Not a new thing. The company I work for (British) has a similar policy. We generally ignore it and go anyway.
No surprise, coming from a man who can't even pronounce 'nuclear' correctly. But I guess I've no right to misunderestimate him, really. *giggles*
I'm certainly not one to defend Dubya, but Jimmy Carter pronounced "nuclear" the same way, and he was a nuclear engineer before he entered politics.... There are plenty of real examples of Bush's stupidity to hammer on, without getting into what may just be a regional accent issue.
I didn't hear Jimmy say it that way. I'm jussa a young'un, you'll hafta 'member. Well, I still say shame on them. *smirks* Nuclear is pronounced Nuclear, and Nucular is pronounced Nucular. :X And if I say it wrong they can rat on me all they want.