The Nuclear Weapons issue has been near-dormant for a few years.

How do we raise the issue in a modern context?
As far as it goes for me, I remain of the position that nuclear weapons are an abomination, and should be removed from the face of the planet, but I understand that for some bizarre reason, this is not a majority viewpoint.
Given the uncertainties over the Russian arsenal, and the demise of the Cold War face-off, what now for nuclear weapons?

Photo of RR's Secret Service, taken at Lafayette Park (just across the street from the WH)....



God Bless Jelly Beans and H-Bombs


Here's the BEST site for nuclear activism, join these people....this site has EVERYTHING about nuclear...accidents, toxic effects, etc. etc......

Thomas has been PROTESTING in front of the WH, since 1981...in all weather, 24/7...local DC lawyers continue to defend the right to protest there, and Thomas' group is the ONLY group allowed (grandfather'd in, as long as their protest is CONTINUOUS...if any breaks in protest, then their PERMIT will be revoked).....

http://prop1.org/

That'll be very useful.

you can still buy this book: "ATOMIC AUDIT" (the first and ONLY audit of the expense ever done...and quickly stifled by the pentagoon...and never "updated" due to pentagoon pressure)

all these links are on www.prop1.org web site...

http://www.brookings.org/FP/PROJECTS/NUCWCOST/WEAPONS.HTM


From 1940 through 1996, we spent nearly $5.5 TRILLION on nuclear weapons and weapons-related programs, in constant 1996 dollars.



A Brookings Briefing
Atomic Audit: The Hidden Costs of Our Nuclear Arsenal

Tuesday, June 30, 1998
The Brookings Institution


In conjunction with the publication of a new Brookings book, Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Since 1940, the Brookings Institution held an important briefing on the previously unknown costs of U.S. nuclear weapons.

How much has the United States spent on its nuclear arsenal and what is it spending today?

How were U.S. nuclear weapons requirements determined?

Did civilian and military leaders understand the full costs of nuclear weapons?

What are the environmental and public health costs of nuclear weapons?



Demonstrating a common decontamination procedure, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Cassidy uses a broom to remove radioactive dust from Lieutenant Colonel Glover Johns following the 1952 Charlie test at the Nevada Proving Ground. Johns had toured the blast area shortly after the test along with other troops at "Camp Desert Rock." If his clothes were in fact contaminated, this procedure would have returned some of the contamination to the air, where it could be inhaled or ingested. Radioactive particles would also adhere to the broom, possibly spreading contamination to those who may not have been initially affected.



VIP observers sitting on the patio of the Officer's Beach Club on Parry Island are illuminated by the 81 kiloton Dog test, part of Operation Greenhouse, at Enewetak Atoll, April 8, 1951.



Until 1970, solid low-level and transuranic waste at the Atomic Energy Commission's nuclear weapons facilities (shown here is Hanford Reservation, circa 1950s) was frequently disposed of in cardboard boxes. Once filled, this unlined trench would have been covered with dirt, leaving the cardboard to deteriorate and allowing the waste to contaminate the soil and leach into the groundwater.



Workers at the Mosler Safe Company, circa 1960, stand by one of the two giant blast doors they built for vehicular entrances to the secret fallout shelter for Congress located underneath at the Greenbrier resort in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia. The door is 19.5 inches (49.5 centimeters) thick and weighs more than 20 tons.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0202-10.htm

Published on Wednesday, February 2, 2005 by the Agence France Presse

Rumsfeld Asks for Restoration of Nuclear 'Bunker Buster' Program


WASHINGTON - US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has asked for the restoration of a research program designed to create a new type of nuclear weapons capable of destroying hardened underground targets, a Pentagon official said.

The request came in a letter Rumsfeld sent to then-Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham on January 10, in which he insisted that funds for studying the feasibility of the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator be restored.

"The Defense Department does support completion of the penetrator study," Major Paul Swiergosz, a department spokesman, told AFP. "We can't necessarily match Cold War weapons to the new threats. We have to adapt capabilities that we have to meet the threats."

A spokesman for the Department of Energy that runs US nuclear weapons research declined to say what the response would be. Abraham was replaced by Samuel Bodman on January 11.



..more..

How can Rumsfeld even justify the idea?

but of course they always lie.

google "Bunker Busters" and you'll find a lot of discussion on this.

A nuclear weapon that does not generate fallout is not a nuclear weapon.