On Bucks and Bangs, Smoke and Mirrors.

A loud bang woke folks from their slumbers in Japan yesterday. As ominous pictures showed, volcanic smoke billowed from one of Japan's most active volcanoes, Mount Sakurajima, as it erupted for the 500th time this year.  500 times !!

That is according to the news:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2396611/Mount-Sakurajima-eruption-Impressive-ash-cloud-reaches-sky-Japanese-volcano-erupts-500th-time-YEAR.html

One wonders if anyone has managed a night's sleep at all this year.

At 5000m, this is the highest plume of ash recorded from the mountain since 1955, and caused darkness and ash falls over the centre of nearby Kagoshima city. Situated on the southern Japanese main island of Kyushu, the 1,117 metre (3,686 ft) volcano began erupting on the night of August 18.

I looked out from the Tavern and could just about see it in the distance (by standing on a chair if you must know)  and I could see our own Mt Wellington which at a good 1000 feet higher has been idle since Lord Harry knows when and far less interesting in that regard. Mt Welly is often just as windy though.

The bang was like Nuclear bombs going off, some claimed. And lets face it, there are still some Japanese around who can remember.

Joyanna breezed in with some more observations about bangs and wind and Nuclear bombs. Go and see:
http://nobodysopinion.org/2013/08/18/obama-is-no-jfk/#comment-7609

Joy is the bestest friend. It's her drums up there on the sign. She is so busy chasing down Obama and his hordes that she only occasionally comes by to play them. This time she wanted to drum up a storm.

The big bang had reminded her of North Korea although when I asked if she thought Kimmy had done it as a sort of 'practice' for his promised annihilation of America, she didn't say yes.

But she did have a few things else to say:

While everyone is fretting about masks on clowns, and Oprah Winfrey’s delicate ego, Nobody Asks: HEY…What happened with North Korea? Did Kim Jong-un find another hobby? Where IS the little cheeky chipmunk? Wasn’t he going to nuke the United States not too long ago? 

I’m aging myself here, but I remember the Cuban Missile Crisis. I was only a kid, but I do remember asking my dad why he was digging a big hole in our back yard in Naples, Florida, one Sunday afternoon in broad daylight. 

As I remember, he didn’t sugarcoat it:

“We might get hit by a bomb in a few days, and we’ll be safe in this hole.” he said.
“Will that bomb kill us?”
“Yes. But, I think we’ll be safe in the hole. Go get some canned beans from mom.

This is not Joyanna with her Dad and Mum.

  

 

America is just as vulnerable now from nuclear attack as it has ever been..and with each new President many of us ask ourselves, “Will THIS one be the one who will refuse to let go of power?” 

After all, all any of them is a good crisis as an excuse–to hang on. 

Here’s a few facts from Dinesh D’Souza’s excellent book: Obama’s America, about Obama’s destructive disarmament of our country. 

Dinesh says:

In 2009 when Obama took office, the US had approximately 5,000 nuclear warheads in its arsenal. Obama resolutely set about slashing that number. In 2011, Obama negotiated an arms reduction treaty with Russia, the so called START treaty, in which both countries agreed to reduce their warhead count to 1,555. America and Russian also limited their launchers to 700. In convincing the US Senate to support the treaty, Obama promises to modernize America’s existing nuclear assets a promise he subsequently abandoned.  

According to Wiki, Current stockpile is 5,113.

Whatever the number (55,000 have been built just in America since the late '40's) it is still enough to cause devastation throughout the Planet.

In Joy's view.... 

Recently it was reported that our nuclear facilities were ‘dangerously” vulnerable to attack–due to failing recent mock security tests—- and leaving many places like the Bay Area and Denver vulnerable to a detonation that would “dwarf” the impacts of Chernobyl. If we are attacked–Obama will be playing cards with Reggie Love on Air Force One. 

And she was back to Dinesh for a flourish: 

Dinesh: Some of the provision of the treaty were downright odd: the limit on 700 launchers imposed not restrictions o Russia, since Russian already had fewer than 700 launchers. Once START was ratified and became law. He has asked the Pentagon to study reducing America’s nuclear deterrent by up to 80 percent, which would bring us down to around 300 strategic warheads. All of this is occurring at a time when other nuclear armed nations like China are expanding and modernizing their arsenals.  

Never before in history has a global superpower disarmed itself so rapidly and so thoroughly.  

While the defense department is being cut to the bone, other programs like health care and green technologies are bloated with money. Obama shows no evident interest in reducing overall spending only in reducing military spending. 

Obama’s hope, is that fear will keep America humble. Call it humility through vulnerability. And in this way Obama hopes that America will stop acting like the evil empires. 

Not that this old King turned Taverner believes a word that comes from a Politician's mouth nor his legions of Court Jesters.  And believe me, all those diplomats attending disarmament conferences multiply by the year.

Did you know that OXFAM has a Director of Disarmament?

Huge salaries too, these Charity Chappies.  More than the PM in many cases. But more on that another day.

One wonders just how many nuclear weapons America needs.

And if 'need' is the appropriate word for America one could argue that everyone else has the same 'need'.  And if American politicians think that 300 or 500 or 1000+ are 'appropriate' for America, how many should Botswana have? Or Tonga?




The Old Tasmanian Air Force.
Those chaps could Play the Game.

Should semi-independent States like Tasmania (we are as independent in our Federation as West Virginia is in America, and about the same size) have its own modest nuclear arsenal? If America has 1550 (or 5000) I reckon that means 100 or 31 per United State. Even with a nod to modest ambition and even more modest levels of paranoia, Tasmania should have around 20 at that rate.

Maybe we could start with the less costly infrastructure......How about just a book of codes and work up from there? The Tasmanian armed forces could at least play scrabble.

 The New Feminist Air Force of Tassie. All of them.
Air Marshal Evelyn Blott carries the nuclear codes.
They are SO SECRET that even she is not allowed to see them.

Reducing the amount spent on America's armed forces might go a little way to stimulating other parts of the American national overkill Departments of This and That to reduce theirs too and I reckon you and even I might just be a little better off all round.

The last great world empire used to get by in the 'domination' game with the 'Two Navy Dictum'. It was a rough and ready measure of Might (and of course, 'Right'). By that measure the British maintained dominion over one quarter of the world simply by having a Navy that was as powerful as the next two biggest navies combined.

America has Navy, Army, Marines, Air Force and even a 'space corps' that is three times  bigger and more powerful than  

 the rest of the WORLD combined.

A tad over-doing it I should think. And the cost is of course far more than three times the rest because, of course, America has to have this year's best and be able to buy the next incremental improvement next year.  
 
Smaller sized nuclear bombs for bigger bangs for almost totally devalued bucks.  I wonder if the Tavern accounts can run to just one personal nuke or do I have to be content with a North Korean one with my name written on it.

Just in case, I might look into some protection.

I have an idea already of just where to put the bar.

There won't be any room for Evelyn and her feminist shocking awe girls though.