I’ve always wondered: What was the guy who invented bagpipes really trying to make?

Well, at least that wheezing, whining invention turned out to be merely irritating, not actually dangerous. Leave it to the Dr. Strangelovian schemers at the Pentagon, however, to come up with an invention that is both irritating and truly dangerous, as well as being a galloping rip-off of us taxpayers.

It’s a blimp. But not at all like the friendly “Snoopy” dirigible that MetLife deploys at various sporting events. This thing is 20 times larger and is designed to be an eye in the sky, floating12 miles above the Earth, to provide unblinking surveillance of whatever and whomever the authorities want watched, including you and me.

Unlike spy planes, the Pentagon’s unmanned super-snooper can “park” anywhere in the sky and stay focused on groups or individuals for days, months or years, capturing every second of their comings, goings and doings. With its giant antenna and sophisticated, high-definition radar system, it can monitor tiny details over a vast area, linking this unrestricted flow of information to government computers that form digital dossiers on those being watched.

“It is absolutely revolutionary,” gushed Werner J.A. Dahm, the Air Force scientist overseeing the project. “It is constant surveillance, uninterrupted.”

How joyous.

Read the rest of this column on Creators.com

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