One hundred twelve.
The standard explosive payload for a conventional Tomahawk missile is one thousand pounds.
That's one hundred twelve thousand pounds - or sixty inhuman tons - of death from the sky.
Humor yourself, if you will, and imagine throwing one 1/2 pound incendiary at the side of a local police station which houses but a single bad cop. The outcome of that act is certain. If caught, you will spend anywhere from a year of your life to the rest of its natural duration in the custody of the state, depending upon the charge(s). Given the current political climate, I'd wager on a terrorism charge. Killing or harming no one, causing no damage, you can and will be charged with a major felony, during the trial of which you will bankrupt yourself to put together a legal defense, have your reputation sullied, your family disavow you and any number of your friends and coworkers prove how little their loyalties are worth. At the conclusion of the affair, you will lose your freedom, and much more, and the machine will grind on without you.
Now, lose all sense of humor, human sympathy and satisfaction and imagine the speaker's fees Barack Obama, Nicholas Sarkozy and David Cameron will command after they finish their terms of office...
*
Heads up: John Caruso took on the same subject five hours before I wrote this. Wish I'd read his first.
3 comments:
I've been freaking out a bit. Sort of like how the world turns to shit sometimes bit by bit, and you notice it, but you are still acclimating to it because of the slow pace. And then you ask yourself, what if 11 years ago someone had told you that we'd be occupying Iraq, Afghanistan, bombing Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan and Libya, and quietly supporting our allies in Saudi Arabia kill a bunch of people in Bahrain. And all of this spearheaded by a Nobel Peace Prize winner. Its just an insane reality, beyond fucked up. Like a nightmare that doesn't make any sense but is just horrible. I feel a bit over the edge, almost like I'm in shock without having any feeling of surprise. Anyone else on this page?
Good job Jack. If the Colonel is a murderous madman, so is (fill in the blank). If the Libyans being bombed are freedom fighters so are (you pick).
Justin, I am in the same book, if not the exact page. The loss of language, the incessant expression of the palpably false as true and the general acceptance of the false together with the shitstorms that result leave me a bit over the edge, So was one of Chris Floyd's commenters the other day.
And don't forget the war on (some) drugs in Mexico and Columbia and the war on (some) terror, right here.
i hate der guegle's blegher. It killed my first reply to you both
I'm hungry and I've gotta piss, so more briefly this round:
Justin,
In attempting to explain to my youngest (who was born not long before 9/11) that this world isn't normal, I failed, because it is. It's the only world he's known. Both my kids lack any memory of a world where the leaders of superpowers squirreled away their war crimes, shamefully. Whereas Reagan had to lie and lie and lie about Iran-Contra and his minor naked aggressions, because even he knew they were wrong, now Obama can just toss around platitudes before he orders sky death, secure in the knowledge that no one can do anything about it.
drip,
Truth, about language. And yet, do you really know anyone who believes in the jingo and Jeebus excuses anymore? I see only people doing the hard sell to themselves and others because they've lost their naivete and faith, and want it back...
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