Archive for July, 2011

Harry Reid has it tabled 2 hours after the Senate receives it.

President Obama calls again for a compromise.

Yo, dawg. That was the compromise.

If the GOP doesn’t want to lose its base, they’d better hold the line.

I think this is a bigger test for the Republican party than it is for the Dems and Obama. It’s damn clear where they stand…but the jury’s still out on the Conservatives in office.

UPDATE: Democrats enforce filibuster against their own debt bill

Not a lot of Linkzookery today. Add your own links in the comments section.

Hood suspect defiant in court appearance
Yelling out the name of the Army psychiatrist blamed in the 2009 deadly shooting rampage at the same Texas base is not going to help your cause.

Former Intel Chief: Call Off The Drone War (And Maybe the Whole War on Terror)
Retired admiral and former Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair

ATK awarded contract to develop Abrams Advanced Kinetic Energy Ammo
The next generation of 120mm Abrams tank Armor Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding Sabot ammunition, the M829E4 Advanced Kinetic Energy (AKE) which will become the M829A4 after acceptance.

U.S. Lawmakers Order New LCS Study
Wants the GAO to re-examine the program.

Corps will test jamming pod on Harrier jets
A Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier jump jet squadron is set to conduct trials on the service’s new Intrepid Tiger II communications intelligence and jamming pod next month.

“More Advanced” Sometimes Means “Simpler”
Revolver speed loaders.

Crash or Coincidence?
Did the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter find the impact crater from Lunar Orbiter 2 on the far side?

Fort Hood Plot: AWOL U.S. Serviceman Arrested

When he was arrested, [Private First Class Naser Jason] Abdo was in possession of large quantities of ammunition, weapons and what appeared to be the makings of a bomb, according to early accounts from law enforcement. He had also apparently purchased an Army uniform with Fort Hood patches from a local surplus store.

Abdo told ABC News in 2010 he was Muslim and should not have to participate in what he called an “unjust war” in the Middle East.

It’s important to remember that the Norway shooter was a white Christian.

UPDATE: This loser was in the news last year and said (and Murdoc is not making this up):

“I want to use my experience to show Muslims how we can lead our lives,” he said. “And to try and put a good positive spin out there that Islam is a good, peaceful religion. We’re not all terrorists, you know? [emphasis Murdoc's]“

No. But you’re not convince people of that by blowing up stuff.

Navy Times:

Two Chinese Su-27 fighters penetrated Taiwan’s airspace June 29 and were turned back by Taiwan Air Force fighters. The incident is believed to be the first serious Chinese fighter incursion into Taiwan airspace since 1999.

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense confirmed the incursion in a news release on Monday, but would not verify local Chinese-language media reports that the Su-27s were chasing a U.S. surveillance aircraft.

The report claims it was a U-2 the fighters were pursuing, but others are skeptical. Could have been a different surveillance plane, though.

He ‘claimed ties to Al-Qaeda but this was never proven’:

A man who admitted to killing one soldier and wounding another at an Army recruiting office pleaded guilty to the crimes on Monday and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Abdulhakim Muhammad, charged with capital murder for the deadly 2009 shooting, entered his plea during his trial in order to avoid the death penalty, officials told Reuters…

During college, he changed his name from Carlos Bledsoe after converting to Islam. He traveled to Yemen in 2007, according to authorities.

It’s important to remember that the Norway shooter was apparently a right-wing Christian.

Next Army Chief Isn’t So Cool With A Smaller Force

Back in January, then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced that the Army would get smaller as U.S. troops left Iraq and Afghanistan. Unsurprisingly, the Army’s next top officer isn’t particularly nuts about that idea – and hopes folks on Capitol Hill will reconsider.

What’s the worry? Why not just get more contractors?

Anyway, Murdoc is sure that when it comes to budget dollars, personnel will win out over high-cost programs.

And he’s feeling a bit sarcastic.

Iran backtracks on report it downed U.S. ‘spy drone’

Now they’re saying that they didn’t shoot down a spying UAV over an enrichment plant:

“What caused the mistaken news was the firing, by the forces of the IRGC Air Force, at an aerial training enemy target in the general area of the Province of Qom,” the spokesman said.

In fact, he said it could not have happened since it is impossible for an American drone to penetrate Iran’s air space “due to the vigilance of the anti-aircraft forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

On Thursday, Murdoc said they probably shot down their own UAV by accident because no one over there ever seems to know what anyone else over there is doing. This confirms his suspicion.

Of course, now that they’re admitting a mistake, Murdoc wonders if they really did shoot down a spy drone. After all, they couldn’t very well admit that someone’s spy drone got through, could they?

Either way, I hope a spy drone got pictures of them doing it so we know for sure what happened. If it was theirs, our guys can have a good laugh. If it was ours, I hope a second one was on station as a back-up. Or maybe we sacrificed one to cover for the *real* drone.

Federal Spending in Perspective

Federal spending and its key components as shares of GDP on average over the past 40 years, before the recession began, and in 2021 under the Congressional Budget Office’s current–law baseline projections

Via Instapundit.

Army demonstrates new LSAT lightweight machine gun

Lightweight Small Arms Technology over at SoldierGeek:

The LSAT program has been run out of the Armaments Reserach, Development, and Engineering Center (ARDEC) at Picatinny Arsenal for several years. It’s original goal was to produce a lightweight machine gun aimed at the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon role, by redesigning both weapon and ammunition from the ground up. The program was later restructured to look at lightweight small arms technology applications in multiple roles, to include carbines, using the lightweight LMG as the technology demonstrator.

Go check it out. SoldierGeek was involved in some early work on the project and has some good personal thoughts. And if you don’t have him bookmarked or in your RSS feed, fix that problem right now.

Here’s an overview of the LSAT:

Lightweight Small Arms Technology (LSAT)