Paradoxes of Faith

The New York Times is reporting this morning that California’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has won the most recent weapons contract, further augmenting the Administrations 4th Branch of contractors. Ties between this Administration and defense contractors are not abnormal, any more than ties to big business or oil companies would be. It’s just that these new weapons are nuclear. So, in the midst of saber-rattling against Iran, we’re reinforcing our nuclear stockpile. So much for nonproliferation. I sincerely wonder what our leaders must think claiming that ‘nuclear arms proliferation’ is the greatest global threat (re: 1st Bush-Kerry debate, 2004), and then subsequently collecting new nuclear weapons as if they were stamps or coins.

Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, put it well:

“This is a solution in search of a problem. There is an urgent need to reduce these weapons, not expand them. This will keep the Chinese, the Russians and others on guard to improve their own stockpiles.”

So my question is – with an Administration that doesn’t like working through Constitution-sanctioned entities – you know, such as Congress – how are we to respond as everyday citizens?