Chance for a New START??

From CNN, it looks like New START has a chance of getting through before the end of the year:

The Senate will begin formal debate Thursday on a new nuclear arms treaty with Russia, a top presidential priority that conservative Republicans had tried to block in the current lame-duck session of Congress.

Senators voted 66-32 to take up the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, known as New START, Wednesday, which would bypass the process of reading the entire treaty out loud.

The request to read the treaty out-loud seems funny. The treaty text hasn't changed since it was signed on April 8th in Prague (8 months, 8 days ago), so it's difficult for Republicans (or anyone else for that matter) to argue that they haven't had enough time to look over the text. The treaty itself - only 17 pages. Granted, the protocol is a bit more lengthy at 165 pages, but a lot of that sets forth such groundbreaking terms as "aircraft" (in case you were wondering, "any manned machine that can derive support in the atmosphere from interaction with the air other than the interaction of the air with the Earth's surface.") and "airplane." With more than 2/3 of a year having passed since it was signed, people like DeMint, et. al. have had more than enough time to read it.

It's time for the Senate to ratify New START. Strengthening our relationship with the Russians is a good thing and will increase the chance of us tackling other important national security issues.