Story on NHPR this morning. Apparently pregnant foreign women (well to do Chinese are mentioned but there has gotta be others) are traveling to the US to give birth here, so that the child will be a US citizen. There is enough traffic to support organizations of runners, who make the arrangements (for a stiff fee). Border patrol is trying to bust them.
I kept thinking, there has to be something really attractive about the US of A, to prompt pregnant women to travel half way around the world, away from friends and family, to give birth in an alien land, just to obtain US citizenship for the child. We should take advantage of that really attractive something in our dealings with adversaries like Putin and Iran.
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Bebi brings down the house
He spoke for 40 minutes. The place was packed. Bebi got 30-40 standing ovations. Clearly a lot of Congressmen liked what they heard. He spoke well, mentioned concrete examples, supported his points with facts, dates, places. None of the vague motherhood-and-applepie stuff that Obama hands out. If nothing else, Bebi convinced all the enemies of Israel that he has a lot of good friends in America.
Bebi's objections to the deal Obama is working on with Iran are two fold. First Iran gets to keep all its centrifuges, which means they can crank out a lot of weapons grade uranium in short order. His other objection is to the 10-15 year time limit on the deal. Iran only has to wait 10-15 years and it can then build all nukes as it likes, legally.
We will see what Bebi's speech does to US policy. It certainly is going to make life uncomfortable for Obama.
BTW, we need a Republican candidate for 2016 who can speak as well as Bebi.
Bebi's objections to the deal Obama is working on with Iran are two fold. First Iran gets to keep all its centrifuges, which means they can crank out a lot of weapons grade uranium in short order. His other objection is to the 10-15 year time limit on the deal. Iran only has to wait 10-15 years and it can then build all nukes as it likes, legally.
We will see what Bebi's speech does to US policy. It certainly is going to make life uncomfortable for Obama.
BTW, we need a Republican candidate for 2016 who can speak as well as Bebi.
Bebi vs Bama
It oughta be good. Bebi represents Israel, which gives him a good start. Something like 10 million Americans are Jewish. I know a fair number of them, and everyone of them is behind Israel 100%. Many more Americans are Christian, and know their Old Testament. The Children of Israel are the good guys thru out, and this rubs off on modern Israel. And modern Israel is an inspiring story of bravery, hard work, entrepreneurship, and democracy. So Bebi has some stuff going for him.
And Bebi is a pretty good speaker. I watched him on TV a while ago. It was a travelog kinda show on public TV, about historical sites in Israel. Bebi was the tour guide. He knew all the stories, in Israel there is a story connected with every rock and stone, he told them well. I usually skip right over travelogs, but this one held my interest and I watched it to the end.
Presumably Bebi is going talk about Iranian nukes, and the need to stop them. Obama is trying to cut a deal with the Iranians. The terms of the deal are still secret, but enough has leaked out to show that the deal isn't much of a deal. The Iranians get to keep all their centrifuges, international supervision is weak to non existent, and the whole deal sunsets in 10-15 years, which means the Iranians can legally build a nuke in 10 or 15 years.
There is substantial support in the US Congress for laying more sanctions on Iran. Bebi may be able to energize that support into something real. Obama fears that this would queer the deal with Iran, which he seems all in favor of. Obama's relations with Congress are bad, and his speaking style now bores people. Babi might well get what he wants over Obama's objections.
Show starts in about an hour.
And Bebi is a pretty good speaker. I watched him on TV a while ago. It was a travelog kinda show on public TV, about historical sites in Israel. Bebi was the tour guide. He knew all the stories, in Israel there is a story connected with every rock and stone, he told them well. I usually skip right over travelogs, but this one held my interest and I watched it to the end.
Presumably Bebi is going talk about Iranian nukes, and the need to stop them. Obama is trying to cut a deal with the Iranians. The terms of the deal are still secret, but enough has leaked out to show that the deal isn't much of a deal. The Iranians get to keep all their centrifuges, international supervision is weak to non existent, and the whole deal sunsets in 10-15 years, which means the Iranians can legally build a nuke in 10 or 15 years.
There is substantial support in the US Congress for laying more sanctions on Iran. Bebi may be able to energize that support into something real. Obama fears that this would queer the deal with Iran, which he seems all in favor of. Obama's relations with Congress are bad, and his speaking style now bores people. Babi might well get what he wants over Obama's objections.
Show starts in about an hour.
Sunday, March 1, 2015
Keep it Simple Stupid (KISS)
Back in the 1930's and even thru WWII, engineers designing tanks were burdened with complicated theories as to what the tank was supposed to do. They spoke of "breaking thru enemy positions" and "infantry support" and "exploitation" and "offensive combat" and so on. Which resulted in some strange, very strange, tanks. Like a model with five machine gun turrets, or numerous models with dinky main guns.
By the end of WWII it had become clear that the purpose of a tank was to destroy ALL battlefield targets within visual range. Of which, the most difficult are hostile tanks. This simple concept led to the conclusion that a tank needs a gun big enough to blow a hole thru enemy tanks. Compared to the popguns that armed all too many tanks in WWII, the postwar tanks were equipped with truly massive guns.
In short, the simpler statement of the mission of a tank, led to much more effective designs.
KISS
By the end of WWII it had become clear that the purpose of a tank was to destroy ALL battlefield targets within visual range. Of which, the most difficult are hostile tanks. This simple concept led to the conclusion that a tank needs a gun big enough to blow a hole thru enemy tanks. Compared to the popguns that armed all too many tanks in WWII, the postwar tanks were equipped with truly massive guns.
In short, the simpler statement of the mission of a tank, led to much more effective designs.
KISS
Friday, February 27, 2015
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times
We have John Kerry, secretary of state, saying that times have never been better, casualties from terrorism are down, everything is hunky dory. We have James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, saying the terrorism problem is the worst it has been since they started keeping records. On the same day we have these two summaries. Both given in front of Congress.
So who is right? Well Kerry is an airhead, been one for a long time. Dunno much about Clapper. But neither of them look back very far.
For a real existential threat to our country, look back to the 1930's. The Nazi's , with the Japanese for side kicks, were a real threat. It took the longest, bloodiest, deadliest war in all of history to stop them. We might have lost WWII if the enemy hadn't made so many mistakes. The Nazi's could have beaten us to the bomb, and that would have been that. Hitler would have nuked London and then New York, and kept on doing it till we had nothing left.
And, then there was the cold war. The Soviets had plenty of nukes, enough to turn our country into a coast-to-coast slagheap. One misstep, say in Berlin, or Cuba, and boom, no more US of A.
Compared to those two, now extinct threats, the IS/ISIS/ISIL thing, while a pain in the tush, is just not that deadly, yet.
Of course we aren't doing anything about the IS/ISIS/ISIL threat. We can't even figure out what to call them, let along how to squash them.
So who is right? Well Kerry is an airhead, been one for a long time. Dunno much about Clapper. But neither of them look back very far.
For a real existential threat to our country, look back to the 1930's. The Nazi's , with the Japanese for side kicks, were a real threat. It took the longest, bloodiest, deadliest war in all of history to stop them. We might have lost WWII if the enemy hadn't made so many mistakes. The Nazi's could have beaten us to the bomb, and that would have been that. Hitler would have nuked London and then New York, and kept on doing it till we had nothing left.
And, then there was the cold war. The Soviets had plenty of nukes, enough to turn our country into a coast-to-coast slagheap. One misstep, say in Berlin, or Cuba, and boom, no more US of A.
Compared to those two, now extinct threats, the IS/ISIS/ISIL thing, while a pain in the tush, is just not that deadly, yet.
Of course we aren't doing anything about the IS/ISIS/ISIL threat. We can't even figure out what to call them, let along how to squash them.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Will the courts save the Internet?
Three appointed democrats on the FCC decided to apply 323 pages of secret regulation to the Internet today. They claim it's just "net neutrality" which sounds benign even though nobody really knows what it is. They are keeping the new regulations secret because they are so benign. But 323 pages of regulations have enough fine print to allow the FCC to do anything it wants. Want to bet they define all conservative web sites as "hate speech" and close them?
The ISP's are planning to sue. They won the last two times the FCC attempted this power grab. If the courts have the stones, they ought to throw this one out too.
Too bad the Congress isn't doing squat. Real democracy that is.
The ISP's are planning to sue. They won the last two times the FCC attempted this power grab. If the courts have the stones, they ought to throw this one out too.
Too bad the Congress isn't doing squat. Real democracy that is.
Fairpoint Communications Strike settles
Fairpoint Communications, our telephone company, was struck by its union back in October. According to NHPR and the Union Leader, they settled the strike today.
Funny thing, neither NHPR or the Union Leader would disclose any terms of the settlement. Fairpoint has been losing money over the years, actually since it bought the business off of Verizon, quite a few years ago. And surely the rise of cell phones is eating into Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS for short) sales. For instance none of my three children have POTS, they all use cell phones. I under stand the Fairpoint workers all have "defined benefit" pensions, which require the company to stay in business in order to pay off. If the union presses Fairpoint too hard, it could go under.
Funny thing, neither NHPR or the Union Leader would disclose any terms of the settlement. Fairpoint has been losing money over the years, actually since it bought the business off of Verizon, quite a few years ago. And surely the rise of cell phones is eating into Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS for short) sales. For instance none of my three children have POTS, they all use cell phones. I under stand the Fairpoint workers all have "defined benefit" pensions, which require the company to stay in business in order to pay off. If the union presses Fairpoint too hard, it could go under.
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