1. Except he doesn't say that. He says he will take them off hair trigger alert. Meaning that they aren't pointed some where all the time and ready to launch.

What is the point of having them aimed everywhere? We spend 10 times as much as the next country on "defense" and this is just stuff left over from the cold war. Plus we don't need to be creating any more we got stock piles everywhere. Hell in my house I have 6 that I use as a coffee table.

New weapons for a new type of war.

Oh and from the place where this was originally posted from (http://macsmind.com/wordpress/2008/02/27/obama-plans-to-disarm-america/):

"Comment #1:
THIS IS A VERY DANGEROUS MAN!!!!!!!! I WOULD NOT BE SURPRIZED IF HE’S THE ANTICHRIST! ...."

nice.

10:45AM on Aug 7th 2008 by Gavin

2. @gavin -

"I will seek a world without nuclear weapons."

Who exactly do you think will follow those rules, and who do you think won't?

If we don't pursue missile defense systems, is it safe to assume that nobody else will either?

And it was posted on youtube, and is being reposted on all sorts of blogs -- both for crazies and non.

Walk softly and carry a big stick.

11:02AM on Aug 7th 2008 by Alex Rudloff

3. Living in IL, I know a thing or two about Obama...

90% of his money is from Terrorists

He has stated that he hates America and refuses to say the pledge of allegiance

He is a Muslim fundamentalist, backed by Iranian, Syrian, and Mongolian? extremists

He wants to sell all our weaponry and make Beanie Baby and Silk Flower Factories out of the War Machine.

... Seriously you're a smart dude and I'm not even a huge Obama fan (though more than McCain) but I give you more credit than this kind of reactionism (it’s not a word but I will use it). There is enough crap out there to realistically criticize him on other than wanting to remove the single most destructive force on the planet (ok well next to Cancer, AIDS, Old Age… oh wait Healthcare was another Article)

Frankly, on the burgeoning abyss of Cold War part II… Why would anyone really harsh on the importance of diplomacy. A lack there of has arguably (later) cost Billions of Dollars, let alone lives… Which are less important than the billions of dollars. War doesn’t seem to be working out so well for the proletariat (Net Millionaires not withstanding)

This kind of interpretation is so incredulous no sane person should rationally interpret, "I will seek a world without Nuclear Weapons" as a realistic threat to society.

They are a bad thing, everybody wants to un-invent them (if you don't then you do not rate my radar for consideration as a beneficial addition to the human race... and yes my opinion is more important than yours.)

Sure, it’s a little too much sunshine and lollypops for the realists (and centrists) as a foundation for diplomacy (sorry Jimmy Carter), but it's still not a bad thing to say!

Can you please go find a useful sound bite to exploit, instead of a quasi tinfoil hat one?

I hate to see Obama critism look so silly... Unless you're really just waiting for 2016. Which, might not be a bad idea the next 8 years would suck if Budda was President and Jesus Christ was his VP. (I feel its a ticket I could really endorse though)

7:44PM on Aug 11th 2008 by Nick

4. Nick.. quit pretending.. You've always been a bleeding heart and you always will be. And that's fine. Just don't let it cloud you from logic.

You're also a better debater than having to rely on arguing such ridiculous extremes. I'm disappointed.

You honestly think it's wrong for me to criticize Obama for saying that he wants to cut R&D into a missile defense program? And it's wrong for me to suggest that we should maintain our strategic nuclear advantage?

Look, no one will say that diplomacy is a bad idea, but to say that we should all be for "un-inventing" nuclear weapons as you put it, and using "cold war II" as a reasoning for this kind of thinking, is.. well.. certainly different than anything history as shown us. Peace was maintained throughout the cold war specifically due to nuclear weapons (the threat of mutual destruction).

You, me, Obama, everyone should be cognizant of the fact that we need to maintain a healthy lead militarily if we intend to see order in the free world maintained. Russia invading Georgia looks like it may be proof of that. (and yeah, too bad we're overextended in iraq, etc.. we all get the ramifications of it. Hating on Bush isn't reason enough to ignore such divergent foreign policy suggestions).

7:52PM on Aug 11th 2008 by Alex Rudloff

5. OK its Friday, I'm bored I'll respond.

Your argument is we need(ed) nuclear weapons so we would not use them...

I've heard it before. It still makes me giggle a little. It's right up there with the flat earth society.

The hypothesis that War with Russia was inevitable without 'the bomb' is a bit self defeating. Scientifically speaking, generally if one cannot prove or disprove the opposite, while proving the hypothesis one may be regarded skeptically (I'd provide a humorous example of this, but you'd interpret it literally in your response, way to stifle me creatively you jerk…) I think I understand where the word ‘hypothetically’ came from so much better now… Thank you self.

We did not use Nuclear Weapons against Russia, this is true. Also true, we used Diplomacy and Economics. With or without Nuclear weapons, the tactics which we did employ remain the same. Frankly, with or without Nuclear weapons arguably M.A.D is still achievable.

I will not argue that Mutually Assured Destruction (by the way invoking a M.A.D. Godwin is something straight out of Dr. Strangelove.) has helped prevent armed response, and war. I do not, believe it is the only guiding principle. As a rule this only exists because neither party will grant consideration without umbrage. Which I can’t relate to personally, even when we disagree and I call you a lying thieving megalomaniacal doody-head I’m still not offended.

Removing the threat of thermonuclear (or biological) destruction from the table, does not deter the other two guiding forces which also saw us through ‘the darker days.’ Further, both appeal to man’s base nature, greed and the willingness to elect incompetent officials.

At the end of the day, through diplomatic measures, and shrewd economic maneuvering we managed to isolate the USSR from Western Europe, and all the Pan-Asian Continents which had money (at the time). They were bankrupt, isolated, starving and freezing… with very little access to Antibiotics (sorry about the syphilis). Now let's fast forward twenty years…

The War Machine in this country is a powerful lobby. At the end of the most destructive war the world had ever seen, Dwight Eisenhower warned his country about its influence, “We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist…"

Did he want to make the United States helpless as well? We are spending BILLIONS on weapons, when we are having severe economic trouble on the home front… Hundreds of Millions A DAY just on bullets, fighting an insurgency which could last a long time… Oh on two fronts as well, not that that has ever been a problem for anyone (Hitler, Napoleon, Great Britain, The Holy Roman Empire, The Roman Empire, Stalin if you count Finland but most people don’t)

How well did that work our when Russia when they tried it in the ‘Stans’? Our credibility has been damaged terribly (yet not irreparably) and we look toward an Allied European continent that is no longer exclusively allied to our interests.

No party but God shouldn’t be able to kill a soldier let alone a civilian without watching their expression change, a world without W.M.D.s is a better world, but it is not the real world. Yes Alex, we DO HAVE THEM, and yes WE HAVE TO KEEP THEM… and that’s not just because Superman II was a movie. It is because we have created and will continue to create those evils which harm the most.

I embrace this reality, because at my core I’m not just a bleeding heart (you fascist) I am a cynical calculating bleeding heart. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us.

2:16PM on Aug 15th 2008 by Nick

6. So much verbiage is redundant. I believe in 'speak softly and carry a big stick'. You will not attack someone whom you know is going to whip you!

Clinton cut our military by 52%. That didn't leave us enough weapons and forces to whip a tom cat even less another country!

The attack on Pearl Harbor (Hawaii was not a state at that time) when our ships were bombed and thousands killed, war was declared immediately. Our World Trade Center, and the Twin Towers was bombed and thousands killed. How long did it take to respond? This is our country! That was a military base. We didn't have enough military might to do anything! America, our America, took months to declare war. There was time to conceal, destry, or move any evidence. This should not be!

During World War II, I asked my Dad why were OUR people fighting in another country. He told me they were fighting in other countries to protect us from having to fight in our own. Our wives and children were safer. We are not to begin a war, but to end it. We did not start this one, but we need to end it.

We have done good things. There are little (and big) girls who can go to school, Folks can go to church. Private enterprise is up. Good things have come out of this war. Terrorists should not thrive anywhere.

Also, I believe in the draft. If our young people had to face that I believe there would be less drugs and drinking. Maturity and responsibility would develop sooner.

My comments are free, so they're probably not worth much.

1:35PM on Aug 21st 2008 by Phyl

7. Phyl, almost a month late, but after reading this post, I whole heartedly agree with your post #6.
I believe your Father was 100% correct. There have been many mishaps in this current theatre, and when at war no country should ever be divided, and unfortunately ours appears to be. I believe many have lost perspective. Sure you can say we were going after WMD's and I also fell under that assumption, but I also know this war could be occuring in our backyard, and up until this point in time it is not.
And I think we owe a little more gratitude to our administration for this than it is receiving right now. But as Americans we are often short sighted, and think with out pocket books rather than our minds.
If it were up to me, I would suggest holding memorials every day at 09:11 until the extremist crawl back into the whole they crawled out of.
Many other countries try to believe we are a bully when in reality we truely want freedom, Freedom to choose, as well as freedom to not choose. And when they knocked on our door, we had to answer.

We are not fighing 1 guy, or just 1 army. We are fighting a intolerant idealogue of extremist. And we owe many thanks to those who go over seas, as well as those who support here in the U.S. for their sacrifice, no matter how big or small.

7:55PM on Sep 16th 2008 by Brady Pevehouse