Shooting Snoopers

Hey man, nice shot.

But, do you really believe that concerns about the fatal consequences of human exposure to thawed hydrazine fuel is what drove U.S. President George Bush to authorize his navy to shoot down a crippled American spy satellite, and in the middle of Wednesday’s lunar eclipse to boot?

Come on. The real reason the President had the fair chunk of the Navy and civilian contractors hard at work during the past few weeks re-tasking the missile was quite simple and totally in character.

He simply wanted to poke China in the eye. Show ‘em there’s a bit of cowboy under that giant hat. That if they could shoot down a satellite he could too. 

Of course the Chinese hit a target 600 miles above the earth... what the U.S. did Wednesday night was a lob-wedge sot compared to that.  

None the less the missile shot was great news to the silent minority of Americans who worry that the U.S. doesn’t spend nearly enough money on its defense budget. That at half a trillion dollars a year doesn’t buy what it used to.

It was great news as well to defense contractors. Fear of China will mean a huge expansion of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. The first stage of which is already taking place on Guam.  

One of those contractors, Lockheed Martin, was full of itself on Thursday because it make the MK41 missile launcher, used Wednesday,at its Middle River, Maryland plant. The company has sold the Navy its launchers since 1984. Today it also sells them to 11 foreign governments.

The reason for the shoot down was that the spy satellite fatally malfunctioned from just the about the first moment it entered earth orbit.

Of course, that's something Lockheed doesn't want to talk about. 

You see, it built the satellite.

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