murdoc online

MO now on MT

2003-12-07T16:59:00.000-05:00

I've been threatening for months, and now I've finally done it.

Murdoc Online is now located at WWW.MURDOCONLINE.NET

Please check out the new and improved MO, powered by Movable Type. Update your bookmarks. Tell all your friends.

This Blogger site will remain as it is, so all links will continue to be valid.

"Frequent Faller"

2003-12-06T20:57:00.000-05:00

'Trampled' Wal-Mart Shopper Has History Of Injury Claims

Donald Sensing points out a story which reveals that the woman trampled by a stampede at Wal-Mart has a long history of, well, that exact sort of thing.

"For several years, every time they do this, people get trampled," she said last week, adding, "I'm panicked. I'm afraid to go into any stores, especially Wal-Mart."

I can see why. Apparently she's like Simba in the middle of a Wildebeest riot every year the day after Thanksgiving.

It's not often I feel anything close to sympathy for Wal-Mart, but if these claims turn out to be accurate, they're not in the wrong this time.

Kirk vs. Piccard

2003-12-06T12:30:00.000-05:00

Trek Wars v1.0

A battle to the death. Worth a minute or two.

Dewey's Dead!

2003-12-06T09:09:00.000-05:00

Errant obit — ‘Gray Lady’ red-faced

The NYT published an obituary for Katharine Sergava, a 94 year-old actor and acting teacher. She performed in the original "Oklahoma", but I don't think we should hold that against her.

There was only one problem with the obituary. When contacted about the piece, the writer, freelance dance writer Jack Anderson, had this to say:

“My bio about Katharine was accurate,” he said. “What (makes the obituary) not accurate is that she is presumably still alive in a nursing home on Riverside Drive.”

(Emphasis mine.) Apparently fans and former students (she taught until a few months ago - wow) of Sergava were flocking to her Greenwich Village home to mourn her passing.

The Times claims that

it had based its account of the passing of Katharine Sergava on an account in the Daily Telegraph of London that ran on Nov. 29, but had neglected to attribute the British paper as the source of the obituary or independently confirm that Sergava had died.

The NYT story ran on Thursday. So they were five days late, didn't attribute the source, didn't fact-check, and were wrong.

But, hey, the Bio is right. And it's only a matter of time before the rest comes to pass, so to speak.

What idiots.

And did you notice that the writer said she's "presumably" still alive? It doesn't sound like he's fact-checked that, either.

What is this?

2003-12-04T12:32:00.000-05:00

Twisted History for today:

1912: War breaks out between the U.S. & Germany when Germans sink U.S. ships in Hawaii. War will last one week.

Did I miss something? What's up with Twisted History?

Gee, ya think?

2003-12-03T21:15:00.000-05:00

Boeing tanker plan requires fair deal

The Seattle P-I thinks that a "fair deal" is required for the lease/purchase of 767s for Air Force tankers.

Good call.

Taking time to re-examine the plan will serve the U.S. military, taxpayers and, ultimately, Boeing. Let's hope this ends up being the pause that informs -- and allows the 767 tankers to be built with confidence that everyone is receiving a fair deal.

Sounds awfully familiar. Hmmm.

Oh, I know. I said let's pause and reconsider. I compared it to an NFL referree looking at slo-mo and reverse-angle replays before making the final call.

In September.

That wasn't because I was a genius, folks. That was becasue IT IS COMMON SENSE.

Regular MO reades will know that the 767 tanker deal is near and dear to my heart. You can read more about it here, here, here, here, and here.

But all of a sudden, let's look at this deal again? Isn't it a little bit too late?

Two "heh"s

2003-12-02T20:03:00.000-05:00

This is in response to this. (via userfriendly.org via Musing)

Stryker with slat armor

2003-12-02T19:59:00.000-05:00

It's ugly, but the "cage" is designed to detonate RPG warheads before they reach the hull of the vehicle. We'll see. (via Strategy Page)

No blood for pipeweed

2003-12-02T11:21:00.000-05:00

This from The Scoop on MSNBC.com:

Viggo Mortensen continues his anti-war campaign. The “Lord of the Rings” star, in Brazil to promote “The Return of the King,” wore a “No More Blood for Oil” T-shirt, a source tells The Scoop

It reminds me of this, which included

Thousands of peace activists took to the streets of Minas Tirith and other cities of Middle Earth today to protest what they termed a rush to war with Mordor.

"We need more time for diplomacy," said a key member of the Middle-Earth Security Council, Saruman the White. "I am not convinced by the evidence presented by my esteemed colleague, Gandalf the Grey, or that the Dark Lord Sauron presents an imminent danger to the peoples of the West."

Life imitating satire. Again.

Seen while surfing

2003-11-30T19:27:00.000-05:00

If you can read this.. Thank a Teacher..If you can read this in English ..Thank a US Soldier

Lieberman on FoxNews Sunday

2003-11-30T11:54:00.000-05:00

At the end of an interview with Tony Snow, Joseph Lieberman said

I'd like to see something that we haven't seen in this country among a lot of people, and that is Economic Patriotism. Let's have some commitment to do what's right for the American economy, for American workers, for American businesses. That's something the law can't require, but any American who cares about our country ought to be supporting.

Lieberman also noted that this is Tony's last show. I don't know what the plan is at FoxNews, but I feel that Mr. Snow will be sorely missed.

Rolf Longenberger has entered the building

2003-11-30T01:13:00.000-05:00

While googling, I came across the Random Name Generator.

The random name generator uses data from the US Census to randomly generate male and female names. Use it for screenplays, fake id's, car rentals, pick-up lines, books, prank calls, movies. Give a random name to that special someone you meet at the bar.

You simply pick how obscure a name you want, choose how many returns you want, and click the button. Helpfully, if you click on the name it googles it for you. That way you don't accidentally give someone the name of the Sausage King of Chicago, I guess. Great fun.

Battlestar Galactica

2003-11-30T00:17:00.000-05:00

I just finished watching Battlestar Galactica: The Lowdown on the SciFi Channel. Not a bad behind-the-scenes show, and the upcoming mini-series doesn't look any more than half bad.

Yes, Starbuck is a girl. And so is Boomer. And so is one of the main Cylon characters. And so is the President of humanity.

Actually, are there any guys in the show? Besides Edward James Olmos as Commander Adama, all of the male characters seem to be at least potentially homosexual. When my wife said they made Starbuck a girl so that she could sleep with Apollo, I said maybe they made Starbuck a girl so Apollo couldn't sleep with her. Not fair to the actors or characters, I know. Sex looks to me a major story element here. We'll see.

From what I saw, the story is fairly dark, the dialogue is mediocre at best, and the special effects might be pretty good. It looks to have been shot in a semi-focused shaky cam manner, which might get annoying pretty fast. The sets look decent, especially for a television show. There seems to be quite a bit of actual stuff for the actors to interact with, like control screens and instrument panels, so hopefully the series won't suffer from blue-screen confusion. I feel that actors not being able to visualize their surroundings and really touch them is one of the biggest problems with CGI effects in movies today.

The Viper fighter, which I've always thought was totally bad-ass, appears mostly unchanged (although it looks a little plastic in this pic.) The way the space battles are fought, however, is quite a bit different. There is a lot more going on, and missiles seem to be a primary weapon, and anti-missile guns similar to the Navy's Phalanx CIWS are there to try and stop them. The laser fire from the Vipers looks like tracered cannon fire from today's aircraft. The Cylon ships all look quite a bit different, as do the Cylons themselves.

Richard Hatch, who played Apollo in the original series, was interviewed extensively during the show. He fought a long legal battle in an attempt to stop others from making a Battlestar Galactica while he tried to produce his own. He isn't very happy with the direction that the new series takes, but he's big enough to admit his personal bias and he claims that hopes to be able to get past his own disappointment and enjoy the new shows.

As a kid, I loved the original series. I was not really looking forward to this remake. But after watching this show on SciFi, I'm at least going to check out a few episodes of and give the mini-series a chance.

You say "Nev-a-dah", I say "Nev-ah-dah""

2003-11-28T12:43:00.000-05:00

Bush mispronounces Nevada in first presidential visit

This is absolutely awful. First "nuke-you-lur" and now this.

Nevada memo to George Bush: When making a first presidential visit to a state, use the right pronunciation of its name.

and, of course,

State Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, said the mispronunciation shows Bush, who won the state in the 2000 election, doesn't care much about the state.

I started this post with the intention of simply mocking the politicians who jump on this, mocking the people who think it really matter, and mocking the President for not watching his step since he knows folks are ready to point these missteps out and include them in next year's calanders.

But I was nearly finished when, on a whim, I looked up "Nevada" at m-w.com. What do you know...

Main Entry: Ne·va·da
Pronunciation: n&-'va-d&, -'vä-
Usage: geographical name
state W U.S. capital Carson City area 110,561 square miles (286,353 square kilometers), population 1,201,833
- Ne·va·dan /-'va-d&n, -'vä-/ or Ne·va·di·an /-'va-dE-&n, -'vä-/ adjective or noun

Notice the bold 'vä given as an alternate pronunciation. M-W notes

\ä\ as o in mop

For readers not sure how to pronounce "mop," you can also listen to the secondary pronunciation here.

What does this prove? Not much, really. The pronunciation the President used isn't "wrong," but it certainly is not the most common. (In fact, "nuke-you-lur" is given as the third of three accepted pronunciations for nuclear at m-w.com.)

Although I guess this sort of thing does kind of prove that the Dems are running out of stones to throw at Bush. They're probably keeping their fingers crossed on the economy, hoping it goes in the tank before next fall.

Clang!

2003-11-28T12:10:00.000-05:00

Junk Causes Noise at Space Station

Something apparently collided with the International Space Station yesterday. Space junk in orbit is a growing concern to manned and unmanned spacecraft. Let's hope the station really is as okay as they think it is.

Sold out

2003-11-27T11:39:00.000-05:00

Turkey & Gravy soda sells out in hours

The Turkey & Gravy soda from Jones Soda Co. sold out online in two hours. According to this MSNBC.com article

"To be honest, we really didn't think so many people would want it," said a Michelle Whitehead, marketing assistant at the Seattle-based premium soda company that has a reputation for quirky flavors.
Founder and CEO Peter van Stolk dreamed up the seasonal flavor on a lark, but admits he can't stomach an entire bottle.

and

Mary Turner, a radio DJ in Lansing, Mich., who is auctioning off a bottle for charity, has sampled the drink and warns that it's not for the faint of stomach: "If you roasted a turkey and mashed potatoes, put it in a blender, left it out for three days and then poured it into a Jones bottle, you'd know exactly what this drink tastes like!"

Yum.

Ebay has tons of it available. The bidding is hot. This tells me that there is too much money chasing too few quality goods and services.

Major "Huh?"

2003-11-27T00:54:00.000-05:00

LA County wants to eliminate computer 'master' and 'slave' labels

Los Angeles County has sent an e-mail memo to about 1000 vendors of computer and video gear asking them to eliminate the terms "master" and "slave" from its equipment because it may be offensive.

Offensive to people, I guess, and not to computer and video gear. Although that doesn't really seem to make much sense, either.

The news story, although in the San Fansisco Chronicle, appears to be true. Other sources also note it.

The county's 39 departments were told to identify equipment with offensive labels, a process that is continuing, and vendors were sent an e-mail indicating that the county will decide in the future how to handle the issue of offensive terminology.

"We're not telling manufacturers that you need to change this. We're looking at a strategy of how we can put some corrective measures," [Probation Office director Dennis A.] Tafoya said, adding that there was no timeline for making a decision.

I'll bet there isn't.

Regarding the offending videotape machine label, "we simply put tape over it and labeled it primary and secondary," Tafoya said.

But why isn't anyone jumping to the defense of that poor piece of video equipment which has been literally labeled as being "secondary" by a government official? And aren't the people who are secondary offended by being compared to a machine that is controlled by another machine?

UPDATE: Paul at All Agitprop comments and correctly categorizes this as "Random Idioting."

Marines on the move

2003-11-26T13:26:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the light posting this week. Here's a pic of Marine AAVP7A1s (Assault Amphibian Vehicle Personnel) from March during the early days of the Iraq campaign.

From a Russian gallery that includes a number of pics of destroyed US vehicles.

Active defense...now

2003-11-22T04:24:00.000-05:00

Expat Yank

This blog, which has been kind enough to link to MO, uses this quote from a September 11, 1941 radio address by FDR on its site:

Do not let us be hair-splitters. Let us not ask ourselves whether the Americas should begin to defend themselves after the first attack, or the fifth attack, or the tenth attack, or the twentieth attack. The time for active defense is now.

The address continued

Do not let us split hairs. Let us not say: "We will only defend ourselves if the torpedo succeeds in getting home, or if the crew and the passengers are drowned." This is the time for prevention of attack.

A google led me to this transcript of the address.

FDR, on a date which would live in infamy sixty years later, was discussing attacks on American ships by German U-boats. Since Pearl Harbor hadn't been attacked yet, we were not officially at war with anyone. We supported Britain, which had by then weathered the worst of the storm, but many Americans didn't want to get involved in what they perceived as a European war. I don't know when people finally admitted that it was actually a World War, but, by the fall of 1941, it seemed inevitable that the US would become directly involved in the war which was engulfing the globe.

Orders had been given to engage German submarines that threatened American ships, state of war or not. The knowledgeable will know that, even at Pearl Harbor, Americans struck the first blow. When a Japanese sub tried to sneak into the Harbor hours before the air raid began, a US destroyer sank it with gunfire.

Another quote from that address that I find interesting in relation to our current war is:

Instead, we Americans are taking a long-range point of view in regard to certain fundamentals and to a series of events on land and on sea which must be considered as a whole -- as a part of a world pattern.

It would be unworthy of a great Nation to exaggerate an isolated incident, or to become inflamed by some one act of violence. But it would be inexcusable folly to minimize such incidents in the face of evidence which makes it clear that the incident is not isolated, but is part of a general plan.

Those that claim our revenge for 9/11 should be satisfied choose to ignore attacks against us and our interests in the years and decades before that fateful day. There is a "general plan" at work against us and others who love freedom. How best to deal with it? Of course I'm more than willing to discuss political and cultural issues that may help defuse tensions. Pre-emptive war, with or without UN blessing, often won't solve anything.

But when you see a rattlesnake poised to strike, you do not wait until he has struck before you crush him.

Were we wrong to sink that Japanese sub before they attacked Pearl Harbor? What if we had accidentally found the Pearl Harbor strike force on their way to Hawaii? Would we have been wrong to attack them? What if we had found them in Japan practicing in earnest for the raid? Should we have waited until the first bombs fell to shoot back?

In all honesty, as horrible as the events of 9/11 were, I don't really liken them to Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor severely crippled our ability to defend ourselves from our enemies. A twenty-first century attack comparable to Pearl Harbor is almost beyond our comprehension. I don't think we can afford to wait until the threat is imminent.

Carry on. Crush the rattlesnake.

Perceptions of POTUS

2003-11-21T23:49:00.000-05:00

Memo: The Cowboy Way/Or That’s the Way They Do It In Texas

From: Sgt. Mom
To: Assorted European Intellectuals and Those Americans Who Wish They Were Also
Re: On Being Snookered by an Archetype

1. Really, people, I am getting the feeling that you have never paid attention to all those stories and jokes about smart, cosmopolitan types who ventured out into the sticks to patronize the local yokels and wound up loosing their shirts, or their wallets, or at least a couple of illusions regarding making an assumption about a person based on that persons’ dress, accent, and apparent class (or lack thereof) when said yokels out-slicked the city slicker.

Sgt. Mom at Sgt. Stryker's Daily Briefing makes some observations about perceptions of the US President and how they might not be true, no matter how much some wish they were. Check out the rest at the link above.

I've had a number of people express their desire for the administration to come right out and clearly define our position and plan for the War on Terror. Over the past couple of weeks a number of speeches by the President have done exactly what those folks asked, but the closest thing to an acknowledgement I've heard is that Bush has a good speech writer.

I'll be the first to admit that the President of the United States isn't a perfect leader of the free world. But this irrational hatred of Bush and his administration illustrates the Left's lack of perspective.

Just my opinion.

The Left can ignore it all they want. But, at this point, a best case scenario for their nominee is an American economy in shambles and a sudden, massive failure in Iraq.

When does the price become unbearable?

2003-11-21T16:02:00.000-05:00

A new thing in American history

Donald Sensing notes that today's military is both all-volunteer and mostly married. He notes a Rand Corp. study that observes

About half of the enlisted personnel considering whether to reenlist after the first term are married. By the end of the second term, this fraction is closer to three-quarters.

Mr. Sensing notes that the intense around-the-clock media coverage keeps us informed of each attack and American death almost as it happens, and that this saturation can greatly affect the personal feelings and attitudes of those with family or friends in the armed forces. When one death is front-page news, will the military be able to effectively prosecute this war?

Of course, every single death is unbearable for those that know and love the individual. Words about the greater good must sound pretty empty.

But what if aversion to death had kept us from doing the right things at Tarawa (noted in Mr. Sensing's post) or Normandy? Or Gettysburg? Our history is punctuated with events that cost America dearly in lives lost. More often than not, those events are the defining moments of American greatness and our willingness to stand against oppression and terror.

Mr. Sensing also notes the differences in killed and wounded rates for the 82nd Airborne Division during Normandy in 1944 and Panama in 1989.

The fatality rate [in Panama] was much, much lower, but the overall casualty rate was much higher. My basis of comparison was the number of wounded/killed per "soldier combat day." One soldier in combat for one day equals one SCD (works like man-hours). The division?s soldiers in combat in World War II suffered fewer wounded and killed per SCD than the division suffered per SCD in Panama. But medical care today is so much better that the number of KIA was proportionately much less.

Check it out.

Documented Bush-ism

2003-11-21T15:43:00.000-05:00

I believe the the "Three Pillars" speech at Whitehall Palace in London was very significant. While reading the transcript, however, I came across this:

"The second pillar of peace and security in our world is the willingness of free nations, when the last resort arrives, to retain* {sic} aggression and evil by force."

and the bottom of the page notes

* restrain

Well, there's one for the Leftist fun-pokers.

I'm just curious why so many of the other Bush-isms don't seem to have any legit documentation or supporting evidence at all. Is the vast Right-wing conspiracy really that powerful?

All you'll hear from me on this

2003-11-21T14:57:00.000-05:00

My only official statement on the Michael Jackson case is as follows:

I sincerely hope that he is sent to Guantanamo Bay and tried by a secret military tribunal.

That way we won't have to watch or listen.

Picking your friends

2003-11-21T11:36:00.000-05:00

Instapundit points out that 100,000 demonstrators marched in Berlin at the beginning of November to protest plans to cut welfare. He asks where the coverage was then. Although I don't really think comparison between media coverage of that and coverage of the marchers in London is all that relevant, I did notice this tidbit in the article he linked to:

Answering the call of labor unions and left-wing groups including the former East German communist party, a huge column of marchers snaked through downtown Berlin...

First of all, isn't the fact that labor unions and the former East German communist party are brothers in arms just a little telling? Shouldn't folks be embarrassed to be affiliated with them?

Second, why is it that so many times it turns out that large groups of demonstrators are aligned with Bolsheviks of some sort?

The tens of thousands

2003-11-20T16:39:00.000-05:00

Like Xenophon leading the remnants of the Ten Thousand through barren, hostile territory, anti-US demonstrators marched today through the streets of London with little hope for the future.

Well, okay. Not exactly like the Ten Thousand.

Predicted to top 100,000 members, the protestors number "at least 50,000" according to MSNBC.com. Other sources give varying numbers, with the largest estimate I've seen being 70-80 thousand. So tens of thousands.

Not bad, but not what they hoped for. Still, the believers had their chance to pull down a fake statue of Bush, and they could paint signs with blood-red letters and chant about Bush the Butcher. All this after a British bank and the British consulate were truck-bombed in Istanbul.

As marchers chanting "George Bush, terrorist" made their way through a business district, a few scuffled with three Bush supporters holding U.S. flags and a sign saying "support America." Police quickly intervened and bundled the trio into a nearby office building.
"I think it's a disgrace that these people are basically siding with Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida," said one of the three, Londoner Robert Temple. "Where were they when [former Romanian dictator Nicolae] Ceausescu came to town and why aren't they protesting against the people who blew up Turkey today?"

The peace lovers tried to beat up the alleged war-mongers? Nooooo. Say it ain't so. I imagine that the three pro-America demonstrators then called in a B-52 strike to wipe out some London orphanages in retaliation, right? Right?

Sorry.

So many of the anti-war types seem to feed off of the attacks and bombings against Allied troops and interests. They act like things are finally going their way. I don't understand it, and I know that not all those opposed to the invasion of Iraq feel that way, but it just makes me shake my head.

If anything, shouldn't truck bombings of banks and consulates steel our resolve? I think back to the early days of the Iraq campaign when a video of some US POWs was "leaked" to Arab television. The folks who are dissuaded by such things aren't committed to victory to begin with.

War is ugly. I would hope we don't wage war unless we need to, but I don't think we were at all out of bounds when we invaded Iraq. I can respect rational, objective opposition to our actions. However, most of those that are protesting in London aren't opposed to war. They're opposed to the Allies winning a war.

I know that the world isn't as clearly black-and-white as some claim it is, but those that oppose Allied victory are enemies of the Allied cause.

I just call 'em as I see 'em.

The crowds doth protest too little, methinks

2003-11-20T03:08:00.000-05:00

Basically zip today in London.

(And, to the Leftists who will be quick to point out that it wasn't really zip, I'll be quick to point out that correcting me by noting the hundreds that did turn up just proves my point.)

Expected to top 100,000 on Thursday, though. We'll see. I've certainly been expecting it, but after the pitiful showing today, I'm not so sure. And it's even a school day.

Blog alert

2003-11-20T02:26:00.000-05:00

Darren Kaplan was kind enough to point some folks in my direction. He also pointed out Dispatches, which I was unfamiliar with, and Blackfive--The Paratrooper of Love, which I have come across from time to time.

Blackfive--TPOL is covering the LTC West issue. Check out this and this, among others.

Dispatch not only linked to MO, calling it "charming," but Jackson Murphy has some great posts. I'll be heading there regularly. Check out

“The Three Pillars” President Bush in London on Bush's speech.
and/or
It’s certainly uncontaminated by protestors on the rather skimpy mass protests in the UK so far

The incestuous link circle grows...

You must read this!

2003-11-19T17:06:00.000-05:00

The Irrelevant Quagmire

Prof Hall at Spacecraft notes a commentary in the Roanoke Times, titled "The Relevant Quagmire: Russia in Afghanistan" that compares the Russian invasion of Afghanistan to the US invasion of Iraq.

I know the Left eats this stuff up, but it's really pretty silly. I understand that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I don't have time to listen to rhetoric that is either ignorant or dishonest. Most of the moral equivilance and the "why do they hate us?" thinking falls into both of these categories.

Give me a a little time and I could compare the Allied invasion of Iraq in 2003 to both the German invasion of Russia in 1941 and the Allied invasion of France in 1944. And nearly every other invasion of anyone by anyone in any year. But that wouldn't mean that my comparisons were fair, honest, or informative.

Prof Hall pastes the original column (since it doesn't have a permalink) and his letter to the editor in response to the commentary. I urge MO readers to head over and read entire. Especially those of you who go on and on about the American "empire."

Scrappleface reports on British peace demontrators

2003-11-19T16:49:00.000-05:00

U.K. Police Gear Up for Peace Protestor Terror

Once again, I'm left wondering if a Scrappleface story is satire or not.

"Little is more terrifying to police than mobs of people eager for world peace," said a spokesman for Scotland Yard. "They're a threat to elected officials and to life and property in general."

I mean, that's absolutely 100% true, isn't it?

Israeli F-16I - Made (and paid) in the USA

2003-11-19T16:20:00.000-05:00

Strategy Page points out that the first production LockheedMartin F-16I Soufa (Storm) has been completed in Texas.

102 of the two-seat all-weather fighter/bombers will be delivered to the Israeli Air Force over the next four years. A contract for 52 was added in September 2001 to an original 1999 deal for 50. At a total of around $4.4 billion, the fighters come in at a little more than $43 million each. (Compare that to around $250 million each for the F/A-22.) The production run is being financed by the US government as part of the normal multi-billion dollar military support we send in Israel's direction each year.

These fighters, developments of the F-16D Block 50/52, will sport quite a bit of Israeli electronics and removable conformal fuel tanks mounted above the wings along the fuselage. These tanks will extend the fighter's range without tying up two underwing hardpoints. Lybia and Iran will be within IAF range without refuelling. Also, advanced radar, navigation, and targeting systems make the F-16I the most advanced F-16 in the world. The new jets will replace aging A-4s and F-4s.

All in all, these fighters seem to be a good combination of capability and (relative) economy. Why the USAF isn't doing more along these lines baffles me. When making modifications to good existing designs gets you what you need, why spend billions developing all new aircraft? Especially when none of our potential enemies field anything resembling a formidable air force.

Also, isn't it maybe time that our military lifeline to Israel be cut? I'm reservedly supportive of Israel, especially since their enemies are currently our enemies. We don't want to see Israel overrun, but that really isn't a dangers these days. Why are we sending so much green their way? We've got a lot of stuff we need to buy for our own military, and our federal budget is not balanced.

Sell to Israel? Yes. Even give them a discount.

But why are we giving them stuff that we can't really afford to?

Final MOAB test

2003-11-18T21:10:00.000-05:00

U.S. to Test 'Mother of All Bombs' at Florida Base

The Air Force is going to conduct the final developmental test on the 21,700-pound, satellite-guided GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb this week. If the test is successful, the bomb will be made available for use.

Although the Reuters story claims the 1991 Gulf War occurred in 1992, MO readers all know better.

A friendly little reminder...

2003-11-18T15:51:00.000-05:00

Darren Kaplan points out a BBC story on some previous anti-war protests in London.

Organisers estimated that 100,000 had marched from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square for the event, although the police say the numbers were nearer 15,000.

(Note to protest organizers: Plan your marches, sit-ins, and traffic obstructions on WEEKDAYS instead of Saturdays. That way a lot of students will cut class to join the fun, regardless of your issue, and help your numbers tremendously. And, from what we've seen over the past couple of years, your numbers are in serious need of some tremendous help.)

Many protesters waved placards reading "Stop the War" and "Not in My Name" and a number of British Muslims held prayers for peace on mats placed on the ground.

Marches have taken place in Glasgow, Australia, western European capitals and even the US since the Allies' bombing campaign began.

The war being protested was the Afghanistan campaign in November of 2001. That's right, folks. Less than ten weeks after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, these types were "out in force."

And everything they and their kind said back then has come to pass, right? Waves of terrorist attacks across the globe? Thousands of dead Allied troops? Slaughter of tens of thousands of innocents. Installation of draconian governments even more feudal and oppressive than those we deposed? Rape and pillage of the countryside?

I mean, we haven't even added any stars to the US flag yet.

One prediction, though, turned out to be more or less accurate.

"Our campaign will not end until the war ends and Britain and the US stop the bombing."

Although the greater war goes on, the bombing DID stop.

'V' for peace. Peace through victory.

Kaplan points out

[The earlier protests are] Just something to keep in mind when media commentators solemnly explain that the anti-Bush demonstrations we are going to see in London this week are the result of George W. Bush squandering the world's post 9-11 sympathy for the U.S. by going to war with Iraq.

Apparently, not everyone was sympathetic to begin with. Also apparently, those that make the decisions didn't care. Good.

Nanotech Armor For HMMWV

2003-11-18T10:45:00.000-05:00

A post today on Strategy Page points out that some experimental nanotechnology armor for Humvee turrets is being fielded in Iraq for testing.

Because of its light weight construction, you cannot put a turret on a Humvee that weighs more than 400 pounds. Armor, even Kevlar fiber armor, can only provide so much protection within the 400 pound limit. But an experimental (meaning very expensive to manufacture) nanotech armor was used to construct a 200 pound armor turret that can stop 12.7mm (.50 caliber) bullets.

The turret is called the SAG (Save A Gunner) turret and it mounts on the existing turret rings for Humvees. The nanofiber armor is over 100 times stronger than steel. The goal of the tests is more to see how the material holds up in the field than to see how it performs against enemy fire. As Strategy Page points out, live fire testing is more safely performed on the firing range.

A quick google turned up this March Yahoo! News story on najaco.com.

The S.A.G.(TM) Turret weighs less than 200 pounds and offers rapid rotational capability. Traditional armored turrets are far too heavy and impede a gunner's ability to effectively and rapidly rotate the turret during battle situations. The S.A.G.(TM) Turret is approximately 4 feet in diameter, is designed to interface precisely with military HMMWV rotating turret rings and can be installed by two people in less than one hour using common hand tools.

The S.A.G.(TM) Turret, made primarily of USGA's proprietary G-Lam(TM) nano-fiber material, is designed to be impervious to petroleum distillates and to maintain performance at temperatures in excess of 400 degrees Fahrenheit. In one test using 7.62 cal ammunition, six successive strikes in the same spot did not penetrate the armor, outperforming ceramic faceplates in conventional composite systems.

I also found this story on MilitaryCity reporting on some live fire tests carried out at this summer's Shootout at Blackwater.

The original plan was to shoot the ring with various ammo types but, considering the cost of fabricating the device, company officials wisely decided to offer up 12-inch plates of the material for the evaluation. The 1.25-inch-thick plates are formed from a G-Lam/ceramic composite.

With the plates propped up in front of a target stand, a CheyTac marksman loosed a .408 round (419 grains/2,950 fps) from a distance of about 50 yards. The round punched through the plate.

The LeMas team then decided to see what its .300 WinMag HAARP round (130 grains/3,700 fps) could do: It, too, tore through the plate.

It's a distinct understatement to say that the representatives from Global Nanospace were surprised by the effects of the CheyTac .408 and the RBCD .300 WinMag on their plates. But most observers realized that the terminal effects of both these rounds are different from those produced by NATO-standard .50-caliber ball ammo. Acknowledging that fact, we later rounded up some .50-caliber ammo and put it through an FNH Hecate II from 100 yards away. To the relief of the Global Nanospace folks, their heavier (1.4-inch-thick) panel withstood the impact of all three rounds.

So it appears that the nanotech armor isn't perfect, anyway. Still, I commend the military for trying out the new armor in Iraq. Hopefully, enough will be learned to help improve the armor and to allow planners to make an informed decision about buying and using the material.

Love that free press!

2003-11-17T23:52:00.000-05:00

Yahoo! News Photo of US troops in Baghdad, Nov 17, 2003

Members of the 82nd Airborne take a break and one shares his true feelings.

Did EVERYONE really miss that before it went live on the 'net? (via LGF via Spacecraft)

More whackos?

2003-11-17T11:53:00.000-05:00

I imagine that most, if not all, MO readers check out Instapundit. In case you don't, he points out a great post on Random Nuclear Strikes covering a PRO-troop rally staged in Seattle, WA. From what I hear from someone who lives in the region, the area is fairly liberal. Not In Our Name planned an anti-war demonstration in response to the news that around 3000 National Guard members would be reporting for duty on Saturday.

Reportedly, about 30 NIONers showed up (apparently late) and were stunned to find over 1000 supporters (of the troops, of our policy, or of both) lining the exit from I-5 to the National Guard base. They massed on some overpasses so that their flags and signs of support would be visible to the troops as they arrived for duty. There were around 4000 supporters according to this TribNet story.

The post at RNS has a series of great photos covering the event. Check it out.

What does this tell us? Well, for one thing it illustrates clearly that the "organizations" like Not In Our Name and ANSWER are having trouble rallying the masses. When a couple of bloggers and a bunch of patriotic folks can outnumber the career protesters 100-to-1, it says something. And it is certainly easier to be motivated to demonstrate against a war than for a war. Stating support for our action in Iraq is very easily portrayed by opponents as support for death and destruction. Then the end-and-means people will sadly shake their heads and sigh "Is anything really worth doing if it takes a war to do it?" Never mind for a moment that support for troops doesn't necessarily (and often doesn't) mean support for war. If most people really thought our means didn't justify the end we seek, wouldn't the anti-war crowd have more members?

Contrast this turnout in Seattle with the "huge" rallies organized by the anti-war types that turn out hundreds or a few thousand protesters in Washington, DC or in San Francisco. 4000 pro-troop demonstrators in the Conservative heartland is one thing. In mostly-liberal Seattle it's something completely different.

This doesn't really "prove" anything. But it does seem to disprove the claim that the anti-war activists represent the silent majority.

Our own worst enemy?

2003-11-15T14:45:00.000-05:00

While trying to at least not lose all contact with the world around me, I came across this item on Instapundit. Reynolds points out a Media Research Center CyberAlert that highlights a series of Hardball stories by Bob Arnot which portrays the situation in Iraq as being different than what we see in Al Jazeera, the BBC, and most US media.

"American G.I.s swarmed by friendly children, who want to speak English and love the Americans and their President for cleaning up their streets, providing clean water, opening the schools. They meet with cooperative village leaders, keeping the banks up and running, and get regular leads on who the bad guys are."

Now, I'm sure that there are two sides to the story. The problem I have with most big media coverage is that they absolutely focus on the negative aspects of the story, and don't give fair time to the positives. Then, when someone DOES highlight a positive event, they're often portrayed as pro-Bush cheerleaders. Since there's so little other positive coverage to provide a context for any positive story, the cheerleader accusations seem sensible to many.

Do the stories of our problems and setbacks in Iraq need to be told? Absolutely, they do. But why is it only hard-hitting journalism when bashing the US effort? Why is it only telling the whole story when focusing on the bad? Why is anyone who questions those who question our progress naive simpletons?

And I personally know liberals who insist that the media sucks up to the Bush administration.

On the road again

2003-11-13T16:06:00.000-05:00

I'm traveling AGAIN. This time to Colorado.

Intermittent blogging for the next ten days.

Correction

2003-11-12T22:33:00.000-05:00

Chinese Defence Today: J-8 Fighter

A search engine hit looking for "f-8 crusaders for sale" brought someone to MO earlier today. Although I think that the F-8 Crusader is one bad looking jet, I didn't recall ever posting about it. So I decided to look into it.

Turns out that back in April, I, for some unknown reason, seemed to think that the Chinese F-8 fighters involved in the spy plane incident back in March of 2001 were actually old Crusaders. Why I thought that, I don't know.

In any event, they were not American-built fighters acquired from us or from someone who acquired them from us. F-8 is our designation for the Chinese J-8 fighter. Click the link for info.

China's F-8

Our F-8 (In French Colors)

Somebody kick me.

Looks a little creepy

2003-11-12T13:01:00.000-05:00

Image of the Day

Paul at All AgitProp notes this Reuters image of a US Navy oiler waiting to be scrapped in Britain. Take a quick look.

UPDATE: Paul comments that I called it a "UN Navy oiler" instead of a "US Navy oiler." I had done so, and now I've corrected it.

You've got to admit that it's at least a little understandable, though. When the United Nations needs troops or a navy, who gets the call?

How'd they get a camera into the MO offices?

2003-11-12T12:23:00.000-05:00

Chicken Hawk Down

(via Sgt. Stryker)

M1 Pics Removed from SP

2003-11-12T12:08:00.000-05:00

The pictures of the M1 tank destroyed by anti-tank mines have been removed from Strategy Page because they are classified. MO didn't save copies, and would not make them available if it did.

Apparently, though, the picutes of the mystery projectile penetration aren't classified. Weird.

Update to The Saudis

2003-11-11T20:30:00.000-05:00

James Rummel at Hell in a Handbasket (which has been one of MO's biggest supporters by the way) linked to my earlier post about desperate terrorists and called it "a different take on the situation." Although I don't agree 100% with the point that the terrorists are getting desperate, I felt that I should clarify my position a bit.

I wrote in his comments

Let's just say I'm cautious. Born a skeptic, and all. Thanks for your support. It's appreciated.

and

Actually, I think ALL of the terrorist attacks have a certain desperation about them. Suicide bombing a checkpoint or attacking a tank with a machine gun and a pick-up truck certainly has an air of desperation about it, doesn't it? Regular guys, or even regular Iraq Army types, don't attack United States soldiers if they aren't desperate.

However, I'm hesitant to think the recent bombings are any more desperate than previous attacks. I'm just not quite ready to figure that we've turned some sort of corner here. That's all.

As a matter of fact, a corner may have been turned a while back when more and more foreign terrorists began entering Iraq to attack our troops. Attacks on UN and Red Cross facilities aren't carried out by warriors who think they're doing well.

What I'm not ready to accept, though, is that we should claim we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe we think we can, but at this point we shouldn't be making a big deal out of it. If we're close to pacifying the country, that's great. When the attacks slow to a trickle, everyone will know. But what if attackers keep up their current pace, or even increase? Then we'll just look back at any proclamations of victory as errors, or worse, as lies.

How many times has the media announced some statistic measured in reference to when Bush landed on that carrier and announced the end of major combat? We don't really need another event like that at this point, do we?

I think, overall, that we're continuing to make headway in Iraq. And few have mentioned that, in some areas at least, patrols and security were relaxed a little due to Ramadan. This could explain at least some of the increased bravery of our enemies. Still, our adversaries remain tenacious, cunning, and well-armed. I'd rather we announce things are going to get worse and be mistaken than announce they're about to improve a week before everything goes to hell in a, um, handbasket. (Sorry, James. Couldn't resist.)

And as for the Saudis, who were the original subject of my original post, I remain convinced that Mr. Rummel is 100% dead on target when he says "Until the money is shut off there won't be any real change."

Bullseye.

Worth a couple of minutes

2003-11-11T17:07:00.000-05:00

Guess the Dictator or Sit-Com Character

This thing is 3 for 3 against me.

"People don't use nickels enough"

2003-11-11T15:55:00.000-05:00

Mint unveils new nickel design

I'm trying to figure out if this is a serious story or not. It's about the new designs for the back of the nickel, and it's just plain bizarre. Here is some of the "news" quotes about this subject from Floridatoday.com:

Businesses and consumers said it's good the nickel -- the penny's big brother and dime's bulkier cousin -- is getting a face-, er, tail-lift, because it is a highly undervalued and unappreciated member of the coin family.
"People don't use nickels enough," she said. "I think it's because it's just as easy to get five pennies out of your pocket. But, with a new nickel, everyone would want one. It was time for a change."
Sandie Leonard routinely uses excess change -- including nickels -- to grab some handfuls of goodies at Candy Candy.
Nickels are a necessity at Candy Candy, said Kayte Van Dyne, the store's assistant manager. She said so many people need change with their confections, she keeps an extra store of hard currency in the back. "That way, if we ever need more change, we can go to the back and get it," she said. "People use change to buy candy all the time."
On the new nickel, Van Dyne had to admit, "I think it's cool," but she had hoped the front of the coin was changed as well. "I am tired of seeing dead presidents on our money. I am over it," Van Dyne said.
"They [nickels] are nice and fat," she said, adding that pennies should be "done away with and dimes always fall because they are littler."
Gary Overton, owner of The Coin Shop in Satellite Beach for the past 14 years, is not a fan of the nickel himself, saying, "It's a waste to even have them. What are they good for?"
But he said new coins "enthuse collectors because we have the most-boring money in the world. Before, we had artistic money -- Liberty with flowing hair. Now, it's all politicians."
Nickels weren't always so scoffed at, said Kay Decker, a retiree living in West Melbourne.

(I just realized that I cut and pasted over half of the article.)

What kind of "news" is this? Is it me, or is this totally nuts? I mean, the nickel " highly undervalued and unappreciated member of the coin family"? Undervalued?

Isn't it still worth five cents?

It's money folks. I've got nothing against the new design. But this is just the weirdest news story I've ever read.

Maybe it's just me.

Compared to this, the Scrappleface story that tipped me off seems to be perfectly reasonable.

The Saudis

2003-11-11T13:34:00.000-05:00

LILEKS GOT IT WRONG

James Rummel over at Hell in a Handbasket points out a James Lileks post about the recent bombing in Saudi Arabia. Lileks writes

"And it would seem to be an act of audacious stupidity by Al Qaeda – this isn’t just biting the hand that feeds them. This is biting it, tearing it off, chewing it up, and blowing smoke rings with the bone powder.

"And it makes me wonder: They stick the shiv in the ribs of their richest and most enthusiastic backers.

"What makes them this confident?"

Rummel responds with

It's not confidence. It's desperation. It's crunch time. It's "use it or lose it" for the terrorists. Or at least a faction of them.

Those of us interested in military and law enforcement matters have known that the Saudis have been cracking down on al Queda for awhile now, but they've never really been all that serious about it. As Winds of Change points out, there's been all sorts of gun battles between the police and the terrorists inside Saudi Arabia of late, but none of the real support for the organization has been touched. Until the money is shut off there won't be any real change.

This is a great point. I'm not totally convinced that the bombing was an act of desperation, but I'm open to the possibility. And I'm not at all convinced that Saudi Arabia is really acting like a friend of ours. Their efforts to cut down on terrorism funding and other support in their country haven't really impressed me yet.

I'm open to the idea that the lack of serious pressure from us may be due to behind-the-scenes negotiating, though. Maybe we've allowed them to publicly hem and haw while they work to get their house in order. We have a serious interest in that black liquid they're sitting on top of, and I'm sure that we don't want to risk upsetting them too much. (You're either FOR us or AGAINST us in this war. Unless you've got proven oil reserves. Then it's negotiable.)

I do hope this bombing is a sign of desperation. I do hope that the Saudis begin cooperating in earnest. But I'll believe it when I see it. Like Mr. Rummel says, "Until the money is shut off there won't be any real change."

Incidentally, I haven't seen any claims that the CIA planted the bomb to nudge the Saudis and to keep everyone afraid. Weird. Someone must be slipping.

Bad news for the MIC

2003-11-11T12:59:00.000-05:00

Bunker Buster Nuke Funds Cut

DefenseTech pointed out last week that funding for the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP) has been cut in half. The weapon is a nuke-u-ler bomb designed to penetrate and take out buried, hardened bunkers. And caves, I imagine. The sorts of places where the leaders of our enemies spend a lot of their time.

It just occurred to me today that this is a double whammy for everyone's favorite Military-Industrial Complex. Not only do they not get to research and build the bombs, but they also lose the potiential business of building RNEP-resistant bunkers for our enemies or rebuilding the enemy bunkers our RNEPs might have taken out.

Bummer.

Let's see a list!

2003-11-11T12:52:00.000-05:00

1,300 reservists allege job discrimination after demobilization

Phil Carter at Intel Dump points out a report in the WaPo.

About 1,300 National Guardsmen and reservists filed complaints with the Labor Department in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, saying they suffered discrimination at work when they returned to their regular jobs after their tours of duty, government officials said. It couldn't be learned whether any were returning from Iraq.

This is a DISGRACE.

Let's see a list of offending companies. The article mentions the El Paso County Sheriff's Office in Colorado, Stevens Transport Inc., a Dallas-based trucking firm, and Pert Andreassi Construction Management in New York.

I'm not suggesting that we just go out and raise hell about this right now. First, let's make sure that the companies acted improperly. If they did, let's just go out and raise some hell. A boycott of some American companies by angry Americans, for instance, would have a far greater effect than calling those little potato things you get with your burger "freedom fries."

Carte notes

At the end of the day, our soldiers pay a heavy price for their decisions to serve in the military, especially those with jobs in the private sector. If we want reservists who are able to make a good living as civilians and serve their country as part-time warriors, we need to take a hard look at these legal protections and see if they need adjustment for today's reservists. The laws were written at a time when a major mobilization was only expected in the case of another world war -- that's no longer the case. Today's reservist must live with constant mobilizations, and I think these legal protections are probably insufficient for that situation.

As they say...Indeed. Very Indeed.

How many Polish nationals does it take to unscrew a lightbulb?

2003-11-11T12:17:00.000-05:00

Six. (One to cut the power to the entire city, one to blow the main bridge, one to call in the air strike, and three to organize resistance among the partisans. At this point you're basically buggered.)

MO is a big fan of the Polish GROM special forces units. They quietly played a part in the invasion of Iraq, capturing an oil rig in the early days of the campaign.

As they advanced towards the rig's control centre, it was far from clear if Saddam would use chemical weapons or even if the platform itself was a booby-trapped.

"Suddenly an old telephone we passed on the platform began to ring. We held our breath thinking the ringer could be a fuse mechanism for a bomb," recalled an officer who took part in the mission.

"After a few rings it went quiet. Probably a wrong number," said the 31-year-old commando from his base on Poland's Baltic Sea coast.

GROM troopers also helped clear the port of Umm Qasar, captured a key dam, and took part in the hunt for Saddam. Poland had wanted to keep its combat participation in Iraq quiet, but was forced to admit that it was kicking some serious ass when a few GROM troopers showed up in news photos.

I'm a little unclear about the current status of GROM units in Iraq. I thought that I had read earlier that they all were back home. A Reuters story last Friday indicates that they're still hunting the Big 'S', but the entire story is a verbatim copy of a the SwissInfo story I linked to above the quote. The SwissInfo story is dated last Thursday, but the byline indicates it's from July. I believe that I've read the story before, but I cannot be certain. Yahoo!UK-Ireland also carries the story with a recent date. I'm not sure what's going on.

In any event, the GROM forces were a welcome addition to the allied army and have earned themselves a reputation for being serious, skilled professionals.

Strategy Page has a post (11/11 entry) about the GROM forces.

GROM members tend to be older than the average soldier, the average age being closer to 30 than 20. Applicant must speak at least two foreign languages and be in above average physical shape. The training program takes about three years and is said to cost close to a million dollars per trainee.

GROM troops operate in four man cells, which is patterned after the British SAS. A lot of their work is done in civilian clothes and it is believed that the female members do most of their work in reconnaissance and stake outs.

Yeah. And if you get the bounce on one of those girls they probably kill you DEAD in about three seconds.

The SP post points out that there are political problems surrounding the unit. Although they are definitely a military-type unit, they report to Poland's Interior Ministry, not the Ministry of Defense. There have been some attempts to break GROM up, but they are becoming too good and well-known to do that now. Good. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I think Poland is an important ally of ours, and I think they will be for years to come. I think they understand some things about the world that many others choose to ignore, and they appreciate many things about the world that some others take for granted.

Also check out this excellent Weekly Standard piece on GROM. I've linked to it before, but it's worth pointing out again.

And here's a big page on FreeRepublic with a ton of pics.

Sign of the times? Or of Big Brother?

2003-11-10T13:04:00.000-05:00

School drug raid causes uproar

If you haven't seen the video of the big drug raid at the Goose Creek, SC, high school, you should check it out at the link above. I don't know how long it will be available.

Police officers, guns drawn, line up students face-down and search them. What appear to by school officials look on as officers, some with dogs, make their way down the line.

The principal, George McCrackin, received "tips" from "informants" that campus drug dealers might be armed. He has a vast network of surveillance equipment available to him. They've been working the case for weeks. Despite the sensationalism, the bust went off without a hitch. Only one problem. (Wait for it!)

No drugs were found. (badda-boom.)

Is this school an example of George Orwell's 1984 coming to pass? Maybe. But how often do we hear complaints that school officials are clueless about what happens in their halls? Is this perhaps just the world we live in today? In any case, the row of computer monitors, each with sixteen camera images on the screen, creeps me out. And when does tattling on fellow students cross the line from "neighborhood watch" to "informing?" I believe that these are very difficult issues, but issues that need to be discussed.

Was the way police conducted the raid overkill? Looking at the results, of course it was. But what if there had been armed dealers who were prepared to fight? What if a police officer and three bystander students were killed, along with three drug dealers, in a surprise shoot-out? Wouldn't police then be questioned about why they didn't use more force to prevent such an event from beginning?

Or should using police to raid schools be forbidden? There are so many things that can go wrong, and so many children that could be caught in the middle of a bad situation, that maybe they should be outlawed. But how, then, do you get the bad guys?

And have no doubt that there are bad guys in school. Every school. Do the particular dealers that McCrackin and the police were after last week exist? I don't know. But to imagine that there are no drugs in that school, or in any school anywhere, is simply ignorant.

There's suspicion that the dealers were tipped off about the raid by informants of their own. Bad guys are, by definition, bad. They are often very smart and usually very clever. The dumb ones don't generally last very long.

Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit himself, writes about this issue on his MSNBC page.

There seem to be two possibilities here. Either the situation at Stratford High School is just as bad as Principal McCrackin and the police think, in spite of stormtrooper tactics and Big Brother surveillance, or it's not. If it is that bad, well, I certainly wouldn't want my kid going there. And if it's not that bad, but the police and principal are too stupid, or too power-drunk, to admit it, well, then I wouldn't want my kid going there either.

He notes that this event could helps those who support private schools or vouchers, which would allow parents to move their kids to a less dangerous school, and homeschoolers, who dispense with school altogether. I agree in principle, but I'm not sure that school choice will make a big impact overall. Wherever you go, especially if there's money to be made, you will have this sort of problem. At home, homeschool parents have a gigantic amount of control and non-intrusive supervision/surveillance, but that simply isn't an option for everyone. And even if it was, not all homeschool parents are created equal. I support both school-choice and the homeschool concept, but not primarily because I worry about this type of situation.

I hope I'm not making too big of a comparison when I bring up the WMD hunt in Iraq. When you look at it, this situation is remarkably similar to what has transpired in the Middle East. Like Principal McCrackin, we are absolutely sure in our minds that the bad guys had stuff that they weren't supposed to have. We have a lot of evidence to back those beliefs up. But when the troops move in with weapons drawn, we get nothing at all and some of the leading bad guys are still at large. Does that mean that intelligence was wrong and there wasn't any bad stuff? I don't think so. Does that mean that we have to stop trying to get the bad guys since they're so damn sneaky that we'll never catch them red-handed? I don't think so. Does that mean that we're going to have to do a better job getting our facts straight, formulating a workable plan, and use force only when there's no other way? I certainly hope so.

Like Iraq, I don't think inspections for drugs at the high school in South Carolina would have worked. Sure, they would have rounded up a few things every now and again, but overall they would have failed miserably. Force is one way, and often the only way, to deal with some situations. But there are a lot of other options available most of the time and I hope that the decision makers, whether in the White House, Langley, VA, or in principal's offices across the nation, work hard to make the right call at the right time.

That being said, I'm not sure how changing the Pledge of Allegiance is going to solve anything.

Give me a break

2003-11-10T09:11:00.000-05:00

Whine of the week

Kellen Winslow, Jr., the University of Miami star tight end, leveled two Tennessee players on one play during Miami's loss to the Volunteers. When one of the players, injured, did not get up right away, Winslow stood over him and taunted him. When asked about his actions after the game, Winslow explained

"It's war."..."They're out there to kill you, so I'm out there to kill them. We don't care about anybody but this U. They're going after my legs. I'm going to come right back at them. I'm a ... soldier."

Huh?

I commend his commitment to his team and to his school, but to compare a football game to a war is either ignorant or just plain dishonest.

I'm not sure what the elipsis represents, though. Does it mean he paused (either for dramatic effect or because he forgot the word 'soldier') or does it represent edited words? For all we know from this story, the last sentence of the quote could have been "I'm a humble American who has a great deal of respect for those overseas fighting so that I can go to college and prepare to play NFL football for millions of dollars per year instead of being a soldier." Doesn't seem likely, though.

The comparison to war reminds me of a New York Giants player, before the championship game against Buffalo in 1991, who said of the troops who were building up in Saudi Arabia to attack Iraq and free Kuwait, "They've got their war. We've got ours." I don't recall who the player was that said that, and a quick search returned nothing, but it has stuck in my mind ever since.

I always find it a more than a little offensive when someone says "I feel like I've been through a war" after a bad day or "Of course, you know this means war" after someone gets a practical joke played on him. Thankfully, the vast majority of us have never experienced war, so we can at least be forgiven for our ignorance. I'm thankful for mine. But we've all seen the first thirty minutes of Saving Private Ryan, haven't we? I don't know anyone who's had a day at the office that was that bad. War metaphors can have their uses, but they are over-used, especially in the world of sports. And if you use them while there are actually some of your countrymen overseas fighting an actual war, they are particularly appalling. Even more so when used to explain actions of questionable sportsmanship.

The best thing I can say about Kellen Winslow, Jr. today is that I was a big fan of his dad.

Smithereens

2003-11-09T22:49:00.000-05:00

Anti-Tank Mines Destroy M1A1 in Iraq

Click the link for an incredible series of photos of the M1 tank destroyed by anti-tank mines on October 28th. Two US tankers were killed and another wounded in the incident.

ROTK is the only hope

2003-11-09T20:57:00.000-05:00

I haven't seen Matrix: Revolutions, yet. I'm a lukewarm fan, at best, of the series. What I hear about the final film seems to confirm my concern that all the hoopla about the supposedly deep philosophical, quasi-religious subtext of the movies is basically so much bullshit. Still, I'll see it in the theater if the opportunity arises. Maybe in the IMAX.

Despite this, when the opportunity arose, I instead chose to see Alien, the redone Ridley Scott classic. As I passed the screen for Matirx: Revolutions, I questioned my decision to see a 24 year-old film that I've watched dozens of times.

By the time the trailers were over, I remembered. Nothing, not even the Aliens Vs. Predator, made me sit up and say "Wow! I want to see that movie." At least I got to see a stuntman explain how movie piracy hurts his feelings.

Filmgoers should make a tear-jerker spot about how every time they plunk down eight bucks for American Wedding vs. Evil Dead II they get ripped off.

Can you believe they spend money to make all these crap films?

I'm just asking.

Yah! Mule!

2003-11-09T12:26:00.000-05:00

(from Marshall Ramsey)

Good call, Juan

2003-11-09T12:11:00.000-05:00

Juan Williams, this morning on FoxNews Sunday, notes that he is afraid that the latest terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia may "spread to Iraq and potentially spread to other parties in the Middle East, and therefore destabilize the entire region."

Is this guy kidding?

Does he really believe that there's any chance terrorism may "spread" into Iraq and other parties in the region?

He's right on the money, I guess. But his timing is a bit off. By about ten centuries.

"It's a shock and a disgrace"

2003-11-08T12:40:00.000-05:00

U.S. baseball team fails to qualify for Athens

Mexico beat Team USA, currently comprised mostly of minor leaguers, eliminating us from the qualification tournament.

There was a chance that Roger Clemens may have pitched for us in the 2004 Athens games.

The US team had gone 3-0 in pool play, and Mexico had been 0-3 and only advanced to the tournament when the Bahamas forfeited by not showing up for their game.

Tommy Lasorda, the manager of our 2000 gold medal team, said this is a "shock and a disgrace."

Other, however, weren't so concerned.

"We lost a game. I don't think it's a setback for U.S. baseball," said Sandy Alderson, an executive vice president in the commissioner's office and the top American official with the team.

In my humble opinion, Mr. Alderson is confused. If he's spinning, he should be a politician. Or a Pentagon spokesman. This is a major blow to US baseball internationally speaking.

However, I expect that the Major Leagues will manage to unilaterally crawl on somehow.

Twisted History strikes again

2003-11-08T11:55:00.000-05:00

Urban Legends Reference Pages: Questionable Quotes

As usual, the Twisted History feature on my sidebar has a Bushism today, this one the "Do you have blacks, too?" question to Brazilian president Cardoso in 2001.

And, as usual, I've had problems finding anything to back it up on sites other than www.IF-ingHateDubYa.com. I did, however, find a Snopes page on the incident.

This items sounds like, at best, a second-hand account recounted months after the fact, one which to many seems a little too perfectly ironic in that, of all the people present at the meeting, it has Condoleezza Rice intervening and fixing up Bush's embarrassing inquiry (a black woman with superior knowledge coming to the aid of a "racist" white man in trouble). It's also more than a bit reminiscent of a joke told about Vice-President Dan Quayle in 1989: that Quayle said, "I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret I have was that I didn't study Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people." (The essence of the joke was soon put into Quayle's mouth when it quickly mutated into a claim that he actually had said those words, and the joke has been widely cited as a "real" quote ever since).

Snopes classes this one as "undetermined."

As I've said before, those in the public spotlight (like the rest of us) are bound to slip up from time to time, and in situations where miscues make the headlines and potentially insult or embarrass many. I'll even grant that the President isn't a very skilled public speaker, especially when not reading from a script. But all of these unsubstantiated Bushisms aren't any more useful to anyone than poking fun at Al Gore for claiming to have invented the internet is. This isn't the first time I've had problems with the otherwise enjoyable daily rundown.

Twisted History feature: In or Out? Comment in the comments.

Just overheard on the "Lilo & Stitch" cartoon

2003-11-08T11:36:00.000-05:00

"Lies? Lies are holding civilization together."

My kids are watching it. Really.

UPDATE: This episode also settles the gender of the one-eyed alien friend of Lilo and Stitch. He's apparently a he, which is something that I've never been real clear on. I guess he's the "Kilnger" of the series.

“Quite frankly, we are very disappointed.”

2003-11-08T10:20:00.000-05:00

Texas cops catch fish, not terrorists

Five Austin, TX, police officers have been disciplined for going fishing instead of guarding a nuclear power plant against possible terrorist attack. A lieutenant and a sergeant, plus three others were suspended from 1 to 30 days. An additional sergeant was not suspended for failing to report the others, as he's appealing his punishment. (This Yahoo! News story says it is the lieutenant who's appealing his suspension.)

Most of the officers were part of the department's Homeland Defense Unit. And this wasn't a one-day excursion to take advantage of some particularly good weather. The fishing had been going on regularly for up to a year.

Police cited a number of department violations, including continuing to fish after being ordered to stop and instructing plant security guards to allow fellow officers onto the facility to fish.

[Assistant Police Chief Rick] Coy said homeland security assignments will now be rotated to prevent similar incidents.

Doing it in the first place is bad enough. Continuing to do it is worse. To persist even after discovered and ordered to stop is unbelievable. And for all that, they get suspensions of up to 30 days.

The lesson here is: while defending America's homeland, only commit dereliction of duty until caught and ordered to stop; if you continue to do so you will be suspended for several weeks, mister.

How do you like them apples?

And I'm sure that the rest of the department is glad to see that homeland security assignments are going to be rotated. I'd be interested to see if there's been a run on fishing rods around Austin lately.

Church sign generator

2003-11-07T16:45:00.000-05:00

Build your very own. (via J-Walk Blog)

Adam Smith Institute doesn't seem to be a satire site

2003-11-07T13:10:00.000-05:00

Deserting desert?

Apparently, Saudi Arabia is afraid that it is going to run out of sand. According to BBC.CO.UK (which, despite all appearances to the contrary, is also not a satire site) border checks have been set up to enforce a ban on sand exports.

This is from the same guys that claim they're unable to stop terrorists from crossing the border into Iraq. I guess they're short of manpower due to all those sand smugglers.

So even if we ARE able to kick our oil habit, we'll still have to worry about sand embargos. In twenty years, some Democrat presidential hopeful will point out the 2003 invasion of Iraq, claiming that it was "all about sand." (hat tip to Au Currant)

36 of 173

2003-11-07T12:48:00.000-05:00

South Dakota Guard unit in Iraq enjoys 'relative' success

A comment on a Bill Hobbs post led me to this story about an engineer company in the South Dakota National Guard where 36 of the 173 members are related to each other by blood or marriage. The unit, the 200th Engineer Company, is currently deployed in Iraq.

“When you talk to the regular Army [soldiers], they’re shocked that I’ve got a brother, let alone a sister, in my company,” said Sgt. Jesse Flottmeyer, 25, whose twin brother, Justin, and sister, Janelle, 23, are in the same platoon of bridge builders.

Three of four Flottmeyer children are in Iraq. Their 21-year-old sister, Joanie, wasn’t able to join the Guard because of hearing loss.

“I don’t think [Mom] realized we could all be deployed,” Jesse Flottmeyer said.

There not only are brothers and sisters in the unit, but also cousins. There are uncles and nephews and nieces, five pairs of fathers and sons, and two sets of husbands and wives.

I think that's great.

But is it morbid if one of the first things that comes to mind are the Sullivan Brothers and Saving Private Ryan?

Murdoc's Chess Problem

2003-11-07T06:00:00.000-05:00

Solution to Problem #4 (11/06): (highlight to reveal)
1. Ra5

Check Murdoc's Chess Online for solutions and more problems.

Oops

2003-11-06T22:56:00.000-05:00

Last week I posted about a school boy suspended because he drew a picture of a Marine shooting a Taliban fighter in the head. It turns out that there was more to the story.

But officials at Tinton Falls Middle School noted that the boy included the name of a fellow student above the stick figure being shot in the head.

and

The drawing, which Scott [Switzer] made on a computer last Tuesday, included the words "Thomas Brooks was here" above the figure of the bloodied Taliban fighter. [Mrs.] Switzer said her son told her he put the name of Brooks, who she said is his friend, on the picture as a joke.

Well, that's not all that funny to me, Mr. Switzer. And I don't even know Thomas Brooks.

I retract my earlier statements about over-reaction and I withdraw my comparison to a scene from The Sixth Sense.

Although I'm not 100% certain that this is really as bad as school officials claim it is, I fully support their judgement if the allegation that a student's name (friend or otherwise) is above the dying figure is accurate.

Backwards flags

2003-11-06T22:41:00.000-05:00

Being American in T.O. points out a post that answers the "why do American soldiers wear the flag backwards" question.

I posted on this a couple of months ago, but still haven't found out why the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, along with almost everyone else, wears "left" flags on the right shoulder of their uniforms.

UPDATE: Two seconds after posting this I googled and found the answer about the Boy Scout uniforms.

The [BSA National Uniform and Insignia] Committee determined that since the U.S. Code does NOT specifically address the direction the flag should be worn on an article of clothing, that the flag would be worn as if you are looking at that flag from afar, with the stars to the rear.

There you have it. I don't agree with the decision, but the page also mentions that the Boy Scouts of America have no intention to change their minds.

Model away

2003-11-06T22:14:00.000-05:00

Regional Struggle - Fighting narrow vision in Iraq

Oscar Jr. points out this must-read NRO story by Michael Ledeen about the nature of the enemy that we're fighting in Iraq. He points out that there seems to be a lot of confusion in the minds of our leaders, both in the suits and in the uniforms, about exactly who it is that we're up against. Saddam loyalists? A few crazed independent terrorists? A massive, state-sponsored terror organization?

Ledeen writes about the enemy's reaction to our swift victory over the Taliban in Afghanistan:

They planned for the next battlefield, and we gave them every opportunity, 14 or 15 long months. During that time they devised the strategy we see in Iraq: a terror war, modeled on their successful campaign against us in Lebanon.

I agree completely, except that there is a crucial flaw in modeling on Lebanon. Or on Somalia, for that matter. The terrorists "success" in those cases was due to our unwillingness to fight the "long, hard slog" that we found ourselves in.

Some folks say this war started on 9/11/01. Some claim we're misguided because invading Iraq has nothing to do with 9/11. Others wisely point out that 9/11 didn't really change the world; it only changed America's perception of the world.

I disagree on all points. This war has been going on for decades. Invading Iraq is not revenge for 9/11.

But most of all, I disagree that 9/11 changed nothing but our perception of the world around us. Or, rather, I think that by changing our perception of the world around us, 9/11 DID change the world.

In 1983 and in 1993 the United States wasn't in a frame of mind to win a long, hard slog. In 2003 the United States is.

The world has changed.

What was that again?

2003-11-06T21:54:00.000-05:00

US 'rejected Iraqi concessions'

Darren Kaplen points us to this BBC story about the supposed offer to negotiate on the eve of the invasion of Iraq. Even if the reports are true, I don't think anyone anywhere (outside of Paris, at least) would have had any reason to take any Iraq offers seriously at that point. But among the alleged offers was this:

Handing over Abdul Rahman Yasin, a top al-Qaeda suspect wanted in connection with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Kaplan writes

An al-Qaeda connection with Saddam's Iraq? I'm shocked.

Me, too. But the guy wasn't even on any of the 9/11 planes, so does he really count?

The world according to Tariq

2003-11-06T21:45:00.000-05:00

Hussein Was Sure Of Own Survival

A Monday story in the WaPo which I missed because I was traveling discusses the state of Iraq in the days before the ground invasion began. Tariq Aziz is quoted heavily, and it makes for very interesting reading. Among the nuggets I find most interesting are:

Aziz, who surrendered to U.S. authorities on April 24, has also said Iraq did not possess stocks of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons on the eve of the war, an assertion that echoes the previously reported statements of other detained Iraqi leaders and scientists.

I'd be interested to know if anyone really said "on the eve of the war." Maybe they know which day the trucks reached Syria, for instance. Just a thought.

Then there's

Interrogators asked Aziz whether Hussein was also trying to bluff Iran, fearful that his hostile neighbor might be developing weapons of mass destruction. Aziz replied, according to the senior U.S. official familiar with his interrogation reports: "Every time I brought up the issue with Saddam, he said, 'Don't worry about the Iranians. If they ever get WMD, the Americans and Israelis will destroy them.' "

So now it's not just France, Germany, and Saudi Arabia that take American protection for granted, but IRAQ, too? I thought we were the bully on the playground of the world, but apparently everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, acts more like we're the hall monitor.

And

American and British interrogators have asked dozens of generals who served in high-ranking command roles in Iraqi army divisions during this year -- some imprisoned, some living freely -- why Hussein did not use chemical weapons to defend Baghdad. A number of these generals have said that they, too, believed chemical weapons would be deployed by Hussein for the capital's defense. Yet none of the officers admitted receiving such weapons himself.

"The only consistent pattern we've gotten -- 100 percent consistent -- is that each commander says, 'My unit didn't have WMD, but the one to my right or left did,' " said the senior U.S. official involved. This has led some American interrogators to theorize that Hussein may have bluffed not only neighboring governments and the United States, but his own restive generals.

If that is really the case, it sort of shoots down the whole "Bush lied" and "the intelligence agencies failed" scenarios, doesn't it? I mean, it would have been an intelligence coup to get info from an Iraqi general, but all he might have told us was that chemical weapons will be used against US troops. If a bunch of guys in Langley say Saddam doesn't have WMD, and four agents in Iraq report that several Iraqi generals swear that they will be used, how do you play the game? Even if you suspect the generals might be wrong (or lying), you MUST act as if they're telling the truth.

Never mind that I don't think that the presence or absence of WMD in Iraq really matters to our strategy in this war or to justification for invasion.

Remember that Tariq Aziz is slippery fox. He may be merely saying things that he thinks his captors want to hear. In no stretch of the imagination do I think he's being completely truthful or completely forthcoming. In particular, he has quite a bit to say about the relationships between France and Russia and Iraq. Since there seems to be little other evidence of the grand schemes he tells about, I choose to leave them out of this post. But that doesn't mean I'm discounting the claims completely.

Opting for the lesser of the two evils

2003-11-06T13:20:00.000-05:00

767 Air Tanker Deal Is A Go

Well, the compromise plan to lease only 20 767 tankers and buy up to 80 more outright is on. Although this is far wiser than leasing all 100, I still question the real need to get new tankers at all. At least so quickly that we're willing to spend billions more than we would have to otherwise. The Air Force worked overtime to cover up study results that indicate the current fleet is fine for years to come and has cancelled some maintenance programs, requiring the retirement of current planes before they would have to otherwise.

Still, I've got no problems with more (and better) tankers supporting our military. I think Senator John McCain (R-AZ) deserves a big pat on the back for his efforts here.

More on the M1 mystery projectile

2003-11-06T13:09:00.000-05:00

Strategy Page (Nov 5 post) has this on the case of a mysterious penetration of an M1 tank:

[It] was probably a Russian RPG-7V or similar type light anti-tank rocket with a HEAT warhead. What caused the damage appeared to be an improved version with wave shaper in the HEAT warhead.

And according to an Army Times story on the incident

Whatever penetrated the tank created enough heat inside the hull to activate the vehicle’s Halon firefighting gear, which probably prevented more serious injuries to the crew.

and

In the end, a civilian weapons expert said, “I hope it was a lucky shot and we are not part of someone’s test program. Being a live target is no fun.”

Although it's too early to tell, this almost certainly isn't some sort of enemy "super weapon" that will render our tank force obsolete overnight. If it was indeed a lucky shot with an upgraded RPG, it might be the only time it happens.

And why is it that the RPG-7 is so damn good? Why aren't WE buying them from the Russians? They're selling to everyone else.

Freedom fighters fighting freedom

2003-11-06T12:50:00.000-05:00

Eden Prairie to Iraq, and back -- in frustration

Instapundit points out this story in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune about a US government contractor who returned early from his work reconstructing Iraq. He was supposed to be there until at least March. Among the reasons he opted to come home early were the living conditions and security precautions.

"I didn't like the way I needed to live there," he said. "I couldn't go anywhere or do anything on my own."

Attacks against US military forces and those that support them are understandable. This is war, of course. But the attacks and threat of attacks against civilian workers who are trying to rebuild Iraq are something different. These folks are trying to make life better for Iraqis, and Saddam loyalists and other anti-US groups are trying to stop them.

I think that is pretty significant. It illustrates clearly that our enemy is bent on more than defeating us militarily. Attacks on Red Cross hospitals underscore the fact that our enemy prefers the middle ages to the twenty-first century. They prefer poverty to wealth. They prefer death to life, if life means living in anything vaguely resembling Western civilization. Remember, the attacks against US housing compounds in Saudi Arabia last May were carried out two weeks AFTER we announced our intention to pull all US military forces out of the country. Yet these attacks are painted as a reasonable response to the US presence in Iraq.

I don't really blame this guy or others who leave early for their decision. I understand completely. People don't feel safe enough, and they want to get out. I just don't understand how terrorists blowing up UN headquarters or Red Cross aid stations is America's fault. At some point, don't the terrorists have to be held responsible?

Things are improving, slowly but surely.

[Don] Uram found Iraqis to be so grateful that many families invited him to their homes to sit on rugs and dine on chicken, rice and local dishes. "In all cases, we were treated as honored guests," he said.

The chaos of war has passed and living conditions are improving throughout southern Iraq, said Uram, whose work took him to several cities including Basra in the south, which is Iraq's second-largest.

Protests had erupted on the streets of Basra in August as residents sweltered without power to run air conditioners or refrigerators.

"Now, the electricity is on an average of 20 hours per day," Uram said, and other utilities are increasingly reliable. When power failures do occur, the residents display remarkable patience, he said.

"In Eden Prairie [Minnesota], if the power was out for 20 minutes, Excel would get 5,000 calls," he said with a chuckle.

We're getting there. And we're doing it despite constant attacks by those who would gladly sacrifice as many innocent Iraqis as it takes to defeat reconstruction of their country.

I'm not so sure about this one...

2003-11-05T13:02:00.000-05:00

ATTENTION! ALL PERSONNEL!
You are Father John Francis Patrick Mulcahy

Well, you're not really him; you just resemble this fictional character. A bit.
Let's get that straight before you start administering the last rites or teaching nuns how to box.

I usually am fairly pleased with the results I get on these little quizzes, but I'm not convinced that this is totally accurate. (via All Agitprop)

Murdoc has entered the building

2003-11-04T14:10:00.000-05:00

I'm back. Sorry for the light posting.

Last night we were stuck in a traffic jam caused by an accident for two hours between Chicago and Gary, IN. We litterally moved about four miles in just over two hours. No kidding.

There were three lanes, but everyone was instructed to move to the far right lane. When I saw a chance I moved over. Many others, of course, didn't. That brings up a question.

What are your thoughts on following the rules in such a situation?

We sat in that lane for hours, and this was already after nearly ten hours on the road. Many of the cars that zipped past us saved a great deal of time. Is it morally "wrong" to do that? Or is it just "cattle" mentality to sit in the far right lane although the other lanes would allow me to move up without endangering ourselves or anyone else? I stayed in the right lane, so you know what my conclusion was last night, but I won't say that I wasn't close to choosing the other path.

Let me know what you think.

Excellent idea

2003-11-03T00:08:00.000-05:00

Iraq gets what America lacks - a fair tax system

Donald Sensing notes that Iraq is going to get a flat tax system.

I've long supported the idea for a flat tax system (with a complete abolition of all targeted deductions) for the US, as long as a large enough personal exemption was available. As Sensing notes, such a system is inherently progressive, so all those "it just helps the rich" types can just shut their pie hole right now.

I haven't looked into the details of the Iraqi tax plan, which takes effect in January, but if this is accurate, I'm all for it.

Morale problems not hurting re-enlistment numbers

2003-11-02T23:53:00.000-05:00

The Military Morale Myth

So far, despite a lot of hard work in some circles to get word out that morale is bad, the re-enlistment numbers for the National Guard haven't dropped. In fact,

The Army National Guard, which has had the largest proportion of troops called up, has so far only lost ten percent of troops to attrition (not re-enlisting) among units returning from overseas. The normal rate of attrition, for all National Guard units, is 17 percent.

The quick article doesn't note the overall percentage, so perhaps things aren't as rosy as the ten percent figure would seem to indicate, but in any event things aren't as bad as some people obviously wish they were.

Stretched a little thin

2003-11-02T23:47:00.000-05:00

Where Are The Divisions? - Nov 1st

The intro includes this about the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division:

The new Stryker Brigade is loading onto ships for the long journey to Iraq to begin its peacekeeping duties and for a real life test as to the effectiveness of the armored car in combat. In some circles there is controversy that the brigade is not being flown to Iraq. However, the long-range deployment of large motorized or mechanized unit is always more efficient by sea although it takes longer. The 96 hour deployment of a brigade sized unit by air to a combat zone would take nearly all the C-5s and C-17s the Air Force owns and these platforms would not be used in assault landings in the first place. Still, it would be good to have visible proof that the Stryker is or is not deployable over short distances via C-130.

Readers will know that MO is very much in favor of deploying this unit to Iraq, and that I've suggested airlifting at least part of it as a demonstration of the true capability that all that money and effort is buying. I'm guardedly optimistic that the Stryker will prove a success. We'll see.

REAL oppression of free speech

2003-11-01T11:53:00.000-05:00

MSNBC: Graffiti was the writing on the wall

In 1981, at least 17 (and maybe as many as 35) Iraqi high school students were pulled from their homes and were never seen again. Their crime? Anti-government graffiti.

"No one expected this would lead to execution," said Jamal Latif Ridha, whose 17-year-old brother, Sattar, was sent to the gallows at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad. "We thought Sattar would be imprisoned for just two or three months. They were just being students."

Not even commented on is the fact that Ridha seemed to accept a prison sentence for "just two or three months" as expected. Yet, when someone is criticized for speaking out against Bush or the invasion of Iraq, they're being oppressed and their right to free speech is threatened.

Remember that next time Martin Sheen marches with duct tape over his mouth.

To be sure, not everyone in Iraq at the time agrees that dissident students were killed.

The deputy principal in 1981, Abdul Razaq Ameen, said: "I don't know anything about it. I never heard of any students being executed." In initial interviews, both the principal and the registrar also denied any students were executed, but later conceded that there may have been arrests away from the school grounds.

But when parents, family, friends, and teachers all claim that it happened, it makes it hard to believe a few who claim that it didn't. Especially when they're the ones that should have been counted on speak out against it. Those few could have been collaborators, or at least willfully blind to what was going on.

This brings up a point that is often lost on the anti-war crowd. I've been asked several times why non-violent demonstrations and peaceful protest, a la Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr., wouldn't have been a better approach to the human rights issues in Iraq. (In fact, someone mentioned that Iraq was on the verge of sweeping revolution because the people were fed up with Saddam, and that our invasion probably ended any hope of that happening.)

The reason that the Gandhi approach hasn't worked in Iraq (or in Iran or in the USSR or in DPRK etc. etc.) is that the potential Gandhis are usually killed off immediately. MLK and Gandhi staged their campaigns in areas oppressed by the United Stated and Great Britain. As oppressive regimes go, we're softies. There probably were hundreds of Gandhis in the days after the Russian revolution. Those that survived (and their families, friends, and distant acquaintances) ended up in Siberia. Lech Walesa and others were able to achieve success at times, but only because they managed to survive long enough to get the spotlight onto them and world opinion on their side. For every Lech Walesa, there have been thousands that tried. Not cases of tried and failed. Cases of tried and died. If the US government really was as oppressive as demonstrators want you to believe, the Stryker brigade wouldn't be preparing to go to Iraq. It would be on the streets of San Fansisco, and the few whispered rumors that got out of the city would hint at the deaths of hundreds or thousands of dissidents, shot down on the streets or killed in thier homes. Get a little perspective, here, folks.

For peaceful protests to work, there needs to be a least a modicum of justice and morality in the oppressing power. It was there in India and in the US South. It wasn't there in Iraq. At least not before 2003.

Doy!

2003-11-01T11:10:00.000-05:00

The TwistedHistory feature on the right notes that the first atomic bomb was detonated on this day in 1951 in New Mexico.

The good folks in Hiroshima and Nagasaki during 1945 may want to debate that fact.

For the record, the first atomic bomb was set off in New Mexico on July 16th, 1945. The first hydrogen bomb was detonated on this day in 1952, as TwistedHistory correctly points out a little further down.

Although they may get some dates wrong, and some of their items on alien sightings and serial killers are apocryphal, I'm sure they get all the Bushisms right.

Wait a minute here...that's not what I've heard

2003-11-01T00:02:00.000-05:00

Hobbs Online AM: Bush Economy: Record Employment

There are 1.6 million more people working today than when GW took office? More? And the economy has been growing for TWO YEARS STRAIGHT?

Huh? That's not what I've been hearing.

The reason for more people working AND higher employment is that there are more working-age Americans now than there were when Bush took office.

But doesn't that mean that things aren't so bad? Maybe not great, as I imagine that a lot of those 1.6 million jobs are low-paying jobs. (At least that's what my liberal friends assure me is going on.) But certainly not godawful. The only quarters of negative growth during GW's reign so far were his first three. And I'm sure that was completely due to his mishandling of the economy beginning on day one. Couldn't have had anything to do with the crashing internet bubble or that other guy in the White House before him.

The comments on a Donald Sensing post sum up some of the debate over the numbers. Someone points out that Clinton added 22 million jobs during his tenure, 8 or 9 million of them during his first term. Yours truly points out

Clinton added all those jobs himself, right?

Once he got done fixing the completely wrecked economy he inherited from the Reagan/Bush administrations, anyway.

At least Bush II didn't have fallout from a major terrorist attack like the bombing of the WTC parking garage during his first term.

I'm just saying.

Football

2003-10-31T23:44:00.000-05:00

What's the difference?

Here's a nifty little chart that outlines the differences between pro, college, and high school football. (via One Hand Clapping)

Bidding has ended for this item

2003-10-31T23:37:00.000-05:00

Collection of 26 Beanie Babies from Ex-Wife

Funnyfunnyfunny. (via One Hand Clapping)

At least they're trying to fix it, but still no excuse

2003-10-31T23:15:00.000-05:00

INTEL DUMP: Lawmakers push for better body armor -- and the Pentagon responds

Phil Carter, who has been keeping an eye on the Interceptor body armor issue, has another post on the subject.

The Pentagon jump-started the procurement of this body armor a few months ago, and there appears to be no feasible way at this point to make the production lines move any faster. At this point, December 2003 may be the best that our military-industrial complex can do in terms of a delivery date for these pieces of equipment, and soldiers couldn't even buy these items faster if they wanted to with a personal credit card.

The government seems to have jumped all over this, at least since the story went public. Ten out of ten for style, but minus several million for good thinking. Why didn't they think of this during the year-long rush to war?

OMG

2003-10-31T23:02:00.000-05:00

Mystery Missile

Apparently, on August 28th a weapon of some sort penetrated the side armor of an M1A1 tank, passed through the back of the gunner's seat (and damaging his flak jacket), tearing through some interior systems, and damaging the opposite side of the hull.

Check the link above for an amazing series of photos.

A question: Why has this been released publicly? I'm all for open sharing of information, but it seems to me that letting this out does nothing for us and potentially gives vital feedback to the enemy that used the "mystery" weapon. Simply calling it that gives it a certain reputation that can do nothing except give heart to our foes. Just a thought.

On the road again

2003-10-31T22:44:00.000-05:00

I'm on the road again, this time to Kansas. At least we're staying at a Drury Inn, which comes with high-speed internet access. I'll post a bit if/when I get a chance.

In the meantime, check out some of the folks on the right. All quality stuff.

That must be loads of fun

2003-10-30T20:06:00.000-05:00

AndrewSullivan: The Bush Boom

Sullivan notes the good economic news.

This is bad, bad news for the Democrats. But the really bad news is that their main policy right now is hoping for bad news.

That is really discouraging, but they don't seem to really latch on to what I think are some of the administration's weaknesses. The Dems keep trying to find a Lewinsky-like scandal (Plame, "imminent threat", sixteen words, etc.) that will really capture everyone's imagination. They don't seem to realize that Clinton actually came out of Lewinskygate (and the Lincoln Bedroom, China connections, etc.) in decent, if not respectable, shape with the bulk of the American public.

Cry me a river

2003-10-30T19:23:00.000-05:00

Air-tanker plan could hurt fighter project

Naming a specific program after noting last week that buying tankers instead of leasing them might cause cuts in other programs, the Air Force's top acquisition official says that the F/A-22 fighter program might have to be cut if the compromise plan goes through.

IMHO, that just makes buying the 767 tankers outright look even better.

As noted earlier, the F/A-22 program is budgeted for a certain dollar amount, not for a certain number of planes at a specific price. No matter how many planes we get the total bill is going to be the same. And there's not an enemy air force in sight. I mentioned earlier today that the biggest threat most of our potential enemies can put into the sky seem to be RPG-7s.

Why the media isn't all over this tanker debacle is beyond me. I must admit that over the past couple of weeks the number of stories has increased, but this deal almost went through without anyone really noticing.

In related news, Forbes notes a study that questions the nearly (or over) $6 billion deal that Boeing gets to maintain the new tanker fleet. Later, it mentions $6 billion for training and maintenance awarded without a competitive bidding process.

CBO concluded in a recent study that the Air Force was paying two to three times too much for the maintenance contract.

I'm not advocating automatically taking the lowest bid regardless of qualifications, but let's not just hand out blank checks, either.

Again, I'd like to point out that nearly every story on this deal uses different figures. Not that there might not be a very legitimate reason for the discrepancies, but it certainly gives me the impression that no one is shooting straight on this one.

Also, this is very significant:

Air Force says tanker corrosion not acute

The Air Force disclosed yesterday that components in its refueling tankers have only occasionally been replaced because of age-related corrosion, an issue at the heart of debate about the urgency of replacing the tanker fleet with new aircraft from Boeing.

This is CENTRAL to the debate over new tankers. The argument goes that we cannot afford to wait until there is money in the budget to buy new tankers because the old tankers are suffering from extensive corrosion problems. That is why it makes sense to lease, even though it will cost more than purchasing them outright.

But if we don't really need new tankers, at least not immediately, the argument falls on its face. John McCain, the leading critic of the lease plan, threatened to subpoena the information when the Air Force wouldn't release it to him.

McCain said: "The data is very revealing. It clearly indicates (corrosion) is a negligible concern here."

The Air Force initially told Congress the information supplied yesterday had been destroyed and the people who prepared it were not available, McCain said.

He said some Air Force technicians had told congressional staff they were proud of their ability to keep age-related corrosion in the existing tankers very low, a point at odds with the contentions of top Air Force officials.

(Empahsis mine.) I'll say it again. If we truly need new tankers, I fully support buying them. If our current tankers were falling out of the sky and our backs were against the wall in this Fourth World War, I'd even support leasing them if it was the only way to get them. But our current tankers are okay, at least for now.

Would it be nice to get new ones? Sure it would. But the big bucks could be far better spent on things like Interceptor Body Armor and other equipment for our guys in the field. Not as "sexy" as a huge new tanker program or a supersonic air supremacy fighter, maybe, but certainly a lot more valuable in our war against terror.

Woohoo!

2003-10-30T13:14:00.000-05:00

Athena

?? Which Of The Greek Gods Are You ??
brought to you by Quizilla

(hat tip to Spacecraft)

They're making a point I don't think they mean to

2003-10-30T13:01:00.000-05:00

The Onion: 'Well, You Try To Reconstruct Iraq,' Says U.S. Defensive Dept.

The Onion is funny. Very funny. They're definitely Left-leaning, but still quite humorous. This article (which was pointed out by Hell In A Handbasket) works pretty hard to poke fun at a serious issue. Which is the whole point of satire. And the best satire is well-grounded in truth.

Like this one.

WASHINGTON, DC—Responding to recent criticism of reconstruction efforts in Iraq, the U.S. Defensive Department released a statement to the public Monday suggesting that perhaps they could do better, since they're obviously so smart. "Well, it looks like you American people have figured it all out, then," the statement read in part. "There's no need for the old government to do anything, because the citizens know just how to handle this whole reconstruction-of-Iraq thing. Well, go ahead! If it's so simple, and if you're so smart, then what's stopping you? Come on."

"Oh, gosh!" the statement continued. "Wait! It looks like Iraq is a whole big country! And it seems that someone just fought a war there, to oust a despotic regime! So, gee, this might take a while, huh?"

and

"In fact, I'll pay for it!" said Pettibone, extending his wallet toward the assembled press corps. "Here! Here's, let's see, $49. Go ahead! Rebuild the infrastructure! Find the weapons of mass destruction! Keep the peace! What? This $49 isn't enough? Do you wish you had, say, about $87 billion to use right now? Well, well, well. How quickly things change."

and

Pettibone muttered that members of the Bush Administration happen to have a little bit of experience in matters of foreign policy.

"Those working on the reconstruction effort are not just a bunch of idiots," Pettibone said. "Many have studied Mideast policy for decades. They have extensive experience serving under past presidents. What have you done? You read an article in U.S. News & World Report!"

And the article points out that a lot of the critics don't even vote. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Some days it's hard to tell the difference between satire and reality.

12.57 light hours out

2003-10-30T12:44:00.000-05:00

Voyager at 90 AU

Voyager 1 is now over 90 Astronomical Units (1 AU = distance from our Sun to the Earth) from the Earth. It's moving at about 38,436 miles per hour.

That's booking.

On August 19th I posted that Voyager 1 was merely 12.34 light hours away. Maybe Voyager 1 is the only ship to make the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs.

(Yes, I know that a parsec is a measure of distance and not of time.)

A step in the right direction

2003-10-29T18:56:00.000-05:00

Loan condition killed in Iraq bill

Good. Now if we could just budget this war instead of using supplementals all the time.

What if it had been the other way around?

2003-10-29T13:16:00.000-05:00

Tongue Tied: Dangerous Drawings

Weird:

A 14-year-old student in New Jersey was suspended from school for five days for drawing a stick figure of a U.S. Marine shooting a Taliban fighter

according to the New York Post (which includes a pic of the drawing).

He's been punished for the drawing," said Tinton Falls school superintendent Leonard Kelpsh. "We felt it was highly inappropriate, and we took it very seriously."

Earlier, some other students drew a picture that was "very Columbine-ish". And school officials think that the picture might contain a reference to another student.

But a local psychologist who examined the teenager said the sketch was benign.

"I don't attribute pathological significance to it," said Dr. Gloria Tillman, a psychologist who treated the boy for ADD.

"I have to wonder what is expected of our children today when 1) our country is at war and 2) both his father and stepfather are out fighting the war."

Scott's mother said school officials described the drawing as "not the work of a normal mind."

Well, folks, I guess that depends upon your definition of "normal." If, by "normal", you mean cookie-cutter citizen/consumers with good credit and a willingness to spend, well maybe Mr. Switzer doesn't fit the bill.

The boy, who has both a father and a step-father fighting in the war, might just be thinking of THEM, too. This sort of reminds me of a scene in The Sixth Sense

Cole: We were supposed to draw a picture, anything we wanted. I drew a man who got hurt in the neck by another man with a screwdriver.

Malcolm: You saw that on TV, Cole?

Cole: Everyone got upset. They had a meeting. Mom started crying. I don't draw like that any more.

Malcolm: How do you draw now?

Cole: Draw... people smiling, dogs running, rainbows. They don't have meetings about rainbows.

No meetings about rainbows. Indeed. Just draw what everyone else is drawing, and you're "normal."

At least he didn't draw a US flag with the words "God Bless America" or anything really crazy like that.

Shameless attempt to lure in more readers

2003-10-28T14:21:00.000-05:00

In an attempt to increase the number of people who read MO, I'm posting this picture of some hot chicks.

The traffic counters are ready and waiting. Bring 'em on!

Fill 'er up

2003-10-28T13:08:00.000-05:00

DefenseTech: NEW SCRUTINY FOR BOEING DEAL

DefenseTech points out two op-eds about the plan to lease Boeing 767 tankers for the Air Force.

David Brooks of the NYT notes

The chief Air Force official pushing the deal was Darleen Druyun. As The Washington Post reported yesterday, Druyun has recently left the Air Force and gone to work for Boeing. She sold her $692,000 northern Virginia home to a Boeing lawyer. Her daughter works for Boeing. None of this may be illegal or even wrong, but is this what makes you proud to be an American?

and

First, this whole mess started because the Air Force can't pay for new tankers up front, so it tried to push back the costs by leasing. Maybe it's time to stop trying to run a Bush foreign policy on a Clinton defense budget?

Yesterday the WaPo ran a large piece on the proposed deal.

In December 2001, language authorizing the deal -- but providing no money -- emerged in legislation in what Hill veterans refer to as a "virgin birth," meaning it was inserted into the defense appropriations bill after the bill had passed the House and Senate, during closed negotiations between conferees. It was then approved on the House and Senate floors as part of a compromise bill.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), a longtime supporter of expanding federal leasing, has claimed credit for inserting the language. One month before he did so, he received $21,900 in campaign contributions from 31 Boeing executives at a fundraiser in Seattle, where Boeing has many employees.

30 of those 31 had not contributed to Mr. Stevens within the past 10 years. And Darleen Druyun? Get a load of this:

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Boeing pressed the idea with new vigor. Airlines had deferred commercial orders for 767s, and Boeing laid off thousands of employees at plants in Everett, Wash. But the Air Force had not even listed tankers among its "unfunded priorities" in 2001, a multibillion-dollar wish list of weapons it wanted but could not afford. The Air Force had no money to buy the tankers, so on Sept. 25, 2001, the company's top executives met with Darleen A. Druyun, then a senior Air Force acquisitions officer, at the Pentagon to work out a lease deal instead.

Druyun agreed at the meeting, according to notes taken by Boeing, not only to promote the leasing idea on Capitol Hill but also to find needed money by cutting back a comparatively inexpensive modernization program for existing tankers -- an arrangement, Boeing and the Air Force have acknowledged, that will retire flightworthy tankers early to procure new ones.

(Emphasis mine) Is there ANYTHING about this deal that doesn't stink? I've been skeptical of the actual NEED for new tankers, but readers will recognize that I'm all for making sure our military has the hardware it need to fight this war. The plan to cut back maintenance of the existing tankers, though, is a clear signal that new tankers aren't needed. At least not as soon as lease-backers would have us believe.

In November 2001, the Air Force drafted a document spelling out what capabilities the new tankers must have. Col. Mark Donohue, an official in the air mobility office, promptly sent it to Boeing for private comment, and the company sought, and received, concessions so the requirements matched what the 767 could do. The Air Force agreed to drop a demand that the new tankers match or exceed the capabilities of the old ones.

I've heard this before, but it's never been clear what that specification was.

Asked a month ago about Boeing's travails, [President] Bush spoke about trying to "help the worker, help the economy" by funding the construction of new planes. About the tanker leasing deal, he said, "I think it's going to go through."

How does overspending for something that you don't need "help the economy"? It helps Boeing, for sure, and helps THOSE workers, but isn't cutting taxes then turning around and squandering what's left just a little ludicrous?

If we really need tankers, buy them. Make some hard decisions. And I don't have a problem buying from Boeing, even if AirBus had a slightly better offer. If we're going to spend, we should spend in America unless it's stupid to do so. But first we need to be sure we really need to spend. We could sure buy a lot of Interceptor body armor for $5.6 billion.

Where's the outrage?

2003-10-28T12:11:00.000-05:00

Porphyrogenitus: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?

Porphyrogenitus notices that no human shields seem to be packing for Iraq.

I figured that if anything was deserving of such protection as having a ring of human shields to prevent bombing, it might be a Red Cross facility dedicated to succoring the Iraqi people.

Remember them? Although a number left Iraq, disgusted that Saddam wanted them to shield things like power plants and airfields instead of hospitals and schools, I'd think that they would be ALL OVER this. Isn't protecting things like the Red Cross from violence used for political effect EXACTLY the sort of thing they claim to stand for?

Maybe they're lying.

Seems to me that they hate Bush and/or the USA so much that they're more than willing to sacrifice a few Iraqis if it means US policy gets a black eye. Remember that next time they and their kind stage an anti-war protest. (via Instapundit)

Fire pics from NOAA

2003-10-28T11:54:00.000-05:00

Yesterday at 12:44 PM PST.

Click the pic for a larger, high-res shot. Check out the other pics available here. (hat tip to reader KTLA)

UPDATE: Michael Willaims has some links to sat pics he posted yesterday.

You don't hear about this in the new USAF commercial

2003-10-27T21:18:00.000-05:00

Narional Defense Mag: F/A-22 Pilots Begin Training at Tyndall AFB

In this article about training simulators delivered to the Air Force base that will train all F/A-22 pilots, there's this snippet:

Initially, the training will be only for air-to-air operations. That is because the original F-22 (before it was renamed F/A-22) was not designed as a primary ground attack platform, but as an air superiority fighter. "The current F/A-22 avionics software (the operational flight program) does not support air-to-ground," said Riegsecker. "This will be part of the program in the near future."

So basically, even the simulators aren't set up to perform the 'A' part of the F/A-22's mission.

My guess is that they're having trouble reprogramming a system designed to simulate a cutting-edge supersonic, stealthy air superiority fighter to make it also act like a slow, heavy, flying tank. All at the same time. But however hard that task might be, I'm betting that it's a lot easier than making the actual aircraft perform both tasks.

Pathetic.

Bring on the violent video games

2003-10-27T21:05:00.000-05:00

National Defense Mag: Video Game Helps Teach Armor Officer Skills

MO has posted before about using standard video games, with little or no modification, as military training tools.

This months' National Defense Magazine has a story about TacOpsCAV, a militarized version of the commercial TacOps game. It's turn based, not realtime, but its accessibility greatly enhances its value.

This story on MultiPlayer Gamers discusses a newer version of the game, TacOpsMC, designed specifically for the Marine Corps and particular attention will be paid to the combat engineer aspects of combined arms.

A downloadable demo of TacOps 4 (the most recent version) is available here. Also, Home of the Underdogs has the full version of TacOps Classic (v.1? - review here) available for download.

That's not a camera...THIS is a camera

2003-10-27T12:25:00.000-05:00

SpaceDaily: Kennedy Space Center's new "eyes" to closely track future shuttle launches

The equipment that photographs space shuttle launches has been seriously upgraded, both in quantity and in quality. 10 additional cameras are now in place along with the 13 that have been used previously.

With the addition of the equipment, NASA is hoping to get continuous usable images of the shuttle from at least three angles from the moment of takeoff to the separation of its two booster rockets, Robert Page, head of Kennedy's image center, told AFP.

"We need to insure three views on each side of the shuttle, so I'll have five cameras on each side to make sure we have three good ones," he said.

"We need to provide views of the space shuttle from liftoff to at least SRB (solid rocket boosters) separation."

NASA will also use high-definition digital cameras alongside traditional film cameras. Although the digital images aren't a clear as those from film, they can be examined immediately, as opposed to waiting for processing for more than 24 hours.

The long-range cameras, used to track the shuttle out to T+165 seconds, have 10,000mm lenses.

Just another manic Monday

2003-10-27T10:48:00.000-05:00

For the real, non-altered, copyright-protected Dilbert, visit the official site.

Happy Ramadan, everyone!

2003-10-27T10:07:00.000-05:00

Emails to beware of

2003-10-27T09:05:00.000-05:00

A reader sends a heads up about a recent email that claims to be from Microsoft's Program Security Center. It looks pretty legit.

DO NOT OPEN ANY ATTACHMENT ON ANY EMAIL LIKE THIS. Microsoft DOES NOT send patches out via email. Ever.

Keep your system up to date by using Windows Update. Or avoid Microsoft software altogether.

Here's the e-mail.

Okay, I'm not really suggesting that you actually avoid Microsoft software altogether.