Blog Club

And You Thought Your Password Choice Was Bad

When you stop to reflect on it, given the imperfection of the human race it is remarkable that we haven't destroyed ourselves or the planet...yet. Our incredible luck when it comes to nuclear weapons stands out as a case in point.

Ran across an interesting article this weekend talking about the permissive action links (PALs) on American intercontinental ballistic missiles (in particular the minutemen) in the 1970s. These devices were supposed to ensure that nuclear weapons could not be accidentally launched or launched without proper authorization. The idea was the apart from the two keys which had to be turned in the launch control center a code had to be programmed into the system. This code would be sent only when an attack had been authorized.

Great theory and plan, very poor implementation. In the 1970s the Strategic Air Command decided that all of the minutemen codes should be set to 000000. That's right, effectively eliminating any need for a password and allowing any two launch men to release a minimum of fifty ICBMs before anyone could say boo. The SAC justification was that in a first strike by the Russians the codes wouldn't have time to be transmitted and we would lose our ability to blow up their half of the world. Seems we have had a launch on warning policy in reality for most of the time of the bomb. Article Reprint from the late 70s has more details.

The Indecency of the Bush Comedy Hour

A great deal has been made recently of America’s moral decline. Fueled by the outrage of a titillating superbowl half time show opinion leaders have decried our loss of civility, culture, and perspective. I’ll disagree that we are inches away from Sodam and Gomarah but the recent Bush comedy hour shows how indecent and obscene we have become.

Early this week during the annual Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner in Washington President Bush put on a tongue in cheek slide show. While a number of the things he said were just not funny the one causing the most controversy is his monologue while a few photos showed of him looking under furniture saying “Those weapons of mass destruction have to be here somewhere.”

War Presidents:or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Romans?

George W. Bush has increasingly referred to himself as a “War President”. Since he has started at least two Wars in his first term I don’t think that many would argue with him. Other notable War Presidents include Abraham Lincoln (The Civil War President), Woodrow Wilson (The War to End all War President), Franklin D Roosevelt (The Greatest Generation War President), Harry Truman (The Never Officially Ended War President), Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon (The It Is Not a War Presidents), Ronald Reagan (The Invade a Small Island War President), George Herbert Bush (The Gulf War War President), and Bill Clinton (The Another War in Europe War President).

Discounting entirely the Cold War and just focusing on major conflicts in the 20th Century it is hard to think about Presidents who have not been “War Presidents.” But I just don’t remember the rest of them making it a campaign slogan.