5-2-11 Osama Bin Laden gets his due
My only regret about the announcement of the death of Osama Bin Laden is that our good friend Bud Hanson wasn't around to hear about it. I've known Bud for 21 years, worked with him on the Open Mic Show and bowled with Bud on the KWLM bowling team for many years. But I remember most the morning conversations with Bud over coffee in the hallways, break room and the news room. Bud was up on both world and local news (and sports) and it was always fun to chat with him about current events. And later Bud shared many emails, and many of them were about Bin Laden and the War on Terrorism. Bud finally lost his battle to cancer Friday, and on Sunday night came the announcement that Bin Laden was killed by Navy SEALS in an operation last week in Pakistan. I believe the earthly Bud would be glad and proud to see justice done. I also believe where Bud is now, with Our Lord, such earthly things fade away compared to being in the presence of the Glory of God.
It is good to know the U.S. could show the world we were going to hound Bin Laden until we made him pay the ultimate price for 9-11. He grew up a rich kid in Saudi Arabia and decided he was going to be an Islamic "freedom fighter", helping chase the Russians out of Afghanistan, then turning his weapons on the U.S. Among most mid-east governments he became a pariah, with none officially giving him refuge, but Afghanistan and Pakistan gave him covert haven. It is good to know that this devil who thrived on the limelight was forced to live in caves and on-the-run for 10 years despite health problems. He was hiding in a fortified mansion in Pakistan near a military base when our speical forces soldiers killed him and his protectors. I also support the decision to make sure they positively identified him, then dumped his corpse in the ocean, denying his supporters a place to go an wail and plot their revenge. I predict Al Qaeda will blow up some more innocent people this week or next, and maybe do something major. What, I don't know. And hopefully it will be their swan song. But to think Bin Laden's death will end radical Islam's hatred of the west would be a big mistake.
On a lighter note, after decades spent on stationary bikes and treadmills, someone is finally acting on my idea. I always thought there should be a way of harnessing all this energy being used by people around this country walking, running and riding on stationary machinery. Now I read there is a way to do it...there's a health club in Pennsylvania that uses the energy used on treadmills to power lights and a t.v. in the health club. That's a good start. But don't tell me there's not a way to use this machinery to power a turbine or turbines to create markettable electricity. Imagine being able to go to a health club, day or night, and instead of paying, getting paid to walk, run or ride, lose weight, get in shape and provide free electricity! Call me crazy, but I want to see someone develop this. Go ahead, there's your free idea. I want to see one of these contraptions on display at the Inventor's Congress in Redwood Falls sometime in the future.
