calls...i'm ever so happy where i am. but thanks for the info

hjs - I must make a correction - I made a contribution in early 2008, but none in 2009, though other PBS and NPR outlets got some of my money. Not all the NPR outlets are as clearly biased as WNYC. They have lost many listener contributors over the years and have replaced those funds with checks from rich folks with liberal agendas. There are other views to be had on other radio stations like WOR 710, WABC 770 and WNYM 970. You'll hear a more fair and balanced view of the world by listening every now and then to these stations, too.

Be well.

good for u, rupert needs your money more (he's cloning himself I heard) lucky for WNYC there are enough enlightened to keep the fires burning.
and u remind me everyday of work still needing to be done. thanks

ps i like the new features

Hi, hjs - hope you are well and enjoying the nice weather. I see that there is an ever-tightening noose of the "Big Brother Nanny State" right here on WNYC - where they limit on and off air discussion for our own good. Lol. And we* pay for it - even funnier. *Ended my contributions in 2008 after over 25 years of such.

calls...the 1st 2 paragraphs were clear and coherent. thanks for them.

While securing nuclear assets is commendable, this has been an ongoing program under Clinton and greatly expanded under Bush. Obama is inexperience and naive and continues to show weakness to those who would play and or destroy us. He is also narcissistic and the grandiosity of everything he proposes is sadly laughable.

He received no concessions from Russia when he threw Eastern Europe under the bus on the missile shield and we'll see what he gets from this from the key strategic players - Russia, China, Pakistan, etc. We need to be able to massively retaliate against states that harbor, fund and train terrorists, so that they will clamp down on their own rouge elements; as well as being able to massively retaliate against rouge states that exist now like Iran, North Korea and others that might go rouge like Venezuela or even a country like Egypt if the Muslim Brotherhood takes over the country in the future.

Obama’s clear hostility against Israel is also suspect in this matter; perhaps the outcome of many years in a Muslim school when he was a citizen of Indonesia - an experience and education that was reinforced by a lifetime of radical anti-Semitic and anti-American mentors, friends, family and associates.

Only Americans are so obsessed with nuclear weapons or nuclear anything for that matter. It's one of our obsessions because we are sadly the only country who used nuclear weapons and so our paranoia that someone is out to get back us will never go away. We started it and the guilt weighs on our psyche and always will.

Jonathon Schell mentioned the anti-nuke protests on the eve of the NPT Conference next month. here is the Facebook Fanpage to get updates and info on the march and peace fair.

See you there!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peace-and-Justice-Now/10150116267450599

Has anyone considered the tendency of wars creating black markets where both sides of the underworld do business with each other. Has anyone considered the possibility of the Taliban getting hold of enriched products due to old black market relationships with the Russians?

The idea behind deterrence is the ability and willingness to inflict a loss that is unacceptable to the adversary. In the case of Muslim extremists, can't anyone image a loss that would be unacceptable to them? Like maybe the threat of a nuclear attack on Mecca?

Please comment on how different our world would be now if we'd pursued thorium rather than uranium for nuclear power.

Is there any evidence that terrists want nukes? Not according to guest on democrcynow this morning.

It's not a question of *all* terrorist groups being willing to use nukes if they could get them--it's whether *any* of them would, & I think that's a high probability. But either way, the threat certainly doesn't require anywhere near the number of nuclear weapons that the US & Russia have now.

Boy these "experts" are great - the argument against defense is SIMPLE. IF a country was to develop even a moderately effective missile defense system then they would acquire a first strike capability by dint of the fact they could target the OTHER country's nukes in their Silos and Subs with a first strike and then destroy whatever else the other country had left with the missile defense system. That would FORCE the other country to attack before the first countries missile defense was active - in order to avoid the loss of deterrence.

Can we please stop using the word Terrorism, it's just a political double speak twist. The USA invented and used the Atomic bomb in WW2.
This lead to the build up in Russia and the cold war, we all grew up wondering if the world would be destroyed overnight.
Lets try to get rid of all of the nukes, and solve the worlds issues by talking to all parties interested in peace.

HJS...He called it foolishness b/c he didnt think of it first.

How much does it cost to maintain these weapons?

why did john mccain call this foolishness?