Dealing with Assad's chemical weapons.

Lots of talk about this subject, negotiations, sharing of credit/blame.  Assad asked for $1 billion dollars to destroy his poison gas.  Henry Kissenger  said nice things about it this morning.  Kerry has had meetings with the Russian foreign minister.  Looks like the "international community" is setting up for a years long carnival.

   Here's what ought to be done.  Intelligence reports that the Syrians have 1000 tons of stuff.  That's a little too heavy to lift out with helicopters.  But an ordinary Army truck can handle 5 tons with ease.  That means 200 truckloads.  We can do that.  Have some tanks to lead the convoy,  bring infantry in armored personnel carriers, provide air support, some choppers right over head, jet fighters on 5 minute alert to back them up.  Drive to the storage site.  Drive the lead tanks thru the gate.  Doesn't matter whether the gate is open or closed.  Load the chemical weapons onto the trucks.  Drive back to the seaport.  Drive trucks, tanks, APC's and all right onto the Roll on/ Roll off cargo ship waiting at the pier.  Steam out of harbor.
   Repeat for each Syrian chemical weapons storage site.  The Economist published a map showing where they are.  If they know, surely Mossad or CIA can do as well.  

   Of course this means American troops going on the ground in Syria.  That will cause intense political heartburn in DC.   But, it will solve the problem of Assad's chemical weapons, for real.  

Obamacare Software Fail?

The newsies are talking about a bit of software that was supposed to compute Obamacare subsidies is broken.  Well, if you hire lame programmers maybe.  But this is such a simple problem, I could have programmed it, tested it and delivered it in a month.  Compared to programs the keep track of every airline seat in the world, all the space junk in orbit,  routing a 20 layer PC board,  figuring Obama care benefits is child's play.
   The newsies have been concealing the name of the contractor lest he be mocked. 

Benghazi.

Adminstration spokesmen, and your run of the mill democrat, keep saying that no help was available to Benghazi on the night they died.
  Not true.
  We have airbases in Sicily, which is only 400 miles away.  Less than an hour's flying time.  1960's vintage jet fighters could reach out 1200 miles from base. Using only onboard fuel, no tanker support.   21st century fighters ought to be able to do as well.  And we have a Mediterranean Sea full of US aircraft carriers.
   Just a single fighter, flying low over our consulate, would have sent a powerful message to Islamist terrorists. Go supersonic and really get their attention.
   The fighting lasted SEVEN hours.  I could have gotten aircraft out of periodic inspection and into the air in that amount of time.  Back when I was in USAF we kept fighters on 5 minute alert, 24/7.
   And how come Obama fired two general officers, General Carter Ham and Admiral Charles Gaouette, the day after Benghazi.  Was it because they were going to send the cavalry to Benghazi on their own authority?

Obamacare comes to NH

   Start up a monopoly.  Anthem is the only insurance company that will be in the NH insurance "exchanges".  All others are shut down.  As soon as Anthem was granted monopoly power, they tell one third of NH hospitals and their associated doctors, to buzz off.  Anthem will not pay any medical bills at the blacklisted hospitals or their doctors.  Littleton Regional Hospital (my hospital) was on the hit list but managed to dodge the bullet somehow and got saved. 
    Is there a difference between "single payer" and monopoly?
   Anthem claims that blacklisting one third of the hospitals in NH will save them money.  It will certainly put a lot of hospitals out of business.  

Words of the Weasel Part 35

"I'm a paid non attorney spokesperson"   Translation.  "I'm a hired liar".

Maybe we issue too many secret clearances?

The Washington Navy Yard massacre was perpetrated by a contractor holding a secret clearance.  Such clearances are supposed to be issued only to people worthy of holding positions of great trust for the United States.  Clearly a homicidal maniac is not such a person.  Within a few days the news media turned up derogatory information that should have disqualified him from a security clearance, and in fact for holding any kind of defense related job.  Obviously the security vetting  failed in Aaron Alexis' case. 
    It probably comes down to too many clearances to be processed with too little time and too little manpower.  Because today, everything is classified and every one needs a clearance just to go to work.  And work backs up if the clearances aren't granted.  In sort, rampant over classification of everything, means nothing is protected.  If everything is classified, then nothing gets extra protection.
   Many years ago I was an avionics maintenance officer on America's newest hottest jet fighter.  In those days, only a few things that would assist an enemy in jamming the fighter's radar were classified.  Everything thing else, fire control, IFF, guided missiles, radar, IR, electronic navigation, data link, gyros, you name it, was unclassified.  The enlisted men who repaired and overhauled the aircraft systems didn't need clearances.  The technical orders (aircraft manuals) were unclassified, the troops could carry them around, out to the flight line, to the chow hall, where ever, without keeping them under lock and key. 
  Years later I was working on the Common Missile Warning System (CMWS), a clever arrangement of cameras and computers that could spot the launch of anti aircraft missiles and warn the pilot.  The computer would get on the aircraft intercom and cry "Missile, Missile, Missile" into the crew's earphones.  On the Common Missile Warning System EVERYTHING was classified.  All the technicians needed a Secret clearance just to enter the building.  The guys that swept the floor needed clearances.  All the manuals were classified and kept in safes.  Guys worked on the equipment from memory, since the manuals were too highly classified to be allowed out on the workbench.   New guys couldn't start work until their clearances came thru.  Which could take months and months.  We always had half a dozen new guys just sitting around waiting for clearances so we could put them to work. 
    In actual fact there was nothing in the CMWS   shops that would have done the enemy any good if he had gotten to it.  The system worked off the light given off by the rocket motor,  there is nothing you can do to change that.  The electronic boxes were all programmable logic arrays and microprocessors.  You need the source code in order to figure out how they worked, to either duplicate them or figure out how to fool them.  There was no source code in our shops, we couldn't read it, and didn't need it.  New boxes coming off the line were bench tested.  If they failed bench test we changed chips until they worked.  No source code needed. 
   If CMWS classification been reduced to the level we had on the F106 fighter program, it would have reduced the number of clearances a lot.  If we looked thruout the defense department, we could find a LOT of overly classified programs.  We could save money and tighten security all in one simple reform,
  "He who defends everything defends nothing".  Old military aphorism probably from Frederick the Great.  "He who classifies everything defends nothing".  New military aphorism from yours truly. 
   If we had fewer clearances to process, perhaps we could take the time to investigate each case and deny clearances to homicidal maniacs. 

So what's a hand tool now a days?

Being a guy, I like tools.  I have a wood shop and a lot of auto mechanical tools for working on the car.  Actually, a fair selection if I do say so myself.  So when one of those Amazon ads popped up, I  clicked on hand tools, just to see what was to be had.
   Surprise.  Not much in the way of real hand tools for sale.  A lot of survivalist throwing axes (tomahawks) and big fighting knives for those getting ready to go back to nature after the bomb.  Civilian versions of the Army entrenching tool.  Some genuine toys, like Bilbo Baggins' sword.  What do you do with that, other than hang it on the wall in the man cave?  Small sets of tools for beginning homeowners in neat plastic boxes.  Other sets with pink handles for beginning lady homeowners.
   No wood chisels, no hand planes, no drills or drillbits, no sets of screwdrivers.  No squares of any kind. No saws.  No sets of wrenches, other than socket sets. 
  In short, not many real tools, a  lot of silly stuff.