Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Apocalypse Now Pending

Wasn't this the plot of some crappy teenflick in the early 80s? I thought it was...

Pentagon Revises Nuclear Strike Plan
Strategy Includes Preemptive Use Against Banned Weapons

By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 11, 2005; Page A01

The Pentagon has drafted a revised doctrine for the use of nuclear weapons that envisions commanders requesting presidential approval to use them to preempt an attack by a nation or a terrorist group using weapons of mass destruction. The draft also includes the option of using nuclear arms to destroy known enemy stockpiles of nuclear, biological or chemical weapons.

The document, written by the Pentagon's Joint Chiefs staff but not yet finally approved by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, would update rules and procedures governing use of nuclear weapons to reflect a preemption strategy first announced by the Bush White House in December 2002. The strategy was outlined in more detail at the time in classified national security directives.

At a White House briefing that year, a spokesman said the United States would "respond with overwhelming force" to the use of weapons of mass destruction against the United States, its forces or allies, and said "all options" would be available to the president.


Read the rest here.

11 comments:

katherine said...

War Games is the crappy teen flick I believe you're referring to. Although when I was 13, it was a good movie. Come on, Matthew Broderick was in it! ; )

So, I'm thinking maybe I should have something more relevant to say ... but I don't. 80s crappy teen flick triva is the best I've got at the moment.

Anonymous said...

War Games is the crappy teen flick I believe you're referring to. Although when I was 13, it was a good movie.

Do I dare admit it's in my collection?...

Come on, Matthew Broderick was in it! ; )

I think so far my favourite work with him in it is probably Biloxi Blues. He's also extremely amusing in the underappreciated The Road to Wellville, where his antics over the deaths of a sanitorium guest and worker provoke the funniest line in the movie: "Will, please don't become hysterical: it's terribly American and rather vulgar."

katherine said...

Do I dare admit it's in my collection?...

No harm, no foul. In fact, maybe admirable!

He's also extremely amusing in the underappreciated The Road to Wellville, where his antics over the deaths of a sanitorium guest and worker provoke the funniest line in the movie: "Will, please don't become hysterical: it's terribly American and rather vulgar."

Interesting, yet somehow expected that you'd think that's the funniest line. ; ) Surprising (to me), I seemed to make it fairly far along in life without wondering how other countries view Americans. Must have been my American upbringing. ; )

Back to Matthew Broderick ... I liked Biloxi Blues and The Road to Wellville. But I associate him best with Ferris Bueller's Day Off. And, I must admit I was disappointed when he married Sarah Jessica Parker. How could he do that to me?! ; )

Anonymous said...

Interesting, yet somehow expected that you'd think that's the funniest line. ; ) Surprising (to me), I seemed to make it fairly far along in life without wondering how other countries view Americans. Must have been my American upbringing. ; )

I think it's funny because it operates on so many levels. There's the one you mention, which is the shock of having one's own ordinary behaviour criticized by an outsider, and suddenly becoming aware of it. There's also the slapstick humour of the two men having died as a result of some quack medicinal aperatus designed to mildly shock the genitals in a tub of water -- a sitution comical itself for so many reasons. And finally, there's the ironic reflection back on the Englishman's take on the situation... Will reacts appropriately, with shock, horror, and revulsion, whereas the English guest's reactions are constrained by his upbringing to a much more attenuated range. In this light, it's really more a comment on the odd emotional life of the English upper class than the American middle class for whom Will stands as the representative.

But I associate him best with Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

You know, I still have never seen that movie all the way through. I've seen bits and pieces of it, enough to know what it's about, but I've never sat through the whole thing.

katherine said...

You know, I still have never seen that movie all the way through. I've seen bits and pieces of it, enough to know what it's about, but I've never sat through the whole thing.

There are a few movies like that for me, the first to my mind is Risky Business ... I just can't seem to make it all the way through it. I think I get bored at some point and stop paying attention.

katherine said...

Weird how I started the digression of this post ... reduced a serious post to a lesser topic about 80s movies. Apologies.

Anonymous said...

Weird how I started the digression of this post ... reduced a serious post to a lesser topic about 80s movies. Apologies.

Nah, I did post the comment with a rather facetious preamble. Follow wherever the millenium takes you. :)

Polt said...

While we're tangenting about Matthew Broderick....

He was best in Ferris Bueller...that one STILL makes me laugh out loud even though I've seen it a gazillion times.

Also, though he was great in Election. Really subtle, dry dark-ish humor.

Anonymous said...

Also, though he was great in Election. Really subtle, dry dark-ish humor.

That one has completely flown under my radar. What's the gist?

katherine said...

I haven't seen it either ... but I just watched the trailer here

Anonymous said...

I read the synopsis... not what I expected but it sounds like it would be worth catching all the same.