The advertising above is just a source of revenue, and sometimes, I don't know what will appear there.

Unique grips and accessories for your 1911!

Clayton Cramer's BLOG

Clayton's commentary on news and events of the day. Broadly speaking, I'm a conservative with libertarian sympathies (getting more conservative as my children get older).



Email me at blogmail at claytoncramer dot com. Sorry to be so indirect, but all spambots must die! But they haven't died yet! Include the word spamIamnot in your subject line to make sure that my spam blocker lets you through.

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Saturday, June 13, 2009
 
The Liberals Are Promoting Totalitarianism Again

Over at CBS's web site, this op-ed piece by Bonnie Erbe (who has her own show on PBS, apparently), calling for locking up people before they commit crimes because they don't share liberal values:
Three incidents and counting.

If yesterday's Holocaust Museum slaying of security guard and national hero Stephen Tyrone Johns is not a clarion call for banning hate speech, I don't know what is. Playwright Janet Langhart Cohen appeared on CNN yesterday right after the shooting, as she wrote a play that was supposed to have been debuted at the Holocaust Museum last night. Her play is about Emmett Till, whose lynching helped launch the Civil Rights Movement, and Ann Frank, whose diary told the story of Holocaust victims in hiding in the Netherlands during World War II.

She said something must be done about ridding the Internet and the public dialogue of hate speech. I agree. Not only have we had three hate crime murders within the last two weeks (Mr. Johns, as noted above, Dr. George Tiller a week ago last Sunday, and Pvt. William Andrew Long by an American-born Muslim convert outside a recruiting station just before that.)

...

It's not enough to prosecute these murders as murders. They are hate-motivated crimes and each of these men had been under some sort of police surveillance prior to their actions. Isn't it time we started rounding up promoters of hate before they kill?
No surprise; liberals are always looking for an excuse to send people to re-education camps. It's a good thing for liberals that conservatives don't have that same liberal instinct.

Labels:



 
New ScopeRoller Casters

I've just added several new tripods to the supported line of products:

ScopeRollerTM LXD55 for the Meade LXD55 tripod.

ScopeRollerTM VHAL110 for the Vixen HAL-110 tripod.

ScopeRollerTM VHAL130 for the Vixen HAL-130 tripod.

ScopeRollerTM OptMini for the iOptron Minitower tripod.

The sets for the Vixen HAL-110 and HAL-130 are actually more like a relaunch. I had grown too frustrated trying to machine these slightly complex parts before figuring out how to better grip the workpieces and how to select the right endmill for the job.

Labels: ,



Friday, June 12, 2009
 
Dead Cooperative Federal Witness

I haven't had much to say about the continuing lawsuit asking Barack Obama to produce his original Hawaii birth certificate, because nothing is really happening on it. Obama and the DNC keep stonewalling, spending money--rather than spend $19.95 to have the vault copy Overnight Mailed to the lawyers who have filed the suits. I guess spending close to a million dollars to keep it secret makes economic sense--although you have to wonder why.

But what makes this mildly interesting, especially if you are one of those who are prone to imagining deep, dark conspiracies--is this item that came out of the April 19, 2008 Washington Times. You may recall that several employees of the Department of State started snooping (without authorization) into the passport records of Clinton, Obama, and McCain last year--and got in a pile of trouble over it (as well they should).

A key witness in a federal probe into passport information stolen from the State Department was fatally shot in front of a District church, the Metropolitan Police Department said yesterday.

Lt. Quarles Harris Jr., 24, who had been cooperating with a federal investigators, was found late Thursday night slumped dead inside a car, in front of the Judah House Praise Baptist Church in Northeast, said Cmdr. Michael Anzallo, head of the department's Criminal Investigations Division.

Cmdr. Anzallo said a police officer was patrolling the neighborhood when gunshots were heard, then Lt. Harris was found dead inside the vehicle, which investigators would describe only as a blue car.

Emergency medics pronounced him dead at the scene.

City police said they do not know whether his death was a direct result of his cooperation with federal investigators.

"We don't have any information right now that connects his murder to that case," Cmdr. Anzallo said.

This may just be a wild coincidence. The District of Criminals is very close to a liberal's highest aspirations, and as a result, life is cheap there. You would think that the need to clarify that there was no connection to these events would make an investigation into his murder of interest. But other than this sad memorial to him, and other web pages linking to that same Washington Times article--nothing!

UPDATE: Here's an article explaining a bit more, indicating that Harris was involved in credit card fraud and perhaps drug trafficking related to the passport office improprieties, which explains why he was a cooperative witness for the government. With the crowd that he would have been involved with, there's a simple and obvious explanation for what got him killed.

Labels:



 
Those Of You Who Have Lost Your Jobs Recently

And have gone on COBRA continuation coverage need to know about this. One of the many provisions of the porkulus bill that passed is a 65% subsidy in COBRA premiums for those terminated September 1, 2008 through March 1, 2009. But: there is only a short period during which to request from your employer this subsidy (which is reimbursed by the federal government through a tax credit to the employer). And your former employer doesn't have to notify you about this--and mine, HP, of course, didn't. I called up to see about enrolling, and discovered that the deadline for me to do so passed last Monday.

UPDATE: Yes, they were required to notify me. They now claim that they sent out notice to me on April 1st. Somehow, miraculously, it is the only piece of COBRA continuation paper from HP that has not arrived, so they are under no obligation.

I've learned not to believe much of what HP says over the last several years. What really frustrates me is that there is no actual cost (other than some paperwork) to HP. They get a tax credit from the federal government for offering the premium subsidy equal to what it costs them. It does seem as though Catbert is their VP of HR.


Thursday, June 11, 2009
 
Soldiers Mirandizing Enemy Combatants

It's like a bad Saturday Night Live skit. From June 11, 2009 Newsmax.com:

U.S. Rep. Mike Rodgers, R-Mich., who is just back from Afghanistan, says that captured foreign fighters in that war-torn country are now getting “Miranda” warnings after capture and prior to questioning.

In a Fox News account, reproduced on the lawmaker’s Web site, Rogers says, “I witnessed it myself, talked to the people on the ground. What you have is two very separate missions colliding in the field in a combat zone. Again, anytime you offer confusion in that environment that’s already chaotic and confusing enough, you jeopardize a soldier’s life.”

What’s more, Rogers says that the new warnings advisement policy is news to the U.S. Congress, which he notes has not to his knowledge been briefed on the new procedures.

The Miranda warning is straightforward: “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be provided for you at government expense.”

What’s most troubling to Rogers and others is that first part about remaining silent – it severs at the get-go the route to what can be the best intelligence on the enemy’s plans to kill Americans.

“I was a little surprised to find it taking place when I showed up because we hadn’t been briefed on it, I didn’t know about it. We’re still trying to get to the bottom of it, but it is clearly a part of this new global justice initiative,” Rogers said, according to a report in the Weekly Standard.

Soldiers are not police. But then again, this is the party that thought terrorism could be fought as a criminal justice matter.

Labels:



 
Las Vegas Culture As Exemplified By Billboards

I'm not sure that it's fair to judge a community by the billboards, but you do certainly get an impression of the dominant values of a society by what is important enough (and acceptable enough) to advertise. In Riverside and and East Los Angeles County, from my last trip there, the theme was topless/bottomless "gentlemen's clubs." (For a very loose definition of "gentlemen.") Yes, you see one or two billboards in Boise for that sort of thing (it being a very liberal part of Idaho), but there's no comparison of the number of those billboards between the two locations.

I was a bit surprised when I first moved to Boise how many ads there were for personal injury lawyers. In Las Vegas, gobs and gobs of lawyer billboards--but instead of personal injury lawyers, these were largely for drunk driving defense. Many of the billboards promised to defend you on DUI for $1400, or $1200--and even a cut-rate operation that was promising to do it for $700. It was not exactly an overpowering statement about the moral state of Las Vegas--or perhaps it's a statement about the number of visitors who discover that the advertising slogan, "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas," isn't quite true.


 
Curious Coincidence, But That's Probably All

It turns out that a couple of the names of passengers on the Air France flight that crashed matched another list. From June 10, 2009 Sky News:

Two passengers with names linked to Islamic terrorism were on the Air France flight which crashed with the loss of 228 lives, it has emerged.

French secret servicemen established the connection while working through the list of those who boarded the doomed Airbus in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 31.

Flight AF 447 crashed in the mid-Atlantic en route to Paris during a violent storm.

While it is certain there were computer malfunctions, terrorism has not been ruled out.

If the usual advocates of peace did this, I would expect them to have taken credit for it; it does no good for terrorists to pull off spectacular crimes if they can't be perceived as the perpetrators.


Wednesday, June 10, 2009
 
Busy Days and Nights

Sorry this has been a bit less active of a blog the last week or so. Yes, I was on vacation. But I'm working very hard for my employer in Bend (and learning a lot about SQL along the way), and I've been filling orders for ScopeRoller in the evening--and there's not a lot of time left to do what I really love: write popular and scholarly works on important issues of public policy. (You might find this article by me that appeared Monday on PajamasMedia of interest.)

I keep having this wild fantasy that conservatives decide that this stuff matters, and start providing enough funding to think tanks that they work their way to the bottom of the hiring list, and hire someone like me. But alas! That must remain a fantasy, because only left of center types are rich enough, and care enough, to actually fund think tanks adequately.

It wouldn't take an engineering salary to get me to do that full time. Very shortly, I will be having to pay for health insurance not only for me, but for my wife and son as well--and as many of you know, even on COBRA continuation policies, this isn't cheap.


 
The Personal Tragedies Teaser

I've made some minor additions to the manuscript for my next book based on J. Allan Hobson and Jonathan A. Leonard's Out of Its Mind: Psychiatry in Crisis (2001), and updated the teaser chapters here.

Labels:



 
Abram Hoffer Dies

In case you don't know who he is--from the obituary in the May 30, 2009 British Columbia Times-Colonist:
He challenged the then-dominant view of schizophrenia as a psychological disorder caused by poor mothering, and contributed importantly to the formation of the field of neuropsychopharmacology. He co-authored research on the genetics of schizophrenia with the renowned geneticist, Ernst Mayer. He co-discovered the first effective lipid-lowering agent, the B vitamin niacin. He developed a controversial treatment for acute schizophrenia based on the principles of respect, shelter, sound nutrition, appropriate medication and the administration of large doses of certain water-soluble vitamins, in the process carrying out among the first controlled clinical trials in psychiatry. He advanced a plausible biochemical hypothesis to explain the cause of schizophrenia and how niacin and vitamin C could eliminate its symptoms and prevent relapses. Intrigued by the concept of metabolic “models of madness,” he and his research colleagues, notably his close collaborator Humphry Osmond, studied the properties of the hallucinogens and pioneered the use of LSD, which in conjunction with skilled compassionate psychotherapy, was found to be an effective treatment for alcoholism. His work with alcoholism led to a close friendship with Bill W., the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. He organized a self-help organization for people with schizophrenia, Schizophrenics Anonymous. Participants at SA meetings occasionally exchanged the friendly greeting, “Salutations and hallucinations!” His colleague and friend, the American chemist Linus Pauling, championed the biochemical model for treating schizophrenia that was developed in Saskatchewan and provided a conceptual underpinning for the notion that large doses of certain naturally occurring substances can favorably alter disordered brain biochemistry, coining the term “orthomolecular psychiatry.”
My brother was treated with Hoffer and Osmond's methods back in the early 1980s--and there was enormous progress, at least for several years--to the point where, had I not known of my brother's struggle with schizophrenia, I would not have realized that he was mentally ill. The improvement was that dramatic. It did not last, for a variety of reasons, but I do suspect that Hoffer and Osmond were on to something, even if the exact details of the mechanism were not completely correct.

Unfortunately at the time, the psychoanalytic model for schizophrenia was at its height, and some very positive results and intriguing theories were largely ignored by the profession. In the last twenty years, the realization that schizophrenia is biochemical or structural in nature has again taken hold. I have confidence that in another 20-30 years, we will have a good understanding--and maybe even a cure for it. For those struggling with it, either in themselves, or in loved ones--you'll just have to wait. We're not spending enough researching a disease that, until deinstitutionalization, was the single largest cause of hospital bed-days in North America. (Now it's one of the largest causes of homeless people sleeping on park benches, in homeless shelters, and on steam grates.)

UPDATE: A reader who is a professor of social work tells me that social work grad programs had largely abandoned psychoanalysis in the 1970s, and his perception is that psychoanalysis was already in decline within psychiatry by the 1970s. Hobson and Leonard's Out of Its Mind points out that experiments done in the 1960s and early 1970s were also showing that psychoanalysis did not work for psychotics. Psychoanalysis with medications was about as effective as medications alone.

He also tells me that one of the reasons that Hoffer & Osmond's work was largely ignored was:

1. They had done a lot of research about LSD--and this created a negative view of them.

2. No one was much interested in trying to replicate their results with patients. That's sort of the kiss of death for scientific research.

Labels:



 
The Worshippers Admit It

Evan Thomas, Newsweek's managing editor, admits that Obama is more than just a man.



Yes, you heard that right:
In a way Obama is standing above the country, above the world. He’s sort of GOD. He’s going to bring all different sides together.
Idol worship is a very dangerous thing, not because Obama thinks he's God--I think he's a lot smarter than the morons that provide you your news--but because people that worship him as God won't ever question his actions.

Labels:



 
Holocaust Museum Shooting Today

From June 10, 2009 CNN:
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The suspect in Wednesday's shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is James von Brunn, an 88-year-old white supremacist from Maryland, two law enforcement officials told CNN.

Gunfire at the entrance of the museum wounded at least two people Wednesday, emergency officials said.

A private security guard and the shooting suspect were wounded, according to officials of the D.C. police.

Sgt. David Schlosser, a spokesman for U.S. Park Police, told reporters a man armed with a "long gun" entered the museum at 12:50 p.m. and fired at a security officer, and both were wounded in the exchange of gunfire.

"My understanding is that two other security officers at the museum returned gunfire at the man that had entered the museum," Schlosser said. Video Watch Schlosser tell what's known so far »

Schlosser said he didn't know exactly what kind of firearm the man had and whether the shooting was before or after he passed through a metal detector.

That couldn't have happened--DC still has very strict gun control laws!

More seriously: when I took my family to DC some years ago, we went to the Holocaust Museum--and they had a very large and obvious sign at the entrance warning that concealed weapon permits from other states were not valid in DC, and that anyone found with a weapon on them (as they passed through the metal detectors) would be arrested and charged. This was the only place in DC where I saw such a sign, and I thought it was a bit odd.

Of course, it also meant that the shooter knew that he was attacking a place where he was guaranteed that only uniformed personnel would be able to shoot back. Another triumph of gun-free zones.

Labels: ,



 
Flying Pig Day

This editorial from the June 10, 2009 Los Angeles Times
makes me wonder where the real editors of the Times are currently, and when their captors will untie them:
It's tempting for supporters of gun control -- including this page -- to hope that the high court will rule that the 2nd Amendment doesn't apply to the states. That would be a mistake and would give aid and comfort to conservative legal thinkers, among them Justice Clarence Thomas, who have questioned the incorporation doctrine.

We were disappointed last year when the Supreme Court ruled that the right to keep and bear arms was an individual right, giving short shrift to the first part of the amendment, which refers to "a well-regulated militia." But we also believe the court has been right to use the doctrine of incorporation to bind states to the most important protections of the Bill of Rights. If those vital provisions are to be incorporated in the 14th Amendment, so should the right to keep and bear arms.

Labels:



Tuesday, June 09, 2009
 
Interesting New Study About Homosexual Incidence

It pretty well demolishes the, "I was born this way" claim. Howard Hsueh-Hao Chiang, "Homosexual Behavior in the United States, 1988-2004: Quantitative Empirical Support for the Social Construction Theory of Sexuality," Electronic Journal of Sexual Behavior 12:
The present study analyzed data collected in 11 rounds of the General Social Survey conducted between 1988 and 2004 (N = 10,767 men and 13,868 women). Using simple cross-tabulations, the prevalence of homosexual contact in America was estimated by sex, year, and various sociodemographic variables. The subsequent results of three estimation models (OLS, logit, and probit) revealed a statistically significant causal effect of the urbanization character of an individual’s residential environment at age 16 on the likelihood that the same individual would engage in homosexual behavior as an adult. The results empirically confirm the idea that sexuality is socially constructed, thus bringing quantitative social scientific inquiries about human sexuality closer to relevant theoretical perspectives.
If homosexuality is actually something that is inherited (a claim that even the American Psychological Association admits lacks evidence), then you would not expect a dramatic increase in homosexuality to be associated with growing up urban.

UPDATE: A reader points out:
I also backed up to the index page and spent some time browsing through the table of contents. There are a number of articles discussing polyamory (Care to bet it's the next marriage battle?) and a review of a book titled "Why Marriage?". The book, and the review, both come out very strongly for same-sex marriage, and equate modern opposition to 1950's opposition to interracial marriage.
The point is, this is not a mouthpiece for the Conservative Coalition.

Labels:



 
Global Warming, Right

Saturday afternoon, we were driving back to the house from Boise, and we have what a first I assume is a cloudburst in Eagle. But this is the first cloudburst that I have ever seen where what was falling in prodigious quantities wasn't rain, but hail. We were at about 2800 feet above sea level, in early June.


 
These Don't Happen Often

But they do happen, and we should not pretend otherwise. They don't happen very often--but consider this a sobering reminder that if you are going to get a permit to carry, you better be darn sure that you aren't going to let a trivial argument turn into a tragedy. From the February 8, 2009 Memphis [Tennessee] Commercial-Appeal:

An argument and a gun, a flash and a crack, and just like that, three children were made orphans.

That's what happened in the parking lot of the Trinity Commons shopping center in Cordova around 9 p.m. Friday, police said.

Police charged Harry Coleman, 59, with second-degree murder Sunday in the shooting of Robert "Dutch" Schwerin, 52, after the pair argued over how close their vehicles were parked.

Schwerin died in the parking lot, leaving behind two sons, Dallas, 21, and Colt, 19, and a daughter, Savannah, 15. Emilie Schwerin, his wife and their mother, died in 2004 from medical problems.

...

The incident apparently began outside the Villa Castrioti restaurant, where Schwerin and his children were celebrating the birthdays of his father and father-in-law.

But on the way out, according to Dallas, Schwerin and a woman began arguing over how close his GMC Yukon Denali was to her Hummer.

At that point, Harry Coleman joined the argument, which then seemed to dim. But then it boiled over again, Dallas said, leading Coleman to reach into the Hummer for his gun. He then walked back to where Schwerin stood and shot him in the torso, according to the police affidavit.

Police took him into custody there and found the gun in his back pocket.

Coleman, who is scheduled to appear in court at 8:30 a.m. today, was granted a state permit to carry a handgun in June 2006.

I find stories like this utterly amazing--mostly because my experience has been that regularly carrying a gun makes me more inclined to walk away from disputes.

I have long said that not everyone should own a gun. There are people that the law prohibits from being armed, and generally with good reason: convicted felons; minors; those with histories of mental incapacity because of retardation or psychosis.

There are people that the law does not prohibit from being armed, nor should it--but who I strongly discourage from being armed.

If you regularly get intoxicated, you probably shouldn't own a gun. Intoxication doesn't go well with guns (or cars, power tools, ladders, or much of anything else). If you have ever come to in the morning in a vehicle that you don't know who owns it--that's a bad sign. If you have ever returned to consciousness and found yourself wearing only a lion skin loincloth, while holding a chicken, with a crowd around you yelling, "Kill it! Kill it!": a gun's probably not the right thing to own.

If you are prone to severe depression, you better have a darn good reason to own a gun--because the risk that you might use it for suicide is high.

If you or someone that you live with is prone to losing your temper, and becoming violent: you (and those around you) are probably best off if you don't own a gun.

Read that story above, and ask yourself if you can imagine yourself letting a stupid little parking lot dispute escalate to the point where you would shoot an unarmed person who was, apparently, only shooting off his mouth. If you can imagine it, you are probably best off not carrying a gun.

Labels:



 
Teddy Roosevelt on Constitutional Government

During the campaign, John McCain described Teddy Roosevelt as his model. I found myself reading Teddy Roosevelt's Progressive Principles (1912), a collection of campaign speeches he made as the nominee of the Progressive Party that year. While many of the individual sentiments are easy to sympathize with--especially with what I know of the abuses of the era--his view of the role of constitutions versus popular government makes me cringe:
Constitution-makers should make it clear beyond shadow of doubt that the people in their legislative capacity have the power to enact into law any measure they deem necessary for the betterment of social and industrial conditions. The wisdom of framing any particular law of this kind is a proper subject of debate; but the power of the people to enact the law should not be subject to debate. To hold the contrary view is to be false to the cause of the people, to the cause of American democracy.
There's no question that there were great evils in desperate need of correction at the time. But to argue that any law that the people choose to enact "for the betterment of social and industrial conditions" takes precedence over rights protected by the federal or state constitutions is a truly frightening concept. It is no coincidence that the Progressive Era was awash in passage of racially discriminatory laws, Prohibition, the Harrison Narcotic Act, and many other laws that were, at best, clumsy and incompetent. And these laws were always justified by the need for "betterment of social and industrial conditions."


 
How To Lose Control of the State Senate

Make it clear that you are going to shove through same-sex marriage, over the opposition of fellow Democrats. From the June 8, 2009 New York Post:

ALBANY -- Republicans appear to have retaken control of the state Senate this afternoon after two dissident Democrats crossed the aisle in a parliamentary coup.

"An historic change in leadership is taking place at this moment and a new bipartisan, coalition is being established that is bringing real reform to the Senate RIGHT NOW," according to a news advisory sent out by the GOP.

The Associated Press reported that two Democrats -- Hiram Monserrate of Queens and Pedro Espada, Jr. of the Bronx -- are poised to announce that they have decided to caucus with the GOP out of anger at Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith.

The flip gives Republicans a 32-30 edge in the chamber and ensures that Smith is no longer the majority leader.

...

The effort was a surprise in a Capitol where leaks and counter-leaks are common. It follows a tumultuous period since Democrats won their first majority in nearly a half-century. Espada, Monserrate, Diaz and Sen. Carl Kruger of Brooklyn challenged the nascent majority immediately, threatening to side with Republicans if the Democratic conference didn't give them specific leadership posts and policy considerations, including a promise that a same-sex marriage bill never reach the floor.

...

The coup throws into doubt the movement to legalize same-sex marriage, one of the major policy issues still in the balance for the last two weeks of the regular session. Although passed in the Democrat-led Assembly, it is stalled in the Senate. Several Republicans and Sen. Ruben Diaz, a Bronx Democrat oppose the measure.

There are lots of socially conservative Democrats out there; if Republicans would consistently be the party of traditional values, and make a point of it, I suspect that there are a lot of Democrats who would seriously reconsider their allegiance. Trying to pretend that GOP stands for Gay Old Party just isn't going to work.

Labels:



Sunday, June 07, 2009
 
The Atomic Testing Museum

We really weren't going to Las Vegas. We stopped in Carson City to visit a friend who is fighting a battle with colon cancer, and Las Vegas was on the way to the Grand Canyon.

Because of the general decline in discretionary spending, and President Obama's criticisms of companies holding conferences there, Las Vegas and the other Nevada hot spots are in big trouble, so there are some real bargains available on hotel rooms. We stayed at the Carson City Plaza Hotel and Conference Center--and paid about $35 a night for a very nice hotel room. We stayed at the Palace Station in Las Vegas--and paid $55 a night for a really, really nice place--one that I suspect would have been $100 to $130 a night a couple of years ago.

I'm not a gambler, so what is there to do in Las Vegas? Well, there is the Atomic Testing Museum, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institute, which provides a very detailed examination of the history of the nuclear test site nearby. It includes such bizarre items as this picture of a mushroom cloud from an aboveground test rising in the background behind the Pioneer Club, and this prime example of Cold War kitsch, Miss Atomic Bomb, a Vegas showgirl in an appropriate costume. (As my wife described it, "Vegas can make anything tawdry.")

One of the film presentations at the museum was shockingly effective. You walk into the theater--and it's made up to look like a bunker used for observing the tests. And when the film starts, you get quite startled. The earthquake and shockwave were sufficiently realistic that I was soon asking my wife to not break my fingers from squeezing down so hard.

I was pleased to see that the exhibits were careful to portray the bad situation that led to aboveground testing--with the consequent damage it did to the "Downwinders," those Americans who were exposed to radioactive fallout downwind form the nuclear test site. They also didn't shy away from the role that Soviet spies played in helping the Soviet Union get the bomb--which made the continued improvement of U.S. nuclear weapons necessary.

If you are in Las Vegas, you might want to consider visiting.