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A wingnut is someone on the far-right wing or far-left wing of the political spectrum - the professional partisans, the unhinged activists and the paranoid conspiracy theorists. They're the people who always try to divide rather than unite us. - John Avlon

One of the top priorities for the 2012 Presidential election in the Republican leadership is to choose a candidate that is electable. Right Wing radio host Michael Savage (nee Weiner) has offered Newt Gingrich $1 million to drop out of the race for, what Savage perceives, a more electable Mitt Romney. The radical candidates have risen and fallen in the polls due to some pretty outrageous statements. As a result, the moderate candidates remain in the forefront.

This leaves Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich as the front runners. I have already given my thoughts on Mitt Romney in a post about America’s Business. Although I lived through Newt Gingrich’s tenure as Speaker of the House, I don’t remember much about him. Both Newt and Mitt have baggage that matters to Conservatives. Mitt Romney is saddled with his insurance mandate as Governor of Massachusetts and Newt Gingrich has 3 marriages and an extramarital affair in his history.

It is no secret that The New York Times© enjoys a good jab at the Republicans, particularly during election time. This time is no exception. However, this time the story about Newt Gingrich is more wacky than critical.

According to the Times:

In debates and speeches, interviews and a popular book, he is ringing alarm bells over what experts call the electromagnetic pulse, or EMP — a poorly understood phenomenon of the nuclear age.

The idea is that if a nuclear weapon, lofted by a missile, were detonated in outer space high above the American heartland, it would set off a huge and crippling shockwave of electricity. Mr. Gingrich warns that it would fry electrical circuits from coast to coast, knocking out computers, electrical power and cellphones. Everything from cars to hospitals would be knocked out.

Although, in theory, an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapon could disable electrical circuitry against an enemy, the threat and application stated against the US by Gingrich is preposterous, at best. Gingrich has proposed pre-emptive strikes against Iran and North Korea to assuage this possibility.

The Times states:

The Missile Defense Agency, an arm of the Pentagon that maintains an arsenal of ground-based interceptors ready to fly into space and smash enemy warheads, says that defeating such an attack would be as straightforward as any other defense of the continental United States.

“It doesn’t matter if the target is Chicago or 100 miles over Nebraska,” said Richard Lehner, an agency spokesman. “For the interceptor, it’s the same thing.” He called the potential damage from a nuclear electromagnetic pulse attack “pretty theoretical.”

Aside from the idea that an attack that is this sophisticated is pretty much beyond the technological reach of Iran or North Korea, this would not seem to be the attack of choice for a rogue country, especially if it is intended to be a terrorist attack. Considering the cyber attack capabilities of malware such as Stuxnet upon infrastructure, I expect this type of attack would be pretty much outmoded anyway and would go the way of the Neutron bomb. This appears to have its roots in fiction from a friend’s novel or the James Bond movie “Goldeneye".

He also referred to the apocalyptic novel “One Second After,” written by a friend and co-author of his historical novels, William R. Forstchen. The book describes an electromagnetic pulse attack on America, conjuring a world in which cars, airplanes, cellphones and refrigerators all die, and gangs of barbarians spring to life.

Gingrich is not alone in this manufactured doomsday scenario:

Mr. Gingrich is part of a conservative movement that calls EMP an underappreciated danger. In Congress, spurred by Representative Roscoe G. Bartlett, Republican of Maryland, members of the movement hold hearings and recommend new safeguards, especially for the nation’s power grid, for which protective steps could run into many billions of dollars.

At this point, we should probably all be donning our tinfoil hats and present the warning of Chicken Little as fact….or not. However, instead of the sky falling due to rain, it will be electromagnetic pulses. I only hope I finish this post before it hits.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

luzribeiro.livejournal.com

Post is successfully posted. MISHUN AKOMPLISHD!

From:

mahnmut.livejournal.com

From:

onefatmusicnerd.livejournal.com

Newt Gingrich wants to mine the moon.

That is enough for me to support him.

From:

luzribeiro.livejournal.com

He's potentially the flagman of all geeks around the world! :)

From:

abomvubuso.livejournal.com

Doesn't look like one, though. Something in his low forehead, I dunno.

From:

mahnmut.livejournal.com

And when asked to criticize him for something, anything, Perry chose what? Out of all his wacky record, he picked the only awesome idea - lunar colonies!

From:

stewstewstewdio.livejournal.com

lunar colonies!

I think Fannie Mae owns the moon as a toxic asset anyway.

From:

onefatmusicnerd.livejournal.com

No shit, Gingrich for NASA Administrator!!!

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Eye of Newt and the Tin Hat Society

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