Merry Christmas, America—or should I say, “Merry Christmas, earth!”

Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev signing START III in early April of this year
Merry Christmas, America—or should I say, “Merry Christmas, earth!”

Curbing atomic weapons proliferation is not simply a sincere vision of our President, it is the vision of all peace-loving persons around the world. Besides limiting the arsenals of Russia and the US to 1550 strategic nuclear weapons within the next seven years, the new START (STrategic Arms Reduction Treaty) will signal to Iran and North Korea (among others) that they are flying in the face of Russian-US cooperation in promoting global peace—and hopefully, curtail a number of nuclear weapons programs underway—or soon to be underway—in several less-than-stable countries in North Africa, East Asia and the Middle East ... and elsewhere.

Interestingly, Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev signed the treaty on April 8, 2010 more than eight months ago, yet the Republican opposition claimed not to have had enough time to review the seventeen-page document … and nearly blocked ratification of the treaty.

It was politics at its lowest and ugliest.

Although both major political parties are often guilty of politicizing that which ought not be politicized, the actions of the Republicans in the Senate (and speeches given by Republicans in the House) in recent days reached a new bottom, in my opinion.

The other bills being hurried through Congress in this “Lame Duck” session pale in contrast to the immense importance of the ratification of START. An accidental nuclear war would even leave the don’t-ask-don’t-tell matter as a forgotten endnote to the lifeless mass of radiated matter once called “earth” ... the smoldering sphere would be our fitting legacy to the Cosmos if we're not extremely prudent in this arena.