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23:59

By iGrrrl (Thu Feb 23, 2006 at 12:08:44 AM EST) (all tags)

All I can hear in my head is Debby Harry singing, "It's eleven-fifty-nine, and I wanna stay alive."

The pre-apocalyptic Reagan years. I don't know that anyone not politically and generally aware during that time (the early 1980s particularly), can understand that we really felt that he was crazy enough to launch nuclear weapons.

Instead we're going with a wimper.

Even me. I just lost 45 minutes worth of graphics work that I can't do on my rental laptop, which means no bed time for me. Do I rage against the crashing of Adobe? No. I sigh, vent, and go back to it.

We wants our preciousss, yes we does. The ThinkPad is not the precious. The color, it is wrong, and the iconsss, oh, they are not in the right places, my love, are they? Won't even go to mac.com, will it's nasty bloated web browser? Hates it we does.

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23:59 | 21 comments (21 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback

I certainly didn't feel that way. by ammoniacal (4.00 / 1) #1 Thu Feb 23, 2006 at 02:22:57 AM EST

He was a doddering fool, but was not suicidal.

Irony: ammo says it's time. Tom is blocked.

Let's just say... by iGrrrl (4.00 / 1) #3 Thu Feb 23, 2006 at 06:47:46 AM EST

Alzheimer's does not come on suddenly.

"I don't have time for martial law, I have to get to the gym!" zarathus
[ Parent ]

Pssst! by ammoniacal (2.00 / 0) #7 Thu Feb 23, 2006 at 08:25:58 AM EST

_{Don't tell anyone about this, but the sane people on his staff wouldn't have allowed that to happen.}

Irony: ammo says it's time. Tom is blocked.
[ Parent ]

Psst. by jimgon (2.00 / 0) #11 Thu Feb 23, 2006 at 11:34:44 AM EST

There were sane people on Reagan's staff?

[ Parent ]

Yes. by ammoniacal (2.00 / 0) #14 Thu Feb 23, 2006 at 12:23:18 PM EST

There were.

Irony: ammo says it's time. Tom is blocked.
[ Parent ]

Hard to see by wumpus (2.00 / 0) #17 Thu Feb 23, 2006 at 08:45:51 PM EST

While Reagan and co. were spending money like drunken sailors, a lot of the change went specifically for weapons and programs that suddenly became useless if you followed MAD. On the other hand, they were exactly what you needed to start a nuclear war that you thought you might possibly live through. There certainly was a lot of power being used to get ready to launch a first strike, but it's pretty hard to say such a faction got anywhere close to the football.

The Rand corporation came up with game theory largely to figure out how to fight the cold war (or more precisely, to handle nuclear war and the threats thereof). If they followed the suggestions, the bluff that Reagan (or enough of his staff) wanted to nuke the ruskies to be credible. Personally, I'd have an easier time seeing that crew simply wanting to launch the nukes than follow mathematicians over astrologers.

Wumpus

[ Parent ]

Part of the MAD thing... by ana (4.00 / 1) #18 Thu Feb 23, 2006 at 08:49:36 PM EST

is being just crazy enough, or at least pretending to be crazy enough, that the enemy is never quite convinced you wouldn't actually do it.

Can you introspect out loud? --CRwM
[ Parent ]

: which is why, by Kellnerin (4.00 / 1) #20 Thu Feb 23, 2006 at 10:04:27 PM EST

I guess, having an actor as the head of state can be handy. I sometimes think I would be more reassured if our current leader could actually deliver his lines more or less correctly.

--
I ate a hegel for breakfast. --mrgoat
Things without which, death. --ana
[ Parent ]

I hear that too! by Rogerborg (2.00 / 0) #2 Thu Feb 23, 2006 at 06:02:20 AM EST

And sometimes I hear "Please let me out," and "It has put the lotion on its skin."

Sometimes I even hear strange things, crazy things, like WhackOS for x86.

-
Metus amatores matrum compescit, non clementia.

: I have a very good... by iGrrrl (2.00 / 0) #4 Thu Feb 23, 2006 at 06:50:04 AM EST

...mental (er, I used to say Walkman, but now I guess I should update to say) iPod. Right now it's stuck on the song from the kids' current favorite Disney movie.
R-E-S-C-U-E
Rescue Aid Society
Heads held high
Touch the sky
Our hearts we pledge to thee.
In mouse voices, with Eva Gabor.

"I don't have time for martial law, I have to get to the gym!" zarathus
[ Parent ]

The cold war is over. by ana (4.00 / 1) #5 Thu Feb 23, 2006 at 07:23:41 AM EST

And now, it's so over, that we can hardly believe what we felt back then. I felt much safer in the Reagan years than in the Kennedy years, what with the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

That might be the age of the subject, though; these things are soooo much more vivid for little kids. We had duck and cover drills in 1st grade, and we roughed in a fallout shelter in a house my folks built in 1963/4. We were pretty sure the end was coming, sooner rather than later.

And maybe it's a kind of danger fatigue. Having been on the edge for 20 years, we got bored. Felt safer, in some ways, refurbing the military, being strong, playing our half of Mutual Assured Destruction. It was a dangerous game, but it worked as designed, on both sides.

My $0.02.

Can you introspect out loud? --CRwM

One wonders by wiredog (2.00 / 0) #6 Thu Feb 23, 2006 at 08:14:44 AM EST

if MAD still applies wrt countries like Iran and North Korea? I hope so.

Yeah, we did get bored. Explains the 90's very well, doesn't it?

Earth First!
_{(We can strip mine the rest later.)}
[ Parent ]

Oh, MAD always applies by dn (2.00 / 0) #8 Thu Feb 23, 2006 at 10:14:26 AM EST

But if you look at Iran and NK, the folks running things don't appear to mind a little destruction. Or a lot, for that matter.

I ♥
TOXIC
WASTE

[ Parent ]

MAD certainly does apply by lm (4.00 / 4) #10 Thu Feb 23, 2006 at 11:23:18 AM EST

But I'm not certain the current crop of US leaders has the strength of will to make it a credible threat. For example, fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers in addition to all of the brains behind the plot were Saudis and the US did not retaliate against Saudi Arabia in the slightest. Consequently, there is not a single Islamicist (well, their might be one or two) that believes that the US might nuke Mecca if their group manages to drop THE BOMB on US soil.

MAD requires that a potential agressor believes that destruction is imminent should they actually act in agression. But, well, the US kind of screwed the pooch on the response to 9/11. Afghanistan was a good start, but four years later the job in Afghanistan is still left undone when the US armed forces ought to be preparing for stage two of taking the fight to the agressors. Consequently, there are quite a few groups from a number of countries plotting to attack the US that figure it they pull off their plot, the US will go topple Iran rather than bringing the fight to the home countries of the attackers.

There is no more degenerate kind of state than that in which the richest are supposed to be the best.
Cicero, The Republic
[ Parent ]

: I wish I could give a 6 (n/t) by jimgon (4.00 / 2) #13 Thu Feb 23, 2006 at 11:43:43 AM EST

[ Parent ]
: Galbraith Article by jimgon (2.00 / 0) #21 Fri Feb 24, 2006 at 04:18:25 PM EST

I just started reading the latest copy of Mother Jones. It includes a column from James Galbraith that you may enjoy.

[ Parent ]

I think it's more UAD, Unilateral Assured by georgeha (2.00 / 0) #12 Thu Feb 23, 2006 at 11:42:54 AM EST

Destruction, for every nukular device used on USia attributed to Iran or NK, expect a few MIRV missiles back.

[ Parent ]

age by iGrrrl (4.00 / 1) #9 Thu Feb 23, 2006 at 10:46:50 AM EST

Considering that I was born during the Cuban Missle crisis, Reagan was the more formative influence. But there were bomb shelter signs on all the downtown buildings, which my mother had to explain to us, and the regular rockets from Cape Canaveral that rattled the windows.

And the thought of danger fatigue sort of makes sense.

"I don't have time for martial law, I have to get to the gym!" zarathus
[ Parent ]

damn by dev trash (2.00 / 0) #15 Thu Feb 23, 2006 at 07:05:23 PM EST

if you thought ronnie was crazy, what do ya think of GW?

--
Click

honestly? by iGrrrl (4.00 / 3) #16 Thu Feb 23, 2006 at 07:27:09 PM EST

Brain damaged from cocaine abuse.

"I don't have time for martial law, I have to get to the gym!" zarathus
[ Parent ]

: well by dev trash (2.00 / 0) #19 Thu Feb 23, 2006 at 09:15:36 PM EST

That would explain the dementia later in life.

--
Click
[ Parent ]

23:59 | 21 comments (21 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback


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