When is a WMD not a WMD? (Why Santorum is running scared)

Here's a basic science lesson, boys and girls:

Let's say you purchase a pint of organic, rBST-free milk and put it in the fridge to drink later. Next day, you pull it out, open the carton, and drink the milk. Tastes great, and it's so refreshing first thing in the morning.

But let's say that you forgot about that pint of milk, only to rediscover it sitting patiently in your fridge six months later. You open the carton, and this evil smell emanates from the opening. Do you dare drink this stuff? Of course not. The milk has spoiled a long time ago due to natually-occurring bacteria in the milk that have substantially altered the chemical makeup of the milk.

Now try burying that carton of milk in a hot, barren desert and leaving it to bake in the heat of the sun for at least 15 years.

Wanna give that carton the proverbial smell-test now? Just make sure you've got some decent health insurance before you try.

Would you even call that stuff "milk" after baking it in desert heat for 15 long years?

But that's just milk, which is a part of everyday life for many Americans. Chemical weapons, however, are a totally different matter.

Take sarin, for example. Now we've got little Ricky Santorum jumping up and down and waving his arms about the warheads containing "degraded sarin" that we've "discovered" since invading Iraq in 2003.

Sarin (O-Isopropyl Methylphosphonofluoridate) is a chemical known as an organophosphate. It is chemically similar to some insecticides such as Malathion, but the only use that mankind has ever found for sarin is as a chemical weapon, a nerve agent. It works by disrupting the nervous system of its human victims. Symptoms of sarin poisoning include difficult breathing, vomiting, convulsions, and involuntary urination and defecation. Death can result in as little as one minute.

But sarin, like milk, has a shelf life - and a pretty short one, too. It degrades in a period ranging from several weeks to a few months. And if the precursor chemicals used to manufacture your batch of sarin contain a lot of impurities, then the shelf life decreases dramatically.

In fact, there's a CIA report that claims that, back in 1989, Iraq destroyed at least 40 tons of sarin that had decomposed after only a few weeks. This sarin was manufactured from chemicals that had - drum roll, please - a lot of impurities.

When sarin degrades, it breaks down into compounds such as various methylphosphonic acids. You wouldn't want to drink them, but these compounds are not the same as sarin.

And those missiles that Santorum has been crowing about? Abandoned and forgotten for at least 15 years.

So, when is sarin not sarin?

When is a WMD not a WMD?

FReepers, you may get on your knees and thank me now.

And he usually does it in front of a glory hole at an adult bookstore in a city far from the one he lives in.

It definately isn't far from the truth.

:rofl:

deal. It further brings to light the incompetence of these senators.

viewer consumption only. I would rather go with the spoiled milk.

If any of them still insist that possessing these degraded compounds that used to be sarin is still justification for invading Iraq because they're still WMDs, then they had better throw away all of their apples and apricots before I show up on their doorstep with an AK-47 and a couple of weapons inspectors in tow. Why? Because apple seeds and apricot seeds often contain amygdalin, which - when digested by stomach acids - produces cyanide. And isn't cyanide a WMD?

Congressman Santorum, turn in your apples. Each one is a threat to our national security.

:silly:

even after the truth is revealed. Santorum is truly the dumbest man in Congress, but he certainly is representing his constituency.