Nuclear weapons have been in the news again, recently, with threats from North Korea to possibly employ nuclear weapons to counter UN measures to stop nuclear proliferation and other belligerent behaviors from that country. Taking the threats very seriously, the UN tasked top diplomat, Dennis Rodman, with cooling tensions, and trying to convince the North Koreans to behave responsibly. But, if anything, tensions have only ratcheted higher since Rodman’s return from Pyongyang. (Don't think Rodman is qualified?! proglegs listed them, earlier this week!)
(Picture from Oke’s OND diary last Monday.)
The last time nuclear weapons were employed in anger by members of our species (also the first time) was the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki over 67 years ago.
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Another image of Rodman, with his BFF, Kim Jong Un from ProgLegs’s diary on Rodman's Korean mission last Sunday.
The idea of nuclear non-proliferation has been around since that time, and, since then, quite a number of countries have joined the ‘nuclear club.’ Russia was first, but has since been joined by the U.K., France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, South Africa (so far the only country to renounce them) and Israel, with Belarus, Kazakhstan and the Ukraine ‘inheriting’ them when the Soviet Union ceased to exist.
Nuclear non-proliferation has been pushed as an ‘answer’ to the problem of nuclear proliferation since 1945 with limited success. Now it looks like Iran will be the next country to ‘join the club.’ As was true with North Korea (which, of course, already HAS nuclear weapons), international diplomacy is dedicated to the idea of preventing this from happening.
This approach is based on a fatally flawed idea - that it is possible to prevent deaths from nuclear weapons by eliminating them. Why is this a flawed idea? Very simple. Because PEOPLE kill people. Nuclear weapons do not kill people.
Let’s look at an analysis of morbidity and mortality from the WW II blasts in Japan.
From their own observations and from testimony of Japanese, members of the survey team divided the morbidity and mortality of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Japan into the following phases:
1. Very large numbers of person were crushed in their homes and in the buildings in which they were working. Their skeletons could be seen in the debris and ashes for almost 1,500 meters from the center of the blast, particularly in the downwind directions.
2. Large numbers of the population walked for considerable distances after the detonation before they collapsed and died.
3. Large numbers developed vomiting and bloody and watery diarrhea (vomitus and bloody feces were found on the floor in many of the aid stations), associated with extreme weakness. They died in the first and second weeks after the bombs were dropped.
4. During this same period deaths from internal injuries and from burns were common. Either the heat from the fires or infrared radiation from the detonations caused many burns, particularly on bare skin or under dark clothing.
5. After a lull without peak mortality from any special causes, deaths began to occur from purpura, which was often associated with epilation, anemia, and a yellowish coloration of the skin. The so-called bone marrow syndrome, manifested by a low white blood cell count and almost complete absence of the platelets necessary to prevent bleeding, was probably at its maximum between the fourth and sixth weeks after the bombs were dropped.
Taken item-by-item, then:
1. Buildings falling on people (this applies to Wizard of Oz, too) don’t kill people. People kill people.
2. People walking away from the site of a nuclear blast are not killed by walking. Walking does not kill people. People kill people.
3. Vomiting and diarrhea do not kill people. People kill people.
4. Internal injuries, burns and radiation exposure do not kill people. People kill people.
5. Purpura do not kill people. People kill people.
Fortunately, there is a grass roots effort underway in the United States, sponsored by the NAA (the National A-Bomb Association), led by Wayne LaPissant, to have all death certificates from Hiroshima and Nagasaki in that approximate time frame edited to reflect the proper cause of death: People.
If nothing else, this will facilitate and foster a better understanding of nuclear phenomena, and lead to more appropriate efforts to make this a safer world.
The answer to deaths from war-time use of nuclear weapons is simple: create and develop better people. The best way to do that, in the meantime, is to give nuclear weapons to every country, and even to many individuals in our world. The way to stop a bad guy with a nuclear weapon is to have a good guy with a nuclear weapon standing across from him (with LOTS AND LOTS of open, unoccupied space aroiund them, like miles and miles of space!). It’s simpler than most imagine!
Nuclear bomb proliferation advocates will explain to you that nuclear weapons do not kill people. People kill people. If the 1945 United States had not had atomic bombs, clubs and knives were still available. If people want to find ways to kill people, they will. Stopping nuclear proliferation won’t change that. CAN'T change that! We should expand nuclear proliferation! And get to work on perfecting our species, as we should have been doing all along.
How do the prospects look in the short term with North Korea, then? On the one hand, there are grounds for optimism, because there is evidence that Kim Jong Un is at least somewhat open-minded, because ... Dennis Rodman.
On the other hand, the prospect of perfecting the entire human species in the short term is not entirely promising, because ... Dennis Rodman. And, too, Wayne LaPissant.
Oh. And if you don’t do anything else this evening, please visit Denise Oliver Velez’s incredible FP diary, on how they sang, motivated and mobilized. Just beautiful!
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From brillig:
Abstinence-based sex "education" is about as logical as this method for preventing hangnails. Comment by JR in Kaili Joy Gray's Telling teens to just say no to sex doesn't work, so let's waste half a billion dollars doing that.
From BeninSC:
Flagged by Greg Dworkin, dear occupant makes two comments which explain nuances of peleton riding, pertaining to the cyclists participating in the Sandy Hook Ride on Washington, this time diaried by LilithGardener. As a cyclist, I really appreciated these!
The time change affects everyone, but Trix was having a different experience this am (one I am not likely to ever have!), with the fine Sunday Talk Mad Libs diary!
Flagged by gchaucer2, this comment by GDbot provides fine information on growing food naturally.
art ah zen reveals how special family traditions can be! In this comment, flagged by jplanner and laurustina, in laurustina's all-day rec-list diary about what to NOT put in one's mouth!
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1) I've Thought This for Over Two Years by JekyllnHyde — 92
2) how about a change of policies by teacherken — 87
3) This is all the more reason by joanneleon — 74
4) I think there are other results from criticism by voracious — 70
5) Rat Paul. by Robert Helmuth — 68
6) I'd settle for just permanently by Publius2008 — 65
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9) In painting all critics as anti-Obama by Horace Boothroyd III — 58
10) SFKossack Ferry Riders, don't be left behind by navajo — 56
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12) Agreed by Diogenes2008 — 53
13) Another wild weather week by Ed in Montana — 53
14) Hard to fix a problem when we (the USA) won't by ban nock — 53
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24) LOL by slksfca — 49
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26) Thanks for the great diary, Tricia. Happee by enhydra lutris — 48
27) Agreed by Puddytat — 48
28) What a beautiful by Steveningen — 47
29) Sigh ... by A Siegel — 47
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