Fat Man and Little Boy

On August 6 and August 9, 1945, at Truman's order, the United States dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively.

As many as two-hundred and forty-six thousand people died as a result: soldiers, civilians, men, women, children and little babies.

It's one thing to grow up knowing this happened -- that it effectively ended the World War II; to bubble in the right answers about it on the history tests...but to really think about it...

How can I offer any comment?

During the Korean War (in which our soldiers were equipped with battered and rusty rifles from the previous war), General MacArthur proposed dropping nuclear bombs on North Korea in order to end the spread of Communism and to achieve the objective of the campaign. He was removed from command by Truman.

Why?

I never have trouble sleeping, but when naked, bone-melting horror presents itself, the nights are very long.

"The world is beautiful, but has a disease called man." ~ Nietzche

My Country 'Tis of Me?

For the life of me, I can't wrap my head around why someone would want to be the President of the United States. I mean, what's the motivation?

What do you get out of it? Money? Nah, there are ways to make a much better living. Must be the power. That is, of course, if you are hungry for that sort of thing. You get to be, arguably, the most powerful person in the world. So that's something. But the responsibility that comes with that is unfathomable.

Knowing about that responsibility, which you would, unless you are a complete idiot -- in which case you would not be [here come the George Bush jokes] in the running for President -- don't you have to be something of a narcissist to accept the nomination? Imagine that moment when a person says to himself: "Yeah, I can do that. I can take a job that George Washington and Abe Lincoln did." Isn't it intrinsically egotistical to think you can fill such shoes?