So Bush is swelling the defense budget again and using it to develop a Hypersonic Stealth Bomber, capable of reaching any target, worldwide within two hours. That's pretty speedy. But I have to ask: when was the last time it was necessary to have that kind of time-critical response?

I'll tell you when I think it was, it was when Ronnie was at the helm and scaring up the threat of nuclear war with the USSR.

"The Soviet Union is acquiring what can only be considered an offensive military force. They have continued to build far more intercontinental ballistic missiles than they could possible need simply to deter an attack."

And doesn't this:

"The calls for cutting back the defense budget come in nice, simple arithmetic. They're the same kind of talk that led the democracies to neglect their defenses in the 1930's and invited the tragedy of World War II. We must not let that grim chapter of history repeat itself through apathy or neglect."

...look a lot like this:

"In the 20th Century, some chose to appease murderous dictators whose threats were allowed to grow into genocide and global war. In this century, when evil men plot chemical, biological and nuclear terror, a policy of appeasement could bring destruction of a kind never before seen on this earth. Terrorists and terrorist states do not reveal these threats with fair notice in formal declarations. And responding to such enemies only after they have struck first is not self defence. It is suicide."

The first is from Reagan's Star Wars speech, March 23, 1983. The second you will probably recognise as GWB in his "Ultimatum to Saddam" speech of March 18, 2003.

Both used the threat of terror and war to justify spending billions on defense, both had a "special relationship" with the British Prime Minister.

Both of them significantly dumbed down the news media and appealed to the far right in the wake of successful and more liberal Democrat presidents.

With Bush on the fundraising trail again for his election next year, I can only hope that his presidency does not follow Reagan's example by serving two terms and then handing over to another Republican. Another nine years of ignorance, fear and underinvestment in the welfare of those who cannot help themselves not what the US or the world needs.