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Didnt I just graduate a couple of years ago?
I discovered two very disturbing things this week.
1. A schoolmate from my high school years has just become a grandmother.
2. My High School, which was only one year old when I attended it in 1976-79, is being closed by the district due to a lack of students. Whats worse, its being converted into an elementary school, making it the worlds only elementary school with a science lab, metal and woodworking shop, football stadium and gymnasium. Whats even worse, the other high school in the district dates to 1910, and its being kept open.
Yes, the rival high school. You know, those people...
So first I have to adjust to the idea that the sweet lovely squeaky girl that sat in front of me in 10th grade calculus class, whom I was in deep teenage lust for, is now being called "grandma". To me, its everyone else in the world who ages and grows infirmed, whereas I of course remain exactly the same as I was in 1979. (Maybe even better!)
The first thing about my high school that I had to adjust to was the idea that the people attending it today werent even born when I was there. Impossible you say? Yeah me too, and yet the truth was made clear by demonstration of simple math.
Now I have to adjust to the idea that my brand spanking Pre-"Proposition 13" funded "modern architecture as modern art" high school, complete with its 1970s olive green shag carpet in the administration building is now being closed; while the turn of the century, brick faced farm community school, which was out of date and inadequate to the task in 1940, 1950, 1960, 1970 and yes, 1980 is going to stay open.
Those people? They get to stay and we have to go into the dustbin of history? how is that fair? how does that make sense? Doesnt the School district realize we beat the hell of of that school in football, soccer and baseball for nearly 20 straight years? doesnt that count for something? anything?
Back then,we were cool. They were, well dammit, they didnt even have a student parking lot. What kind of high school doesnt have a student parking lot? I mean really...
And...and...AND
They arent going to have the common decency to just close it and plow it into the ground and put condos in its place, oh no, they are going to do something worse. much, much worse.
They are going to make it into an ELEMENTARY SCHOOL!
My entire catalog of high school memories has now been tossed about in my mind like so many plastic snowflakes floating in a snowglobe.
Grandma? Elementary school?
I feel like Charlton Heston in 'Planet of the Apes' yelling "its a madhouse! A madhouse!.
Posted @ August 31, 2006 11:41 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (6)
Thought for the day
"It is not enough to fight. It is the spirit which we bring to the fight that decides the issue. It is morale that wins the victory."
George Marshall - 1948.
Posted @ August 30, 2006 10:46 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
Glenn Ford: 1916 -2006
Glenn Ford as "Dave The Dude" in the 1961 Frank Capra movie 'Pocketful of Miracles'.
I love the part where Mickey Shaughnessy as "Junior" delivers the line:
"Hey! Did you guys know that Manhattan was an ISLAND!"
Posted @ August 30, 2006 10:07 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
US Treasury Secretary in Vietnam: Subject - North Korea
APEC finance ministers to discuss money laundering in Hanoi.
Snip.
Finance ministers from the Asia-Pacific region will meet next week in Hanoi for talks partly dedicated to the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing, officials said.
Snip.
Vietnam is investigating US claims that North Korea opened bank accounts in the country to launder illegally gained funds. The State Bank of Vietnam has ordered commercial banks to check for illegal accounts or illegal transactions by North Korea.
Snip.
Last month Stuart Levey, the US Treasury Department's Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, visited Vietnam, South Korea, Japan and Singapore to discuss the issue.
Snip.
US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is expected to attend the meeting in Hanoi. Misuse of financial systems, terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction "are logical subjects for him to address," Marine said.
End snip.
Vietnam is a largely cash based society, but that is changing due to the forces of globalization. Cash economies and poorly regulated banks are an ideal platform for "state based" money laundering purposes.
Think of it this way, if logisitics is what drives a traditional army, then money laundering is what drives the forces of guerilla terrorism.
Posted @ August 30, 2006 10:05 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
Is it just an accident?
I’ve been wondering for some time if the reason why Airlines are such a target for terrorism has more to do with their symbolism to the third world rather than their availability as targets. To the third world, a jet aircraft represents a lot more to people than a way to get around.
It represents freedom in a very real, very tangible way. You can talk to me about flags all day. You want a ‘symbol of freedom’, watch a 747 leave LAX while you stand underneath the flight path. You stand there watching this massive aluminum machine climb up, pulling in its wheels, the flaps retract and then it goes above the ‘marine layer’ and off to “who knows where”.
Your mind always stops and asks: “ I wonder where it’s going”.
You want to get deeply depressed? Watch a 747 leave when everything is going wrong in your life and you cant go anywhere. You can really learn to hate 747’s that way. But remember, you live in the modern world, you might have a bad day here and there, but your worst day will not suck as bad as the best day of the folks in the third world. I’m not saying its justification for terrorism, I’m just saying that to you it’s an airplane, but to some people, it might be much more than that.
What better way to express your anger at the world and your lot in it, than to destroy such a large symbol of freedom? Or better yet, use that symbol to “show them” or to somehow use this symbol to “get even”.
Revenge. It goes through the soul like a burning road flare goes through nylon carpet.
So its possible that terrorists like to destroy airplanes or terrorize their passengers, because of the symbolic value they represent, their inherent ‘freedom” rather than the yield of death attacking them may generate.
The 9/11 attacks were as much about the symbolism of the attack as the effectiveness of the mission.
So, is an airliner a symbol or just an available target? I don’t know, I’ve been thinking about it for a while and I probably should think about it some more before I say anything. But what made me thing about this idea was that today, someone decided to take an SUV and to start mowing people down in the Jewish section of San Francisco.
Use a car to terrorize?
Why Because of the effectiveness of the weapon? The yield?
Or…
Because of the fact that of all of modern civilizations inventions, none of them symbolize personal freedom more than that realized by someone sitting behind the wheel of their own car?
I’ll show you...I’ll get even with them. Let me shove their "personal freedom" down their throats. I’m going to run down every “Jew” I see, you just watch....
If you grow up in LA like I did, and you are well immersed in “car culture” you know that cars mean something more to people than simple transportation and that people often change their personality when they drive. Cars are like alcohol, they reveal a persons hidden subconscious nature when they are placed behind the wheel. I cant tell you the number of meek unassuming women I’ve know who drive like a fighter pilot when they are behind the wheel of their car. People can be “mean drunks” just like they can be “mad drivers”.
Of course, you’ll notice that our perpetrator didn’t go to the Vietnamese neighborhoods in San Jose to “get even”, He didn’t go to Oakland or Richmond, or out to suburban Contra Costa County. He went to the one place in the Bay Area with the largest Jewish population, in the most tolerant city on the face of the earth.
So is he just another “Angry young man”? or is it part of a bigger pattern?
Well, I’ll bet that its just one guy. It is also part of a bigger pattern, but I think this just an unfulfilled malcontent taking out his frustrations in the only way he felt would bring him honor.
Terrorism? Yeah, but on a very personal basis.
As far as his association with Fremont goes, Let it go. Fremont is the capital of Afghani life in the US and from reports I’ve read, he is an afghani so its not a surprise and not an indication of a bigger problem. It would be odd if he wasn’t somehow associated with Fremont.
I lived there for years and the afghani people I found there there are wonderful.
I use that word “wonderful” deliberately. Here is a picture from the community from the invasion of Afghanistan thanking the President for his actions.
The people of Fremont know what we have done for Afghanistan, and they are grateful (and how soon the rest of us forget).
This guy is a whack job who is not representative of the community I lived with in Fremont, so be careful with your paintbrush.
But somehow I do wonder about the psychology of using a car as a weapon of revenge.
Posted @ August 29, 2006 11:07 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (3)
Bush to Go to Vietnam in November
snip...
"U.S. President George W. Bush is likely to pay a state visit to Vietnam on the occasion of attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' meeting to be held in Hanoi capital in November, a U.S. diplomat said here Tuesday."
end snip.
I heard this mentioned by the White House after the 2004 election, so I'm happy to see that they have continued to seek this opportunity out.
Considering that the Vietnamese have just cooperated in shutting down North Korean banking, I'd say this is a very good step in the right direction.
Posted @ August 29, 2006 07:31 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (2)
US Beats North Korea 7-0
Caption: "I got two words for you Kim Il Sung - Shut the F*** Up!" Said US Softball Pitcher Jennie Finch.
From USA TODAY:
Snip...
...Jennie Finch pitched a two-hitter Monday to lead the defending champion United States past North Korea 7-0 at the softball world championships.
Finch, who dominated during the Athens Olympics, struck out seven and was backed by Crystl Bustos, who put the Americans ahead 3-0 with a three-run double.
End Snip.
I can use a little 'light news' now and then, how 'bout you?
Posted @ August 28, 2006 12:44 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (2)
one global warming side effect we didnt count on
People used to talk about the weather when they didnt have anything else to talk about. Now, because we've so politicized the weather, people talk about the "Valerie Plame case" instead.
Talking about the weather to pass the time was much more fun and productive than talking endlessly about this, the ultimate "go nowhere - do nothing - inside the beltway" legal case.
And just think of the BTU's we've generated doing it. Don't we have any concern for the poor Pengiun and Polar Bear?
Posted @ August 28, 2006 12:03 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)
A Moment of Self Indulgence
I'm a sucker for black and white pictures of the 1930's and 1940's. Here's some photos from the 'WeeGee' Collection:
Coney Island 1940.
Not one of these folks has a car with air conditioning, or a house with air conditioning for that matter. I'll also bet you most of them dont have a refrigerator, but an "ice box". Not one person on this crowd knows anything about the existence of "global warming", all they know is that "its hot", which means one thing - "lets go to the beach". It kinda puts your "boy it sure was hot this summer" stories in some perspective, now doesnt it?
Rehearsal at the Metropolitan Opera 1943.
Sorry, I just love the look of this one. It's like the 'Mclaughlin Group' before Eleanor Clift joined. Oh wait, thats her in the back. Sorry about that Eleanor...
Untitled.
I always wondered what old Fred Mertz did before he and Ethel moved in next to the Ricardos. But a New York cop? I never would have guessed that one.
Viral Marketing - '40s style.
Wait! Where are we staying again?
Transvestite in a police van, 1941.
Tonights episode of "The Naked City" is brought to you by the Gillette Safety Razor Company.
Posted @ August 26, 2006 12:44 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
It all comes back to money
In nearly everything in life, it all eventually comes back to money.
In this story from Bloomberg, we can see the "Patriot Act" have an effect that almost no one talked about. Not the terrible crime of investigating the books you check out at the library, but money laundering, the lifes blood of terrorism and all sorts of state level illegality.
snip.
The U.S. Treasury Department, in a shift in its policy toward North Korea, has decided to treat all transactions involving the nation as suspect and subject to sanctions while dictator Kim Jong Il develops nuclear weapons.
``Given the regime's counterfeiting of U.S. currency, narcotics trafficking and use of accounts worldwide to conduct proliferation-related transactions, the line between illicit and licit North Korean money is nearly invisible,'' said Stuart Levey, Treasury's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
snip.
Investigators later froze the U.S. assets of 10 more North Korean entities it said were involved in illegal activities. The U.S. has also targeted 13 Iranian organizations and one from Syria, Treasury spokeswoman Molly Millerwise said in Washington.
Levey last month visited Vietnam and told leaders there to be wary of allowing banking relationships with North Korean banks.
North Korea has demanded that the U.S. remove financial sanctions as a condition for resuming talks on giving up its nuclear weapons program.
Bush said he asked China's President Hu Jintao earlier this week to put pressure on North Korea to return to the talks, which include as participants Russia, China, South Korea and Japan.
End snip.
Oh, and theres this little item. Kim Il Jong is going to visit China next week!
snip.
"A major South Korean newspaper quotes intelligence sources saying Kim Jong Il may travel to China as soon as next week, at the invitation of China's President, Hu Jintao."
"Relations between North Korea and its neighbour have been strained after China backed a resolution at the United Nations Security Council, condemning Pyongyang over a series of missile tests last month."
End snip.
You and I travel when we want, where we want. Kim Il Jong doesnt leave the nest unless its a very big deal. He doesnt fly, he only takes the train, and they never ever talk about it before hand.
So, President Bush talks to Hu Jintao.
Hu Jintao then "invites" Kim Il Jong.
Kim Il Jong "accepts" the invitation.
To visit the President of China.
And all this in the week after our President essentially shuts down "the bank" and puts the word out to all the other banks that all transactions from this group will be tagged as "suspect".
Gosh. I sure would love to be a fly on the wall for that meeting.
Gee, it's almost like Michael Corleone has just asked his sister Connies husband to come to dinner, isnt it?
UPDATE: Hello, Mr. Kim? Yes, this is 'Eddie' from South China Gas and Electric. Ah, Yes sir I hate to inform you that we've been forced to turn off your gas until you come downtown and straighten out a few things with the head office.
Posted @ August 25, 2006 05:42 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
This just in...
Image transmission intercepted by SETI radio telescopes...
Well, I guess the debate of "what is or is not a planet" all depends on where you are standing at the time.
Posted @ August 25, 2006 10:25 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
A Peacetime Question Asked in Wartime
Imagine you’re hiking in the high desert of the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains. It’s twilight, and you’re heading back towards camp. You hear a high-pitched mechanical whine out on the horizon, so you look up from the trail to see what it might be and you see “something”.
Something that is absolutely astounding.
You are an aviation enthusiast. You are intimate with most of the current technology in aviation, but you have never seen anything quite like this before. In fact, no one has.
You know what it is, but more importantly, you also know what it means.
You also know that you probably shouldn’t be seeing what you are seeing. It’s an accident of placement for you and this “thing”; a pilot simply avoiding the weather and making a turn he probably shouldn’t have made that put you in a position to see what you probably shouldn’t be seeing. History has often changed because of such accidents.
This is the very latest in aviation technology. You also know that if you didn’t actually see it yourself, you would never believe anyone who tried to tell you about what you looking at. You know just by looking at it, that this is very, very significant, and potentially very deadly to our enemies.
It’s ours. It’s a product of our nations military industrial complex. The existence of this technology or even the general knowledge of it can tip the scales in any war for the next ten years.
Your taxes paid for it; your neighbor’s kids might end up flying it. Your government approved it.
So the "peacetime question asked in wartime" is this:
Why would you ever tell anyone what you saw?
Be careful with your answer, it reveals more than you realize.
UPDATE: Yeah, theres more to this and I'll be getting to it next. No, I'm not hinting that my vacation was even more fun that it was.
Posted @ August 24, 2006 05:27 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (11)
How I Spent My Summer Vacation...
On The Summit of Mt. Lassen.
10,462 feet Above Sea Level.
I loved every step. The view was spetacular, the clouds you see behind "Herr Doktor Krankenpants" here are at the same level as the summit, so one minute its bright sunshine, the next you were standing in a cloud.
Whats it like hiking at 10,000 feet? Exactly like you'd imagine being an 80 year old and running a marathon would be at sea level.
Next year - Mt. Whitney.
Posted @ August 23, 2006 05:40 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (2)
This just in...
Headline on CNN:
According to Aztec stone carvings, they tasted "Just like Chicken".
Posted @ August 23, 2006 12:59 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (2)
Doomsday?
So we all sit around in anticipation of August 22nd...
and...
and...
and...
All out Nuclear War? nope.
Biological Terror? nope.
A sternly worded rejection of the UN? Nope...
What we get is wall to wall coverage of the JonBenet Ramsey/John Mark Karr hearing.
Is this what Iran meant to do to us? Drive us insane with bilgewater stories like this? Can we expect the Persians to bomb us with a near daily diet of "Entertainment Tonight Gruesome Celebrity titillation Wall-to-Wall Crime" of the Week segments on the news every half hour on the hour? The inhuman Persian mullahs, they will stop at nothing to destroy our will to live.
I assure you that nothing that modern civilization has spilled forth from its alimentary canal in the last 30 years has made me consider converting to a life with the Amish more than the JonBenet Ramsey story. It's not just "what happened", but the near pornographic nonstop breathless "reporting" that has occured since the crime happened that makes me wretch.
Im sorry for the little girl. Im sorry for her familiy, but I dont want to know, ok?
I.Dont.Want.To.Know.
make it stop. Make it go away...
If this is how the Persians are going to fight us, by manipulating our media and filling us with utter near "cellular level" disgust by repeating every half hour "Coming up Next... Newly Discovered JonBenet Home Movies That no one has ever seen!" then there is no defense, there is nowhere we can hide. We are doomed!
This is how the world ends.
This is how the world ends.
Not with a bang but with commercial bumper music every 10 minutes right after traffic and weather.
Yeesh! I just cant stomach another potential 2 years of this story, every day having to look at that freak. I dont want to know his name, where hes from, what he did. I dont want to know, ok? I've already suffered enough by surviving the Natalie Holloway story, the Chandra Levy story, the Laci Petersen story, the lady from Texas who killed her 5 kids in a bathtub story. Sheesh...
If this is how they want to fight us, then we are doomed.
DOOMED!
No sane person can survive being immersed in this kind of spew.
Posted @ August 22, 2006 10:48 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (4)
US/Iraq Intervene to Stop Iranian Shipment of Anti-Ship Missile
Well, well, well....
From USA Today
Snip.
"...The officials described this timeline:
•July 15: Three days after the war began, a source tipped off U.S. intelligence about an imminent shipment of missiles from Iran to Hezbollah.
•July 19: A spy satellite photographed Iranian crews loading three missile launchers and eight crates, each normally used to carry a Chinese-designed C-802 Noor missile, aboard a transport plane at Mehrabad air base near Tehran. Israel says Hezbollah fired a C-802, a precision-guided anti-ship cruise missile, at an Israeli warship off Lebanon's coast on July 14.
•July 20: The Ilyushin Il-76 transport plane left for Damascus, but Iraqi air-traffic controllers denied it permission to enter Iraq's airspace. The Iranian flight crew then requested permission to fly over Turkey. Turkish controllers granted permission — but only if the plane would land for an inspection. The plane returned to Tehran, where the military cargo was unloaded.
•July 22: The plane flew humanitarian aid to Damascus after stopping for inspection in Turkey.
Read the whole thing - and of course you dont need to ask if that would have happened with the previous regime in charge of Iraq because we already know the answer, dont we?
Posted @ August 18, 2006 01:32 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
Andrew Sullivan - Call your Office!
From UK Guardian:
snip.
"Reports from Pakistan suggest that much of the intelligence that led to the raids came from that country and that some of it may have been obtained in ways entirely unacceptable here. In particular Rashid Rauf, a British citizen said to be a prime source of information leading to last week's arrests, has been held without access to full consular or legal assistance. Disturbing reports in Pakistani papers that he had "broken" under interrogation have been echoed by local human rights bodies."
end snip.
I've always maintained that "torture" should only be used if it is effective. Based on last weeks events being intercepted which was due to the effective application of what some people call want to call "torture", I'd say it was called for. I think that anyone that was scheduled to fly on the 10 aircraft that werent blown up last week would also agree.
However, I'm also sure that there are still people that would have preferred that we didnt "agressively interrogate" the Pakistani contact, despite what has been demonstrated from that information.
And its precisely this fact that I dont understand.
Posted @ August 15, 2006 11:15 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
When the words "cease fire" really meant something.
August 14th 1945. The deadliest war in the history of mankind comes to an end.
From Wikipedia.
snip.
"The total estimated human loss of life caused by World War II, irrespective of political alignment, was roughly 62 million people. The civilian toll was around 37 million, the military toll about 25 million."
end snip.
62 Million people, from a world wide population estimated at 2 billion. Extrapolated to the current world population, this would equivalent to losing 186 million people today.
You simply cannot conceptualize the reality of what those numbers actually mean. 186 million people, roughly half of the current population of the United States. As you walk down the street today in "big city USA", count off each person that passes you. Every odd number counted would be a casualty.
The official peace treaty ending the war was signed a month later in Tokyo bay. While outright war itself has not returned to the former enemies since the capitulation, sporadic fights would go on in Asia for the next few months, with several members of the Imperial Japanese Army fighting on until the 1980's. Insurgent actions and reprisals against civilians continued in Europe until the 1950's.
None of the goals that were behind the start of the war were accomplished by any of the aggressor states. The war that started with combatants using horse calvary in Poland ended with the world witness to racial genocide, city destroying firestorms and the advent of the nuclear age.
In August 1939, political pundits and all the other smart people of the world believed that world war could be avoided if only the parties in these minor conflicts would talk and come to an agreement for the common cause and the natural desire of mankind for peace.
6 years later, 52 million people around the world had died for their foolishness. The Americans chose to stay out of the war until forced into it by the actions of the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor.
How different the world might be had the world leaders decided at that time that Hitler should have been stopped when he reoccupied the Ruhr. How different the world would be if we had worked against Japan in China in 1933.
How different the world might be if so many of our side hadnt collaborated with the Axis powers and quietly admired the forces of fascism.
"Well they make the trains run on time" they said; but how many of us knew then that those trains ran into a gateway that said " Arbiet Macht Frei". We know now, and yet, what do we do?
Let us hope that the lesson of that war was learned by this generation so as to avoid another tragedy for the losses in the next war will surely prove to be far beyond what was experienced in that generation.
Posted @ August 14, 2006 10:14 AM | History file | Comments (6)
You can try making it fun again
(1950's advertisement for the Lockheed Super Constellation. This is my idea of flying. Also please note - everyone is having a good time and there isnt so much as a calculator on the aircraft.)
Well it looks as if (thanks once again to terrorists) that we are about to see another change to our habits with air travel. Remember when we used to be able to board aircraft without going through metal detectors? I do. Remember when you didn’t have to undergo a full colonoscopy in security to get through to your flight on time? I do. Ah, those were the days. You could actually get to a flight 5 minutes before it left and actually make it on board without getting arrested.
First came metal detectors. Then came the requirement to actually give your real name when you checked in. Then came taking off your shoes, and now its come to not being able to take your “stuff” with you.
The indignity of modern life never seems to end.
Our generation has been raised in the electronic age so these new electronic things are everyday normal for us, but air travel existed long before the advent of portable computers, Ipods, dvd players, ebooks, PSP’s and half a dozen other things that we probably wont get to use anymore on long flights. It will be a hard adjustment, but we can make it, our grandparents did or parents did, so can we.
I think that the adjustments for passengers will be easier than it will be for airlines because to overcome the loss of our “toys”, airlines are going to have to do something that they have moved away from for the last 30 years.
They are going to have to start treating their passengers as customers, rather than as cargo. It’s a radical thought I know, but bear with me for a second.
Back in the “grand old days”, passengers had to be compelled to fly. Back in the “grand old days”, airliners fell from the sky with an amazingly high failure rate, so passengers had to be bribed with flight bags with the airline logos, special treatment on the flight. Heck, they even fed you on your flight– with real food too!
It worked. We flew, despite losing an average of 5 passenger jets a year. If an overnight bag from Pan Am will make me brand loyal despite the headlines in those days, then perhaps the same can be used now to overcome the possibility of a disaster today.
Over the years, the market (the passengers- the “cargo with legs” that is…) has taught the airlines that the one thing that really mattered was price and price alone. Passengers learned that they could take their own entertainment; they didn’t need to pay the airline for the use of the precious “plastic air tube technology” earphones to watch a bad movie while enroute. They learned that they could take their own drinks on board, and even get their own food. Passengers got so good at it that airlines soon learned that it simply didn’t make sense to give these incentives to passengers in the first place. Passengers didn’t want them and they weren’t impressed when the airline gave them anyway (remember those endless hours of standup comedy routines involving bad airline food?). All we taught the airlines was that if you lower the price and get us there safely and regularly; we didn’t care about the rest of it.
Airbus makes aircraft with seats that have no air vents and many of the seats don’t recline? Who cares! I can fly to LA for less than it costs to drive and that is all that mattered (or at least it used to…).
And that’s all that mattered, because we took care of the rest. What do I care what the inflight movie is? I’ve got an Ipod that has my Tivo content downloaded on it. I’ve got a laptop to work on and I’m eating and drinking my own preferences.
All I want is a seat.
Well now things have changed for both the passengers and the airlines.
It’s ok post baby boomers, generation-xers, generation-yers, and whatever the hell you call people who were born after 1990, the world managed to get along just fine before we all carried more computing power in our backpack than NASA used to go to Moon and at the same time have more media technology at our disposal (in the palm of our hands no less) than Stanley Kubrick used to create 2001: A Space Odyssey. It will be tough; it will be difficult, but we will get through it. We will all learn why it’s really important to back up our laptops as we check them as luggage, but we will get through it.
Really.
Once upon a time, we all sat on aircraft on long, LONG flights without the help of our laptops, Ipods, cellphones, 2 liter bottles of Diet Coke and food from our favorite airport diner.
But back then the airlines helped us with this time management problem. For one thing, they let people smoke; they served prodigious amounts of hard alcohol, (and so long as you left the “stews” alone, they really didn’t care of if you managed to get drunk with it either). They gave you playing cards, actually gave them to you, for no extra charge! They even managed to give you a seat that was an actual seat - that you actually could sit in, unlike today’s seats that are more like putting on a pair of pants (A very stiff pair of pants that don’t move, are two sizes to small and a thousand other people have worn before you put them on).
They even fed you; sometimes they fed you more than once. Airlines actually competed on the quality of their food.
Once upon a time, flying was fun. It wasn’t particularly safe, but it was fun. Now its pretty damn safe, but its not fun.
Its time for the airlines to put the fun back into flying. Its time for airlines to get back into the process of providing passengers incentives for flying with their airline. I don’t mean “mileage” clubs. I mean incentives. Glorious swag. Free goodies by the armload with lots of prestige attached.
Here’s my idea of incentives:
Dump 6 rows of seats; give all the other seats that much more room. I don’t mean dump 2 rows of seats, increase the size of 4 rows of seats and charge a premium like United and American have done. I mean that people today are not 5 foot 6 feet tall average, so stop making seats that use that as an average size. Lets set 6 foot 5 as the average, and let everyone except the ½ of 1 percent that are over 6 foot 5 enjoy the freedom to be able to move their legs on a flight.
Give passengers Ipods when they get on board. Collect them when they get off. On the Ipod will be a collection of “things to watch or listen to”. Car rental companies have made the Car GPS and XM radio move faster into the marketplace by allowing business travelers a chance to see them in action. I now see Hummers for rent at Hertz. A smart move on GM’s part. Let the traveler try one out, so they can go home and buy one. The same will prove to be true of ipods or other such things. While its not a big deal, just the fact that the passenger is trusted makes them feel like they aren’t a burden on the airline. It’s a little thing, but it helps.
Feed the passengers. Feed them good food. Not fancy food, but good food. It can be done.
Give the passengers all they can possibly stand to drink. All the passengers, not just the 4 seats in first class.
Make the line as small as possible and as convenient as possible. How do you do that? Eliminate them. Car rental companies figured out how to do it a long time ago, airlines should do the same.
Smile. Laugh. Flying is supposed to be fun. Have your staff say, “Can I help you” not “What is your Problem”. Have them say “Can I help you” and actually mean it. Remember, it’s supposed to be fun. If you are 60 years old, not particularly fond of flying, and just to get the to the gate you’ve had to undergo a battery of invasive humiliations, when you walk up and ask if the flight is going to be on time, you really don’t want to be told “I cant help you – this gate is closed”.
Service. Smile. For Gods sake folks, you’re not in the “airplane business”, you’re in the hospitality business. SO TRY TO BE HOSPITIBLE WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS. MAKE THEM WANT TO FLY WITH YOU.
Virgin Airways has already moved in this direction. I predict they will do very well as a result.
United, American and Delta need to get their act together quickly, not because other airlines will be their competitors, but because the passengers have a choice, and in the modern world more and more of them aren’t choosing to fly someone else, they are simply choosing not to fly. United recently created a low cost no frills wing of their airline called “Ted”.
I recommend that they get fancy in a hurry that they rename it “Theodore”.
Flying used to be fun, even when lots of people died doing it. We fixed the dying part, now we need to go back and fix the fun part that we lost along the way. We can make it fun again if we try. We’re smart, creative people. Let’s watch and see what happens.
(Look at this Ad. Red Carpet, Hot towels, cocktails, wines, dinner, dessert, exotic liqueurs, movies and oh my – even “stereo”. It makes you gasp, doesnt it?)
Posted @ August 13, 2006 11:33 PM | Aviation | Comments (10)
I go away for two days and look what happens...
Israel accepted a UN 'Ceasefire'.
My immediate reaction?
Congratulations on your stunning come from behind victory, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
I cannot make sense of this. Its completly baffling to me.
Posted @ August 11, 2006 09:08 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (4)
Liveblogging Air Travel: The Return flight
How long did it take to get ticketed, baggage checked, through security and to the gate today at Austin?
30 minutes. Of course everyone in the boarding area was reading newspapers with the headlines " Chaos at Americas Airports". I just had to laugh. It was no worse than your average Christmas.
However, Im still sitting in Denver due to a delayed flight. It Figures.
Flying is still the same old story of hurry up and wait no matter what is going on in the world.
A good question was asked earlier about the impact on the stores at the Airport. As we all know, airports have become malls, giving the flying population a place to shop between flights. Well one very dramatic impact this week has been to stores at the airport that sold liquids, such as "The Body Shop", or a few boutique wineries and the Duty Free stores.
They are all closed. They arent even going to try. Say good bye to that business model. I wonder of the stores that rent DVD players are next.
I've got several hours and nothing to do, but I've got Wifi, so how bad can it be.
Back in a few...
Posted @ August 11, 2006 08:12 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (2)
Keep Em Flying
I hate morning flights, and yet, there I was at 4:00 am Thursday morning waking up to take another flight. I don’t normally wake up to an alarm, I usually just wake naturally, but there’s nothing natural about being awake at 4:00 am, unless you haven’t yet gone to bed.
Half asleep, half wondering if there was something I forgot at home, I sped down the empty country roads out to the airport, hoping to get there before the magic “ one hour” timeframe. Since 9/11, the earlier you get to the airport, the better off you are. I always try to get to the gate an hour before departure. I don’t like surprises and Thursday morning would just remind me just how much I don’t like them.
Halfway to the airport, the Radio broke into my groggy half sleep, half drive with an announcement,
“Breaking news – A Terrorist plot was broken early this morning…”
Good. Keep up the good work guys.
“…21 members of a terror cell in the UK were in the process of attempting to bring down...”
Uh, oh. “Shoe Drop” is eminent.
“ Commercial airliners bound for the US…”
Yeah. That’s the usual M.O. for these guys.
“ As a result, the Department of Homeland Security has raised the threat level to Red…”
Man. This is going to just play hell with the airport this morning.
“One other note, DHS has said that passengers will not be allowed to carry liquids on board the aircraft…”
So, I set my expectations accordingly. I decided it was going to be a rough day at the airport and that it was possible that the whole day could come to a stop even before I got there.
Travel in the summer is always hell for the experienced traveler. For those of us who travel all the time, it isn’t lines, the TSA or terrorists that get under our skin the most, its tourists, especially ‘first time away from home’ tourists. I found my “first time tourists” in my line, 10 deep standing with enough luggage to hold an entire division of soldiers for a month, waiting for someone to “help them”, all while they leaned on the new expensive automated kiosks that could in fact help them with their problem, or at the very least, help the rest of us, if only they stopped leaning on them and started using them.
But truth be told, despite the lines of “amateurs”, I waited all of 15 minutes to get ticketed. Not bad for a line that was 25 deep when I got into the line. And why did I have to wait in line? Well, I decided that my normal method of using “carry on” baggage was probably not a good idea today under the circumstances, so I had to check my bag. My laptop would stay with me, but the other stuff would have to ride in the cargo area.
I picked up my boarding passes, and went up to the TSA area. This morning, the line stretched all the way back to the bridge from the parking garage, roughly 25 yards. I thought to myself, “oh well, there goes that flight!”. But to my surprise, the line was long but it was moving at a good clip. I was through the security portal in a little under 10 minutes and standing at the gate, waiting for boarding.
The only thing that was out of the ordinary was that we had to be rechecked on boarding by another brace of TSA folks. The new “No liquids” rule really threw for a loop the Starbucks crowd. Not having their precious brown caffeinated liquid was just something most of them had never considered.
The result was that it took longer to board and we left Sacramento late, but through a miracle of scheduling, we arrived on time to Phoenix. Phoenix had its own version of the lines, but it was moving at about the same pace as Sacramento. Boarding for Austin from Phoenix was a breeze, not much more than a typical day at the airport.
What I did find interesting is that while I was standing and waiting to board, I was watching CNN talk about how flying today was just a disaster, the end of the world, The “Katrina of the Airlines!” Just look at the lines in Chicago, “proof of the coming apocalypse!” Breathless coverage. Good for ratings I suppose.
But there I was, actually flying on the day described as “chaos” and I was looking at a totally different picture. Things were taking a little longer than usual, I was a little more thirsty than usual, but that’s all it was really. Big lines, lots of surprises, but it was also a long way from the “Soylent Green at the airport” that CNN was making it out to be.
The only real change to my normal flying routine, that is besides not having my requisite bottles of Diet Coke, was the 15 minutes I had to spend waiting at the baggage return for what were my formerly carry on bags.
Everyone woke up on Thursday to receive a big “Three Stooges Slap” across our collective cheeks. We are at war kids, and this is just a small reminder of that sad fact. We are at war whether or not we voted for Gore or Kerry or Bush. Were at war not because were in "Iraq" or "Palestine" but because of the people who hate us and want to kill us wish to keep on killing us in any way they can. No amount of excusing their hatred or trying to understand it, or rationalizeing it can make it go away.
They attack our airlines, not just for the shock value, but because of the freedom they represent. Islamic fascists might be able to make a bomb out of shampoo and toothpaste and they may even get some hapless kid to want to wear the bomb on an airliner and set it off, but they even begin to be able make the airplane that they ride in.
What makes us better than them? Well, We make aircraft, spaceships, fast cars, telephones, crystal glassware, lamps, decorative jewelry, books, magazines.
They make bombs and strap them to kids to kill other kids.
We make food processors, waffle irons, 300 brands of toothpaste.
They make toothpaste into bombs.
We make a singing toy fish that hangs on the wall and sells for 9.99 at a place called "wal-mart".
They make bombs.
But Aircraft and Airlines are the very real representation of “Freedom” and as we have learned over the past few years, there is nothing they hate more than just the idea of “freedom”.
And they really hate us for it, for freedom. They hate us so much that they are willing to kill themselves just to show us just how much they really, really hate us, and you are supposed to fear them, cower and hide your eyes from their gaze in fear of what they might do to you.
Aren’t you scared now infidel? Don’t you want to quit? Surrender now and die or live as a slave!
Gee, is that my list of choices, Mr. Jihad Johnny? Surrender or die?
Well ok then, then I guess we’ll just have to keep on fighting.
No, I’m not scared of flying now. I will continue to fly, do my job, and smile the whole way through it, for no other reason that it just drives them crazy to see that sort of thing happen. Were supposed to cower in fear from the threats, but the truth is on thursday morning, I wasn’t the only one just going on with life. That was a whole lot of unscared people standing in those lines.
Irritated people? Yeah, but flying just the same.
The people we fight are not 20 feet tall supermen, they are just people like you and me, with fears and foibles, wishes and desires; they even bleed just like we do. They are deluded fools and followers of a dying philosophy who cant understand how their God has abandoned them and instead of smiting the infidel, has favored the hated infidels, that being, you and me dear reader who have had the bad taste to wake up on Thursday morning, (even at 4:00 am) with a smile on our face for all the good in our lives.
And they absolutely hate us for it. It absolutely drives them insane with rage that we just go on with our lives. We stand in long lines and toss away more diet coke, more bottled water, more toothpaste than can be created in all of hate-filled madrassas around the world. We feed our dogs with more care and better nutrition than they feed their own people.
And every day that we go on, we get stronger and they get weaker.
How many skyscrapers have we built in 5 years? Ships? Aircraft? Homes? Cars? Books? Plates? Forks and Knives? Televisions? Pottery Barns?
And Al-queda?
I rest my case.
Five years from now, when not having “liquids” on our flights is considered just as normal as having to take our shoes off in security was on Wednesday, I’m sure there will be someone waiting to get on a flight who is flustered by some inconvenience that’s been newly imposed on our world by the terrorists, who just suddenly has the urge to smack himself in the forehead with an open palm and say (as I did this morning)
“ Oh that’s right! – SMACK - Were at war!”
And as long there are people in the world who find it easier to hate us than to deal with their own problems, we will be at war. Not because we want to be, but because they cant afford not to be.
So life goes on. And despite their best efforts to make it otherwise, it’s a pretty good life too.
And that, is why they hate us.
And that, is what “the war” is all about.
So 'Keep em Flying' everyone. Life is Good.
Posted @ August 10, 2006 11:16 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (4)
Update
Hey, guess who was at the airport travelling in the middle of the nationwide terrorist alert?
yeah. Me!
I'll have more later, but for now I can tell you that as far as Phoenix, Sacramento and Austin airports are concerned, everything went fine. Was there 'chaos at the airports'? hardly. I was delayed by all of 20 minutes because I checked my bags rather than go through the new 'carry on' inspections. Big Whoopidee-doo.
Parents of little kids with all the strollers and all of the rest of the required 'kid care infrastructure' were the most concerned, but everyone I saw rolled with the punches pretty well.
My guess is that sales of bottled water at the airports will be sharply down next week.
Not a big deal.
Posted @ August 10, 2006 01:35 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)
A Democrat Civil War?
Now that Moveon.org has decided to 'rush to war' in Connecticut and has begun its ill-advised occupation of the state by "netroots" militants resulting in a Democrat party that seems perched on the edge of an all too predictable 'civil war', I just have to ask:
"When will America begin to pull its support of this slapdash half thought out disaster that once was the political center of this nation?"
( Wow! Writing from boilerplate isnt just easier than actually thinking, its fun too!)
Whats my take on Joe Vs. Ned? Between now and November, lots of screaming and yelling. But in November, Lieberman wins. Between now and then the Democrat whack-wing will start to issue "purity tests" of both the 'rank and file' and the candidates which will turn the Democrat party into a walking zombie from what was once a very great, principled and powerful political party. My guess is that the Democrats actually expected Joe to leave the party. Someone forgot to mention that unlike most Democrat candidates, Joe Leiberman actually has character.
I can't wait to see Democrats try to outdo each other in verbal contests of "I was anti-war before you were..."
Karl Rove couldnt script a better scenario to demonstrate to one and all the utter fecklessness of the Democrat party. No amount of Rovian intrigue could create a better situation to demonstrate to middle American voters just who the Democrat party is, and what they believe.
( "...pay any price, bear any burden in the defense of freedom? yeah, I could've voted for that Democrat candidate. Too bad that sort of language from Democrats is no longer spoken by Democrats, but is under attack - by Democrats!...)
Posted @ August 09, 2006 03:12 PM | Current Events | Comments (2)
Confirmed: North Korea Primary Supplier of Missiles to Iran/Hezbollah
From LA Times:
snip.
"Israeli intelligence believes North Korea recently sold 18 intermediate-range missiles to Tehran. Some accounts also place Iranian observers in North Korea when the Pyongyang regime test-fired seven missiles over the Sea of Japan this month.
"The Iranians are looking to North Korea for their new designs," said Uzi Rubin, a former head of the Israeli missile defense program. "Of course, we are worried. Whatever North Korea makes eventually ends up in the Middle East."
Rubin says Iran is particularly interested in North Korea's multistage missile, the Taepodong, because it can be used to launch a satellite. The missile was one of the seven test-fired recently, but it failed after 42 seconds, splashing into the sea not far from the test site.
Another missile that Rubin believes might have been among those tested was an intermediate-range missile based on an old Soviet design for a submarine-launched nuclear missile. These newly manufactured missiles are estimated to have a range of 1,550 miles, which would enable them to reach Israel and much of southern Europe from Iran.
Israeli intelligence chief Amos Yadlin said in April that Israel had evidence that the North Koreans had shipped 18 of these missiles — known alternately as the SS-N-6 or the BM-25 — to an Iranian missile base at the port city of Bandar Abbas.
"What the Iranians bought was a missile in a box. It is an unproven missile," said Israeli defense analyst Alon Ben-David, who said there was great curiosity about whether the new missile was among those tested..."
end snip...
Unproven, except for the fact that they were the same missiles used by the Soviet Navy, known for simple, straightforward designs that accomplished their goals without the use of sophisticated support systems.
I think its appropriate at this time to note that Iran is interested in creating its own nuclear weapons, and that North Korea already has this capability.
axis of evil....axis of evil...axis of evil...
Posted @ August 06, 2006 12:58 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (4)
New Weapons = New Tactics
The "Year of the Missile" Continues. This graphic from Globalsecurity.org shows the nature of the weapons being used.
(Click to enlarge)
The Israelis have cleared the "Katushyas range", and are now faced with Fajr-5 missiles. These are large weapons, launched from big "semi" sized trucks. These weapons are also not "Free Fire" weapons like the Katushyas; they are aimed. This is not an inprecise terror weapon like the Katushya.
Here's what a Fajr Missile Launch Vehicle looks like( From Globalsecurity.org)
Note To Reuters: This is NOT a school bus, milk truck, red cross relief vehicle, a tour bus filled with refugees, or a roving gypsy pipe organ.
Expected change in tactics: I expect to see Israel step up air attacks on roads and any sort of wheeled vehicles that are moving in the area south of Sidon. The Fajr Missiles are not limited to the Litani like the Katushya have been. Israeli Apache and Drone activity is probably going to increase today in response to these attacks.
Question of the day: Unlike Katushyas that are only airborne for a very short time, Fajr-5 Missiles have to be airborne long enough to be intercepted by Arrow and Patriot Anti-Missile Defense systems.
So - Where are they?
Also - is there any word of any of our Burke Class Destroyers moving into the Eastern Mediteranean?
UPDATE:I think we all know that Iran is supplying these new weapons, but how many of us knew that the weapons probably originated - not in China - but from North Korea!
Globalsecurity.org is making the case that the "Iranian" Fajr-3 and Farj-5 missiles are actually from a system created in North Korea.
Gee, weren't the Iranians recently in North Korea witnessing a missile launch?
UPDATE: A response from John Pike of Globalsecurity.org in the Boston Globe on "where are the Patriot Missile Systems":
snip.
"The Patriot, which can cost around $1 million apiece, is hardly a cost-effective way to knock down the $500 to $2,000 Katyusha rockets that Iran has been supplying to Hezbollah, said John E. Pike , director of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense research group in Alexandria, Va. ``They're not going to waste a Patriot on them," Pike said. ``That's a losing proposition."..."
end snip.
Israeli Public sentiment may eventually override this decision. What's the sense in having a missile defense system if you cant afford to use it. In reposonse to Katushyas he may be right, but Farj and Zelzal long range weapons, it may be a different story.
Posted @ August 06, 2006 10:56 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
Israel Dropping Leaflets on Sidon
And we should all know what comes after leaflets by now, shouldnt we?
From Reuters:
Snip.
The Israeli army announced its intentions as a senior U.S. official was meeting Lebanese leaders on a possible deal to end Israel's 25-day-old war with Hizbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch said after meeting Prime Minister Fouad Siniora that the solution lay in a "lasting political framework backed by an international force".
( My reaction?: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz)
An Israeli army spokesman said leaflets dropped on Sidon, whose normal population of 100,000 has been swollen by refugees from war zones further south, had warned all residents to leave.
"We dropped leaflets warning residents to leave because the army will attack Hizbollah rocket launching sites in Sidon," he said. Other army officials confirmed the warning had been given.
A local official in Sidon, who asked not to be named, said Hizbollah's Shi'ite guerrillas were not present in the mainly Sunni Muslim city. One resident said he had seen a leaflet that warned people to leave, but that did not mention Sidon by name.
End Snip...
Sidon, for those of you still not looking at a map of Lebanon, is well to the north of the "Litani Line".
As far as todays announcement of an agreement between France and the US, since neither the US or France has combatants in the war it seems to have about as much weight in the situation as a pronouncement on the future of space travel by Brazil and Chile. This isnt the Cold War, so the rules have changed. No one in Washington is thinking that the Soviets are going to come in and take over the area and outside of various contracts for Oil and refineries with some of the combatants, the Russians couldnt care less one way or the other how the war is going.
No one is worried about a brushfire starting a bigger war between superpowers resulting in world wide nuclear war.
And no one, anywhere, gives a damn about what France has to say.
That is, unless of course you believe that France has some pull with Iran which has up to this day been hidden from us by some dark diplomatic process and methodology. I find the idea that France is going to pick up the phone and turn off the "Iranian spigot of hate" to be laughable. Almost as laughible as the idea that if Israel doesnt do what we ask that we would stop supporting them.
So the war goes on and Israel continues to moves north.
Iran on the other hand has promised to send Surface to Air missiles to Hezbollah. Not right now of course but "...in the coming months".
Ah. Thats nice, dontcha think? Hey pal, I know youre in big trouble right now, but I promise to help you in the future. Oh, and I'm not sending any of my jets or anything, just a few second hand shoulder launched SA-7's. No Theater-wide Air Defence systems, no "committment to protect Hezbollah from the air", just a few more ineffective second rate old Soviet boom-boom sticks.
With friends like that...
I wonder if there will be anyone left at Hezbollah HQ to receive them when ( or if!) they arrive.
Posted @ August 05, 2006 01:27 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (2)
A Reminder
My rules of operation and expections of the readership to the blog were published long ago in this post.
Posted @ August 05, 2006 10:48 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (3)
The Year of the Missile
Don't get too comfortable in with the war in Lebanon as it now stands.
Here's whats happening. Despite the hard work of "General Media" to deter Israel from being effective, Israel is not being deterred in Lebanon and whats even better, shes not getting any real public sanction for her actions. Lots of finger wagging, but thats all. I think everyone is aware of what is going on here and who the players are. Hezbollah has used Lebanon, hijacked a country for its own use and has used the indigenous population as hostages to hide behind. Protests go on all over the world, everyone says "they support hezbollah" but not many of the protestors are getting in their cars and driving over to where the fighting is going on.
While lots of other people are upset that this didnt get wrapped up in the traditional style of the IDF, that being 72 hours from start to finish, I have to say - with all the deepest apologies to everyone involved, that it will take what it takes. (I still stand by my 14 day window by the way, and I still think the "line" will not be the Litani, but somewhere further north, somewhere around Sidon.)
Here's one thing to note. Syria hasnt moved. Syria hasnt moved to support Hezbollah, or Lebanon. Syria hasnt done a thing to effect the battlefield in any way that might get them attacked by Israel. Smuggling and resupply have occured, but Syria has cleary decided either this isnt the right time to fight, or they have decided not to fight at all. Ambassadors can prattle on and on all they want. If you dont move tanks or artillery, it means nothing.
But the real change in the last week has been Iran. Iran is no longer hiding behind its proxy, they have now spoken publically and said "yeah, we sent Hezbollah those missiles, what of it?"
So, Let's say I'm Israel. I take a look at the situation in the theatre and I see...
Saudi Arabia - Sitting tight.
Egypt - Sitting tight.
Jordan - Sitting tight
Syria - Sitting tight.
Lebanon - Neutral.
West Bank - Surprisingly quiet.
Gaza - Gone.
so now its down to:
Hezbollahland - Currently being enveloped and subdued. By my estimate - 10 more days and it will effectively be "Northern Gaza".
and who else does that leave?
Iran. But Iran isnt sitting tight this time, oh far from it. Iran just jumped out and said "We dont care to hide anymore - We are your enemy, we will resupply our allies in Hezbollahland, and we will send men and materials to fight you too!"
So, again, lets say I'm Israel. Do I ignore this threat? Do I stand by and allow a country to come right out and declare itself a combatant, and yet say nothing about it? Do I allow Iran to resupply with men and materials Lebanon without any action? Katushyas are a pain in the rear, but Iranian Farj are a real big problem because while I can take enough of Lebanon to keep the Katushyas down to a minimum, I cant keep enough Lebanese territory to keep the bigger missiles like the Farj down. The problem just moves further, and to compensate, the enemy brings missiles with more range into the game.
Oh, And theres a new problem.
Our newly exposed enemy - the Iranians - have been contracting with North Korea to make Taepodong missiles for export.
Taepodong-1 has the range to strike not just Israel, but Europe. And dont think for a second that Iran isnt going to make that threat clear to the Europeans.
Not from Lebanon - but from Iran itself.
Again. Let's say I'm Israel. So what do I do next?
Oh yeah,I forgot to mention the little fact that Iran was one of two countries to fight a war by throwing missiles at cities.
Remember the "Iran-Iraq" War? Remember the "War of the Cities"? I dont want to get off the subject here, but if you want to start talking about "atrocities", go read up on that little nightmare. By comparison, Israel is conducting a search warrant on Lebanon when you look at what Iran and Iraq did to each other back then.
So the situation is this:
Two weeks ago, Iran starts a proxy war against Israel, just 60 short days before the UN drops a boatload of sanctions on their already hapless economy. You and I dont think UN sanctions matter, but Iran seems mighty upset about it for it to "not matter". At the same time, Iran just happens to be testing a new long range missile with North Korea. North Korea needs money, Iran needs long range weapons, its a marriage made in heaven, right? Only the test didnt go so well now did it? It's not that they are walking away, its just that the timing in the original plan is just a little off now, thats all. Maybe Iran settled for the older, more reliable missiles instead? maybe...
So, again. let's say I'm Israel. I manage get the "land of the katushya" just about wrapped up when out of the sky over Tel Aviv comes the earsplitting sonic boom that occurs as the nosecone of the newly purchased North Korean missile reenters the lower atmosphere, the warhead explodes and destroys several city blocks without any warning.
So what does Israel do next?
Patriot and Arrow Missile defense systems will go into action, but there has to be more because the Israeli people will demand it. But remember that a week ago, Israel caught hell for hitting a building in a war zone that just happened to have women and children in it.
Now Israel will be hitting,not just a building, but entire city blocks. In Iran...
Imagine what the world reaction will be if Israel launches missiles to Iran in retaliation for a long range missile attack. And then imagine the missiles go back and forth for awhile.
Things have changed. This is now the "year of the missile" and none of us can ever go back to the way it was.
Posted @ August 04, 2006 08:53 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (3)
A Late Night Call To My Old Friend Victor
Brrriiinnngg.
VF: Hello?
JB: Yes, Ah, is this Doctor Frankenstein’s office? Doctor Victor Frankenstein?
VF: Yes, can I help you?
JB: Doctor Frankenstein, This is Jose Balaguer, health minister of Cuba.
VF: Yes?
JB: Well, ah, well Doctor I’m glad we found you. You see, we have this little problem.
VF: I’m sorry Mr.Balaguer I no longer have a private practice of my own, I haven’t been able to work in the profession since my office was sacked by the people of the village and since I’ve been under investigation for malpractice by the Bavarian Health Directorate. I’m afraid you will have to look elsewhere. Try Kaiser Permanente, I hear they’re good.
JB: Ah, no sir, we aren’t looking for “a doctor” as such. You see Doctor, ah, well how do I put this….
VF: You’d better get to it soon sonny, this is really starting to annoy me.
JB: Well, its just that you have a certain expertise that we here at the, ah, Cuban Health Ministry are very VERY interested in.
VF: You’re not asking for what I think you are asking for are you?
JB: Its just that we understand that you…
VF: Let me guess… let me take a real big whack at this little piñata, ok? You have a sudden need to re-animate the dead, right?
JB: Ah, uh, mmmmm, well yes…
VF: Look. I don’t know how to re-animate the dead. No one does. Let me try to explain this for you ok? Look, here’s what happened – I had this “Girlfriend” once; her name was Mary Shelley. Remember that name because if you ever see this real mopey goth chick with bad mascara sitting the end of the bar one night and you think to yourself, “hey, she looks interesting”. Just don’t go there, ok! Oh sure, she starts off real sweet and things really start to go your way if you know what I mean, but a week later, she’s still at your house only she wont let you open the curtains, only uses candles to light the house, and she doesn’t want to sleep with you until you do a séance to ‘talk to the dead” first. So naturally you try to break it off with her and she starts screaming – and I do mean screaming – about how she “loves you” only she screams it at the top of her lungs out of the upstairs windows and then starts throwing kitchen cutlery at you when you least expect it. So you throw her out of your house. So what does she do next?
She starts stalking you where you work and calling you in the middle of the night and hanging up which is a real hoot the first 400 times it happens or shes chanting some voodoo curse thing over the phone. Real “ooggey-booggey” stuff too. She starts calling all your ex-girlfriends telling them that “thanks to you, they are all barren witches who can't have children anymore”. Then she decides to ruin your credit by using your credit cards to buy Christie Lane Cd’s and having them mailed to your house and signs you up for AOL as well. you know that sort of thing.
Then she starts a blog called “ VictorFrankensteinmustdie.com” and links it to DemocraticUnderground.com as “Bush supporter” and links your email and address as the site owner. Then she starts showing up at all the other in the hospitals and pretending that she’s a creation that you made in lab. I mean it’s just incredible. Now all the other doctors in the area know her as "Mary Shelley" - Victor Frankensteins "Special Friend" wink-wink. Oh yeah, shes special all right, let me tell you.
So you leave town to get the hell of away from her and her legion of "freak friends". You move to a scenic and somewhat isolated Alpine village in Bavaria, hoping to have a little country doctor practice. You know get “back to basics” thing, a little peace and quiet, a scraped knee here and there, remove a set of tonsils now and then.
OH, BUT NOOOOOOO!
Little Miss Mary Shelley isn’t just any creepy goth chick, she’s a freakin creepy goth chick who’s also a writer! So what does she do? Oh yeah man, she conjures her self up a “novel”, sells it to a big publishing house. Only this novel uses your name as the main character. Yeah right “Who knew that Dr. Frankenstein was a real guy” you say, well dude, I’m here to tell you – HE IS. HE IS ME!
Only I'm not the guy in the novel, ok? and who just am I really? Doctor of Cardiology at Boston General Hospital? Son Of Freddie And Betty Frankenstein, from Philadelphia PA, first in my class at medical school for all the good it did me? Oh no, not me! I’m an Idiot! a superconducting “Freak Magnet” who attracts the psycho chicks like Mary Shelley like they are made of out of steel.
Look dude, there is no “monster”. There is no “reanimation of dead flesh”. There is no lab, no “Igor”. She just made up all that crap to get back at me because I had a bad set of beer goggles on one night and now thanks to her, I have to pay for it for the rest of my life. It’s just the sort of thing that makes you want to burn every bed in the world.
I’m sorry man, if you’ve lost someone, that’s a real shame, but there isn’t anything I can do for you.
JB: Well, ah, ummmm. Dr. Frankenstein I just have one other question of you if I may.
VF: What?
JB: Do you have the phone number for a Mr. H.P Lovecraft?
VF: Let me guess Jose, you guys at the “Cuban Health Ministry” don’t get out much, do you?
Click…
Posted @ August 04, 2006 01:10 PM | Current Events | Comments (0)
The Global Warming tipping point
I'm a Skeptic.
I love James Randi.
I've read "State of Fear" and agree with it completely.
But I have never been more convinced that "Global Warming" was nothing but total and completly inane gobbledygook than when I heard today that "Pat Robertson now believes in Global Warming because apparently Pat has discovered that in August - Stay with me here - "its hot outside".
Sorry Al Gore. When a Conservative media preacher starts signing on to your pet scientific theory, that's the "kiss of death" for that theory if you ask me. I'm not sure that Pat believes in Dinosaurs, that men can fly or if the earth is really round or hollow, but he's suddenly gosh darn sure that "its hot outside and its all your fault sinner! now repent!"
Poor Al. It looks like he's going to have to find yet another "new gig"...
Stay tuned. I have a feeling that in December that Al Gore will discover that parts of Canada are suddenly and inexplicably cold and dark, that lake water hardens with a thick opaque covering that is hard to penetrate and that the land is often covered with a mysterious white substance that causes lawns to die and your extremities to go numb if you dont cover yourself when you go outside. Canadian Municipalities and homeowners are often forced to spend thousands of dollars to remove this toxic substance from roads and highways. This toxic scourge, called "winter" by aboriginal Canadians, must be stopped before it comes to your town.
I guess that for an out of work politician, theres always work that you can "scare up" from somewhere if you really work hard at it.
Posted @ August 03, 2006 10:23 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (5)
Shut Up and Give
International Fellowship of Christians and Jews
Mercy Corps has set up relief for Lebanon.
Since I did help World Vision implement their Expatriate Payroll system, I think I can recommend their aid system to help the Lebanese. (NOT Hezbollah, Lebanese. The Lebanese are victims of Hezbollah every bit as much as the Israelis are victims of Hezbollah. The Lebanese are hostages behind whom Hezbollah is hiding behind to fire at the Israelis.)
Don't support Hezbollah.
Don't support Iran.
Don't support Syria.
Don't support Pessimism.
Support the Lebanese.
Support the Israelis.
Support Victory.
You cannot stand neutral in this war. You either help the enemy, or you aid and defend your allies. There is no Sweden. There is no middle ground, no ocean to hide behind, no excuse high enough to hide your shame. 2000 Generations of Western Civilization have passed before you came into the world. All of those who came before us were challenged in their time to help bring concepts like personal freedom, the rights of the individual, the sanctity of life, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from religion, freedom from persecution, for artistic freedom, for logic and science, for the emancipation of women as equals with men; all were brought into the world in which you were born because of the sacrifices of the generations that came before you.
All of those things which you hold so dear are now at risk of being lost.
Now, its your turn to serve the wolrd to see that these rights, the very treasure of the western world, survive this generation for your children and for their children beyond.
In this world you are either Vichy or Free, Collaborator or Maqui. You decide. There is no third way. You serve, even by doing nothing, but by doing nothing you serve only the side that enslaves men and kills women and childen for sport. It is no more sophisticated than that, for that is what we fight for; the right not to be enslaved, the right not to be killed for praying to a God of our own choosing, the right for women to live as equals with men, the right to speak, to breath, to be...
Someday, the war will end and you will have to answer for your actions in this war. Did you fight for them? Or did you fight for us? You decide now how you want to answer that question in a generation.
Whos side were you on when the world was forced to choose between a world where all of mankind lives under the boot of slavery or a world where freedom, dignity and human liberty are sovereign right for all mankind?
Or did you just stand by and do nothing while your fellow human beings were allowed to be dragged away in the night and made into bars of soap and lampshades?
You decide. The world awaits.
...-
Posted @ August 03, 2006 06:42 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (9)
Please - No more " Gee its hot outside" stories...
"So, do you think that people in the 1930's during the dust bowl sat around saying talking about how its all the fault of 'global warming' or did they just say "Gee, it sure is hot outside!"
Dennis Miller - All In.
Posted @ August 03, 2006 01:12 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
China - North Korea Fighting?
In know - consider the source BUT...
snip.
China's Peoples Liberation Army has deployed 2,000 reinforcements to its border troops along the Tomen and Yalu rivers bordering North Korea following signs of instability, a major daily here reported.
Small-scale clashes between North Korean soldiers and Chinese border troops had been increasing in frequency. Last October, a Chinese soldier was killed in an exchange of fire, the Hong Kong Daily reported last week. With the buildup, the PLA now has 7,000 troops guarding its eastern border.
end snip.
Now,why would such good friends and comrades need such things on their common border? How much do you want to bet the recent flooding is much worse than we know about.
And just so China doesnt feel like its being picked on by its little brother, North Korean Guards decided now would be a good time to shoot at South Korean Border guards.
Snip.
"North and South Korean troops along their heavily fortified border exchanged gunfire for the first time in about a year, a military official said on Tuesday, with the incident coming as ties between the two have soured.
North Korean troops fired two shots at a South Korean guard post near the Demilitarised Zone on Monday night and South Korean troops returned six shots, an official said by telephone.
"No one was injured in the incident," the Joint Chiefs of Staff official said.
One of the shots hit the guard post, causing South Korean troops to immediately return fire, the official said...
end snip.
Two shots From North Korea then South Korea shoots 6 times in a "disproportionate" response. Typical imperialist warmongers, shooting back after fired on...
Posted @ August 03, 2006 12:50 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)
Another war - same enemy
The enemy, is pessimism.
From Wikipedia - The battle of Henderson Field.
snip.
On 23 October 1942, with the addition of more troops, the Japanese made another attempt to capture Henderson Field from the south of the salient. The newly arrived U.S. Army's 164th Infantry Regiment and 1st Battalion, 7th Marines defended this position, and after a determined battle the attack was finally repulsed after committing the U.S. reserves.
On 25 October Platoon Sergeant Mitchell Paige and 33 marine riflemen emplaced 4 water-cooled .30-caliber Browning machine guns on a ridge to defend Henderson Field. By the time the night was over the Japanese 29th Infantry Regiment had lost 553 killed or missing and 479 wounded among its 2,554 men. The Japanese 16th Regiment's losses were not accounted for but the 164th's burial parties handled 975 Japanese bodies. Total American estimates for Japanese casualties on that ridge were 2,200. All the men in Mitchell Paige's platoon were either killed or wounded during the night of fierce fighting. Mitchell Paige moved up and down the line placing dead and wounded troops back into foxholes and firing short bursts from each of the four Brownings to deceive the Japanese that a force still held the ridge.
At dawn of the next day, battalion executive officer Major Odell M. Conoley reinforced Paige on the hill. It was decided that they would charge the remnants of the two Japanese regiments who were now regrouping. Conoley gathered his resources who consisted "three enlisted communication personnel, several riflemen, a few company runners who were at the point, together with a cook and a few messmen who had brought food to the position the evening before." In total 17 marines charged the Japanese at 05:40 on the morning of the 26th, signaling the turn in the Pacific theatre of the Second World War.
end snip...
On October 23rd 1942, things looked really bad. On October 25th, The finally Japanese had lost control of the island, and in doing so, lost control of the war.
Had they existed in the 1940’s CNN On October 23rd would have said “AMERICANS ENGAGED IN FUTILE BATTLE AGAINST POPULAR JAPANESE INSURGENTS”
The New York Times of today would have said “NO MILITARY SOLUTION IN PACIFIC, WORLD ASKS FOR CEASEFIRE TO SAVE LIVES OF PACIFIC ISLANDERS”
The Washington Post of today’s world would have said “FAILED STRATEGY OF ISLAND HOPPING CALLED INTO QUESTION AS ILL ADVISED GUADALCANAL QUAGMIRE CAMPAIGN CONTINUES”.
Almost exactly three years later, the Japanese Empire, which had never experienced a defeat; had been defeated. The war ended on the deck of the USS Missouri with the capitulation of an Empire into the hands of a Democracy. Peace came, not from the pen of diplomats, but from the capitulation that was imposed by the men of the Allied Armed Forces.
My point? Yes, Hezbollah fired a lot of missiles today. They will still lose. Hezbollah has two choices, fire the missiles they have wherever they are or they will be captured wherever they are. Better to fire them off, then to have them sit on the ground. Since Hezbollah cannot manufacture Katushyas and since there are now 20,000 IDF soldiers cutting off every road that is not already crowded with refugees flowing north, it seems that every day we go forward just diminishes the supply of rockets. Today Hezbollah dimished its supply by 200 rockets, with almost no effect on the fighting ability of the Israelis. Hezbollah cannot change the direction of the war in its favor with these weapons. Katushyas are terror weapons, and the Israelis have simply failed to be terrified.
Despite all that Hezbollah has done, It is not Israel who is calling for a cease fire, it is Hezbollah and their allies.
I would say Hezbollah is using “banzai tactics” here; but that would infer the existence of a code of honor on their part.
Historical evidence says the contrary.
Posted @ August 02, 2006 11:30 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (5)
Who'd a thunk it?
From LATimes:
snip.
"Israeli infantry crossed the Litani River in several spots and reached the northern edge of what Israel held as a buffer zone for 18 years until withdrawing in 2000, said Brig. Gen. Shuki Shihrur, deputy commander of the northern command. Shihrur said his forces were in control of positions along the waterway, which runs roughly parallel to the border, through air and artillery power. In some areas, he said, ground forces had sped past settled areas to reach the river and beyond in a bid to prevent Hezbollah from bringing in new fighters and arms.
The goal of the ground offensive was not to conquer towns but to work southward from the river, and north from the border, to clear out Hezbollah and weaken the group before any international peacekeeping force could be deployed in southern Lebanon, Shihrur said.
He estimated troop strength at the equivalent of six brigades, which, according to estimates, could amount to 10,000 or more soldiers. The force, believed to be at least twice as large as any previously used in this conflict, includes armored and engineering units, the battle-seasoned Golani Brigade and paratroopers.
"I estimate the time required to complete the job will take around 10 days to two weeks," Cabinet minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer told Israel's Army Radio.
end snip...
Submitted without comment.
Posted @ August 02, 2006 12:40 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
I think I know who is writing their copy
Iraq: April 5, 2003
"They are not near Baghdad. Don't believe them.... They said they entered with... tanks in the middle of the capital. They claim that they - I tell you, I... that this speech is too far from the reality. It is a part of this sickness of their plan. There is no an... - no any existence to the American troops or for the troops in Baghdad at all."
Lebanon: August 1st 2006
"A group of Israeli commandos was brought to the hospital by a helicopter. They entered the hospital and are trapped inside as our fighters opened fire on them and fierce fighting is still raging," Hezbollah spokesman Hussein Rahal told The Associated Press.
There's Only one problem with this. Its over, the IDF are back and they accomplished their goal. I guess someone forgot to tell the "spokesman".
From haaretz:
"Israel Defense Forces commandos completed a raid of the Hezbollah stronghold of Baalbek in east Lebanon at daybreak Wednesday, in what Lebanese security sources described as a major operation against suspected Hezbollah positions.
The IDF reportedly captured five junior Hezbollah militants and killed several others before completing the operation and safely returning to Israel.
Lebanese security sources identified three of the men as Hussein Nasrallah, Hussein al-Burji and Ahmed al-Ghotah and described them as low ranking members of the group.
I dont know what "Hezbollah spokesman Hussein Rahal" looks like, but I think I might have an idea:
I Got my Job through the New York Times!
(Hey, a mans gotta eat, right?)
Posted @ August 02, 2006 12:16 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)
Baalbek Raid successful - So where is Syria?
10 miles from the border with Syria in an area formerly occupied by Syria’s Armed forces, the IDF has landed commando troops, seized several high value targets and has managed to leave the area intact.
This is a serious slap in the face to Syria, Iran and Hezbollah. The Bekaa is the capital of terror operations in the eastern Mediterranean. Israel was able to accomplish its goals in the heart of where the terrorists should have the greatest amount of protection.
Earlier this week, Syria announced that it was placing its Army on alert. Let’s watch carefully to see what Syria does next.
Possible moves:
1) Syria moves its tanks and infantry into the Bekaa to protect its interests and save its honor.
2) Syria moves its tanks and infantry into the Bekaa by invitation of the Lebanese government, such as it is.
3) Syria doesn’t move its tanks and infantry into the Bekaa.
If any one of the three scenarios occurs it will be very illustrative of the real situation from the perspective of one of the most important players, that being Syria.
1) If Syria doesn’t move to protect their client, it will clearly cause problems with their key partners, the Iranians.
2) If Syria doesn’t move to protect their client, it will clearly cause problems with the Lebanese.
3) If Syria doesn’t move its Army after this, then why have one? If this situation doesn’t merit the movement of troops to protect syrian interests, then what does? Syria officially becomes a paper tiger in every way that matters.
but if they do move...
1) Then does Israel react to stop it or does it accept a Syrian incursion and open alliance with Hezbollah?
If they do move their Army, it will be very interesting to see what the Israeli response will surely be but then again if they don’t move it, the reaction from Iran should also be very interesting.
( If I don't see a line of Syrian tanks rolling into the Bekaa by morning, I think that will tell us alot about how things are going...)
Posted @ August 01, 2006 09:17 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (7)
Just a small set of observations
For those of you that are absolutely certain that "Israel can't win" in Lebanon I'd like you point out, that Israel is going where it pleases, how it pleases, when it pleases throughout the region.
"General Media" might be entertaining to us here at home but he is nearly useless in the battlefield.
Gen. Media has once again failed to stop tanks, artillery, helicopters and personnel carriers.
Despite what we are all being told about how its a "pushbutton war", fought by polls and public opinion, Wars are always won by some guy standing in a field holding a rifle who refuses to be removed.
Despite what you've been told, those who oppose western civilization are not 20 feet tall and unbeatable. They are not superhuman, they have fear and dread just like the rest of us. They die just like the rest of us.
One other point - Winning forces rarely call for "cease fire". If Hezbollah was really winning, the very last thing you would hear is a call for "cease fire".
Peace does not come through the pen of diplomats. Peace only comes with capitulation. So long as there is no capitulation, there will be no peace. While it hasnt always been so, Egypt and Jordan now live in peace with Israel. It will someday also be true of Lebanon and Syria.
Israel is winning because despite every effort to remove it, it is still there. Every day that Israel exists, is a victory against the forces of hate.
UPDATE:
Israeli soldiers from a combat engineer batallion smile for the camera on Tuesday( Photo Appears Coutesty of FOX News ).
There you go! That's better.
UPDATE II: CNN is reporting that Israeli troops have landed 10 miles north of Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley,making even my predictions of the size of the Israeli movement into Lebanon look conservative.
Snip.
"Israeli aircraft flew support missions as troops hit the ground about 10 km north of Baalbeck in the Bekaa Valley near the Syrian border, the sources said.
The Lebanese army also reported heavy helicopter traffic east and west of the town.
Israeli troops entered Hikma Hospital in northern Baalbeck, where they checked the identification cards of all staff and patients, the sources said, adding that there was no indication that anyone was taken from the hospital. "
The Bekaa used to be so controlled by Syria that even the IDF Air Force had a great deal of difficulty flying up there, now it seems that its safe enough to fly in troop carrying helicopters. That means that Anti-Aircraft, even shoulder mounted missiles are not much of a threat. The Israelis appear to have landed, what appears to be a substantial amount of troops in the capital city of the region, just 10 miles from the border of Syria and have some ability to maneuver in an area that used to be a solid Syrian enclave.
Posted @ August 01, 2006 10:27 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)
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