A big Bang-or

[bluegargantua]

Huh,

So there was this neo-nazi millionaire in Belfast, Maine. He was building a dirty bomb to set off at Obama's inauguration. And when I say, building a dirty bomb, he apparently had a fair amount of actual radioactive materials (uranium and thorium). Not enough to actually irradiate the Washington Mall, but the psychosomatic shock would probably jam hospitals with thousands of terrified bystanders convinced they'd been radioactively poisoned. Oh, and any bomb detonated in a jam-packed area like that is going to be pretty lethal.

So yeah, this guy is working on it. The only reason we know he was working on it was because his wife shot him. Oh, the other reason we know about it is because of some leaked documents and the journalistic integrity of the Bangor Daily News.

You can read more about it here.

Cripes. That chimp story was running 24/7 for a week, but I didn't hear about this until just now? Nice.

The article states that the wife hasn't been charged yet. Frankly, if her husband was building a dirty bomb, I'd give her a Medal of Freedom and call it even.

later
Tom

Comments

Domestic violence shooting

[drwex]

Doesn't read like she shot him to prevent him making the bomb. Seems like she just got fed up with being abused and shot him. Which makes her both troubled and a strange kind of brave, I think.

Re: Domestic violence shooting

[bluegargantua]

So maybe don't give her the medal and just let her off with a stern warning?

later
Tom

Re: Domestic violence shooting

[avivasedai.livejournal.com]

I tried to think of a way to make a warning funny, but it comes out pretty flat, harsh, and really not funny. Would it be warning her about potential terrorists or potential abusers? Or perhaps warning against killing one's partner while one's child is at home?

Still, it sounds like she did society and the gene pool a favor.

Re: Domestic violence shooting

[bluegargantua]

I might say "Shooting your husband, before you know for certain that he's building a dirty bomb is wrong, even if he is an abusive fuck. So, no Medal of Freedom for you, sadly, but we're not pressing charges. Please try not to marry another jackass".

later
Tom

[mikecap.livejournal.com]

It won't be long before someone makes a UAV with a dirty bomb on it. There's a lot of crazy fucks out there.

[mikecap.livejournal.com]

And yes, holy shit, thank you for spreading the word about this. Fuck the media.

[z-gryphon.livejournal.com]

See, now, I take pretty much the opposite view vis-à-vis the level of exposure here. The "dirty bomb" keyphrase has given this case a hype level it doesn't really deserve, IMO. This guy was not a supervillain; he was a Random Nutbar who had apparently watched too much (which is to say any) 24. The only difference between this and the "OMG SHAMPOO BOMBERS" thing from England a few years ago is that this guy may actually have had some parts for his bomb.

As a nation, I think we like to spend too much time wittering about stuff that didn't happen. At least the chimp story involved something that actually did.