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Leading the Charge
Take a guy named "Tibbets" put him in a bomber and face him towards Asia and what do you get?
Thats easy, Second thoughts.
From Stars and Stripes:
"Tibbets is the grandson of Brig. Gen. Paul Tibbets, who piloted Enola Gay, the B-29 bomber used to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima during World War II in 1945.
Tibbets also flies bombers, but his subsonic, low-observable stealth machine is considerably more high-tech than his grandfather’s.
“The B-2 has proven through time that it’s the best bomber in the world,” said Tibbets, who commands the 393rd Bomb Squadron, part of the 509th Bomb Wing based at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo. “We kick down the door.”
Once upon a time I stood under the wing of a B-24 at the Reno Air Races with about a dozen pilots of various acclaim. We were all awaiting the arrival of the B-2. While we stood there on the ramp, everyone began to opine as to the value of the B-2. "Too damned expensive", "A white elephant", " silly damn thing" was the general concensus of the pilot community that had gathered for the shade of the big aircraft on the ramp. You cant impress pilots. They just dont care. If they are on the ground, their only interest is getting back in the air. Pilots may be impressed from time to time, but they never let on in public. They dont communicate or emote to non-pilots. Sitting in a crowd of pilots is like participating in a festival of monosyllabity and grunts.
And then we saw it. Immediately everyone reached for their binoculars as appeared low over the ridgeline behind the airport. Jaws dropped , but not a sound was uttered as the spectre flew by nearly silent in exactly the way that big jet bombers dont, but ghosts do. It was not like any sort of airplane that we had ever seen before, it was just a thin grey line moving back and forth through the sky with almost no sound. Nearly slient, nearly invisible, and it doesnt show up on radar. Wow.
After it left the area, everyone on the ramp clapped in ovation for the clearly amazing show that we had just seen had changed the concensus of opinion "I dont know how many we bought, but we need to buy twice as many right now. That is one damn scary aircraft." Its amazing what a 10 minute flyby can do to change someones mind.
The lesson being taught wasnt lost on the old time pilots who stood with me on the ramp at Reno. It wasnt how the aircraft would perform in a future war that mattered the most. It was how a weapon of such clearly superior strengths could stop a war from happening in the first place that really mattered.
Posted @ June 28, 2006 09:34 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (2)
Chris Hitchens Asks the "Question of the week"
"What happened to the human shields?"
snip...
"would not now be the ideal time for those who hate war to go to Iraq and stand outside the mosques, hospitals, schools, and women's centers that are daily subjected to murderous assaults? This would write an imperishable page in the history of American dissent."
I had forgotten how much I loathed this pretention in the daily press of 1992 and 2002.
He has four more great questions for the "anti-war" zealots. So read the whole thing already...
Posted @ June 28, 2006 09:12 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)
Killing Them Softly
Michelle Malkin has posted a series of wartime propaganda posters phototshopped to get the message across to the clueless morons at the New York Times. Heres a few of my favorties:
John Schrenko:
From Sublog:
What's my take on the fact that the New York Times seems willing to walk over dead bodies for an increase in circulation? Well, I'm wondering just how far they are willing to go in pursuit of a headline. If they discovered that we had a mole in the Iranian government or military, what would stop them from releasing that information? Common sense? Good conduct? Past history?
If they discovered a key weakness to the Aegis missile system, what would stop them from releasing the information? Love of country? Concern for Public Safety?
The answer is nothing, for they answer to no one but themselves and to the New York Times, all that matters is that they "get President Bush". Of course you understand that when another 9/11 occurs, they would be the first to accuse the President of "not doing enough" despite having committed sabotage against every attempt to make the country more secure.
Actually... The only thing that would ever stop the New York Times from releasing classified information would be if the information in some way made Bill or Hillary Clinton look bad.
Posted @ June 25, 2006 09:45 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)
Mineta leaves office in 2005, But only noticed missing today.
Mineta Resigns, World asks "Who is he again"
After Capitol Hill Cleaning staff complained to the Bush Administration about unpaid bills from Secretary Mineta, police broke into the offices of Secretary Norman Mineta, only to find a handwritten note taped to his chair date April 2005, saying only that he had "Gone Fishin".
When questioned as to how a cabinet secretary could disappear for a full year without being noticed, White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolton replied "Well, He didnt complain when we cut his budget, so we figured that we shouldnt mess with a good thing.".
Posted @ June 23, 2006 09:28 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)
The start of the European Trade War
Airbus suffered another setback today when the Congressional Committee on aviation blocked any attempt to use federal funds to upgrade airports to support the Airbus A380.
From MSNBC.com
"The troubled Airbus A380 programme was dealt a potential blow on Friday when an influential US congressmen said federal funds should not be used to upgrade US airports to accommodate the world's largest passenger aircraft.
John Mica, chairman of the House aviation subcommittee, claimed it could cost as much as much as $1bn to refit up to 18 airports to handle the 550-seat A380, which is due to enter service next year despite ongoing production delays."
(As if we would spend our tax money to help Airbus destroy our airline industry. Yeah, like that was going to happen...)
Well, This isnt going to sit well within the smoky backrooms of the Capitals of Europe. In retaliation for this issue, we now can expect a full out aviation trade war which will likely smack Boeing pretty hard, but for an already strapped and wobbling Airbus, it just might prove deadly and mortifying to the EU itself. We can now expect to see retaliation like "Boeing Aircraft pulled for safety concerns from European skies" or " Pollution and safety concerns cause European governments to hold certification of Boeings latest Jet - The 787 Dreamliner".
Oh yeah, this will just get uglier and uglier until both sides manage to find a couple of adults to sit down and make some sort of working agreement between the two parties. Don't expect to see that anytime soon though because its like an alcoholic or a drug addict, they need to go all the way down before they can agree that they need to seek help. Right now, its payday and both parties have managed to get thrown out of the first pub of the evening and the night still is young. We have a long way to go until one of us wakes up and tries to wipe something off our cheek, only to find that its the curb.
The Euros dont need a trade war, they need to get on President Bushs' good side and thats not going to happen because their own people wont stand for it. The result of all that pandering to the emotions that come from European public dislike of President Bush, American and Americans is going to be even more unemployed people in Europe, leading to more layoffs and overturned governments, which naturally Europeans will look at as being all our fault in the first place, which is pretty funny if you think about it.
The European Trade War is now underway and if you think they hate us now, just wait a couple of years. Rampant unemployment tends to make you very,very cranky.
Posted @ June 23, 2006 07:54 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (2)
Arnold who?
Schwarzenegger Denies Bush Troop Request
You know Govenor, we've done recall elections before in this state and if you keep this up, it wouldnt take very much for us to get another one started.
Posted @ June 23, 2006 07:38 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)
Exercise Valiant Shield 2006
From the Air Force Times, I found this picture:
"A B-2 Spirit and 16 other aircraft from the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps fly over the USS Kitty Hawk, USS Ronald Reagan and USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike groups in the western Pacific Ocean on Sunday, June 18, to kick off Exercise Valiant Shield 2006. The joint exercise consists of 28 naval vessels, more than 300 aircraft and approximately 20,000 servicemembers. (U.S. Navy photo/Chief Photographer's Mate Todd P. Cichonowicz)"
On a day when the Democrats in the Senate worked overtime to try to bring a victory to terrorists through legislation, I found this picture a sharp reminder of just how far out of step their 1960's mindset really is.
A B-2, two nuclear carriers named after Republican presidents who both brought freedom and liberty to the world being followed by a squadron of Burke Class Destroyers. When North Korea decided that it would launch a Missile at Japan and the United States, the rest of the world wondered what our answer would be.
Well, here's your answer.
(A Full size version of this picture can be seen here. Trailing behind the Carriers you will see a series of the new Arleigh Burke Class Destroyers. These ships are now providing Theatre Missile Defense for the western world, despite the fact that for 20 years, Democrats have tried at every opportunity to say that "it cant be done", to defund, and to mock anyone who said that "missile defense is destablizing and it wont work". To that I say "Thank you for not listening, President Bush". )
Posted @ June 22, 2006 01:52 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
The 2006 meatgrinder
For once in my career, Im actually bringing a project live in the summer rather than the dreaded weeks between Thanksgiving and New Years.
For the next 6 weeks, I will be back in the life of the 'Road Warrior' as I bring the yet another project into the world for my corporate masters.
Despite the fact that the world is getting ever so much more interesting as we enter an era of " Theatre Based Missile Defense" Blogging during the next 6 weeks will be sporatic, wierd and mostly from out of town.
And while all sorts of things are going on and everyone has at least some prediction for the future I can tell you with some authority that the world will not end for the next 6 weeks because it simply isnt in my project plan. But after that, all bets are off...
Next Stop - Austin.
Posted @ June 19, 2006 11:21 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
Bottom Line: North Korean ICBM
The New York Times writes a long winded article on the current situation with North Korea and as its very last line it finally makes it perfectly clear what the real risk of all this nasty business really is.
Quote:
"A successful test would make North Korean missiles more marketable to Iran and other clients in the Middle East..."
Now, go to your Rand McNally Wall Maps and draw a circle 6,000km wide using the following countries as the center starting point:
North Korea.
Iran.
Cuba.
Venezuela.
This would be a good time for the President to annouce the deployment of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Defence system.
Posted @ June 19, 2006 10:45 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)
ALERT: North Korean Launch Imminent
N.Koreans asked to raise flags on Sunday at 0500 GMT.
Snip..
"The North Korean leadership has told its people to raise the national flag at 2:00 pm (0500 GMT) on Sunday, in what may be a sign that Pyongyang will go ahead with a missile launch test, a Japanese government official was quoted as saying.
Japanese daily Sankei Shimbun on Sunday also quoted the Japanese official as saying that the North Koreans had been instructed to monitor television and other broadcasts for a "message to the people""
Stand by.
Posted @ June 17, 2006 08:53 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)
Crisis at Airbus reveals weakness to EU economic model
Here's an interesting article in the UK Times on the wider implications of the problems at Airbus. Heres a sample:
Snip...
"The stock options exercised by Noël Forgeard(Note: A month before Airbus announced the delays in the A380 program, this cat sold his stock. You can imagine what the reaction would have been had the CEO of boeing sold is stock a month before the end of the fiscal year), the joint chief executive of EADS, are being seen as proof of the evils of the “Anglo-Saxon ultra- liberalism” that is invading Europe. In addition, delays in Airbus’s A380 superjumbo, which are being accompanied by Franco-German squabbling over who is to blame, are undermining a project viewed in France as one of Europe’s few achievements in recent years.
The damage is on a par with the extraordinary media and political hype that accompanied the launch of the superjumbo last year. President Chirac was joined by Gerhard Schröder, Tony Blair and thousands of well-wishers in Toulouse, southwest France, to watch its first flight. French television scrapped its usual programmes to broadcast the event. Politicians said that the aircraft’s maiden voyage would swing French voters behind the European constitution in the referendum in May 2005.
They were wrong. With the French increasingly convinced that the European Union has become a vehicle for capitalism, the constitution was rejected. Opponents said that they wanted une Europe sociale — an ill-defined concept that involves union rights, harmonised welfare and taxes and tighter restrictions on free enterprise..."
end snip.
Go read the whole thing already. What we are witnessing in the problems of Airbus is an example of how the EU will work in the real world, and from this article you get the impression that it doesnt work very well at all. We are also witnessing proof that the laws of economics cannot be overruled simply by the will of the legislature and "good intentions"; either investments make money for their investors or they do not. What is significant about Airbus is that it has as its largest shareholders the governments of the EU, and its becoming clear that these shareholders are going to be left holding the bag if Airbus is not able to make a profit. Remember, it isnt just that the EU government gave tax incentives to Airbus to allow them to be competitive, they have given large loans to underwrite development of the aircraft in their product lines. The loans - that the cash strapped EU governments need to be paid off to remain solvent. Recently Airbus decided to scrap its A350 ( the competitor to the 787 Dreamliner) and has been negotiating with EU governments for even more cash loans to complete that project. In light of new accusations of stock irregularities, BAE removing itself from the Airbus consortium and now more questions on the delivery dates on the passenger version of the A380 with what is sure to be less profit from that line with the now required renegotiation of the existing delivery contracts and its going to be a difficult year for both the EU and Airbus.
The fate of Airbus is now effectively tied to the same fate of the 'Grand Franco-German union".
Remember that after its all said and done that its easy to make an airplane but its hell to make one that pays off for the airlines that fly it. The surprise here is that the EU has chosen its first battlefield to be the "economic battlefield" and it appears that they are about to undergo a defeat that compares to that of Rome at Cannae.
While we see the Chinese, Indonesian, Indian and South Korean economies have increased their use of capitalism to become more competetive as nations, the EU banked on a compromise of the command economy concepts of the past to maintain their standard of living.
From my observations on the Airbus experiment, it appears to me that they were very wrong and that the impact from that decision is about to be felt world wide.
Until Europeans begin to embrace more open markets for goods and more capitalism in their economies Europeans should prepare themselves for living in a dramatically lower standard of living compared to those of us who have moved into the other direction.
Posted @ June 17, 2006 01:09 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (6)
Watch The Skies: North Korea To Launch Missile This Weekend
North Korea is apparently scheduling a launch of its new missile this weekend.
snip...
"The missile is believed to be a long-range Taepodong-2 missile test, capable of reaching the US mainland with a light payload, Kyodo said. The information was based on satellite images received in the last 48 hours. While the missile has not been loaded with fuel, it has been moved to a test site in the country's northeast, Kyodo said."
That gets your attention now doesnt it...
Air Force Times is reporting that as of June 14th, U-2's are on their way to South Korea.
North Korea is already upset that RC-135 Reconnisance aircraft are already in range.
snip...
"It was North Korea's second warning in a week against alleged US spy plane intrusions. On Sunday, the North Korean Air Force threatened to "punish" US spy flights, recalling the fate of a US Navy plane it shot down in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) in 1969."
Well, someones got a "bee in their bonnet"...
And now Japan has ramped up its defenses as well.
Snip...
"Asahi Shimbun reported that the U.S. handed Japan a satellite photograph of the missile being carried to the launch pad location this week. The Japan Defense Agency is reported to have strengthened its air guard mobilizing the defense system AEGIS and the scout plane EP3 of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force."
EP3 would be the derivative of the Lockheed P-3 Orion and "Aegis" referres to the AEGIS class missile cruisers/destroyers, several of which have been sold to the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force ( Japan doesnt have a "Navy" as such, but the JMSDF is a pretty solid force ). Think of the AEGIS as a floating anti-missile system.
Here is an interview with Adm. Gary Roughead, commander, U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet in Asahi Times, May 24th 2006.
Snip...
"Q: Why are more advanced Aegis ships being deployed to Yokosuka?
A: We in the Navy are sending our most capable ships forward. My two war-fighting priorities are anti-submarine warfare and ballistic missile defense. I think you will see in the future continued increasing capability in the western Pacific. Having our most capable ships forward, I believe, is the best policy for the safety and security of the region...
I looks to me like this is the weekend where North Korea reminds us just how malignant their leader truly is. Prepare to spend some time digging up all the votes against "missile defense systems" because in the net 24 hours we are about to see the Democrats go screeching into the night about how "The President Has Failed to secure our country from risk from missile attack blah blah blah..."
I wonder how long it will take for the Democrats to now say we should pull our troops out of South Korea and Japan because:
a) Weve now clearly lost WWII and the Korean War.
b) George Bush mislead us into helping Japan.
c) It would be illegal for us to shoot down their missile.
d) Missile-schmissile, it was no real threat. The real threat is Wal-mart and Halliburton.
Thats the "war cry" of the Democrats these days.
"Billions for legal fees to fight against corporate America, but not one dime for missile defense".
Posted @ June 16, 2006 09:03 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)
Headline/Subtext of the day
Bill Gates to retire. Wow! I never thought I'd see this day. As someone who has been "in the buisiness" since before there was a microsoft, I can tell you that this is quite a day.
But I guarantee you that every single techie in the world who heard the words "Bill Gates to retire from Microsoft to work on his charitable medical foundation" immediately began to insert his own subtext. So here's of few of mine:
1. African villages terrified to hear that the horrible scourge of "Blue Screeen of Death" is about to visit their shores.
2. Medical Industry to undergo transformation as Gates introduces " Vaporcare" to Hospitals. "You call it a broken leg, but we look at it as a new feature" said the former CEO of Microsoft.
3. Gates says that the new "Gates Hospi-care 1.0" systems will only work with newer, yet to be released "Humans 2.0". "We can't be expected to work with the older inferior models forever. Theres has to be some form of cut off on the older out of date models" said the worlds wealthiest philanthopist.
All kidding aside, I wish the man well. I was about to say that if he can do to to the medical industry what he did to software, but I stopped myself before I accidentally opened a whole can of snark. Not going to go there...
Posted @ June 15, 2006 07:33 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (6)
Silence, Heretic!
Since we live in the days when a former divinty student has started his own church to yell down from the pulpit " Repent Sinners, for the end is nigh. Vote for me or the world will end!"
I thought I would add this post from The National Post into the debate:
Scientists who work in the fields liberal arts graduate Al Gore wanders through contradict his theories about man-induced climate change.
Go Read the Whole Thing Already....
Posted @ June 14, 2006 06:02 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
Think youre having a rough day?
Try working at Airbus and coming to work to see this headline on your desk:
Emirates Air - The Largest A380 Buyer is considering its "Options".
Airbus has contracted to build 45 of the great flying beasts for Emirates with the contract saying that they will start to take delivery in 2007. Airbus has just announced that it will take another year to make delivery. Add to this bit of trouble and Airbus announcing that their aircraft in testing are way over the expected weight, meaning that the aircraft will never hits its efficiency targets. What is that old saying? If you owe the bank 1000 dollars, they own you, but if you owe the bank a million dollars, you own them!
Well, this is sort of like that. Only Airbus isnt just a company, its a collection of governments that act as the major stockholders in the Airbus corporation.
Now, I dont for a second think that Emirates Air is about to drop the A380, but they are about to make the contract much more to their liking and alot less profitable for Airbus. That means it will take more airframes to make the A380 line pay, which is very bad for Airbus, and thus potentially very bad for the French, the UK and Germany.
If Airbus were to suffer any more of these "surprises" with their customers, it will surely start to impact the governments of Europe in a very negative way.
Remember, options mean nothing until delivery and just to illustrate, Here's a list of companys who had "options" for the Boeing 2707 SST.
And when it comes to delivery, just remember before that happens, anything can and will happen. The A380 has to do two things to make the "line" pay off for the investors. First, actually make it to delivery, which has just proven to be harder than they had counted on. Second, the aircraft has to pay for the airlines that own it.
This first is likely, but the second is a long way from being proven to be true and its getting further away every day.
UPDATE: Sabotage? Who said anything about sabotage?
Snip...
"The new development comes in the wake of an investigation by Airbus on how three cables were cut on an A380 aircraft in the assembly line. But an Airbus spokesperson said there was no connection between the cable cutting incident and the reported delay in delivery.
Airbus spokeswoman Barbara Kracht confirmed the incident, first reported in the local newspaper La Depeche du Midi.
The three cables on the superjumbo were cut sometime between Thursday night and Friday morning, said Jacques Rocca, communications officer for Airbus France, a division of Airbus.
"What was found leads us to believe that this was more of a malicious act than an accident," Rocca said. "But the term 'sabotage' is strong and inappropriate."
The local newspaper had raised the possibility of sabotage. The A380 was being outfitted with electrical equipment. Rocca said the severed cables were discovered at the start of the workday on Friday morning. He did not indicate what the cables were for."
Posted @ June 14, 2006 12:37 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (2)
My favorite headline of the day
Well my schedule has gone totally to hell, but I cant let the day pass without my noting a few things:
1. John Kerry says " I was Wrong".
Summary: John "Moebius" Kerry explains that the only way for the US to be successful in the war on terror is to increase our standing with other nations, and the best way to to that is to abandon our allies in the middle east as a token of our seriousness.
A speech from John Kerry tends to make about as much sense as a wiring diagram for a Chinese Stereo.
2. Telling the FBI the truth saved Karl Rove
Gee, who would have guessed that? I guess thats big news in Washington, but out here in the sticks its pretty much SOP. Of course the unspoken subtext in this story isnt what Karl Rove did or didnt do to avoid prosecution, its that no matter what he did, there wasnt anything actionable.
3. Deficit? What Deficit?
From Investors Business Daily.
Obviously this is because the NSA is monitoring our bank accounts.
4. And whats my favorite headline of today?
Thats easy - Daryl Hanna Removed From Tree.
Wow, usually wacked out Hollywood actresses dont become ripe for picking until October.
Posted @ June 13, 2006 05:48 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (4)
Sic Semper Tyrannus
Posted @ June 11, 2006 10:36 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)
Who's side are you on?
neo-neocon wrote a two part post last month on "Why this war is so hated" and that one post has stuck with me now for over a month. I've probably sat down half a dozen times since then to write my own post of the same idea. I stopped because I kept getting drawn into a syndrome I call "Grand Unified Theory"-itis, where ytou start trying to link together large marco ideas under a one-size-fits-all theory.
I do sincerely believe she is on to something, and its something big. Why do I think that? Well heres a few things that have tipped me over again into the land of "grand unified theory-itis". At the beginning of the week, I read a post on "Nilist in Golf Pants" about " what would todays anti-war protestors have said at the Normady invasion". The post was funny, but the comments were even funnier, but more to the point the illustrated a problem that had been circling my mind for some time, thanks to neo-neocons original thought provoking post. The left responded to this simple joke as if it was a stake in their heart, but that wasnt the only example. Over the last 48 hours, Ive watched the world reaction to the death of the blood thirsty murdering thug Zarqawi in utter amazement. In just 48 hours he hass gone from "just another dead thug" to martydom; and this time it looks like hes on his was to near "che"-like status in the west!. The press are now asking if he wast killed by a bomb but "rather he was possibly murdered by US troops" ( shhh, questions are being raised by locals who say that Zarqawi was stomped to death...) As if this true that it would be a bad thing! Later on this week, I read the the latest posting by Steven Den Beste I knew I was on the right track. Again, not becuase of what he said, but because of the reaction to it.
When we went to war on September 11th, 2001, I was totally prepared that we would have to fight for our lives against the Jihadis. I was not prepared for the fact that most of our fight in the war would end up as a fight against ourselves.
The war on the battlefield is slowly but surely being won, but at the same time I fear that the culture war at home is being lost. It would seem that "Bush Derangement Syndrome" is but a symptom of a more deadly and potentially fatal disease.
I have some gardening to tend to and an airshow to go to later today, but I promise a large post on this subject this weekend.
Posted @ June 10, 2006 12:42 PM | Current Events | Comments (6)
Zarqawis peers react to his passing
So let's ask the "Islamic Supermen" what they think of the loss of Zarqawi...
Saddam Hussien.
Captured December 14th 2003.
Currently awaiting a sentence of "Death by Hanging".
"Well I tell you, this is what happens when you outsource, isnt it? I mean, you just cant get good help these days. I mean we have an entire invasion against us here in Iraq and do you think one of the fedyeen geniuses could manage to blow up a single bridge or string a wire across a road? No, so sure enough I have to hire out for that kind of expertise. So who do I get? Yeah, "mr. lets kill lots of Muslims to make them love us and our cause". Yeah that will get them on our side, Like I havent been doing that for years already and look where it got me, a suite right here in the Downtown Bagdhad YMCA. But what are you going to do, its not like weve got the pick of the litter to choose from out there, you take what can and make the most of it. But seriously, if a bloodthristy terrorist thug cant hide in Iraq, whats the world coming to?"
Well, now its three years later and everyone is an expert at roadside bombs. But does that help me now? No. But does he send me a bill every two weeks like clockwork, oh you betcha!
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
Captured March 1 2003.
Currently undergoing 'close interrogation' in Pakistan.
"He was always a real bite in the ass. Everytime we went out to dinner, he was always the first to say we should "go dutch". of course, he would always get next to nothing and then start with the " hey,are you gonna eat those fries?" Then after dinner is over, he goes into the " Hey man! I just had a glass of tea, I'm not kicking in for your ladyfingers" routine. What a tightass."
Abu Zubaydah
Captured March 28, 2002
Current incarcerated.
"Not my favorite guy. very close friend of Libbi though, if you know what I mean. Very-close-friend (wink-wink). I dont care for people who wear "Hi Karate" and still think of themselves as cool. We'd be out at Jihad camp doing exercises and he'd smell like the Avon lady crawling around out there, I mean you could smell him upwind when he wore that stuff,which was all the time. He had cases of it. I mean, who knew that they still made that crap? "
So, I'm on my way out to help blow up LAX and who stops by? Thats right, Mr. Johnny "tres flores" Jihad himself. Sure enough, he splashes me on both cheeks with the friggin 'Hi Karate', just for "Good luck" he says. Yeah. great. So the Border Guard catches a whiff as I'm coming through the gate and of course now he thinks I'm hiding something, which of course I was and the rest is history. Yeah, thanks a bunch, you freakin idiot. I hope you and your asian stinkwater roast in hell.
Abu Faraj al-Libbi
Arrested May 2nd 2005.
Currently under close interrogation by Pakistan.
Er, uh Who? I'm sorry friend I know not of who you speak. One day I was on my way to the local Madrassa to turn in my algebra homework, and the next thing you know these men throw me into a truck and said I was a Jihadi. I mean really, do look like a Jihadi to you?
Zacarias Moussaoui
Captured August 2001.
Currently serving several life sentences at the SUPERMAX facility in Florence Colorado.
"So, let me get this straight, they dropped two 500 lb bombs directly on his head. Is that right? Well theres only one thing to say then... LUCKY BASTARD!!! He doesnt get to live for the next 40 years with Ted Kaczynski as his roommate. Oh, man, he goes on and on and on about dolphins and the machinery of modern life. He just never shuts up. "Wapners on at five, Wapner is on at 5, Im a good driver, im definetly a good driver, I wouldnt open that letter if I were you. Yeah, a regular hoot to spend my wait for eternity with. He asks me atleast a dozen times a day "what do I think of Al Gore". Like I care diddly about Al Gore! He's constantly writing letters to publishers saying that "Al Gore stole his ideas". As if anyone is ever going to open a letter with a return address from him. He just never shuts up about Redwood trees. It's enough to make you scream. Kaczynski....Kaczynski... you know, I'll bet thats a jewish name. Yeah, thats got to be it. A Zionist conspiracy to drive me mad. That's got to be it. "
Ted Kaczynski
Currently Serving a life sentence in the SUPERMAX facility in Florence Colorado.
TED!!! (Shouts cellmate Moussaoui...)
Posted @ June 09, 2006 03:48 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
Iowahawk: Zarqawi reports that heaven is overrated".
Only one word covers it. Heh...
(not work safe, not kid safe,but funny just the same)
Posted @ June 09, 2006 10:50 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
A Link between the canada 17 and Zarkawi?
Maximus - the Bosnian who was arrested September 25th 2005 and served as the key link to the UK, Canada 17, and the two US terror suspects was also working for Zarqawi.
"Police officials here say Bektasevic(AKA: "Maximus"), 19, also ran a Web site on behalf of Abu Musab Zarqawi, the Jordanian who heads the insurgent group al Qaeda in Iraq. More details on the Bosnian link can be found here.
Remember that arrests in this cell started in August 2005 with the two Toronto jokers being caught trying to smuggle weapons into Canada. Later in Bosnia, a Webmaster arrested 'in situ' in September 2005 and more Bosnian arrests occur until December 2005. Then, the RCMP starts large scale undercover operations. More arrests of key individuals occur in March and April 2006. Then, large sweeping raids across the EU and Canada occur in June 2006, effectively destroying the network of this cell of terrorists.
And 5 days later - the head of the cell is dead.
Coincidence?
Posted @ June 08, 2006 01:19 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
A good week for freedom and democracy
This week we saw in illustration of governments in cooperation world wide in an effort to dismantle terror networks resulting in arrests in 22 countries; Zarkawi and 17 of his very closest friends killed as a result of information received from Iraqi civilians, and now the USS Cole is back in action.
NORFOLK, Virginia (AP) -- The USS Cole left port Thursday for its first Middle East deployment since a 2000 terrorist attack blew a hole in its side and killed 17 sailors.
A good week for freedom and Democracy.
UPDATE: The fabulous Dr. Sanity rounds up reactions from all those folks who wouldnt know a good thing if it feel out of the sky and wiggled in their laps. Once again, I'm stunned by those who just last week were trumpeting the successes of Zarkawi as evidence of our failure in Iraq, but now that hes dead he was A) just a figurehead B) Never really a threat anyway C) Didnt have any Al-Queda connections. It seems that for some people, all news and information is being filtered through the "good for Bush, not good for Bush" machine to determine if something worth celebrating or not.
UPDATE II: If Bush keeps killing all of the middle east "partners for peace", who will be left for us to surrender to? ( Shades of Jimmy Carter and his belief that Arafat was a 'partner for peace'. heh...)
UPDATE III: The Butchers Bill; A list of killing of children and beheadings that Zarkawi took credit for.
UPDATE IV: From DailyKos - "Bush's idea of justice is bombs falling out of the sky?". Well, uh yeah, you got a problem with that? Whats your idea of justice,eh hippy? a full hashpipe?
Posted @ June 08, 2006 09:58 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
Nihilist In Golf Pants: Top 11 Things That Anti-War Protesters Would Have Said At the Normandy Invasion on D-Day
The Post is funny. The comments are even funnier...
Posted @ June 07, 2006 09:02 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
Canada the UK and the US: Its all about networking.
The links between the Canada case, the UK case and the Georgia connection are continuing to come into sharper focus.
There are three operations that have been underway between the EU, the United States and Canada:
Operation Mazhar The British/EU effort.
Operation OSage The Canadian Effort
Operation Northern Exposure. The US Effort.
So, while many of us thought that the UK operations was unrelated to the Canada effort, there appears to be some overlap. The UK has just made more arrests that the BBC is saying is related to the Canada case, not the UK case. Click here for mor details.
An additional arrest in the UK may prove to be the key arrest in the entire network, including the first mention that I've seen to a connection to Zarkawi. Click here for more details.
I'll have a more comprehensive post on this later tonight. There appears to be a massive break in the intelligence side of the game that is effectively leading to the rapid roll up of terror networks in the west.
Networks. It's all about the networks.
Posted @ June 07, 2006 10:10 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (2)
They used to call me crazy joe, but now they call me "Batman"
1940: " Hey wouldnt it be great if you could fly like a bird..."
The Result:Hollywood invents "Commander Cody" and later remakes the same idea as "The Rocketeer".
2006: "Hey wouldnt it be great if you could fly like a bird..."
The Result:
The full story is here. ( This just has to be a joke, right? I mean no one would actually do this would they?)
Posted @ June 06, 2006 12:35 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (2)
A better thing to think about than the obsession with todays date.
""It makes me feel like I'm here for a reason. I'm here to do something with my life,'' said Ashley, who will attend the University of Arizona in the fall on a scholarship. "I'm not here to sit around and cry and waste my time thinking about what happened to me."
More details can be found here.
Now stop whining and get back to work. Smile you ingrates, life is good!
Posted @ June 06, 2006 08:37 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
A Gentle Reminder
Today is the day that this happened.
Tommorow is D-Day.
...-
Posted @ June 05, 2006 04:40 PM | Comments (1)
Canada 17: More Connections
Two of the men arrested in Canada, now known as the "Canada 17" were arrested in Buffalo New York in August 13, 2005. What did they do? Oh, well they apparently were trying to smuggle handguns into Canada by taping them to their bodies. You'll remember Buffalo as the location of one of the cells that were broken in the days just after 9/11.
Now, what would you boys need handguns for in lovely liberal progressive Canada?
Oh, and on the Georgia Tech angle? In October 2005, Explosive devices were fond near the campus. Is there a connection? well not yet, but its awfully interesting.
The most shocking thing about the Canada 17 is the fact that several of them are underage, meaning we dont know their identities, but this is not a new thing to the Canadian Jihadis. One of the most controversial inmates in Guantanamo is Omar Khadir. So what did he do? Well little Omar was picked up in Afghanistan by our troops. Apparently our troops dont take kindly to having hand grenades thrown at them.
Omar Khadir is controversial not because hes thrown grenades at troops in a war zone, but by the fact that he is 14 years old and not been shot dead on the battlefield, but is instead a detainee at Guantanamo Bay Cuba, and so his inlaw Abdurahman Khadr. More on Khadir family can be found here.
Oh, and where is he from in Canada? Vancouver? Ottowa? Nah, he's from Toronto.
More to follow...
UPDATE: Profiles are now available of some of those that have been arrested.
UPDATE II: "FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko said U.S. authorities have been co-operating with Canadian police since they discovered that the two Georgia students travelled to Toronto in March 2005 and met at least three of the Canadians who were arrested." More info here.
Ok, so thats how the Georgia Tech sideshow fits in.
UPDATE III: The story continues to come into focus. From Canadas National Post:
"The Toronto busts are linked to arrests that began last August at a Canadian border post near Niagara Falls and continued in October in Sarajevo, London and Scandinavia, and earlier this year in New York and Georgia. The FBI confirmed Saturday the arrests were related to the recent indictments in the U.S. of Ehsanul Sadequee and Syed Ahmed, who are accused of meeting with extremists in Toronto last March to discuss terrorist training and plots. “There is preliminary indication that some of the Canadian subjects may have had limited contact with the two people recently arrested from Georgia,” Special Agent Richard Kolko, the FBI spokesman, said in an e-mail to the National Post."
August is when the two Toronto geniuses were busted at the border for trying to smuggle handguns into Canada from Buffalo.
UPDATE IV: More clarity from the National Post -
"It was Cesur Abdulkadir, a 20-year-old Danish-born Turk. The officers yanked the coat away and saw he was clutching a pistol with a silencer. His index finger was on the trigger. One of the Bosnian officers knocked the gun out of Mr. Bektasevic's hand and the two men were arrested. A search of the apartment turned up 20 kilograms of explosives, a suicide belt and a Sony 60 Hi 8 VHS tape that contained instructions on how to make a bomb and warned of a pending attack against an unnamed country. "God is great," said the voice on the videotape (a British forensic expert determined the voice was "more than rather likely" that of Mr. Bektasevic). "These brothers are ready to attack and, God willing, they will attack the non-Muslims who are killing our brothers and Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya and in many other countries. "These weapons will be used against Europe, against those whose forces are in Iraq and Afghanistan.... We are here and we are planning and we have everything ready. This is a message for you."
Apparently the only people left on earth who think that Afghanistan and Iraq are not linked together are in the American Democrat Party.
Update: Welcome Instapundit and Hugh Hewitt readers! Just to catch everyone up and to give you all the "short version" it looks like this
The Canada 17 bust is tied to an arrest made in April in Bangladesh, which is also tied to a couple of students at Georgia Tech. Somehow the FBI managed to get custody of the Bangladesh individual, which has raised the hackles of Pakistani public opinion. The two Georgia Tech students recently traveled to Canada and somehow drew attention to themselves. The RCMP were either montoring the mosque, key members of the mosque or the training camp itself and were able to spring a very nice "sting" where the members of the 17 attempted to buy 3 tons of the highest caliber ammonium nitrate. For those of you following along at home, ammonium nitrate and any sort of accelerant ( diesel, gas, propane) makes a very large explosive capable of the worst kind of damage. During the 1990's we saw four examples of ammonium nitrate bombs, The WTC bombing( 1 1/2 tons), Oklahoma City( 1 ton), Khobar Towers( 1 1/2 tons) and Kenyan embassies ( 1 1/2 tons). Keep those numbers in mind whenever anyone says this was "no big deal". Three members of the 17 were already in custody due to being arrested in Buffalo NY last August while attempting to smuggle handguns past the border.
If you want to map out what the attack the Canada 17 could have looked like had it been allowed to continue; here is the analysis of the Kenyan Embassies attack in detail.
In October of last year, Some sort of explosives were found in and around the campus of Georgia Tech. I do not know if that is connected to this case, but the FBI agent I sourced earlier confirms what the original reporting has stated, that information received from these two individuals was key to the case moving forward at this time.
Summary: While the left was wetting its pants over the "Cartoon controversy" and making everyone go "absolutely flapjack" on the issue of "evil President Bush and his illegal NSA domestic phonetaps",it appears that a group of solid professionals on our side,both at home and abroad managed to stop June 5th from being remembered as something more than the day before D-Day.
Why am I paying attention to Canada and not the case thats going in the UK? First, theres only so many hours in the day, and second, its Canada. Canada is what every single leftist thinks we should be like and act like, from its foreign policy to its health system, and yet, here we are looking at the most dangerous cell of terrorists since Mohammded Atta was at work and yet, these guys were going to attack Canada! Not that there ever is a rational argument but there is no possible rational justification for this attack. This should serve as a marker for anyone about the distance our enemy is willing to go to accomplish its goals. There is no middle ground, no compromise, no "common ground" with these people. It's either victory or death.
While were all chattering away about the "Terrible Mexican border Situation" or "Harriet Miers" or the "UAE controlling our ports" or "Muhammad as a Cartoon" or "The NSA is listening to our phone calls", other people in our communities were working quietly behind the scenes in an effort to kill us. All those made up nightmares pale in comparison to what these people could have accomplished had our professionals not kept their eyes on the ball.
And boys and girls I need to remind you... this was only one cell.
And there are more out there, just waiting for the right moment.
Posted @ June 05, 2006 11:57 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (8)
Compare and Contrast
This is a picture of three celebrities reenforcing their slowly fading career by making a name for themselves by speaking against the elected President of a Democracy. Niether the magazine, nor the subjects of this cover have suffered from any retaliatory acts by the goverment.
This is a picture of a man who by his selfless act against tyranny has put the lives of himself and his entire family at risk in hope of stopping a line of tanks controlled by a tryanical government in the process of killing protestors against the government of China.
This picture is an example of 'speaking truth to power'. The other picture is an example of career enhancement. The first picture is of self promotion made in a culture of narcissism within a democracy. The second is of selfless bravery in a culture of repressive tryanny.
The day I see Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Sean Penn or the Dixie Chicks stand in front of a line of tanks in Havana, or Peking, or Pyongyang is the day I will start referring to them as "brave". Until then, they are merely "pretenders".
My previous post on the impact of the actions of 1989 can be found here.
Posted @ June 04, 2006 12:43 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)
The Canada 17
Michele Malkin has the list of names.
First throught: How much you wanna bet at least one shows up on the list of Guantanamo detainees?
Second thought: How long till some Canadian leftist blames the fact that Harper was elected as the cause of the "sudden rise in non-francophone terrorism in Canada".
Third thought: You notice how when you say "3 tons of ammonium nitrate", no one gives a damn about warrants for the intercepts?
Obviously we've got a night of googling to see if we can find out if these cats have ever surfaced anywhere before.
UPDATE I: Apparently the left now refers to any prison with terrorists as "Guantanamo". Canada just opened its own facility in Ontario.
UPDATE II: Somehow I missed this: "Shareef Abdelhaleen, 30, is a computer programmer who emigrated from Egypt 20 years ago with his father, now an engineer with a nuclear utilities services company..." Ack!
UPDATE III: Just in case you are wondering, Ontario gets 40% of its power from nuclear power. Both Gereation sites are near Toronto.
UPDATE IV: Apparently the Canada arrests came from a set of arrests in Georgia. I cant seem to find any information on that, but if thats the case we have a US,Canada, UK cooperation process underway.
UPDATE V: BINGO! Snip
"A 21-year-old Georgia Tech student taken into federal custody last month has been charged with giving "material support" to a terrorist organization, according to a federal indictment unsealed Thursday. The student, Syed Haris Ahmed, a mechanical engineering major who had become increasingly devout in his Islamic faith, was arrested March 23 by the FBI."
...
"In a separate case that may be related, a 19-year-old Roswell, Ga., man was arrested Monday in Bangladesh. Ehsanul Islam Sadequee was arrested by Bangladeshi authorities after at least eight months of federal investigation into him and his family, his sister, Sharmin Sadequee, said Thursday."
...
"Ahmed told his family that authorities found a video on the Internet and apparently traced it to him. The video was of a building and was perhaps made during a trip with friends. Ahmed's family members said they did not know the location of the building or when the tape was made. WAGA-TV reported that the station's sources say the FBI believes Ahmed traveled to Pakistan last year to attend a terrorist training camp. His family acknowledged that he traveled to Pakistan, but they said he was attending a religious school. The report cannot be independently verified."
Sadequee, the sister of the man arrested in Bangladesh, said her brother was briefly detained last August at Kennedy International Airport in New York when he was flying to Bangladesh to get married.
She said the family had immigrated from Bangladesh and had lived in Atlanta since 1988. Sadequee said her brother was born in Fairfax, Va., and is a U.S. citizen, although from 2001 to 2004 he was home schooled in Bangladesh and attended a British school there. Sadequee said her family, including an aunt in Canada, has been interviewed by authorities several times since August. She said agents have told the family that her brother's name "came up when we were investigating someone else."
This was reported on April 21st, 2006, but the article makes it clear that the case had been underway for some time.
UPDATE VI: The Bangladesh connection. The timing is interesting:
"It may be mentioned that Ehsanul Islam Sadequee was arrested by police on April 17, 2006 and handed over to FBI from the Kalachandpur Bridge Police Check Post near the Baridhara DOHS, Dhaka. Subsequently, he was flown to the USA by a chartered CIA plane on April 20, 2006 without any order from any court of Bangladesh."
Well, Someone is moving pretty damn fast here...
UPDATE VII: On a possibly related subject, the London bust the other day seems to have become something somewhat worse than car bombings; "Terror cell was planning nerve gas attack on capital".
Posted @ June 03, 2006 05:38 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
Train collision in North Korea leaves 1000 dead
More evidence of the condtions inside North Korea from The Mail and Guardian.
A Buddhist humanitarian aid group said on Friday that two troop trains packed with soldiers collided head-on in North Korea in April leaving more than 1 000 dead.
The reported accident occurred in Kowon County in the remote and rugged north-eastern province of South Hamkyong on April 23 when a train's brakes failed on a downhill stretch of track.
It rammed into another train that was climbing the hill on the same track, according to the group, Good Friends.
"The number of dead was very high as the cars of both trains were crowded with soldiers, including those being discharged and new conscripts," the group said in its weekly newsletter.
South Korea's government said it had heard nothing about the reported accident and was unable to comment.
The aid group said that North Korea's government imposed a news blackout on the tragedy but the news, which at first was whispered among relatives of the victims, slowly leaked out of the Communist state.
North Korea tightly controls news about the country from reaching the outside world and also clamps down on the flow of information inside the country.
However, control if its northern border with China has relaxed in recent years due to the rise in two-way trade and more people and information are crossing in both directions.
North Korea's railway system is known to be in an extremely poor state. Decades-old rolling stock run no faster than 65kph on rusted tracks, with a lack of fuel and electricity forcing many trains to remain idle.
Meanwhile, North Korea is also about to launch a missile with enough range to hit the United States. Its a weird world we live in, isnt it?
Posted @ June 02, 2006 10:32 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)
Finest.Post.Ever
Gerard Van Der Leun shows us how its done in what I consider the finest piece on the subject of memorial day Ive ever read.
Posted @ June 02, 2006 03:02 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)
Aesop’s Fables: The Village and the Weather Gods
Once upon a time, there was a village on the edge of the sea. This village lived on the commerce that came from the trade of seafood and the goods made from creatures the Fishing Guild caught from the sea. Salted fish, sharkskin and grease made from salmon provided the people of the village with a plenty of business and a healthy lifestyle by trading with the surrounding tribes for goods and services. It was a happy village made of small groups of people of various trades guilds and associations. Of these groups, the largest and most powerful was the Fishing Guild. The people of the Fishing Guild lived on a beautiful peninsula on the edge of the village and enjoyed the fruits of their labors by owning the very best homes of the village. Their wealth was a subject of envy by some in the village, especially the politicians who wondered what could be done to curb the power of this one group.
One winter, the village was struck by a series of storms that wrecked a number of its homes. The fishing fleet was at sea when the storms struck the village and it wasn’t until long after the storms arrived that the Fishing Guild returned to the village to see the damage.
“We’ll be happy to help out neighbors in any way we can” said the Chief of the Fishing Guild to the crowd of villagers as he surveyed the damage from his boat. But one villager, a politician with his mind thinking towards the future replied; ”Yes, but perhaps it was the Fishing Guild that caused the storms in the first place”!
The people of the village began to gather to hear the politician make his speech of accusation against the rich and powerful Fishing Guild. “The people of this village have lived here for generations and we’ve never had storms like this before. Perhaps the gods are unhappy with the Fishing Guild. Perhaps the ‘weather gods’ disapprove of the new oars that the fishing guild have been using on their boats or the way they exploit the people of the village who serve as oarsmen during the fishing season”.
The Chief of the Fishing Guild replied. “Hogwash my friend! Oars do not affect the weather and the gods do not worry themselves about the size of our oars. If they did, wouldn’t the gods destroy our homes and not yours? Our homes were not touched in the storms. Tend to your own sins my friend and leave the mighty Fishing Guild to deal with what works best on the sea!”
The crowd began to murmur aloud in speculation at the wealth of the Fishing Guild. The people of the village began to wonder if the Fishing Guild were somehow appeasing the gods of the sea so that their homes would remain undamaged, while theirs were destroyed in the new and more powerful storms of the last season. It seemed so unfair that one group could survive the wrath of the gods while others of the village suffered. The villagers craved for justice, for some ability to control their circumstances.
A meeting was called of the village elders to discuss that the impact that the Fishing Guild was having on the life of the villagers. The village anti-fishing politician made his case for the masses; “The sea gods are clearly angry at us for our inability to control the Fishing Guild and their use of the offensively large oars. It is the fishing guild that has created the offense, and they need to be controlled by the good and noble people of the village, or we will all be wiped out with large storms sent by the gods.’
One citizen who was shocked and skeptical at this suggestion asked the politician;
“ You can’t be serious! There is no proven connection between the size of the oars and the strength of weather”. In response, the politician gave them his calm and reasoned reply:
“We can’t afford to take the chance that we might be wrong. We must take action now before it is too late. The gods have warned us, and now we much take action. We must do something about the excesses of the Fishing Guild while we still can!”
The village elders invited the Chief of the Fishing Guild to the elders meeting and announced to him their plans to control both the size of the oars and the number of oarsmen in the fishing fleet as a way to appease the weather gods and return the village weather to its former state. The people demanded that the village elders do something about the weather, and the only sane course of action for the elders to take was to penalize the richest and most capable of the village community.
Angrily, the Chief of the Fishing Guild cried out to the elders, he said; “ If you change the size of our oars, or cut the number of the oarsmen, all you will do is reduce the size of the fishing fleet that can sail for the season. That will mean there will be only half as many fish that will be caught and brought back to the village. This action will have not the slightest impact on the weather, but it will certainly impact how many of us in the village will be able to eat”
The village anti-fishing politician now persecuted his case with renewed anger, he looked across the audience assembled for the meeting and said; “I’ve spoken with the shaman and they all agree that the weather gods are angry at the village for not controlling the Fishing Guild and its wanton abuse of the sea! However, the shaman say if we control the Fishing Guild by trying to limit their impact on the sea, the gods will be appeased and the storms will no longer strike the village and we will all live again in a “heaven on earth”.
The chief just shook his head at the prosecuting politician and said; “They don’t all agree! We’ve spoken with the shaman as well and several of them say as we do that the weather is not controlled by the gods but…”
The prosecuting politician cut him off in mid sentence.
“Do not speak blasphemy Chief! Everyone knows that the gods control the weather! The shaman you speak of are former members of the Fishing Guild and hold their interests ahead of those of the village. They are not to be listened to in this matter!”
The village elders then held a vote and agreed that the only prudent course of action was to limit the size of the oars and the number of oarsmen. The next morning, the village would confiscate all of the oars and registered each of the oarsmen of the fishing fleet at the beginning of the fishing season. Oars would be held by the village elders and would only be issued when the village agreed that the oars dimensions met the current shamanistic specification to ensure that the splashing of the oars in the water did not offend the gods as they had done previously by the greed and impudent Fishing Guild.
That year, because of the reduction in the number of oarsmen, the fishing fleet shrank in size to nearly half of what it had been previously. Many proud and once wealthy fishing families were forced to burn their boats to the waterline, since they could no longer fish and were made penniless. This negative economic effect was felt not by just the members of the once proud Fishing Guild, but also by many people of the village who were also now made penniless by the changes imposed on the fishing fleet as they too depended on the trade that came from the goods that were produced from the fish that was provided to the village by the now persecuted Fishing Guild.
Strangely, the poverty that was now spreading in the village only increased their anger at the Fishing Guild. The people in the village took great comfort in their actions towards the Fishing Guild. They felt good to get even in some way.
But the next year, the storms were worse than they were before. The villagers were shocked and recriminations in the village began anew because once again, the storms struck the village while the now diminished fishing fleet was away at sea.
As the fishing fleet came into harbor and their crews saw the devastation the storms brought to the village, The Chief of the Fishing Guild then turned and spoke to the fleet “We’ve done what they asked, and now they can see the errors of their ways. The size of our oars and the number of oarsmen had no impact on the weather; just as we told them would be the case. We stand vindicated and now you will see our fleet returned to its former size.”
On his arrival into the battered harbor, the village elders summoned the Chief of the Fishing Guild. When he arrived at the meeting, he was placed immediately under arrest. They said to the assembled villagers; “Clearly our actions were not enough to appease the gods. We must remove the fishing guild from the village altogether!” The politicians of the village attempted to calm the village by demonstrating that they were at least “doing something” to help the people of the village, unlike the hated Fishing Guild who everyone in the village now believed was the cause of their disaster.
The next morning, the villagers burned the remaining boats of the Fishing Guild and confiscated their homes. The fishing guild and their families, now scorned by the rest of the village gathered their remaining goods and fled, never to return.
After the loss of the Fishing Guild, the village foundered economically as the loss of trade that came with the fishing now effected each and every one of the remaining ‘land lubbing’ villagers. No fish at the end of the season meant there was nothing to trade with the surrounding communities. The village elders advised that the people of the village seek alternatives when it came to new goods to trade, but none of the alternatives were as profitable or as in demand as those provided from the works of the Fishing Guild.
The next year, the storms hit again, only this time they were much worse than before and after they were over, those of the village who still remained had finally had enough and began to depart the village for the surrounding communities.
Most of the villagers that is, except for the one politician who had accused the Fishing Guild of its crime against the gods.
Having saved his money during the last few years of disaster, He and his family moved into the largest of the homes left behind by the Fishing Guild and began to renovate what was left of the former village for their own benefit. The few remaining villagers were hired as servants to the new estate that was created on the grounds of the once happy village by the sea.
Strangely enough after a few more years of bad storms, the weather retuned to its former moderate pattern. He told his servants “See, I told you if we were rid of the Fishing Guild the weather would get better and we would have a heaven on earth. Now, prepare my dinner and see to it that the laundry is done my faithful servants”
Moral: The politician’s idea of a ‘heaven on earth’ is not the same as yours, so when they promise one to you, beware. You might not get what you think.
Posted @ June 01, 2006 09:04 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
New Blog: Instapinch
The best thing about blogs is the fact that you can build your own resource pool out of people who really do cool things. When you are evaulating news about the world, you can either trust some hack reporter to get the story right or you can reach into your blogroll and find someone who actually does the job for a living and ask them.
For example, why am I not wetting my pants over "bird flu"? because I have an ER Nurse and a CDC doctor in my list of associates. We talked about it and to make a long story short - they arent worried, so niether am I.
So if you find yourself in need of the perspective of a Naval Aviator, Then check out Instapinch. So, stop by and say hello.
Posted @ June 01, 2006 09:26 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
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