The Nuclear family

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Brust" <skzb at dreamcafe.com>
To: "Howard Brazee" <howard at brazee.net>
Cc: <dragaera at dragaera.info>
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2005 11:39 AM
Subject: Re: The Nuclear family


> On Fri, 2005-02-11 at 11:46, Howard Brazee wrote:
>
> > There's a real difference between fission bombs and fusion bombs as far
as
> > physicists are concerned - but the social-political difference is
> > neglible.   We treat them the same when found in a third world country.
>
> I think that's the heart of the matter.  Everyone gets nervous when
> weapons of terror are in the hands of "backward" nations, just because
> of the obvious conflict between the nation being backward in so many
> ways, and the weapon being advanced.
>
> What constitutes a "backward" nation?  That's harder to say.  Here are a
> few general guidelines, however:
>
> 1. Backward nations have not yet abandoned the barbaric practice of
> capital punishment.
>
> 2. Backward nations are still unable to provide their own citizens with
> health care.
>
> 3. Backward nations usually have an enormous percentage of the wealth
> concentrated in the hands of very few, which few exercise more and more
> direct political power in defense of that wealth (usually under the
> cover some sort of religious doctrine combined with blatant militarism).
>
> 4. Backward nations generally keep an unreasonable number of their own
> citizens in prison.
>
> There are others, of course.  But I think most people would agree that a
> nation that displays those characteristics ought not to trusted with
> weapons of terror.
>
>
>
While I don't agree with all of your points, I do agree that backwards
nations should not be trusted with WMD. Hell, I don't think they should be
trusted with my tax money. I subscribe to Heinleins definition of a doomed
society; that is any that requires a person to carry more than two forms of
identification. He recommended fleeing immediately. The distressing part is
there is nowhere to flee to, only temporary shelters from the insanity of
the world at large.

Jeff G.