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   Thursday, May 04, 2006

   PEARL HARBOR....IN SPACE!

Dr. Evil would be proud: America is now one step closer to building its own Death Star!

The Air Force has pursued the secret research for several years but discussed it in new detail in its February budget request. The documents stated that for the 2007 fiscal year, starting in October, the research will seek to "demonstrate fully compensated laser propagation to low earth orbit satellites."

The documents listed several potential uses of the laser research, the first being "antisatellite weapons."
...
In 1997, the American military fired a ground-based laser in New Mexico at an American spacecraft, calling it a test of satellite vulnerability. Federal experts said recently that the laser had had no capability to do atmospheric compensation and that the test had failed to do any damage.

Little else happened until January 2001, when a commission led by Donald H. Rumsfeld, then the newly nominated defense secretary, warned that the American military faced a potential "Pearl Harbor" in space and called for a defensive arsenal of space weapons.

The Starfire research is part of that effort.

The observatory base is called "Starfire" -- is that not adorable?! Sadly though, the laser project was moving along swimmingly until Chief Inspector Dreyfus went insane and destroyed the UN with it. Curse you, Clouseau!!!