Wednesday, February 13, 2013
15 comments:
-
Anonymous said...
-
he US will not strike first. Kim Jong Un knows not to strike first. All the sanctions, UN resolutions, delegations to China, etc. etc. etc. will not stop their nuclear program and the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the Korean peninsula. Next will be weaponization of ballistic missile technology to threaten Japan and other U. S. Allies.
Deterrence is a tool against countries that have something to lose by not complying to international pressure. North Korea has nothing to lose. Kim Jong Un doesn't care that his people starve to death so long as his prized scientists and military personnel are kept in line and kept fed. And even if you cut weapons spending, we still have a vastly more than adequate stockpile to level them if they do strike first.
Issue with North Korea has no bearing on how we approach funding to the core science program at LLNL (the National Ignition Facility in support of Stockpile Stewardship). However, It is most relevant to other DoD and Intel Community missions. Relevant and useful lab support for these missions related to NK should be viewed more favorably. In fact, alot of funding devoted to stockpile stewardship should be diverted to other capabilities to deal with this persistent North Korean cancer.
February 13, 2013 at 11:41 AM
Delete
Anonymous Anonymous said...
NK needs to be dealt with now. Before long, we will be in a position where we have fewer options (outside of nuclear retaliatory strikes) to contain this threat.
February 13, 2013 at 11:44 AM
Delete
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Ann Coulter is worshipped by Kim Jong Un. Apparently reports have surfaced about his collection of photographs and videos that he has of her.
There was something similar with Libya. It was Khadafi who fancied Condaleeza Rice, oddly enough, singing all sorts of praise about her and also keeping photographs.
I leave it to your imagination what they usually did while viewing those photos. -
2/13/2013 5:31 PM
-
Anonymous said...
-
McMillan sent out an "All-Hands" memo to employees at LANL today announcing that furloughs might be necessary if the Congressional cuts go through next month.
Duck & Cover! We might soon be looking at around a 9% drop in funding at LANL. -
2/13/2013 5:37 PM
-
Anonymous said...
-
Science does not work outside a free market direction. Never has never will.
Yep, that Isaac Newton was trading shares in F=Ma on the London Exchange.
-
2/13/2013 9:56 PM
-
Anonymous said...
-
" fact, alot of funding devoted to stockpile stewardship should be diverted to other capabilities to deal with this persistent North Korean cancer."
You may have a point but would be better to have the labs change some of the work they do or just move the money out of the labs where it would get more bang for their buck. -
2/14/2013 6:53 AM
-
Anonymous said...
-
February 13, 2013 at 12:31 AM
I guess you also don't like the human genome project,funded by DOE and NIH.
No, BP would have done a much better job or wall street. Yes they are the real thinkers and leaders.
Or how about the laser, where would your CD/DVD player be without that?
I hope you are not working at any of the labs, otherwise I would have to say that the state of the labs is even worse than I thought. But maybe you work for Bechtel, who is also compeletly science averse.
Well, just crawl back into your intellectual cave.
-
2/14/2013 6:42 PM
-
Anonymous said...
-
" February 13, 2013 at 12:31 AM
I guess you also don't like the human genome project,funded by DOE and NIH.
No, BP would have done a much better job or wall street. Yes they are the real thinkers and leaders.
Or how about the laser, where would your CD/DVD player be without that?
I hope you are not working at any of the labs, otherwise I would have to say that the state of the labs is even worse than I thought. But maybe you work for Bechtel, who is also compeletly science averse.
Well, just crawl back into your intellectual cave."
Hey I think DOE, NSF, and NIH should be funded. However a private company actually did the Human Genome project first"Celera Genomics". The laser was from Bell which was a private company. I am just saying. By the way BP has actually done a lot of very nice science. -
2/14/2013 10:16 PM
-
Anonymous said...
-
Bell was a gov-legislated monopoly. Once they were deregulated, away went Bell Labs and any science and R&D they were doing.
-
2/15/2013 1:13 AM
-
Anonymous said...
-
" Bell was a gov-legislated monopoly. Once they were deregulated, away went Bell Labs and any science and R&D they were doing.
February 15, 2013 at 1:13 AM"
Once Bell was broken up we also got much lower phone bills, choice, and the competition lead to cell phones, smart phones and all the other stuff.
Maybe we should something like the x-prize for nukes and the company that does the best job for least amount of money gets the job. The free market is always better. -
2/15/2013 6:33 AM
-
Anonymous said...
-
And the award for dumbest comments ever on this blog goes to ....
-
2/15/2013 11:07 AM
-
Anonymous said...
-
Maybe we should something like the x-prize for nukes and the company that does the best job for least amount of money gets the job. The free market is always better.
February 15, 2013 at 6:33 AM
Yes, let's spread nuclear weapons technology down to the cheapest, lowest level so that EVERYBODY can have their own nuke. Brilliant, Dr. Khan!
-
2/15/2013 3:53 PM
-
Anonymous said...
-
Yes, let's spread nuclear weapons technology down to the cheapest, lowest level so that EVERYBODY can have their own nuke. Brilliant, Dr. Khan!
February 15, 2013 at 3:53 PM
You talk like that has not already happened. NK?? Iran?? Pakistan?? Those aren't "the cheapest, lowest level"?? What is? -
2/15/2013 8:56 PM
-
Anonymous said...
-
I love all these free marketeers.
Why not let Iran bid on running the weapons labs? That would really be free market. -
2/16/2013 5:56 AM
-
Anonymous said...
-
LLNL does not all that much nowadays that is directly relevant to the safety, security and reliability of the nuclear stockpile. Unknown unknowns don't count. You don't need two design labs to investigate unknown unknowns. The science LLNL proposes in support of it is not needed and they do a poor job at it anyways. So you wouldn't open it up to a free market. Rather, you would consider shutting it down or downsizing it.
-
2/19/2013 1:43 PM
-
Anonymous said...
-
"LLNL does not all that much nowadays..."
February 19, 2013 at 1:43 PM
Huh? Doesn't do much? Does not matter all that much? Does not stink all that much? What? -
2/19/2013 7:20 PM
-
Anonymous said...
-
LLNL does not
Period -
2/23/2013 8:46 AM
Feb. 12, 2013
By Diane Barnes
Global Security Newswire
WASHINGTON -- Citing Tuesday's nuclear test by North Korea, a senior Defense Department official called U.S. nuclear weapons operations "a national priority" that the Obama administration would seek to shield from across-the-board federal spending cuts set to take effect on March 1.
It appears that "a safe, secure nuclear deterrent" will remain necessary "far into the future," Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on sequestration's anticipated implications for Pentagon programs. "That does require that we have the scientists and engineering base, the facilities, and the life-extension programs and other things we do to keep the nuclear arsenal going."
Congress failed to approve a defense appropriations bill for the current budget cycle, and instead enacted a short-term measure holding most federal spending at fiscal 2012 levels through March 27. The potential March 1 sequester, though, would cut roughly $46 billion in defense spending through Sept. 30, Carter said in his testimony.
Republican lawmakers last week rejected a call by President Obama to delay spending reductions mandated under the 2011 Budget Control Act by implementing budget cuts and tax increases. An alternative proposal by Republicans -- defeated previously on multiple occasions -- would delay sequestration cuts for one fiscal year by tightly restricting recruitment of new federal employees.
Ashton said the nation's nuclear deterrent "is the last thing that you want to do serious damage to," and suggested the Defense and Energy departments "will try to protect our nuclear capabilities to the maximum extent possible."
If sequestration curbs extend over a full decade, "I can't imagine that we won't have to also look at the nuclear part of our force structure in order to accommodate some of those savings," Carter added. The Obama administration committed in 2010 to invest $85 billion over a decade in modernizing the nation's nuclear arsenal and associated infrastructure.
Oh well, no cuts.
Especially when either weaponizes and flight test and put Gayfransisco in range.
This is a great point. Why is the US government investing money into any science in the first place? Why are we paying people to play in sandboxes. If there is any value in such a thing it all could be done at universities where the science gets paid for by paying student costumers who are free to waste their money how they want.
If any valuable science is to be done it will be done in the private sector which allows the free market to determine its true value.
You wont see Google trying to find the non-existence dark Higgs strings. You do not see Pfizer trying to put toy robots on Mars. You do not see ExonMobile trying to film squids in deep water. This is just crazy stuff at our expense. Science does not work outside a free market direction. Never has never will.
We need to close DOE, NSF, NIH, NASA, and NIST. It is our money not sandbox money. This money should be for the military. Big government is not the solution it is the problem.