This doesn't surprise me

It's disturbing to me how many service members have not read the Constitution. I'm not just talking about the 1st Amendment here. The body of the Constitution, Article VI, paragraph 3:

no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

Before someone signs a legally binding contract sworn by an oath they should read it.

I'll have more to say about this later.

The difference is clear!

It was one thing to drop the bombs in 1945, when nobody really knew what they would do, but today, now that their effects are known, there is no excuse for anyone wanting to own such weapons. That's why the very clear difference between Obama and McCain about this issue is very important.

OBAMA:

Toward a Nuclear Free World: Obama will set a goal of a world without nuclear weapons, and pursue it. Obama will always maintain a strong deterrent as long as nuclear weapons exist. But he will take several steps down the long road toward eliminating nuclear weapons. He will stop the development of new nuclear weapons; work with Russia to take U.S. and Russian ballistic missiles off hair trigger alert; seek dramatic reductions in U.S. and Russian stockpiles of nuclear weapons and material; and set a goal to expand the U.S.-Russian ban on intermediate- range missiles so that the agreement is global.

MCCAIN:

John McCain strongly supports the development and deployment of theater and national missile defenses. Effective missile defenses are critical to protect America from rogue regimes like North Korea that possess the capability to target America with intercontinental ballistic missiles, from outlaw states like Iran that threaten American forces and American allies with ballistic missiles, and to hedge against potential threats from possible strategic competitors like Russia and China. Effective missile defenses are also necessary to allow American military forces to operate overseas without being deterred by the threat of missile attack from a regional adversary.

N.B. North Korea certainly does NOT "possess the capability to target America with intercontinental ballistic missiles" but they rather possess the ability to hit Japan and South Korea, as well as Vladivostok and parts of China.

And there are reports (I'm having trouble googling them just now) that the US military no longer wants nuclear weapons. They are too dangerous and serve no purpose. Nobody wants nuclear weapons detail, after that little incident of the lost nukes especially.

63 years and counting!

That's how long it's been since an atomic bomb has been dropped on human beings. Everyone seems to notice Hiroshima Day, and the first bomb. Few people seem to notice Nagasaki Day, the anniversary of the last atomic bomb ever dropped on human beings.

Here are some people who did:

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan marked the 63rd anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki with a solemn ceremony on Saturday and a call for world powers to abandon their nuclear weapons.

Thousands of children, elderly survivors and dignitaries in the city's Peace Park bowed their heads in a minute of silence at 11:02 a.m. (3:02 a.m. British time), the time the bomb was dropped, to remember the tens of thousands who ultimately died from the blast.

"The United States and Russia must take the lead in striving to abolish nuclear weapons," Nagasaki mayor Tomihisa Taue said at the gathering, which included Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.

Chris Lugo:

On August 9th, 1945 at 11:01am the United States of America dropped a nuclear bomb on a pre-designated city in Japan killing 80,000 people in the second of two nuclear attacks. This attack was the only time that nuclear weapons have been used as an instrument of war, and it could be the last, if we generate the political will to dismantle our weapons of mass destruction, abide by the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and create a federal level department of peace.

The Mainichi Daily News:

NAGASAKI -- Thousands of people including atomic bomb survivors gathered in Nagasaki on Saturday in a ceremony to mark the 63rd anniversary of the Aug. 9, 1945 atomic bomb attack on the city.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Takashi Nagai (1908-1951), a physician who cared for wounded survivors, or hibakusha, in spite of his own injures. In a Peace Declaration during the ceremony at Nagasaki Peace Park, near ground zero, Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue quoted Nagai, saying, "There is no winning or losing in war; there is only ruin."

. . .

In a Peace Declaration read out at the ceremony Taue mentioned that people including former U.S. secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and George Schulz had submitted an article on steps toward a nuclear free world, adding that the authors were promoting the United States ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons.

The declaration pointed out that Russia and the United States are said to together possess 95 percent of the world's nuclear warheads and said these two countries "should begin implementing broad reductions of nuclear weapons."

Is there still a chance to get Wes for Veep?

Is there still a chance to get Wes for Veep?

Sign the petition!

Go do Daily Kos and recommend the diaries! HERE! HERE! and HERE!

Then write to the Obama campaign!

Tell your friends and neighbors who think Clark questioned McCain's service that anyone who thinks being shot down is a qualification for president must logically think that President Bush should be shot down, to make him a better president.