Check Out the First Picture of Thor! - Superhero Hype!

Check Out the First Picture of Thor! - Superhero Hype!

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Leadership: Rotten At The Top, Crowded At The Bottom

"The problem with all the cost overruns and delays is not a lack of auditors or contract officers, but a lack of talent at the top of the procurement chain. The defense contractors hire very talented people to deal with Department of Defense contract managers. In contrast, the Department of Defense has a lot of inexperienced civil servants, political appointees and rapidly rotated military personnel dealing with planning and management of these contracts. As a result, the weapons development projects are often poorly thought out to begin with. Since the Department of Defense is ultimately in charge, the contractors do what they are told, and the meter keeps running. The more experienced contractor management personnel keep their bosses out of legal trouble by giving the Department of Defense what it wants (or thinks it does), not what it needs. The Department of Defense has a hard time even identifying the problems, because of a lack of experienced procurement officials. In contrast, some other Western nations have a professional corps of procurement experts, and these people make an enormous difference. If the project starts off right, it is much easier to keep it right. If a project gets into trouble, having an experienced procurement professional available to fix it, it will tend to get fixed."

Air Transportation: The U.S. Army Air Force Surges To Afghanistan

"The United States is sending the largest helicopter force in the world to Afghanistan. By itself, U.S. Army aviation would be one of the largest air forces in the world. The U.S. Army has 19 CABs (Combat Aviation Brigades). Eleven are active duty units, and eight are from the reserves. These units, which contain, on average, 2,700 troops and 120 aircraft (nearly all OH-58 scout, AH-64 gunship and UH-60 and CH-47 transport helicopters) are being worked hard. While the withdrawal of troops from Iraq is reducing the number of troops overseas (despite a buildup in Afghanistan), a record number of CABs are staying overseas. For the next few years, about a third of the CABs will be overseas at one time. That's fifty percent more than in the last few years. To help support that, an two additional CAB are being formed. One will be assembled from existing helicopters not assigned to CABs, while the other will be built from scratch. This will cost $6.6 billion. In addition to this, hundreds of heavy (1.5 ton Sky Warrior) UAVs are being added to the CABs. The army is also reorganizing the CABs, which currently some in three types; light, medium and heavy, into 'Full Spectrum' units that contain a mix of different helicopter types."

Iraq: Al Qaeda Gets A Response

"With all the votes counted, former prime minister Ayad Allawi's largely secular coalition got two more seats in parliament than current prime minister Nuri Kamal al Maliki. The incumbent has not accepted the results, and arranged to have judges disqualify enough Allawi supporters to stay in power. Allawi cried foul and called on international (Arab and Western) powers to intervene. The original vote gave Allawi 91 seats and Maliki 89. But 163 seats (of 325) are needed to form a government. So a coalition will still be necessary, because Maliki's election commission rulings only have him about 140 seats. This sort of corruption is all too common in the Arab world. The U.S. is pressuring both Allawi and (especially) Maliki to play by the rules. In the Arab world, rules are considered far more flexible than in the West, so there is a culture clash here."

DC Entertainment Developing a Starman Movie? - Superhero Hype!

"Which version is sort of unknown — he’ll wield a gravity rod, have energy powers, and likely be able to fly. One of the more recent Starman characters could also manipulate mass, but not word on whether that power will be present."

Cabling for the Color-blind

One challenge for the colorblind individual in IT is being able to make patch cables from some Cat5 or Cat5e cable and RJ-45 connectors. The problem for us is, of course, that the industry standards are all based on color codes.

I have studied the manufacture of Cat5 cable in order to find other visual cues as to the identities of the twisted pairs.

Simply as a matter of technique, I was taught to "banana" the twisted pairs after stripping the outer insulation. This turned out to be beneficial as it provides our first, non-color, clue as to which pairs are which color.

Understand that I am writing from the perspective of my own color perception. I am Red-Green deficient. As a result the one color that I can always easily identify is the Blue pair. This may not be the case for someone who is Blue-Green deficient. However, the principle I will describe still holds true, you'll just have to adjust based on what you can perceive.

After "banana"-ing the pairs, I turn the cable until the Blue pair is pointing away from me (Fig. 1). I have not yet encountered a manufacturer who arranges the pairs in the insulation differently, and I believe that to do so would interfere with the purpose for which the pairs are twisted at different intervals (more on that later).

So with the Blue pointed away from my body, the pair that is pointed back at my chest is the Green pair. For me, that solves the issue, as it is the Green and Orange pairs that I have difficulty distinguishing. The Orange pair is either to the left or right
depending on which end of the cable you are working from.

Let's say that you can reliably identify the Orange pair. Point it away from you. The Brown pair is the one pointing back at you.

Now, let's assume that you cannot reliably identify any one color. Or maybe you just don't trust the result of the test above. Or, maybe, you've run into the one manufacturer out there that doesn't arrange the pairs in the insulation the way all the others do.

The key now, is the number of twists in each pair.

	Pair color	[cm] per turn	Turns per [m]
	Green	1.53	65.2
	Blue	1.54	64.8
	Orange	1.78	56.2
	Brown	1.94	51.7

 

Without worrying about the specifics of the table above, the point is that the Green pair is the most tightly twisted. The Blue pair next, then Orange, and the Brown pair has the fewest twists. So by closely looking at the pairs before untwisting them you can verify their identities. This is another strength of the banana technique—once you have identified the pair colors, you'll be better able to keep them straight as you order the individual wires by the 568A or 568B standard.

A brief explanation: You may wonder why the pairs are twisted at different rates. When two wires are lying next to each other, and one carries a current, that current will be inducted into the other wire. You can see, then that that would be a problem for wires carrying packets of data. The solution is to twist the wires at different rates. This way no one wire is laying next to any one other wire, except for the one it is twisted with.

This leads to another issue in making cables. A common poor practice is to strip off a lot of insulation, get the individual wires into their proper places in the RJ-45 connector and crimp the connector on with a lot of untwisted wire between the base of the RJ-45 and the outer insulator. If you do this, if more than about a ½ inch of wire is untwisted at the connector, you have undone the purpose for which the twists were made and this will allow induction to happen. Your 100Gb NIC will never receive 100Gb. Each patch cable made this way will degrade the network. As a separate but important matter, some of the outer insulator should be inside the RJ-45 connector, enough to be under the rear crimp. This takes the weight of the cable off of the soft copper wires and puts it on the insulator and that little nylon string that is inside the insulator.

The Standards: There are two industry recognized standards for making patch cables. They are called 568A and 568B. The letter designators are not, as is usually assumed, a serial identification. "A" stands for AT&T and "B" stands for Bell. Before the enforced breakup of AT&T, they developed their standard for 4 pair cable wiring. The regional Bell companies, which were part of the AT&T system, did too, and it was a little bit different. AT&T was responsible for their internal wiring and between the Bells. The Bells did wiring all the way to the customer. Simply because there was much more wiring done the Bells way, the "B" standard is the prevailing industry standard. There is nothing wrong with using the "A" standard to make a patch cable, but it can lead to confusion if someone is trying to repair a line without inspecting the opposite end. It's also important to know both standards, as a cable made with the "A" standard on one end and "B" on the other is known as a cross over cable, which has its own uses. Specifically to connect "like" devices, such as a router to a router or a computer to a computer, where the patch, or straight through cable with matching standards at both ends, connects "unlike" devices; a computer to a switch or hub, for example.

568B: Pin Pair Wire Color 1 2 1 Orange White 2 2 2 Orange 3 3 1 Green White 4 1 2 Blue 5 1 1 Blue White 6 3 2 Green 7 4 1 Brown White 8 4 2 Brown

568A: Pin Pair Wire Color 1 3 1 Green White 2 3 2 Green 3 2 1 Orange White 4 1 2 Blue 5 1 1 Blue White 6 2 2 Orange 7 4 1 Brown White 8 4 2 Brown

 

Notice that the only real difference is that the Green and Orange pairs switch places.

Some technique tips:

Strip the outer insulator by about 1 ½ inches. You'll end up cutting off about an inch, but it makes the wires long enough to work with when getting them in order. Cut off the exposed string at the insulator now. Leaving the string to hang out of the RJ-45 connector isn't tidy or professional.

 

After making the "banana" and identifying the colors, untwist the pairs and get the individual wires as straight as you can, by pinching a pair hard between a finger and thumb and pulling the wire through from the insulator to the cut end. IT may curl a little, but that's okay.

 

Pinch finger and thumb together in the same manner and pull one wire at a time between them, working to get the wires as close together as possible. If the fleshy part of your thumb is pressed on the edge of the outer insulator, you'll have that good ½" or so of copper trapped.

Just as you straightened the pairs, now do it again with all 8 wires. The goal is to get a nice straight ribbon of wire all in their proper order.

 

Using your crimping tool's cutter, with the 8 wires still pinched down with finger and thumb, put the wires in the cutter right up to the end of your thumb and cut the wires. Ideally, the cut will be straight across. (Don't cut your thumb!)

With the Orange White (for the "B" standard—Green White if "A") wire to the left of the ribbon place the wires into the RJ-45 connector with its clip pointing down. Work the wires into their individual channels. Look at the end of the RJ-45. If all 8 wires are in their place, you should see 8 flashes of copper through the clear plastic.

 

Put the connector in the crimper and press. Press hard.

Bin Laden had 'no clue' about Sept. 11 retaliation - wtop.com

"Osama bin Laden had no idea the U.S. would hit al-Qaida as hard as it has since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, a former bin Laden associate tells WTOP in an exclusive interview.
'I'm 100 percent sure they had no clue about what was going to happen,' says Noman Benotman, who was head of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group in the summer of 2000.
'What happened after the 11th of September was beyond their imagination, ' says Benotman, who adds that al-Qaida thought the U.S. was a 'paper tiger.'"

Morale: Long Term Suffering

"Each WTU is staffed with a few officers and 15-20 NCOs (platoon sergeants and squad leaders). In addition there are nurses and other medical professionals. The WTU staff sees to it that those under their care receive the proper medical treatment on a timely and sufficient basis. The WTU staff deal with any paperwork problems, helping the patients cope with the many bureaucracies that come out of the woodwork. The WTU NCOs have the hardest jobs, because they are often combat veterans themselves, relate well to the patients, and they are the main problem solvers. This is particularly useful for WTU patients who are reservists, and are not familiar with a lot of the active duty paperwork and procedures. Because of the stress placed on the WTU NCOs, they get special-duty pay of $225 a month. Sort of like combat pay, but given to any troops in particularly difficult jobs. As the WTU population becomes increasingly longer term wounded, and troops with multiple physical and mental problems, the job becomes even more difficult."

Infantry: Get What You Need, Not What You Want

"The Interceptor vest was an improvement in other ways. It was easier to wear, and was cooler in hot climates because you could more easily adjust it to let some air circulate. You could also hang gear from the vest, making it more a piece of clothing. It's still hot to wear the vest in hot weather, but if you're expecting a firefight, it's easier to make the decision to wear the vest. You know it will stop bullets. U.S. troops who have fought in Afghanistan, and hit with rifle bullets that would have penetrated earlier vests, are already spreading the word throughout the ground combat community. All you have to do is exercise in such a way that you are better able to carry the weight, and still be mobile."

2 Chicago state reps: Bring in the National Guard - Chicago Breaking News

Sounds like a wonderful plan: "'Is this a drastic call to action? Of course it is,' Fritchey said. 'Is it warranted when we are losing residents to gun violence at such an alarming rate? Without question. We are not talking about rolling tanks down the street or having armed guards on each corner.'
What he envisions, Fritchey said, is a 'heightened presence on the streets,' particularly on the roughly 9 percent of city blocks where most of the city's violent crimes occur."

Based on the description of what it's not, the result will simply be that Illinois Guardsmen will be represented in higer numbers among the victims.

Attrition: The Few Who Are Fit To Fight

"One of the biggest problems American military recruiters have is the bad lifestyles of young Americans. It shouldn't be that way, for there are 32 million people in the prime military age group (17-24). But because of bad lifestyle choices, only 13 percent of them are eligible for service. Each year, the armed forces have to recruit 180,000 new troops. The military is allowed to waive some physical or mental standards, and this means that only about 20 percent of those 32 million potential recruits qualify. Each year, recruiters have to convince 2.7 percent of those eligible that they should join up. It's a tough job, made worse by a generation that eats too much, exercises too little and doesn't pay enough attention in school."

Leadership: Canadian Commander Prosecutes Himself

"The commander of Canadian forces in Afghanistan (brigadier general Daniel Menard) ordered an investigation of himself after he accidently fired a round from his rifle while at Kandahar airfield on March 25th. He was loading the weapon at the time. While no one was hurt by the errant bullet, discharging a weapon on a base is a violation of Canadian safety regulations (section 129 of the National Defense Act) . In order to show how serious Canada is about weapons safety, Menard was charged with violation of section 129, and he is waiting to see if he will face court martial for his crime. Such weapons discharges in combat zones, or even peacetime, are common. Most of the time, the worst that happens is the offender gets a dirty look from an NCO, or a few sharp words. There is ridicule from other soldiers, which hurts the most. Usually, only repeat offenders receive any official punishment."

Weapons: A 40 To Kill For

"An American firm (Magpul) has developed a 40 round magazine for M-16 compatible 5.56mm assault rifles. The $23 polymer magazine has a larger transparent window strip to show how many rounds you have left. If successful in combat, the new magazine may spur the U.S. Army and Marine Corps to issue it, or a similar item, to the troops. This has happened before.
After years of being shown up by superior M-16 magazines from commercial firms, the U.S. Army recently began issuing an improved magazine of their own. Already, over half a million of the new magazines have been issued, mostly to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and those headed there. The oldest magazines are being turned in right away, and replaced by the new model. The new magazine is mainly designed to prevent jams when the round comes up from the magazine and into the firing chamber. This is accomplished with a new follower (a tab at the top of the magazine) design, as well as a new, corrosion resistant, spring."

Project Touchdown: how we paid the price for lack of communications security in Vietnam

by Dave Fiedler:  "Thanks to our battalion S-2, 44th Signal Battalion soldiers were aware as early as 1965 that the enemy was probably monitoring USARV tactical-radio nets. The Army Security Agency tried to make everyone else a believer in this, too.  However, as I mentioned in my article in the last Army Communicator [Books, Winter 2002 edition], despite ASA’s many warnings, it was USARV’s official opinion that the NVA/VC had no equipment capable of monitoring U.S. tactical-radio nets, nor could they understand English well enough to use the information if they had the equipment and, most importantly, our tactical forces moved so fast and our actions on the battlefield were so quick that even if the enemy managed to acquire some information from our tactical-radio nets, it would do them no good and us no harm.  That arrogance was to cost us dearly."

My Way News - FDIC shuts down 7 banks in Illinois

"Regulators on Friday shut down seven banks in Illinois, putting the number of U.S. bank failures this year at 57.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over four banks in Chicago: New Century Bank (CBAO), with $485.6 million in assets; Citizens Bank (CZMO)&Trust Company, with $77.3 million in assets; Broadway Bank, with $1.2 billion in assets; and Lincoln Park Savings Bank, with $199.9 million in assets.
The FDIC also took over Amcore Bank of Rockford, which had $3.8 billion in assets; Peotone Bank and Trust Company in Peotone, with $130.2 million in assets; and Wheatland Bank of Naperville, with $437.2 million in assets."

Leadership: How To Handle Maniacs In Your Midst

"The army is still unwilling to deal with the atmosphere of political correctness that underpinned most of the bad decisions that enabled Hasan to stay in uniform, and even get promoted. Instead, there are new rules requiring commanders to report certain types of behavior, and better coordinate with intelligence agencies that pick up information (as they did with Hasan) indicating violent tendencies.
In the army, as in any large organization, all the rules are not written down. In the army, many of the unwritten rules come in the form of 'the commanders' intent.' Sometimes this 'intent' is spelled out, but in many cases, subordinate commanders have to figure it out. In the Hasan case, the commanders' intent was that Moslem officers, especially doctors, are to be kept happy and in uniform. When in doubt, look the other way, and hope for the best. In the case of Hasan, no one expected the guy to turn into a mass murderer. But, then, Hasan's superiors were encouraged to be optimistic about their Moslem problem child. So Hasan's radical rants and abusive behavior towards non-Moslems was, if not ignored, then played down."

Artillery: Third Attempt To Replace The M-109

"Last year, the U.S. Army cancelled its second attempt (the XM1203 NLOS-C) to replace the half-century old M-109 self-propelled 155mm howitzer. The third attempts will consist of the PIM (Paladin Integrated Management program). That means the army is going to rebuild many of its existing 900 M109 Paladin self-propelled 155mm howitzers, rather than trying to come up with another new design. PIM will use the same chassis as the M-2 Bradley infantry vehicle, and a new engine control system. Added to that will be the cab and gun mounts from the Paladin. From the XM1203, the automatic rammer, but not the automatic loader, will be used. So troops will still have to manually load the propellant and 90 pound shell, but the semi-automatic rammer will then push the propellant and shell into the firing chamber and close the breech. Automating this part of the process improves accuracy somewhat, because when troops manually shoved (rammed) in the propellant and shell, they often applied too much, or too little, pressure and left the shell out of position by a tiny bit, just enough to hurt accuracy. PIM will get new electronics, and numerous small improvements, many based on user suggestions."

Electronic Weapons: Starlite Floats Above It All

"The U.S. is shipping dozens of aerostats (tethered blimps) to Afghanistan. The blimp floats at about 320 meters (a thousand feet) up, tethered by a cable that provides power and communications to the radar and day/night vidcams up there. The cameras can see out to 80 kilometers at that altitude, less than half that with the radar. The major problem is not weather, but ground fire from rifles and machine-guns. Locals like using the RAID blimps as targets. Rifle fire won't destroy the blimps, but does cause them to be brought down more frequently for repairs. Normally, the blimps can stay up for 30 days at a time, but the bullet hole repairs have some of them coming down every few days. Shorter (up to 80 meters) steel tower systems also suffer gunfire damage, but rarely any that damages the equipment. It was soon found that tower mounted cameras were just as good as the aerostats, in most situation, and much cheaper. Thus there are more than twenty times as many tower systems as aerostat based ones."

Afghanistan: The Taliban Really Need A Win Here

"The Taliban are moving more people into Kandahar, determined to maintain a presence in what they consider their capital. The Taliban and drug gangs are jointly making a last stand. If they cannot keep the drug business going in Kandahar and Helmand, the Taliban are, well, not finished, but greatly diminished. Already, cash shortages have forced the Taliban to pay most of their fighters piecework (by the job). The Taliban use of terror, and the growing number of drug addicts, has made the Islamic radicals even more hated throughout Afghanistan. The Taliban really need a win here.
The Taliban, with the backing of the drug gangs in Kandahar and Helmand, are also still trying to expand their power. Thus the increasing Taliban violence in northern and eastern Afghanistan. But these two provinces have always been the core of Taliban support, and heroin production. While the Taliban originally (in the early 1990s) pitched themselves as a new and improved type of Afghan warlord, they proved to be as bad as the people they sought to replace. Thus their quick fall in late 2001."

Weapons: The Swiss Army Flashlights

"The U.S. Army combined some of these in the MFAL (Multi-Functional Aiming Lights). This looks like a small flashlight, and attaches to the rifle. But this device can put out visible, or invisible (infrared, or IR) light. When using IR, you go into a cave providing light only you can see, with your night vision equipment. If you are real quiet (or sort of quiet), you have a big advantage over the bad guys trying to hide in the dark. This rig also allows you to see any booby traps the enemy may have laid for you. MFAL also emits a laser pointer (like the older 'red dot'), but one that cannot be seen by the enemy (unless they also have night vision gear, which they usually don't.) The MFAL was developed with the help of feedback from combat troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The marines developed a similar device, the PEQ-15, which had IR and laser. The PEQ-16 is the PEQ-15 with a white light added."

Weapons: Ma Deucesky

"In Afghanistan, as in Iraq, the United States hires armed contractors to help with security around bases. Unlike Iraq, in Afghanistan many of these contractors are Afghans, and they often use weapons left over from the 1980s war with Russia. Thus American troops often get a little history lesson, as some of the weapons used by the contractors are somewhat elderly. Of particular interest to U.S. troops is the Russian .50 caliber (12.7mm) machine-gun. Some of these are the DShK, 12.7mm, a design that entered Russian service in 1938. The Russian 12.7 round uses an almost identical bullet to the U.S., but the cartridge is 108mm (4.25 inches) long, versus 99mm (3.9 inches) for the American one."

Zero - Obamacare's links to conservative ideas

"President Obama recently told Matt Lauer, anchor of NBC's 'Today' show, that his highly partisan health care law borrows ideas directly from The Heritage Foundation's health care reform playbook. This is utterly false.
As Heritage health policy analyst Bob Moffitt explains:
The Obama health-care law 'builds' on the Heritage health reform model only in the sense that, say, a double-quarter-pounder with cheese 'builds' on the idea of a garden salad. Both have lettuce and tomato and may be called food, but the similarities end there."

Battle over guns kills D.C. voting bill - On Politics: Covering the US Congress, Governors, and the 2010 Election - USATODAY.com

Preserving the US Constitution by silliness. "'I am profoundly disappointed that we will not be considering legislation to give the 600,000 Americans who live in the District of Columbia what their 300 million fellow citizens have, a voting representative in the House of Representatives,' said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md. 'At this point in time ... I do not see the ability to move it in this session of Congress.'"

Of course the greater point is that they could not have moved either the DC statehood issue or an amendment to the Constitution--the only two means to have done this right--so they were going to try this end run.

The Goodness of State. [JHoward]

"The popular left has done a fine job of publicly moralizing race and orientation so as to create vast political capital, even going so far as to rewrite much of the histories of civil rights, gender rights, and especially social economics, arguably the greatest failing of policied morality to date."

'Doctor Who' Premiere Preview: Matt Smith And Karen Gillan Tell You What To Expect This Season!

"'Doctor Who' kicks off a new season tonight with a new set of stars, so when actors Matt Smith and Karen Gillan dropped by Splash Page HQ, I made sure to get some thoughts from them on where their adventures will lead (and who they'll run into) in the coming episodes.
From weeping angels and vampires to an encounter with the reptilian Silurians, the new season promises to offer quite a bit for new and longtime 'Who' fans to get excited about."

Information Warfare: Smart Trucks

"In many cases, soldiers don't start their M-ATVs, they boot them up, as the fully equipped vehicles have half a dozen electronic systems, many of them networked. The Stryker was one of the first vehicles to go this way, and prove that too much ain't enough when it comes to battlefield electronics. Hummers followed, and now the army is introducing a new control system for vehicles, which provides a common internal network for all of them to plug into. This allows troops to share a few displays for visual or operational data. Touch screen allow troops to more quickly operate all this gear (which could include a micro-UAV, a ground robot, a remote control turret and wireless sensors deployed nearby to watch for an approaching enemy). In addition there is instant messaging, email, maps and Blue Force Tracker (which shows the position of all American vehicles in the area, in real time.)"

Afghanistan: Taliban Frustrations

"The Pakistani operations against the Taliban has greatly reduced Taliban support coming into Afghanistan from bases in Pakistan. However, Afghan officials are complaining that Pakistan is being selective in who it goes after, and leaving some Islamic terror organizations alone. The Pakistanis say this is to enable exploitation of some pro-Taliban groups as allies and sources of information. To the Afghans, this is seen as typical Pakistani use of radical groups to keep Afghanistan unstable and easier to manipulate. Thus the Afghans point out that there are still Islamic terrorist bases operating in Pakistan, and terrorists are still crossing into Afghanistan and carrying out attacks."

Counter-Terrorism: Fight The Power

"On April 10th, Greek police arrested six civilians and charged them with belonging to a leftist terrorist organization ' Revolutionary Struggle'. This outfit has been around for seven years, and showed up a year after police had destroyed a similar group ('November 17'). Groups like Revolutionary Struggle and November 17 mainly carry out street violence, and set off small bombs. Occasionally they will murder people. These groups have long been active in Greece, while they have died out in most of Europe. These outfits are trying to get media attention, and thus seek to pull off spectacular operations. Three years ago, Revolutionary Struggle fired a rocket at the U.S. embassy, but did not hurt anyone. Got plenty of ink, though. The U.S. subsequently offered a million dollar reward for information leading to the capture of the terrorists responsible. Police have not revealed if the reward had anything to do with the recent arrests."

Yemen: Doing The Math

"After initially declining to pursue radical cleric Anwar al Awlaki, the government has reversed itself and announced it is in pursuit of Awlaki. Meanwhile, the family of Awlaki is trying to get their boy off the American 'wanted' list. One offer is for Awlaki to halt his anti-American statements in return for getting off the hit list. Awlaki has lied many times in the past, and it's doubtful a deal like this could be made. The U.S. wants Awlaki, dead or alive, and is determined to get him. Awlaki's tribal protectors are having second thoughts about going to war with the government, and the Americans, over this."

My Way News - Regulators shut 5 banks in Fla., Mass., Mich.

"Regulators have shut down five banks based in Florida, Massachusetts and Michigan, putting the number of U.S. bank failures this year at 47.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. says it took over AmericanFirst Bank in Clermont, Fla.; First Federal Bank of North Florida in Palatka, Fla.; Riverside National Bank of Florida in Fort Pierce, Fla.; Butler Bank in Lowell, Mass.; and Lakeside Community Bank in Sterling Heights, Mich."

Texas city revives paddling as it takes a swat at misbehavior

"But even by Texas standards, Temple is unusual. The city, a compact railroad hub of 60,000 people, banned the practice and then revived it at the demand of parents who longed for the orderly schools of yesteryear. Without paddling, 'there were no consequences for kids,' said Steve Wright, who runs a construction business and is Temple's school board president.
Since paddling was brought back to the city's 14 schools by a unanimous board vote in May, behavior at Temple's single high school has changed dramatically, Wright said, even though only one student in the school system has been paddled."

A whimsical gloss

"– Or is the shutting down of the “right wing” hateyness out of “earnest” hateyness of evil right wingers a good thing, given that the second hateyness is acting as a corrective to the first hateyness, and given that hating evil is not really hate hate, but rather an iteration of goodliness and righteousness? Because the hatred marshaled to silence “right wingers” is akin to being intolerant of intolerance?"

Incentives Not to Work - WSJ.com

"'The second way government assistance programs contribute to long-term unemployment is by providing an incentive, and the means, not to work. Each unemployed person has a 'reservation wage'—the minimum wage he or she insists on getting before accepting a job. Unemployment insurance and other social assistance programs increase [the] reservation wage, causing an unemployed person to remain unemployed longer.'
Any guess who wrote that? Milton Friedman, perhaps. Simon Legree? Sorry.
Full credit goes to Lawrence H. Summers, the current White House economic adviser, who wrote those sensible words in his chapter on 'Unemployment' in the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics, first published in 1999."

Healthcare overhaul won't stop premium increases - latimes.com

"Public outrage over double-digit rate hikes for health insurance may have helped push President Obama's healthcare overhaul across the finish line, but the new law does not give regulators the power to block similar increases in the future.

And now, with some major companies already moving to boost premiums and others poised to follow suit, millions of Americans may feel an unexpected jolt in the pocketbook."

U.S. military playing expanded role in Pakistan | Reuters

"Pakistan has balked at U.S. offers of joint military operations there, officials said on condition of anonymity.
But Special Ops trainers play a bigger role than has been widely disclosed in helping Pakistan's paramilitary Frontier Corps, such as surveying and coordinating projects aimed at winning 'hearts and minds' and preventing Taliban fighters from returning to areas once they have been pushed out."

CNSNews.com - White House Science ‘Czar’ Tells Students: U.S. Can’t Expect to Be Number One in Science and Technology Forever

Won't deciding that it can't be done, help insure that it won't be done? "“We can’t expect to be number one in everything indefinitely,” Dr. John P. Holdren said at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Holdren is director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and chairs the President’s Council of Advisors on Science & Technology (PCAST), making him the top science adviser in the administration."

Income falls 3.2% during Obama's term - Washington Times

"'This is hardly surprising,' said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, an economist and former director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. 'Under President Obama, only federal spending is going up; jobs, business startups, and incomes are all down. It is proof that the government can't spend its way to prosperity.'"

U.S. Faces Shortage of Doctors - WSJ.com

"The greatest demand will be for primary-care physicians. These general practitioners, internists, family physicians and pediatricians will have a larger role under the new law, coordinating care for each patient.
The U.S. has 352,908 primary-care doctors now, and the college association estimates that 45,000 more will be needed by 2020. But the number of medical-school students entering family medicine fell more than a quarter between 2002 and 2007.
A shortage of primary-care and other physicians could mean more-limited access to health care and longer wait times for patients."

Okla. tea parties and lawmakers envision militia - Yahoo! News

"Frustrated by recent political setbacks, tea party leaders and some conservative members of the Oklahoma Legislature say they would like to create a new volunteer militia to help defend against what they believe are improper federal infringements on state sovereignty.
Tea party movement leaders say they've discussed the idea with several supportive lawmakers and hope to get legislation next year to recognize a new volunteer force. They say the unit would not resemble militia groups that have been raided for allegedly plotting attacks on law enforcement officers."

Counter-Terrorism: How al Qaeda Gets Paid

"Al Qaeda has been seen operating in Guinea-Bissau for several years now. Two years ago, two al Qaeda members were arrested and charged with the murder, in Mauritania, of four French tourists. At the time, the United States was suspicious of al Qaeda involvement in cocaine trafficking in South America. Then al Qaeda operatives began showing up in Guinea-Bissau. Before long, evidence emerged that al Qaeda was there mainly to facilitate cocaine smuggling.
Algerian police that patrol their southern border are encountering more and more al Qaeda gunmen escorting drug smugglers. There were four such encounters in 2008, and fifteen last year. The most valuable of the smuggled drugs is Colombian cocaine, which is flown into West Africa, and then moved north to Europe and the Persian Gulf (two of the biggest markets)."

Infantry: No Known Cure For The AK-47 Disease

"Then some of the young guys remembered grandpa decrying the decline in marksmanship years ago. Back before the Russians showed up, in the 1980s, the best an Afghan could hope to have was a World War II, or World War I, era bolt action rifle. These weapons were eclipsed in the 1980s by full automatic AK-47s and the RPG rocket launcher. The young guys took to the AK, and the thrill of emptying a 30 round magazine on full automatic. Not bad for a brief firefight, and suddenly hardly anyone, except a few old timers, wanted to use the old bolt action rifle, or learn how to hit anything with single shots."

Support: Getting Priced Out Of Peacekeeping

"Last year, Denmark spent $415 million to support their force in Afghanistan. That's more than twice what was spent in the previous year. In 2007, those operations only cost Denmark $135 million. The additional funds were needed to buy essential weapons, equipment and spare parts. Denmark also increased the training given to troops headed for Afghanistan. In eight years of action, 31 Danish troops have been killed."

Electronic Weapons: Feel The Heat

"The U.S. Army has bought 25 more day/night video systems for MedEvac (medical evacuation) helicopters. These UH-60 helicopters operate in all weather and at night to transport wounded troops from the battlefield. These SAFIRE II systems (they look like a little turret under the nose of the chopper) cost $500,000 each, and contain day and night cameras, as well as laser designators. The video can be magnified and the system has a range of about twenty kilometers. The army already has 200 MedEvac helicopters equipped with the 43 kg (93 pound) SAFIRE II system (which equips over a thousand other helicopters worldwide)."

Blind Marine re-enlists

HooRah, Marine! He'll work with wounded Marines at Camp LeJeune.: "After all he's been through, the only real regret Marine Cpl. Matthew Bradford says he has now is not being able to return to combat duty in Iraq.
But Wednesday, Bradford, 23, made Marine Corps history, becoming the first blind double amputee to re-enlist. In keeping with service tradition, Bradford was honorably discharged and allowed to say a few words as a civilian before re-enlisting.
“Sign me up, sir!” he told Lt. Col. David Barnes, who administered the oath of enlistment, extending Bradford's military career by another four years."

Russia eyes U.S. air base in Kyrgyz turmoil | Reuters

Reset, indeed.: "Turmoil in Kyrgyzstan has thrust the fate of the Manas air base -- which is crucial for fighting the Afghan war -- to the forefront of rivalry between the United States and Russia.
Russia has long dreamed of evicting the United States from Central Asia and a Russian official said on Thursday that Moscow would urge the interim Kyrgyz government to shut the U.S. base.
Suspicions of the Kremlin's hand in the unrest were raised when Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin became the first world leader to recognize the authority of the self-proclaimed government, just hours after it took power."

Poison swirls around Hamid Karzai and Barack Obama - Times Online

Karzai is Right!: "The Karzai family has now hit back, accusing US officials of launching a smear campaign as a prelude to abandoning the country again. “There’s a very bad policy developing towards Afghanistan,” said the president’s brother Mahmoud Karzai, a businessman who lives in Kabul. “They want to discredit the Afghan government in the eyes of the US public. I hope it’s not the beginning of an exit strategy. If it is, God help us, it will be very bad — don’t they remember what happened when they did this before in the Eighties?”"

Tax Returns of the Living Dead | NBC New York

"Dead people were claiming tax refunds and the children of strangers were listed as dependents.
Those were among the bold scams that 26 Bronx and Manhattan tax preparers were allegedly using to claim the bulk of about $95 million in refunds since 2001, prosecutors said Thursday.
Besides seeing dead people, investigators also spotted deductions for businesses that don't exist, inflated commissions and identity theft of people living in Puerto Rico, frequent victims of such scams because they have social security numbers but don't have to file federal tax returns, prosecutors said."

Interest Rates Have Nowhere to Go but Up - NYTimes.com

"“Americans have assumed the roller coaster goes one way,” said Bill Gross, whose investment firm, Pimco, has taken part in a broad sell-off of government debt, which has pushed up interest rates. “It’s been a great thrill as rates descended, but now we face an extended climb.”
The impact of higher rates is likely to be felt first in the housing market, which has only recently begun to rebound from a deep slump. The rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage has risen half a point since December, hitting 5.31 last week, the highest level since last summer."

This is a good thing. But it won't matter much if the Fed doesn't raise rates too. If they don't the result will be a rape of all consumers who use credit, which is every body except the followers of Dave Ramsey.

New species 'lives without oxygen' - Telegraph

"Professor Danovaro told BBC News bodies of multicellular animals had been found in sediment from a similarly oxygen-starved area of the Black Sea, but they were thought to have been carried there from adjacent oxygenated water.
The species found in the latest expedition were alive, two of them containing eggs, and though they died on extraction the eggs were successfully incubated on the ship, and hatched in an oxygen-starved environment."

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sounds a warning on growing deficit

"Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke warned Wednesday that Americans may have to accept higher taxes or changes in cherished entitlements such as Medicare and Social Security if the nation is to avoid staggering budget deficits that threaten to choke off economic growth.
'These choices are difficult, and it always seems easier to put them off -- until the day they cannot be put off anymore,' Bernanke said in a speech. 'But unless we as a nation demonstrate a strong commitment to fiscal responsibility, in the longer run we will have neither financial stability nor healthy economic growth.'"

US faces 'difficult' tax choices: Bernanke - Yahoo! News

"'To avoid large and unsustainable budget deficits, the nation will ultimately have to choose among higher taxes, modifications to entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare, less spending on everything else from education to defense, or some combination of the above.'
Tackling the massive US budget deficits and ballooning debt has become a hot-button political issue in Washington, as President Barack Obama and his predecessor George W. Bush have spent billions of taxpayers' money to stave off economic collapse."

My Way News - Census Bureau concerned about head count problems

"Currently, the mail participation rate for the 2010 census is 63 percent, and officials remain cautiously optimistic they will be able to match, if not top, the 2000 mail-back rate of 72 percent by the time the Census Bureau winds down its mail-in operation in late April. From May to July, census takers are sent to homes that do not mail back forms."

Nearly half of US households escape fed income tax - Yahoo! Finance

"The result is a tax system that exempts almost half the country from paying for programs that benefit everyone, including national defense, public safety, infrastructure and education. It is a system in which the top 10 percent of earners -- households making an average of $366,400 in 2006 -- paid about 73 percent of the income taxes collected by the federal government.
The bottom 40 percent, on average, make a profit from the federal income tax, meaning they get more money in tax credits than they would otherwise owe in taxes. For those people, the government sends them a payment."

Hot Air » Blog Archive » Obama: America would have gone bankrupt if not for our new trillion-dollar boondoggle

"One line says it all: “I am noticing that each of your plans to save money involves spending even more money.” That’s precisely the gut-level response most voters will have when they hear him talk like this, and it’s a huge reason why the polls on O-Care simply aren’t going to move that much before November. So if, as here, The One wants to console himself with the idea that “it’s only been a week!”, he’s welcome to it."

JammieWearingFool

"The 26 million small businesses in the US — like Eneslow Shoes, headed by CEO Robert Schwartz—are getting buried under an avalanche of new taxes, which include:

* An increase of 4.6% in federal taxes from 35% to 39.6% (expiration of Bush tax cuts)

* An increase in capital gains taxes from 15% to 20% (expiration of Bush tax cuts)

* A new tax of 3.85% on investment income, dividends, rents, royalties mandated in the new health care bill

* An increase in the Medicare payroll tax to 2.35% as mandated in the new health care bill

* In states like New Jersey and others, state and municipal taxes have been raised by the average of almost 2%"

The Greenroom » Forum Archive » The Parable of the Referee

"The idea of a large, and yet scrupulously honest State is fraudulent to its core. As the State expands in size, it inevitably develops interests that lead to corruption. Its power becomes so valuable that bribery is an everyday transaction, camouflaged in sanctimonious rhetoric. Taking responsibility for errors and wrongdoing will always be less attractive than dipping into the public treasury for a few billion greenbacks to paper over the damage. As industries are first taxed, then regulated, and finally nationalized, the referees begin tackling players and running touchdowns. The only honest government is small government, so if you’re sincerely opposed to political corruption, that’s what you should insist on."

Warplanes: The Growing Threat Of The U.S. Army Air Force

"The MQ-1Cs are slightly larger Predators, and are being used for missions formerly performed by Shadow 200, and other large army UAVs. The big difference is that Sky Warrior can carry weapons (like Hellfire missiles.) Thus the army will be using missile firing, fixed wing combat aircraft, something it has not been able to do for many decades (since the U.S. Air Force was created out of the old U.S. Army Air Force in the late 1940s). The air force has accepted, for the moment, that unmanned aircraft are not the sole preserve of the air force, and the army is taking that and building a new air force for itself.
The air force is not happy about the army having a large force of armed UAVs. Many air force generals believe the army should not have the MQ-1C, or at least not use them with weapons. That has already caused some spats in the Pentagon over the issue, but a recent purge and reshuffle of the senior air force leadership, by the Secretary of Defense, makes it appear that the army will be left alone to build its new robotic air force. At least for the moment."

Glenn Harlan Reynolds: Progressives can't get past the Knowledge Problem | Washington Examiner

"In his 'The Use of Knowledge In Society,' Hayek explained that information about supply and demand, scarcity and abundance, wants and needs exists in no single place in any economy. The economy is simply too large and complicated for such information to be gathered together.
Any economic planner who attempts to do so will wind up hopelessly uninformed and behind the times, reacting to economic changes in a clumsy, too-late fashion and then being forced to react again to fix the problems that the previous mistakes created, leading to new problems, and so on."

Colombia: The Fade

"The huge number of FARC and drug gang documents (mainly electronic) captured in the last few years has exposed an extensive foreign support network for the leftist rebels and their drug gang allies. Most of these foreigners appear to be political activists who were attracted to FARC's use of violence to support a leftist revolution. This often led to helping FARC raise money and buy weapons and equipment. The government is trying to build criminal cases against their foreigners, and get local authorities to prosecute. The host nations are often reluctant to do this, because local leftist politicians block prosecution efforts.
FARC supporters have learned that the safest place to operate from is Venezuela. There, the government is enthusiastic about supporting leftist rebels in the region, and Colombia is of particular interest because of traditional national rivalries and the rapid decline of Colombian leftist rebels in the last decade. Venezuela denies all such support, no matter how much evidence piles up."

Whedon on the Short List for The Avengers? - Superhero Hype!

"'After some checking, insiders at Marvel Studios say no director has been signed yet but that [Joss] Whedon was on the short-list and conversations took place,' they say. Of course there are probably other directors on that list as well, so we'll have to wait and see which way they go.

The Los Angeles Times also learned that Emily Blunt was made an offer but passed on playing Peggy Carter alongside Chris Evans in The First Avenger: Captain America. The other actresses on that short list? Keira Knightley and Alice Eve."

JammieWearingFool: Urologist Tells Obama Voters to Piss Off

"A doctor who considers the national health-care overhaul to be bad medicine for the country posted a sign on his office door telling patients who voted for President Barack Obama to seek care 'elsewhere.'

'I'm not turning anybody away — that would be unethical,' Dr. Jack Cassell, 56, a Mount Dora urologist and a registered Republican opposed to the health plan, told the Orlando Sentinel on Thursday. 'But if they read the sign and turn the other way, so be it.'

The sign reads: 'If you voted for Obama … seek urologic care elsewhere. Changes to your healthcare begin right now, not in four years.'"

Infantry: Marines Go Light On Top

"Work is already under way to develop an Enhanced Combat Helmet (ECH). This one will be made of a new thermoplastic material (UHMWP, or Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene). This is lighter and stronger than the Kevlar used in the ACH and PASGT. The first modern combat helmets appeared during World War I (1914-18), with the U.S. adopting the flat, British design steel model, and using it for 25 years. The PASGT lasted 25 years, but it looks like the ACH and LWH will be gone in less than ten, replaced by the ECH."

Logistics: Peace Dividend Backfires

"NATO nations have been cutting back on defense spending since the end of the Cold War in 1991. At the time, this was hailed as the 'peace dividend.' But operations in Afghanistan have put more equipment into use, more often, and in very demanding (too hot, too cold and very dusty) conditions. This has used up spare parts stockpiles (which were not large to begin with), causing munch equipment to be sidelined and often cannibalized for parts, to keep other items operational."

Afghanistan: The Betting Line

"The war against the drug gangs is showing more success. Seizure of opium, for example, went up nearly ten times last year, to nearly 20 percent of production. The offensive operations in Helmand province and, soon, in Kandahar, are tearing up the base areas used by the drug gangs. This has forced the drug gangs to try and move their poppy growing and to other parts of the country. This is difficult, as most Afghans oppose opium and heroin (which causes many Afghans to become addicts). But marijuana is another story, and Afghanistan has become the world's largest producer of hashish (a concentrated form of marijuana that is easier to export). Most of the marijuana is grown where poppies are also grown, but more marijuana is found elsewhere. About half the provinces have significant marijuana production."

Mars mission simulator: six men to spend 1.5 years in a bubble | DVICE

"...six researchers are going to spend a whopping 520 days inside Mars500, a Russian-built, facility-sized simulator that approximates the enormous effort a trip to Mars would entail. The simulator is made up of three main segments, with an area that represents the surface of the planet, space for a Mars lander, and the interior of the 'spaceship' that would have taken the team from Earth.
During the 520-day mission — which will include a 250-day journey to Mars, a 30-day period exploring the planet, and 240-days to travel back — the crew of six will have to overcome communication failures, being forced to ration food, and deal with feelings of isolation and separation in general."

Perspective: 520 days is 9 days longer than the 45th Infantry Division was in combat during WWII.

Terrorist vs. Terrorist - NYPOST.com

"Now Terrorist Mutt is blaming Terrorist Jeff.
The news gets even better. Both Taliban wings are mocking al Qaeda as a bunch of wimps unwilling to help with the fight. Under siege from drone attacks and special operators, al Qaeda has hunkered down -- and is no longer paying the rent to which the Taliban are accustomed.
There's more. Multiple reports tell of a 'shootin' war' between the Afghan Taliban and another brutal Afghan outfit, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb e-Islami mujaheddin (who've inched toward a deal with Afghan President Hamid Karzai). Meanwhile, the ruthless Haqqani faction -- aligned with the Taliban -- is supposedly squabbling with everybody."

MCoE undergoes name change

"When the decision was made to combine the Armor and Infantry schools in 2005 most people thought it was a good idea to form the Maneuver Center of Excellence. Now Army official have decided that while the concept is good, the name is not.

'We don't like the word 'maneuver,'' said a top Army general. 'It doesn't really say what we're trying accomplish with the collocation. And quite frankly, no one can spell it.'"

Daniel Henninger: Would the Founding Founders Love ObamaCare? - WSJ.com

"'Is the tax power infinite?'

In a country that holds elections, that question is both legal and political. The political issue rumbling toward both the Supreme Court and the electorate is whether Washington's size and power has finally grown beyond the comfort zone of the American people. That is what lies beneath the chatter about federalism and the 10th Amendment.

Liberals will argue that government today is doing good. But government now is also unprecedentedly large and unprecedentedly expensive. Even if every challenge to ObamaCare loses in court, these anxieties will last and keep coming back to the same question: Does the Democratic left think the national government's powers are infinite?"

No Sex Please, I’m Neal McDonough… – Deadline.com

"'It has cost him jobs, but the man is sticking to his principles,' a source explained to me. You can't help but admire McDonough for sticking to his beliefs, even if he's poised to lose as much as $1 million in paydays for Scoundrels, which is based on the New Zealand series Outrageous Fortune centering on the matriarch (Madsen) of a family of criminals who decides it's time for her brood to go straight after her husband (McDonough, now Elliott) is sentenced to a long prison term. ('I thought these things only happened to women in LA!,' a source mused.)"

Information Warfare: Marines Return To Facebook

"Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Defense lifted its ban on use of social media on some military networks. This is part of a trend. Last year, bowing to growing pressure from the troops, the U.S. Army unblocked such access for 81 bases in the United States. This came three years after the Department of Defense blocked troop access to YouTube, MySpace, Metacafe, IFilm, StupidVideos, FileCabi, BlackPlanet, Hi5, Pandora, MTV, 1.fm, live365, and Photobucket. Since then, other sites, like Twitter, were added to the blocked list. This meant that anyone using a computer connected to Department of Defense network (NIPRNET), was no longer able to reach the banned sites. No more, at least in most cases."

Special Operations: The Afghanistan Rules

"In Afghanistan, this means the operations around Helmand province, and the nearby city of Kandahar will be more about local politics, than fighting the Taliban. Fact is, fighting the Taliban has never been difficult. Despite their fearsome reputation, Afghans with guns are not particularly dangerous to trained soldiers. Most of the Russian troops sent in during the 1980s were poorly trained, and inexperienced, conscripts. But the professional Russian troops (airborne and special operations), tore up the Afghan warriors. The Russians were not chased out of Afghanistan, they just got tired of killing Afghans. Plus, Russia was sliding towards insolvency. The Soviet Union disintegrated two years after Russians left Afghanistan. The current situation in Afghanistan is very different. The new American tactics take advantage of the fact that most Afghans would like some peace for a change, and are willing to help, if you just sit down and discuss it with them."

Procurement: Whatever Works

"It all began with the troops who, thanks to the Internet and a flood of new civilian technology, got into the habit of just buying new stuff and using it in combat. This often led to the army officially adopting the superior new stuff. The army was often forced to adopt the new items as official issue. There had been some of this for decades, but it had been growing more frequent since the 1990s. The army had become tolerant of it, largely because this unofficial civilian gear (sleeping bags, boots, rifle cleaning kits, etc) often was better, and even officers used the stuff. So as the number of these items increased tremendously over the last decade, and more officers came back from commanding combat units, with personal experience with this stuff, more senior commanders are demanding that the army procurement bureaucracy somehow get rid of the traditional 10-15 years it takes to find, develop and approve new technology for the troops. The troops have long understood this, but now, four star generals agree, and often do so from personal experience."

Column: Is mandate constitutional? - Opinion - USATODAY.com

"With this legislation, Congress has effectively defined an uninsured 18-year-old man in Richmond as an interstate problem like a polluting factory. It is an assertion of federal power that is inherently at odds with the original vision of the Framers. If a citizen who fails to get health insurance is an interstate problem, it is difficult to see the limiting principle as Congress seeks to impose other requirements on citizens. The ultimate question may not be how Congress can prevail, but how much of states' rights would be left if it prevailed."