Syria a smallish wartorn middle east country just to the north of Israel. Has been run by the Assad family and the Alawite sect for decades, maybe more. Dunno just how the Alawites differ from Sunni or Shia, but its enough to matter somehow. Could be the Sunni and or the Shia detest the Alawites. Could be the Sunni would rather have the Alawites running things than the Shia. Or vice versa. I don't know, and our clueless newsies have no idea either.
The current Assad running Syria, a certain Bashar, fairly recent heir to the throne, has not been doing well. He has angered a sizable portion of his population to the point of armed rebellion against his regime. ISIS has set up shop and controls a big slice of Syria. Other "moderate" non-ISIS but anti Assad rebel groups are active, but probably not as active as ISIS. By now, Assad's control of the country is shaky, ISIS is as strong (or stronger) than he is. The Russians have decided to back Assad, probably in return for basing rights in Syria. Assad needs all the support he can get.
US policy, such as it is, favors dumping Bashar Assad. Not a a bad idea, but for it to work, we have to have someone to replace him with. We need a name, and we don't have one. ISIS has a name, Allah. The "moderate" rebels must have some leaders, but who ever they are, they haven't made it onto US TV news. Until we find a Syrian leader with some name recognition, at least inside Syria, and some popularity, our anti Assad, anti ISIS operations are going exactly nowhere.
We should be talking to the Israeli's about Syria. They have agents in Syria, who actually speak the language, and a much better idea of who is who, and which end is up, than CIA ever will. To bad Obama has been dissing Netanyahu. The Israelis are less likely to level with Obama than with someone who has supported Israel over the years.
Sunday, November 8, 2015
Saturday, November 7, 2015
Flak for Ben Carson
The MSM, democrats to a man, are shooting at Ben Carson. They been getting plenty of coverage on TV. They have been checking out Carson's autobiography, published years and years ago, and claiming that Carson claims things that they cannot verify, or uses more enthusiast language than they can approve of. This morning's Wall St Journal did not defend Carson much, but they did pooh pooh some of the nastier slams on Carson.
As far as the West Point scholarship thing goes, Carson, was top ROTC cadet, black, with excellent grades. I'm sure someone said "Son, you ought to go to West Point, you are a natural, put your name in and they will accept you". Was I Carson, writing my autobiography fifty years later, I could easily write that I was offered a scholarship to West Point, even if I never put in my paperwork to attend. I'm not going to get excited about this smear from the likes of the MSM. Especially as I like Carson.
Carson does understand that dirt sticks. He has been on TV, calling his harassers to be liars. That's good. Mud sticks, if he doesn't call the MSM on this, we voters will begin to think that maybe there is something to the stories. Romney didn't understand this, and it lost him the presidency.
As far as the West Point scholarship thing goes, Carson, was top ROTC cadet, black, with excellent grades. I'm sure someone said "Son, you ought to go to West Point, you are a natural, put your name in and they will accept you". Was I Carson, writing my autobiography fifty years later, I could easily write that I was offered a scholarship to West Point, even if I never put in my paperwork to attend. I'm not going to get excited about this smear from the likes of the MSM. Especially as I like Carson.
Carson does understand that dirt sticks. He has been on TV, calling his harassers to be liars. That's good. Mud sticks, if he doesn't call the MSM on this, we voters will begin to think that maybe there is something to the stories. Romney didn't understand this, and it lost him the presidency.
Too Damn Long. Vote it down
Trans Pacific Trade that is. It is 2 million words, 2000 pages, and that's too much. It would take months to figure out what it will do. Passing it just gives to bureaucrats the power to do any thing they want. In that much verbiage a bureaucrat can always find a paragraph to justify what ever he is doing or wants to do. Passing another super-obfusticator bill is Congress abdicating to the bureaucracy.
Congress ought to have a policy, never pass any bill, treaty, whatever that is longer than the US constitution.
Congress ought to have a policy, never pass any bill, treaty, whatever that is longer than the US constitution.
Friday, November 6, 2015
Drug Overdoses
It's getting bad. This year death's from drug overdoses exceed deaths from car accidents. Car accidents have been running around 50,000 deaths a year, for a long time. By way of comparison, total deaths from the entire Viet Nam war are only 50,000. Ten years of war in the jungle didn't kill as many as car accidents killed in a single year. And now deaths from drug overdoses have risen to the same appalling level.
The MSM don't talk about why the increase in drug deaths. Could it be, Obama's Great Depression 2.0 threw a lot of men out of work? And the depression and poverty caused by unemployment drives a lot of guys to drugs and suicide? You don't hear the MSM talking about that. Doesn't fit The Narrative.
You do hear a lot of talk in the MSM about setting up "drug courts". Dunno about that. Seems like we need drug treatment programs more than courts. We got plenty of plain old courts. Most judges are intelligent enough to sentence first offenders, even if they been doing a little dealing to feed their habit, to drug rehab rather than jail. Everybody knows that jail is bad for people. First offenders come out of jail in worse shape than they went in.
The MSM don't talk about why the increase in drug deaths. Could it be, Obama's Great Depression 2.0 threw a lot of men out of work? And the depression and poverty caused by unemployment drives a lot of guys to drugs and suicide? You don't hear the MSM talking about that. Doesn't fit The Narrative.
You do hear a lot of talk in the MSM about setting up "drug courts". Dunno about that. Seems like we need drug treatment programs more than courts. We got plenty of plain old courts. Most judges are intelligent enough to sentence first offenders, even if they been doing a little dealing to feed their habit, to drug rehab rather than jail. Everybody knows that jail is bad for people. First offenders come out of jail in worse shape than they went in.
No bailouts, Let 'em sink. Nobody too big to fail
Dear old Uncle Sam has gotten into the habit of bailing out big companies that get into trouble. GM, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and AIG are the most flagrant examples. The usual excuse is that allowing a big boy to go belly up will scare the market, causing a lot of other big boys to croak. Causing a lot of money to be lost.
And, we passed a law, Dodd-Frank, which makes bailouts policy. Dodd-Frank sets up which companies will get bailouts, how much.
The real problem with bailouts, is they urge on crazy behavior. In no-bailout world, company management is pretty careful about the risks it runs. If they do something really risky, and it fails, the company is toast, they and everyone in the company are out of work, the investors loose everything. All around badness.
But when Uncle Sam says he will bailout companies, all bets are off. Now management can do all those crazy things, and if they fail, the company survives, they keep their jobs, and the investors are untouched (mostly). No pain. And without pain, nobody learns anything. No pain, no gain.
We ought to repeal Dodd-Frank. We ought to make it real clear world wide that we don't bail out nobody, and we need to carry thru, and actually flush some loser down the drain, just to make the point.
To run a capitalist society, which has made us all rich, you need capital. We cannot afford to flush capital down the drain doing mortgage backed securities, credit default swaps, futures trading, derivatives trading, and all those other risky gambling games they run on Wall St.
And, we passed a law, Dodd-Frank, which makes bailouts policy. Dodd-Frank sets up which companies will get bailouts, how much.
The real problem with bailouts, is they urge on crazy behavior. In no-bailout world, company management is pretty careful about the risks it runs. If they do something really risky, and it fails, the company is toast, they and everyone in the company are out of work, the investors loose everything. All around badness.
But when Uncle Sam says he will bailout companies, all bets are off. Now management can do all those crazy things, and if they fail, the company survives, they keep their jobs, and the investors are untouched (mostly). No pain. And without pain, nobody learns anything. No pain, no gain.
We ought to repeal Dodd-Frank. We ought to make it real clear world wide that we don't bail out nobody, and we need to carry thru, and actually flush some loser down the drain, just to make the point.
To run a capitalist society, which has made us all rich, you need capital. We cannot afford to flush capital down the drain doing mortgage backed securities, credit default swaps, futures trading, derivatives trading, and all those other risky gambling games they run on Wall St.
Thursday, November 5, 2015
New Canadian government drops F-35
The new government in Canada, with whats-his-name Trudeau has fulfilled a campaign promise to drop out of the F-35 program. Canada was going to buy 65 fighters at something like $80-90 million a piece. That's going away. The F-35 program people are smiling and saying the program is still on track. Right. And every air framer in the world is hustling salesman to Toronto peddling fighters.
More on Long Range Strike Bomber LRS-B
According to Aviation Week, it is going to be another flying wing, like the B2, only about half the size of the B2 to get the costs down. They say the rather short range (2500 miles) comes from the "Tank on the way in, Tank on the way out" tactic. Tankers to stay 500 miles off the enemy coast to be safe from SAMs and fighters. Aviation Week has a map showing the LRS-B being able to reach everywhere inside China. And they think Northrup Grumman got the job 'cause of their B2 experience, and that Lockheed Martin has the F35 contract, and Boeing has the KC-46 contract.
Cis
As in cis-gendered. New one on me. First ran across the term/prefix while web surfing. Finally looked it up and apparently it means "not trans" as in "not trans gendered" The trans gender activists felt the need for a word to apply to everyone who is not in their group, i.e. regular people. If you are doing a culture war, it helps to have a word for the enemy.
In the real world then cis-gendered means girls who think they are girls and want to grow up to be women, and boys who think they are boys and want to grow up to be men. In short, kids who lack psychological hangups about their sexuality.
Why does the invention of this new trendy word bother me?
In the real world then cis-gendered means girls who think they are girls and want to grow up to be women, and boys who think they are boys and want to grow up to be men. In short, kids who lack psychological hangups about their sexuality.
Why does the invention of this new trendy word bother me?
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Dune, Frank Herbert, the 2000 miniseries
This miniseries was the second attempt to bring Frank Herbert's huge novel to the screen. It's not bad, it's at least as good as the 1984 movie. The the long three episodes allows a fuller development of Herbert's long and complex novel. Sets and costumes are good, which can be expensive in a science fiction movie. Casting is metza metza.
William Hurt gives a fine performance as planetary Duke Leto Atreides. Too bad Frank Herbert killed him off early in the book. Alex Newman is less satisfying as Paul Muad'dib. He is too old, too tall, and too burly. Paul Atreides was written as a teen age boy, somewhat small for his age, and lightly built. Which gave a tug on the heartstrings as his beloved father is killed and Paul must pick up the load of being a planetary Duke before he is fully grown. And Paul has to meet both fremen and imperial enemies, hand to hand in gladiatorial duels, and prevail by speed and cunning. Reading the book, you root for the smaller younger lighter Paul to survive each deadly encounter. Watching the miniseries there is no doubt that Alex Newman is taller, stronger, and buffer than his opponents. You know he is going to win the knife fight just by looking at him. In the book, young Paul Atreides does an enormous amount of coming of age. In the miniseries he enters the action fully come of age.
William Hurt gives a fine performance as planetary Duke Leto Atreides. Too bad Frank Herbert killed him off early in the book. Alex Newman is less satisfying as Paul Muad'dib. He is too old, too tall, and too burly. Paul Atreides was written as a teen age boy, somewhat small for his age, and lightly built. Which gave a tug on the heartstrings as his beloved father is killed and Paul must pick up the load of being a planetary Duke before he is fully grown. And Paul has to meet both fremen and imperial enemies, hand to hand in gladiatorial duels, and prevail by speed and cunning. Reading the book, you root for the smaller younger lighter Paul to survive each deadly encounter. Watching the miniseries there is no doubt that Alex Newman is taller, stronger, and buffer than his opponents. You know he is going to win the knife fight just by looking at him. In the book, young Paul Atreides does an enormous amount of coming of age. In the miniseries he enters the action fully come of age.
Graduates of "research universities" earn more than liberal arts colleges
This from today's Wall St Journal. Well, we sorta knew this, graduates with real engineering degrees earn more than graduates with art history degrees. It's been a cliche that engineers make good well paid husbands. For numbers, liberal arts graduates pegged out a $50,000 a year ten years out of college where as "research university" graduates made $65-70K at the median. All of them made more than $50K.
The Journal article skated over a couple of key points. The never did define what they mean by "research university". That's a new one on me. I assume they are thinking of places like MIT, Georgia Tech, and CalTech. Place which mostly grant engineering degrees and have strong STEM programs.
Then they didn't pin down liberal arts. Do they group the talkie-talkie majors (gender studies, art history, ethnic studies) or the wannabe sciences (sociology, anthropology, psychology, etc) in with the traditional seven liberal arts (English, foreign languages, history, mathematics, music, art, philosophy).
The traditional seven liberal arts ought to lead to better jobs than the talkie-talk majors and the wannabe sciences.
The Journal article skated over a couple of key points. The never did define what they mean by "research university". That's a new one on me. I assume they are thinking of places like MIT, Georgia Tech, and CalTech. Place which mostly grant engineering degrees and have strong STEM programs.
Then they didn't pin down liberal arts. Do they group the talkie-talkie majors (gender studies, art history, ethnic studies) or the wannabe sciences (sociology, anthropology, psychology, etc) in with the traditional seven liberal arts (English, foreign languages, history, mathematics, music, art, philosophy).
The traditional seven liberal arts ought to lead to better jobs than the talkie-talk majors and the wannabe sciences.
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Questions they ought to ask and have not so far
1. What would you do to get America's GNP growth up to 3.5% or better?
2. Will you authorize the Keystone XL pipeline?
3. Will you lease off shore parcels for oil exploration, on the east coast, and the west coast?
4. Will you stop the EPA's war on coal? and the new and very expensive ozone limits?
5. How will you reform personal and corporate taxes?
6. Will you authorize interstate sale of health insurance?
7. Will you authorize duty free imports of drugs from any reasonable first world country?
8. Explain your reforms of the Pentagon procurment bottle neck.
9. Explain how large our armed forces need to be.How many soldiers, warships, warplanes?
10. Explain what you will do to increase the ratio of tooth to tail in our armed forces.
11. Explain how the Trans Pacific Partnership will increase US exports and jobs.
12. As president what will you do about ISIS? Send them nastygrams? Use the armed forces to destroy them?
13. Will you defend NATO countries from Russian aggression or invasion?
14. Will you defend South Korea from Chinese or North Korean aggression?
15. What will you do about dredged up Chinese islands in the South China Sea?
16. Will you authorize oil exploration in the "Arctic National Wildlife Area"?
Anyone got any more?
2. Will you authorize the Keystone XL pipeline?
3. Will you lease off shore parcels for oil exploration, on the east coast, and the west coast?
4. Will you stop the EPA's war on coal? and the new and very expensive ozone limits?
5. How will you reform personal and corporate taxes?
6. Will you authorize interstate sale of health insurance?
7. Will you authorize duty free imports of drugs from any reasonable first world country?
8. Explain your reforms of the Pentagon procurment bottle neck.
9. Explain how large our armed forces need to be.How many soldiers, warships, warplanes?
10. Explain what you will do to increase the ratio of tooth to tail in our armed forces.
11. Explain how the Trans Pacific Partnership will increase US exports and jobs.
12. As president what will you do about ISIS? Send them nastygrams? Use the armed forces to destroy them?
13. Will you defend NATO countries from Russian aggression or invasion?
14. Will you defend South Korea from Chinese or North Korean aggression?
15. What will you do about dredged up Chinese islands in the South China Sea?
16. Will you authorize oil exploration in the "Arctic National Wildlife Area"?
Anyone got any more?
Monday, November 2, 2015
$43 Million for an Afghan gas station?
Not only is$43 million a ripoff, but the gas station was not a gasoline station, it was a compressed natural gas (CNG) facility.
Who in their right mind would have a CNG vehicle in Afghanistan? You cannot find CNG stations in America right now to keep a CNG vehicle running. In a backwater like Afghanistan, there are even fewer.
Aside from making the greenies feel all warm and fuzzy, a CNG station in Afghanistan is a total waste of money. Even if we didn't get ripped off.
Who in their right mind would have a CNG vehicle in Afghanistan? You cannot find CNG stations in America right now to keep a CNG vehicle running. In a backwater like Afghanistan, there are even fewer.
Aside from making the greenies feel all warm and fuzzy, a CNG station in Afghanistan is a total waste of money. Even if we didn't get ripped off.
Getting ready for a trip
Pack the laptop, and its charger. Pack the cell phone, and its charger. Pack the camera, and its charger. That's three chargers just for a weekend trip.
Cats have nine names, as well as lives.
This might be family tradition. We had a family cat, a Siamese, who came into the family named Cleopatra. This did not last, and we kids called her Puddy Tat. Then after Puddy Tat put on weight, my Father started calling her BasketBall.
Sunday, November 1, 2015
Flat or Graduated?
Tax that is. A lotta Republicans pitched a flat tax during the CNBC debate last week. A lotta TV lefties claimed that a flat tax would never produce the revenue they want for all the lefties redistribution plans and free stuff.
I been figuring and paying my own income tax for 50 years. Each year, after doing all the crazy worksheets and capital gains and deductions and bulls--t on the 1040, I wound up paying 17%, every year, for the last fifty years. If everyone paid 17%, Uncle would have plenty of money. Especially when you consider that under the current system, about half the taxpayers pay nothing at all due to "Earned Income Tax Credit". When half the population starts paying 17% instead of zip that's not revenue neutral.
So arguments against a flat tax based on lack of money are wrong. The true argument against a flat tax is fairness, the idea that the wealthy ought to pay more than the poor. 17% income tax when you are just scraping by hurts a lot more than it does for Donald Trump. As a matter of fairness, the wealthy ought to pay a higher rate than the poor.
Which is what we have now a graduated tax. We have seven or eight or maybe too many to count tax brackets. Last time the wealthy paid a huge slice of tax money, far far more than the middle or poorer classes. This is a graduated tax. In my estimation, it's too graduated. I strongly feel that everyone ought to pay something. From the poor, a few percent, from the wealthy, a lot more, maybe 25%. Everyone ought to feel the pain of taxes, so they understand that voting for more free stuff is gonna hurt them. When we allow half the population to escape tax free, they will march right out and vote for more free stuff, 'cause it doesn't cost 'em anything.
Then, we come to the issue of tax breaks aka loopholes. There are a lot of 'em. We get a tax break for having children, for paying a mortgage, for calling it capital gains instead of ordinary income, for health insurance some times, for buying professional books and equipment, for paying state and local taxes, for charitable contributions, for being over 65, and a ship load of other stuff that I forget, but Turbo Tax can remember for me at tax time.
I think I'd like to abolish every single one of 'em. That would cause a mighty howl from parents, the real estate industry, H&R Block, and every other special interest group in the land. If the howling is too great, maybe I'd compromise on charitable contributions and the tax break for having children. Set the middle tax bracket to 17%. and revenue would stay about the same.
I been figuring and paying my own income tax for 50 years. Each year, after doing all the crazy worksheets and capital gains and deductions and bulls--t on the 1040, I wound up paying 17%, every year, for the last fifty years. If everyone paid 17%, Uncle would have plenty of money. Especially when you consider that under the current system, about half the taxpayers pay nothing at all due to "Earned Income Tax Credit". When half the population starts paying 17% instead of zip that's not revenue neutral.
So arguments against a flat tax based on lack of money are wrong. The true argument against a flat tax is fairness, the idea that the wealthy ought to pay more than the poor. 17% income tax when you are just scraping by hurts a lot more than it does for Donald Trump. As a matter of fairness, the wealthy ought to pay a higher rate than the poor.
Which is what we have now a graduated tax. We have seven or eight or maybe too many to count tax brackets. Last time the wealthy paid a huge slice of tax money, far far more than the middle or poorer classes. This is a graduated tax. In my estimation, it's too graduated. I strongly feel that everyone ought to pay something. From the poor, a few percent, from the wealthy, a lot more, maybe 25%. Everyone ought to feel the pain of taxes, so they understand that voting for more free stuff is gonna hurt them. When we allow half the population to escape tax free, they will march right out and vote for more free stuff, 'cause it doesn't cost 'em anything.
Then, we come to the issue of tax breaks aka loopholes. There are a lot of 'em. We get a tax break for having children, for paying a mortgage, for calling it capital gains instead of ordinary income, for health insurance some times, for buying professional books and equipment, for paying state and local taxes, for charitable contributions, for being over 65, and a ship load of other stuff that I forget, but Turbo Tax can remember for me at tax time.
I think I'd like to abolish every single one of 'em. That would cause a mighty howl from parents, the real estate industry, H&R Block, and every other special interest group in the land. If the howling is too great, maybe I'd compromise on charitable contributions and the tax break for having children. Set the middle tax bracket to 17%. and revenue would stay about the same.
Saturday, October 31, 2015
Obama dispatches two platoons to Syria
Fifty men, allegedly all Special Forces, ain't much in any scheme of things. It ain't enough to make a difference in Syria. To hear to lefties and the isolationists wailing on TV, you would think Obama had done something serious like declaring WWIII.
I wish our men well. I don't think 50 guys can accomplish anything much. To do Syria right would take a full armored division, say 10,000 men, a lotta tanks and APC's, and air supremacy. With that, we could depose Assad, push the Russians out, establish a decent government of our choosing. and destroy ISIS or drive them out of the country.
To win WWII we mobilized a hundred divisions. Seventy years later, we ought to be able to mobilize just one.
I wish our men well. I don't think 50 guys can accomplish anything much. To do Syria right would take a full armored division, say 10,000 men, a lotta tanks and APC's, and air supremacy. With that, we could depose Assad, push the Russians out, establish a decent government of our choosing. and destroy ISIS or drive them out of the country.
To win WWII we mobilized a hundred divisions. Seventy years later, we ought to be able to mobilize just one.
College Paperpushers should not be trying cases of rape.
First of all, let's talk rape, a serious crime, a felony. It's not "sexual assault" which can be anything the girl doesn't like. Rape used to be a capital offense, subject to the death penalty. Crime doesn't get more serious than that
Now let's look at college administrators. No legal training, no practical experience outside the ivory tower, and most of them true believers in various weird ideologies. Do you want your son's future, his career, at the mercy of this kind of loser?
No way. The police and the courts are the proper place to try cases of rape. The courts have safeguards for defendants, some of them going back in time to Richard the Lion Heart. They have been in business longer than any college. They are fairer than any kangaroo court run by college administrators.
A girl who has been raped should go to the police. If she goes to college administrators, they should be required to send her to the police. They ought to offer transportation to the police station as well
Now let's look at college administrators. No legal training, no practical experience outside the ivory tower, and most of them true believers in various weird ideologies. Do you want your son's future, his career, at the mercy of this kind of loser?
No way. The police and the courts are the proper place to try cases of rape. The courts have safeguards for defendants, some of them going back in time to Richard the Lion Heart. They have been in business longer than any college. They are fairer than any kangaroo court run by college administrators.
A girl who has been raped should go to the police. If she goes to college administrators, they should be required to send her to the police. They ought to offer transportation to the police station as well
Friday, October 30, 2015
Where can I see the next Republican TV Debate?
Word is that Fox Business News gets the next debate in November, like maybe 10 November. Time Warner Cable doesn't carry Fox Business News up here in the wildlands. Hell, they don't even carry CSpan up here. Anyone know how I can watch the next debate? I have cable, and broadband. Any ideas?
Cyber Security Law, just passed Senate
After the horrible hacks lately the Congresscritters have decided to DO SOMETHING. It is unclear just what they are doing, the newsies haven't talked much about it, but it sounds like a deal to allow companies and the government to cooperate, share information about hacks and attacks with out fear of prosecution for collaboration and price fixing. We now have a House version, and a Senate version in need of "reconciliation" (quick rewrite to make them both the same) and Obama says he will sign it.
I suppose it's worthy, although I'd like to know what it really says, how many pages, and what damaging little clauses got tucked into the darker corners.
It isn't what we need.
We need to close the gaping holes in Windows that allow any hacker, even grade school hackers, to take over Windows computers, remotely from the Internet, and suck every thing off them. Microsoft deliberately created these vulnerabilities with the idea of increasing sales. We need somebody or some organization to publicize these gaping holes and create public pressure on Microsoft to close them.
Number one gaping hole is a Windows feature (bug?) called autorun. Autorun has been causing trouble since Windows 95. Autorun makes music CD's inserted in the drive start to play, automatically, hands off, no keystrokes or mouse clicks needed. That part isn't too dangerous, but the dark side of Autorun loads and starts any code found on the CD. When USB and flashdrives came along, autorun was extended to load and run any code found on a flash drive. Just insert a flashdrive into a USB port, and zap, the machine is infected. Autorun spread the Stuxnet virus in Iran. Agents merely tossed a few flashdrives into the parking lots at Iranian nuclear facilities. Iranian workers saw them, picked them up, took them into work, plugged them into their computers, and Zap Bang, the Stuxnet virus started blowing up Iranian centrifuges. Set the Iranian nuclear program back a year or more.
Number 2 gaping hole is the Basic interpreters built into all the Micosoft Office products. Basic is a full powered computer language. Malicious Basic programs can be inserted into Office documents (Word .doc and Excel .xls files) and Word or Excel will execute them. Worse, if you click on such an Office document attached to an email, Windows starts up Word or Excel and passes the attachment in. Bam you are infected.
Until we force Microsoft to close these two gaping security holes, we will continue to get hacked. These aren't the only holes in Windows, but they are the worst ones that I know of. And Microsoft can close them, in an afternoon. All Microsoft needs is some incentive to pull up its socks.
I suppose it's worthy, although I'd like to know what it really says, how many pages, and what damaging little clauses got tucked into the darker corners.
It isn't what we need.
We need to close the gaping holes in Windows that allow any hacker, even grade school hackers, to take over Windows computers, remotely from the Internet, and suck every thing off them. Microsoft deliberately created these vulnerabilities with the idea of increasing sales. We need somebody or some organization to publicize these gaping holes and create public pressure on Microsoft to close them.
Number one gaping hole is a Windows feature (bug?) called autorun. Autorun has been causing trouble since Windows 95. Autorun makes music CD's inserted in the drive start to play, automatically, hands off, no keystrokes or mouse clicks needed. That part isn't too dangerous, but the dark side of Autorun loads and starts any code found on the CD. When USB and flashdrives came along, autorun was extended to load and run any code found on a flash drive. Just insert a flashdrive into a USB port, and zap, the machine is infected. Autorun spread the Stuxnet virus in Iran. Agents merely tossed a few flashdrives into the parking lots at Iranian nuclear facilities. Iranian workers saw them, picked them up, took them into work, plugged them into their computers, and Zap Bang, the Stuxnet virus started blowing up Iranian centrifuges. Set the Iranian nuclear program back a year or more.
Number 2 gaping hole is the Basic interpreters built into all the Micosoft Office products. Basic is a full powered computer language. Malicious Basic programs can be inserted into Office documents (Word .doc and Excel .xls files) and Word or Excel will execute them. Worse, if you click on such an Office document attached to an email, Windows starts up Word or Excel and passes the attachment in. Bam you are infected.
Until we force Microsoft to close these two gaping security holes, we will continue to get hacked. These aren't the only holes in Windows, but they are the worst ones that I know of. And Microsoft can close them, in an afternoon. All Microsoft needs is some incentive to pull up its socks.
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Had a debate watch party last night.
Well, nobody self destructed. Everybody did well except the CNBC moderators who were terrible, half way thru the candidates started chewing out the CNBC people. The opening question "What is your biggest weakness" is an old goofy job interview question intended to shake up a less than quick thinking applicant. These guys are all pretty quick thinking and smoothly sequed into what ever they wanted to say. Everyone made a clear distinction between them and the Dems.
Having people over makes the thing more watchable, keeps you awake, Need to do that more often.
Having people over makes the thing more watchable, keeps you awake, Need to do that more often.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Bambi overload
Some town in Oregon is over run with deer. The deer are bullying pedestrians, intimidating dogs, and eating everything green, hedges, ornamental shrubs, gardens, lawn, you name it. The residents were on TV whining about how terrible things are.
Obvious solution, have deer hunt. Low cost, hunters bring their own guns, and will even pay for the privilege.
Nooo, can't do that. It's killing Bambi, and that's evil. It's murder.
So suffer until you wise up, Oregon town. We don't have that problem in NH, we have a deer season.
Obvious solution, have deer hunt. Low cost, hunters bring their own guns, and will even pay for the privilege.
Nooo, can't do that. It's killing Bambi, and that's evil. It's murder.
So suffer until you wise up, Oregon town. We don't have that problem in NH, we have a deer season.
Northrup Grumman awarded the Long Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) contract
100 aircraft at $550 million each, $80 billion overall contract. It's broken down somewhat. Phase 1 pays $21.4 billion and Northrup will deliver 21 aircraft. Then subsequent phases will buy another 79 aircraft. Looking at the over all contract for 100 aircraft they estimate the cost at $511 million each, and there is a cap of $550 million. Assume cost enhancements push the cost right up to the cap. That looks like $55 billion for deliverable aircraft and $25 billion for non-recurring engineering. That's best case. Aircraft to become operational in 2025. Let's see if USAF has pulled up its socks enough to award a contract and not have it disputed in court. Lockheed Martin was the other bidder, they have plenty of lawyers to challenge a contract award.
This comes from the Wall St Journal, and it also made NPR. No discussion of LRS-B performance, range, speed, payload, radar cross section. The Journal suggested that the LRS-B mission would be strategic nuclear strike against Russia or China.
This comes from the Wall St Journal, and it also made NPR. No discussion of LRS-B performance, range, speed, payload, radar cross section. The Journal suggested that the LRS-B mission would be strategic nuclear strike against Russia or China.
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
So what's wrong with the the Ex-Im Bank?
Ex-Im has been around since the Roosevelt administration. It borrowed money on the good credit of the United States, , and loaned the money to foreigners to buy US built products. It returned a modest profit on each deal to the US treasury. It surely boosted exports at no cost to the taxpayer. Export mean jobs.
Granted, the main beneficiaries were big companies like Boeing and Caterpillar.
So? They are US companies, employing US union labor. All that is good. I see no reason why the US government should not support US industry. Industry creates jobs, and that deserves support.
Granted, the main beneficiaries were big companies like Boeing and Caterpillar.
So? They are US companies, employing US union labor. All that is good. I see no reason why the US government should not support US industry. Industry creates jobs, and that deserves support.
Camelot, The TV series
It came out on Starz back in 2011. I don't pay for payTV channels, so I saw it for for first time from a Netflix disc last night. Which makes it a little old. Being an old King Arthur fan, I had high hopes for this one.
Disappointing. First it suffers from the curse of the soundman. Much of the dialogue is inaudible, lost under the score, or the actors mumble, or the mike isn't placed right. Then it's hard to tell the characters apart, they all wear the same hairdo's and the same clothes. I failed to distinguish Morgan Le Faye (villain) from Ygraine (goodguy) several times. King Lot (villain) looks pretty much like Sir Kay (goodguy). Arthur, the only blonde guy in this thing, is at least distinct in appearance.
The story starts around the end of "The Sword in the Stone" with a young Arthur pulling the sword from the stone and being acclaimed King of the Britons. Jamie Bower is an unsatisfactory Arthur. Although he looks the right age for the part, he isn't very handsome, he doesn't get any memorable lines (thanks scriptwriters), his costume doesn't help him (huge fur trimmed cape with broaches the size of saucers), and he never does anything very heroic. Even in the climatic scene pulling the sword from the stone he never looks heroic. He never displays the commanding presence that makes knights and warlords do his bidding. In most scenes Merlin is obviously pushing Arthur into position on stage, and giving him his lines to say.
Disappointing. First it suffers from the curse of the soundman. Much of the dialogue is inaudible, lost under the score, or the actors mumble, or the mike isn't placed right. Then it's hard to tell the characters apart, they all wear the same hairdo's and the same clothes. I failed to distinguish Morgan Le Faye (villain) from Ygraine (goodguy) several times. King Lot (villain) looks pretty much like Sir Kay (goodguy). Arthur, the only blonde guy in this thing, is at least distinct in appearance.
The story starts around the end of "The Sword in the Stone" with a young Arthur pulling the sword from the stone and being acclaimed King of the Britons. Jamie Bower is an unsatisfactory Arthur. Although he looks the right age for the part, he isn't very handsome, he doesn't get any memorable lines (thanks scriptwriters), his costume doesn't help him (huge fur trimmed cape with broaches the size of saucers), and he never does anything very heroic. Even in the climatic scene pulling the sword from the stone he never looks heroic. He never displays the commanding presence that makes knights and warlords do his bidding. In most scenes Merlin is obviously pushing Arthur into position on stage, and giving him his lines to say.
Monday, October 26, 2015
WHO goes there!
WHO == World Health Organization, although the TV newsies didn't say so. WHO announced that processed meat causes cancer. Actually they were not that straight forward, they said that eating processed meat increases your risk of cancer. By-by hot dogs, bacon, ham, breakfast sausage, BLT's, bacon and eggs, bangers and mash, lotta good comfort food.
Of course, the TV newsies did not bother to say HOW MUCH your cancer risk was increased by eating stuff that has been part of our diet since prehistoric times. Nor did they give any evidence, studies, biochemistry, anything of substance. We peasants are expected to believe anything the TV newsies dish out to us without proof. Like global warming.
Of course, the TV newsies did not bother to say HOW MUCH your cancer risk was increased by eating stuff that has been part of our diet since prehistoric times. Nor did they give any evidence, studies, biochemistry, anything of substance. We peasants are expected to believe anything the TV newsies dish out to us without proof. Like global warming.
War is Hell, Combat is worse.
Apparently the Obama people are having trouble with the word :"combat". Master Sgt Wheeler was killed in action against an armed enemy of the United States. This is a Master Sgt, nearly 20 years in the Army, kind of guy who knows all the answers, an old pro, it's not some 18 year old private who doesn't know enough to come in out of the rain. Sgt Wheeler knew what he was doing.
Let the Dem pencil necks quibble about words. I mourn the loss of an American fighting man.
Let the Dem pencil necks quibble about words. I mourn the loss of an American fighting man.
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Tactical lessons from the US Civil War
Defense always wins. That's the lesson. In most of the great battles of the Civil War, Fredricksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Antietam, Chickamauga, one side got there first, dug in, and awaited assault. The offensive side would give enemy lines as much artillery fire as possible, and then send the infantry forward. The new rifle-muskets of that year could reach out a couple of hundred yards and get hits. The assaulting infantry had to cover the last two hundred yards under accurate fire. In all cases, the defenders shot so many attackers down that they no longer had the numbers to win the hand-to-hand bayonet struggle for possession of the trench line. Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg is the classic example, but there were plenty of others.
Grant was the only Civil War general who seemed to understand this. Grant's decisive victories, Island Number 10, Shiloh, and Vicksburg were all won by maneuver, rather than bloody frontal assault.
This tactical lesson held true thruout WWI. Few European generals had read much about the US Civil War.
Grant was the only Civil War general who seemed to understand this. Grant's decisive victories, Island Number 10, Shiloh, and Vicksburg were all won by maneuver, rather than bloody frontal assault.
This tactical lesson held true thruout WWI. Few European generals had read much about the US Civil War.
Saturday, October 24, 2015
Does Government funded R&D pay off?
Matt Ridley, writing in the Wall St Journal today says "No it doesn't." As a retired engineer, who spent forty years gainfully employed in private industry, doing R&D, I can relate to this. I created, either in part or in whole, an medical ultrasonic imager, a portable Holter monitor, a data acquisition system running off an IBM PC, a digital oscilloscope, a cardiac Xray system, a video compression chip, and an overfill protection system for fuel tank trucks. All of 'em privately funded, half of 'em made it to market. Government funding is not required for technological advance. Nor was basic scientific research in to basic scientific principles needed. In fact, the one time I picked up some basic research from a scientific journal for a project, it turned out to be wrong, it worked, but at only one half the performance claimed in the journal article. I looked up the author and telephoned him. After a lengthy conversation, the author admitted that yes, he had exaggerated his claims a little bit.
On the other hand, during the existential struggle that was World War II, government funded R&D produced nuclear weapons, jet aircraft, radar, airborne magnetometers, proximity fuses, handheld two way voice radios, and effective back pack anti tank weapons. In the following Cold War, government funded projects took us to the Moon and launched the Internet.
Much university research is funded by government grants. On the other hand you have all seen the video of a shrimp on a treadmill, government funded all the way. As long as corporations are allowed to deduct R&D expenses for tax purposes, progress will be made.
On the other hand, during the existential struggle that was World War II, government funded R&D produced nuclear weapons, jet aircraft, radar, airborne magnetometers, proximity fuses, handheld two way voice radios, and effective back pack anti tank weapons. In the following Cold War, government funded projects took us to the Moon and launched the Internet.
Much university research is funded by government grants. On the other hand you have all seen the video of a shrimp on a treadmill, government funded all the way. As long as corporations are allowed to deduct R&D expenses for tax purposes, progress will be made.
So who is our best candidate against Hillary?
The Dems are weeding out their field. Jim Webb, Joe Biden, Lincoln Chaffee have all pulled out, leaving just Hillary and Bernie Sanders. To me, a Republican, there is little to chose between them. Hillary is a liar who throws people under the bus, running on Wall St money. Bernie is a Commie nutcase, locked in a time warp back to the 1960's, promising free stuff for all. The pundits all say Hillary is gonna be the Dem candidate, and that's believeable.
So who should we pick to maximize our chances next November? Can Trump beat Hillary? Can Ben Carson? What about Cruz, Rubio, Carly, Kaisich, JEB, and the rest of 'em? Right now, I got my doubts about The Donald, I think his negatives are too high. Carson is polling well these last couple of days, but is he too soft spoken to make a decent president? The rest of 'em are a tossup. Carly was looking good, but then she said there is no need for entitlement reform, which I don't believe. Either she is totally clueless, or she is lying.
So who should we pick to maximize our chances next November? Can Trump beat Hillary? Can Ben Carson? What about Cruz, Rubio, Carly, Kaisich, JEB, and the rest of 'em? Right now, I got my doubts about The Donald, I think his negatives are too high. Carson is polling well these last couple of days, but is he too soft spoken to make a decent president? The rest of 'em are a tossup. Carly was looking good, but then she said there is no need for entitlement reform, which I don't believe. Either she is totally clueless, or she is lying.
Friday, October 23, 2015
Grillary
The other damaging revelation from yesterday's hearing. An email from Hillary to Chelsea, the night of Benghazi, where in Hillary states that Benghazi was a terrorist attack. She also emailed the same to the President of Egypt. Only the next day did she put forth the "anti-Muslim video provoked mob violence" idea. She allowed Susan Rice to go on five Sunday talk shows peddling this falsehood, which pretty much ruined Susan Rice's career when the truth came out. In short, Hillary is a liar, and she is perfectly willing to throw a co worker under the bus.
Put that together with Hillary's admission that she allowed bureaucrats at State to short stop messages from Ambassador Stevens says to me that Hillary would be a terrible president.
Put that together with Hillary's admission that she allowed bureaucrats at State to short stop messages from Ambassador Stevens says to me that Hillary would be a terrible president.
Thursday, October 22, 2015
Obama vetoes $600 billion defense spending bill
Dunno what for. Fox reported that Obama didn't like some unexplainable technicality. Whoop Whoop. There has gotta be a juicier reason than that. Obama doesn't care about technicalities. Maybe he likes continuing resolutions 'cause they give the bureacracy more leeway to spend as much as they like?
Congress ought to say to Obama "This is the defense spending bill. If you don't sign it, you shut the armed forces down. We ain't changing it."
Congress ought to say to Obama "This is the defense spending bill. If you don't sign it, you shut the armed forces down. We ain't changing it."
Hillary on the stand
Hillary admitted that security requests from Libya were handled by lower level staffers and never came to her desk.
This is wrong, 100% wrong, and a good reason not to elect Hillary next year. When the top man, the ambassador, to a country in which we are doing regime change, wants to get top level attention at State, his messages should NOT get short stopped by mid level bureaucrats.
As a rule ALL messages from ambassadors should go to the Secretary of State.
This is wrong, 100% wrong, and a good reason not to elect Hillary next year. When the top man, the ambassador, to a country in which we are doing regime change, wants to get top level attention at State, his messages should NOT get short stopped by mid level bureaucrats.
As a rule ALL messages from ambassadors should go to the Secretary of State.
Mockingjay Part 1
I paid money to see the first two Hunger Games flicks down at the Jax Jr. They were very good. This one, by mail from Netflix, not so much. Katniss Everdean is no longer a combat heroine fighting thru the games. She is now reduced to a spokesman (woman) for the resistance. She is being manipulated some what against her will, by a couple of old resistance fuds. Peeta has been taken by President Snow's republic and is speaking on TV to support the Republic. Just how this attitude reversal happens is never made clear. Peeta and Katniss never meet face to face in this movie. Katniss seldom takes any action of her own volition, mostly she is maneuvered here and there.
The movie runs slow, long periods of Katniss looking moody but not doing anything.
The movie runs slow, long periods of Katniss looking moody but not doing anything.
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Questions about Benghazi
1. Why were pleas for more security in Benghazi ignored? If Hillary claims she never saw the request, do this followup question: What kind of a state department were you running when emails from ambassadors in war zones get lost?
2. Why were no aircraft sent to Benghazi that night? A couple of F-16s orbiting the consulate down low would have been very effective.
3. Why did Obama fire General Carter Ham, head of Africom? And he fired Rear Admiral Charles M. Gaouette from his command of the powerful Carrier Strike Group Three (CSG-3) currently located in the Middle East . General Ham was fired right in the middle of the Benghazi attack, and Admiral Gaoutte was fired shortly afterwards. Service rumor has it that both officers were re leaved of command because they were sending re inforcements to Benghazi against Obama's orders to let the consulate be overwhelmed
4. What was that Benghazi installation anyhow? US consulate? or CIA weapons warehouse? And what was the ambassador doing at the consulate/warehouse that night? Ambassadors don't usually visit the lower level consulates, especially when there is no consul in residence. Speaking of which, who was that Benghazi consul anyhow.
5. How long would it have taken to dispatch a rescue force?
6. Why did you blame the attacks upon an obscure piece of video?
That's my questions. I'm sure there are more.
2. Why were no aircraft sent to Benghazi that night? A couple of F-16s orbiting the consulate down low would have been very effective.
3. Why did Obama fire General Carter Ham, head of Africom? And he fired Rear Admiral Charles M. Gaouette from his command of the powerful Carrier Strike Group Three (CSG-3) currently located in the Middle East . General Ham was fired right in the middle of the Benghazi attack, and Admiral Gaoutte was fired shortly afterwards. Service rumor has it that both officers were re leaved of command because they were sending re inforcements to Benghazi against Obama's orders to let the consulate be overwhelmed
4. What was that Benghazi installation anyhow? US consulate? or CIA weapons warehouse? And what was the ambassador doing at the consulate/warehouse that night? Ambassadors don't usually visit the lower level consulates, especially when there is no consul in residence. Speaking of which, who was that Benghazi consul anyhow.
5. How long would it have taken to dispatch a rescue force?
6. Why did you blame the attacks upon an obscure piece of video?
That's my questions. I'm sure there are more.
I wish Paul Ryan every sort of luck
He is gonna need it. If he becomes speaker, he has to deal with a badly splintered Republican party, and the Speaker doesn't have many carrots or sticks to bring low speed Congress Critters into line. A lot of reps are doing their own thing, putting sticks in the wheels of progress and getting away with it. Too many Republican reps like to fight just for the sake of fighting. They want to pick fights they will never win, just for the publicity they get from picking a fight. Others, RINOs, are entirely too willing to give Obama what he wants with out even charging him a price.
Hopefully Ryan has demanded some party loyalty from the obstreperous Republican cabals as a price for accepting the Speakership.
Ryan ought to make a good speaker, he is intelligent, well informed, fair, and a nice guy to boot. If Republicans cannot give a guy like Ryan their support in Congress, the party is doomed.
Hopefully Ryan has demanded some party loyalty from the obstreperous Republican cabals as a price for accepting the Speakership.
Ryan ought to make a good speaker, he is intelligent, well informed, fair, and a nice guy to boot. If Republicans cannot give a guy like Ryan their support in Congress, the party is doomed.
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Neil Cavuto on Fox trashes Star Wars
Neil, a nice guy, I watch his show regularly. He ranted against the coming Star Wars flick, said he just didn't understand why everyone loves Star Wars. Neil it's real simple. The first Star Wars, back in the 1970's, was so good, that everyone has loved them ever since.
The first Star Wars came out when I was full grown, graduated from college, back from Viet Nam, married, home owner. Took the wife and caught it in the theater on opening night. I had seen the ad in the Boston Globe, but other than that, I hadn't heard a word about it. Typical studio effective publicity. It was so good, we went back to see it all over again a few nights later. Saw it a third time with my mother, who liked it. No other movie was that cool, to make me pay to see it three times. The two sequels were nearly as good.
I will admit, that the three "prequels" released 20 years later were not up to the standard of the original three. But they weren't bad enough to spoil the property. Of course I will go see the new Star Wars coming out shortly. So will everyone else.
The first Star Wars came out when I was full grown, graduated from college, back from Viet Nam, married, home owner. Took the wife and caught it in the theater on opening night. I had seen the ad in the Boston Globe, but other than that, I hadn't heard a word about it. Typical studio effective publicity. It was so good, we went back to see it all over again a few nights later. Saw it a third time with my mother, who liked it. No other movie was that cool, to make me pay to see it three times. The two sequels were nearly as good.
I will admit, that the three "prequels" released 20 years later were not up to the standard of the original three. But they weren't bad enough to spoil the property. Of course I will go see the new Star Wars coming out shortly. So will everyone else.
Jim Webb drops out of the Democratic race
Too bad. Of all the democrats at their debate a week ago, he was the most rational sounding speaker there, a man who actually understands how the country works and how it feels. No flaky socialist stuff, no free stuff giveaways, no domestic enemies list. I thought Webb was the best candidate the democrats had. Sorry to see him go.
Monday, October 19, 2015
Sunday, October 18, 2015
Where did all the industry go?
The Boston and Maine historical society presented a talk and slide show in Plymouth NH yesterday. I drove down to see it, the sun was out, the leaves were bright. Pleasant drive. The presentation was in the former B&M passenger station in Plymouth, now a senior center. Presenter was Dwight Smith, serious railfan and long time B&M employee, with slides going back to the late 1930's. Subject was rail operations in northern New England. Lots of slides, diesels, steam, stations. Long freight trains, mostly boxcars, going to all sorts of places that no longer have rail service at all. Berlin, Lancaster, Colebrook. At each vanished rail line Dwight would mention the names of the industries and the traffic they used to produce. For instance Berlin used to generate 11000 carloads of freight a year.
Thinking about those long trains of boxcars, made me think of all the jobs needed to create the product to fill them. For some reason, our northlands has de industrialized since the 1950's. The paper mills are closed, the bobbin mills are gone, the furniture factories are gone and nothing has replaced them. Some of the business has gone to trucks, milk for example, but most of it has just gone up in smoke. Teenagers growing up today look to leaving the state to find work when they graduate high school.
New Hampshire needs to work on getting more industry. Right to work would help a lot. So would reducing the business tax.
Thinking about those long trains of boxcars, made me think of all the jobs needed to create the product to fill them. For some reason, our northlands has de industrialized since the 1950's. The paper mills are closed, the bobbin mills are gone, the furniture factories are gone and nothing has replaced them. Some of the business has gone to trucks, milk for example, but most of it has just gone up in smoke. Teenagers growing up today look to leaving the state to find work when they graduate high school.
New Hampshire needs to work on getting more industry. Right to work would help a lot. So would reducing the business tax.
Need to tame the wildlands
Wildlands are places lacking effective government, where terrorists like the late Osama Bin Laden can set up shop, and pull off a 9/11. We, the United States, cannot permit wildlands to exist. If you don't believe this, I can show you a couple big holes in the ground in Manhattan. And 3000 American dead, worse than Pearl Harbor.
Any government that cannot control who operates on their territory needs something done. Sometimes assistance, arms, helicopters, advisers, or money is enough. Sometimes regime change is in order. For example Al Quada, ISIS, and the Taliban are hostile, they live to destroy us, no amount of diplomacy or bribery is going to change that, they need to be destroyed, ASAP.
Once we get into a place and do regime change, Syria for example, we gotta carry it thru. We need to find some decent locals to hold office, we have to back them up with US armed forces, we need to get their economies working and growing. In a lot of places we need to do land reform, break up the big plantations and give out forty acre plots to the tenant farmers and sharecroppers. Most terrorists start out being unemployed, then they get radicalized 'cause they got nothing better to do. Make the local economy grow, create jobs, and potential ISIS recruits will stay on their jobs rather than sign up with ISIS.
The new regimes we establish don't have to be very democratic. They need to gain effective control of their national territory. For which they need a decent rapport with their citizens, other wise they loose effective control. The citizens have to be reasonably happy with the new regime. Otherwise it won't work. If a new regime doesn't work out, we have to be prepared to depose it, and put in a better one.
All this can take time, years, especially in uncivilized places like Syria and Afghanistan. But it is essential work that must be done, or we will have more big craters in our cities.
The democrats, and some Republicans on the weird wing dispute this. They call it "nation building", expensive and unnecessary. They want the United States to pull back, retreat, to North America and let the rest of the world go down the tubes. They don't seem to realize, even after 9/11, that terrorists operating out of wildlands can do us enormous harm. They will have nukes next time.
Any government that cannot control who operates on their territory needs something done. Sometimes assistance, arms, helicopters, advisers, or money is enough. Sometimes regime change is in order. For example Al Quada, ISIS, and the Taliban are hostile, they live to destroy us, no amount of diplomacy or bribery is going to change that, they need to be destroyed, ASAP.
Once we get into a place and do regime change, Syria for example, we gotta carry it thru. We need to find some decent locals to hold office, we have to back them up with US armed forces, we need to get their economies working and growing. In a lot of places we need to do land reform, break up the big plantations and give out forty acre plots to the tenant farmers and sharecroppers. Most terrorists start out being unemployed, then they get radicalized 'cause they got nothing better to do. Make the local economy grow, create jobs, and potential ISIS recruits will stay on their jobs rather than sign up with ISIS.
The new regimes we establish don't have to be very democratic. They need to gain effective control of their national territory. For which they need a decent rapport with their citizens, other wise they loose effective control. The citizens have to be reasonably happy with the new regime. Otherwise it won't work. If a new regime doesn't work out, we have to be prepared to depose it, and put in a better one.
All this can take time, years, especially in uncivilized places like Syria and Afghanistan. But it is essential work that must be done, or we will have more big craters in our cities.
The democrats, and some Republicans on the weird wing dispute this. They call it "nation building", expensive and unnecessary. They want the United States to pull back, retreat, to North America and let the rest of the world go down the tubes. They don't seem to realize, even after 9/11, that terrorists operating out of wildlands can do us enormous harm. They will have nukes next time.
Saturday, October 17, 2015
What is "Democratic Socialism"?
It's Bernie Sanders ideology, I guess. Used to be, socialism and communism wanted to run the entire economy by owning all the "means of production" to use Marx's phrase. With a benevolent government running everything, the workers would get better wages and the evil capitalists would get fleeced. There wasn't much difference between socialism and communism, except socialists felt they could come to power thru the ballot box, communists wanted to come to power via a violent revolution. Once in power, there wasn't much to choose from.
The Russians had a communist revolution take power in 1917 and it lasted about 70 years before the Russians dumped it. The Germans and the Italians tried socialism in the 1930's and it only lasted until overthrown by force of arms in 1945. There is nothing in historical socialism to recommend it.
So, here comes Bernie, touting his "democratic socialism". He isn't talking about a government takeover of the "means of production" because that won't fly in America, and advocating it would make him sound like a nutcase. What he might do if elected is unknown.
What he does talk about is putting in a bunch of soak-the-rich taxes. Is there any more to Bernie?
The Russians had a communist revolution take power in 1917 and it lasted about 70 years before the Russians dumped it. The Germans and the Italians tried socialism in the 1930's and it only lasted until overthrown by force of arms in 1945. There is nothing in historical socialism to recommend it.
So, here comes Bernie, touting his "democratic socialism". He isn't talking about a government takeover of the "means of production" because that won't fly in America, and advocating it would make him sound like a nutcase. What he might do if elected is unknown.
What he does talk about is putting in a bunch of soak-the-rich taxes. Is there any more to Bernie?
Friday, October 16, 2015
Let's cut a deal
Democrats want to hike the debt ceiling, so they can keep on spending. Republicans want to do some cuts.
Here's the deal. We pass proper appropriation bills for each executive department. AFTER, all the appropriations are passed, AND signed by the president, THEN we will hike the debt ceiling just enough to get thru the next fiscal year.
With proper appropriation bills, we can have some control, we can cut wasteful pork, and beef up programs that actually help the economy. Right now the government is running on a "continuing resolution" a bill which says, "OK, you bureaucrats can keep on spending like you spent last year." All the waste keeps on pouring down the drain.
We want that open check book closed, and no money spent except by lawful appropriations.
Here's the deal. We pass proper appropriation bills for each executive department. AFTER, all the appropriations are passed, AND signed by the president, THEN we will hike the debt ceiling just enough to get thru the next fiscal year.
With proper appropriation bills, we can have some control, we can cut wasteful pork, and beef up programs that actually help the economy. Right now the government is running on a "continuing resolution" a bill which says, "OK, you bureaucrats can keep on spending like you spent last year." All the waste keeps on pouring down the drain.
We want that open check book closed, and no money spent except by lawful appropriations.
Dawn over Marblehead
President Obama has finally figured out that withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan amounts to handing the place over to the Taliban. Just like the US withdrawal from Iraq handed the place over to ISIS. He will leave 10,000 troops in country to the end of this year and 5,000 troops for next year. Did anyone catch Giuliani's comment on this? Giuliani pointed out that he had 35,000 cops in New York City, and you would think you would need more to keep order in an entire country, a country inhabited by less law abiding and more warlike people than the New Yorkers.
Took long enough for common sense to penetrate to the oval office.
Took long enough for common sense to penetrate to the oval office.
Karate Kid, the remake
It's a bit old, 2010, and I cannot remember just how Netflix got it to my mailbox. I had expected the 1984 original, and was mildly surprised to learn that there even was a remake. It told the same story as the original, with some updates. Young Dre Carter and his mother, who are black, pick up stakes from Detroit, rather than New Jersey, and go farther than California, all the way to China. There are a lot of picturesque shots of Chinese scenery, the Great Wall, swoopy roofed buildings, and so on. Jackie Chan plays the apartment complex handyman who teaches young Dre Carter Kung Fu. The school bullies, the rival dojo's, and the tournament follow just like in the original.
It wasn't til the middle of the movie, reading the English subtitles for the Chinese language dialogue that I figured out that Dre Carter was a boy rather than a girl. Dre, played by Jadeen Smith, son of William Smith, wears a long shaggy dreadlocks haircut, is a young skinny kid, and kind of cute looking. It's a boy who waves goodbye to him in Detroit, and the first kid he meets in China is a blonde boy, who looks cute but fades out of the story pretty quickly.
I never did hear about this movie back in 2010 when it was released. Chalk that up to miserable studio publicity efforts. I don't remember any comment on the blogs and websites I cruise regularly.
The remake ain't nearly as good as the original. Jackie Chan didn't play his part nearly as well as Pat Morita did 25 years ago. He didn't have the good punch lines in his dialogue, and he didn't do the inscrutable Oriental bit as well as Pat Morita did. Jadeen Smith didn't develop the warm father-son relationship with Mr Hung (Jackie Chan) that Ralph Macchio did with Mr. Miyagi in the original. My other complaint, is Jadeen Smith's opponent in the tournament was a lot bigger, taller, and heavier than Jadeen, to the point where the "willing suspension of disbelief" became unwilling. I'm watching the match saying to myself, "No way does a kid that skinny, and that short, has a chance to beat that much bigger, taller, heavier kid." The climax fight scene would have been more exciting to watch had the opponents been more evenly matched.
Hollywood does a lot of remakes. Some of them come out pretty good, The Prisoner of Zenda in the 1950's was better than it's predecessor from the 1930's. The True Grit remake was pretty good, especially going up again John Wayne's version which many call the Duke's best movie. The suits in Hollywood and New York like remakes, they figure all the people who liked the original will come to see the remake. Doing a new movie from the ground up (new characters, new story, new sets) is always risky, the audience may not like the movie, and it looses money. This remake did make serious money, although the original made somewhat more.
It wasn't til the middle of the movie, reading the English subtitles for the Chinese language dialogue that I figured out that Dre Carter was a boy rather than a girl. Dre, played by Jadeen Smith, son of William Smith, wears a long shaggy dreadlocks haircut, is a young skinny kid, and kind of cute looking. It's a boy who waves goodbye to him in Detroit, and the first kid he meets in China is a blonde boy, who looks cute but fades out of the story pretty quickly.
I never did hear about this movie back in 2010 when it was released. Chalk that up to miserable studio publicity efforts. I don't remember any comment on the blogs and websites I cruise regularly.
The remake ain't nearly as good as the original. Jackie Chan didn't play his part nearly as well as Pat Morita did 25 years ago. He didn't have the good punch lines in his dialogue, and he didn't do the inscrutable Oriental bit as well as Pat Morita did. Jadeen Smith didn't develop the warm father-son relationship with Mr Hung (Jackie Chan) that Ralph Macchio did with Mr. Miyagi in the original. My other complaint, is Jadeen Smith's opponent in the tournament was a lot bigger, taller, and heavier than Jadeen, to the point where the "willing suspension of disbelief" became unwilling. I'm watching the match saying to myself, "No way does a kid that skinny, and that short, has a chance to beat that much bigger, taller, heavier kid." The climax fight scene would have been more exciting to watch had the opponents been more evenly matched.
Hollywood does a lot of remakes. Some of them come out pretty good, The Prisoner of Zenda in the 1950's was better than it's predecessor from the 1930's. The True Grit remake was pretty good, especially going up again John Wayne's version which many call the Duke's best movie. The suits in Hollywood and New York like remakes, they figure all the people who liked the original will come to see the remake. Doing a new movie from the ground up (new characters, new story, new sets) is always risky, the audience may not like the movie, and it looses money. This remake did make serious money, although the original made somewhat more.
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Words of the Weasel Part 48
"a temporary glitch" is what Fox News called the failure of the TSA computer system. I'd call that a crash myself. And a program that is buggy enough to crash probably has other bugs that cause it to give the wrong answers.
The Parties should not let TV people control the debates.
The Republican and Democrat parties should control who gets into the debate, who is the moderator[s], when and where the debates are held, and what the questions will be. They should not allow the TV newsies to control any thing of importance.
The newsies are hugely partisan, and they rig things to help their candidates and hurt the other sides candidates. I see no reason why such poorly educated, biased, and ignorant people should be allowed to influence the elections.
The parties could easily say to the candidates, "You won't appear on any debates that we, the party, do not approve of. Anyone who steps out of line will be denied the nomination."
The newsies are hugely partisan, and they rig things to help their candidates and hurt the other sides candidates. I see no reason why such poorly educated, biased, and ignorant people should be allowed to influence the elections.
The parties could easily say to the candidates, "You won't appear on any debates that we, the party, do not approve of. Anyone who steps out of line will be denied the nomination."
Leaves are at peak now
Speaking of Franconia Notch. They are as bright as they are gonna get. From here on in, it's more brown, and fallen. Considering that we have not had a frost up here, things look pretty bright.
Words of the Weasel Part 47
"Passed away" or now just "passed". A euphemism for die. When some one dies, lets just say he died, like real people do. To use "passed" is to soften the dreadfulness of death.
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
So I watched the Dem debates to the end
Nobody self destructed on stage. They all think alike. They all want to hike taxes. They try to soften this by claiming to favor soak-the-rich taxes and they all talk about "income inequality" as an excuse for soak-the-rich taxes. They all want to take our guns away. They all want $15 minimum wage. They are all doves on foreign policy. They all like mandatory maternal leave. They all think you can get thru a New Hampshire winter on "alternate energy", rather than furnace oil and gasoline. Most of 'em favor "comprehensive immigration reform", what ever that might be. They all believe in "climate change". They are all in favor of free college for all. None of 'em said a word about charter schools. Bernie wants free health care for all too. Soak-the-rich taxes will pay for all this. Right.
Hillary looked pretty good. So did Bernie Sanders. Jim Webb impressed me as the most rational person on the stage. Lincoln Chaffee looked old, querulous, and out of touch. Former Maryland governor whats-his-name didn't make much of an impression.
Moderator questions were OK. They asked each candidate about some embarrassing incident or saying in their past. They did not ask anyone what they might do to fix the economy.
If the democrats win next year, we are doomed. Vote a straight Republican ticket.
Hillary looked pretty good. So did Bernie Sanders. Jim Webb impressed me as the most rational person on the stage. Lincoln Chaffee looked old, querulous, and out of touch. Former Maryland governor whats-his-name didn't make much of an impression.
Moderator questions were OK. They asked each candidate about some embarrassing incident or saying in their past. They did not ask anyone what they might do to fix the economy.
If the democrats win next year, we are doomed. Vote a straight Republican ticket.
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Dems think Iraq is worse than Viet Nam
Most of the five dems standing on the stage tonight believe (or said they believe) that the Iraq war was the worst mistake the US has made in modern times.
Viet Nam cost 50,000 casualties, lasted 10 years, and the Communist enemy drove us out of the country and conquered South Viet Nam and placed it under a Communist dictatorship in Hanoi. That's about as bad as defeats get.
Iraq cost only 5000 casualties, a lot, but only a tenth of the Viet Nam casualties. It was successful, the enemy regime was deposed, and a new one installed. Things were well in hand until Obama withdrew all our troops. Without US support, the new regime collapsed, and ISIS took over most of the country.
I say Viet Nam was much much worse than Iraq.
Viet Nam cost 50,000 casualties, lasted 10 years, and the Communist enemy drove us out of the country and conquered South Viet Nam and placed it under a Communist dictatorship in Hanoi. That's about as bad as defeats get.
Iraq cost only 5000 casualties, a lot, but only a tenth of the Viet Nam casualties. It was successful, the enemy regime was deposed, and a new one installed. Things were well in hand until Obama withdrew all our troops. Without US support, the new regime collapsed, and ISIS took over most of the country.
I say Viet Nam was much much worse than Iraq.
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