Pic stolen from our pal UL, who has a post up about the Rethugs' next 'great idea' to stop the pirates.
And for a good idea or two on the subject, drop over to Comrade Misfit's place and see what a well thought out policy looks like.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Privatize it!
Pic stolen from our pal UL, who has a post up about the Rethugs' next 'great idea' to stop the pirates.
And for a good idea or two on the subject, drop over to Comrade Misfit's place and see what a well thought out policy looks like.
Quote of the Day
DaveNoon:
...
Leave aside the obvious qualifier that former employees of the Bush administration -- which projected, among other things, Madovian annual returns on the Iraq War while arguing that we could improve Social Security by anchoring its benefits to the stock market -- are uniquely unsuited to the task of identifying and offering solutions to policy problems.
...
Monday, April 13, 2009
Oh, I'm ever so Elite!
I haven't done one of these in a while and I saw this one over at Grandpa Eddie's. Try it.
My Liberal Identity:
You are a Reality-Based Intellectualist, also known as the liberal elite. You are a proud member of what’s known as the reality-based community, where science, reason, and non-Jesus-based thought reign supreme.
Take the quiz at www.FightConservatives.com
Area 51
Everbody get their tinfoil hats on and go read!
LATimes Magazine
These guys for sure still ain't tellin' 'em about the real 'secret base'. Heh.
Enjoy.
LATimes Magazine
After decades of denying the facility's existence, five former insiders speak out
"We couldn't have told you any of this a year ago," Slater says. "Now we can't tell it to you fast enough." That is because in 2007, the CIA began declassifying the 50-year-old OXCART program. Today, there's a scramble for eyewitnesses to fill in the information gaps. Only a few of the original players are left. Two more of them join me and the Slaters for lunch: Barnes, formerly an Area 51 special-projects engineer, with his wife, Doris; and Martin, one of those overseeing the OXCART's specially mixed jet fuel (regular fuel explodes at extreme height, temperature and speed), with his wife, Mary. Because the men were sworn to secrecy for so many decades, their wives still get a kick out of hearing the secret tales.
These guys for sure still ain't tellin' 'em about the real 'secret base'. Heh.
Enjoy.
Oh, the irony...
Ironic Times
Pirates Pose Threat to International Trade, Commerce
Organized, highly trained, equipped with the latest weaponry, the West's aging armed forces are no match for these sophisticated swashbucklers.
Okay ...
Now that Captain Phillips is safe aboard USS Boxer, soon to make his way home, it's time to talk about our policy in dealing with the pirates. The captain and crew of Maersk Alabama, wittingly or not, have changed the paradigm and we can no longer have a "wait and see" attitude once a ship is taken.
No longer will the pirates operate as they have previously. Freighter crews will be in more danger as the pirates will now assume active resistance on the crews' part. They know they will have to work faster, bring more manpower, and be more heavily armed with weapons made to fight in the confined spaces between the bulkheads (an AK is a bit big, lengthwise; too easy to get hung up on gangways and bulkhead fittings). They will be more inclined to shoot first, more inclined to kill hostages before warships arrive on the scene. Rightly or wrongly, post-Maersk, these holdups will become more violent.
So now I ask, in light of the events of the past week; do we have a policy to deal with the situation now that things have obviously escalated? Will the Rules of Engagement for CTF-151 change now that the rules of the game have changed? Or will we just go along as we have until a crew is murdered?
As you all know, the news was entirely devoted to Captain Phillips' rescue yesterday, even the European networks. I heard a lot of people in merchantman circles give their two cents and almost all said there has to be a more aggressive policy when dealing with the pirate problem. General Mark Kimmitt, yesterday on CNN, echoed my sentiments yesterday saying (paraphrasing) that Somalia's problems would require 10 to 15 years fix and we don't have that long. I would agree, adding the next incident with the pirates will not be as peaceful.
The point is, President Obama and his defense people have a decision to make, and quite soon. Will we let the Navy play it by the seat of their pants (as they did this time), hoping for a break (not every hostage is prepared to take his own fate in his hands like Captain Phillips), or will we aggressively hunt these creeps down and kill them? There is no middle ground anymore.
The pirates will not give up their raids because three of them have been killed, the payoff is too lucrative. While the safety of the merchant crews is the priority, allowing the shippers, and their insurance companies, to pay ransom hurts us all. We, all of us, pay for it in the cost of goods shipped via the Seven Seas. It is also an incentive to others who see it as a way to supplement their income. The problem has to be nipped in the bud, before it spreads farther.
President Obama must act now to put a comprehensive policy in place and move enough assets to the region to deal with it effectively, whether or not our partners in the operation follow suit or not. Without action, the international waters off Somalia will never be safe and will only become more dangerous.
No longer will the pirates operate as they have previously. Freighter crews will be in more danger as the pirates will now assume active resistance on the crews' part. They know they will have to work faster, bring more manpower, and be more heavily armed with weapons made to fight in the confined spaces between the bulkheads (an AK is a bit big, lengthwise; too easy to get hung up on gangways and bulkhead fittings). They will be more inclined to shoot first, more inclined to kill hostages before warships arrive on the scene. Rightly or wrongly, post-Maersk, these holdups will become more violent.
So now I ask, in light of the events of the past week; do we have a policy to deal with the situation now that things have obviously escalated? Will the Rules of Engagement for CTF-151 change now that the rules of the game have changed? Or will we just go along as we have until a crew is murdered?
As you all know, the news was entirely devoted to Captain Phillips' rescue yesterday, even the European networks. I heard a lot of people in merchantman circles give their two cents and almost all said there has to be a more aggressive policy when dealing with the pirate problem. General Mark Kimmitt, yesterday on CNN, echoed my sentiments yesterday saying (paraphrasing) that Somalia's problems would require 10 to 15 years fix and we don't have that long. I would agree, adding the next incident with the pirates will not be as peaceful.
The point is, President Obama and his defense people have a decision to make, and quite soon. Will we let the Navy play it by the seat of their pants (as they did this time), hoping for a break (not every hostage is prepared to take his own fate in his hands like Captain Phillips), or will we aggressively hunt these creeps down and kill them? There is no middle ground anymore.
The pirates will not give up their raids because three of them have been killed, the payoff is too lucrative. While the safety of the merchant crews is the priority, allowing the shippers, and their insurance companies, to pay ransom hurts us all. We, all of us, pay for it in the cost of goods shipped via the Seven Seas. It is also an incentive to others who see it as a way to supplement their income. The problem has to be nipped in the bud, before it spreads farther.
President Obama must act now to put a comprehensive policy in place and move enough assets to the region to deal with it effectively, whether or not our partners in the operation follow suit or not. Without action, the international waters off Somalia will never be safe and will only become more dangerous.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Sunday Crazy Redneck Music Blogging
This goes out lovingly to crazy women everywhere. Texas has more than its share I am sure, but no monopoly!
Jonathan Edwards ~ Crazy Texas Woman
Thanks to MiNDTV35, Philly.
Africa Command
Fixer's post just below this one got me to thinking about the larger picture in the Horn Of Africa. It's not something we think about a lot, but maybe we should. The Somalian pirates finally fucked up bad enough to try and capture an American-flagged ship, at which they failed, but they did succeed in bagging the skipper, more or less at his own request, and the drama is such that the Sunday talking head shows are all atwitter about it today.
The Somalian pirates have made it to American TV big time. Their 15 minutes begins.
Breaking News: Captain Phillips is free and safe. Three of his captors are dead and the fourth is in custody. Shoulda stuck ta stealin' goats from the Ethiopians, assholes. But I digress...
I found this excellent, reasonably short article by Thomas P.M. Barnett in Esquire, dated 27 June '07.
The quotes are all from page 1 of a 6 page article. A 'must read' primer if you're interested in what is going on in the last great untapped global battlefield.
One final quote. This is the sort of thing we're up against culturally:
Please read it.
The Somalian pirates have made it to American TV big time. Their 15 minutes begins.
Breaking News: Captain Phillips is free and safe. Three of his captors are dead and the fourth is in custody. Shoulda stuck ta stealin' goats from the Ethiopians, assholes. But I digress...
I found this excellent, reasonably short article by Thomas P.M. Barnett in Esquire, dated 27 June '07.
A few years ago, with little fanfare, the United States opened a base in the horn of Africa to kill or capture Al Qaeda fighters. By 2012, the Pentagon will have two dozen such forts. The story of Africa Command, the American military's new frontier outpost.
Ethiopia's Meles regime, which American Central Command officers describe as "xenophobic to the core," was going into Somalia last December whether the Americans approved or not. The recently installed Somali Council of Islamic Courts, with its loose talk of getting back another star point in its flag (otherwise known as Ethiopia's Ogaden region), simply had to go. As it happened, the Americans, who had been quietly training the Ethiopian troops for years, did approve.
In fact, Centcom was very eager for the operation. Most press leaks made it sound like our main targets were a trio of Al Qaeda senior operatives responsible for bombing American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania a decade ago. But the real story is one of pure opportunism, according to a knowledgeable source within the headquarters: "There were three thousand foreign fighters in there. Honestly, nobody had any idea just how many there really were. But we wanted to get them all."
When the invading Ethiopians quickly enjoyed unexpected success, Centcom's plan became elegantly simple: Let the blitzkrieging Ethiopian army drive the CIC, along with its foreign fighters and Al Qaeda operatives, south out of Mogadishu and toward the Kenyan border, where Kenyan troops would help trap them on the coast. "We begged the Kenyans to get to the border as fast as possible," the Centcom source says, "because the targets were so confused, they were running around like chickens with their heads cut off."
"We could have solved all of East Africa in less than eight weeks," says the Centcom source, who was involved in the planning. Central Command was extremely wary of being portrayed in the media as Ethiopia's puppet master. In fact, its senior leaders wanted to keep America's participation entirely secret. The goal was for Ethiopia to get all the credit, further bolstering America's controversial but burgeoning military ties with Meles Zenawi's increasingly authoritarian regime. Proud Kenya, still visibly nervous from the 1998 embassy bombing, would have been happy with a very quiet thank-you.
It was a good plan. And it was leaked to the press almost as soon as it started.
Those involved in the Central Command operation suspected two sources: 1) somebody in the Office of the Secretary of Defense who couldn't wait to trumpet their success to bitter personal rivals in the State Department, or 2) a dime dropper from our embassy in Kenya who simply couldn't stand the notion that the Pentagon had once again suckered State into a secret war.
The quotes are all from page 1 of a 6 page article. A 'must read' primer if you're interested in what is going on in the last great untapped global battlefield.
One final quote. This is the sort of thing we're up against culturally:
He tells the story of a primary school deep in the Muslim village of Bargoni where all the girls would drop out once they hit puberty. In Africa, the impulse would be to think: AIDS, birth control, clerics bearing down. But it was something far more prosaic. When I had first arrived inside the wire at Camp Lemonier, I'd seen a portable toilet labeled "Muslim female." The girls at the school were forced to quit at puberty because strict Islamic practice says that males and females can't share the same bathroom once girls come of age. McKnight and his crew offered a simple fix: HOA would build the school a bathroom just for girls.
The impact was immediate. For the first time, girls stayed in school, parents were happy, mullahs were satisfied, local leaders immensely gratified. Word got around: "The Americans did this!" McKnight's eyes well up as he remembers.
Kinetics is what the military does. Iraq is a quagmire because kinetics is all we planned for. But in this new time, on this continent, the military also builds latrines for girls. That simple act might someday keep trigger pullers out of this village.
"I don't need to go back to Florida and my inner-city school," McKnight says. "I've got it all here. It feels just like home."
Please read it.
And you wonder ...
Why progressives are characterized as pussies?
As you all know, Gord and I been on this pirate thing for the last 6 months, since the escalation in their frequency of attacks. In the last week, since Maersk Alabama was attacked, we've been posting more regularly. So has the rest of the blogosphere. And, as you all know, we've been somewhat disappointed with the response of the U.S. government. Most on this side of the dial aren't.
The reason I bring up other progressive bloggers is, aside from a few, most have adopted the line that you can't blame the pirates because of the poor situation found in their homeland. Oh, the poor dears can't find work. Oh, the unfortunates have no functioning government. Oh, they're trying to feed their families and we have to fix the systemic problems in their country instead of blasting the pirates and their 'headquarters' into subatomic particles.
Fuck them.
Firstly, the window for helping the Somalis opened and closed in 1993. Remember Black Hawk Down? One of Bill Clinton's rare fuckups. You think we have a clusterfuck in Iraq and an unwinnable war in Afghanistan? Try bringing about "regime change" in Somalia. Ain't happening. The American people won't have it. Maybe, had we not our other military obligations, it would have been a "good fight", but not when we're stretched so thinly, not when our economy is on the balls of its ass.
Nextly, there are several million other folks who are trying to feed their families in Somalia who aren't pirates, starving their asses off in refugee camps. Do the pirates, who netted $80mln in ransom last year, use that money to buy food for their fellow countrymen? Um, no. They cruise around in American SUVs, have satellite dishes, and buy dope for themselves. And let's not forget the weaponry (making their job of capturing ships that much easier), getting more sophisticated all the time. Were they attempting to be modern-day Robin Hoods, I might be a little more understanding. Were they trying to finance an army to break the grip of a corrupt, tyrannical government in their country, I might be inclined to help them. They are doing nothing but looking out for Number One.
Lastly, taking the above into account, they are merely criminals. Just as their forebears centuries ago, they are nothing but thieves and murderers. Gordon will correct me, but I'm pretty sure one of the missions of the Marines back then was to hunt down and kill these bastards. It's what they should be doing now.
Someone mentioned, either in comments here or on another blog that it shouldn't be that difficult to follow these guys clandestinely (the Navy's watching that fucking lifeboat holding Maersk's captain inside with their little toy planes) and find out where they live. The Air Force and CIA have more toy planes that can make some craters where the pirate hideouts (and pirates) used to be. Most certainly. It is unconscionable that these clowns can sit within a few yards of a United States Navy warship and basically give them the finger without consequences. We look like a fucking joke.
Listen to me. While Somalia is in a bad way, we can't afford to worry about them right now, on many levels. There is a tangible threat to the civilian shipping lanes in international waters and that should be dealt with aside from all of the other Somali problems. The pirates have to be shown there are consequences for interfering with international trade. Paying them millions of dollars, euro, or drachmas isn't a fucking deterrent, you boneheads. Helping the refugees and 'negotiating' with either the pirates or the government in Mogadishu will do nothing to discourage the pirates. Making these criminals look over their shoulder all the time, wondering if a little model airplane, unseen thousands of feet above, will decide to shittify their day most certainly will.
Fuck the pirates, this is no time to be touchy-feely. Bring it to an end the same way we did with Blackbeard and his ilk. Kill them brutally and hold them up as an example to those others who would attempt to burglarize the high seas. The Seven Seas belong to all of us, for shipping, for defense, for recreation, and in my case for travel. We pay, in so many ways, for the actions of these renegades and it's time to start recouping our losses.
As you all know, Gord and I been on this pirate thing for the last 6 months, since the escalation in their frequency of attacks. In the last week, since Maersk Alabama was attacked, we've been posting more regularly. So has the rest of the blogosphere. And, as you all know, we've been somewhat disappointed with the response of the U.S. government. Most on this side of the dial aren't.
The reason I bring up other progressive bloggers is, aside from a few, most have adopted the line that you can't blame the pirates because of the poor situation found in their homeland. Oh, the poor dears can't find work. Oh, the unfortunates have no functioning government. Oh, they're trying to feed their families and we have to fix the systemic problems in their country instead of blasting the pirates and their 'headquarters' into subatomic particles.
Fuck them.
Firstly, the window for helping the Somalis opened and closed in 1993. Remember Black Hawk Down? One of Bill Clinton's rare fuckups. You think we have a clusterfuck in Iraq and an unwinnable war in Afghanistan? Try bringing about "regime change" in Somalia. Ain't happening. The American people won't have it. Maybe, had we not our other military obligations, it would have been a "good fight", but not when we're stretched so thinly, not when our economy is on the balls of its ass.
Nextly, there are several million other folks who are trying to feed their families in Somalia who aren't pirates, starving their asses off in refugee camps. Do the pirates, who netted $80mln in ransom last year, use that money to buy food for their fellow countrymen? Um, no. They cruise around in American SUVs, have satellite dishes, and buy dope for themselves. And let's not forget the weaponry (making their job of capturing ships that much easier), getting more sophisticated all the time. Were they attempting to be modern-day Robin Hoods, I might be a little more understanding. Were they trying to finance an army to break the grip of a corrupt, tyrannical government in their country, I might be inclined to help them. They are doing nothing but looking out for Number One.
Lastly, taking the above into account, they are merely criminals. Just as their forebears centuries ago, they are nothing but thieves and murderers. Gordon will correct me, but I'm pretty sure one of the missions of the Marines back then was to hunt down and kill these bastards. It's what they should be doing now.
Someone mentioned, either in comments here or on another blog that it shouldn't be that difficult to follow these guys clandestinely (the Navy's watching that fucking lifeboat holding Maersk's captain inside with their little toy planes) and find out where they live. The Air Force and CIA have more toy planes that can make some craters where the pirate hideouts (and pirates) used to be. Most certainly. It is unconscionable that these clowns can sit within a few yards of a United States Navy warship and basically give them the finger without consequences. We look like a fucking joke.
Listen to me. While Somalia is in a bad way, we can't afford to worry about them right now, on many levels. There is a tangible threat to the civilian shipping lanes in international waters and that should be dealt with aside from all of the other Somali problems. The pirates have to be shown there are consequences for interfering with international trade. Paying them millions of dollars, euro, or drachmas isn't a fucking deterrent, you boneheads. Helping the refugees and 'negotiating' with either the pirates or the government in Mogadishu will do nothing to discourage the pirates. Making these criminals look over their shoulder all the time, wondering if a little model airplane, unseen thousands of feet above, will decide to shittify their day most certainly will.
Fuck the pirates, this is no time to be touchy-feely. Bring it to an end the same way we did with Blackbeard and his ilk. Kill them brutally and hold them up as an example to those others who would attempt to burglarize the high seas. The Seven Seas belong to all of us, for shipping, for defense, for recreation, and in my case for travel. We pay, in so many ways, for the actions of these renegades and it's time to start recouping our losses.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
The End of Christian America
From the article:
There it was, an old term with new urgency: post-Christian. This is not to say that the Christian God is dead, but that he is less of a force in American politics and culture than at any other time in recent memory. To the surprise of liberals who fear the advent of an evangelical theocracy and to the dismay of religious conservatives who long to see their faith more fully expressed in public life, Christians are now making up a declining percentage of the American population.
While we remain a nation decisively shaped by religious faith, our politics and our culture are, in the main, less influenced by movements and arguments of an explicitly Christian character than they were even five years ago. I think this is a good thing—good for our political culture, which, as the American Founders saw, is complex and charged enough without attempting to compel or coerce religious belief or observance. It is good for Christianity, too, in that many Christians are rediscovering the virtues of a separation of church and state that protects what Roger Williams, who founded Rhode Island as a haven for religious dissenters, called "the garden of the church" from "the wilderness of the world." As crucial as religion has been and is to the life of the nation, America's unifying force has never been a specific faith, but a commitment to freedom—not least freedom of conscience. At our best, we single religion out for neither particular help nor particular harm; we have historically treated faith-based arguments as one element among many in the republican sphere of debate and decision. The decline and fall of the modern religious right's notion of a Christian America creates a calmer political environment and, for many believers, may help open the way for a more theologically serious religious life.
That was a pretty wordy way of saying, "Worship any god(s) you like. It is your right under the Constitution to do so or not as you choose. Keep it to yourself. Respect my rights as well and quit trying to elect people and pass laws that will force me to believe as you say you do or there's gonna be trouble."
Many conservative Christians believe they have lost the battles over issues such as abortion, school prayer and even same-sex marriage, and that the country has now entered a post-Christian phase. [...]
Halle-fuckin'-lujah!
I walked in the door about ten minutes ago with my new dead-tree copy of Newsweek and posted this on the strength of the cover. Now I am going to go sit on the couch and read the rest of it.
The Rankin File
A comment in response to last week's video:
Well, Montag ol' buddy, ya got that one right!
Here's a twofer from this fine Canadian group from Cape Breton. First, a number from the Heavy Metal end of their repertoire ta suck ya in:
And something a little sweeter and more poignant:
Gordon, if you like Cookie Rankin, you will love the rest of her family. - montag
Well, Montag ol' buddy, ya got that one right!
Here's a twofer from this fine Canadian group from Cape Breton. First, a number from the Heavy Metal end of their repertoire ta suck ya in:
The Rankin Family ~ Movin' On
And something a little sweeter and more poignant:
Borders and Time
Thanks to lbrankinfiles.
Thought for the Day
A few minutes ago I was in the 'reading room' as I am every morning, with my copy of The Old Farmer's Almanac and next to today's date was:
A little further ponderin' upon the vicissitudes of life and a Grand Question came to me:
When Repugs drink the koolaid, do they remember it comes outta Limbaugh, Hannity, Rove, etc., etc.'s ASS?
Heh. Life is good.
When you drink from the stream, remember its source.
A little further ponderin' upon the vicissitudes of life and a Grand Question came to me:
When Repugs drink the koolaid, do they remember it comes outta Limbaugh, Hannity, Rove, etc., etc.'s ASS?
Heh. Life is good.
Fairey Swordfish
Following up on my earlier post, some lovely footage of these old crates.
Note the crew 'walking the prop' to pump oil out of the bottom cylinders so it will start without bending the connecting rod or blowing the head off and the low-tech starting system ("Goddamit, Gord, she stalled! Get out there and crank! Move yer ass, we're only forty feet up!"), and the mosquito abatement effect when it does start. Carbon footprint my ass, go sink something!
These things weren't very fast and had about the same stall speed as a grocery cart, but they were deadly. The brave pilots would try to fly them so low in the attack that the enemy gunners couldn't depress their guns enough to shoot at them, and if they did, the big round somewhat hopefully named motor could stop a lot of lead from reaching the pilot, and could keep running with minor bits like a few of the cylinders and heads, etc. shot away.
Enjoy.
Note the crew 'walking the prop' to pump oil out of the bottom cylinders so it will start without bending the connecting rod or blowing the head off and the low-tech starting system ("Goddamit, Gord, she stalled! Get out there and crank! Move yer ass, we're only forty feet up!"), and the mosquito abatement effect when it does start. Carbon footprint my ass, go sink something!
These things weren't very fast and had about the same stall speed as a grocery cart, but they were deadly. The brave pilots would try to fly them so low in the attack that the enemy gunners couldn't depress their guns enough to shoot at them, and if they did, the big round somewhat hopefully named motor could stop a lot of lead from reaching the pilot, and could keep running with minor bits like a few of the cylinders and heads, etc. shot away.
Enjoy.
Thanks to unapro3, Oz.
I'm disgusted with the U.S. Navy
Captain Phillips, skipper of Maersk Alabama and hostage to drugged-up Somalian thugs, obviously read my earlier post and followed my advice:
LATimes
Where was our fuckin' Navy? Why, right there! And they screwed the pooch.
They should have had a gun team - .50 cal, 20mm, 5-inch .38, a sharpshooter with an M-14, whatever, in position to take advantage of Captain Phillips' jump. There was a window of a few seconds between the time he jumped and the time the thug fired warning shots at him to force him back aboard.
In those few seconds the pirate should have died. If this had been a SWAT situation in L.A. or NYC, he would have.
What's the Navy for? Why, to keep the sea lanes open, among other things. What do we pay them for? They let four clowns with Kalashnikovs buffalo three goddam warships, and weren't ready to take them out when they had the chance. What the fuck good are they?
You fucked up, Canoe Clubbers. I'm disgusted with you.
There will be more on this. Latest report is that many, many pirates, with hostages in tow, are converging on the area. I hope they don't have enough dope to try and seize one of our destroyers. Shit, at the rate our Navy's going they'll get it and we'll be ransoming off one of our first-line men-o'-war. Won't that look wonderful?
And fuck you, Repugs, kudos to the French. My condolences to the family of the hostage who was killed, but the Frogs had the balls to go do it.
This shit has to stop, even if innocent people have to die, I'm sorry.
Afterthought:
I heard earlier that the Somalian pirates were paid $80 million in the last year, mostly by the companies insuring the ships. Why don't you insurance companies just pay them first so they can get stoned and not have to go out to sea in the first place?
Kill 'em off or pay 'em off, makes no difference to me, but this shit is getting ridiculous.
[...] You better just jump overboard and swim for it and pray that the nearby US warship blasts those pirates to Kingdom Come if they point their weapons at you. Best of luck.
LATimes
Reporting from Washington and Nairobi, Kenya -- Adrift with his captors in sight of U.S. warships, the American sea captain being held for ransom by Somali pirates briefly escaped their lifeboat by jumping overboard, a U.S. official said Friday, but was recaptured and brought back.
Where was our fuckin' Navy? Why, right there! And they screwed the pooch.
They should have had a gun team - .50 cal, 20mm, 5-inch .38, a sharpshooter with an M-14, whatever, in position to take advantage of Captain Phillips' jump. There was a window of a few seconds between the time he jumped and the time the thug fired warning shots at him to force him back aboard.
In those few seconds the pirate should have died. If this had been a SWAT situation in L.A. or NYC, he would have.
What's the Navy for? Why, to keep the sea lanes open, among other things. What do we pay them for? They let four clowns with Kalashnikovs buffalo three goddam warships, and weren't ready to take them out when they had the chance. What the fuck good are they?
You fucked up, Canoe Clubbers. I'm disgusted with you.
There will be more on this. Latest report is that many, many pirates, with hostages in tow, are converging on the area. I hope they don't have enough dope to try and seize one of our destroyers. Shit, at the rate our Navy's going they'll get it and we'll be ransoming off one of our first-line men-o'-war. Won't that look wonderful?
And fuck you, Repugs, kudos to the French. My condolences to the family of the hostage who was killed, but the Frogs had the balls to go do it.
This shit has to stop, even if innocent people have to die, I'm sorry.
Afterthought:
I heard earlier that the Somalian pirates were paid $80 million in the last year, mostly by the companies insuring the ships. Why don't you insurance companies just pay them first so they can get stoned and not have to go out to sea in the first place?
Kill 'em off or pay 'em off, makes no difference to me, but this shit is getting ridiculous.
Friday, April 10, 2009
"Some F-22s'll send them pirates skedaddlin', you betcha!"
I posted the other day about SecDef Gates' decision to cut some useless pork outta the military budget.
But wait! When ya shake a tree, out come the squirrels...
Think Progress, with links and video:
(207 comments so far. Heh.)
There's video, but if ya wanta watch a useless old fart prattle nonsense, just come on over for coffee. It'll be more fun. Or just read on...
I think perhaps a coupla googolzillion bucks worth of strike fighters, air tankers, airfields and support personnel to try and catch an outboard-powered fishing boat at 1000 miles an hour maybe, just maybe, might not be the most efficient way to help with the piracy problem. Might save the old coot's job, but he shoulda been saving his money in case sanity ever struck DoD, and struck it has. Except him.
So what, you may well ask, is your solution to the greatest danger to maritime commerce in three generations?
Maritime commerce has been in danger before. Here's my cost effective low-tech answer:
The artwork shows a Stringbag bearing down on a famous high-seas raider of yore. Got the sonofabitch too!
These old planes did pretty good at Taranto, Italy as well, and since Somalia used to be called Italian Somaliland, I'm sure there's some museum display somewhere that's itchin' fer a repeat against them Eyetie wogs!
We could probably build hundreds of these things from scratch for the price of an F-22, and the old general could keep his job. Win-win!
All we need is goggles and scarves. Fixer can drive, I'll drop the fish and fire the Lewis gun, and we can discuss who gets to crawl out and handle little in-flight repair jobs should the unlikely (cough) need arise.
I'm rarin' ta go! What could possibly go wrong?
Update:
I couldn't resist. When yer retired, screwin' around becomes an art form! Thanks for the canvas, Fixer.
But wait! When ya shake a tree, out come the squirrels...
Think Progress, with links and video:
Last year, the New York Times revealed that numerous cable news “military analysts” never disclosed their ties to military contractors. Yesterday, Lt. Gen. Tom McInerney appeared on Fox News to discuss the Somali pirates situation, and managed to use it as an opportunity to shill for the F-22:
McINERNEY: I’d put F-22s and combat air patrol out there, two of them, with tankers. … The reason I’d put the F-22s is because they can go 1.6 to mach 2, and they have a very quick reaction time and a 20 millimeter canon.
“It doesn’t take an Air Force general to see how bizarre McInerney’s military reasoning is,” [...]
(207 comments so far. Heh.)
There's video, but if ya wanta watch a useless old fart prattle nonsense, just come on over for coffee. It'll be more fun. Or just read on...
I think perhaps a coupla googolzillion bucks worth of strike fighters, air tankers, airfields and support personnel to try and catch an outboard-powered fishing boat at 1000 miles an hour maybe, just maybe, might not be the most efficient way to help with the piracy problem. Might save the old coot's job, but he shoulda been saving his money in case sanity ever struck DoD, and struck it has. Except him.
So what, you may well ask, is your solution to the greatest danger to maritime commerce in three generations?
Maritime commerce has been in danger before. Here's my cost effective low-tech answer:
Click to embiggen.
The artwork shows a Stringbag bearing down on a famous high-seas raider of yore. Got the sonofabitch too!
These old planes did pretty good at Taranto, Italy as well, and since Somalia used to be called Italian Somaliland, I'm sure there's some museum display somewhere that's itchin' fer a repeat against them Eyetie wogs!
We could probably build hundreds of these things from scratch for the price of an F-22, and the old general could keep his job. Win-win!
All we need is goggles and scarves. Fixer can drive, I'll drop the fish and fire the Lewis gun, and we can discuss who gets to crawl out and handle little in-flight repair jobs should the unlikely (cough) need arise.
I'm rarin' ta go! What could possibly go wrong?
Update:
I couldn't resist. When yer retired, screwin' around becomes an art form! Thanks for the canvas, Fixer.
House Judiciary Committee releases report on the imperial presidency
From Margie Burns.
Don't forget to eat while you're reading the report.
The House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) has released its copious report on abuses of presidential power in the administration of George W. Bush. “Reining in the Imperial Presidency: Lessons and Recommendations Relating to the Presidency of George W. Bush” runs 541 pages and covers five major categories of presidential overreaching—politicization of the Justice Department, assaults on civil liberties, misuse of Executive branch authority, retribution against critics, and government secrecy. The report is authored by Majority (Democratic) staff on Judiciary. The breakdown of major abuses is preceded by an overview and followed by recommendations for future policy. (Warning: Owing to the length of the report, downloading is slow.)
Don't forget to eat while you're reading the report.
Repug teabaggery
I couldn't resist. Watch Rachel try to hold it together and Wonkette sail through as cool as a cucumber. Funny.
By the way, the best definition of 'teabagging' is in Spanish. I'm sure the Repugs do this with each other a lot and have to let it steep a long time due to their very small teabags.
Update:
Also see TEABAG PARTY! Heh.
By the way, the best definition of 'teabagging' is in Spanish. I'm sure the Repugs do this with each other a lot and have to let it steep a long time due to their very small teabags.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Update:
Also see TEABAG PARTY! Heh.
Listen to me ...
The Communist Chinese are our biggest trading partner. Communist Vietnam welcomes American tourists by the thousands and also has a vigorous trading program with us. (Remember that we actually fought a war with them that cost us 58,000 souls) We deal with the Russians, who are still more Communist than not (we might be visiting there next year as well).
What the fuck is the problem with Cuba? Ain't nobody else in the world seems to give a shit. Many of my Canadian and European friends have been there and say it's beautiful. Mrs. F's grandfather used to tell us stories about how the nightlife in Havana and how we should get there if it ever becomes possible. What the fuck? It's a piddly little island. Let's get over the fact that Fidel has outlasted 9 U.S. Presidents, giving the finger to each of them.
Ooh, the Rethugs are worried about Cuba's civil rights record. What about the Chinese? What about what the Vietnamese did to our soldiers? Yet we exchange with them. Even Iran, part of "The Axis of Evil" sells us oil and we gladly take it. And what about the hypocrisy?
It's about time (it was about time 20 years ago) we get over whatever hangups we have with Fidel and Raoul and start interacting with one of our closest neighbors. Cuba poses no threat to the United States and it might be nice for two generations of Americans to finally reunite their families; for those here so long to return to the land of their birth, whether to stay or to visit.
I'm tired of the false outrage over something we ignore over and over again if it benefits us and the visit by members of Congress this week was a refreshing change. It seems Fidel felt the same way.
Let's get off our high horse with regard to Cuba. Communism, human rights, or any other issue have not stood in the way of relations and trade with our Cold War enemies, they shouldn't when speaking of Cuba either.
What the fuck is the problem with Cuba? Ain't nobody else in the world seems to give a shit. Many of my Canadian and European friends have been there and say it's beautiful. Mrs. F's grandfather used to tell us stories about how the nightlife in Havana and how we should get there if it ever becomes possible. What the fuck? It's a piddly little island. Let's get over the fact that Fidel has outlasted 9 U.S. Presidents, giving the finger to each of them.
Ooh, the Rethugs are worried about Cuba's civil rights record. What about the Chinese? What about what the Vietnamese did to our soldiers? Yet we exchange with them. Even Iran, part of "The Axis of Evil" sells us oil and we gladly take it. And what about the hypocrisy?
...
I couldn't agree more. But it's a bit unseemly to make that argument when Americans are holding their own prisoners in Cuba, some of whom have tried to kill themselves out of despair that they will never even be given a trial or know if they will see the outside world again. I assume they don't have worms in their rice, but they have, by all accounts suffered quite a few beatings and worse. And many of them are innocent.
I think American congressmen who to Cuba probably need to be a little bit circumspect about lecturing anyone about wrongfully imprisoning anyone. Shamefully, the US doesn't exactly have a lot of credibility on this issue.
...
It's about time (it was about time 20 years ago) we get over whatever hangups we have with Fidel and Raoul and start interacting with one of our closest neighbors. Cuba poses no threat to the United States and it might be nice for two generations of Americans to finally reunite their families; for those here so long to return to the land of their birth, whether to stay or to visit.
I'm tired of the false outrage over something we ignore over and over again if it benefits us and the visit by members of Congress this week was a refreshing change. It seems Fidel felt the same way.
Let's get off our high horse with regard to Cuba. Communism, human rights, or any other issue have not stood in the way of relations and trade with our Cold War enemies, they shouldn't when speaking of Cuba either.
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