Is nuclear war really that close?

"Yesterday the very blue state of Hawaii got a wake up call. I would hope the rest of our nation did also. Do we want to live under this (mushroom) cloud, or do we want to do something about it?"

Back in the Cold War days (which now seems so long ago) a standing joke was if the civil defense alarms went off, warning of an impending nuclear strike, we had only minutes to react. So the joke was instead of doing the "duck and cover" as we did in grade school during drills, we were to bend over and "kiss our sweet ass good-bye". Why? Because there was really nothing else you could do. We were all going to be toast (literally).

Yesterday in Hawaii, the good residents (as well as the many tourists this time of year), had a unwelcome dose of deja vu. Early in the morning when most folks were planning out their Saturday, an unbelievable message came across the media as well as the internet. Hawaii had just minutes before a ballistic missile arrived. Then for almost 40 minutes, time stopped for the people who saw that message. Things became real and surreal at the same time. Had the Norks really done it? Were we now at war? Were many about to die?

What happened yesterday was both good and bad at the same time. First off, the butt head who pushed the wrong button should be pushed out his or her comfy government job. Like today. Next, it really showed how ill prepared we are for an event like this. This should have been (as the educators say), a teachable moment. People had absolutely no clue what to do. Some were lowering their kids into sewers. Anything to get away from a blast radius. But for most of the folks, there would have been just a blinding light, and then silence.

Here is a news flash for our federal government. We don't want to live this way. We don't want to live on the precipice of some kind of nuclear holocaust. General Keane was on the news yesterday. He said having a nuke on a ballistic missile and pointed at us (like the Norks say they do), is an absolute provocation. (My words now)...We have every right to go into North Korea and neutralize this threat. The same goes for Iran.

Will we have another nuclear war at some time? I think we will. Why? Ever since 1945 when the nuclear genie was let out of the bottle, it became only a matter of time before some unstable regime or terror group unleashes a nuke or nukes. The United States had done a TERRIBLE job in the past in allowing the proliferation of nukes by unstable countries. Hello Pakistan, North Korea, and soon - Iran. We have nobody to blame but ourselves for this mess.

Yesterday the very blue state of Hawaii got a wake up call. I would hope the rest of our nation did also. Do we want to live under this (mushroom) cloud, or do we want to do something about it? Like I say, it is only a matter of time when this message will come across the media again, followed shortly by that blinding light - and then silence.