Word: sdi
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...optimism more infectiously than Ronald Reagan. But his power of positive thinking, while it lifts national morale, has not served to cure every problem. Faith in supply-side growth, for example, has done nothing to slow the runaway federal deficit. By insisting that he can at once proceed with SDI while persuading the Soviets to make deep reductions in strategic weapons, Reagan may be engaging in even more wishful thinking...
...than at any other time during his presidency. The U.S. public strongly favors making significant progress in talks with the Soviets, particularly on nuclear arms control, even while it is dubious about any likely success. Alkthough a majority of Americans favor development of the President's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), a solid 74% indicate a willingness to trade away the proposed missile-defense system for cutbacks in Soviet military power...
...depth of public commitment to SDI is also suspect. Among possible goals for the summit, the survey listed, "Reaching an arms-control agreement in which the U.S. stops building the Star Wars defense system and the Soviet Union makes similar cutbacks in its military systems." A commanding 74% thought that idea to be a "very important" goal, while only 18% labeled it "not very important." If the President continues to insist that SDI offers more security than a missile cut, he will have to persuade the U.S. public as well as the Soviets of his views...
Ronald Reagan deplores the term Star Wars to describe his Strategic Defense Initiative. So does retired Army Lieut. General Daniel Graham, one of the originators of the idea to build a defensive shield against nuclear missiles, even though his organization, High Frontier, uses the words in a new pro-SDI television commercial. George Lucas, creator of the Star Wars movie trilogy, hates the usage most of all. His company, Lucasfilm, asked a Washington federal district court to enjoin the TV spot on the ground that it damages a valuable trademark (film revenues to date: $1.3 billion) by taking Star Wars...
...wait, the plot thickens. Lucasfilm has filed suit, and Graham threatens to sue a group that is using a portion of the High Frontier ad containing the words Star Wars in an anti-SDI countercommercial. It figures. How could a Star Wars suit not spin off at least one sequel? MARINES Discordant Notes...