Pandemic no time to waste cash on war

IN RESPONSE to (the Journal’s Dec. 29 editorial) “Two NM labs’ work on low-yield nukes means a safer world,” I am dismayed to find out there are still people who believe, and promote the belief, that to increase the danger makes us safer. That to build up weapons of war leads to peace. And that nuclear deterrence results in anything other than a speedup of the arms race among nations.

And I’m shocked that our local newspaper is hyping such rubbish instead of informing its readers of the actual risks involved in increasing our nuclear arsenal.

Even if these weapons are never used, any and all production of nuclear weapons creates dangerous radioactive waste. We cannot trust our labs to safely handle radioactive waste when they continually fail to meet the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board’s safety standards.

And if these weapons were to be used, it’s foolish to assume the effects could be limited to a specific small location. The blast from a “low-yield” nuke will surely send radioactive fallout for hundreds, if not thousands, of miles downwind and harm many innocent people and their air and water.

And please consider the moral aspect of our priorities. We are in the middle of the worst health crisis in a century while millions of Americans lack health care, yet the U.S. is spending massive tax dollars on weapons of war instead of on universal health care.

We’re in a major economic recession with millions of Americans unemployed, hungry and homeless. Every dollar spent on weapons of war is to take that dollar away from a family struggling to survive.

For the Journal to waste a column praising a weapon of war, during these desperate times, is shameful.

MARCY MATASICK Santa Fe