Surviving a Nuclear Attack on Washington, D.C.

National Journal ^ | June 24th 2005 | By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.

[GOPJ]

thank you for posting this. Information that could save a life.<.I>

You're right. There's some interesting counterintuitive stuff in there...

[meatloaf]

Every bakery gets fillings and toppings in 5 gal. pails. Should be able to get all you could ever want for half a buck or a dollar each. Clean them out with hot water and they're ready for use.

[Quix]

Cockroaches do reportedly do well in the face of such, alright.

[Quix]

I think I'm of the same opinion.

They'd sooner riot over some rock star or loss of some hideous new 'right' than something substantial.

[Quix]

I agree.

And, while we are at it . . . prevent Pols from serving more than 8-12 years. And, perhaps fine them for staying away from their constituencies longer than XX days at a time.

And, part of me, would change the Presidency from 2 possible 4 year terms to one 5 or 6 year term.

Then, how to limit campaigning to 60 days?

And every law that requires money be spent also have to have a sunset provision. And the more money, the sooner the at least review if not revoting.

Ah welll, idle speculations. So much will be destroyed. Sometimes I wonder if God intends to start over with a very aggrarian society world wide. AT least, with Christ in charge, Goodness will abound vs the pollution of evil that now spreads like cancer.

[Quix]

If you ever come across a collection, an anthology edited by Pournelle titled something about FREEDOM, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. I'd love another copy of it.

The one I had got . . . gifted or lifted in Mainland China. Which . . . was a good place for it to be read!

[Quix]

I agree.

But we, as a people, especially sprinkled so liberally with liberal traitors--will not have the resolve even if more gain the insights.

Sigh.

[Quix]

And why not bury the working areas of such places underground with great atriums and other sunlight enhancing technological treatments. Better heating, cooling, sound etc. as well as safer.

Public nonworking areas could be above ground in grand forms.

I understand that after all our super blasts at the palace over one of Saddam's German engineered bunkers, the bunker itself was totally unscathed.

10-20' of concrete roof; on springs etc.

Seems to me, even the President's residence could be constructed such that most of it was below ground.

And perhaps even the above ground parts could be designed to sink under a blast door within 60-120 seconds or some such.

Idle musings. No such will be done. Then it won't be necessary. Perhaps until the enemy is loosed for testing the folks at the end of the 1000 years of peace.

[Quix]

Agreed.

Except that I'm inclined to agree with the defectors who insist that Russia's fall is a planned trap and not what it's cracked up to be.

[Quix]

Good point.

Perhaps something slightly better than public housing in concrete with no paint.

Let truly servant hearted public servants only apply.

[Quix]

Sensible enough to me.

Alas, the puppet masters have other plans.

[backtothestreets]

I agree moderate accommodations, and with the exception of the President and Vice-President, all members of Congress should live outside the city. That in itself would bring a level of continuity if an attack ever did succeed.

[JSteff]

"Assume every line of defense against nuclear terrorism is breached:
Considering how criminally easy it was for 15 Saudis to fly planes into buildings, this is an easy assumption to make."

Actually harder to protect against jet liners than a ground nuke. A bunch of area's of major cities have been set up with radiation detectors for years now.

Very sensitive. Driving a bomb into D.C. is harder than flying one in. I am sure the bad guys know this too. That is why bio/chem is more likely in a metro area.

[Nowhere Man]

Ah welll, idle speculations. So much will be destroyed. Sometimes I wonder if God intends to start over with a very aggrarian society world wide. AT least, with Christ in charge, Goodness will abound vs the pollution of evil that now spreads like cancer.

I have a similar thought. When a society gets so far advanced with technology without the morals/ethics of putting it to good use, they tend to self destruct. When you think about it with things like biotechnology, nanotechnology and so on, I think we are getting too cocky and setting ourselves up for a great fall. Also factor in that the world is explored, with maybe a small pocket here and there untouched, so there is really no new land to colonize or run to, the next thing is space exploration to expand. We had a chance in the 1970's with setting up bases and colonies on the Moon but we pulled back, in some ways, we are no further ahead in space than we were in the early 1960's. If you factor all that in, we could have a big fall and adding even more, or decline of morals and standards. I do wonder if God is going to knock us down a peg or two, but if He doesn't do it, we certainly will and we will end up having to start again. Think if it as a "reset button." Myself, I lean towards the belief that we had a couple of technical civilizations in the past that destroyed themselves and we just started up the long ladder again. Think Atlantis and the stories there, I do see some parallels to that.

[Walkingfeather]

Sterling Holloway in the twighlight zone.

[JSteff]

"A much better solution, IMHO is to use your solution but neutron warheads. "

Didn't we destroy our neutron warheads after one nuke reduction or another?

I agree with your gist but just to clear up some things; from what I understand oil is able to be be cleaned of radiation effects at relatively low cost. Remember only stuff on the surface would be in direct risk of contamination... if particles got into it.

The rest of it is underground (very few oil strip mines) so would fare better than the workers at the refineries and well sites. The majority of the oil wells and refineries are outside the cites so would be mostly unaffected.

[Nowhere Man]

I do find the ideals for a new capital and it setup fascinating, would be cool to try it in SimCity. On a side note, I always liked the idea of houses partially underground, it would be good to have in places like tornado alley. There were hints at that idea when I read an article from the microfilms of the New York Times a few days after Hiroshima where the writers were speculating underground cities and people "living like Troglodytes."

[backtothestreets]

I personally dislike term limits because they affect the good along with the bad. Like many others, I'd like to see the likes of Ted Kennedy out of office. I don't blame the Massachusetts voters as much as I blame Republican Senators for bargaining with him. Ted Kennedy keeps getting reelected because he delivers for the majority of voters in his state. That would change if the alliances he makes with Republican Senators trying to win approval on one pet project or another stopped seeking his support. Their compromises keep Kennedy in office.

And a single six year term for the President would mean he was a lame duck from the day he is elected. That's a part of why Mexico cannot seem to improve. Their President is limited to a single term. Since Eisenhower, the nation has had to suffer the effect of lame-duck presidencies because of term limits. Four have been Republican, and one a Democrat.

I like your 60 day campaigning idea and sunset spending provisions. Those would be a welcomed relief.

Don't think of ideas as idle speculations. The seeds of our Republic were planted long before our Forefathers took up the idea. We might be planting the seeds of tomorrow.

[backtothestreets]

Yes, we could build much of the city underground. Building such a city would create new technologies for cities that would have nations around the world seeking our solutions and further enhancing our economy.

Though I likely won't see it, I'd believe someday something along these lines of thought will be done.

[KingofQue]

You've got my vote and we don't need them to nuke DC to do it.