I guess I should blog about something other than race, illegal “immigration,” love of country and culture, and false allegations of gang-rape, such as…
…survival of the human race!
I like Old Time Radio, especially the paranoid 1950s-era Sci Fi shows like X Minus One. Atomic bomb-themed 50s movies and television shows are funny in retrospect. Sort of. The Cold War was no joke. Earlier this year, inspectors in New York City found an old fallout shelter full of survival supplies.
Man is a sinful creature and will always put his energy into destroying himself. Whether it’s applying a discovery like fission to devices that cause mayhem and death or knowingly engaging in behavior conducive to the spread of debilitating, contagious, fatal diseases, it seems we have a gigantic death wish. Calling Dr. Freud…
The possibility of a nuclear strike is back on the front pages. North Korea is flexing its screw-you muscles by building nuclear weapons and test-firing nuclear weapons:
After firing six missiles over four hours early Wednesday, North Korea continued its unprecedented series of tests by sending a seventh into the Sea of Japan some 12 hours later during rush hour in Japanese cities.
But the missile considered most dangerous to the United States — the long-range Taepodong-2 potentially capable of hitting targets on the U.S. West Coast — appeared to fail on its first test flight after only 35 seconds and before it entered the second of two-stages, dealing a blow to the North Korean missile program, Japanese and U.S. officials said. (Source)
Bush says the missiles are “no threat” to the U.S., and from what I’ve read so far, it’s true. But that could change. I’m not stressed. If I can’t influence my president to control the borders, I certainly can’t do anything about North Korea’s gadfly routine. Broken promises are standard operating procedure in politics.
In times like these, I remember who I am in Christ. I don’t fear death per se, but I certainly don’t want to go out in a missile attack. If I do, I hope I’m at ground zero. However, I don’t get to decide those things. 
As I said, I’m not stressed. At. All. 
Related post: Kablam! Nucleoid War! 2005
Bloggers: The Moderate Voice, Blogs of War, Florida Masochist, Austin Bay, A Blog for All, IMAO (comedy), Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, more Austin Bay…
Update (7/6): Pyongyang’s foreign minister says:
Our military will continue with missile launch drills in the future as part of efforts to strengthen self-defense deterrent…If anyone intends to dispute or add pressure about this, we will have to take stronger physical actions in other forms.
Well, excuse us for living!
{ 33 comments }
Iran is funding the missile development in Korea and apparently depending on North Korea to develop a marketable nuclear jihad delivery system.
Additionally, South Korea has decided on a detente policy with North Korea that makes Japan and the US decidedly uncomfortable.
Part of what North Korea is doing is developing three missiles: a short range job that can take out Seoul, a longer range missile that can hold Japan at bay and a third type that can hit a US city.
North Korea wants to take over south Korea and unite the peninsula under their sole, despotic rule. North Korea must be able to threaten Japan and the United States. They are counting on the Japanese and US populations being unwilling to risk a nuclear attack on a major home city as payback for stepping in to protect South Korea. (China has the same scheme concerning Taiwan.)
In my book, North Korea needs to have its weapons centers destroyed. This might very likely send the million man North Korean army across the border into South Korea, which would mean that we either leave the invasion to fate or……….
This is high stakes blackmail by a serious and totally crazy despot who has the will and is rapidly developing the means.
North Korea, working with the nuclear bomb technology they got from Pakistan is ready to be the supplier of weapons to crazies across the globe.
Talking leads to stalling and stalling leads to further development and soon the whole process has grown far beyond the surgical strike stage. And that’s the way it is…………
To be fair to North Korea (I can’t believe I wrote that), as I understand it, they are not “test-firing nuclear weapons,” as you wrote. They are, indeed, building nuclear weapons, and they are, indeed, test-firing weapons, but none of the latter were the former. In fact, I believe the common wisdom is that they do not yet have the capability to mount their nukes (if they have them) on their rockets. Of course, intelligence can be (and often is) wrong, but in any case, I’m pretty sure that North Korea IS NOT test firing nukes at this time.
Here’s an interesting short little article…much in line with Heliotropes…
http://tinyurl.com/ef7od
#2 dexter green:
You are correct. North Korea is trying to get the missiles to fly. Next they must develop reliable three stage missiles. Then they have to work on accuracy. Then they have to work on payload.
They can’t carry nukes as we usually think of them, but the current rockets can already carry radioactive trash that would contaminate any area they land in/on.
When is the “right” time to contain this experimentation and development?
Firstly, let me comment that I saw Team America, and I think Kim Jong is just doing this cause he’s Ronery. Now, moving on. The president needs to follow this procedure:
1)Meet with Kim Jong-Il, get him to put it in writing that he would put a nuke in our lap if he has the capability. (Let’s hope his pride is that big)
2)Show this paper to the UN making it clear there are no weapons of mass destruction, but there is the will to use them and a matter of time til there are.
3)Turn NK into that radioactive crater between SK and the rest of Asia.
It may be just me, but seems there’s more reason to invade NK then there was Iraq…what was that? NK doesn’t have any oil? I’m sure GW Bush wouldn’t attack a place solely for oil…would he?
Alright, that means we have to buy a bunch of oil, slant drill from SK, inject it under NK and tell GW it’s down there. THEN the plan…sound good?
Totally rare and unexpected events don’t show up in statistics because they haven’t happen yet, and it’s possible that something unexpected could happen.
But virtually everyone tends to have a news warped perception of the odds of things happening to them.
Even if you live in DC or NYC, based on past statistics, the odds of being killed by a terrorist are far below being murdered or killed in a traffic accident or just dieing a natural death.
Even the men here who for some reason fear being accused of rape, are more likely to pick up some fatal social disease or become an unplanned parent.
Likewise, today the odds being lynched or even killed by a lone serial racist are so small that one should not worry about it. (One might want to worry about lesser discrimination)
Our new system is capable of interception and is online.
While the detractors talk of “50% failure rates” in testing, what they fail to mention is that by simply firing two, or even three interceptors, the redundancy assures success.
So sleep well.
For an “enlightened” discussion of what we should do about N Korea, go to
http://www.caseylartigue.blogspot.com/
Funny, but well thought out.
PS – Kim Jong What’s His Name is NOT crazy.
He is very smart, and well controlled. And the US and Europe are eating out of his hand.
Hey LaShawn! For a Korean perspective on the DPRK missle crisis, follow these link(s)!!
http://www.korealiberator.org/
From a military perspective in Korea.
http://jetiranger.tripod.com/BLOG/
Have fun!!
#8 Frank Zavisca notes that “Kim Jong What’s His Name is NOT crazy.”
I agree with Frank that crazy or loony Kim Jong What’s His Name is NOT.
Pathologically driven by the sheer madness of power is more to the point.
Look at what he has and what his future portends. He is an international counterfeiter of extraordinary means and reach. He is immersed in smuggling and and is a kingpin in the drug trade. He has a “let them eat grass” attitude toward the burdensome population. He lives in a Potemkin Village of a capital and has little if any comprehension of how an open society operates.
Quietly, but effectively, the Bush Administration has all but shut down his ability to use the world systems of trade both commercially and financially.
He has nothing to lose but his miserable hide and only the megalomaniac’s vision of “gain.”
There are a lot of fellow travelers in his warped world: Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Hafiz al-Asad of Syria, Evo Morales of Bolivia, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, the mullahs of Iran and a nest of nasty dictators in the former USSR, to name but a few.
When you study Stalin, Mao, Hitler, Castro, and other powerful dictators you soon learn that the “causes” they espoused were only window dressing to their craven lust for unbridled power.
That is what Kim Jong What’s His Name is all about.
I forgot one!!Read the Marmot’s hole. The most widely read blog on political and social issues in Korea!!
http://www.rjkoehler.com/
I thought the United States policy was that China would look after North Korea, keep their eye on ‘em for us, and wouldn’t let them get out of line.
What’s going on in Mainland China these days? They always wanted to rule the roost in that part of the world, and weren’t going to let anyone else steal their thunder.
I love old time radio. Less hysterical than today’s screaming headlines.
Wouldn’t radiation penetrate a bomb shelter, though?
The Chinese are not very good watchdogs, it seems.
If mankind has a death wish then Kim Jong-il and North Korea is leading the charge to their own destruction. Kim Jong-il is the leader of a starving nation with antiquated technology. The ability to blow a missile up or shoot it into the sea does not a nuclear power make. There’s a reason why they aren’t “test firing” any more missiles…they can’t. Their systems are out dated and their ability to replace what they use is extremely limited.
Kim Jong-il is the Castro of the Eastern Asia. He’s the barking dog in a junkyard and he poses no real threat to the US or Japan. His million man army does not even have the ability to project power off of the Korean peninsula. Kim Jong’s military is the 8 track to our modern military ipod. Clinton thought he bought him off…and in a way he did. Kim Jong-il has spent all that he received back in ‘94 and the Bush Administration has seized the counterfeit money Jong was using to finance his shenanigans today. Jong is shooting missiles-to bark louder-to get more scraps from the US…but this time were not buying it.
Sure, we could threaten to blow N. Korea back into the dark ages, but if you’ve seen a recent satellite image of North Korea http://epod.usra.edu/archive/images/kofija.gif, then you would know that they are already there. The main stream media continues to show us the file footage of Jong’s army goose stepping across a parade square…what they should show us are the starving people of N. Korea and the decrepit infrastructure that couldn’t support an open air concert let alone a military offensive.
You’re right not to worry LaShawn…Jong is a street drug peddler…who just happen to find a kilo of smack and now he wants respect from the Colombian Cartels. I say we do to N. Korea what we’ve done with Cuba…just ignore them.
Mike DiBartolo
Michael, I can definately understand where you’re coming from with that, but keep in mind, a barking dog in a junkyard can get off it’s leash now and then. He is dangerous, he has dangerous friends, and he would not hesitate to wipe us off the map if he thought he could get away with it. As for posts #8 and 9, Kim Jong Il is crazy the way Dr.Evil is crazy. He’s not sit in the corner with a can of creamed corn discussing politics crazy, he is meglomania crazy. Does anyone else notice how similarly the two dress? (Dr. Evil and Kim Jong Il.) It seems Meglomania and jogging suits mix.
Truly though, he’s dangerous because he will not hesitate to follow through. He is the only thing as or more dangerous then a madman, a true believer. He honestly thinks what he does is right, and we see where terrorists with that mindset got.
The only thing more perplexing than the problem of the “dear leader” of N. Korea is the spectacle of former Clintonistas parading themselves on CNN and MSNBC, as well as anyone else who is willing to listen, saying that THEY had Kim Jong under control (because he promised to be a good boy in exchange for some largesse – a promise he never intended to keep, nor did he keep it) and, of course, surprise, surprise – the Bush Administration blew it!
Both N. Korea (ruled by an insane meglomaniac) with a cowed and starving population and Iran (ruled by a LOT of insane meglomaniacs)with a fairly well educated and very restless population are going to need to be dealt with eventually. I’m very much afraid that our choice is not particularly attractive in either case!
Methinks it all comes down to (again) requiring lots of prayer and maybe a miracle or two.
Here’s an interesting note from StrategyPage. You may say that KJI isn’t crazy…I’m not so sure. I agree with John on that one…
http://tinyurl.com/n5svz
Woo Hoo Suek agrees with me, finally someone does. I read that article Suek posted and it further’s what I thought of the man. His entire concept of right and wrong is based on two things a)what I can get away with
b)what I want
The man wanted to learn about film making, not a bad idea, but what does he do? Not reading a book, not hiring a specialist, he sends people to KIDNAP a SK filmmaker and under threats of death forces him to teach everything he knows about film making. Castro and KJI are different completely. Castro has recognized his place, and he is content to be a quiet bastion of Communism, he isn’t a threat to anyone, he rules his little island his way and keeps it quiet. Even in the Cuban Missle Crisis, he hadn’t pushed to advance cuba’s missle tech, he allowed/asked to be the platform of the Soviet powers. That’s why the man has outlasted 11 presidents. That’s why he will be in that position until he dies, he knows he’s in no position to win a war against us and thus knows to stay quiet. KJI has a different prospective, as far as he’s concerned all he has to do is cripple us beyond immediate repair (i.e. a couple well placed nukes in Seattle, San Fran, LA, San Diego) to win.
Sorry La Shawn, but we are already all dead from the all-out nuclear war that took place between the US and the USSR on January 20, 1981. The world is really a lifeless, burnt-out radioactive slag heap.
At least, the anti-war movement said said we would all die in a nuclear war started by Ronald Reagan as soon as he got into office. They could not possibly be wrong……could they?
…the long-range Taepodong-2 potentially capable of hitting targets on the U.S. West Coast — appeared to fail on its first test flight after only 35 seconds and before it entered the second of two-stages
Sounds like they’ve got a lot of work to do. I’m sure they’d have a safety lock if they put a nuke on one of those missiles, so it wouldn’t blow up on the launch pad and take them off the map. Still, you really don’t want an activated nuclear weapon within 35 seconds of your country – at least not if it’s anything like their missiles.
There’s more to the picture than just Kim Jong Il, or even the Evil Axis that Bush has named. There is an entire anti-Western coalition working toward the goal of destroying the West, and it is a serious threat, Western arrogance notwithstanding. J.R. Nyquist writes in his book “Origins of the Fourth World War” that nuclear war is inevitable at some point.
From a recent article:
“Al Qaeda’s plan is to bring down the United States. Whoever is with al Qaeda, or behind al Qaeda, shares this objective. The idea is to wreck the U.S. economy, break up its military potential and leave it for the dogs. It must be emphasized that Islamic fanatics aren’t the only people on the planet who hate Americans and cheer the thought of America’s destruction. I receive emails every week from people who dream of America’s defeat. If these sentiments are the least indication, imagine the private sentiments of North Korean or Chinese or Russian leaders – who already possess untold numbers of WMDs…
In closing, let us review what should be obvious to everyone: When a weapon of mass destruction is created, you cannot make it go away. Governments will mass-produce the weapon. Terrorists will eventually acquire it. The proliferation of mass destruction weaponry resembles a form of cancer. It grows with time, promising grief to vital parts of the body (threatening the entire system). Experts have said, over and over, that it’s only a matter of time before weapons of mass destruction are used against American cities. And so it is time to face reality.
Or bury our heads in the sand.”
The whole article is quite sobering (as is much of Nyquist’s writing), especially to those who think we will just swat away at our enemies like flies with our big, technological flyswatter and that we have nothing to worry about beyond that.
Marko
LaShawn Wrote:
“I like Old Time Radio, especially the paranoid 1950s-era Sci Fi shows like X Minus One.”
Didn’t know X Minus One had its own website. Fantastic!
Used to listen this on NPR when I was in high school. I can still quote the opening from memory: “These are stories of the future, in which you’ll live in a million could-be years on a thousand maybe worlds…”
Major nostalgia flashback. Thanks!
La Shawn,
You wrote —
Ah but indeed you do get to choose if you are at Ground Zero.
It is more likely that Ground Zero will be Manhattan, Port of NY, Ports In Virginia, Houston, Longbeach or Oakland CA, significant Capitol Cities or Icon Cities like Downtown Chicago or San Francisco, or major international Hub airports, or significant at least symbolically, military and or naval bases.
You choose to live, work, visit any of those and you are potentially at Ground Zero, Marshfield, Wisconsin, Macon Georgia, Wichita Falls Texas, Lafayette, Louisiana probably aren’t it.
and you will likely survive nuclear doomsday and have to live with the aftermath, if All-out then life returns to the Hobbsian view of mankinds primitive existance as “Tough, Brutish, and short”.
As a Christian, you may want to pray that you don’t have to face that kind of reality and be lucky enough to be killed then transported to heaven, (no stops in purgatory).
As a Christian, you may also pray That the President is successful in thwarting the Nuclear nut jobs for the rest of Humanity and so that the “Lord’s will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven”
And as a Christian, I pray for courage to face whatever the Lord allows, may he never allow evil to visit us as it did JOB.
I think you’re forgetting that these missiles (even if they work) don’t make it much past the West coast. DC is safe for now, no worries La Shawn
John –
Didn’t you know ?
Terrorist Nukes down come on missiles.
They come by Shipping Container or at least by Beat up Datsun Pickup truck after Being delivered to the Coast of Canada or Mexico.
Oh trust me, I’m in the Coast Guard, I saw the people checking those containers, and I saw the massive ships that have so many of them that the boat rises 35′ out of the water from where it started when it’s unloaded. I was referring just to the Korean missles. I realize the dangers presented to us from all the incoming cargo ships, they are massive and impossible to do any more then checking the crews, (there’s a wait pd. out in open water before entering most american ports) and making sure the cargo manifests match the cargo.
John,
I think you’re forgetting that these missiles (even if they work) don’t make it much past the West coast.
Well, that might comfort you and La Shawn, but not me over here on the WEST COAST!!! But I’m not worried yet, since they couldn’t even get the thing to Japan.
Still, I like the picture of NK as “that radioactive crater between SK and the rest of Asia.” It won’t be very long before there aren’t any civilians left there to kill, since KJI will have starved them all.
Ahhh but you have to remember to compartimentalize. I would avenge you, no worries.
John the Avenger. It has a ring to it…
Do I get a mask, cause frankly I’d lose a fan base once they see my face. But seriously, this outlook (while common) is the cause of the downfall of America (and humanity). We need to defend our lives and way of life with everything for our children and their children and the people who sit back to enjoy it.
As was so well put in the movie “Serenity”
Operative: Are you willing to die for your
beliefs.
Mal: Yes *shoots at him* of course it’s not
plan A.
La Shawn
This whole missile crisis in many ways mirrors the events of 1976. That summer, I was a young private serving in the army as a security guard at the “Truce Village” of Pan Mun Jom when the North Koreans decided to murder our company commander, Capt.Arthur Bonifas and his lieutenant Mark T.Barrett (Aug.18,1976) when they tried to trim a tree blocking a view of a checkpoint. The whole long story is available online and told very well by retired Major General John Singlaub in the following link:
http://members.terracom.net/~vfwpost/Chapter-12.html
What surprised me when I read the story from the generals perspective was how close we came to an all out war. They were convinced that Kim il Sung was planning on “Going South” with his army, and basically decided that if it’s going to happen, then better to force the issue. Also an interesting perspective is how the military leaders blew off the politicians and did what had to be done..basically calling the bully’s bluff.
Again, we have an unstable totalitarian (From the same genetic pool) who does not seem to understand that free people,and Americans in particular, although civil in their ways to a fault, have their limits.
This brings me to the question that no one in the government or press seems to be asking or is willing to discuss…Just what will be our limits. If the next missile heads toward Hawaii, Alaska or Orange County California, what will be the response? Will the president order an in kind retaliation? Cruise missile attack (Clinton response), a full nuclear response before their missile returns to earth on north America?
To learn from the past, it seems we could save a lot of headaches and pretty much end this issue by just announcing (Plan A??), that next time the DPRK launches a missile in our direction, we shoot back 25 to 1, no questions asked. That’s simplistic, but sometimes bully’s need simple messages to understand the issues. Coy
What worries and frustrates man doesn’t bother God.
God knows the number of our days, so I’m fine with whenever and wherever my time is up. I don’t want nuclear fire raining down on my country, or anyone else’s, but it may happen. Soon. Remember the Chi-Lites? “There Will Never Be Any Peace (Till God Is Sitting At The Conference Table).
“They (nukes) come by Shipping Container or at least by Beat up Datsun Pickup truck after Being delivered to the Coast of Canada or Mexico.”
The downside to sending a terrorist nuke or rouge country nuke by missile is
1) a missile has a return address
2) a missile launch takes preparation which can be noticed by human or satellite
3) a primitive missile is not accurate, most even break up on lift off
4) we might be able to shoot it down using conventional weapons
5) we can definitely shoot most incoming missiles down using nuclear weapons using 1970s technology if you don’t mind airborne nuclear explosions.
6) a missile costs real money. Box cutter are more in their budgets.
I suspect the defense contractors lusting for star wars money is driving most of the fears in combination with North Korea’s loud talking.
The neutron bomb is the gorilla at the table in the North Korea conundrum.
Most neutron bomb information is speculation as it is tightly classified. Israel is said to have a slew of Jericho missiles armed with them.
If North Korea decides to send its million man army toward Seoul, there would be an instant in time when a neutron bomb would decimate it.
Seoul lies just 30 miles south of the DMZ and, foolishly, the South Koreans have been aggressively expanding their real estate toward the DMZ after years of making the area off limits.
It is doubtful that North Korea would hesitate to use the neutron bomb if they develop one. They could hit Seoul with a bomb dropped from an airplane.
The point is that North Korea is a true basket case where commerce is on life support and millions of people are left to starve. Without its enormous army, it would be little more than a desperate, confused nest of bureaucrats cannibalizing one another.
In this age of PC war, we are supposed to destroy the tank but save the poor souls in the tank who are trying to kill us. Whether we would ever use the “Hiroshima” solution is the question.
I seriously doubt that anyone is much interested in sending armies into North Korea again to confront their huge army on their territory which they have been fortifying for 60 years.
Another alternative is send Jimmy Carter and Madeline Albright back to spread pixie dust.
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