This Carbon Based Life

By David Glenn Cox

Well, at least now we know why the Great Dictator wants to thin the herd at the Pentagon. They disagree with him and won’t follow his orders without question. But this one is easy to figure out. Republicans love boondoggles which never pan out. Taking money from hungry children, schools and the poor and squandering it on Military whiz bangs.

It was during the Kennedy Administration when the idea first arose of anti-missile missiles. Wiser heads prevailed. If we built anti-missile missiles. Then the Russians would build Anti-anti-missile missiles. It was negotiated with the Russians not to build any such systems. It would ignite a wasteful arms race to protect at great cost something which already had deterrent enough built in for free. Guaranteed Nuclear annihilation was found to be deterrent enough.

But back in the heady days of Ronny Raygun, money was like water, and they couldn’t spend it fast enough. My father worked as a Senior project engineer at the University of Tennessee Space Institute. The facility was built at great expense to research coal gasification aka, “Clean coal.”  And their research was successful. Clean coal was possible but was prohibitively expensive. Back in the day the coal lobby was still pretty strong.

The Raygun Administration had this great idea. While watching George Lucas one night, it occurred to some of the lesser minds. We could build a space-based weapons system and all our fears of a surprise nuclear attack could be put to bed. This was still in the dawn of computers and technology and James Bond movies, when naïve optimism thought anything was possible. Cooler heads in the Pentagon warned it could ignite an arms race.

Then one day, at the UT Space Institute they held a big meeting, and the big boss called all the engineers together. Gentleman, I have a proposal here from the Defense Department. What are the possibilities of using coal to power a space-based laser weapon? (Stifled laughter around the table) One by one, the engineers around the table listed the practical reasons off the top of their heads, why coal wasn’t a practical solution but was an outrageously stupid one.

The big boss continued, Gentlemen, it’s not our job to tell them it’s stupid idea. It’s our job to take the money, do the research and THEN tell them it’s a stupid idea. So, for several months they studied the possibility of hauling tons of coal into outer space to power a “Star War’s” missile defense system. Eventually, all the plans were abandoned. It was only a pipe dream of an aging autocrat excited by the prospect of a new toy.

Twas money which eventually killed the beast. I sort of remember the figure of a 100 billion in 1980s dollars being tossed around. Now, the Great Dictator wants to build a big beautiful Golden Dome missile defense system for $275 billion dollars. Now, what do we know about Defense Department programs? If they say it will cost $275 billion what is the actual figure prone to look like? Israel has a Golden Dome missile defense, why can we?

Israel is a tiny, tiny little country. And no one has tested the Golden Dome against intercontinental nuclear tipped ballistic missiles. Currently, the US has a nuclear triad consisting of missiles, bombers and submarines. Any missile pointed in this direction would bring about swift and overwhelming nuclear retaliation. So far, the system, crude as it is, has worked well.

So, the true goal of the system is to gain nuclear superiority over our adversaries. (Would the Great Dictator lie to us?) Forcing them to build their own Golden Dome. Forcing us to build a super-duper Golden Dome. It is just another folly from a criminal Administration in love with dumb ideas. Contractors will take the money, do the research and Then report back, it’s a dumb idea. Funny how fiscal conservatives are neither fiscal nor conservative.

But also in the news, is the effort underway to reclamate and regenerate the image of the disgraced Elon Musk. I made my weekly sojourn to Facebook to see what I could see. Lo and behold; paid article after paid article from nothing websites telling us what a great guy Elon Musk is.

In one literary fraud, supposedly a young Black man changed Elon’s flat tire because Elon is incapable of helping himself and needs the help of random minority youth. A show of hands. Who thinks Elon actually drives himself anywhere? Who thinks Elon doesn’t have the number to AAA? Who thinks Elon drives around by himself without a chauffeur and security? But in this fairy tale, Elon was so impressed by the young man’s Goober Pyle automotive skills and aptitudes. Elon gave him a new Tesla. Because Elon is a great guy! A college education might have been a nicer gift. But Elon had the imaginary Tesla just hanging around to donate to this noble, imaginary African American.

In another fraud, Elon lived in one of his own tiny homes. Because Elon’s a great guy who cares about the environment. Never mind Elon built an 11-million-dollar breeding compound in Texas for his baby mama’s and defective spawn to reside. See, he’s a great guy! Dickheads put their pants on one leg at a time, just like everyone else.

Next in the fraud parade, Elon’s evil mother has a terminal disease and Elon is doing everything an evil bastard son could do to save her. He’s a good boy, and he loves his mama. Then Facebook asked me if I was interested in this article. I answered “No” and Facebook assured me, I would see less of this kind of content in future. Right below that article was another paid Elon’s a real great guy article. Not only were the articles a fraud, but so was Facebook’s promise to show me less of them.

Why do good things in the world when you can hire people to just say you do good things? Then open your wallet to publish golden book lies and frauds. Come on, buy a Tesla. Elon’s a great guy! It illustrates the degeneration of Facebook from Social media to Winston Smith’s propaganda Follies. Facebook will let you say anything, if you pay them enough. And clearly, Elon is paying them enough. So, if you read on Facebook where the sun is shining. Go find a window and look for yourself. Like a prostitute, Facebook will have intercourse with anyone.

The Great Dictator tells you his Golden Dome is for self-defense, when only the opposite is true. Facebook tells you Elon is a great guy, when only the opposite is true. They teach you in school how we have a Free Press in this country, when only the opposite is true.

“The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.”
― Groucho Marx