Nuclear Weapons Use, further comment

I have been working a lot lately both inside our home and at my job which has limited my time on the computer. Also, my son is a senior in high school this year and we are facing the May 1st deadline to commit to a college in the fall. Fortunately, he has narrrowed his choices to 2, but while he prefers one over another, the 2nd choice has offered a substantially better financial package. Consequently, we have had multiple contacts with both schools in the last 10 days. Despite this, I have been creating my next blog in my mind and hope to have it done in the next day or so.

My reason for today's brief post is to emphasize again that the use of a nuclear weapon for any reason, even in retaliation for an attack by an enemy is absurd. I refer to the recent volcano eruption in Iceland and subsequent worldwide problems this eruption has produced. For better or worse, humanity has become global in our relationships. In the case of the ash cloud that has vastly effected air travel, we are experiencing just how global we have become. In addition to the thousands of people that are stranded all over the world, there is millions of tons of food which has or will spoil either because it can not be placed on planes, or because it is not being brought to airports because the cold storage facilities are already filled to capacity. Also, when planes can't fly, UPS and Fedex can't transport packages either. Imagine all the business being delayed this past week because of missing goods and documents.

Now, consider the effect of the detonation of a nuclear weapon. In addition to the actual death and destruction of the unfortunate citizenry, the vast majority of whom probably had nothing to do with the cause for the weapon's use, there will be the debris cloud, similar to the ash cloud now floating over Europe but containing radioactive fallout as well. Remember, just because we drop a bomb on say, Iran, doesn't mean the mushroom cloud will only stay in the physical geography of that country. And the use of a nuclear weapon anywhere near our source of oil will create an incredibly detrimental effect on our energy systems.

Immediate death and destruction, far reaching medical problems induced by the release of radioactivity, economic failures, ecological disasters. Nobody wins, everybody loses.