Getting rid of nuclear weapons

Photo: This advertisement was from the 1950's when the USA was supporting the Shah of Iran and thought that having nuclear power would be a good thing for Iran. Today, the bushies think that Iran has no right to nuclear power, and they accuse them of making nuclear bombs. No evidence that they are building nuclear bombs. I forgot to note where I found this photo, but it was with an article on American hypocrisy.

I think we should get rid of nuclear power, but I think getting rid of nuclear bombs is vastly more important. And, in light of that, I decided to write letters to candidates about nuclear weapons via Friends Committee on National Legislation website. Link to the website at the end of this blog post. But I wanted to share with you the answers I got from this email, so here is my letter and the response:

Message sent to the following recipients:
Mr. Mumpower
Representative Shuler
Mr. Smith
Mr. Cole
Senator Dole
Mrs. Hagan

Letter to all candidates for Congress:

In 1945, the US dropped nuclear bombs on Japan. Today, we have more than 6,000 nuclear weapons (some report over 10,000 nuclear weapons). Right now, the world has enough nuclear weapons to do 400,000 Hiroshimas. This is ridiculous, but also very obscene.

I think we are on a dangerous and unproductive path here - we need to work to abolish all nuclear weapons, not maintain (at a cost of over $17 billion per year!) the ones we have. We need to work for total nuclear disarmament.

I would like to know if you support this position and, if elected, you would advocate cutting the size of the US nuclear arsenal by at least 50 percent. I look forward to hearing from you on how you would advance a world free of nuclear weapons in Congress. - END -

One person responded: Come back to the world of reality. The world is never going to be free of nuclear weapons. - from KSLUVBEACH@aol.com

My response to the above: Then that means the world will never be free of nuclear war. I would not call that reality - I would call it a nightmare.

Further response: Nuclear war??? You really are living in a world of non-reality... You want to cut our arsenal in half and then eliminate it..

Well, let me put an end to your supposed safer world... We once only had two nuclear bombs..Yea the whole world only had two..We used one on Hiroshima..so then in all the world there was only one..we used it on Nagasaki.

So the number of bombs has absolutely nothing to do with if they are used or not.

And by the way, by using those bombs Truman saved millions of lives.. Yes, saved millions. If you knew how Iwo Jima or some of the other Jap island strongholds fought you would understand what a blood bath and meat grinder the mainland of Japan would have been.

But naive Peaceniks that have never thought about how the reality of a nuclear retaliation threat allowed Germany to live in peace and not be invaded by Russia worked.

Snap out of your delusion if we got rid of nuclear bombs the world would be safer. It wouldn't. Poison gas, biological weapons, and all of the rest would still make it not only just as dangerous but really even more dangerous. Without the threat of being taken care of in a single strike nut case countries wouldn't fear launching an attack on us or any other peace loving country.

Don't go around worrying about some might be, could be fear of the future. Peace through strength really does work... You don't see big strong guys being picked on, just little wimpy ones.

Have a nice day, hug a tree, go save some whales, yada yada

[It is, of course, speculation as to how many lives were ‘saved’ by using nuclear bombs on Japan. But one thing we know for sure – the final toll is not known yet, and we will not know until all nuclear bombs are gone. – dancewater]

I responded: I thought Germany was occupied by the USSR for quite some time - and I thought they were invaded by Russia, back in the 1940's. By the way, who are you exactly? I sent out emails from a web page, but your email does not match any of the names of recipients.
Thanks, Susan

Further response: I was talking about post WW2 Germany when it was only our nuclear arsenal that kept West Germany free and not a Russian puppet like East Germany. And that spam from a web page is what's wrong..people send out the same old form letter when they don't even know who they are sending it to.

I responded: It was not a form letter, and I know who I sent it to - Dole, Hagen, Mumpower, Shuler, Smith, and Cole. I just don't know which one of those people you happen to be, since you didn't state your name.
Susan

NO ANSWER TO THAT! I think it is safe to assume that this did not come from Dole, Hagen, Shuler, or Mumpower. And I think it is safe to assume that we will go on spending $17+ billion per year to maintain our nuclear weapons. And it is also safe to assume that, if we ever have a nuclear war, it may end life as we know it.

If you would like to join in the fun and email your candidates, go to this website and compose a letter! It’s free, and who knows who is reading!