BANG! You're dead in a thoroughly politically incorrect way.

(CBS) U.S. scientists are on the verge of creating a laser weapon that could give American forces an awesome advantage on the battlefield, but would also raise tough questions for Pentagon war planners, a newspaper reports.

The subject is fascinating. The story, predictably, is written by someone who obviously thinks someone shot by a laser is deader -- or more horribly deader -- than someone skewered by a spear. I further suspect the writer(s) isn't(aren't) posessed of a great deal of scientific knowledge, though I'd love to be proved wrong.