Readers of this blog know that I occasionally get on my soapbox regarding issues about which people have differing opinions, but I hope that any rational being can agree that the following is absolute lunacy: "The Titan 2 missile carried a a 9 megaton warhead, which is about three times the explosive force of all the bombs dropped during World War 2, including both atomic bombs". Read that sentence again...that is One missile in one silo in 1980, and the devil knows what weapons are out there in 2013. I admit that I am ignorant about the destructive power of our arsenals; such information is not bandied about any more than photos of the wounded in our wars. But I do know that these are choices someone is making to produce and maintain this stuff, and now there are crazies-in the name of God- doing everything they can to acquire them. In 1945 Oppenheimer remarked about the bomb that it brought to mind words from the Bhagavad Gita, "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." -so he knew that potential future the moment it occurred. I understand the threat of Nazi Germany that precipitated the development of nuclear weapons, but that same evil may one day have those weapons at it's disposal, and unfortunately, human nature being what it is, a simple accident or unintended consequence could unleash the power when we least expect it. POSTSCRIPT: The United States continues to spend 2 billion dollars a week on the war in Afghanistan, while one billion a year could theoretically educate the five million children there who do not go to school.(..for a little Truth about that war watch the documentary "Dirty Wars" and other work by journalist Jeremy Scahill, currently on Netflix and other places) I guess Americans have grown extremely complacent regarding such obscene, immoral uses of their tax dollars, and sometimes I wonder why...Have we grown so fat and comfortable and self absorbed that we would rather give a guy like Dick Cheney a heart transplant ( $658,000 in 2007 dollars, plus about $21,000 annually in follow up costs) rather than help the uninsured children anywhere to get basic care? Has the lack of a military draft and the censure of the media so detached the average person from the realities of what is going on in our wars that nobody but those directly involved cares? Meanwhile, despite the lowest violent crime rate in 40 years many Americans seem to the think our society is crumbling... There really is so much misinformation and sheer ignorance despite the proliferation of the internet-or perhaps because of it-that I suspect we are so inundated with disposable information that nobody really investigates anything anymore- and if Truth-with a capital T- is discovered, there is so much suspicion and mistrust that even facts are discarded as mere opinion. Our government seems to be run by emotional children backed by self serving money, and we as a nation sit and bitch rather than vote Everyone out and try something new...Does it...will it...has it always taken a crisis to get human beings to change and find different ways to live?...and if so, do we have that the time to procrastinate anymore? Personally, I have written far too many words in my life not to have learned of their ineffectiveness compared to action, yet I keep noticing that even the so called 'poor' have cell phones and fake nails and beer, so what exactly are the priorities this nation is obsessed with?
