marjorie says...
Marty Chavez sure is playing dirty awfully quick isn't he? I just got an email from his campaign in which he tries to lump Tom Udall in with the two Republican contenders for the Senate seat, because he voted to cut funding for national labs that are major players in the nuclear weapons production that our country can't seem to stop engaging in. It's a long email, in which he essentially calls Tom Udall a Washington insider aligned with Republicans. Please. You know, I expect dirty politics...I really do. It never seems to end.
But I just want to say...
If cutting funding for nuclear weapons development and maintenance makes me a Republican...maybe I ought to go switch parties tomorrow.
Here are some charts I got from the Los Alamos Study Group's website. They're from 2004, but seem to correspond to the latest figures I've seen regarding the work that the two major national labs in this state do.
Gee, who are the biggest players here?
Hmmm...hey Los Alamos: maybe you ought to diversify a little
You know, here's the deal: These two labs are "non-profits" and like other non-profits they develop programs and go after funding. They get to *choose* over time what direction they will go in. They are chalk-full of hard-line nuclear old-schoolers, who have chosen to butter their bread with nuclear weapons. This is just a fact.
But the times demand they shift their priorities...they can't blame the American public, which includes New Mexicans, for wanting to reduce the amount of resources we spend in this area. It's a moral imperative...actually. Not to mention, New Mexico is well on the road to diversifying its economy beyond being what amounts to a U.S. military colony...we'll survive without being the main source of nuclear weapons in the world, believe it or not.
Oh, and btw...this type of perspective is the reason I'm a DEMOCRAT *not* a Republican. Maybe Marty ought to rethink his party affiliation.
**Furthermore (yes, first thought of the morning. sigh) ...you know, in a particularly nasty bit in his letter, Marty says this: "Well, throwing people out of work and endangering our national security is not the "message" New Mexicans want to hear..."
Well, Marty, something tells me the U.S. is always going to meet its "national security" objectives, which overwhelmingly favor maintaining a global military empire. But more and more people (i.e. times are changing) are coming to the conclusion that eliminating our dependency on oil (i.e. alternative energy r&d) is the road to national security.
Get a grip, Marty. This is hardly about "jobs" or in your rhetoric, "throwing people out of work." But it does lead us to a great question: just what is your position on our nuclear weapons arsenal? I more and more fear you're basically a Liebermanite.
For more discussion of the letter, see DfNM.
Here's another good one. I love it when a former Mayor tells it like it is about the current one.
Dang, it's all over the place. We're behind the times here at m-pyre. We do our best, really we do!
|