Ohh, Brian, I'll have to tell you about my trips (yes, plural) to the Trinity Site sometime! There are too many details for a blog comment, but the reason I had multiple trips was for nerd curiosity (the first time), and the next two times were to show non-Americans where a WMD was born.

It's so eerie there. I love the incredible NM desert (hey, it's where I'm from), but suddenly you're on an Air Force base, and there are MPs checking your car for... what? Anti-nuclear activists? *snicker*

I also took my husband to the science museum in Los Alamos. It's equally scary in an organized sort of way. It creeped us out so much that we got kind of silly. After stuff like this (that's my husband hugging the Fat Man bomb mock-up), and worse, I'm surprised they didn't throw us out. We got pretty noisy.

Man, I have some badass photos to show you, and stories to tell. They're not as cool as yours, though (hell, I'd have given anything to have been at the Nevada Site with you guys that day).

Best blog ever, Brian!

p.s. Ever been to the VLA in New Mexico? You know, speaking of aliens and all ;-)

Ok, Brian, this is the last time I'll ever spam your blog again, I promise (ha, ok, no), but I figured this was on-topic and not spam at all.

So, I'm convinced that the Reliable Replacement Warhead program is simply a sneaky, backdoor way to make new nuclear weapons, not just re-vamp the old ones.

More and more about the RRW program has come out in the media, and a recent LA Times article really lays it out:

The Bush administration Wednesday unveiled a blueprint for rebuilding the nation's decrepit nuclear weapons complex, including restoration of a large-scale bomb manufacturing capacity.

The plan calls for the most sweeping realignment and modernization of the nation's massive system of laboratories and factories for nuclear bombs since the end of the Cold War.

[snip]

But the administration blueprint is facing sharp criticism, both from those who say it does not move fast enough to consolidate plutonium stores and from those who say restarting bomb production would encourage aspiring nuclear powers across the globe to develop weapons.

Well, "duh" to that last paragraph, but it sums up one of the biggest dangers that the Bush administration poses to the globe.

Finally, here's some more on Bush and his new nuke toys:

The Defense Department's plan to detonate 700 tons of explosives at the Nevada Test Site is intended to simulate a nuclear blast as part of Pentagon research into development of low-yield nuclear weapons, a science advisory group charged Tuesday.

The Pentagon refused to confirm or deny the claim, made by the Federation of American Scientists, a Washington, D.C.-based liberal policy group opposed to development of nuclear weapons.

But if the charge is verified, debate over the blast seems certain to shift beyond environmental effects on Nevada to international concerns over nuclear weapons proliferation.

The FAS is a good group, and no friend of the Bush administration.

All of that is very sobering. Are we looking at the next Cold War, but with really pissed off terrorists thrown into the mix, with access to unsecured nuclear material? Dirty bombs and hardcore nukes, anyone?

It's very depressing and frightening.

Nope, never been to VeryLarge. But who needs to go looking for aliens off planet when, clearly, there are ambassadors among us. See, I've been to the Liberace Museum in Las Vegas and seen, yes, I swear, the Fur Piano (I think it's mink...)

No earthly imagination could have created such an artifact.

;-)

--b

Do you think Aliens would vote Republican?

gillo, I don't know if aliens would vote Republican or not, but I swear that Dick Cheney is an alien. I mean, look at him... and what's this "undisclosed location" stuff all about?

One thing that's obvious about Republicans is that they don't believe in the (Star Trek) "prime directive".