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I think we have a right and a duty to protect our interests by deciding who has and who doesn't have nuclear weapons.  Just think about what would happen if North Korea started mass-producing nuclear weapons and then put them on long-range missiles?  If we don't stop them now, they will grow and fester and permanently imbed themselves into Asia.  South Korea and Japan will always be on alert, and we will have to deal with yet another power in the eastern hemisphere.  I don't want to have a foreign policy that needs to accomidate a nuclear-mobile Korean penninsula.

Yeah, it does.  I think winning a world war and developing the greatest weapon and energy source of the 20th century (and possibly history) comes with that title.  It's all about protecting our interests, and I don't like having nuclear weapons in the wrong hands that close to the US.

And we are not the only country in the world, but we are far and away one of the most responsible, along with our European "allies".  If we want to ensure that nuclear power is used only as a deterrent, then we must take all actions necessary to ensure that it stays out of the wrong hands.

Don't be an ass.  The US and France developed the technology (actually come to think of it, we gave it to those rifle-droppers) and as a result we obviously have more say in its use than anyone else.

Besides, big countries like the US, France, Brittain, Russia, China, etc., can play by MAD and have used their weapons as deterrents to war for the last 50 years.  Using your power to twist the US into meeting your demands isn't exactly responsible use.  North Korea has proved that it is going to be irresponsible with its nuclear power after kicking out inspectors.

I mean, think about it.  If North Korea just wanted to use the power, they wouldn't have kicked out the inspectors.  They would have negotiated instead of trying to go toe-to-toe with a superpower.  No, rather this is about getting the ammunition (literally) to be able to defy the US and the world.

I don't know if you've noticed, clark, but by high school the average student who won't go to college has become the average American.  It's not like you magically become wise and mature after you get your GED.  Adults and even older citizens are stupid about things, too.  I see a bunch of adults in my community that use pot and act just like my friends.  I'm glad that Josh knows all of the responsible pot users... I'd like to meet one sometime.

I just noticed what a funny coincidence it is that it's called "high" school.  Weird   

THEY DIDN'T RENEW THEIR VISAS ON TIME!!! THE WHOLE ISSUE WAS THAT THEY CALLED THE PEOPLE INTO THE INS OFFICE BECAUSE THEIR CARDS WERE EXPIRED AND HADN'T BEEN RENEWED YET!!! Why can hundreds of thousands of people pass through the US every year and manage to get their paperwork in on time?!  :angry:

Of course Iraq could affect us directly.  We position troops in the middle east constantly.  It is a threat to their well-being to have a nuclear power in the region.  Iraq can also affect us indirectly.  After all, we are dependent on foreign oil (I hope it won't be that way in a few years when we have hydrogen cars) and having a nuclear power in the region isn't good for assuring that the oil supply is continuous.  Not to mention that whole Jew/Muslim thing I keep hearing about in this little country called... oh hell, I keep forgeting... ISRAEL!  That's it.  What a silly goose.

Wow.  I was at a wrestling tournament all day today, and nobody bothered to tell me about this.  My dad had to break it to be later this afternoon.  I'm still a little bit in shock.  It's even more frustrating to not know what went wrong... and to not be able to know for at least a few more months (or more likely a few years). 

I think this whole issue can go one of two ways:

1.)  The average American looks at this failure, and remembers Challenger from the 80's, and decides that they're fed up with the whole darn thing and that we have better uses for our limited funds.   

2.)  The average American decides that nothing keeps the average American from doing something, let alone an engineering problem or the Chinese.   

Either way it's risky for Bush.  If he increases funding without somewhat immediate results, it will appear like the money is being siphoned off, but if he doesn't it looks like America is quitting the space game for good.

I still can't believe this.  I always thought that Challenger must have been "a freak accident" (in part because I didn't have to live through it), but now the whole risk of going into space seems much more real.

This all seems so unreal.  I can't think.  Maybe it will get better after some sleep... 

P.S.-  What does everyone make of the footage of the debris?  It was some pretty graphic stuff.  The helmet sitting on the ground was the most disturbing (FOX News stopped showing it this afternoon).   

Wow.  That's really weird, soph.  For some reason, all of the marijuana users I know can't think about anything else all day.  The joy they look forward to at the end (or sometimes the middle) of each week is a blunt and a gas station cigar.

Who do you know that smoked pot for a short time and then all of a sudden stopped cold turkey?

But the spending is not so much of a definative push for hydrogen cars, but rather a gesture to the Arabs that we will not be held hostage and blackmailed by their oil.  I'm sure after the government blows through that $1.2 billion, the advances will set the stage for private industry to pick up the slack in research.

And if we don't invest that $200 billion now, it will end up costing that much and more to fix things.

Whitewater wasn't a sham.  It involved the same crooked money politics as Enron, and there was a 5 year (plus 1 election) lapse between Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky.  Going after Cheney for being a part of Enron is just as bad as going after that "horney banker".

And all of that talk of the President being Cheney's puppet is BS.  They're both well educated politicians that have spent a long time in government and private business.  They're both from Midwestern towns, and went to the big law schools (hell, Cheney even flunked out of his).  Cheney is Bush's puppet, not vice versa.

When was the last time you saw the vice-president give a public speech?  Or attend a highly-publicized conference of foreign leaders?  Or propose education reform?  No.  If the President was a finely smoked salmon, the vice-president would be a can of tuna.  He's an imitation President because the big man can't be everywhere at once.  He's the one that attends the boring meetings and reports back.

Plus, almost every political leader has had some sort of business ties that followed them to office.  Recall Whitewater?