You
probably heard about the Texas woman who was indicted for sending letters
containing the deadly poison ricin to President Obama and New York's Mayor
Bloomberg.
What goes through the mind of someone who would try to send
the president ricin? Did this individual really think that presidents open
their own mail?
She might have thought it was something like this.
Barack Obama: "Michelle, did you get the mail
today?"
Michelle Obama: "No, I didn't, honey. Would you mind
doing it?
BO: "OK. I'll be right back." [Goes out the front
door of the White House, goes to the end of the driveway, greets tourists
through the fence, opens mailbox, grabs mail and walks back.]
MO: "Anything important in the mail?"
BO: "Not much. A bill for the healthcare of everyone in
the United States, a coupon for 20% off from Bed, Bath and Beyond, some credit
card offers … wait, here's something interesting. It's a letter. Hmmm, no
return address, but it's postmarked 'Boston, Texas,' so it might be worth
reading. I'll open it and see what it says."
Not likely. In fact, inconceivable.
Why on earth would someone in their wildest dreams think
that poison sent to any prominent person would reach them?
If you think that was bad, how about the two Upstate New
York men who were charged with conspiracy to support terrorism? Using an x-ray
machine, they constructed a "death ray" for targeting certain groups
and possibly the president.
ABC News reported the story uncritically, but the
Huffington Post quoted a radiologist as saying the device was unlikely to have
been effective because it would have required a large amount of electricity, would
not have been very portable and any potential victim would have had to remain stationary
for a long time.
One of the plotters was an industrial mechanic for General
Electric, a company that makes x-ray machines.
Despite that background, he and his henchman apparently
didn't consider all the details.
Neither did the ricin lady. There wasn't enough ricin in the envelopes to harm anyone.
Ricin? Death ray? What were they thinking?
