So.

Today I went to my bank, which I also refer to as "Headquarters for Legalized Organized Crime."

While at the teller, I smell smoke. Specifically, I smell cigarette smoke. Bewildered, I turned around to see a well-dressed man at the ATM machine, which is located inside the bank, smoking while getting out cash.

Now, I smoke, but I'm thinking this could be considered crossing a line. But do you know there were people lined up behind this guy and not one person said a WORD?! Not a peep.

Genius!!!!!!

So I took out a cigarette and lit up as I was walking out of the bank, as a sign of solidarity to my brethren at the ATM...and to piss off those highway robbers at my bank.

*~*

Dlove started in on the Bush issues today, so I feel that's an invitation to join in (I'm on a big solidarity kick here).

So Bush has decided to terminate the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. This is what happens when you elect a C student to high office. And I blame the Nader supporters as much as the Republicans. (Go ahead, I know the guestbook lectures are coming)

For those of you who do not know what the ABM Treaty is, and why it is so frightening to consider breaking it, listen up. I spent 6 months studying nuclear warfare and this particular piece of legislation and I still don't know all there is to know. I'll tell you what I do know.

First, it is an arms agreement we made with Russia (then called the U.S.S.R) during the Cold War. In essence, it is the foundation of all arms agreements we have made in the last 3 decades.

At the time, the US and Russia were the two nuclear powers in the world.

Now allow me to further explain, for those of you who remember Reagan's "Star Wars" program. Although the U.S. government attempted to convince the American public that we needed to profilerate and test weapons to prepare for "second strike" retaliation of an antipicated "first strike" deployed by an enemy, in reality, this is not feasible.

Today's nuclear weapons are 50 times the strength of what we dropped on Hiroshima. Therefore, once deployed, even IF, and this is a big if, the first strike showed on our radar system and we were able to employ a "second strike" weapon to follow an opposite trajectory and "head off" that inital weapon in space, the impact of the two could blow up a portion of this planet known as Earth. Today's nuclear weapons are so powerful, they can destroy our PLANET.

If our second strike missed, and we shouldered the first strike, there would be no one left in the U.S. to deploy a second strike. Our country and our continent, would be wiped out.

This is reality.

Knowing some of this, and knowing that Russia had nuclear weapons to match ours, we entered the 1972 ABM Treaty.

Now. Since 1972, other countries have accessed nuclear weapons. China, is one of them. Korea, is another. India, which began testing them and carting them around on horseback to the horror of the world last year, also is another.

It is reported that Bin Laden boasted of possessing nuclear warfare, but that as we took over his grounds, we found that he was missing essential elements needed to activate said weapons.

And thank God for that.

For the last 3 decades, we have been working with Russia to decrease our arsenals of said weapons. This is easier said than done, because radioactive elements such as plutonium and radium cannot just be poured down a tank.

They must be separated and buried in the earth. Very, very far down in the earth. And even when buried, it takes tens of years for them to disappear and no longer be a danger to mankind.

But what happens if we start testing again? If we start testing again, we shake up the rest of the world. We put them on guard. We send a message that it's okay for them to test, because we may decide to use our weapons and they had better be prepared also.

Testing also opens up the risk of accidental or unauthorized use of nuclear weapons. Now remember, it's been 30 years since the U.S. or Russia tested these weapons and Russia hasn't had a good 30 years. They don't have a lot of money anymore. They aren't a superpower. So this means that Russia will be relying on old nukes as their early-warning systems (its eyes and ears) fall into disrepair.

And so we open a grave margin of error.

Let's say Russia tests and has an "accident." The accident shows up on China's radar. China deploys a retalitory strike.

And you hit me and I hit you and before long, I forget why I was hitting in the first place, or who I was hitting.

And this is why breaking the 1972 ABM Treaty could be the biggest (and last) mistake Bush ever makes.

And you thought I was just a Partygirl.

*snort*

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