A MOVIE RECOMMENDATION

Given that the majority of Americans are under 60 years old, this means that the majority of Americans have no real direct memory of the "bad years" of the Cold War (i.e., the mid-50s through the late 60s before "Detente" came along). Those of us who are old enough learned how bad nuclear weapons were - they were telling us "duck and cover" would save us, but all those films of buildings being blown down said otherwise.

For everyone under 60, I would suggest you download and watch the absolutely terrifying movie "The Day After," which was shown once on ABC in 1984. It was so terrifying - by only telling what would happen - that it terrified Sainted Ronnie the Ray Gun into deciding he had to dedicate the rest of his time in office to ridding the world of "this terrible fate." Since 1992, absolutely no one has thought for a minute about what exactly the words "nuclear war" mean. If you educate yourself, it will be highly unlikely you'll vote for anyone stupid enough to push forward any policy idea that has "nuclear war" as a possible outcome.

When I was in the Navy, I spent several years in the Far East and visited Japan several times. Our ship actually visited Nagasaki, and I made certain to also take the opportunity when we were at Iwakuni to take the train up to see Hiroshima.

At Nagasaki, at the entry of the Museum of the Atomic disaster, there is a Japanese soldier’s helmet on a tripod, posed upside down. You glance inside, and it appears the interior is lined with ivory. And then a moment later, it hits you.

That’s not ivory.

It’s the soldier’s skull, melted into the helmet.

Seeing that is all you need to know about nuclear war.