Earlier this month, environmentalist groups on behalf of the Winnemucca Indian Colony succeeded in having Divine Strake postponed until at least June 23rd by filing a lawsuit against the Pentagon (see my original article on Operation Divine Strake here). And USA Today reports: “A number of small, rural protests have been held, and organizers of the demonstration Sunday on the border of the Nevada Test Site expect 1,000 people to participate. Nearly 40 environmental, human rights, American Indian and peace groups are sponsoring the protest.”

Their claim is that, although the test will be non-nuclear, the soil it will blow sky high is still radioactive after years of nuclear weapons testing, and that it will therefore affect the health of those living downwind of the blast. DTRA spokeswoman Irene Smith responds: “Surveys conducted in the area directly affected by the Divine Strake experiment confirm the lack of any surface contamination.” And the DTRA website answers thus: “The experiment will take place above an existing tunnel, constructed for other research efforts. The tunnel has never been used for nuclear testing.”

Course, don’t expect that to deter the emotionally unstable leftist groups from their cause. Don’t let the facts get in the way of a great cause – everyone needs one, I guess. Daniel Miles, a former physics professor who lives downwind of the planned explosion, says that even if their claims were true and contaminated soil at the site is disrupted during the blast, it still wouldn’t be harmful. “I can’t see any risk at all,” Miles said.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why the lefties are mad about this. Just mention the buzzwords ‘military’, ‘bomb’, ‘nuclear’, ‘environment’, ‘impact’ and ‘mushroom cloud’ – no further thought required. Once you add the implicit purpose of Divine Strake – to test American military capability to bust underground bunkers like Iran’s nuclear facilities – it’s easy to see why they want to hinder the Pentagon as much as possible.

So the protest goes on. Rampant left-wing nutcase Michelle Thomas has gathered 600 signatures so far. “I’m not nearly as afraid of the terrorists as I am of being terrorized by my own country at this point,” she said. I’m working on getting an interview with Thomas for the radio show sometime after Memorial Day. I want to convey my disappointment to her that I won’t be able to enjoy the sweet smell of geothermal fallout on the morning of June 2nd.

You can’t promise me a mushroom cloud and then fail to deliver; that’s just wrong.

John Wright