Friday Fun Stuff--Let's all Duck and Cover!

This past week has been particularly violent. President Bush announced his surge plan to send even more young Americans into the Iraq meat grinder. The U.S. sent an AC-130 gunship into Somalia to attack suspected al Qaeda targets. The U.S. initiated another raid against an Iranian consulate in northern Iraq. The war in Iraq and Afghanistan continues on. And finally, a Greek terrorist group attacked the U.S. embassy in Athens. After a week like this, we should probably take some advice from Bert the Turtle:

There was a turtle by the name of Bert
and Bert the turtle was very alert;
when danger threatened him he never got hurt
he knew just what to do...
He ducked! [inhalation sound]
And covered!
Ducked! [inhalation sound]
And covered! (male) He did what we all must learn to do'
(male) You (female) And you (male) And you (male) And you!'
[bang, inhalation sound] Duck, and cover!'

That's right--Duck, and Cover! According to Wikipedia:

Duck and Cover was a short educational film produced in 1951 by the United States federal government's Civil Defense branch shortly after the Soviet Union began nuclear testing. Written by Raymond J. Mauer and directed by Anthony Rizzo of Archer Productions and made with the help of schoolchildren from New York City and Astoria, New York, it was shown in schools as the cornerstone of the government's "duck and cover" public awareness campaign. The movie states that nuclear war could happen at any time without warning, and for U.S. citizens to keep this constantly in mind and be ever ready.

Of course, there was a problem with this little film--duck and cover will probably not protect you in the event of a nuclear blast. Also in a Wikipedia article regarding the assessment of duck and cover public awareness campaign:

The advice to "duck and cover" holds well in many situations where structural destabilization or debris may be expected such as during earthquakes or tornados. At a sufficient distance from a nuclear explosion, the shock wave would produce similar results and ducking and covering would perhaps prove adequate. However within a certain radius (depending on its height and yield), ducking and covering would do little to protect against the intense heat and radiation following a nuclear explosion.

The exercises of civil defense are now seen as having less practical use than political or cultural use: to keep the danger of nuclear war high on the public mind, while also assuring the American people that something could be done to defend against nuclear attack. The duck and cover exercises remain a unique part of the American Red Scare culture, as neither Soviet people or Western Europeans during the Cold War, nor citizens of North Korea today had anything even remotely similar (though all did have other sorts of civil defense education).

Elementary school children on military installations during the Cuban Missile Crisis confused fire drills with "duck and cover" drills and hid under desks and bathroom fixtures instead of exiting school buildings.

[....]

Some critics have drawn comparisons with the "duct tape alert" issued by the Department of Homeland Security in 2003, advising citizens to prepare to seal a room of their house with duct tape (including, ironically, the ventilation shafts and windows, which can lead to carbon dioxide poisoning and suffocation) to protect from terrorist attacks.

You've got to love the propaganda here! While the world is going to pop, we should just seal our houses with duck tape, then duck and cover, and kiss our arse goodbye! What is a better way to start a Friday?

So I found this wonderful little short film, Duck and Cover, through YouTube. And just as the American public was told by our government to live with the constant fears of a potential nuclear war against Red Commie Russia and China, America today is being told by this Bush government to live with the constant fears of global terrorism against al Qaeda, or even a nuclear Iran. It is amazing how history repeats itself.

So, I present to you, for your safety and security needs, that wonderful film Duck and Cover! From YouTube:



Don't forget to kiss your arse goodbye!