Last night, on his TV show, O'Reilly said he was in favor of closing Gitmo because, he said, the prisoners at Gitmo had not received trials.
Sorry about that Bill. Those prisoners are in Gitmo because they were bearing arms against US forces. They were captured on a foreign battlefield. We are holding them in Gitmo to prevent them from continuing to fight against us. They are prisoners of war, not convicted criminals. No American court, court-martial, or special commission is going to convict them of crimes when all they did was fight against us. Back right after 9/11 we took prisoners alive. They are clearly enemy, clearly hostile, and unless we snuff 'em, we gotta put 'em somewhere. They are not criminals, they are enemy soldiers (enemy combatants the politically correct jargon used today).
The only reason we don't call them prisoners of war, is that the Geneva Conventions give prisoners of war a fair number of protections that we don't want to grant these guys. Geneva Conventions prohibit grilling POW's for intelligence. We grilled everyone sent to Gitmo until they were medium rare.
Obama (and O'Reilly) want to close Gitmo for who knows what reason[s]. The result is we don't take prisoners much anymore. We kill them with Predator drone strikes, or we shoot 'em right in the lips, like we did to Osama Bin Laden.
Which was a mistake. Bin Laden knew a lotta things that we need to know, and a nice long interrogation session at Gitmo would have given us a lot of good intel. Plus we could have run off a nice show trial. Bin Laden in an orange jumpsuit and shiny handcuffs, a long parade of tearful victims testifying against him, would go a long way to convincing the world that Bin Laden really was a nogoodnick rather than a martyr. .
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
New missiles for USAF
The Air Force has released two Requests for Proposals (RFP) at the end of last month. One is for a new ICBM to replace the aging Minuteman III missiles and the other for a new Long Range Stand Off Cruise Missile. Timing is a little odd, for two massively expensive programs just before election day. Clearly the incoming administration will have it's own ideas.
They used to assign snappy names to missile programs. Atlas, Titan, Thor, Skybolt, and the like. Now they just go with acronyms. The ICBM is dubbed "Ground Based Strategic Deterrent Ballistic Missile" or GBSD for short. The cruise missile is called "Long-Range Standoff Missile" (LRSO).
GBSD is long term and slow going. USAF budgets $3 billion over the next five years for studies. First production missiles are not expected until 2028. That's a long long time away, many profitable years of contractor paperwork. Production of 642 missiles will cost $62 billion spread over thirty years. That's $1 billion per missile in round numbers. Pricey, very pricey. It wouldn't cost so much if it didn't take so long. I remember the original Minuteman program put 1054 missiles into silos inside of five years from start of contract. And built the necessary 1054 silos at the same time.
The LRSO is really a penetration aid missile. Bombers (B52, B1,B2, B21) carry them to soften up air defenses. The missiles can reach out 1000 miles ahead of the bomber and vaporize enemy radar sites, fighter bases and SAM sites. With enough missiles, and good intel about where to shoot them, the bombers are pretty much unstoppable, at least in an all out war where nukes are used. The program schedule is just as slow as GBSD. They budget $2.2 billion and 4 1/2 years for studies. Then another $10 billion to actually build the missiles.
They used to assign snappy names to missile programs. Atlas, Titan, Thor, Skybolt, and the like. Now they just go with acronyms. The ICBM is dubbed "Ground Based Strategic Deterrent Ballistic Missile" or GBSD for short. The cruise missile is called "Long-Range Standoff Missile" (LRSO).
GBSD is long term and slow going. USAF budgets $3 billion over the next five years for studies. First production missiles are not expected until 2028. That's a long long time away, many profitable years of contractor paperwork. Production of 642 missiles will cost $62 billion spread over thirty years. That's $1 billion per missile in round numbers. Pricey, very pricey. It wouldn't cost so much if it didn't take so long. I remember the original Minuteman program put 1054 missiles into silos inside of five years from start of contract. And built the necessary 1054 silos at the same time.
The LRSO is really a penetration aid missile. Bombers (B52, B1,B2, B21) carry them to soften up air defenses. The missiles can reach out 1000 miles ahead of the bomber and vaporize enemy radar sites, fighter bases and SAM sites. With enough missiles, and good intel about where to shoot them, the bombers are pretty much unstoppable, at least in an all out war where nukes are used. The program schedule is just as slow as GBSD. They budget $2.2 billion and 4 1/2 years for studies. Then another $10 billion to actually build the missiles.
Monday, August 15, 2016
"Boy" and "Girl" outlawed by Charlotte NC school board
The TV snippet didn't mention what word[s] were supposed to replace "boy" and "girl" which have been words in English since the time of William the Conqueror. "Kid" perhaps?
Ya gotta wonder what this school board was thinking when they made this really amazing ruling.
Was it the unisex "There is no difference between male and female" people? Who hope to make boys and girls the same in all respects, opportunity, dress, life roles, what ever?
Was it the Transies who want to teach children that they can change themselves from boy to girl or girl to boy if they so desire?
Was it a desire to defuse or sidestep the boys and girls room issue?
Was it the LGBT crowd who must be thinking it will ease the social pressure on gay and lesbian students?
And, how is this amazing ruling going to interfere with the push to start sex education at ever younger ages?
And what will the signs on boys and girls room doors read?
Ya gotta wonder what this school board was thinking when they made this really amazing ruling.
Was it the unisex "There is no difference between male and female" people? Who hope to make boys and girls the same in all respects, opportunity, dress, life roles, what ever?
Was it the Transies who want to teach children that they can change themselves from boy to girl or girl to boy if they so desire?
Was it a desire to defuse or sidestep the boys and girls room issue?
Was it the LGBT crowd who must be thinking it will ease the social pressure on gay and lesbian students?
And, how is this amazing ruling going to interfere with the push to start sex education at ever younger ages?
And what will the signs on boys and girls room doors read?
Sunday, August 14, 2016
Healthcare reform to cut the federal budget
W all know that the federal budget is in trouble. Has been since Obama became president. Obama has managed to spend $1 trillion more each year than the IRS collects in taxes. He sells bonds (T-bills) to the public to keep the Treasury checks from bouncing.
There are only two fixes for the problem, raise taxes (the favorite Democratic plan) or reduce spending (the Republicans like this but never carry thru). Right now, the second biggest outlay is healthcare, Medicaid and Medicare. These are "entitlement" programs, they don't have to be approved or funded by act of Congress, they just are. Eligible patients submit their medical bills, and Uncle pays them. So the program costs cannot be controlled by law. Right now, health care payments are the second biggest part of the US federal budget, 27% of total spending. There are other big things (defense, Social Security, highways, and a bunch of others) but let's just look at one big enchilada for this essay.
Everyone agrees that health care costs in the US are twice the costs in any other country. And for spending twice as much as any other country, US healthcare isn't all that good. We are down around number 10, not number 1.
If we could just lower healthcare costs of by half, like every other country in the world manages to do, we would chop Federal healthcare spending in half. That would knock healthcare down to 13% of the federal budget, down from 27%. That is serious money.
Neither The Donald nor Hillary are talking about this at all. They should be.
There are only two fixes for the problem, raise taxes (the favorite Democratic plan) or reduce spending (the Republicans like this but never carry thru). Right now, the second biggest outlay is healthcare, Medicaid and Medicare. These are "entitlement" programs, they don't have to be approved or funded by act of Congress, they just are. Eligible patients submit their medical bills, and Uncle pays them. So the program costs cannot be controlled by law. Right now, health care payments are the second biggest part of the US federal budget, 27% of total spending. There are other big things (defense, Social Security, highways, and a bunch of others) but let's just look at one big enchilada for this essay.
Everyone agrees that health care costs in the US are twice the costs in any other country. And for spending twice as much as any other country, US healthcare isn't all that good. We are down around number 10, not number 1.
If we could just lower healthcare costs of by half, like every other country in the world manages to do, we would chop Federal healthcare spending in half. That would knock healthcare down to 13% of the federal budget, down from 27%. That is serious money.
Neither The Donald nor Hillary are talking about this at all. They should be.
Friday, August 12, 2016
Persid Meteor Shower
The Internet said it was peak last night. So I got up at midnight and went out to see. And I did see three good bright meteors in about 20 minutes. To get a good view I went up to the Peabody Slopes parking lot. The sky was lighter than optimum, the moon hadn't quite set yet although it was below the tree line. All I had to do was look straight up, and there they were. The flash was too quick to photograph, at least not with my humble point-n-shoot. If I do this again, remember to bring a flashlight and a folding chair.
Thursday, August 11, 2016
Estate Tax, small business killer.
Small businesses employ a lotta people, and a few of 'em grow up to be the next Apple Computer. We need more of them, and we ought to pass laws to make things easier for them. Eliminating the estate tax would help a lot.
Typical small businesses, a gas station, a retail store, a motel, a general contractor, a farm, a medical practice, or a restaurant. Typically a sole proprietor deal. Sooner or later (death comes to everyone) and the sole proprietor dies. His estate is the small business. He may have a few bucks in a checking account, but over his lifetime he put everything into the business. And now that he died, Uncle Sam wants 50% of the value of the business for estate taxes, in cash, right now.
Few small businesses have that kind of money. Not now, not ever. So the business is closed, sold off, the employees laid off. The owner cannot will the business to an heir, he has to give half of it to Uncle Sam. And paying half the value of the business kills it.
Me, I think business owners ought to be able to pass the business down to heirs, tax free.
The estate tax was invented to confiscate the fortunes of people like the Rockefellers and the Gates. It does skin some of them, but they hire clever well paid lawyers who construct tax shelters for them. The estate tax really does hammer small businesses, so hard that many of them die.
We ought to repeal the estate tax, all the way.
Typical small businesses, a gas station, a retail store, a motel, a general contractor, a farm, a medical practice, or a restaurant. Typically a sole proprietor deal. Sooner or later (death comes to everyone) and the sole proprietor dies. His estate is the small business. He may have a few bucks in a checking account, but over his lifetime he put everything into the business. And now that he died, Uncle Sam wants 50% of the value of the business for estate taxes, in cash, right now.
Few small businesses have that kind of money. Not now, not ever. So the business is closed, sold off, the employees laid off. The owner cannot will the business to an heir, he has to give half of it to Uncle Sam. And paying half the value of the business kills it.
Me, I think business owners ought to be able to pass the business down to heirs, tax free.
The estate tax was invented to confiscate the fortunes of people like the Rockefellers and the Gates. It does skin some of them, but they hire clever well paid lawyers who construct tax shelters for them. The estate tax really does hammer small businesses, so hard that many of them die.
We ought to repeal the estate tax, all the way.
Delta computer crash. Again
This morning's Wall St Journal had a few words from Delta's chairman. He says an equipment failure on Delta's site both knocked out the system AND started a small fire. A fire? Where are the Halon fire extinguishers that any decent computer room has??? We actually had them go off once at my old place. It was a false alarm, and it's a good thing that Halon just puts out fires and doesn't wreck electrical equipment like water will do. But the question for Delta is, why didn't your Halon extinguishers work?
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