Fairly Unbalanced - Buzz-wording to Hype

Sometimes you see a lead in and just think WTF.

A Navy cruiser in the Pacific Ocean will try an unprecedented shoot-down of an out-of-control, school bus-size spy satellite loaded with a toxic fuel as it begins its plunge to Earth, national security officials said Thursday.

Why is it "unprecedented." Maybe because it hasn't happened before? So why exactly is that bit needed?

"Out-of-Control" is interesting. I think most people got that point from the fact the freakin' thing is falling back into the atmosphere.

Of course they must yelp about the "toxic fuel" which is the reason why they want to shoot it down. The article points out that they think it could make it to the ground. I find that curious since much larger satellites have come down with very little remaining, so how would a very large tank of volatile fuel make it through re-entry?

I'm surprised they don't conjecture on the death and destruction that could possibly happen. I mean it could hit something important, like a nuclear power plant and cause a problem. Hell, why not, they spun that lead in to scare, why not go all the way?

I really like this bit:

The announcement set off a debate on defense blogs and among experts who questioned whether there was an ulterior motive. Some experts said the military was seizing an opportunity to test its controversial missile defense system against a satellite target.

So the anti-missile defense is still controversial. Why?

And why is it an issue to test that system with a free target?

But others noted that the Standard Missile 3 has successfully been tested against warhead targets, which are far smaller than the satellite.

"There has to be another reason behind this," said Michael Krepon, co-founder of the Henry L. Stimson Center, a liberal arms-control organization. "In the history of the space age, there has not been a single human being who has been harmed by man-made objects falling from space."

Of course there has to be some secret spooky conspiracy on this. Obviously if Bushitler is involved a liberal tinfoiler has to rant on motives.