Taiwan Gets Nuclear Weapons Parts. Guess Who Sent Them.

From the China Post:

WASHINGTON -- The Defense Department announced Tuesday that the United States mistakenly shipped to Taiwan four electrical fuses designed for use on intercontinental ballistic missiles but has since recovered them.

Awesome. We spend billions upon billions every year on defense, and this is what we get. Not only are we just shipping out DIY nuke hobby kits to people who don't even want them, but we're sending them to nations whose sovereignty and well being are already at stake (and where I incidentally live, also.)

The error is particularly disturbing, officials said, because of its indirect link to nuclear weaponry and because of the sensitivity of U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, which China regularly denounces as provocative. The Defense Department said an investigation of the incident is under way.

And this is hot on the heels of another fuck up:

Last August an Air Force B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and flown across several states. At the time, the pilot and crew were unaware they had nuclear arms aboard.

How does this happen? I can understand a clerical error that results in a crate of red pens being delivered to a DOD office instead of a crate of blue pens, but nuclear weapons?! I'm not crazy about my tax dollars being spent on nukes in the first place, but now that I see how wasteful and careless the government is with them, I'm becoming especially opposed to the idea.

Jasper

Why don't you like me,
when all I do is hug you?
You poop in a box.

Springtime

It's been a while since my last update. I just didn't have anything to write about, and I didn't feel like writing just for its own sake. I;ve been feeling a bit more peppy now that the weather's gotten nicer. I've been trying to get outdoors more, so I've been taking a lot of long walks and the occasional scooter ride.

I've been doing a bit of traveling as well. Ariel has been showing me around Taichung and the surrounding areas, and this weekend we're visiting Hsinchu and Mioli, pretty close to Taipei, but I've never been there.

Luke has been spending time with some friends of Crystal. They are art students in Taipei, and they've been his connection to a lot of cool events and happenings. He's going to help them set up for the Spring Scream festival in Kenting (the lowest point of the southern peninsula of the island.)

This festival promises to be an awesome way to celebrate the good weather arriving. There will be three days of live bands, film, arts, and food. I hope to attend, but I need to find a place to stay, as I waited to long to book a hotel room, and now they're all full. Worst case scenario is that I have to sleep in the tent that our friend Jerry gave us.

I hope everyone in Ohio is surviving the last of the winter blizzards. My heart goes out to you. The very thought of getting my car out of a snow bank makes me cringe.