70 years ago the nuclear nightmare begins

• August 6, 2015
• politics  
• stupidity  
• wingnuttia  
• youtube  

The following movie came to my attention thanks to Phil Plait’s Bad Astronomy blog. Since today is the 70th anniversary of America’s bombing of Hiroshima the following video showing when and where nuclear explosions have occurred from 1945 to 1998 is relevant and sobering.

[https://www.youtube.com/embed/cjAqR1zICA0?feature=oembed]

I was born in 1961 and remember “duck and cover” drills at school. When going shopping at the local mall or department store meant looking for the nuclear civil defense fallout shelter signs indicated you should go in the event of a nuclear explosion. I didn’t know anyone who had a bomb shelter in their back yard but it was certainly discussed and magazines like Popular Mechanics had articles about building one. So when I watch todays GOP representatives argue against the Obama administration’s Iran nuclear agreement I think about stuffing the lot of them into a suburban backyard bomb shelter without food or water and padlocking the door.