Space Cowboys and Shooting Stars

The Christmas/New Year's holidaze are always an interesting time to slide stuff into the media on the sly. Most folks aren't paying attention to the news and that's when the really interesting stuff gets reported. Or as my friend comedian Barry Weintraub says, "George H.W. Bush pardoned Casper Weinberger on Christmas Eve when only the Jews were watching."

I mention this because on Friday, Bloomberg writer Demian McLean reported that President-elect Obama is considering "tearing down long-standing barriers between the U.S.’s civilian and military space programs."

Wow. The Pentagon and NASA together at last. You know that somewhere Reagan is kicking himself for not thinking about this for his Strategic Defense Initiative.

Ah, the militarization of space. Where to begin? Smart new uniforms for starters? Because when we meet life forms from other galaxies who come in peace and have renounced warfare as a primitive means of settling disputes, we need to look good brandishing our phasers, lasers, light sabers and what have you. And are you thinking what I'm thinking? You bet. A contest. Let's get the Lucas folks and the Star Trek guys and, what the heck, let's get Ralph Lauren involved too. Cuz you know the French are going to go with Gaultier.

But seriously.....there is just one tiny little problem. You see we, and all the other major powers, signed The Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space. I won't belabor you with the details, but Article IV is worth a second look:

Article IV

States Parties to the Treaty undertake not to place in orbit around the Earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction, install such weapons on celestial bodies, or station such weapons in outer space in any other manner.

The Moon and other celestial bodies shall be used by all States Parties to the Treaty exclusively for peaceful purposes. The establishment of military bases, installations and fortifications, the testing of any type of weapons and the conduct of military maneuvers on celestial bodies shall be forbidden. The use of military personnel for scientific research or for any other peaceful purposes shall not be prohibited. The use of any equipment or facility necessary for peaceful exploration of the Moon and other celestial bodies shall also not be prohibited. (emphasis added)

Forbidden.

Forbidden works for me. But hey that was 1966. And I realize that ever since the NY Times reported that the Chinese destroyed a satellite 2 years ago this month, we've been working overtime to keep up with the them. But come on folks, we, as a planet, as a group, have to stop it right here. Remember that whole cold war arms race thing? Anyone? Bueller?

Look, I'm not anti-Pentagon. I think our military is the best in the world. But that's just it. They are the MILITARY. Sooner or later someone is going to want to shoot something. It's a testosterone thing. Hey, I like shooting things too. But at targets. At a shooting range. Where no one gets hurt. And we can't turn space into a shooting range.

How about if we start with NO, and work from there. If China, Russia, India, Japan, France, the US and whoever want to militarize space, we say NO.

But most of all, I want to know why there is no call to arms, if you'll pardon the pun, to re-invigorate the discussion to keep space free of weapons? Where is General Secretary Ban Ki Moon on this issue? Why is there no major conference being organized right now to set new rules? We need some logic and some sanity. We need Mr. Spock.