AIM-9X: Submarine Protection From Aircraft??

Aviation Week reports this week on the successful launch of the AIM-9X air-to-air missile from an underwater launch system.

Spoken of affectionately as part of the "Littoral Warfare Weapon Concept" the AIM-9X could provide submariners with some protection from those pesky helicopters and maritime patrol aircraft that so annoy the submariner.

However, planners are touting it not just as a defense weapon, but also as a weapon to use against high-speed surface ships.  If the program proceeds to become a program of record in 2012, it could have an IOC of 2015.

You'll like the acronym for the launch canister, SACS, for Stealthy Affordable Capsule System.  SACS can also be used for launching UAV's or communications systems.

Pretty cool.

Michael Wilbon lays an egg on Limbaugh and racism

ESPN has a show called Pardon the Interruption, or PTI, that airs most days at 5:30PM and is hosted by former sportswriters Tony Kornheiser (from who's old radio show I was banned) and Michael Wilbon.  Next to RedEye, this is my favorite show, largely because Tony and Mike have great chemistry, and they are generally (Tony, especially) funny and pithy.  Wilbon's a bit of a jock sniffer, but, hey, if you were a sports journalist (TK was less devoted to sports in his career), you would be, too.  Side note - He's good pals with the hilarious Charles Barkley, who we share a connection with, since Barkley once tried to pick up my wife at a charity golf tournament.

Anyway, on Friday, October 9th, the topic veered to Rush Limbaugh's proposed ownership interest in the hapless St. Louis Rams, and some black players' reactions being that they wouldn't play for the racist Limbaugh.

This brought out of Mike Wilbon the following statement (it may be important to the reader to know that Mr. Wilbon is a black man):

"I don't know whether Rush Limbaugh is a straight-up bigot, or if he simply plays one on TV and radio, but he is universally reviled by black people in this country and justifiably so based on his public proniouncements, constantly saying things that are offensive.  I'm just going to mention one.  He referred to the NFL by the way, in terms of the Bloods vs. Crips without the weapons and another point he said 'Slavery' and this is in context, 'had its merits' and he joked, I guess he joked, 'the streets were safer after dark.'"

First, Mr., Wilbon, the Bloods vs. Crips quote, as you indicate you know, is taken out of context, and the slavery quote is totally unattributed to Rush and only appeared in a hit book published without sourcing the quote.  So, essentially, you have taken one quote out of context, and another you chose to use as "in context" without knowing that there is no proof that Limbaugh even said it.

As Jay Nordlinger wrote in National Review this week, sportswriters should, like singers, just leave their politics at home.  I know Tony Kornheiser is as big a Leftist as Wilbon, and yet, we never hear him injecting his political views, and certainly not using made-up quotes to further what may even be a valid point.

Wilbon's point was that the black community reviles Rush.  Well, the black community reviles conservatives and Republicans, despite having so little to show for 50 years of fealty to the Deomocratic party, and, despite being fairly conservative in their own lives.  I've never understood it, but, look, Wilbon, this community votes 90% for a party (the Dems) who have demonstrably taken them backward.  Clearly, they have reason to revile those who oppose their chosen political party, even beyond charges (usually false, by the way) of racism - it's been drilled into them by leaders who really crave power, and have found it in the Donkey Party.

I would hazard a guess, that among black athletes, the support for Republicans is slightly better than the 10% of the general population of blacks, but, that would be based on their socio-economic plight (being rich, and all that) not their skin color.  Conservatism tends to attract a lot more adherents after they start paying confiscatory taxes.

Wilbon also went on to discuss that players say Limbaugh doesn't get the culture (this was the crux of the segment, based on comments in this New York Daily News article).  What culture is it he doesn't get?  The one that aborts 30% of their children?  The one that has a 70% illegitimacy rate?  The one that glorifies misogyny and murder in rap music?  The one that has elevated "thug" to something aspirational?  The one where only 30% of black men graduate high school?  The one that makes up 70% of prison populations (and, of those, 80% of the crimes are against other blacks)?  If Wilbon is not familiar with THAT culture, perhaps that is because he hangs with black athletes, nearly all of whom have graduated from high school, and many from college.  And, I somehow doubt Wilbon ran into many of this crowd at St. Ignatius Prep or Northwestern.

So, instead of using this as a means to address real problems in the black community, Wilbon (and the others  who will pile on) wants to use it for conservative-bashing via commentaries on racism.  This won't advance anyone anywhere.  Instead, it foments the seeds of division and continues a meme that has been drilled into the black community for 40+ years now.

I challenge Mr. Wilbon to get out of the bubble he's in.  Start with Daniel Patrick Moynihan's The Negro Family: The Case for National Action.  Visit the writings of Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams and Bill Cosby and even Barack Obama. There are things holding blacks down today.  Quite honestly, racism is not one of them.

Weekend Thoughts and links...

Mark Steyn on "Who Won" on Obama's Nobel Peace Prize

I thought Liberals were all about human rights, and the promotion thereof.  During the Cold War, they lambasted American presidents (of all parties) for cozying up to dictators to counter a Soviet threat.  Yet, today, they have little to say when Obama disses the Dalai Lama to curry favor with the Communists in China, sides with Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro against the defenders of the Honduran Constitution, has little to say in support of Iranian protestors (and, in fact, legitimizes the Hitlerian leadership of that country), and sells out Poland and the Czech Republic to kowtow to Vlad Putin.  You used to be able to count on Democrats to stand for the little guy, both at home, and abroad.  Now, they do neither.

The largest beneficiaries of Obama's political agenda, from saving auto companies to medical insurance reform to bank bailouts to cap and tax, will be massive corporations and Big Labor.  Losers will be you and me.  But, we'll have free health care (unless you're one of the unfortunates forced to pay for coverage, or taxed for your excessive coverage).

You used to be able to count on Democrats to stand for the little guy, both at home, and abroad.  Now, they do it nowhere.

Michael Moore has a new "documentary."  It has something to do with how rotten capitalism is.  One needs only look at the cesspool that was Eastern Europe and still remains in China to see that capitalism is the greatest thing to ever happen for economic growth, and the planet.  Moore's latest foray into fantasyland isn't selling too well, apparently.  However, Michael Moore is a very wealthy man.  No one has ever gone broke underestimating the stupidity of the American people, nor will Moore.

UGA lost to Tennessee 45-19.  Lane Kiffin begins domination of future FSU coach, Mark Richt.

Obama Wins! (Oh, it's just the Nobel Peace Prize, go back to sleep Chitown)

I don't feel it is appropriate, on a day we are attacking the moon, for Barack Obama to be winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

 

But, at least he's bringing home the bacon, although his chief qualification seems to be "He's not Bush."

 

 

Cheering Against Obamalympics. As American as Apple Pie.

Greg Gutfeld, host of Fox's Red Eye (airs nightly at 3am, and is the best politics/comedy show on earth), also publishes his monologues at his Dailygut.com web site.  (BTW, RedEye beats several prime time cable shows in the 25-44 demographic.  It airs at 3am. Ok.  Get it?  DVR it.)

Today's is so good, I am just going to cut and paste it for you, it sums up why finding the Obamalympics not coming to Chitown as funny is not un-American.

"So while chuckleheads like Jesse Jackson and Senator Roland Burris hilariously blame George Bush for Chicago losing the 2016 Olympics, whiny columnists like Mike Lupica are up in arms that conservatives might be gloating over President Obama's big screw-up. Apparently laughing at all this is somehow anti-American, because Obama is our President, and he was doing this for all of us.

You know... kind of like when Bush was trying win a war in Iraq - and all those left wingers stood behind him.

And that's my first point: The right has every right to gloat over Obama's humiliation, because, thankfully, NO ONE DIED. Unlike, say during the Iraq war, where, whenever there was a roadside bombing, the progressives did their own special victory dance - using the consequences of war to gloat over an embattled president and an unpopular country. I didn't hear much of the smarmy press calling them out.

So, if I take pleasure in watching Obama's big fail, it's only because it proved a point I made before he was elected: that being likeable, in and of itself, does nothing for America. To protect our nation and further our interests, our leader must reject the need to be loved by the world, and embrace being feared, even hated. I know that's hard for our guy. Being a self-proclaimed "citizen of the world," he enjoys the accolades of Libya, Venezuela, Iran, Cuba and Russia. With friends like that, who needs enemies.

But hey - screw the Olympics. Maybe Obama should now focus on bringing the World's Fair back to Chicago. If there's one thing that could make dictators like us more - it would be temporary structures filled with stuff from other countries. They look positively magical, even if they're flimsy and fall apart in a strong wind.

Which sounds familiar.

And if you disagree with me, then you're probably a racist."

Obamalympics - will be held in Rio instead

Due to widespread crime in Chicago, where honor roll students are beaten to death by unruly mobs, and criminal landlords refuse to improve living conditions in their state-sponsored slums, the Olympics for 2016 were awarded to Rio instead, where you expect these things to happen, Rio being the largest city in barely third-world Brazil.

If you've been sitting under a rock you may have missed that the United States sent a delegation of Chitown glitterati to include Oprah, Mayor Daley, Michelle Obama (you may know her better as "The First Lady") and the President of Chicago (and the United States, too), Barack H. Obama.

Many (including such smart right-wing observers as myself and Rush Limbaugh) assumed that Obama's presence in the delegation meant it was "in the bag," so to speak.  After all, if the top politicos of Chicago-style politics couldn't secure a victory with a group of crooks like the IOC, how did they rise to the top of Chicago's power structure?

ABC Anchorette Goes Nuts Over Carter Library

Jimmy Carter, worst president in history, has some new stuff at his presidential library.  ABC's Claire Shipman is all gaga over this crap, apparently.

This leads me to wonder.  It's been almost 30 years since this moron was president.  Hasn't everything there was to be learned, or read, about his presidency been learned, or read already?

Lies, Distortions, and Misrepresentations about Health Care (Updated)

Neal Boortz is discussing the lies, distortions and misleading statements in Obama's Congressional Obamacare speech this week, and I think it is important enough that I will source the article that takes on these fabrications and quote it extensively here for you.  The original article was written by Michael F. Cannon and Ramesh Ponnuru for National Review Online.  You should read the whole thing, it details 21 of these.  Biggest whoppers:

• “There are now more than 30 million American citizens who cannot get coverage.” An outright falsehood, whether you use the president’s noncitizen-free estimate or the usual estimate of 46 million.  The 30 million includes those who CHOOSE not to get insurance (estimated to be about 15M).  The 46M adds the 16M illegals without insurance.  There is a further number of the remaining uininsured who are between insurance coverages (i.e. job changes).  
• “And every day, 14,000 Americans lose their coverage.” The paper that generated this estimate assumed that two months of severe job losses would continue forever. Applying that paper’s methodology to a broader period of rising unemployment (January 2008 through August 2009) produces a figure below 9,000 and it assumes these losses are permanent.
• “One man from Illinois lost his coverage in the middle of chemotherapy. . . . They delayed his treatment, and he died because of it.” He didn’t die because of it. The originator of this false claim, a writer for Slate named Timothy Noah, has admitted he got it wrong.
  
  Jake Tapper spreads even more light on these outright distortions.
• Requiring insurers to cover preventive care “saves money.” Nope. According to a review in the New England Journal of Medicine, “Although some preventive measures do save money, the vast majority reviewed in the health economics literature do not.”
• “The [bogus] claim . . . that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens . . . is a lie, plain and simple.” Sarah Palin claimed that Obama’s “death panels” would deny people medical care, not actively kill them. If Palin believes her claim, it is not “a lie, plain and simple.” Most important, the substance of Palin’s claim is, in fact, true. Obama himself proposed a new Independent Medicare Advisory Council with the authority to deny life-extending care to the elderly and disabled.
  
  
  
  

No one knows if BMD decision means more ships. Sad.

I have previously posted on the Obama admin's decision not to place ground-based interceptors in Poland, here, and here and here. 

Bottom line: Technically good decision, politically, not so much.

Like Information Dissemination, and a couple of Senators (Reed, D-RI and McCain, RINO-AZ) I wondered whether this decision meant more BMD shooters for the Navy.

Well, the Vice Chairman of the JCS doesn't know (read ID's post for details).

Which leads me to this conclusion on this decision - not only did the O admin handle this in an amateurish way from an international politics perspective (read my previous posts), but now we know they really don't have a plan to actually make this dream happen by building more BMD ships and manning them.

END.

Green Cars Get Green from Gore

The conservative blogosphere is all a-twitter over the latest US government deal to loan $1B to specialty carmakers Fisker and Tesla to develop their hybrid/electric cars.

It should be noted that much of the opposition stems from the fact that these cars will have some final assembly points outside the U.S.  In Fisker's case, this is Finland, and in Tesla's case, Great Britain for the Roadster, although the Model S Sedan is planned to be built in California. 

It is of note that former VP (and green nut) Al Gore has a financial interest (through Kleiner-Perkins) in Fisker.  Fisker says they intend to bulld a $40k sedan in the United States, but, that machine has yet to be designed.  To their credit, they are California based (as is Tesla), and Fisker employs about 175 workers (supplier and Fisker) in Michigan, mainly doing engineering work.  The Fisker is not a hybrid, but it will use a gasoline engine to provide back-up electric power to extend the range of the vehicle to as much as 100 miles, according to Fisker.  Like the Chevy Volt, it is possible the Fisker could use the gas engine to charge the battery pack when it reaches some predetermined low point.

The Tesla Roadster, based on the Lotus Elise, retails for about $110k.  Tesla plans a sedan for 2012, retailing at about $60k.  In the March Car and Driver, Tesla's founder (Elon Lusk, one of the founders of PayPal) lamented that he had only raised $40M and was hoping for a round of investment from GE Capital.  Of course, GE backed out, but a $465M loan from you taxpayers ought to brighten his day!  In May, Daimler (Mercedes) took a 10% stake in Tesla, so, how do you feel about your money now going to the German company who had the good sense to dump Chrysler years ago?

Outside of the major auto manufacturers, these are probably the two companies with the best available options for making competitive hybrid or electric cars.  Are they worthy of taxpayer loans?  Personally, both these companies were already either producing and selling cars, or close to doing so.  They may have been able to make it on their own, without needing nearly $1B in loans from the feds.  They are not completely foreign companies as some would like us to believe, but, neither are they all-American, and the Gore connection to Fisker, and the democrat donor connection to Tesla, and the help given them by Pelosi should be troubling.

Obama has made the car industry something the government feels compelled to be involved in on an intimate level, picking winners and losers.  What did we expect?

Bush, Obama, Hitler

When your liberal friends (hopefully you have none) or the Legacy Media report on all the horrible right wing nuts comparing Obama to Hitler and how hateful they are, you need only steel yourself against their attacks by reminding them of the wonderful way the Left treated George W. Bush the last 8 years.

Of course, you don't need to do the actual research, our friends at Zombietime have done it for you.

Just read the article, check out the photographic evidence, and enjoy the many links.

Additionally, anti-Bush protestors frequently advocated bodily harm (usually in the form of death) to Bush.  Don't remember?  Read this. 

For the last 8 years, comparisons of Bush to Hitler were so routine, the term Bushitler was even copyrighted.  Maybe.

Safe Schools Czar, Regulatory Czar: Where DO they find these nuts?

If you thought banished from the O Czar Pool 9-11 Truther Van Jones was bad, check out a little of what the "Safe Schools Czar" (yeah, I didn't know, either) has been up to...

Via Moonbattery...

And, the "Regulatory" Czar (as though Democrats need a Czar to help them regulate), Cass Sunstein is sometimes referred to as a legal scholar, instead of a left wing whack job.  Here's hoping he's Beck's next target.

Via Right Wing News.

Now that the NEA has been exposed in cohoots with the Obama administration in furthering the cult of personality that is Obama, let's work our way to the big fish.

Georgia Tech 24, UNC 7

Time for a little college football ranting.

Georgia Tech redeemed themselves today and beat Carolina handily, 24-7.  To all those who kept saying how Carolina was so awesome because they stopped Tech's triple option last season, I should remind you - it's a new season, you have to execute, and the triple option is a tough offense to execute against all the time (and you must, because it is designed for every play to be a big one).

This, coupled with Miami's thrashing at the hands of Virginia Tech, sets up a big showdown between the ACC's premier engineering schools (ok, the one premier engineering school, and that ag school in Blacksburg) in a few weeks (assuming GT can get past FSU) to force a potential three way tie in the Coastal division of the ACC (again). 

Yes, the ACC is down, down, down in the college football landscape these days.  With the exception of FSU's win over BYU and VT's over Nebraska, and NC State's apparent over Pitt today, the conference has had little success against other conferences, even flailing about against mid-majors.  But, when you look at three of the best teams in the conference - GT, UNC, and Miami - these teams, with relatively new coaches, are extremely young and will continue to improve.  I had hoped FSU was on the rebound, with the late game loss to Miami only marring its season, but today's fumblefest against USF did them in.  Time for Bobby Bowden to hang them up and Mark Richt to return home (that was for you UGA fans out there).

Outside the ACC, let me just say how happy I am that Michigan beat ND.  Haha.  See ya later Charlie Weis!  Oh, and USC losing to Washington.  And Oklahoma to BYU.  Oh, and especially UGA to OK State.  How can South Carolina give up 3 points to NC State and 31 to UGA?  Come on Spurrier!  I count on you beating those pups regularly. 

Anyway, this was really just an excuse to rub in the score of the Tech/Carolina game to my family (UNC grads all - get your own blog for basketball season).

end...

Nuclear Weapons: Keeping the World Safe for 60 Years

Previously, I posted about the good aspects of Obama's foreign policy.  Further engagement and cooperation with India, and exhorting African nations to govern themselves responsibly are good things, and, largely, continuations of Bush era policies.

The decision to not pursue the current ground based ballistic defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic was the right technical position, if delivered pretty clumsily.

However, Obama is doing a lot, and I mean a lot, of really bad things in his foreign policy, and the American people need to recognize this and understand that what was warned in the 2008 campaign is coming to pass.  Obama clearly sees America not as a shining city on a hill, but as just another Western power with nothing exceptional to give to the world.

His recent performance at the UN was maddening and sickening to any American who believes that this country is something greater than just being one of many nations.  You need only read Obama's speech to fully understand his worldview.  He believes not in the greatness of this nation.  He puts us on equal footing with Libya, Iran, Sudan, and any other nation ruled by a tinpot despot.

He cares not that democratic, freedom-embracing (if not loving) nations do not fight wars of aggression against each other as he exhorts that no one system of government is better than any other (huh?  This guy has a college education?).  Instead, he suggests (cynically, I hope) that the world (but first the United States) rid itself of nuclear weapons, even as Iran and North Korea (you may recall, those tiny countries who pose no threat to the United States according to Obama) push full steam ahead for those weapons, and the systems to deliver them.  North Korea uses its weapons to blackmail the West today, and does anyone have any doubt that once Iran has nukes, they will use them to either hasten the political demise of Israel, or, failing that, Israel's physical destruction?

I urge you to read Jeremy Boering's column in Big Hollywood today on the history of nuclear weapons and why they have been an instrument of peace, not war.  The bottom line on nuclear weapons is that while they have been in the hands of rational actors (the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France, etc), and the threat of assured destruction was out there, no one has dared use them.  Would the irrational leaders of Iran or North Korea dare use them if they knew (as they must) that it meant the destruction of their country's?  Does Obama really believe that a Western de-nuking would really lead to anyone else doing it?  Is he that naive?  If so, he doesn't deserve the office he holds.

Finally, would the elimination of all nuclear weapons lead to an end to war?  Anyone who believes that, also believes in the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny, not to mention Santa Claus, leprechauns and other mythical figures.

It is only in the aftermath of WW2 and the advent of the nuclear age that world wars have been avoided.  We rightfully won the Cold War because of our nuclear deterrent force (of which I am proud to have been a member), and the resolve of one man who knew it protected us and would give our economy and freedom the opportunity to drive the Soviets into the ground.  Nuclear weapons have done more for freedom and peace than the absence of them ever could have.  Does anyone doubt that in a world free of nuclear weapons that certain countries would not be emboldened to expand their spheres of influence using violent means (i.e. war)?

Go ahead, explain this thought process to me, because I'd love to hear the convoluted arguments.


end...

Global Warming: More Subs! Another Reason to Praise It!!!

According to New London's Day, the melting of the arctic ice pack (in summer) means more subs in the Navy's developing strategy.  The Navy "will rely on its submarine force to play a 'very significant role' in future operations in the harsh Arctic environment, where there is limited support infrastructure for ships and communication and navigation can be problematic."

But Rear Adm. David W. Titley, the Navy's senior oceanographer, said he did not have a high degree of confidence in this estimate because of the dynamic Arctic climate.

Crap!  You mean the AGW alarmists might be wrong, and we won't get a bunch more subs and new and exciting missions?

That would suck!

Buy more SUV's!


end...

Cash for Clunkers: Clunk!

The Boston Globe reports today that dealers are now facing slow sales again after the "Cars for Clunkers" program has ended.

From the Globe article:

• Analysts predicted that Cash for Clunkers would not boost sales for the year. September’s sales swoon seems to be making their case.
• Most sales were of foreign models.
• Most dealers are still waiting for voucher reimbursements.
• “It was probably, in the end, a complete waste of taxpayer money,’’ said John Wolkonowicz, a senior auto analyst at IHS Global Insight.
• In addition to the formidable paperwork, the government website set up to process the deals kept crashing, creating a backlog.
  
• Wolkonowicz said the fall slowdown may have been worsened by the program.
  

This was an ill-advised program, poorly executed, and emblematic of what happens when government gets involved in marketplaces.
 
End...

Missile Defense - Ultimately Unprotected

The Weekly Standard blog has some insight into the NIE that the Obama administration is using to justify delaying (until the 2020's) a long-range missile defense system based in Europe to protect from Iranian ICBM's.

You may recall, the administration has chosen not to deploy long-range interceptors in Poland with their radars in the Czech Republic. The NIE does push out the time when the Iranians are expected to have a long-range ICBM capability from 2015 to 2020, but, the Standard correctly points out that the administration's land-based SM3 capability is not planned until after 2020, thus, we will go defenseless for some period from 2020 (when the current NIE predicts the threat develops) until some time after 2020 when the land-based SM3 variant becomes operational in Europe.

So, while we have a better technical decision against the current threat, we have actually probably made ourselves more vulnerable against the future threat.

To those who say things like "The reversal of the National Missile Defense strategy today exposes the blundering strategy of the previous adminstration," I say, dig a little deeper.

End...

Long Discourse on Obama Missile Defense Decision

I spoke a little bit yesterday about the Obama administration's decision not to go with a long range missile interceptor system in Poland and the Czech Republic yesterday. 

My post yesterday summed up most of my feelings on this, but, in Obama's defense, he (and the Perntagon) are correct on the technology (for now) and, if your desire is to do something (that ultimately has little import militarily) to "reset" relations with the Russians, and perhaps also say something to your Western European allies (Germany, France), then this makes some sense geopolitically.  It also doesn't shut out Poland and the Czech Republic.  As Gates stated in yesterday's presser, "The second phase, about 2015, will involve fielding upgraded, land-based SM-3s. Consultations have begun with allies, starting with Poland and the Czech Republic, about hosting a land-based version of the SM-3 and other components of the system. Basing some interceptors on land will provide additional coverage and save costs compared to a purely sea-based approach."



From the political standpoint, it just depends on where you think the best interest of the country lies.  I am of the mind that, barring extreme incompetence, the President should be given wide latitude in foreign policy matters.  This falls in that category.  I personally side with supporting the Eastern Europeans on this (and given the likelihood that they will host SM3 systems, why that didn't get more play, I don't know), so, I think Obama's move is a bad one, at least from a PR perspective.  However, I can see their angle, which is surely that they hope for a less chilly US/Russian relationship, and help from the Russians with dealing with the Iranians.  Most analysts say they don't believe there was any quid pro quo in this, so, that's just bad negotiating, but who knows what may have occurred in secret.  If the Russians continue to thwart us on Iran, I think we can judge this move badly.  We'll have to wait.

Interestingly, my Facebook site had a comment about this from someone who self describes as a "fiscal conservative."  At the same time, he supports Obamacare and the Stimulus, so, I don't know what kind of fiscal conservative that makes him.  You can be the judge of that and this post will help, too.

Anyway, I don't know if the poster lifted this directly from left-wing website, but, he might as well have.


"Seriously, the GOP is proving to be inept at even handling our national security interest, which I had thought up until now was their strong suit. The reversal of the National Missile Defense strategy today exposes the blundering strategy of the previous adminstration. We were wastefully spending taxpayer dollars (generating that deficit) on a system does not work and has not worked since the Reagan Era to protect against a threat that doesn't exist, namely the projected Iranian long range nuclear missile, which they have never successful developed or tested. Instead, for half the cost of the original NMD system, we will be more intelligently deploying proven ship-based interceptors missiles against a proven and tested Iranian threat of short to medium range missile. Now the talking heads of the GOP machine are embrassingly siding with old-school strategy."

Let's parse this nonsense (I highly recommend anyone TRULY interested in this read the transcript from the Gates press conference):
Point 1: GOP Ineptitude.  Hmmmmm, the only significant holdover from the Bush admin is the guy charged with coming up with this strategy and no friend to Missile Defense, Robert Gates.  Plus, other than the technology review, there really is no change in policy.

Point 2: Blundering Strategy.  Spare me.  I discussed that in the paragraphs above and yesterday. 

Point 3: Wasteful spending.  The system being deployed was 10 interceptors (in Poland) and a radar site in the Czech Republic.  But, the GBI's are expensive.  However, my guess would be the poster is somehow throwing aspersions at Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) in general.  For some reason, the Left hates missile defense.  I don't know why, especially now that the technology is starting to show great promise.

Point 4: The system doesn't work and hasn't since Reagan.  This is laugh out loud comedy (especially when you read his next sentence).  There is much more work to do to perfect BMD, but, the technology is coming along, as the SM3/Aegis system shows, which is proposed as the solution to the Iranian Short/Medium range threat. The theater high altitude air defense (THAAD) and Patriot systems are also both tested and proven, so, we are making great strides in BMD.  While it is true that the current intelligence estimates (taking the Pentagon and the administration at their word) discount the Iranians' long range threat, we have seen how reliable our intelligence has been over the last few years.  Are you willing to bet New York, or Boston, on that? 

Point 5: Using ship-based interceptors (the SM3).  Point well taken.  Go Navy!
Some things to read:

• Good article in WSJ, with some easy to understand graphics on how BMD systems work.
• Charles Crawford (former ambassador to Poland) thoughts.  He sums up:
• "The optimistic interpretation of this Obama move is that he has given up something that really did not count for much in strategic reality terms so as to get some other modest diplomatic gains (all with a keen eye on Obama's poll ratings), wrapping it up in vast spin about a 'huge move' to make it look bold and statesmanlike. Poles and Czechs are too right-wing for Democrats, so get a sharp clip round the ear followed by a perfunctory kiss to make up. The Russians know that it is all (mainly) rubbish, but piously applaud the 'wisdom' of it so as to make themselves look more powerful than they are. No real change.
• "The pessimistic interpretation is that there really has been a 'huge shift' in US foreign policy and President Obama is ready to put at risk all the gains for freedom, pluralism and progress achieved around the world by Ronald Reagan with a little help from his friends, in the hope of creating a new world order based around a diminished unambitious USA in sly cahoots with left-collectivist post-democratic polities (EU, Russia, China) and sundry unhealthy pre-democratic Islamic regimes."
• Tom Nichols, Professor of Strategy, Naval War College, and a Russian expert weighs in, "Despite the outcry that President Obama has sold out the Europeans and caved to the Russians by cancelling missile defenses in Europe, it was the right thing to do."
• Eric S. Edelman, a distinguished fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, thinks otherwise, "'This system was always intended to deal with the missile threat from Iran and proliferating states in the region,' says Edelman. 'This doesn’t have anything to do with a technical issue with regard to Russia. Instead, it’s a preemptive concession to the Russians — a damn bad way to start arms-control negotiations.' And Edelman says that Obama’s decision may not even yield the desired concessions from the Russians, citing recent comments by Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister.

Some good wikipedia links:

• Ground based, mid-course defense discussed
• Aegis BMD system
• The SM3
• Short article from August about Raytheon pushing the land-based SM3.  (Note the faked Iranian missile launch photo used).  Wonder how much $ Raytheon gave to the O campaign?

Whew!

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Bam to Poles, Czechs: See the back of my hand (Caution: Navy angle)

I have previously given kudos to the Bam admin for their continuation of Bush policies in India and Africa (despite Hillary Clinton making an ass of herself on her Africa tour and being upbraided over AGW by the Indian PM, Obama spent some time giving a good government lecture to African audiences).

However, today, the administration returned to either their incompetent or nefarious ways by agreeing with the Russians that we don't need a missile defense system based in Poland and The Czech Republic.  Seeing as those are the most freedom-loving countries in Eastern Europe, I guess it's apropos that Obama would side with his Russian mentor, Vlad Putin, on this one.

The administration demonstrated their incompetence by making this announcement on the anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939.  Talk about bad timing. 

However, there is certainly a technical argument to be made that this is the right choice, and the quickest way to get interceptors in place to counter the growing Iranian threat, is to go for a sea-based and mobile ground based solution, vice the planned system.  Since this system will rely more on Aegis ships, armed to the gills with interceptors, maybe it'll lead to more ships for our Navy (don't count on it).  But, since the Aegis system and our SM3 is proving to be a pretty capable solution, I think in toto, it makes some sense.

Still, there is something to be said for NOT slapping your staunchest European allies around, and not smacking them on a day with historical significance like today.  Also, since the system may yet lead to defenses in one/both of these countries, couldn't we have done something like send an Aegis cruiser over there for a symbolic port call?  And, why not extract some serious, and public, concession from the Russians?

Hmmmmm????

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Travel Trouble. Thanks Delta!

It doesn't happen that often, and usually only when I am forced to fly USAir, but this weekend was a fun time with Delta.

Sunday night, I intended to leave Providence at 5:30 to return home to Atlanta.  Unfortunately, our flight was a very short one, since the landing gear on our plane (an ASA CRJ) refused to retract after takeoff.  So, we returned to Providence and proceeded to get the shaft from Delta/ASA.

Since this was the last flight out to Atlanta, apparently, ASA thought they would pretend that we might actually depart on the same plane...for a while. At one point, they even suggested that the plane could return to Atlanta with a few passengers with the landing gear locked down.  In their plan, the flight would take 6 hours, be forced to fly at low altitude, and require a fuel stop.  Haha. Seriously, they said that.

Finally, some saner heads prevailed, and they posited that the final arrival from Atlanta (which arrived at PVD some time around midnight), would turn around instead of overnighting.  In this scenario, the maintenance team was going to fly in from Atlanta on that flight and fix our plane to be the 6am departure, while the people from my flight would leave around 12:30 am, and get to Atlanta about 3am.  Whooooaaa.

At that point, they started issuing hotel and food vouchers to those who were not willing to wait it out.  So, that's where I gave up and decided to just stay overnight.  That was the right decision for Delta/ASA and me, unfortunately, by the time I got my carry-on (plane checked) bag back and my vouchers and got to my hotel, there was no place open close by to eat, so, Dunkin Donuts for me!  Excellent.  I recommend the flatbread sandwiches.

Anyway, booked onto today's 12:35pm flight, I left the hotel where I ran into a couple of ladies from my flight.  They said that Delta/ASA eventually decided to cancel the whole idea of going back to Atlanta, and took the checked bags off about 10pm, and they got their bags at 10:30.  Glad at 8:30 I bailed hearing that.  Also, a reason I don't check bags unless forced.

Anyway, the travails of air travel will get you every time.  Fortunately, I am not a frequent enough flyer (maybe 15 times/year) that this really impacts me much.  But, let me say to Delta - I thought the flight vouchers we were getting were worth something, so I didn't look at it until the morning, and it was only $100.  What happened to airlines actually giving a free domestic roundtrip flight for these kinds of things?  At least the last time I got jerked like this by USAir, they did give a free domestic round trip and the hotel they put us up in was much nicer, but the La Quinta wasn't awful, just basic and the wi-fi was solid enough to work off.

And, ASA did kind of make it up, when our 12:35pm flight was delayed 2 hours, they actually gave every passenger another $100 voucher, which they didn't have to do.  So, I made $200 out of it and got to stay in Providence for another day.

All in all, a succesful trip.

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LIberal Dictionary, Part 2

My wonderful readers (both of them) have made suggestions to the Liberal Dictionary.

A bleg - if you are an email reader, please click the link in your email, and drive my traffic numbers! 

Their suggestions (first 3 from readers, slightly edited)

1. Diversity - Ethnic variety, as long as that ethnic variety includes, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, black, Muslim, or hispanic persons.  Asians and white folks need not apply.
2. Homophobe - Any person who opposes gay marriage
3. Baby Killer - Any pro-Bush member of the military
4. Smear - Anything embarrassing done by a Liberal organization caught on video; the act of smearing can only be performed by Republicans or Libertarians

Keep 'em coming

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New Word for the Liberal Dictionary: Racist

I have decided to start a Liberal Dictionary.

Since Liberals operate in a different world from the rest of us, it may be instructive for the rest of the thinking world to understand them, so, I am going to catalog for posterity what they mean when they use certain words.  I realize it's a small dictionary, but, every journey starts with one step (and I'm starting with two).

1. Torture: Anything that provides useful information from an enemy
2. Racist: Anyone who disagrees with President Obama

Feel free to suggest other words (and even definitions) that have distinctly different definitions when used by a liberal.  I reserve the right, since it's my dictionary, to modify, reject, or use them as suggested.

Update: I was inspired by this post from Aloha Dump.

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Rhode Island

I am finishing up a weekend in New London, and, it's been a long time (10 years at least?) since I have been here.  I can't say that I missed it.

Still, another set of good eats.  If you're visiting Groton, stop by the Seahorse restaurant and check it out.  Definitely a local feel.  Finally, just outside the Providence airport is a local RI chain, Chelo's, who have daily specials that include dessert for $8.99.  Complained a little that they didn't have the massive amount of food here for low prices as in Texas, but, that put the lie to that.

Here is last night's dinner at the Seahorse - Scallops over Sole.  Pretty tasty.

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As Usual, Rob is Wrong

Rob (The Online Magazine...) attempts to belittle the tea partyer's protest today.  As usual, he's pretty much reading straight from the DNC's fax machine.

He says: "the health care reform bill specifically states illegal immigrants are not afforded coverage." 

• This is true, however, the bill includes no provisions for verifying legality of individuals.  When House GOP members presented an amendment to require the use of the system (SAVE) that employers are required to use to verify right to work here, it failed on a party line vote.  So, one can genuinely question why these provisions wouldn't be built into the bill, and their absence (willfully) suggests that perhaps Dems have no intention of enforcing this provision, thus making anyone who supports such a bill, a liar.
• While we assumed the white house was discussing the House plan, they are only defending their 2.5 page outline plan on the white house web site (remember when Republicans were lambasted for not having a detailed plan about some such thing this year?).  Jake Tapper reports that the WH is considering ther SAVE program and would explicitly deny coverage to illegals.  Maybe Obama listened to Joe Wilson?

He says: "The people DO want health care reform. It was a major plank that President Obama...blah, blah, blah."

• It may be true that people want health care reform.  However, it is painfully clear that the people do not want the kind of reform being presented by Dems in Congress and supported by Obama.  Despite a small bump in approval to 46% following this week's speech, a majority of Americans polled oppose Obamacare, and have since mid July.  Finally, by vast, vast, vast majorities, 79% of Americans like their current health care plan.  Of course, if they didn't why would Obama keep promising, "If you like you like your current plan, you will get to keep it."

He says: "And nowhere in any of the reform proposals nor in any of President Obama's stated plans does it call for increased taxes, save rolling back the Bush tax cuts to the rich."

• Whoooooaaaaa there.  That is still a tax increase.  Although it falls on the Democrats favorite group to rape for money, it's still a tax increase
  

Additionally, there are numerous proposals in Congress go after more taxes (the Cato Institute studies):

• Democrats propose eliminating health savings accounts, which allow people to save money for health expenses tax free.  83% of users of HSA's are low-middle income people.  Estimates are this would result in an additional $11B of taxes.
• Democrats are looking to get $210B in revenue by ending the deductibility of medical expenses if they exceed 7.5% of your income.  73% of these deductions are taken by people making less than $75k/year.
• Dems are considering raising taxes on beer (tripling it), on wine (quadrupling) and liquor (a 25% increase), as well as on sugar-sweetened beverages.  These kind of taxes hit poor and low-income people much more than they hit the "rich." Dems estimate they will get over $60B annually from these.

 So, don't believe what you read over there.  It's probably wrong.


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NWU and USS North Carolina

I know how much Joel likes uniform stories, so I can't believe he hasn't seen this milestone.

The USS North Carolina (SSN-777) is one of the first boats on the Groton waterfront to be 100% NWU.

How's that for impressive???


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Docents for Sub Force Library and Museum Needed

I didn't see this on anyone else's site, but, for you guys who might be in the Groton/New London area, and looking for some way to contribute to the Submarine community, The Submarine Force Library and Museum has a docent program, coordinated by the U.S. Submarine Veterans Inc. (SUBVETS) Groton, and they are looking for volunteers to be docents.

Article here.

To find out more information, or if you are interested in being a docent, contact the SFLM Docent Coordinator, Gary Schmid at (860) 823-9806 or e-mail docent@subvetsgroton.org.

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Big Rally Surprises Officials in DC

Protests in Washington today against growth of government. Even the New York Times says "the magnitude of the rally took the authorities by surprise." Estimates ranged from tens of thousands to over a million.  Make fun of these citizen-activists if you want, call them names if you must (brownshirts, astroturfers, nazi's, teabaggers), but ignore them at your peril.

These are not your run of the mill leftist paid protestors, these are average American citizens, who will vote.  And, even though most of them aren't Obama voters to start with, their sheer numbers will give strength to those who might not think it PC to oppose Obama.

That is why the legacy media will not report this fairly, if at all.

But, kudos to the NYT for covering the rally, if even in their usual leftist slant.

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Facebook - Like a Bad Dinner Party

After having my twitter account (which I tend to fill with political rants <140 characters and re-tweets of other, smarter people) linked to facebook, a couple of heated political discussions ensued.

You know what it convinced me of? 

That, generally, the people who spend time on facebook should not discuss politics, as their stupidity frustrates me.  They should stick to talking about their own boring social lives.

Twitter and this blog are where it's at.

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Anti-Abortion Activist Murdered in Michigan

Anti-abortion activist murdered in front of a Michigan school this morning.

When will Obama speak out on this?
When will the left chatterers denounce the hate speech of the left that led to this?

Where's the outrage?

Guessing we'll see little.


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No Moon For You

I can barely say I was alive when men first walked the moon, but in those years from 1969-1972, I fell in love with space exploration, like many other young boys.  The much awaited Augustine report is available and the news is bad (executive summary here).  Now, it may be another generation before any man sets foot on another world.  Unless NASA gets a minimum $3B/year cash injection, manned space launches are coming to an end in 2011 and not returning until (most likely) 2018.

Trips to the moon or Mars:  likely never.

It is instructive that the panel believes that the path to low earth orbit manned missions lies in the commercial sector, saying, "The United States needs a way to launch astronauts to low-Earth orbit, but it does not necessarily have to be provided by the government. As we move from the complex, reusable Shuttle back to a simpler, smaller capsule, it is an appropriate time to consider turning this transport service over to the commercial sector."

Interesting stuff, but former Apollo 12 moonwalker, Alan Bean, summed up where we are on space exploration and going back to the moon, or Mars, "I know we could do it, but we're not going to.  I want to go, but I know I'm in the minority." The nation was driven in the 1960s by the desire to prove its superiority over the Soviets, Bean said. Without a similar motivation now, returning to the moon will be viewed by most Americans as too expensive. "Future generations will have to find a reason," he said. "There's just not a reason now."

And that's the bottom line.  We just can't find a reason amid $800B stimulus packages and potentially $1T government takeovers of health care.  We can't.

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DUmmie FUnnies: "Anger - A Rant"

Check out DUmmie FUnnies and this post, (warning, mucho foul language, but...that's the language of the Left) DUmmie FUnnies: "Anger - A Rant".

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Obama disappoints, accepts resignation of nut-job Jones

Obama disappointed me today by doing what everyone said he would, allow 9-11 Truther, Whitey-hating, Communist, and all around idiot Van Jones, the "Green" jobs Czar, resign.

Jones, of course, like all good liberals and little communists, decided it wasn't his fault. All those crazy things he had said (and sung) that were inconveniently captured on You Tube (just one example) were the result of a “campaign” of “lies and distortions to distract and divide.” Michelle Malkin warns us to "Get ready for the coming media/left-wing martyrdom of Jones."

Watching Juan Williams (designated left-wing defender on Fox Sunday News), we saw the Left's alternate explanation of why Jones's statements and subsequent exit are not damaging to Obama - his position just wasn't that important, he really was just a low level staffer. Huh? The position was specially created for him. Spare me this one.

One of fave bloggers, Gateway Pundit, along with Glenn Beck really pushed this story, and are to be thanked for exposing and ridding us of one radical in the White House. If you get your news from the legacy media, tomorrow you may be reading about the whole thing, but for those who seek the Truth, they've been on this thing for a week.

Odds are, the most transparent administration in history (there's a laugher!) was lied to by Mr. Jones in his job interview - you know, the 63 question questionnaire where they actually ask (Question 61), "Have you had any association with any person, group or business venture that could be used – even unfairly – to impugn or attack your character and qualifications for government service?"

I guess it's plausible that Jones didn't think being a Communist or a whitey-hater would be something that could embarrass this crowd.

Anyway, Van Jones is just another radical exposed. How many more lurk in the current administration?

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Top Ten Reasons 9-11 Truther Van Jones will not be asked to resign

Since the Obama administration seems to be digging in its heels and not immediately ditching 9-11 Truther Van Jones, the "Green" Czar, I did some investigating to try to determine the top 10 reasons why they want Jones to remain on the White House payroll.

To wit...

10. Already had plans to feature him in his speech to the ObamaYouth on Tuesday as another example of a black man who has made it in a white, racist country.

9. Makes Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid look moderate by comparison.

8. There's a Green Czar? Obama missed him during introduction to other 36 unelected and unconfirmed Czars

7. Bill Ayers is not available to replace him (busy on his book tour)

6. Obama can no sooner disown Jones as his own racist white grandmother (oops, used that one already for another racist pal)

5. Joe Biden really enjoys Van's raps

4. Test the MSM to see how much crap he can get into and count on them to get him out of it

3. Intends to count this as one of the jobs the stimulus package "saved"

2. Professional Courtesy - Sets precedent for 2012, so Sarah Palin admin can employ Birthers without too much scrutiny.

1. Obama agrees with Jones.

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Preventative Medicine - not always a cost saver

Jason Fodeman writes in National Review Online about the costs of preventative medicine and why it's not always a cost-effective means of treating disease.

Fodeman writes:

"At first blush, prevention seems great. Preventing and detecting disease early to save lives and money — sign me up. But, as new research in this week’s Journal of the National Cancer Institute highlights, prevention unfortunately is not as simple as President Obama would like to depict. Two Dartmouth physicians studied prostate cancer diagnosis-and-treatment statistics, starting with the introduction of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening."

This has some meaning to me, since both my grandfather and father had prostrate cancer (both ended up being treated surgically), putting me in a high-risk group for the disease. Because of that, my prostrate screening, including the PSA test, started at age 40, vice 50 as recommended for most men.

The study concludes that since the PSA test came online in 1987, "an additional 1,305,600 men have been diagnosed with prostate cancer, of whom 1,004,800 have been treated for the disease."

But, this wonderful preventative measure has an (un?)intended consequence. "Many of these patients were over-diagnosed and over-treated. They were treated unnecessarily for symptoms they did not have and never would have had. Even when employing the most optimistic benefit assumptions, [the study concludes] 'the vast majority of these additional 1 million men did not benefit from early detection.'"

The point is, while prevention is a wonderful thing, an attempt to sell health care reform by extrapolating savings from "prevention" ignores the additional costs borne by the system from measures such as these.

As we are seeing, science is enabling us to determine likelihoods of having particular pathologies based on these kinds of tests and even genetic factors. What happens, when we take health care decisions completely out of the hands of doctors and patients and place it in the hands of a single payer government system and its series of boards and councils (who are empowered to control costs, since government will necessarily have to operate within some cost constraints, since Obama won't be president forever), when they have this knowledge?

You think "death panels" are ludicrous...

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Green "Czar" revealed as 9-11 Truther. Countdown to firing begins.

Today, our friend GatewayPundit revealed that Green Czar, the unelected, and unconfirmed by the Senate, Van Jones, previously outed as a Communist and previously caught on tape calling Republicans a$$holes (watch as the obviously friendly audience laughs along with him), is also a 9-11 Truther (caution: I think the Wikipedia entry gives these people a little too much credibility. They're fringe lunatics.).

You may know of the 9-11 Truthers. They believe that the Bush administration knew 9-11 was going to happen and allowed it to happen so they could go to war. These people are nuts. They are nuttier than the Right's birthers. The Truthers have to believe that the former President willfully allowed Americans to die, for whatever nefarious reasons. At least the Birthers don't think anyone was allowed to die so that Obama could fake being an American (for the record, I think the birthers are crazy, too, but not THIS crazy).

So, today on Fox News, Steve Hayes wondered, as of 7pm, after the story had been out 7 hours, why Jones hadn' t been dismissed, and Charles Krauthammer wondered whether the adminstration was just incompetent in its vetting process, or whether they allowed this guy to be chosen with knowledge of his wacked out views. Neither says much for the Obama administration.

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Mark Steyn on Kennedy Hagiography

Mark Steyn, as usual, says best the way I feel about Kennedy's passing (in case that's scrolled off, you can find my thoughts, here).

While Liberals are spending the day mourning the loss of the "greatest legislator" (is having your name on 1000 bills really an accomplishment?) or the "Lion" of the Senate (doesn't that just mean he spoke a lot?) or the last great "civil" senator (tell that to Robert Bork), I guess I am spending it wondering why they love this SOB who left a 29 year old woman to die.

But, "it's the body of his work, the totality of the man" they say.

Say it all you want, why would I expect people who don't care whether an unborn child is killed to care about Mary Jo Kopechne's death and the Senator's culpability in it, and the character his actions afterward revealed.

They don't care. He was right on their issues, and he was moderately effective. Who cares what he might have done. If serial abuser (if not rapist) Bill Clinton can be forgiven (hell, he even had one female columnist promising to fellate him) because he pledged to protect a woman's womb, surely Ted Kennedy is forgiven murder for 40 years of adherence to liberal orthodoxy.

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Beers for Torture! I'm in!

Jeffrey H Smith, former general counsel to the CIA (during the Clinton administration) wrote an op-ed last week in the Washington Post giving six reason why the CIA interrogators should NOT be prosecuted.

This necessarily prompted the predictable responses from those opposed to torture, enhanced interrogation, or any technique providing useful information from the enemy.

However, one writer, Patty Healy, of Fairfax, VA (here's to you, Patty!) dissented and cleanly summed up my views:

"I am sorely disappointed that the names of the interrogators were redacted in the recently released memos about interrogation techniques. The more I read about what they did to protect our country, the more I would like to buy them a beer."

(H/T: Brother-in-law and actual reader of the Washington Post.)

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Ted Kennedy's Legacy: OJ Simpson

Frank Fleming, publisher of IMAO.com and Pajamas Media contributor, has it about right on Ted Kennedy when he says,

"What was his civil rights legacy? He was a rich white guy who killed a woman and got away without consequences, and so paved the way that one day a black man, O.J. Simpson, could do the same?"

Other than that, I don't really see what greatness Ted Kennedy brought to his life and to our world.

The guy was a drunken lecher, who happened to be borne into the American version of royalty. He was the progeny of a man, Joseph P Kennedy, who today would be the poster child to the Left of all that is wrong with corporate America. And, sometimes when you listen to the Left complain and rail on the evil executive class, you have to wonder if Teddy hadn't just delivered a speech to them on his own father's life.

In his own life, Ted Kennedy will always be remembered, by me, for allowing a young girl, Mary Jo Kopechne, to die in his car after he crashed off an embankment at Chappaquidick Island, MA. He failed to report the incident for 10 hours, and, in the real world that the rest of us live in, would have been found guilty of manslaughter, at the least. But, like OJ, the Kennedy's don't live in our world. Kennedy did plea to a misdemeanor Leaving the Scene of an Accident charge, and got two months probation.

Listening yesterday to some people talk about Senator Kennedy, it was clear he was a likable guy, as most Irish drunks are. People enjoyed his company. He lived life hard, but he had the wealth and privilege to do that without serious repercussions. Orrin Hatch related a time where Kennedy had played a song (I guess that Hatch had composed) for his 2nd wife (oh, yes, did I mention he was also a serial philanderer), and he called Hatch to thank him and tell him how well received it was. The funny part (to Hatch, certainly not to taxpayers) was that Hatch received this call while working in Washington, from Kennedy, on the family boat with his significant other. When Hatch asked Kennedy why he wasn't working, Kennedy just laughed. Joke was on you, Massachusetts residents who elected this guy 7 times.

Another story teller (friend, Ed Kleine) related during a discussion on “The Diane Rehm Show” on National Public Radio (H/T The Examiner):

"I don't know if you know this or not, but one of his favorite topics of humor was indeed Chappaquiddick itself. And he would ask people, ‘Have you heard any new jokes about Chappaquiddick?’ I mean that is just the most amazing thing. It's not that he didn't feel remorse about the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, but that he still always saw the other side of everything and the ridiculous side of things, too. "

Don't believe me, listen yourself:


I'm sure Ted Kennedy was a lovable drunk. Many are. Many are just sad caricatures of lives wasted and what could have been. His God, and mine, has forgiven him his sins, so may he rest in peace.

But, how should he be remembered by the living?

Ted Kennedy was an Irish Catholic who was pro abortion with a hard-Left voting record which insulated him from any attacks on his Left. He "championed" every Liberal cause that came along for 40 years, and fought the less Liberal members of his own party, including presidents (Clinton, Carter). He was surely an effective legislator for the Left. They will remember him as the "Lion of the Senate" (whatever the hell that means) and the Right will remember him as the poster child for wealth and privilege run amok.

I will just try NOT to remember him. He has personally destroyed one life, and has tried to destroy the America the Founders created for 40 years.

Good riddance, Ted.

Memo to CIA: STOP with the smoke blowing...

In the latest revelations against the CIA, we learn that interrogators of Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri (according to the 9-11 commission report, the mastermind of the attack on the U.S.S. Cole) not only BLEW SMOKE in his face, but smoked cigars!

The horror!

Rather than laughing at the Inspector General's representatives, "This interrogator said he would not do this again based on 'perceived criticism.'"

So, something that you could still experience first hand in bars in some more free parts of the country is considered an "Unauthorized or undocumented [interrogation] technique" to the CIA IG's office, and, I am sure also to Eric Holder.

I wonder if Barack Obama has ever blown smoke in anyone's face? He's sure blowing it up our @$$.

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Why Hate Crime Legislation Should be Opposed

Since nearly most crimes involve some kind of "hatred" I have never felt there was a specific need for "hate" crimes legislation.

In passing these types of laws, our lawmakers are elevating certain victims to a higher status than others, therefore making a mockery of "all men are created equal."

While liberal politicians pass these off as applying equally when they are pitching them to the electorate, they are rarely applied equally in practice, regardless of how heinous the crime, nor how obvious the "hatred."

Furthermore, for most people prosecuted under hate crimes statutes, they usually would have received the same punishment under existing statutes. So, hate crimes legislation does little other than offer DA's an opportunity to grandstand and favored groups an opportunity to decry the hatred of some vile group (more often than not - that reviled group is some form of white, racist, homophobic redneck).

Anyway, because of the favored status of certain groups, these laws tend to diminish truly horrific crimes.

I wanted a maximum audience to read about a particularly horrific crime. A crime that is truly borne of hate, but, because it was not committed against one of the Left's favored interest groups, it will never receive any media attention beyond the locality where it occurred.

I pondered cutting and pasting the details here, but, they are so horrific, I don't want anyone who isn't forewarned to read them.

For all of you who have children between the ages of 16-24 especially (or will have them), this story will make you sick, and hopefully, make you mad as well.

Link here, but you were warned.

end..

A Quick Thought on Medicare and Health Care Reform

I spent some time recently talking to my mother-in-law (70ish) about Medicare, since I have no first-hand experience with the program and wanted to find out if she, as a Medicare user, was happy with the experience and a little about how the program works.

Here are my 2 key take-aways:

1. She's generally happy with Medicare, but, she still has to pay a healthy monthly premium for her health insurance for Medicare supplements, but, she pretty much has one of those gold-plated policies that covers everything.
2. The prescription drug benefit passed during the Bush years was a very good deal for her.

So, I wondered, if seniors are generally happy (and, a sample size of 1 isn't very good), then why can't we just extend Medicare to everyone?

Well, the answer should be obvious to just about everyone - we just can't afford it. We can barely afford Medicare, Medicaid and S-CHIP now, and to extend such a system to every person in the country would require such confiscatory taxation as to destroy economic growth in this country. In fact, with the government in control of about 50% of the health care spending now, it is more a part of the problem than a part of the solution.

My personal opinion is that the taxation system that rewards employers for providing health benefits is the biggest problem we have in health insurance. If we instead passed those benefits directly to the consumers of health care, we'd give a much better chance of making health care more portable, which would address some of the pre-existing conditions problems, and we'd make it more affordable, and address some of the uninsured.

No doubt that this would still leave many uninsured, but, rather than tearing down the system completely, and remaking it in the government's image, this would retain the system of private insurance, which will certainly allow for more innovation, better allocate scarce resources, and not place health care decisions into the hands of a)bureaucrats with no stake in individual's health decisions, and b)elected officials who may be corrupt, incompetent, or both.

Then, once we start to bound the problem better, we can begin the hard work of dealing with the chronically uninsured, and the poor.

This is really a philosophical debate. Either you believe that the government can efficiently and effectively run the health care system, or you believe markets are the best way to manage resources. In the current debate, there really appears to be little middle ground, and I side with those who look at what government does, at the hubris of those suggesting that government can do this (if only this group of smart people run it), and agree with them that individuals, operating within a (relatively) free market, can make the best choices about their health care and how to spend their money.

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Southwest not coming to Atlanta after all

Because Southwest would not revise its offer for Frontier due to provisions regarding pilot seniority and merging the lists, Republic Airways won Frontier in bankruptcy court, for about $60M less than Southwest was offering.  Read more here.

 

In other Atlanta aviation news, Airtran is swapping slots at Newark for slots at National Airport and Laguardia.  The net result - no more Airtran flights to Newark.  Want to go on Airtran to NYC, you must go to Laguardia.  You'll get more flights to National and to LGA, though.

 

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Big Brother - Reality TV Update

It's no secret that we are big Reality TV fans in our house. We don't watch every show, but, American Idol, Survivor, The Amazing Race, The Apprentice, and Big Brother always have a faithful audience at our house.

We've only recently (3 seasons?) started watching Big Brother, so we don't know a lot of the history of the show.

This week, though, in BB11, CBS announced that one of the "houseguests," Chima, was evicted for rules violations.

If you haven't stumbled onto this news yet, and you're a BB11 fan, maybe CBS will enlighten us tonight on what exactly happened. Since BB is broadcast over the Internet to (paying) subscribers 24/7, and runs for 3 hours every night (from 12AM-3AM Eastern) on Showtime 2, many people have seen what's going on in the House that we don't get in the primetime shows.

It would appear that Chima was extremely abusive and downright rude to the other houseguests, and that Thursday night (I think), she went nuts, after another houseguest used a power that was part of the game ("Coup d'Etat) to change nominations for eviction that Chima had made in her role as Head of Household, and when Chima herself was nominated for eviction. She becamse abusive to the producers of the show and refused to wear her microphone, in fact, she threw it into the BB hot tub and ruined it.

Anyway, whether she left of her own accord, or was asked to leave, she's gone.

My view - she was a rude, arrogant woman with a huge chip on her shoulder, and the producers tired of her act. Her exit may have been more mutual than one-sided, but she needs to learn something from this exercise about respect for others.

Chima composed an email, supposedly, here to the BB Examiner web site.

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Outlook Bleak for NASA

The Augustine Panel, commissioned to look at our manned space flight options given current and slightly expanded budget options, has determined that there are "no good options for continuing human exploration of space within the constraints set by the Obama administration's fiscal 2010 budget plan for NASA," according to this Aviation Week article.  There is no way, under the current budget, that we will be able to retire the shuttle, shut down the ISS by 2016, and develop the Ares I/Orion and get to the moon by 2020.  No way.  Sad.

 

However, with an increase of $3B/year (now, that's a stimulus I could get behind!), we could get to the moon by 2025, according to subcommittee chair Sally Ride.

 

There are some who say it is not a conservative ideal to explore space, and I would say they are ideologically right.  However, inasmuch as it provides benefits to your defense technologies, a nationally funded space program can survive the scrutiny of conservatives. In the Age of Obama, where money is thrown around like rice at a wedding, I'd much rather see an additional $60B spent on returning to the moon and goign to Mars than on whatever social program Obama has it earmarked.

 

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Kudos for Obama on India, Africa Policies

President Obama deserves some credit for a couple of foreign policy efforts that are continuations of Bush policies.

In India, while Bill Clinton was saving Korean journalists, and despite Hillary getting a lecture from the Indian PM on global warming, the United States was continuing to make India a larger strategic partner.

In Africa, Obama himself took to lecturing the African nations on the need to stop blaming the West, and instead practice a little good government themselves. While President Bush started the focus on Africa, let's hope Obama, with his background, can convince African nations to lift themselves out of the poverty and despair that grips the continent.

Both these areas of the world are of vital importance and of strategic interest to the U.S. India can serve as a vital counterweight to the growing Chinese military and economic threat. In Africa, despite the hopes of AGW alarmists, we are beginning to find oil in abundance, particularly in the waters of Western Africa. Additionally, the continent is ripe for militant Islamists and we must tame that beast if we are to ever "win" the War on Terror. The Chinese are also our competitors here, and are making inroads in China. But, unlike the Chinese, we need to prove to Africa that we intend to stay, not rape them and take their resources.

Anyway, while there is much to dislike about Obama's policies, and his generally statist bent, these are areas where we can applaud his administration's (at least for now) direction.

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Will Southwest Airlines Come to Atlanta?

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution quoted Bob Jordan, Southwest’s executive vice president of strategy and planning, as saying that "Atlanta, Reagan National Airport, and destinations in Mexico as places 'that are very interesting' that Frontier flies to and Southwest does not."

This on the heels of Southwest topping Republic Airlines' bid (in bankruptcy court) for Frontier Airlines. Aviation Week reports that Southwest would like to expand their operations in Denver.

For aviation industry watchers, there is the question of what will happen to Frontier's all Airbus fleet, as Southwest only flies 737's and achieves significant cost savings with their homogenous fleet.

While Southwest might want to add Atlanta to their route structure, they would have to compete with AirTran, another successful discounter who already has a massive Atlanta hub. Still, with only one gate at Atlanta, Southwest would not likely have a lot of flights here, and probably wouldn't make much of a dent, except to open up the entire Southwest route structure to Atlanta metro area residents, which is a good thing for us.

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Russkies Visit Atlantic

Lotsa talk today about the Navy saying that at least one, maybe two Russian submarines have made a trip into the West Atlantic the last couple of weeks.

The NY Times has a detailed article . There is some doubt whether the second sub has patrolled much further than Greenland, but the other was believed to have stopped in Cuba for a pretty nice port call for some Russian sailors.

In the shadow of the Bear flights to Venezuela, it is clear the Russians are trying to show that they are still relevant in the age of China, and, of course, Putin is a bit of a show-off. I happen to think he may be hunkier than The One. Do you think when they get together (Vlad and O) that they flex and pose and do all that cool Hans and Franz stuff...


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The Audacity of Liars

So, yesterday, while enjoying (for my wife) the wonderful health care service that is my HMO (basically, a well-run version of the future government run system), I was forced to watch CNN for about 3 hours.

We left the clinic with a"you're not sick but here are some pain meds" diagnosis (note to pain killer addicts: Obamacare may be just what you ordered), and these observations about CNN:

1. CNN is pimping the impact of the stimulus bill as part of their homage to Obama, the entire day was filled with stories of massively important work that is being done now because of this.
2. While pimping the wonderful good works, CNN doesn't mention how much these cost, or really whether any new jobs are being created.
3. It was funny hearing the anchor/anchorette say (paraphrasing), "Let's hope that some people are getting jobs and that they last."

Ahhhhh, hope, the elixir of the Obama administration....

On another note, apparently, the weekend is the time to let slip that you are going to break your "you will not see any of your taxes increase one single dime" promise to 95% of Americans.

I love Treasury Secretary "Turbo Tax Cheater" Tim Geithner's rationale for health care reform, "If we want an economy that's going to grow in the future, people have to understand we have to bring those deficits down. And it's going to be difficult, hard for us to do. And the path to that is through health care reform."

So, increase deficits fourfold, and argue that as your reason for needing to slam through a government run health care system!

This administration truly is audacious...

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Is this the greatest movie line ever?

I guess this is making the rounds of the Internet.




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P-8A Poseidon Official Rollout

In more good news for ASW fans, the Boeing P8A Poseidon was officially rolled out yesterday.

Because the P-3 Orion fleet is aging so fast, the Navy has chosen to get the P-8's out to the fleet as quickly as possible, and then expect to see them get fitted out for multiple missions, etc, etc.

"The P-8A Poseidon program is an outstanding example of evolutionary acquisition at work. We have established a very solid baseline for initial operational capability, while concurrently making upgrade increments for future insertion as technology matures," said Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft Program Manager Capt. Mike Moran.

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Navy continues string of successful BMD tests...

And they said it couldn't be done (must've assumed the USAF would get this mission).

The Navy successfully fired an SM-3 from the USS Hooper (CG-70), proving to the North Koreans that we intend to protect Hawaii.

From the Navy's official release:

"During this event, entitled Stellar Avenger, the Aegis BMD-equipped ship, USS Hopper (DDG 70), detected, tracked, fired and guided a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block (Blk) IA to intercept a sub-scale short range ballistic missile."

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US to replace Russia as India's key arms depot.

I love that there's an English language version of Pravda. I doubly love that Naval OpenSource Intelligence is using it as their source for India's decision to primarily use the United States (vice Russia) as their arms supplier.

The Indians. Without them, the Chinese will rule the world.

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ASDS Killed, for good this time.

The Navy has axed the Advanced Seal Delivery System (ASDS). After a fire last November caused over $200M in damage, the Navy decided to go ahead and kill the ASDS and not even repair the one delivered. I think over $1B had been spent already on this thing, and it just wasn't working out.

What also wasn't working out was who was going to pay for it and that was always a problem.

According to the Honolulu Advertiser, "Funding has been requested for the Joint Multi-Mission Submersible program to develop an alternate SEAL insertion craft. The online publication Inside the Navy reported in June that $43.4 million was being sought for pre-design work for the mini-sub that would provide 'improved performance' over ASDS."

This supposedly is in the 2010 budget.

So, the SEALS will remain wet for now.

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Abortion - more Facebook stupidity

I don't really like to start abortion debates here (they are good for the hit meter, but little else), but, when I posted over on Facebook about how abortions have declined for the last 8 years, and how public opinion is turning against the "choice" side, I got this reply (Facebook is not filled with the greatest debaters):

""Jay,,, since you stated about the great success regarding tighter state restrictions on abortion,,, giving kudos up to George Bush and pollsters,,, and overturning Roe,, within the next decade I am just wondering,,, how do you think Dr. Tiller's family is feeling right now?"

Ok, first, I did note as a success some reasonable restrictions states have been placing on abortions (mostly parental notification laws), and I didn't really give pollsters credit, I was referencing this May 15, 2009 Gallup (you may have heard of them) poll showing a 51%-42% Pro-life vs. Pro-Choice poll, putting the "Life" side ahead for the first time.

I am pretty sure (the whole thread is down now) I didn't suggest Roe would be overturned in the next decade (which it won't barring a GOP victory in 2012), but, I do think Roe's days are numbered, but that's for another post.

What really chaps me in this one, as you can probably guess, is the equation of someone being pro-life (as I freely admit I am), with being pro-murder, when the murder in question is of an abortionist.

I replied to the writer of this post that she was comparing apples to oranges, that my position is that murdering the practitioner of a practice that is legal in this country only serves to help the "choice" movement, as evidenced by this post, since it allows those on that side to try to draw these false moral comparisons, and the simpletons eat it up. Beyond that, to compare the heinous murder of one man, however wrong it is, with the genocide (and, that's what it is) of 30M plus children since 1973, is, well, somewhat one-sided.

The reality is that the murderer of Dr. Tiller should face the maximum penalty for what he has done - and he will. The murder of Dr. Tiller does nothing to help the pro-life cause. People who really want to see this practice eliminated need to protest peacefully, contact their elected representatives, and speak out on blogs, etc.

Regardless, the pro-life cause will eventually prevail because incremental steps will be taken to reasonably restrict abortion, technologies such as ultrasounds are changing people's conceptions of life, and science will eventually push that "viability" point so far towards conception that eventually many more than 51% of Americans will realize that this practice is morally reprehensible and will seek to outlaw it (with some exceptions that this society will be able to agree upon - thus keeping it safe, sometimes legal, and finally rare). Finally, it will happen because it is the right thing to do.

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Health Care Debate and Facebook

When you participate in Facebook, and people start political discussions (however benignly) on their sites, you run into real morons.

In a discussion about health care, this gem was a response to something I posted:

"nothing good comes easy,,, Obama and this administration will complete in some form a health care reform plan that was started by Hillary Clinton way back when Bill Clinton was in his first term. The folks on the hill basically threw Hillary under the bus. As they say, "well behaved women rarely make history". I have faith that we will have something,, people like me, uninsured, in our hands by August 8th. At the very least, we should have the same healthcare that we pay for for our congressmen & women to have."

First, this person is stuck under some kind of a rock, since Obama himself has backed off and now only wants something on his desk by the end of the year. It isn't going to happen by August 8th. Sorry.

I don't understand the Hillary references? Is she talking about 1994? I don't know where this person was in 1994, but Hillary pretty much handled the bus throwing on her own. Is she talking about 2008? I dunno...

I have to admit, I have never heard the phrase..."Well behaved women rarely make history." I'd counter and say Mother Theresa was well behaved, she made history (and Sainthood). But, maybe she's the exception. Again, I don't know where people get this stuff.

As for "the same health care that we pay for for our congressmen and women [can't leave out both sexes, that should tell you something about the poster] to have," hmmmmmmmmm, seems no one is proposing that for this go round. As I recall, the Republicans actually proposed that in 1994, but, Hillary was having none of it.

Finally, even if Obama had a bill on his desk on August 8th, most provisions of the House and Senate bills are not going into effect until 2013. Funny how that is AFTER the 2012 election cycle. Let's see, Obama declares victory before anyone actually gets to experience the program before his re-election year.

You see, this is just politics as usual, or, you could call it, "The Chicago Way."


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Indian SSBN: Pakistan Watch Out!

The Indians' new submarine, the INS Arihant (Sanskrit for "Destroyer of Enemies") is officially in the water.

This Telegraph article includes a nice little plan view of the submarine.

Some details:

• Will carry a 750km ballistic missile, with a 1500km planned range on the next generation
• 40% indigenous content (i.e. mostly Russian)
• Looks like 12 missile capacity, although some press reports said only 5 (maybe that's all India has in stock)
• One year until her reactor lights off

Welcome to the club, India!