to:ãŠãŠãŠãŠãŠãŠ business leaders for sensible priority members
from:㊠gary ferdman, executive director
re:ãŠãŠãŠãŠãŠãŠ anti-star wars ad
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despite warnings from scientists, former diplomats and retired military leaders, the bush administration continues to push ahead with its ill-conceived, under tested and colossally expensive missile defense program.
our friends in washington, dc are undertaking a concerted effort to trim bush’s $10.5 billion request, and plan to use next week’s congressional debate as an opportunity to raise fundamental questions about the system and bush’s plan to deploy it, untested, by election day.
our contribution to the loyal opposition will be the accompanying full-page ad.
if we can raise sufficient funds by friday ($20,000), it will run early the following week in the national edition of the new york times, covering the entire country minus the greater new york area (circulation: 500,000).
we will also include it in next monday’s action alert on missile defense to our 470,000 truemajority members, and ask our business leaders members to send it, along with a cover letter, to their senators and representatives.
note that this is not a sign-on — no names or affilaitions will be listed.㊠ad, including art work, is attached.㊠text follows.㊠your generous response would be most appreciated.
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to: gary ferdman
__ great ad!㊠i will contribute $
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checks are payable to blsp, p.o. box 1976, new york, ny 10113. business leaders for sensible priorities is a 501 (c)(3) organization; contributions are tax-deductible.
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faith-based defense?
star wars is back. god help us taxpayers.
under cover of the war on terrorism, president bush is asking congress for 53 billion dollars to build a “”ballistic missile shield.””
yes, star wars is back, resurrected from the graveyard of science fiction.
could it ever work? nobody knows. the president’s in such a rush, the first phase of the scheme can’t even be operationally tested. we have to take it on faith.
repeat: no testing. take it on faith. the president wants the thing up and running by election day whether it works or not.
how big is this boondoggle? well, missile defense is now the single most expensive item in the entire pentagon budget- and that’s on top of $130 billion that’s already disappeared down the star wars money hole. with absolutely nothing to show for it.
if you think faith based national defense is a stupid idea, you should know that 49 retired senior military officers (including a former chair-man of the joint chiefs) completely agree with you.
they’ve signed an open letter to the president, urging him to postpone de-ployment of an untested ground-based missile defense system.ãŠ
they point out that a successful system will require the seamless merging of 10 of the most ambitious technologies ever attempted, when in fact, as of today, only two of those 10 critical technologies have been tested.
they urge we commit these billions instead to what every anti-terrorism expert agrees are america’s real vul-nerabilities, like protecting our ports and borders from weapon smugglers, and securing our nuclear facilities and stockpiles of nuclear materials.
and leaders of the true faith-based community, such as national council of churches general secretary rev. bob edgar, are a