What is an "EMP" and why should you be concerned about it?

Iran is boasting that in three days, on February 11, it will do something that will “stun the West.” What could it be? Maybe nothing. It could be just empty blather. Or, may God forbid it, there could be something of substance to it. Personally, I prefer to think it’s just blather. However . . .

I note that Iran also recently launched a low-orbit satellite whose trajectory is similar to that of an ICBM. I’m not suggesting that this is an ICBM, but its implications are clearly troubling to those who study such things.

Which brings me to the EMP issue. I read One Second After last year, a Tom Clancey-esque novel by William R. Forstchen Ph.D., which depicts the devastating results of an EMP caused by the detonation of a nuclear device 50 or more miles above the United States. I recommend you read this book.

Forstchen writes on his blog:

EMP is shorthand for Electro Magnetic Pulse. It is a rather unusual and frightening by-product when a nuclear bomb is detonated above the earth’s atmosphere.

We all know that our atmosphere and the magnetic field which surrounds our planet is a thin layer which not only keeps us alive, but also protects us from dangerous radiation from the sun.

On a fairly regular basis there are huge solar storms on the sun’s surface which emit powerful jets of deadly radiation. If not for the protective layer of our atmosphere and magnetic field, those storms would fry us. At times, though, the storm is so powerful that enough disruptive energy reaches the earth’s surface that it drowns out radio waves and even shorts electrical power grids. . . this happened several years back in Canada.

View the detonation of a nuclear bomb, two hundred miles straight up, as the same thing, but infinitely more powerful, since it is so close by.

As the bomb explodes, it emits a powerful wave of gamma rays. As this energy release hits the upper atmosphere it creates a electrical disturbance know as the Compton Effect. The intensity is magnified. View it as a small pebble rolling down a slope, hitting a larger one, setting that in motion, until finally you have an avalanche.

At the speed of light this disturbance races to the earth’s surface. It is not something you can see or hear, in the same way you don’t feel the electrical disturbance in the atmosphere during a large solar storm.

For all electrical systems though, it is deadly.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THIS “PULSE” HITS THE SURFACE?

Those who might remember ham radio operators, or even the old CB radios of the 1970s, can recall that if you
ran out a wire as an antenna you could send and receive a better signal. The wire not only transmitted the very faint power of a few watts of electricity from your radio, it could receive even faint signals in return.

As the pulse strikes the earth’s surface, with a power that could range up to hundreds of amps per square yard, it will not affect you directly; at most you’ll feel a slight tingling, the same as when lightning is about to strike close by, and nearly all the energy will just be absorbed into the ground and dissipate.

The bad news, however, is, wherever it strikes wires, metal surfaces, antennas, power lines it will now travel along those metal surfaces (in the same way a lightning bolt will always follow the metal of a lightning rod, or the power line into your house). The longer the wire, the more energy is absorbed, a high tension wire miles long will absorb tens of thousands of amps, and here is where the destruction begins as it slams into any delicate electronic circuits, meaning computer chips, relays, etc.

In that instant, they are overloaded by the massive energy surge, short circuit, and fry. Your house, via electric, phone, and cable wires, is connected, like all the rest of us, into the power and communications grids. This energy surge will destroy all delicate electronics in your home, even as it destroys all the major components all the way back to the power company’s generators and the phone company’s main relays. In far less than a millisecond the entire power grid of the United States, and all that it supports, will be destroyed. . . . (continued)

Gotta Love the National Catholic Reporter Crowd

Someone named Michael Sean Winters * has experienced another petit mal paroxysm of truculence against political conservatives, this time lashing out on the National Catholic Reporter website against the recent Tea Party convention, sneering at pretty much everyone there for being, in his words, “birthers” (meaning those who question whether Dear Leader was really born in the U.S. or not). There’s a discussion going on about that, one which I have little interest and no part in. Apparently, though, the fact that it’s a topic of concern for some really gets his goat.

The Amazing Story of "Christian Elephants" in India

Talk about bad Karma. The Archdiocese of Colombo has this astonishing story which I have never heard of before. Makes me wonder whether St. Francis of Assisi got tired of the Hindu mobbery against Christians going on in India and decided to send some of his pachyderm pals into the mix for a little payback action. On second thought, nah, St. Francis would never do something like that. I think.

Meet me in St. Louis, February 6th (Men's Conference)

Neuroscientist Explores How Porn Hijacks Male Brain

This is your brain:

You Can Keep Your Kids Catholic. Here's How . . .

Russian Orthodox Church to appoint 400 priests as military chaplains

“I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.”

I interpret the “conversion of Russia” to mean a conversion that entails a full reunion with the Catholic Church. And in addition to the above, stories like this and this give me a great deal of hope that I will live to see that blessed day.

A New Low for the Already Low "Reality" Show Genre

This is what SUVs looked like in the 60s

From the wicked cool TV series “Lost in Space,” which I watched religiously, all three seasons it was on . . .

What the . . .?

Obowma does it again. (But why?)

"A systemic pattern of cooperation with evil"

LifeSiteNews.com reports on the past involvement of John Carr, a senior USCCB employee, with a group that promotes abortion and the gay agenda:

A national group that promotes abortion and homosexual rights has deep ties with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development, according to a report released Monday.

Top USCCB executive John Carr held simultaneous leadership roles, creating a conflict of interest, with the USCCB and the radical Center for Community Change.

“The closer we look at the Bishops Conference [staff and programs], the more we find a systemic pattern of cooperation with evil,” said Michael Hichborn, American Life League’s lead researcher into the USCCB scandal. “The CCC has lodged itself into the highest places of power in the USCCB while working to promote abortion and homosexuality.”

John Carr is the USCCB executive director of the Department of Justice Peace and Human Development which oversees the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD). He has been employed by the USCCB since 1987.

John Carr’s relationship with the Center for Community Change goes back at least to 1983, serving in leadership roles from 1999 to 2006 – including as chairman of the board. The Reform CCHD Now report details the organization’s promotion of abortion, “reproductive rights” and homosexuality as among the CCC’s core advocacy focuses.

In 2001, while Carr served as both a USCCB exec and CCC leader, the Catholic Bishops Conference funneled $150,000 to the pro-abortion group. The USCCB web site currently promotes the group and officials have spoken at CCC events.

“Strangely, Carr’s leadership on the CCC’s board shows up on several bios he’s submitted for speaking engagements, but the word for word bio on the USCCB web site mysteriously omits that one detail,” Hichborn said. “Why?”

Revelations of John Carr’s involvement in the Center for Community Change come only months after members of the Reform CCHD Now coalition, including American Life League, uncovered 31 CCHD grantees partnered with the CCC.

“The CCHD claims it will immediately investigate accusations against organizations it funds yet it is silent on the CCC,” said Hichborn. “How can Carr and the USCCB possibly justify this intimate relationship with such an obvious enemy of the Church?” . . . (continue reading)

See also: Deal Hudson’s take on this.

Update: Our Sunday Visitor has looked into the allegations made by the American Life League against Mr. Carr and has found several discrepancies. OSV posted this statement from Mr. Carr responding to the ALL article:

"It Was Beautiful to Watch." Michael Savage Describes the San Francisco Walk for Life

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