Archive for February, 2008
Sen. Warner Calls For Hearing on Obama’s Taliban Claims
For what it’s worth, if Obama’s claims are true, heads should roll.
B-2 Bomber Crashes on Guam; Pilots Safe
Almost 5% of the entire B-2 fleet was just lost in an accident.
Google News turns up virtually no hits on this, but it was February 22, 1980, when we beat those damn Commies. Team USA won the gold a few days later.
If you haven’t seen Miracle, it’s a good one. I’ve also caught the game on ESPN Classic a couple of times. Good stuff, fond memories.
I don’t think I was familiar with this helicopter. Video at Bickmuppet’s.
The Carrier Cold War
US to give the USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) to India if they agree to buy Super Hornets?
China Requests Satellite Shoot-Down Data
That would be funny if I was sure we wouldn’t give it to them.
U.S. nuclear submarine Ohio arrives in S Korea for joint military exercises
The USS Ohio (SSGN 726) is one of the four cruise missile boats. My guess is that we won’t really hear a lot news about those boats.
Marines yield to civilian drivers in Anbar
Moving toward a stability ops mindset.
Toy Guns
I continue to think that some toy guns are dangerously realistic.
Unbelievable “Battleship” Coincidence!
Not going to cross the T that way.
U.S. Hands Over 35 Cascavels to Iraqi Army
Six wheels and 90mm gun.
Happy Anniversary, Dear Danger Room
1st birthday for Noah and friends.
Raytheon’s Standard Missile Naval Defense Family
DID on the missile of the hour.
LED Bulbs Last Longer, Use Less Energy, And Emit Less CO2 Than CFL Bulbs
Again, the seeming total and absolute lack of LED bulbs for standard home use is disappointing. The best general purpose home bulb-type LED is a 30-35-watt equivalent and costs a whopping $37. Most LED bulbs are in the 15-20-watt equivalent range and are floodlights or spotlights, not general purpose bulb replacements.
UPDATE: Whoa! This story made it big in the old blogosphere. Lots of links at Taliban Story An Obamination!
Troops grabbing weapons in a pinch during a fight is nothing new, and I’ve even heard that some guys use AKs or PPSh submachine guns for particular things. But I guess I’ve never heard of US troops needing to use captured weapons simply because the US Army isn’t supplying them with US weapons.
Oh, and a platoon was split up between Iraq and Afghanistan. I guess it’s possible for some specialized units, but I didn’t think that platoons were divided. Maybe I’m wrong. And platoons aren’t commanded by Captains.
Via Gateway Pundit.
Protesters break into U.S. embassy in Serbia
Protesters broke into the U.S. embassy in Belgrade on Thursday and set fires, cheered on by crowds outside rallying against U.S. support for Kosovo’s independence.
Doors were ripped off, set on fire and wedged in the embassy windows. Black smoke billowed from the building. Papers and chairs were thrown out of the windows.
One protester climbed up to the first floor, ripped the U.S. flag off its pole and briefly put up a Serbian flag in its place.
Nice.
John McCain won’t use ABBA’s “Take a Chance on Me.”
Anyway, it’s usually pretty weird when politicians try to hijack good music. And this would have been weirder than most.
Finally, my wife and I spent an evening watching the ABBA: The Definitive Collection DVD not too long ago, and thoroughly enjoyed it. What fun.
Via Dean.
Though I’ve long been a fan of the Navy’s anti-missile system, I’m pleased and relieved that this worked.
under way in 1993.
And I’m always a fan of Navy says missile smashed wayward satellite headlines. If the Navy had missed, do you think the headline would have been Navy says missile missed wayward satellite, or Navy missile missed wayward satellite. It seems like people only “say” things when it’s good. As if the press is exercising some skepticism and waiting to see. If it’s bad news they pile on.
Anyway, there’s this:
The elaborate intercept may trigger worries from some international leaders, who could see it as a thinly disguised attempt to test an anti-satellite weapon — one that could take out other nation’s orbiting communications and spy spacecraft.
Within hours of the reported success, China said it was on the alert for possible harmful fallout from the shootdown and urged Washington to promptly release data on the action.
To which Mudoc says “China, STFU.”
They’re “on the alert” for debris that will re-enter the atmosphere from a very highly publicized test against an identified target with a valid reason to be shot down. Seems that they’ve forgotten their own unannounced test which left debris in orbit for everyone to play with for years to come.
And the Rooskies, of course, are onboard the concerned bandwagon as well. Someone asked me if I wasn’t worried about provoking the Russians with this test. Well, the Rooskies call our plans for a missile defense system in Eastern Europe an offensive threat, but call their own threats to target Ukraine, Poland, and the Czech Republic with nuclear missiles a defensive strategy.
I simply dismiss the complaints of China and Russia on this as windbag political rhetoric. Completely worthless.
Of course, lots of folks are going to worry about US saber rattling and side with the Commies. (Yes, I know the Rooskies aren’t Commies any more. They’re our friends again. Wink. Wink.)
This poor guy obviously wrote his story before last night’s satellite intercept: U.S. anti-missile plan is hopelessly flawed
He’s worried that we’re “sticking a finger in [Putin's] eye” with missile defense, mostly because it doesn’t work. He bases his claim on first-hand knowledge:
I have a bit of personal experience with anti-missile missiles, in Israel during the first Gulf War. The United States deployed a Patriot anti-missile battery just outside Tel Aviv, to counter Saddam Hussein’s Scud attacks. One night, I stood on a hotel balcony to watch as a Scud arced in from the east, trailing fire in its wake. Below me, a Patriot launched with a roar.
Moments later, the two missiles met high above the city, and the Patriot exploded, destroying the Scud, just as it was supposed to. But then the fiery debris from both missiles — including the Scud warhead — rained down on Tel Aviv and destroyed two homes. What did the Patriot accomplish?
He then says that the Airborne Laser system is far better than missile interceptors, then goes on to explain why that won’t work either. Though it’s tough to argue that he’s too far off base with his criticisms of the ABL, I find it interesting that his attitude is based on experience with early-gen Patriots in 1991 and a program that has already been all but canceled. If he argued against the spotty record and high cost of the land-based system, I could buy some of what he’s selling.
Missile defense is not an offensive weapon. Shooting down satellites can be, though, and this was a legitimate demonstration that our anti-missile system has the potential to do just that, at least for low-orbiting sats. Want to argue that having the capability to shoot down satellites is bad? Go ahead, though I disagree.
And don’t argue that it won’t work, which has been a major part of the anti-anti-missile defense argument for over 20 years.
Well done, guys.
UPDATE: In the comments, responding to the fact that potential enemies are unhappy with our test:
Well, that’s a sure sign you’re on the right track in my book.
UPDATE 2: Hah.
I am not buying the “blame the media for John McCain” theory of why hardline Conservatives couldn’t get the candidate they wanted. But there is a lot of sense in this:
What a bizarre coincidence that a few years after the most draconian campaign-finance laws were imposed via McCain-Feingold, our two front-runners happen to be the media’s picks! It’s uncanny — almost as if by design! (Can I stop now, or do you people get sarcasm?)
By prohibiting speech by anyone else, the campaign-finance laws have vastly magnified the power of the media — which, by the way, are wholly exempt from speech restrictions under campaign-finance laws. The New York Times doesn’t have to buy ad time to promote a politician; it just has to call McCain a “maverick” 1 billion times a year.
The whole thing is worth a read if you think the campaign process is broken. And, yes, McCain deserves a lot of the blame for the brokenness, though he’s had a lot of help before and after breaking it. I’m still not buying the “it’s his reward for McCain-Feingold” theory, though.
I’ve had a couple of people who not long ago told me that they were truly shocked that McCain was even in the running let alone on the verge of getting the nomination, that they thought he was out of it a year ago. More recently these same individuals, disgusted with McCain, told me, in effect, “Yeah, big surprise. Who didn’t see THAT coming?”
Well, they didn’t, first of all. They had already told me they didn’t. But now they’re running around like they’re Cassandra and no one listened to their prophecy of doom.
On the other hand, I personally have thought all along that McCain was likely to be in the running down to the wire, mostly because I couldn’t believe that Giuliani or Romney were all that electable and I didn’t know who was going to challenge him. (This was from back before Fred Thompson was in, but, then, he was never really in at all, was he?)
Like today, yesterday I didn’t think he’d be viable because he was all that great but because I just didn’t know who was going to be around to challenge him. I still don’t.
That doesn’t mean I’m going to vote Democrat, though. And I’m not abstaining, because I did that in 1996 and am still disappointed in myself for it.
UPDATE: I clarified my wording in the second-to-last paragraph.
Original wording:
Like today, yesterday I didn’t think he’d be viable because he was all that great. I just didn’t know who was going to be around to challenge him. I still don’t.
