From: wolfone@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Patrick Chester)
Subject: Congressional votes
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 19:27:12 GMT

In:
>Article 7231 of misc.activism.progressive:
>From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
>Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
writes:

>MILITARY SPENDING AUTHORIZATION.  Next week, the
>Senate is expected to take up the Defense
>Authorization for fiscal year 1993.  The first step
>will be a vote to cut off debate and permit a vote on
>the amendment by Senator Sasser TN to cut $1 billion
>from SDI.  That will open the way for other amendments
>to reduce military spending further.
Uhh.. Hold on a minute. The SDI Office is doing a lot of research
on things that can also be used for civilian purposes. Things like
improved launch vehicles esp. Single Stage to Orbit (SSTO) vehicles.
That is, a vehicle that makes it to orbit in one piece and not ejecting
spent fuel tanks, boosters rocket stages. Since they use liquid hydrogen
and liquid oxygen for fuel, they also have the benefit of not impacting
the environment (e.g. water is the exhaust.) There is one called the DC-X
which is a 1/3 scale prototype due for testing in mid-'93. 

Why is this important? Seeking out new resources in space will help
find more resources to support a technological civilization. Yes, keeping
our level of technology is important. If you disagree, look around you and
try and find something NOT produced by industry. Anyway, to get to space
we need a launch system that will operate at a pace somewhat faster than
tha shuttle. NASA cannot do that because of the top heavy bureaucracy it
has been saddled with. If you want more information then please try
and get it from sci.space. There are people there who can provide much more
information on this subject than I can. Kill the X-ray laser project, kill
Brilliant Pebbles but please, PLEASE keep SSTO and other launch systems
currently funded under SDI. They have very important civilian uses. Especially
if you want smaller, domestic businesses to have a chance of competing in
space with large multinationals.

NOTE: I would also recomend that you support funding for high energy laser 
research since they can also be used as a launch system (cheaper than SSTO,
maybe.) But I can understand if you don't want that as a possible new weapon 
for the military. Same goes for railguns since, while they can be used as a
launch system (the Moon would be a better place for them though it can be used
on Earth in a limited way) it too has weapons capability that you might be
unnerved about its existence. 

Just trying to point out that there *is* one Pentagon research project that
has immediate benefits for the civilian sector. If we could just get past all
that damned security...:)

My apologies for a long speech.

>ACTION:  Please urge your senators to support the
>Sasser amendment to cut SDI spending, and to support
>deep cuts in the 1993 Defense authorization, such as
>amendments to cut funding for the B-2 Bomber, U.S.
>troops abroad, Pentagon subsidies of arms bazaars.
Action: keep SSTO alive please. Space must become more accesible to humans 
without depending on NASA's monopoly on civilian space travel.

>F-15 SALE TO SAUDI ARABIA.  President Bush announced
>today his plan to sell up to 72 advanced F-15 fighter-
>bombers to Saudi Arabia.  He said that this sale will
Nix this. It doesn't matter if it's only C models. I nearly panicked when
I saw the "fighter-bomber" description (i.e., E model's role) above. 
Arming nations whose friendship is tenuous at best is unwise. It could also
become a severe military disadvantage in the future. Besides, it hurts the
CIS's only good chance of earning hard currency nowadays: weapons.
Sad, but true. While cutting the sale is the right thing to do, I guess you now
see why I doubt it will end the arming of the world. Slow it down slightly, yes
but not stop. 

>ACTION:  Congress has 30 days within which it can vote
>to disapprove the F-15 sale.  Please urge your members
>of Congress to take strong initiatives to disapprove
>the sale, because it will be an obstacle to arms
>control.  Also, point out that the jobs claims have
>been highly inflated.
Yes, the sale is an obstacle to arms control and should be stopped. BUT it is 
not the greatest obstacle IMHO. See above and try to imagine what the currency
starved Russians are going to say to an arms embargo with their economy in 
shambles and their military still having trouble feeding and sheltering their
troops. It's not a simple problem.

>LAND MINES MORATORIUM.  Next week Rep. Evans IL will
>introduce legislation to stop the U.S. development,
>production, and sale of land mines.  He is seeking as
>many co-sponsors as possible by Tuesday, September 15. 
>For details about the issue, please request FCNL
>document G-219-FOR.
Err.. okay. But mines are not exactly the most deadly weapons in warfare. 
They're static and can't hurt anyone unless somebody stumbles onto one.
They're more effective as a psychological weapon. Though, for the poor grunts
who hit these things it's a whole different story.

>ACTION:  Please contact your representative on Monday
>or Tuesday to urge her or him to call Rep. Evans and
>sign on as a co-sponsor of the land mines moratorium.
I think this can wait a little longer. It's trivial at best.

That's all I'm going to comment on since I'm unfamiliar with the other subjects.
Thanks for reading this, even if I don't subscribe to progressive views exactly.
Spare me the flames about being reactionary or a right wing fascist. I'm not
and I get enough flak from those people and don't need it from the progressive
side too. Ack... crossfires are not fun.
-- 
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Patrick Chester            |"The earth is too fragile a basket in which to keep
wolfone@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu |  all your eggs." Robert A. Heinlein
Politically Incorrect      |"The meek shall inherit the earth. The rest of us
Future Lunar Colonist      |  are going to the stars." Anonymous
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Newsgroups: alt.activism.d,alt.rush-limbaugh,talk.abortion