Once information is in the system, it is gone.

   The shocking news yesterday was that someone or some country had hacked into the computer syste4ms and taken designs of the latest spiffy fighter developed by the United States, the F-35. (ABC News.) Why anyone in the military would place design plans for anything of a classified nature on computers accessible by the internet gives one an indication of military intelligence. I knew a computer sciences guy at Purdue who, in 1985, could get into the NORAD system. That's the system where one can play "Total Global Nuclear War" for real. He stopped right before the screen where the lights and sirens would go off. That was in the days before the internet, granted. But did anyone doubt someone would hack into the system.

   The thing is, whatever country or countries did it---China, Russia, Luxembourg come to mind---did not really have to hack into U.S. computers. It seems we have "partners" in the design and construction of the F-35. England, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Turkey, Israel, and Singapore are participants in the program. We are the main source of funds. So the United States builds this plane, while we short programs for the elderly, for education, for infrastructure such as highways and bridges, and other countries reap the benefits. Who at the Pentagon got drunk and came up with this idea? And why did someone go to the trouble of hacking into our computers? If the information is out there, are United States computers the computers with the least effective security?

   The price tag for the total program, spanned over 50 years, of the F-35, the latest fighter design for the U.S. military is over One Trillion Dollars. Before one says, "That's 50 years so it's not that much per year." This is an aircraft that has had significant and unexpected price overruns in its development. I would not hang onto that price tag as accurate. I'd say double it, then add a few billion dollars more to it. We do not drug-test these government contractors, so they're liable to do anything.

   Why do we need the damn thing? We have the most aircraft in the world of any military. Ours are the most advanced. Are we simply to be the chumps and build the F-35 so other countries can steal the efforts of our labor?

   If we want to have national security, we should, for one, maybe work on MAKING OUR MILITARY COMPUTERS MORE SECURE. Yes, that was a shout. We also could try this: refrain from invasion of other countries. Maybe we should refrain from shooting people from drones or bombing places with drones such that we have ninety-eight percent (98%) collateral damage, i.e. innocent people killed. I cannot think of any test in elementary, junior high or high school where two percent (2%) was a passing grade.

   We could spend the money on highways, bridges, and schools. That would be a silly idea, I guess. I have to run---just saw the time. I have to be out at the cricket pitch to bowl a little and swing the bat a few times.