Something else to worry about

Imagine the economic devastation if almost all the electronics on which we depend (phones, computers, cell phones, basic electric service, electronic instruments, automobiles, lights, etc.) were all disabled in a few milliseconds. A single medium yield nuclear device airburst about 300 miles over the center of the U.S. (a ship-borne SCUD ballistic missle from North Korea or other rogue state), or several smaller devices detonated at lower altitudes (by terrorists) would shut us down in much less than the proverbial New York minute.

The president of The Claremont Institute was interveiwed by Bill Bennet this morning on Morning in America. He mentioned the danger of electromagnetic pulse (EMP) to national security. Do you know what EMP is? Take a look at this link for an interesting page with basic explanations.

Those of us who live around busy airports commented on the quietness after 9/11. Try to imagine what it would be like if you didn't hear any cars or trucks, any airplanes, any refrigerator motors or furnace fans, no television or radio, no air-conditioner hum, no motorcyles, well, you get the idea. Few electronic devices or devices which depend on electronics would be of much use. .

Try to imagine the loss of life if we had an EMP event in a cold winter. No heat, no transportation, and little, if any, chance of restoring either for a long time. Not to mention that every traffic light would fail, every plane in the air would crash, and every patient whose life depended on electricity would die.

I don't know about you, but I don't have a source of water that isn't dependent on electricy and six months of food. Expect millions to die of thirst, exposure and starvation. In fact, if you aren't in a position to survive with the technology of rural late 19th-early 20th Century America, you'd be in a world of hurt.

Unthinkable you say? Unrealistically alarmist you think? See this link for a Heritage Foundation paper that references testimony to Congress by The Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack. Not a question of if, but when. If someone had told you on 9/10/2001 about the events of the next day, you would have laughed at them. Until the first plane flew into the World Trade Center the next morning.

Just something else to worry about.
GBW