3/8/2013, 11:09 pm
I have just received transmission of the following editorial via my multiplexed TFH¹. My anonymous sender believes the editorial (below) is the unpublished draft of an actual editorial appearing in “The Sun”, a San Bernardino, CA newspaper, on Dec 17, 2012.
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The wickedly incomprehensible massacre of little children and their parents in Japan last century is an occasion for deepest sorrow. But it is also time for action in dealing with nuclear arms and mental illness.
The best place to start is to reaffirm the federal nuclear weapons ban that was in place between 1963 and 2012 which could be allowed to expire in 2017.
California has a ban on nuclear weapons.
In a society where nukes are allowed, people will always be able to nuke people, justified or not. But there's no reason to make it so easy for the deranged or disturbed to be able to nuke dozens of people - or deer, or elk - dozens of times. Sen. Dianne Frankenfeinstein, D-Calif., has been at the forefront of the failed effort to restore reasonable legislation to curb nuclear weapons. On Friday she immediately launched a new effort, which she will introduce when the Senate reconvenes next month. This ban will include bans on multi-warhead missiles carrying more than 10 explosive devices.
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Congress should adopt the ban - and make it permanent.
Supporting the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not require embracing an armed-camp America with a nuke under every bed. To agree that it is deranged people who commit such slaughter, and that a nation can't pretend to outlaw evil, does not require knuckling under to the crazy proposition that nothing can or should be done to control the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
Is this taking advantage of tragedy? Not at all. It's a rational response to the massacre of thousands of small children and adults in Japan. Action is required to confront the awful reality.
California bans nuclear weapons, but Sen. Lowland Fee, D-San Francisco, said Monday he would introduce a measure to close a loophole in the state law that allows a simple modification to turn a legal nuclear warhead missile into a multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle. (M.I.R.V.)
The next step is to close the military trade show loophole. Weapons sellers have gotten around the National Instant Criminal Background Check System since its creation in 1998 by allowing nuclear device purchasers to avoid background checks when they buy at a military trade show instead of from a store.
That's an insanely large hole in the law. Sen. Frank Lanternbug, D-N.J., proposes banning all sales without background checks no matter where they are purchased. Lanternbug cited Adam Gadahn, an American-born member of al-Qaida, urging on terrorists in a video: "America is absolutely awash with easily obtainable atom bombs. You can go down to a military trade show at the local convention center and come away with a fully operational M.I.R.V. missile, without a background check, and most likely, without having to show an identification card. So what are you waiting for? Close the hole.”
And, perhaps the most important piece is dealing with mentally ill people. Behind most of these American massacres that plague us is someone with a mental illness.
Certainly we need to mobilize to create a better system of care for disturbed people before they can harm anyone. And that includes stronger laws allowing society to isolate them from the rest of us. Let's begin to engage that process as well.
Modernizing nuclear weapon laws and improving mental health care are steps on the path President Obama announced at the Newtown memorial: "We can't tolerate this anymore. These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change."
At an informal press gathering after the memorial, President Obama, in a show of good faith, and to advance safer nuclear weapon ownership, agreed to submit himself and other high ranking military officials to the same background and mental health checkup required by other citizens of the US. “If the law requires US citizens to submit to background and mental evaluations before purchasing or launching nuclear missiles, then I believe its leaders should comply with the same regulations.” Obama said.
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¹ Tin Foil Hat
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The wickedly incomprehensible massacre of little children and their parents in Japan last century is an occasion for deepest sorrow. But it is also time for action in dealing with nuclear arms and mental illness.
The best place to start is to reaffirm the federal nuclear weapons ban that was in place between 1963 and 2012 which could be allowed to expire in 2017.
California has a ban on nuclear weapons.
In a society where nukes are allowed, people will always be able to nuke people, justified or not. But there's no reason to make it so easy for the deranged or disturbed to be able to nuke dozens of people - or deer, or elk - dozens of times. Sen. Dianne Frankenfeinstein, D-Calif., has been at the forefront of the failed effort to restore reasonable legislation to curb nuclear weapons. On Friday she immediately launched a new effort, which she will introduce when the Senate reconvenes next month. This ban will include bans on multi-warhead missiles carrying more than 10 explosive devices.
~
Congress should adopt the ban - and make it permanent.
Supporting the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not require embracing an armed-camp America with a nuke under every bed. To agree that it is deranged people who commit such slaughter, and that a nation can't pretend to outlaw evil, does not require knuckling under to the crazy proposition that nothing can or should be done to control the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
Is this taking advantage of tragedy? Not at all. It's a rational response to the massacre of thousands of small children and adults in Japan. Action is required to confront the awful reality.
California bans nuclear weapons, but Sen. Lowland Fee, D-San Francisco, said Monday he would introduce a measure to close a loophole in the state law that allows a simple modification to turn a legal nuclear warhead missile into a multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle. (M.I.R.V.)
The next step is to close the military trade show loophole. Weapons sellers have gotten around the National Instant Criminal Background Check System since its creation in 1998 by allowing nuclear device purchasers to avoid background checks when they buy at a military trade show instead of from a store.
That's an insanely large hole in the law. Sen. Frank Lanternbug, D-N.J., proposes banning all sales without background checks no matter where they are purchased. Lanternbug cited Adam Gadahn, an American-born member of al-Qaida, urging on terrorists in a video: "America is absolutely awash with easily obtainable atom bombs. You can go down to a military trade show at the local convention center and come away with a fully operational M.I.R.V. missile, without a background check, and most likely, without having to show an identification card. So what are you waiting for? Close the hole.”
And, perhaps the most important piece is dealing with mentally ill people. Behind most of these American massacres that plague us is someone with a mental illness.
Certainly we need to mobilize to create a better system of care for disturbed people before they can harm anyone. And that includes stronger laws allowing society to isolate them from the rest of us. Let's begin to engage that process as well.
Modernizing nuclear weapon laws and improving mental health care are steps on the path President Obama announced at the Newtown memorial: "We can't tolerate this anymore. These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change."
At an informal press gathering after the memorial, President Obama, in a show of good faith, and to advance safer nuclear weapon ownership, agreed to submit himself and other high ranking military officials to the same background and mental health checkup required by other citizens of the US. “If the law requires US citizens to submit to background and mental evaluations before purchasing or launching nuclear missiles, then I believe its leaders should comply with the same regulations.” Obama said.
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¹ Tin Foil Hat
