Admittedly, itīs a detour from the main subject - but the American penchant for worst case scenarios manifests itself in odd ways:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Designated_survivor
This years designated survivor in case of an catastrophic event during the state of the union adress was none other than .. (drum roll)
Tom Vilsack! The Secretary of Agriculture would have to take the burden to lead the nation should every other successor-in-line to the presidency be killed. Then he would have to read up on all this gruesome radiation business - assuming it was our favorite catastrophic event that took place.
Maybe itīs just because itīs late, but I find that kinda funny.