Archive for October, 2008
Special forces launch rare attack inside Syria
U.S. military helicopters launched an extremely rare attack Sunday on Syrian territory close to the border with Iraq, killing eight people in a strike the government in Damascus condemned as “serious aggression.”
I’d bet that it isn’t quite as rare as they make it out to be. At least I hope it’s not.
This one just made the papers.
Greg Mankiw looks at what earning an extra dollar today will do for his family tomorrow under the proposed tax plans:
Obama’s proposed tax hikes reduce my incentive to work by 62 percent compared to the McCain plan and by 93 percent compared to the no-tax scenario. In a sense, putting the various pieces of the tax system together, I would be facing a marginal tax rate of 93 percent.
The bottom line: If you are one of those people out there trying to induce me to do some work for you, there is a good chance I will turn you down. And the likelihood will go up after President Obama puts his tax plan in place.
Obviously, Mankiw just doesn’t get it. He’s not supposed to look at what his effort gets for Mankiw or Mankiw’s family. He’s supposed to look at the greater good.
If everyone was like Mankiw, everyone would start looking at and thinking about whether what they were doing made sense or not. And where would that get us? If you are thinking about you, how does that help me? (via Instapundit)
House Democrats Contemplate Abolishing 401(k) Tax Breaks
Attacking a program where investors control their own destiny. Like usual.
They came, they saw, then left the Afghan war without a single mission
German KSK Special Forces performed no missions? I thought I had read otherwise.
Palin Guarantees Win in Pennsylvania
Probably just a bit of regular grandstanding, but I really do think a couple of states are closer than the press would have you believe.
Video of Police Pursuit in San Diego
The guy saved the overworked courts and the overcrowded prisons a bit of space.
Surprising Support for Unknown Candidate
I don’t generally support third-party candidates, but this one might be worth a look.
Iowa’s Ethanol Plants Create 15 Percent of its Emissions
I’m sick of listening to all this debate about alternative energy and greenhouse gas creation. They’re separate issues, for the most part.
Pizza Delivery Man Shoots, Fends Off Would-Be Robbers
C’mon guys, this was in Texas. Did they think he would be shooting back?
Chinese Boats Stalk George Washington
Chinese submarines are apparently exercising there more frequently, looking for Japanese, South Korean and American warships to play tag with.
Is China Moving Toward a Carrier?
They’ve got a lot of work to do.
Another Armor Alternative
Evolution Armor
Military Ballots Tossed In Fairfax
The patchwork problem of federal and state election regulations strikes again.
Military ballots are being tossed in Fairfax Co, VA because of a “technicality.” Not a lot of them compared to the size of the electorate, but more than a few.
The registrar of voters in a Democrat. He thinks it “stinks,” but the law is the law.
I like how the original story makes sure to point out that it’s only a “small number,” a “handful of them, at most.”
I thought it was about counting every ballot.
Remember, the Republicans are trying to steal votes with electronic voting machines. Rumors of a single vote screwed up anywhere and it’s all over page one everywhere. But military ballots rejected is no big deal.
Whatever went wrong and whoever is at fault in Virginia, this is a shame. Some of our troops overseas aren’t going to get their vote counted because of some morons.
But don’t worry, says the Democratic registrar. It’s only a handful of them at most. And the press backs him up.
UPDATE: Lex had already posted on this.
Army considers variants of Stryker, Abrams
Missed this while on the road last week:
Meanwhile, the Army has built a prototype of a new Stryker maintenance vehicle variant built with a trailer and crane to recover battle-damaged vehicles in combat, said U.S. Army Col. Christopher Lockhart, TRADOC Capabilities Manager, Stryker.
“It would recover destroyed Strykers, even catastrophically destroyed Strykers with all the tires blown off. It works in conjunction with a trailer. It will be a new variant if we chose to go that way,” said Lockhart.
In addition, the Army has outfitted several Stryker vehicles with an armor kit along the lower sides of the vehicles designed to stop deadly shaped charges such as explosively formed penetrates.
“The Stryker modernization program will allow you to put more weight on the system. There is a hull protection kit, an armor package, that is being put on selective Strykers right now. It is on the lower part of the side. EFPs impact around the tire area,” said Lockhart.
The Army plans also call for full funding of the NBC (nuclear, chemical, biological) reconnaissance Stryker variant.
“We want more of the NBC recon vehicles to replace Fox vehicles that are out there. We had to address all of the manned-ground vehicles [FCS] issues in our planning. Once we did that there was a little bit of RDT & E [research, development, test and evaluation] money for the entire Stryker family. From an engineering perspective we will continue to modernize the Stryker family. They will continue to be reset and be operationally capable because they are in the hands of soldiers being used,” said Thompson.
The maintenance variant might be nice, but I was hoping for a 25mm or 30mm gun version.
Also, don’t forget the 155mm howitzer prototype Stryker.
In Unique Aircraft Wearing Out :
Fourteen C-130s are being transferred from transportation units for conversion to ten MC-130 all-weather transports, and four AC-130U gunships. Both of these aircraft are equipped to operate at night and in any weather, as well as at very low altitudes. AFSOC has 37 MC-130s that are wearing out, so more new, or rebuilt, C-130s will be arriving in the next three years. AFSOC is also experimenting with a two engine gunship (based on the C-27J), the AC-27J.
On a related note, I don’t think I ever noted the fact that the Air Force reversed course on the plan to replace the 40mm Bofors cannon and the 25mm gatling gun with 30mm Bushmaster cannons on the AC-130Us.
AFSOC leadership noted problems with the 30 mm’s accuracy as the reason for AFSOC putting the plan on the shelf. The installment of the (2) Bushmaster 30 mm cannons on each gunship in the AC-130U fleet would have replaced the 25 mm Gatling guns and 40 mm Bofors cannons. The plan was visioned as providing a way for the CAS aircraft to act more as a airborne sniper with what AFSOC officials call a “two shot”, where the gun can be automatically corrected for accuracy after it fires off its first shot on a target. Unfortunately, the test program never produced sufficient results to keep it alive any longer.
That L/60 Bofors gun just keeps on ticking.
They “should dust off their Russian dictionaries” if Obama is elected.
He’s got a list of predictions for ways that our enemies and potential enemies will test us with a president so weak on foreign policy. No doubt, many of the predictions will turn out to have been overestimated or just plain wrong.
However, it’s the unknown unknowns that we should be most worried about.
Just received a very special IN THE MAIL book, an autographed copy of Secret and Dangerous: Night of the Son Tay POW Raid by William A. Guenon. A loyal reader chatted with him at a local open cockpit day and picked it up for ol’ Murdoc.
Here’s the goods:
A thrilling eyewitness account of the secret humanitarian mission in 1970 by one of the pilots who flew the amazing C-130 aircraft on the edge of a stall at night while leading six helicopters in close formation deep into North Vietnam for a daring rescue attempt of POWs being held in the shadows of Hanoi.
As a two-part story, it also describes the same raider-pilot’s return to Son Tay prison 24 years later, in broad daylight with camera in hand, including his high-anxiety confrontation and arrest by North Vietnamese police.
It includes 64 rare pictures and diagrams, most never declassified and published until now.
Looks good and I’ll have a bit more on it after I’ve had a chance to get through it.
And a big high five to the reader who thought of Murdoc and sent this on. Thanks!
Time was when MO would point out mountain lion stories every now and again. The advent of the GunPundit site, however, means that most of them will go over there from now on.
The most recent one happened in Wyoming.
