The Bomb in the Age of Obama

     Some facts about this bomb building process can be found in Mike Wright’s book, What They Didn’t Teach You about the 60s. These include,
     “By 1960, the military budget was $45.8 billion or 49.7 percent of the entire federal budget.”
     That sounds like too much money for defense and the military. There is much more startling news as Wright relates,
     “By 1962, the United States had more nuclear bombs than we could ever use: 1500 atomic bombs, more than enough to destroy every major city in the world.
     This was the equivalent of ten tons of TNT for every man, woman and child on earth.”
     At this time Rocky Flats is closed for production but the cleanup which began was to be completed in either late 2005 or early the next year. I recently heard that it was finished. At the start of the effort, there were speculations on how long it would take but these numbers were unknown, just as there were uncertainties when the process began in the 1950s. In 1995, a DOE study said that it would take 50 years and $36.6 million to clean up. Energy secretary Federico Pena stated in 1997 that it would take nine years and $7 billion. Besides these two guesses, there were various other estimates as to completion dates but the reality is that people just didn’t know. When the cleanup is “complete,” there will still be doubt relative to any future repercussions. Even if the media reports that the job is done, don’t believe it.
    Perhaps the only thing we can say without question is that Rocky Flats should never have been building bombs in the first place. Though the Colorado facility may have had the highest concentration of contamination of all the sites, we can’t overlook the fact that it was only one of many scattered throughout the country. Consider yourself
fortunate if your state wasn’t involved. Nevertheless, you didn’t have to travel far to see the danger of building the bomb. Our earth and its people were the ones who suffered.
     I was going to summarize that this process of bomb building had two deleterious effects, but in reality the repercussions are many. I use the word are rather than were because of lasting effects that surround us today. From the narrative you can see that huge resources were wasted in the effort. The planet has a finite number of goods that can be used to create usable products. Creating an atom bomb simply wastes too many of
these precious materials. The result is a huge, insane outcome with nothing gained – actually, quite a bit is lost – because of two thoughts: if you use the bomb, you will wreak havoc on the planet. This affects the land, air, water and the people. On the other hand, if that wonderful philosophy of deterrence is applied and the weapons sit in a warehouse,
but are not deployed, you still have waste. Simultaneously, disposal becomes a problem at some time.
     In bringing about an action using these weapons on a nation, you destroy civilizations – people and their treasures – while also bringing the lasting effects of radiation. The people of Nagasaki and Hiroshima can certainly attest to that. How they /could ever forgive the aggressors and forget about what their relatives suffered defies credibility. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that most of the victims have left the earth and only their kin survive. They may not have been directly affected by the dropping of the atomic bombs.
     The title of the chapter is the first line of our National Anthem – not one of my favorite songs for two reasons. I am not a professional singer but I have sung in the Liverpool Community Chorus, the Binghamton Symphony and Choral Society and numerous church choirs. I think others will agree that the Star Spangled Banner is too different to sing since it involves more octaves that I care to sing – out of range for most
people. In addition, the words, “bombs bursting in air” can be found a bit later. This tends to make the song a war anthem. Maybe it’s time for a new song for our country. I’d prefer an anthem of peace.

The above is an excerpt from my 2008 book, "Take Back The Earth," a 2007 Indie Excellence Finalist. More specific information on Rocky Flats and bomb building can be found in "Making A Real Killing" by Ken Ackland. A book of mine published at the end of 2008 is "This War Won't Cost Much - I'm Already Against The Next One." More information can be found at my web site, bobcooks.com.