RED STORM RISING [ RACKETEER INFLUENCED AND CORRUPT ORGANIZATIONS US Title 18 ]
Tom Clancy
PRINTING HISTORY
G.P. Putnam's Sons hardcover edition / August 1986
Berkley mass-market edition / August 1987
Page 20
"Comrade, your experience in foreign and defense areas is slim, no?" the Defense Minister asked.
"I have never pretended otherwise, Comrade Minister." Sergetov answered warily.
"Then I will tell you why this situation is unacceptable. If we do what you suggest, the West will learn of our crisis. Increased purchases of oil production equipment and unconcealable signs of activity at Nizhnevartovsk will demonstrate to them all too clearly what is happening here. That will make us vulnerable in their eyes. Such vulnerability will be exploited. And, at the same time" - he pounded his fist on the heavy oak table - "you propose reducing the fuel available to the forces who defend us against the West!"
"Comrade Defense Minister, I am an engineer, not a soldier. You asked me for a technical evaluation, and I gave it." Sergetov kept his voice reasonable. "This situation is very serious, but it does not, for example, affect the Strategic Rocket Forces. Cannot they alone shield us against the Imperialists during our recovery period?" Why else had they been built? Sergetov asked himself. All that money sunk into unproductive holes. Wasn't it enough to be able to kill the West ten times over? Why twenty times? And now this wasn't enough?
"And has it not occurred to you that the West will not allow us to purchase what we need?" the Party theoretician asked.
"When have the capitalists refused to sell us -"
"When have the capitalists had such a weapon to use against us?" the General Secretary observed. "For the first time, the West has the ability to strangle us in a single year. What if now they also prevent our purchase of grain?"
Sergetov hadn't considered that. With yet another disappointing grain harvest, the seventh out of the last eleven years, the Soviet Union needed to make massive purchases of wheat. And this year America and Canada were the only reliable sources. Bad weather in the Southern Hemisphere had damaged Argentina's harvest, and to a lesser extent Australia's, while the U.S. and Canada had enjoyed their customary record crops. Negotiations were even now under way in Washington and Ottawa to secure such a purchase, and the Americans were making no trouble at all, except that the high value of the dollar made their grain disproportionately expensive. But that grain would take months to ship. How easy would it be, Sergetov wondered, for "technical difficulties" in the grain ports of New Orleans and Baltimore to slow or even stop shipments entirely at a crucial moment?
He looked around the table. Twenty-two men, of whom only thirteen really decided matters - and one of those was missing - were silently contemplating the prospect of over two hundred fifty million Soviet workers and peasants, all hungry and in the dark, at the same time that the troops of the Red Army, the Ministry of the Interior, and the KGB found their own fuel supplies - and because of it, their training and mobility - restricted.
The men of the Politburo were among the most powerful in the world, far more so than any of their Western counterparts. They answered to no one, not the Central Committee of the Communist Party, not the Supreme Soviet, certainly not the people of their nation.
http://www.divxmoviesenglishsubtitles.com/J/Jacobs_ladder_CD1.html
Jacobs ladder [ RACKETEER INFLUENCED AND CORRUPT ORGANIZATIONS US Title 18 ]
Watch the head.
Move it!
Don't think we got a fucking chance down here.
Declare an emergency. Over.
You're a lucky guy, Jake.
You must have friends in high places.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099871/releaseinfo
IMDb
The Internet Movie Database
Release dates for
Jacob's Ladder (1990)
Country Date
USA 2 November 1990
UK 27 September 1991
http://my.excite.com/tv/prog.jsp?id=EP000186930032&sid=30240&sn=KZJODT&st=201108192030&cn=110
excite
The Simpsons (Repeat)
110 KZJODT: Friday, August 19 8:30 PM
Sitcom, Animated
Homer Defined
Homer saves Springfield from a nuclear meltdown.
Cast: Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Harry Shearer, Hank Azaria Executive Producer(s): James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, David Mirkin
Original Air Date: Oct 17, 1991
http://www.snpp.com/episodes/8F04.html
Homer Defined
Marge: [praying] Dear Lord. If you spare this town from becoming a smoking hole in the ground, I'll try to be a better Christian. I don't know what I can do... Mm... Oh, the next time there's a canned food drive, I'll give the poor something they'd actually like, instead of old lima beans and pumpkin mix.
http://www.divxtitles.com/subtitles/95966/English/Simpsons_Serijal_3/5
Simpsons 03x05 - Homer Defined
226
00:08:56,939 --> 00:08:58,270
These unfortunate people...
227
00:08:58,340 --> 00:08:59,739
will be instantly killed.
228
00:08:59,809 --> 00:09:02,334
This circle, which I am
sad to say we are in...
229
00:09:02,411 --> 00:09:05,744
will experience a slower,
considerably more painful death.
230
00:09:05,815 --> 00:09:07,442
Good Lord!
231
00:09:07,516 --> 00:09:11,452
[ Skinner] They called me old-fashioned
for teaching ''duck and cover''...
232
00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:12,782
but who's laughing now?
233
00:09:12,855 --> 00:09:14,982
1 5 seconds to core meltdown.
234
00:09:15,057 --> 00:09:16,786
Eeny, meeny, miney, moe.
235
00:09:16,859 --> 00:09:18,793
Catch a tiger by the toe.
From 3/15/1941 ( premiere United Kingdom film "Fingers" ) To 10/17/1991 ( premiere US TV series episode "The Simpsons"::"Homer Defined" ) is 18478 days
18478 = 9239 + 9239
From 11/2/1965 ( date hijacked from me:my birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA and my birthdate as the known official Deputy United States Marshal Kerry Wayne Burgess and active duty United States Marine Corps officer ) To 2/18/1991 ( the Bill Gates-Microsoft-Nazi-George Bush attack against the US Navy warship USS Princeton CG 59 as another attempt to murder Tom Reagan the US Navy SEAL and me the known official United States Deputy Marshal and United States Marine Corps Warrant Officer 1 Kerry Burgess as we both served the US Navy presence in the Persian Gulf again at the same time ) is 9239 days
From 7/1/1966 ( Patrick McEnroe ) To 10/17/1991 ( premiere US TV series episode "The Simpsons"::"Homer Defined" ) is 9239 days
From 11/2/1965 ( date hijacked from me:my birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA and my birthdate as the known official Deputy United States Marshal Kerry Wayne Burgess and active duty United States Marine Corps officer ) To 2/18/1991 ( the Bill Gates-Microsoft-Nazi-George Bush attack against the US Navy warship USS Princeton CG 59 as another attempt to murder Tom Reagan the US Navy SEAL and me the known official United States Deputy Marshal and United States Marine Corps Warrant Officer 1 Kerry Burgess as we both served the US Navy presence in the Persian Gulf again at the same time ) is 9239 days
From 7/4/1939 ( the last public speech by Lou Gehrig ) To 10/17/1991 ( premiere US TV series episode "The Simpsons"::"Homer Defined" ) is 19098 days
19098 = 9549 + 9549
From 11/2/1965 ( date hijacked from me:my birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA and my birthdate as the known official Deputy United States Marshal Kerry Wayne Burgess and active duty United States Marine Corps officer ) To 12/25/1991 ( as United States Marine Corps Warrant Officer 1 Kerry Wayne Burgess I was prisoner of war in Croatia ) is 9549 days
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0701110/releaseinfo
IMDb
The Internet Movie Database
Release dates for
"The Simpsons"
Homer Defined (1991)
Country Date
USA 17 October 1991
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0701110
IMDb
The Internet Movie Database
The Simpsons (TV series 1989– )
Homer Defined (#3.5)
Homer prevents a nuclear meltdown,purely by picking a button to press at random, but he is declared a hero and asked to give a talk on plant safety. During the talk he is called upon to prevent another meltdown and exposed as a lucky chancer who only averted an accident by mistake. Marge goes to see Millhouse's mother who has barred her son from seeing Bart,whom she regards as a bad influence,and persuades her to change her mind.
Release Date: 17 October 1991 (USA)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032469/releaseinfo
IMDb
The Internet Movie Database
Release dates for
Fingers (1941)
Country Date
UK 15 March 1941
http://www.snpp.com/episodes/8F04.html
Homer Defined
Marge sits on the couch knitting and watching a smarmy soap with Maggie. But the show is interrupted by a special news bulletin...
Announcer: We interrupt `Search for the Sun' for this special news bulletin. Meltdown Crisis: The First Couple of Minutes.
Brockman: [surrounded by comb and hair dryer] Forget the hair, just give me the blush! [realizes the cameras are on him] Oh, we're on.
-- Ready for anything, ``Homer Defined''
They have Monty Burns on the phone, as a picture of a badly-toupee'd Monty is shown on the screen.
Kent: On the line with us now is plant owner C. Montgomery Burns. Mr. Burns?
Burns: Oh, hello, Kent. [as loud rhythmic buzzing continues in the background] Right now, skilled nuclear energy technicians are calmly correcting a minor, piffling malfunction. [rapid-fire shots of havoc in the plant] But I can assure you and the public that there is absolutely no danger whatsoever. [air raid siren wails] Things couldn't be more ship-shape. [cut to Burns' office, where he is busy donning a radiation suit]
Smithers: Sir, where is radiation suit?
Burns: How the hell should I know? [covers the name `Smithers' on the suit he is wearing]
Kent: Uh, Mr. Burns, people are calling this a meltdown.
Burns: [laughs] Oh, meltdown. It's one of those annoying buzzwords. We prefer to call it an unrequested fission surplus.
-- Obfuscatory sesquipedalianism, ``Homer Defined''
Marge hopes that Homer is all right. In the safety control room...
Homer: [panicking, as warning sirens wail] Gotta think, gotta think... Okay, somewhere there's a thingie that tells you how to work this stuff. The uh, the uh, the manual! The manual! Right! [hunts under the console] [finds it] Agh! It's as fat as a phone book! [opens to first page] [reads] `Congratulations on your purchase of a Fissionator 1952 Slow-Fission Reactor'... D'oh! Get to the point, man! [finds an insert] Ooh, what's this? [unfolds it, it's a giant schematic] D'oh! Who'd have thought a nuclear reactor would be so complicated!
-- Everything is under control, sort of, ``Homer Defined''
Voice: [cheerfully] Ninety seconds to core meltdown.
Smithers: Sir, there may be never be another time to say... I love you, sir.
Burn: [disgusted] Oh, hot dog. Thank you for making my last few moment on earth socially awkward.
-- The moment of truth, ``Homer Defined''
At Moe's Tavern...
Moe: Looks like this is the end...
Barney: Oh, that's all right. I couldn'ta led a richer life.
-- Core meltdown is imminent, ``Homer Defined''
At the Retirement Castle, Abe, Jasper, and a woman watch TV...
Kent: After the meltdown, we can expect roving bands of...
Abe: Ah, I don't like this program.
Jasper: Change the channel.
[woman does so]
TV: Wheel! Of! Fortune!!
-- Dame Fortune smiles, ``Homer Defined''
Meanwhile, Homer complains that he doesn't understand . ``When they look up `stupid' in the dictionary, there'll be a picture of me.'' He then dreams of exactly that. At home...
Marge: [praying] Dear Lord. If you spare this town from becoming a smoking hole in the ground, I'll try to be a better Christian. I don't know what I can do... Mm... Oh, the next time there's a canned food drive, I'll give the poor something they'd actually like, instead of old lima beans and pumpkin mix.
-- Throw in a coupla Hail Mary's and we might have a deal, ``Homer Defined''
Homer realizes it's all up to him, and tries to think back to his training...
Homer: Okay okay, think back to your training...
[begin flashback]
Trainer: Now, Homer, this may very well save your life one day. This... Homer?
Homer: [playing with a Rubik's cube] Yeah?
Trainer: Please pay attention. This button here controls the emergency override circuit. In the event of a meltdown, push this button and only this button.
Homer: [completing a side of the cube] Ooh, a side!
Trainer: Simpson!
Homer: What?
Trainer: You see which button I'm pushing?
Homer: [not looking] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Push the button. Got it.
http://www.snpp.com/episodes/8F04.html
Homer Defined
Voice: All systems returning to normal. Danger in 7-G neutralized. Have a nice day.
-- It's been a pleasure serving you, ``Homer Defined''
Homer sees himself in the dictionary under `Lucky'. The workers rejoice.
Man: [emerges from closet, fixing his tie]
Woman: Will I ever see you again?
Man: Sure, baby. Next meltdown.
-- ``Homer Defined''
Abe et al are still watching Wheel of Fortune...
TV: I'd like to solve the puzzle. `Three Loins in the Fountain'. [buzz]
-- Wheel of Misfortune, ``Homer Defined''
Marge watches the news report...
Burns: [voice only] Yes, we've isolated the problem. Wouldn't you know, false alarm.
Marge: Phew!
Burns: It seems a single wayward crow flew into our warning system.
Kent: Very good. Well, sir, your point about nuclear hysteria is well-taken. This reporter promises to be more trusting and less vigilant in the future.
Burns: [in his office, still wearing his radiation suit] Excellent. Well, ta!
-- Hardly a post-apocalyptic war zone, ``Homer Defined''
Burns asks Smithers to bring him a wine spritzer, and notes that he's going to award Homer the Employee of the Month award. Smithers drops the bottle.
Meanwhile, at lunch, Bart pulls the ol' loose-top-on-the-salt-shaker trick on Milhouse, to get back at him for not inviting him to his birthday party.
Milhouse: Bart, my mom won't let me be your friend any more. That's why you couldn't come to the party.
Bart: What's she got against me?
Milhouse: She says you're a bad influence.
Bart: [slams his hand on the table] Bad influence, my ass! How many times have I told you? Never listen to your mother!
-- What he said, ``Homer Defined''
Mrs. Van Houten threatened to cut off Milhouse's allowance, and Bart offers to pay him double it. But Milhouse doesn't accept.
Meanwhile, Smithers tries to convince Burns that he deserves the EotM award, but Burns' mind is made up. In the cafeteria...
Karl: Hey, way to save our lives!
Len: Yeah, we owe you one!
Homer: Yeah, you know, boys, a nuclear reactor is a lot like a woman. You just have to read the manual and press the right buttons.
-- ``Homer Defined''
Burns arrives and simply says to Homer, ``Come with me.''
As the audience chants, ``Homer! Homer!'', he is given the EotM award, receiving a ham, a plaque, and discount coupon book from a voluptuous woman, a thumbs-up from Burns, and his picture (the old one, back when Homer had some hair) added to the `Wall of Fame', which we see consists otherwise entirely of photos of Smithers. And...
Burns: Oh, and what's this? A congratulatory phone call from Earvin `Magic' Johnson?
Homer: [gasps] Magic Johnson!? [picks up the phone] Yello?
Magic: [calling from the arena] Is this really Homer Simpson?
Homer: Yeah.
Magic: Wow. Homer, I just used our last time-out to call and congratulate you on averting that nuclear holocaust.
-- On his way to Disneyland, ``Homer Defined''
Homer asks, ``What if people think a guy's a hero, but he was really just lucky.'' Magic replies, ``Don't worry. Sooner or later, people like that are exposed as the frauds they are.'' Homer is glum.
The kids watch an Itchy and Scratchy cartoon, but only Lisa laughs.
Lisa: [laughing at an Itchy and Scratchy cartoon] Bart, you're not laughing. Too subtle?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1939
Wikipedia
1939
July 4
Lou Gehrig gives his last public speech, following a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In it, he says, "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth."
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/07/04/july-4-13-als-lou-gehrig-and-me/
Fox News
July 4, 1939 -- ALS, Lou Gehrig and Me
By Fay Vincent
Published July 04, 2011 | FoxNews.com
On July 4, 1939, at Yankee Stadium, before a full house, Lou Gehrig stood in front of a microphone and announced he was “the luckiest man alive.” His somber teammates were lined up behind their captain and stellar first baseman. One of them, Tommy Henrich told me Gehrig had not planned to speak but changed his mind and broke the hearts of all who heard him. Henrich never forgot seeing Babe Ruth crying openly when he came over to hug Lou after the brief talk.
Just a few months earlier Gehrig had been forced to break his remarkable record of consecutive games when his powerful frame began to fail. His speech is still well known as the defining act of a remarkable baseball legend. Gehrig’s talk was emotional because everyone knew he was seriously ill—fans were told he had a form of “polio”-- and though his disease was then not as well understood as it is today, the public and his teammates knew he was not ever going to play again.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0608/gallery.farewells/content.3.html
SI.com
Memorable Farewells
Lou Gehrig
July 4, 1939
The Yankees celebrated one of their most famous players by making Gehrig's No. 4 the first retired number in baseball history. Then, in one of the most memorable scenes in sports history, a teary-eyed Gehrig said to the Yankees faithful, "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth."
