[BrotherKalashnikov]

When the excrement really hits the rotary impeller,where would you rather be? Where do you think you'll have the best chance of survival and/or prosperity? Anything special?

[Bas]

bora bora:

[Plains]

The US is the only place I know. It would be weird elsewhere. I was planning on getting out of here forever before I knew about peak oil and the related, but not now.

I'm supposed to spend a year in Japan over 08/09. I guess that could change my mind.


zensui, good choice. The worst thing I've ever gone through was leaving Italy, and I was only there 2 weeks.

[erl]

It would depend on what you understand to be Armageddon.

[TheTurtle]

The place you know is probably best at this stage of things.

[I_Like_Plants]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TheTurtle', 'T')he place you know is probably best at this stage of things.

[Pops]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TheTurtle', 'T')he place you know is probably best at this stage of things.

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]The risk of nuclear war will grow during the next 20 years, U.S. intelligence officers concluded last week.

On Jan. 20, an unobtrusive military officer carrying a small leather-bound metal briefcase will follow President George W. Bush up to Capitol Hill. After the inauguration ceremony, he will accompany President Barack Obama back to the White House. Inside the attache, known as "the football," are the codes to identify and authenticate a presidential order that could launch nuclear weapons and ignite a global holocaust.

That will become clear with Obama's first peek inside the ever-present briefcase. The secure phone nestled inside will connect him to the nuclear command centers at the Pentagon, Colorado Springs and "Site R," the bunkered emergency command center just over the Maryland border near Blue Ridge Summit, Pa. Through them, the president can reach the 1,300 U.S. strategic nuclear weapons always on alert.

Inside the case he will also find a notebook listing various attack options - from a single shot to all-out war - from which the president may choose and order.

Previous presidents have found all this hard to absorb. "The most sober and startling I ever heard," Ronald Reagan said after his first briefing on the nuclear options - so disturbing that it helped launch him on a quest to abolish nuclear weapons altogether. [url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/politics/bal-te.nukes30nov30,0,674095.story]Baltimore Sun

[Zardoz]

Remember, John McCain chose you-know-who to be the one the "football" follows around should he have expired or become incapacitated while in office.

[Plantagenet]

If Obama can make the US energy independent in 10 years, and create 2.5 million jobs, then surely he can also hold the nuclear "football" ---(and maybe we should start calling it the nuclear "basketball" now that President-elect Obama is taking over)...

[Sixstrings]

Zardoz wrote:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'R')emember, John McCain chose you-know-who to be the one the "football" follows around should he have expired or become incapacitated while in office.

[TWilliam]

Ahhh yes... the Beautiful Shiny Button...

You won't touch it, will you?

[video width=400 height=350]http://www.metacafe.com/fplayer/1153869/history_eraser_button_ren_and_stimpy.swf[/video]

[EnergyUnlimited]

Somehow I doubt that US president who got drunk or high on crack could launch nuclear war.

After handing down codes and dispensing orders he could probably hear over secure line (also included in football suitcase) to piss off.

Neither would it be possible to prevent US from nuclear retaliation by targeting president or his accompanying suitcase holding officer with some weapon which would also destroy suitcase.
All that just before launching nuclear attack on US.

All this football suitcase business is only PR exercise, just one of possible ways to launch American nuclear attack, but not the only one.

[Sixstrings]

Some more trivia on this subject, courtesy of WikiPedia..

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he Football dates back to Dwight D. Eisenhower, but its current usage came about in the aftermath of the Cuban missile crisis, when John F. Kennedy worried about the commander-in-chief's ability to authorize a nuclear attack.

First, he was worried that a nuclear attack order would be given without his permission. Second, in an era without cellular telephones, Kennedy felt that he would be unable to make and communicate a nuclear attack decision unless he was at a location hardwired to the Pentagon.

It has been suggested that the nickname Football was derived from an attack plan codenamed "Drop-Kick."

During their presidencies, Jimmy Carter always carried the launch codes in his jacket, while Ronald Reagan preferred to keep the launch codes in his wallet.

Jimmy Carter once left nuclear launch codes in his suit when it was sent in for dry cleaning.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_football

[AlexdeLarge]

I feel sooooooo safe and snug knowing O has the ball.

[sparky]

Of footballs and funny games .
The model for stanley Kubrick Dr Strangelove mad general Airman extraordinaire and certifiable nutcase general curtis le May
was chief of the strategic air command back in the fifties
Under operation Line backer ( more football ), he had a fleet of strategic nuclear bombers rush toward the Soviet borders then at the last moment.. turn back, then do it again a month later
This totally freaked out the Soviets who thought of the U.S. as dangerous lunatics .

Their total oposition to the present anti-missile deployment is based on thinking as follows:
if the U.S. lanch an all out first strike on the Russian strategic forces they could easity decapitate most of the rusty nuclear assets of Russia , the few surviving missile batteries and SLBM subs would have to fire with a doggy targeting , cope with the malfunctions probabilities run the gauntlet of the anti-missile batteries then the THADD and Aegis system , finaly to possibly fail on end course ..or kill a couple of cows!!
It means the Soviets would have to totally refurbish their arsenal , making it harder to get , more reliable and with more missiles .
meanwhile the best and cheapest counter-measure is to get their firing solution on hair trigger alert ,
this is hardly conducive to a peaceful life
For the U.S. the pay-off is not necessarily to strike Russia it is enought to be able to to get a negotiating advantage

Obviously after the U.S. pull out of the anti-missile treaty, the renewal of the SALT 1, the foundation stone of nuclear disarmement, is going to be tricky .
The compulsory meeting before expiration next year took place in november . So far the U.S. position is " what worry " but Russians are a worrying bunch , they have been attacked too often to be much trusting .

[Cabrone]

I think it's a fairly well known psychological fact that if you give someone a button, especially a child, and tell them not to press it they will usually press it.

Press the button and the kitty gets it.

[bratticus]

Don't Ever Push the Wed Won!
[flash width=425 height=344]http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/ZTw4BhZa6Dg[/flash]

[Cid_Yama]

Here's the facts. And we don't even talk about these things. On Thursday, at about 11:00 in the morning, the Federal Reserve noticed a tremendous drawdown of money market accounts in the United States to the tune of 550 Billion dollars was being drawn out in an hour or two. The treasury opened up its window to help. They pumped 105 billion dollars into the system and quickly realized that they could not stem the tide. We were having an electronic run on the banks. They decided to close down the money market accounts and announce a guarantee of $250,000 per account so there wouldn't be further panic.

If they had not done that, their estimation was that by 2:00 that afternoon, 5.5 Trillion dollars would have been drawn out of the money market system of the United States, would have collapsed the entire economy of the United States, and within 24 hours, the world economy would have collapsed. We talked at that time about what would have happened had that happened. It would have been the end of our economic system and our political system as we know it.
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