Knock Lock

Yet another thing that I want in my house.

Bomb Material Uncovered

In raids by Afgan Police and U.S. soldiers uncovered half a millions pounds of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer used in bombs. These fertilizer bombs had been used against many of the soldiers fighting in Afganistan. An example of the effectiveness of a fertilizer bomb would be the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing which killed 168 people. An article covering the bomb material discover says,

With a typical homemade bomb weighing no more than 60 pounds, the seizure of that much fertilizer — more than 10 tractor-trailer loads — removed potentially thousands of bombs from the streets and trails of southern Afghanistan...The use of homemade bombs has been sky rocketing. Last year, 4,100 bombs either exploded or were discovered beforehand in Afghanistan. So far this year, 6,500 bombs either have been found or have gone off.

The removal of this many potential bombs is a big success and has potentially saved the lives of countless soldiers and civilians. Hopefully this will help put a damper on the number of bomb attacks in Afganistan on American and NATO troops.

Twenty Years Later

The German Chancellor along with others that first crossed the Bornholmer Bridge after the fall of the Berlin Wall walked across it on Monday to commemorate the twentieth anniversary since the fall of the wall. A Times article described the event:

The anniversary has provided Germans and people around the once-divided continent with an opportunity to reflect upon the successful reunification of Germany and the once-unthinkable integration of countries from the former Warsaw Pact into NATO and the European Union.

The fall of the wall was a very important event that not only affected Germany, but the rest of Europe and the world. The fall of the Berlin wall will always be remembered and this celebration of its fall helps many remember the close of the Cold War.

North and South Korean Navies Face Off

North Korean and South Korean Navy ships fired at each other off the west coast of the Koreas, resulting in the death of one North Korean Sailor. The exchange of fire was caused by a crossing of the Northern Limit Line, which is a boarder set by the U.N., by a North Korean naval vessel according to South Korean officials. A New York Times article suggests that

North Korea may have intended for the clash to highlight its longstanding argument that the war between the Koreas from 1950-53 never officially ended and that the United States must negotiate a peace treaty if it wants North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program, according to analysts in Seoul.

The tensions that exist between North and South Korea put a lot of strain on the two countries and also the countries surrounding them. An confrontation such as this one is frightening considering what North Korea is doing and how the country has a nuclear weapons program.

D.C. Sniper Executed

The D.C. Sniper, John Allen Muhammad was executed today. He killed 10 people in 2002 in the Washington D.C. area. These killing were accomplished by cutting a hole in the back of a car and shooting random people with a rifle through the hole from the trunk. An article on the execution describes the shootings:

The random shootings terrified many people in and around the U.S. capital a year after the hijacked airliner attack on the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, and the mailing of deadly anthrax-laced letters to politicians and media organizations.

The pair shot innocent people who were going about the ordinary tasks of daily life in places like gas stations, shopping mall parking lots and outside restaurants and schools.

There were a few who showed up to protest the execution, but it was carried out anyways. I think that the death penalty was an appropriate punishment for a crime of this size or magnitude. Although i do not believe that the death penalty is a good form of punishment, it was befitting of this particular crime where the lives of 10 random people were taken for no apparent reason.