http://foxnews.com/story/0,2933,24717,00.html
#
# Ex-Doobie Brother is Missile Defense Ace
#
# Monday, May 14, 2001
#
# WASHINGTON - Studio musician Jeff "Skunk" Baxter started out
# strumming for Steely Dan, then played funky guitar solos for
# the classic rockers The Doobie Brothers.
#
# But now, the son of the '70s drug culture is advising the
# government on its nuclear defense strategy.
#
# Baxter is a self-taught missiles expert who heads to the Pentagon
# several times a year to get briefed on Son of Star Wars, the
# defense plan backed by President Bush.
#
# "The guy is absolutely brilliant," says Lt. Col. Rick Lehner,
# spokesman for the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, of
# the floppy-mustached, 52-year-old college dropout.
#
# "You can get into a conversation with Jeff Baxter over the most
# arcane scientific details of ballistic theory, intercept
# solutions, command and control. I'm lost in the first five
# minutes."
#
# Baxter, a studio musician who's backed the likes of Ringo Starr,
# Sting and Barbra Streisand, joined the Star Wars civilian advisory
# board after writing a paper on the subject in his spare time.
#
# The paper was passed on by a friend, U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher
# (R-Calif.), whom he met at former California Gov. Pete Wilson's
# inaugural while chatting about human rights in Burma.
#
# "The next thing I know, I'm advising members of Congress and
# the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization at the Pentagon,"
# Baxter says.
#
# The rocker - who refuses to say why he got dubbed "Skunk" - says
# he had no trouble teaching himself about Star Wars because "I've
# taken the time to study it. There's different ways to learn.
# That's what I love about America.
[snip]
# "Why is it deemed totally acceptable and rational for a rock
# star or movie star to be very active in 'Save the Rainforest'
# and not active in missile defense?" he asks.
# ...he's a Republican
