He said that Russia must modernise its nuclear defences within eight years, including the creation of a “system of air and space defence”.

The announcement puts Russia in a new arms race with the United States, which has infuriated the Kremlin by seeking to establish an anti-missile shield in eastern Europe. The US argues that the shield is aimed at rogue states such as Iran, but Russia is convinced that its own security is threatened.

Mr Medvedev told military commanders that “all combat formations must be upgraded to the permanent readiness category” by 2020. He added that Russia would begin “mass production of warships, primarily nuclear cruisers carrying cruise missiles and multi-purpose submarines”.

“A guaranteed nuclear deterrent system for various military and political circumstances must be provided by 2020,” he said after attending military exercises in the southern Urals region of Orenburg.