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Study Shows Agent Orange Still Taints Aging C-123s
__roo writes "Herbicides used in Vietnam in the 1970s still pose a threat to servicemen, according to a study published Friday. The U.S. Air Force and Department of Veteran Affairs denied benefits to sick veterans, taking the position that any dioxin or other components of Agent Orange contaminating its fleet of C-123 cargo planes would have been 'dried residues' and unlikely to pose meaningful exposure risks. According to the lead researcher, 'The VA, whether out of ignorance or malice, has denied the entire existence of this entire branch of science. They have this preposterous idea that somehow there is this other kind of state of matter — a dried residue that is completely inert.' To show that such exposures happened, her research team had to be 'very clever.'"
That was the whole reason for the Second Amendment: to keep a ready reserve of armed citizens for militia service, because we didn't have a standing army to repel invaders. Now that we've got a permanent standing army[1] and thus no need for a militia, well-regulated or otherwise, there's no constitutional basis or need for the Second Amendment.
[1] it's got a fig leaf, despite being unconstitutional: it's re-authorized every two years by Congress, which is technically allowed but against the spirit.