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What year is it?


As reported yesterday by The Slate's Fred Kaplan, drawing heavily on a report from the Natural Resources Defense Council issued earlier this month, the Bush administration is spending as much now (in dollars adjusted for inflation) on nuclear weapons as the Reagan administration did during the height of the US/Soviet standoff.

"The budget is busted; American soldiers need more armor; they're running out of supplies. Yet the Department of Energy is spending an astonishing $6.5 billion on nuclear weapons this year, and President Bush is requesting $6.8 billion more for next year and a total of $30 billion over the following four years. This does not include his much-cherished missile-defense program, by the way. This is simply for the maintenance, modernization, development, and production of nuclear bombs and warheads." (from the article.)

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