I am a CNN News junkie.  I know, I know - it's the so-called mainstream media and information is difficult to come by.  But given that I work partially from a home office, it is very easy to have CNN on in the background to catch any breaking news that might be intersting.

As such, I was watching Lou Dobbs last night.  He had a great panel - Randi Rhodes of Air America, Mark Simone of ABC, and James Mtume of KISS FM.  The panel was discussing whatever administration subject Lou threw its way.  Until they got to Randi Rhodes.

That's when my face went white.  Make the jump.

From the transcript:

Mtume and Rhodes are generally discussing whether or not Democrats laid down when challenged at various points.

MTUME: But we laid down, Randi. We laid down.

RHODES: ... I did not come here to be partisan. I came here today, Lou -- I swear to you -- I came here today to ask you to do something. Seriously! My callers -- my listeners -- yours, too, I'm sure -- always get to this point and they go, well, then, James, what do you want us to do? What do we do? What do we do?

If every single camera that's available in the media -- cable- wide, network-wide -- is not in Nevada at the nuclear test site on June 2nd to watch 1.4 millions pounds of explosives be blown up so they can do the math and figure out how to make a tactical nuke, a smaller nuclear weapon that will represent that much firepower for Iran -- if we don't show America this mushroom cloud that will explode in Nevada on the 2nd of June, there is no hope for the American people, there is no hope for the media.

You asked me last time I was here, Who's fault is it? And I said, "It's our fault; it's the media's fault." We have to tell this story. This president is manifestly insane. Donald Rumsfeld is insane.

My emphasis added.  I guess it's shame on me for not having heard about this test before Randi Rhodes dropped that particular bomb on Dobbs' show.  Believe me, if you read the transcript, it wasn't in context at all.  Rhodes just wanted to get it out there, to raise awareness, and raise it she did.

So I headed on over to Randi's website to get more information.  A little way down the home page I see this:

And the Josh "You Need Hands" Bolten/WH Staff Shakeup BS has cable news enthralled to the point that we're the only ones taking about Bush's nuclear simulation tests and the psychos behind them.

The first reference quoted is about Josh Bolten's hobby, which is taking and collecting pictures of Bush's HANDS - but I digress.  I needed to find out more about the second reference, which took me to GlobalSecurity.org.  A few highlights from the article:

The DIVINE STRAKE full scale test is planned to be a large-yield, buried burst detonated at the Nevada Test Site. Divine Strake would appear to be associated with the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator RNEP, or possibly the B61-11 Earth-Penetrating Weapon, a fact that is obscured in most press coverage. Divine Strake is a high-explosive (HE) test sponsored by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) at the Nevada Test Site (NTS).

--sniiiip--

DIVINE STRAKE is one of several "DIVINE" efforts under the Hard and Deeply Buried Target Defeat (HDBTD) program.

--sniiiip--

The US Department of Energy's (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) proposes to provide a test bed to be used by DTRA [Defense Threat Reduction Agency] to conduct a single large scale, open air explosive detonation in Area 16 of the NTS. The proposed detonation, known as DIVINE STRAKE, would occur tentatively in mid 2006 above the existing U16b Tunnel Complex. DIVINE STRAKE would supply a relevant full scale simulation demonstration with a tunnel complex to create a post test underground environment sustaining light to severe damage.

Exqueeze me?  Baking powder?  Jesus Christ on a Crutch.  They're going to conduct a devastating test of what appears to be a nuclear bunker buster in Nevada in June.  Highly ironic is the timing, close on the heels of the leaked information about nuclear plans with Iran.

Randi literally begged Dobbs to show up with cameras.  This test is the WEEKEND BEFORE YearlyKos as it stands now, in NEVADA.  If the so-called mainstream media won't show, I would hope some Kossacks who already live in the vicinity will capture and spread this word.  This can't be ignored.  I'm no bastion of news currency (sometimes life gets in the way!) but I would definitely consider myself better informed than the average Joe or Jane.  I hadn't heard of this.  Do you think they have??

I also would urge a letter to the President, to Don Rumsfeld (as suggested with contact information via links found below), and your Senators as a good starting point to vehemently oppose this blatant move in the direction of nuclear proliferation.

Disclaimer: I did a tag search on Randi Rhodes, Lou Dobbs, nuclear test and Divine Strake.  Yesterday, Blissing posted this diary on the subject of Divine Strake, referencing WaPo and a few other sources, and it kind of slipped into oblivion.  Blissing has a contact link to Don Rumsfeld as well.  I haven't repeated Blissing's information here - head on over there and give it a read.

posted by RenaRF at 1:07 PM 1 comments