Campanastan

'The Killer' Turns 75, Rocks On and Keeps Rollin'

Just the other day my wife asked me if Jerry Lee Lewis had died. I told her I didn't think so, despite all his health problems.

A few days later I heard an NPR interview with 'The Killer'  - just a few days before his 75th birthday, which is today.

Lewis hails from Ferriday, LA. I've driven by his childhood home. His cousin, preacher Jimmy Swaggart, also grew up in Ferriday. I once heard Lewis say that cousin Jimmy was a better piano player but chose to follow God. That Swaggart followed God could be open to debate, but there is no question about who or what Lewis followed (although his mother enrolled him in a bible institute in an illl-fated effort to  guide his life). His personal life has been a shambles, and he ultimately had to find refuge in country music after his 1958 marriage to his 13-year-old cousin caused him to be blackballed from radio.  

I have always loved Lewis' early rock 'n roll music, like his Great Balls of Fire (below, from American Bandstand) and Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On (my favorite). His trademark pounding piano is something else.

The man's an amazing talent.

 

 

"If I'm going to Hell, I'm going there playing the piano." -- Jerry Lee Lewis

The Founding Fathers vs. The Tea Party

The Tea Partiers have made a big deal about returning to the principles espoused by the Founding Fathers. In this morning's Oregonian (and in the New York Times a few days ago) Ron Chernow's Op-Ed piece lays to rest the myth that the Founding Fathers were a bunch of like-minded men who moved in step with each other.

Chernow begins:

Like many popular insurgencies in American history, the tea party movement has attempted to enlist the Founding Fathers as fervent adherents to its cause. The very name invokes those disguised patriots who clambered aboard ships in Boston Harbor in December 1773 and dumped chests of tea into the water rather than submit to the hated tea tax. At tea party rallies, marchers brandish flags emblazoned with the Revolutionary slogan "Don't Tread on Me" while George Washington impersonators and other folks in colonial garb mingle with the crowds.

 So all the Founding Fathers were states' righters? Here is what Chernow writes:

Jefferson and his Republicans (not related to today's Republicans) advocated states' rights, a weak federal government and strict construction of the Constitution. The tea party can claim legitimate descent from Jefferson and Madison, even though they founded what became the Democratic Party. On the other hand, Washington and Hamilton -- founders of no mean stature -- embraced an expansive view of the Constitution. That would scarcely sit well with tea party advocates, many of whom adhere to the judicial doctrine of originalism: i.e., that any interpretation of the Constitution must abide by the intent of those founders who crafted it.

Chernow concludes:

No single group should ever presume to claim special ownership of the Founding Fathers or the Constitution they wrought with such skill and ingenuity. Those lofty figures, along with the seminal document they brought forth, form a sacred part of our common heritage as Americans. They should be used for the richness and diversity of their arguments, not tampered with for partisan purposes. The Dutch historian Pieter Geyl once famously asserted that history was an argument without an end. Our contentious founders, who could agree on little else, would certainly have agreed on that.

Give this article a read.

"If the first amendment doesn’t work, the second will." -- Tea Party sign

Have UFOs and LGM Messed With Our Nukes?

So now we''re hearing stories that UFOs and their LGM (Little Green Men) and LGW have tampered with our nuclear missiles. There will be more on this at a National Press Club event in DC on 27 September 2010.

The latest is this story emanates from former USAF Captain Robert Salas, one of the sponsors of the aforementioned event and author of Faded Giant (guess what the book is about?), who recalls an incident at Malmstrom AFB in Montana in 1967:

On March 16, 1967, Salas was 60 feet below ground working a 24-hour shift monitoring a launch-control center outfitted with 10 nuclear Minuteman missiles.

"I got a call from the topside guard, telling me they were watching some strange lights flying around in the sky, making odd maneuvers. They didn't think they were airplanes because they were going very fast, turning on a dime and not making a bit of noise," Salas told AOL News.

"A few minutes later, he called back, this time screaming into the phone, scared to death, and he said, 'Sir, I'm looking out my front window and there is a glowing red oval-shaped object hovering right above the front gate, and I've got all the guards out here with their weapons drawn.' "

The guard told Salas the UFO was approximately 30 to 40 feet in diameter with a very bright, pulsating light.

What happened next?

"All of a sudden, we started getting bells and whistles going off. As we looked at the display board in front of us, sure enough, the missiles began going into an unlaunchable, or no-go, mode. They couldn't be launched -- it went from green to red.'

After the incident, Salas and his men were told not to discuss the event with anyone. The article concludes:

After the extraordinary events at Malmstrom Air Force base where it appears a UFO may have been responsible for shutting down 10 nuclear missiles, Salas wonders if the military has any legal authority to command its subordinates not to talk about something this significant -- something that he maintains represents a technology not known today.

Here is official USAF policy:

No UFO reported, investigated and evaluated by the Air Force has ever given any indication of threat to our national security; (2) There has been no evidence submitted to or discovered by the Air Force that sightings categorized as "unidentified" represent technological developments or principles beyond the range of present-day scientific knowledge; and (3) There has been no evidence indicating that sightings categorized as "unidentified" are extraterrestrial vehicles.

Here is an earlier story on the topic.

Interesting to see how this will develop.

As a youngster I read everything I could find about UFOs and LGMs. I was convinced that some sightings/encounters involved craft of extraterrestrial origin. I still believe in UFOs in the strict sense: simply because something cannot be identified definitively does not mean it is full of LGMs from the planet Zocor.

But maybe - just maybe - we are looking for the wrong type of evidence. Perhaps the LGMs have left some of their refreshment behind (thanks to Gayle Leonard).

I should note that each story alluded to here was filed under 'Weird News' byAOL News.

"If I become President, I'll make every piece of information this country has about UFO sightings available to the public and scientists. I am convinced that UFOs exist because I have seen one." ---President Jimmy Carter during his Presidential campaign

 

What Would We Do Without Tabloid Sports Headline Writers?

And the jocks who provide the antics! Thanks also to the Philadelphia Daily News, the New York Post, and the New York Daily News.

 
"Sports journalists are to journalists as political scientists are to scientists." -- Unknown

Eschew Procreation! Neutering: It's Not Just for Pets!

Photo by Barb Kay Gallop, via Emma Nolan.

"Fos laugh no de laugh; las laugh de laugh." ("He who laughs last, laughs best.") --Belizean proverb

Rock Legend Leonard Skinner Dies at 77

Rock legend Leonard Skinner? Say what? Yes, Leonard Skinner, inspiration for the name of the famous Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, died today at 77.

In the late 1960s Skinner was a gym teacher at Robert E Lee High School in Jacksonville, Florida, who loathed long hair on men and sent such students to the principal's office for discipline, and presumably, a haircut. 

One of those students was guitarist Gary Rossington, who later mockingly named his band after Skinner.

Here is an interview with Skinner's son, Leonard S. Skinner.

RIP, Leonard.

And how could I post about Lynyrd Skynyrd without including Sweet Home Alabama:

"I don't like to consider myself an evil guy and I don't think I was," -- Leonard Skinner

Is Jon Stewart Channeling the Silent Majority?

My schoolmate (I also graduated from the College of William and Mary, but 14 years earlier) Jon Stewart proposes to take it down a notch.

The '70-80 percenters' remind me of the allusions to the 'Silent Majority' in the late 1960s - early 1970s. For you young ones, that group was purportedly the vast majority who did their jobs, went to church, paid their taxes, supported the Vietnam War and didn't have time to protest like the scruffy dregs who were the war protesters. Brings back fond memories.

So now, 40 years later, I've become a member of the Silent Majority.

 

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"Never underestiumate the power of very stupid people in large groups." -- John Kenneth Galbraith

"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" - Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr ("The more things change, the more they remain the same.")

 

Seth Godin on Why Things Are Broken

Seth Godin's hilarious video on why things are broken, including the seven reasons why things are broken. Sometimes tongue-in-cheek, sometimes not.

Thanks to Jerry Sehlke for sending this my way.

Seth Godin at Gel 2006 from Gel Conference on Vimeo.

"Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got." -- Unknown

Quran Burning and the "Ground Zero Mosque" - The Media Got Them Wrong

Jason Linkins at The Huffington Post wrote this piece several days ago, 'Quran Burning Story: This Is How The Media Embarrass Themselves'. It's must reading about how the media handled the stories of  Terry Jones, the Quran-burning minister, and the 'Ground Zero mosque'.

To their credit: Fox News downplayed the Jones story (more so than others) and the AP announced it would not be supplying any pictures or videos (reported on CNN's Reliable Sources last Sunday).

About the mosque, Linkins says:

Right away, they [the media] accepted the premise that this was a "Ground Zero mosque," when it wasn't. And so, by the power vested in the media, things that weren't in fact true were accorded the privilege of being "one side of a great debate" and "an interesting point of view."

Regarding the 'Ground Zero mosque,' Linkins has a snippet from an article by Charlie Brooker (photo by Michael Nagle is is from Brooker's article). Brooker 'calls out the media for this bullshit':

New York being a densely populated city, there are lots of other buildings and businesses within two blocks of Ground Zero, including a McDonald's and a Burger King, neither of which has yet been accused of serving milkshakes and fries on hallowed ground. Regardless, for the opponents of Cordoba House, two blocks is too close, period. Frustratingly, they haven't produced a map pinpointing precisely how close is OK.

That's literally all I'd ask them in an interview. I'd stand there pointing at a map of the city. Would it be offensive here? What about here? Or how about way over there? And when they finally picked a suitable spot, I'd ask them to draw it on the map, sketching out roughly how big it should be, and how many windows it's allowed to have. Then I'd hand them a colour swatch and ask them to decide on a colour for the lobby carpet. And the conversation would continue in this vein until everyone in the room was in tears. Myself included.

That hasn't happened. Instead, 70% of Americans are opposed to the "Ground Zero mosque", doubtless in many cases because they've been led to believe it literally is a mosque at Ground Zero. And if not...well, it must be something significant. Otherwise why would all these pundits be so angry about it? And why would anyone in the media listen to them with a straight face?

Yep, they blew it.

Thanks to Gary Whitton for alerting me to Linkins' post.

"There were many, many moments where someone could have simply said, "No, we should really not be doing this. These Islamophobes are objectively wrong, objectively stupid, objectively contradictory, objectively harmful, and by God, as someone with a functioning brain and a devotion to the pursuit of reason above all else, I am going to stand here and say no to all of this." But as it turns out, it wasn't until yesterday afternoon that someone finally had the guts to say maybe we cannot really believe a word this man is saying." -- Jason Linkins, from his post

Overseas Development Assistance: Save the Poor, Shoot Some Bankers

Colleague David Zetland opines on overseas development assistance. You can freely access a copy of his editorial commentary, Save the Poor, Shoot Some Bankers, recently published in Public Choice.

Abstract
Bilateral or multilateral organizations control about 90% of official overseas development assistance (ODA), much of which is wasted. This note traces aid failure to the daisy chain of principal-agent-beneficiary relationships linking rich donors to aid bureaucrats to poor recipients. Waste results when aid middlemen (un)intentionally misdirect ODA. Waste can be reduced by clarifying domestic goals for ODA, using fewer middlemen with greater intrinsic motivation, empowering recipients, and/or replacing bureaucracy with markets.

Keywords  Aid - Principal-agent - Asymmetric information - Intrinsic motivation - Public choice

Provocative and worth your time.

"Charity separates the rich from the poor; aid raises the needy and sets him on the same level with the rich." -- Evita Peron

Mideast Peace Talks Redux...Redux...Redux...

This cartoon from Jeff Stahler of the Columbus Dispatch (via the Christian Science Montor) unfortunately says it all.

 
"History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives." -- Abba Eban

9/11: Remembering My Sister

Nine years ago today my younger sister Ann Campana Judge was murdered by the five men you see here.

She was on American Airlines Flight #77 - the one that was crashed into the Pentagon.

I will always remember that these men, as well as 10 of the other 14 murderers, were Saudi Arabians. The other four were nationals of the UAE (2), Lebanon, and Egypt. 

When we buy Saudi oil, some of our money goes to organizations that support these kinds of people. 

We should never forget that.

A few days after 9/11/2001, a field outside the Pentagon was 'appropriated' by loved ones of the victims. We left mementos of those we lost.

Below you can see what what my niece Becky and I left in Ann's memory.  The Marlboro Lights and Diet Coke should have been accompanied by a fifth (or more) of Dewar's Scotch but we exercised some good judgment - we left a Dewar's ad from a magazine. Besides, Annn would have wanted us to consume it.

 

Two years ago on this date they dedicated the Pentagon Memorial. The Washington Post had a special section on it.

I've been to the memorial thrice and it is a remarkable place. It's open 24/7.

Below are some pictures, including Ann's bench and her name carved in stone at the entrance.

In August 2009 I had a nice long visit. I sat on her bench and said "God bless!" to the other 183 murdered heroes who are memorialized, including the three middle-school students and their teachers Ann and NGS colleague Joe Ferguson were escorting to Los Angeles to join others for a field trip to the Channel Islands. It was the students' first airplane trip.  

 

 

 

 

 

Here are more pictures.

Next time I vist I'll bring some Diet Coke, a pack of Marlboro Lights, and maybe a bottle of Dewar's. Those were three of Annie's favorite things.

One thing gnaws at me: what were Ann's last moments like? Was she aware that they were going to crash? She must have - she was an experienced flyer who'd flown out of DC airports many times. She knew they were flying too fast and too low. And they were going in the wrong direction to be landing at DCA. Did she die on impact or suffer? Was she comforting the children? Probably.

Somewhat morbid, I know. 

I have her effects in a box (Mary Frances had this custom-built for me) in our library - her driver's license, some business cards, etc. It's amazing how well they survived the conflagration. She was incinerated but her business cards survived.

 

On the tenth anniversary I am going to retrace her flight. I suspect flight number 77 has long since been retired byAA but I'll do IAD > LAX. Perhaps that will help me.

Here is an article about the foundation I created to honor Ann.

RIP, Annie. You're still doing good things.

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -- Edmund Burke

"A little bit of irreverence is good. A lot is better." -- Ann Campana Judge.   

Nine years ago today my younger sister Ann Campana Judge was murdered by the five men you see here.

She was on American Airlines Flight #77 - the one that was crashed into the Pentagon.

I will always remember that these men, as well as 10 of the other 14 murderers, were Saudi Arabians. The other four were nationals of the UAE (2), Lebanon, and Egypt. 

When we buy Saudi oil, some of our money goes to organizations that support these kinds of people. 

We should never forget that.

A few days after 9/11/2001, a field outside the Pentagon was 'appropriated' by loved ones of the victims. We left mementos of those we lost.

Below you can see what what my niece Becky and I left in Ann's memory.  The Marlboro Lights and Diet Coke should have been accompanied by a fifth (or more) of Dewar's Scotch but we exercised some good judgment - we left a Dewar's ad from a magazine. Besides, Annn would have wanted us to consume it.

 

Two years ago on this date they dedicated the Pentagon Memorial. The Washington Post had a special section on it.

I've been to the memorial thrice and it is a remarkable place. It's open 24/7.

Below are some pictures, including Ann's bench and her name carved in stone at the entrance.

In August 2009 I had a nice long visit. I sat on her bench and said "God bless!" to the other 183 murdered heroes who are memorialized, including the three middle-school students and their teachers Ann and NGS colleague Joe Ferguson were escorting to Los Angeles to join others for a field trip to the Channel Islands. It was the students' first airplane trip.  

 

 

 

 

 

Here are more pictures.

Next time I vist I'll bring some Diet Coke, a pack of Marlboro Lights, and maybe a bottle of Dewar's. Those were three of Annie's favorite things.

One thing gnaws at me: what were Ann's last moments like? Was she aware that they were going to crash? She must have - she was an experienced flyer who'd flown out of DC airports many times. She knew they were flying too fast and too low. And they were going in the wrong direction to be landing at DCA. Did she die on impact or suffer? Was she comforting the children? Probably.

Somewhat morbid, I know. 

I have her effects in a box (Mary Frances had this custom-built for me) in our library - her driver's license, some business cards, etc. It's amazing how well they survived the conflagration. She was incinerated but her business cards survived.

 

On the tenth anniversary I am going to retrace her flight. I suspect flight number 77 has long since been retired byAA but I'll do IAD > LAX. Perhaps that will help me.

Here is an article about the foundation I created to honor Ann.

RIP, Annie. You're still doing good things.

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -- Edmund Burke

"A little bit of irreverence is good. A lot is better." -- Ann Campana Judge.   

My 9/11 Recall: Free Speech Doesn't Mean Smart, Tolerant Speech

I've been out of 24/7 news cycle for a couple of weeks so I'm catching up with the controversy surrounding Dr. Terry Jones, pastor of the aptly-named Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, FL, who has declared this coming Saturday 'Burn a Koran Day' and announced his plan to burn thousands of copies of the Koran on the ninth anniversary of 9/11.

I support Jones' right to burn the Koran because the First Amendment guarantees him the right to do so and I will defend that right despite the fact that Jones strikes me as a frightened, intolerant bigot whose stunt has the potential to cause great harm. I despise what he's doing but support his right, just as I once took up the cudgels for a despicable man who mocked the 9/11 event that murdered my younger sister:

Download Belshaw_column_ABQJour_28Jan2007

The First Amendment gurantees more than speech but it's best known for speech. Unfortunately, it applies to ignorant, intolerant people as well, and fails to mention responsibilities as well as rights and Jones is behaving irresponsibly. So Jones is free to express his distaste for those he believes are intolerant and hateful by expressing his own hate and intolerance. See any inconsistency there, Dr. Jones?

Note added on 9 September 2010: Dr. Jones has canceled his plans.

Congress Shall Make No Law Respecting an Establishment of Religion, or Prohibiting the Free Exercise Thereof; or Abridging the Freedom of Speech, or of the Press; or the Right of the People Peaceably to Assemble, and To Petition the Government for a Redress of Grievances. -- First Amendment

First Full Day in the Dominican Republic

Just arrived in the DR to visit three former SUSIE students.

I spent  a few hours of my my first full day (3 September) in the Dominican Republic at the National Botanical Garden,  quite a beautiful spot. Ana Maria Peralta (shown at right) and Alexandra Barceló were my guides. As Ana Maria is a specialist in natural resources, she rattled off the scientific names of the flora. Alexandra is a chemical engineering student, so if you want to make something from those flowers she's the one.

Ana Maria, who works at Universidad ISA, is a program assistant on a USAID-sponsored natural resources management project.

Last night we all had a delightful dinner at Alexandra's house with her mother, father, sister Aida, and brother Pablo. Her mother, who looks more like an older sister, whipped up a wonderful dinner of comida típica (typical cuisine).

Tomorrow will be a long day. We head north to the city of Santiago (full name: Santiago de los Caballeros) where will meet up with Johara Henríquez. We'll see Taveras Dam and some other sights.

This'll be fun.

 "The way of this world is to praise dead saints and persecute living ones." --Dominican Republic proverb

Time For a New START

Friend and colleague Jim Thebaut -journalist, planner, philanthropist, filmmaker -just sent me this piece on the need for a new START (STrategic Arms Reduction Treaty). The relationship between nuclear weapons and water is elucidated.

Time for a New START
Jim Thebaut

ONE  NUCLEAR BOMB WILL RUIN YOUR WHOLE DAY! BY THE END OF THE COLD WAR, A SINGLE MISSILE WOULD BE TEN TO FIFTY TIMES MORE POWERFUL THAN THE BOMBS DROPPED ON HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI.

The world is much less stable than during the Cold War era. Regions of the world are experiencing destabilizing levels of war, terrorism and crime and the population of the planet is projected to be 9 billion by 2050. Water scarcity, climate change and drought, poverty, disease, loss of agriculture land and food supply could generate nuclear arms proliferation in those regions seeking  to secure a better way of life.  The process of Arms Control negotiations and the new START Treaty needs to be reconstructed, widen and expanded to include all nuclear power states in order to assure an over-all global reduction of nuclear weapons and a strategy and schedule to ultimately eliminate them entirely in order to assure international security.
 
The primary legacy of the Cold War is the existence of weapons of mass destruction. Cold War military programs produced over sixty thousand nuclear weapons. Efforts since 1991 at serious disarmament and arms control have reduced the danger of total global destruction but the planet is still at risk and the potential for a nuclear exchange or a catastrophic detonation of a single nuclear devise in a major city or an accident still exists. Even as Russia and the U.S. have been decreasing their nuclear arsenal there has been an increase of nuclear weapon states. Both India and Pakistan have developed nuclear weapons and Iran and North Korea have been using Cold War technology to develop their weapons programs. The potential for a tragic event which kills hundred of thousands or millions of people becomes a greater threat everyday.
 
The United States and Russian Federation recently completed negotiations on a new START Treaty and the Obama Administration is pushing for the full Senate to ratify the agreement by November. Furthermore, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry is applying pressure to vote the Treaty out of committee as soon as possible.
 
The new START Treaty is a relic of the Cold War and there are significant reasons why the ratification process of the Treaty should be slowed down and re-evaluated in order to reflect the reality of today's new dangerous world. Obviously its critical the new treaty must establish a level of equality regarding the reduced number of strategic warheads (including missiles with multiple warheads),  the means of delivery by land based missiles, submarine launched missiles and nuclear capable bombers. In addition, both countries entire systems need to be modernized in order to assure continued safe command and control and there must be a clear understanding in the Treaty for regular verification. 
 
But also there is an evolving global perspective which needs to be included. The genesis of the nuclear technology was generated by the U.S. and the former Soviet Union during the Cold War and they now have a historical and moral duty to assume responsibility for geopolitical nuclear safety around the world and this accountability should be clearly spelled out in the new START Treaty. Furthermore, the U.S. and Russia needs to include the other nuclear states in the world as participants and signatories in the Treaty in order to establish a comprehensive global safeguard. Those countries should include China, India, Pakistan, Britain, France, and Israel.

The entire intense drama of the Cold War was played out inside the Kremlin and the White House and a miscalculation could have had a deadly outcome. The interplay between the Soviets and the U.S. leaders proved to be a decisive factor in the Cold War. During the era, bi-polar brinkmanship and confrontation was eventually replaced by "Detente", Summit Conferences, Arms Control Negotiations and ultimately the 1972 Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) and eventually in 1992 the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). Arms control negotiations help to establish a continuous dialogue between the U.S. and the Soviet Union and the fact a nuclear devise has not been  used in nearly seven decades since the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was because of this continuous open discussion as well as the paradigm of Mutual Assured Destruction, rational leaders and secure command and control. 
 
In today's multi-polar nuclear world, the threat of the use of a nuclear weapon is as great as anytime during the Cold War. In today's new world, which includes rogue states, terrorists, climate change  and the humanitarian water crisis it can not be assumed the same degree of reason which occurred during the Cold War will prevail. Consequently, it will require a global effort to offset the threat and this reality needs to be included in the new START Treaty.  
 
A primary example is the prevalent tension and conflict involved in the Cold War nuclear arms race occurring between India and Pakistan. The current size of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is a secret and India is building  its arsenal without establishing any limits. In 2008 India was the 10th highest military spender and plans to spend from 50 to 55 billion US dollars on its nuclear program thru 2014. Transcending the ethnic and political tensions that have existed between these nuclear power country's since the establishment of  Pakistan is water. Water disputes instead of  religion and border conflict could trigger a war between India and Pakistan. 

Rivers flow between India and Pakistan and competitive upstream - downstream issues have evolved over water for irrigation, drinking and energy production in the region and it has generated significant tensions. Furthermore, the tragic flood disaster in Pakistan which has shattered the lives of millions could be a prelude to future calamities. Extreme weather events caused by climate change, which includes more intensive and extended monsoon seasons, melting Himalayan glaciers, droughts, water scarcity and food shortages in conjunction with significant population growth and  poverty will exacerbate the drastic conditions and further threaten international security.

Another nuclear power is China, which should be incorporated into and included in the START Treaty negotiations They have important geopolitical and economic outreach, significant technological knowledge and a evolving nuclear arsenal.  Furthermore, China has  been assisting Pakistan in the development of nuclear weapons as a counter to India because of their serious competition for global markets and prestige. This has caused considerable concern in India regarding the  potential for military conflict with neighboring China which has stimulated India's military spending. This military build-up reality has further created a dynamic of hostility in Pakistan-India relations.  
 
The U.S. Senate should think twice before ratifying the Treaty and expand its horizons and depth and dimension of its global responsibilities and involvement. The world is clearly on the brink of disaster unless dramatic international solutions are implemented. The immediate reduction and a serious effort in ultimately eliminating  nuclear weapons is a necessary and critical step in the process for the world to evolve and transcend into a safe and secure existence. But it will require political will and courage, vision and true statesmanship and the implementation of lasting bipartisan public policy and comprehensive, effective geopolitical strategies in order to accomplish this ultimate objective.