Morale: Australian SAS Gets VC For Afghan Heroics

 

An Australian SAS (commando) soldier, Corporal Benjamin Roberts-Smith, was recently awarded the Victoria Cross (VC), for heroic actions in Afghanistan. The Victoria Cross is the highest British military award for valor. It is also the highest military award for nations belonging to the Commonwealth of Nations (which includes Australia, Canada and 52 other countries, and was formerly known as the British Commonwealth). The Victoria Cross is awarded by the monarch (king or queen of England) or, for Commonwealth winners (or their next of kin) not able to get to Britain, by the monarch's representative (the Governor-General).Some commonwealth countries, like Australia, have made arrangements to take over, with permission from Britain, the awarding of the Victoria Cross. Australia did this, starting in 1991. Canada and New Zealand followed with a few years. No Canadians have been awarded this new VC, and only one New Zealander. Two Australians have received the Australian VC, while 96 received the VC before 1991.

Corporal Roberts-Smith earned his VC in June of last year, when, as second-in-command of a SAS patrol seeking to arrest a senior Taliban leader, found themselves under fire from a larger force. Roberts-Smith was key in defeating the ambush force, fearlessly exposing himself to enemy fire as he destroyed two of three machine-guns firing on the SAS troopers, and leading the counter-attack. When the battle was over, 60 Taliban were dead, with only two of the SAS troops wounded.

It was one of those legendary bits of soldiering, combining skill, quick thinking, courage, and a bit of luck. The commander of the SAS unit, a sergeant, was awarded the Star of Gallantry, which ranks right below the VC in Australia. The sergeants name was not released, as is SAS custom (except for VC winners, who get a lot more publicity).

The Victoria Cross was first awarded in 1856 (during the reign of queen Victoria). The American equivalent is the Medal of Honor. So far, 3,471 Medals of Honor have been awarded, compared to 1,356 Victoria Crosses. The Medal of Honor was first awarded in 1863, during the Civil War (1861-5), and throughout the 19th century was the only award for bravery. But in the early 20th century, the United States created lesser awards (Bronze Star, Silver Star, Distinguished Service Cross), making Medal of Honor awards much less common. At that point, the Medal of Honor assumed a similar prominence that the Victoria Cross had always had. Each nation of the Commonwealth has different awards that rank below the VC.

Morale: Australian SAS Gets VC For Afghan Heroics

Ex-Enterprise Commander: Superiors OK’d Videos

 

In a statement to investigators, Capt. Owen Honors said he had "affirmative and tacit approval of senior Navy leadership" when he made and broadcast a series of videos to the crew of the carrier Enterprise in 2006 and 2007.

The former Enterprise commander said in his 15-page statement to Fleet Forces Command that the ship's two commanding officers, two strike group admirals and "myriad other senior military and civilian distinguished visitors" were aware of the videos, Navy Times reported Sunday.

Dave Brown, managing editor of Navy Times, said Honors' statement includes two points -- that senior leadership encouraged the videos by discussing them weekly and that Honors was never told to stop making them -- that contradict what the Navy has reported.

The videos were first made public by The Virginian-Pilot this month. Since then, they've been broadcast by media outlets across the globe. They include sexual jokes, subordinates parading in drag, anti-gay slurs, and Sailors pretending to masturbate, shower together and perform rectal exams.

Honors produced them during his tenure as the ship's executive officer, or XO. They were part of what he called "XO Movie Night," and they were meant to entertain the crew.

Ex-Enterprise Commander: Superiors OK’d Videos

In the streets of Cairo, proof Bush was right

 

In November 2003, President George W. Bush asked these questions:

"Are the peoples of the Middle East somehow beyond the reach of liberty? Are millions of men and women and children condemned by history or culture to live in despotism? Are they alone never to know freedom and never even to have a choice in the matter?"

The massive and violent demonstrations underway in Egypt, the smaller ones in Jordan and Yemen, and the recent revolt in Tunisia that inspired those events have affirmed that the answer is no and are exploding, once and for all, the myth of Arab exceptionalism. Arab nations, too, yearn to throw off the secret police, to read a newspaper that the Ministry of Information has not censored and to vote in free elections. The Arab world may not be swept with a broad wave of revolts now, but neither will it soon forget this moment.

In the streets of Cairo, proof Bush was right

Israel: Just Another Arab Dictatorship

 

Changes in government in Lebanon and Egypt bring Israel closer to war, on two fronts. In Lebanon, Hezbollah has bullied and bribed its way into creating a majority coalition in parliament. While representing only a minority of Lebanese (most of the Shia), Hezbollah is backed by Iran and Syria (which is also dependent on Iranian cash). Lebanon has always been divided by religion (many different strains of Islam and Christianity) and clan politics. Long considered part of Syria, but what is, and was, Syria has been part of other empires for over a thousand years. In the 1940s, Lebanon and Syria were created by France, which occupied this part of the fallen (in 1918) Turkish empire for over two decades. Lebanon was to be a refuge for Arab Christians, but their emigration and low birth rate eventually made the Moslems a majority and that has upset the original political arrangement that kept Lebanon peaceful and prosperous. Now the militant Shia want to turn Lebanon into a religious dictatorship (as now exists in Iran). Most Lebanese don't want this, but are too divided to effectively oppose it. Hezbollah also wants Lebanon to go to war with Israel, something else most Lebanese oppose. At the moment, however, it would take another civil war (which, again, most Lebanese oppose) to stop Hezbollah.

To the south, revolution has overtaken Egypt. Triggered by a popular, and seemingly successful, uprising against the dictatorship in Tunisia, similar mass demonstrations have broken out in Egypt against the corrupt Mubarak dictatorship. A new, popular, government is liable to renounce the three decade old peace deal with Israel. While that deal includes annual bribes of over two billion dollars from the United States, Arab media has been denouncing that deal since it was made, and calling for the destruction of Israel. While Mubarak took the money and kept the peace, he also allowed state controlled media to continue vilifying Israel. A new government would have to deal with popular enthusiasm for another war with Israel. This would cost Egypt their annual American subsidy (to keep the peace), as well as earn the hostility of many aid donors and trading partners. Even with their American weapons, the Egyptians would lose another war. That's because corruption and poor leadership (officers selected more for loyalty to Mubarak than for military skills) has reduced the Egyptian army to riot police pretending to be soldiers. But it would cost Israel a lot (of lives and money) to deal with the armed mob coming at them from Egypt, especially if it happened at the same time Hezbollah unleashed another rocket attack from the north. A new government in Egypt would probably not tolerate Islamic terrorists hiding out in Gaza under Hamas protection, but would, for a while anyway, support Palestinian rule in Gaza and the West Bank, and a new Egyptian peace deal with Israel would have to be worked out. Probably without another war, but all those decades of anti-Israel propaganda have had an impact on most Egyptians. While Israel scrambles to resurrect discarded war plans, it's still not a sure thing that the Egyptian dictatorship is headed for extinction. A lot of wealthy and powerful Egyptians have a lot to lose (as close allies of Mubarak) if the dictatorship falls. Many of the protesting Egyptians realize that a new government could just turn into yet another dictatorship. About a hundred have died so far in the violence, and in the background deals are being made by a desperate, but resourceful, ruling class.

Israel: Just Another Arab Dictatorship

Information Warfare: Stuxnet Autopsy Fascinates And Frightens

 

Stuxnet, a computer worm (a computer program that constantly tries to copy itself to other computers) was designed as a weapons grade cyber weapon, and all the attention it is getting now is helping to make similar weapons even more effective. Hundreds of capable programmers have been taking Stuxnet apart, and openly discussing the results. While Stuxnet was probably created as a highly classified government project (Israel and the U.S., in a joint effort, are the most likely suspects), no one has taken credit for it. Thus Stuxnet belongs to no one, and everyone. The public discussion on the Internet has provided a bonanza of useful criticism of how Stuxnet was put together, often describing in detail how flaws could be fixed or features improved. But even when such details were not provided, the programmers picking apart Stuxnet usually mentioned what tools or techniques were needed to make the code more effective.

On the down side, this public autopsy of Stuxnet makes the inner workings of the worm software, and all the improvements, available to anyone. Then again, security professionals now have a much clearer idea of how this kind of weapon works, and this can make future attempts to use a Stuxnet-type weapon more difficult.

Information Warfare: Stuxnet Autopsy Fascinates And Frightens

Will there be a chocolate drought? World¿s supply of sustainable cocoa could run out by 2014 | Mail Online

 

The world faces a chocolate ‘drought’ over the next few years, an expert warned yesterday.

Political unrest in the Ivory Coast, where 40 per cent of the world’s cocoa beans are grown, has ‘significantly’ depleted the number of certified fair trade cocoa farmers.

Many have fled the West ­African country, while fair trade training programmes have also come to a halt.

Fairtrade training programmes have ground to a halt because of the danger farmers face in rural areas.

The situation is already affecting chocolate manufacturers, who are facing the highest cocoa prices for over 30 years.

Prices jumped by 10 per cent this month alone. Analysts are predicting they could soon hit $3,720 per metric tonne - a level last seen in January 1979.

It follows a curb on international cocoa exports initiated earlier this week by the country's new president,  Alassane Ouattara.

Will there be a chocolate drought? World¿s supply of sustainable cocoa could run out by 2014 | Mail Online

Morale: Tell Me How You Feel

 

The U.S. Army has found that thorough mental health screening of troops before they go overseas to a combat zone, reduces behavior and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) problems by over 75 percent. The screening reduces suicidal thoughts by half. Developing an effective screening procedure has been difficult. The biggest problem is false positives. That's because anyone found to have problems is given additional attention while overseas. This annoys the overworked mental health people in the combat zone, as well as the "false positive" troops who are getting stress counseling they really don't need. Nevertheless, the army persevered, and finally got an acceptably accurate pre-deployment screening system in place.

The army also wanted to find out to what extent non-combat operations (training can often be quite intense) can add to the stress that could eventually leads to PTSD. The basic idea here is to "mainstream" PTSD, trying to convince all the troops that PTSD is just another occupational hazard, not something you should try and hide, and hide from. You can't, and increasingly, the army won't let you. This effort was part of a wide trend in medicine, where better diagnostic tools enable diagnosing more people with problems that were largely ignored in the past.

Morale: Tell Me How You Feel

Winning: The Ancient Search For Victory In Afghanistan

 

Without al Qaeda and its terror campaign against the West, Afghanistan would still be a mess. If the Russians had not invaded to protect the local communists, Afghanistan would still be an collection of tribes presided over by a Pushtun king, and eventually corrupted by drug lords. The heroin trade was going to be driven out of Burma (the Golden Triangle) eventually, and Pakistan was the likely place for it to move to. The Pakistanis were pretty united in driving out the heroin trade, which they did, and it moved into Afghanistan, where it naturally thrived in the largely lawless tribal confederation that has existed there for centuries. Even without Islamic terrorists and Western troops in Afghanistan, there would still be an "Afghan Problem," but it would mainly be about the place being the source of the world's heroin supply. Modernization would still be taking place (the largely illiterate Afghans quickly came to love TV, cell phones and SUVs), and causing friction with traditionalists. The end of the Cold War would have brought a flood of cheap Cold War surplus weapons (mainly from the former communist states, and including millions of AK-47s selling for as little as twenty dollars each).

The "Afghan Problem" would still consist of drug lords, a largely illiterate tribal population, torn by those seeking to preserve the old ways, and a minority seeking reform, or a way to escape to the West (or anywhere else.) The "enemy" in Afghanistan is a lot more than the Taliban, and victory won't come quickly or cheaply.

Winning: The Ancient Search For Victory In Afghanistan

Algeria: Revolution Is In The Air

 

Larger, and more violent, anti-government demonstrations are showing up in Algeria, in the last two weeks (since the dictatorship in neighboring Tunisia was overthrown). So far, the violence has led to about ten deaths, and over a thousand wounded. The people want economic, and political, justice, and an end to the "emergency rule" (sort of martial law, with increased police powers) that has been in force for two decades. Like their counterparts throughout the Arab world, the demonstrators want competent government, less corruption and more economic growth. The young want jobs, opportunity and a future, things too many of them don't have now.

Algeria, and the other North African nations, are all Arab dictatorships, and all worried about the growing, and increasingly organized, popular demonstrations against the ruling groups. It's basically a revolt of the young (teenage to early 30s) men who suffer high unemployment (often 30 percent or more) and encounter constant reminders that education and talent is no match for political connections when it comes to getting a job.

The dictatorships all operate in the same model. The government is run by a skillful politician who has set up a system whereby those who support the dictatorship get jobs or economic opportunities. In this way, about ten percent can live off the other 90 percent. The problem with this system is that it tends to be try and be hereditary, and that means that after a few generations, natural selection sees to it that the ruling class is less able and the unhappy other 90 percent has more political talent, often enough to overthrow the government.

Algeria: Revolution Is In The Air

Attrition: Sweden Runs Out Of Soldiers

 

Sweden is running out of soldiers. It all began when, six months ago, Sweden abolished conscription. Sweden has been reducing the size of its armed forces over the past decade, and has been discussing the mechanics of abolishing conscription for over three years. As a result of that, fewer (recently only 10,000 a year) young men were being conscripted, and for shorter (11 months) terms. With conscription gone, Sweden thought they could rely on volunteers, serving for longer terns of service.

But Sweden wants a more capable force, and is raising standards to get it. A decade ago, Sweden was drafting 50,000 men a year. But the new plan, to recruit 16,000 volunteers by 2014, is already in trouble. So far, only half the needed recruits are joining. Most of the new troops would be reservists, part-time soldiers who would only be called to full-time duty as needed (for an emergency, or a peacekeeping mission for which there were not enough "career" or active duty soldiers available.) The recruiting shortfalls mean that career troops will be going on peacekeeping missions more often, thus encouraging many of them to leave the military.

There is no ready solution for the recruiting problem, other than offering more money. But that is very unlikely. Sweden has cut its defense spending about 20 percent in the last decade, and will freeze its defense budget at about $5-5.5 billion a year, for most of the next decade. At the same time, it wants to raise the readiness of its active duty units for deployment overseas on peacekeeping missions. The goal is to have all units of the active military capable of deployment outside Sweden, within a week. Currently, only a third of the active duty troops can be sent abroad, and many of these require up a year of preparation.

By 2014, the volunteer force will be seven, battalion size "battle groups". To this end, the military has to deactivate several infantry and tank units. All this improves the readiness of the remaining 12,500 troops who are eligible for deployment. This includes eight infantry battalions. The navy's amphibious infantry battalion ("marines") will be turned into an infantry battalion with amphibious capabilities.

Attrition: Sweden Runs Out Of Soldiers

Military Paid More Than Federal Civilian Workers | Military Advantage Blog | Military.com

 

Sev­eral news sources and blogs have picked up the fact that the CBO report indi­cates that a typ­i­cal ser­vice­mem­ber is paid more than 75 per­cent of “com­pa­ra­ble fed­eral civil­ian” workers. Some are using the CBO report to sup­port the argue­ment that the mil­i­tary is paid too much.

Specif­i­cally, the report states that the “median for enlisted per­son­nel in 2010 exceeded cash com­pen­sa­tion for most fed­eral civil­ian employ­ees with a high school degree and per­haps some col­lege edu­ca­tion.” In addi­tion, the report’s author writes, “median cash com­pen­sa­tion for enlisted per­son­nel was at least as high as the 75th per­centile of earn­ings for fed­eral work­ers with com­pa­ra­ble work expe­ri­ence.” The find­ings were sim­i­lar for mil­i­tary offi­cers when com­pared to their coun­ter­parts.

But is the com­par­i­son fair?
Many fed­eral civil­ian work­ers may cor­rectly argue that they serve in harms way along­side active duty mem­bers and have com­pa­ra­ble cir­cum­stances. How­ever, the CBO appears to see it oth­er­wise. In fact, the final sec­tion of the report lists the fac­tors which make com­par­ing the two com­pen­sa­tion sys­tems dif­fi­cult. Not the least of which are what the report refers to as the “intan­gi­bles.” These intan­gi­bles include fre­quent relo­ca­tions, deploy­ments, greater respon­si­bil­ity at ear­lier career points, and haz­ardous work­ing con­di­tions, not to men­tion the unlim­ited work­ing hours (24/7 on call). The report’s author states that quan­ti­fy­ing those intan­gi­ble ele­ments among mil­i­tary and fed­eral civil­ians is “extremely dif­fi­cult.”

Note: The report also men­tions the com­bat fac­tor, but com­bat related com­pen­sa­tion was not included in the direct cash com­par­i­son.

Why the report and why now?
Some spec­u­late that the request for the report may be related to Rep. Hoyer’s call late last year to freeze mil­i­tary pay  along with fed­eral civil­ian pay. Hoyer has declined to indi­cate where he may head next; accord­ing to a spokesper­son from Hoyer’s office, the con­gress­man is not ready to make any judg­ment yet.

Military Paid More Than Federal Civilian Workers | Military Advantage Blog | Military.com

CSU Gets Grant For Bomb-Detecting Vegetation « CBS Denver

How’s this for tactical shrubbery?

Colorado State University has received and $8 million grant from the Department of Defense. They’ll use the money in hopes of growing plants to detect explosives in shopping malls or airports.

Researchers at CSU say they’re finding that plants are at least as good, maybe better, than dogs at sniffing out things like explosives and dangerous chemical weapons. Landscaping plants, for example, can look really nice, but also be programmed to change color when there’s danger in the air.

“If this plant would sense an explosive or an environmental pollutant, it would turn white,” CSU biology professor Dr. June Medford said. “It’s a little slow (right now).”

Medford says right now the plants take a couple hours to begin turning white, but she says with more research any kind of plant could be altered to change color in minutes or possibly seconds.

“You can do it for a lot of other plant species, but it’s not quite as simple as this,” CSU researcher Pete Bowerman said.

CSU Gets Grant For Bomb-Detecting Vegetation « CBS Denver

Baseball Player Quits, Says "I Don't Deserve $12M" | NBC Washington

“Sputnik Moment?”  How about a “Meche Moment?”

Okay, Gil Meche hasn't been great since signing a big contract with the Kansas City Royals. But not many players would feel so badly about their performance that they would walk away from a guaranteed $12 million.

Meche announced last week he will retire, giving up the payday due on the last year of his deal. Meche has always been known for his integrity, according to The New York Times, but this move left the baseball world stunned. Meche said he just didn't like the idea of not earning his keep.

“When I signed my contract, my main goal was to earn it,” Meche told the paper from his temporary home in Lafayette, La. “Once I started to realize I wasn’t earning my money, I felt bad. I was making a crazy amount of money for not even pitching. Honestly, I didn’t feel like I deserved it. I didn’t want to have those feelings again.”

Baseball Player Quits, Says "I Don't Deserve $12M" | NBC Washington

Institute for Policy Innovation

It’s commonly understood that the world watches closely what the U.S. does on technology and communications policy, so we in the U.S. have to be careful of the precedents we set. In fact, during the recent so called “network neutrality” debate, opponents of new government regulation made exactly this argument. Other countries frequently follow our lead, or use our actions as cover to justify their actions.

So it may be more than a coincidence that as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued its new “network neutrality” regulations for broadband networks, Venezuela decided to act. As of late December the Venezuela Parliament changed the laws to provide the Executive with the power to regulate all content accessible within the country on the Internet by heavily regulating exactly what the service providers can do.

All Venezuelan-based ISPs now are required, under threat of fine, to block all content that:
· Encourages and promotes hatred and intolerance for religious, political, and gender difference, by racism or xenophobia,

· Incites or promote and/or justify the crime,
· Constitutes war propaganda,
· Fosters unrest among the citizenship or disturb public order,
· Refuses to recognize the government's authority,
· Induces to murder,
· Incites or promotes the violation of existing law,
· Promotes, justifies or incites public disturbances,
· Allows for anonymous use, or
· Disregards the legitimate authority.

In other words, essentially all content will be regulated, including text, images, sound and video--anything that might conflict these provisions.

And the result is an oppressive government seizing control of the Internet and using new U.S. regulations as at least partial cover for their own bad behavior.

Oh sure, Venezuela needed little provocation for its continued oppression, especially from the U.S., but now Chavez has the comfort of knowing that the U.S. has joined Venezuela in the company of governments who regulate the Internet.

Institute for Policy Innovation

The Politics of Bloodlust - WSJ.com

 

America's liberal left is preoccupied with salacious fantasies of political violence. These take two forms: dreams of leftist insurrection, and nightmares of reactionary bloodshed. The "mainstream" media ignore or suppress the former type of fantasy and treat the latter as if it reflected reality. This produces a distorted narrative that further feeds the left's fantasies and disserves those who expect the media to provide truthful information.

The Politics of Bloodlust - WSJ.com

Iran: There Can Be No Greater Sin

 

In Lebanon, three decades of Iranian support for local Shia group Hezbollah has paid off as a combination of bribes, bullying and Iranian backing resulted in Hezbollah putting together a coalition of parties that gave Hezbollah control of the Lebanese government. This could trigger another civil war in Lebanon, but Iran doesn't care. This move gives Iran control of Lebanon, as long as Hezbollah leads the coalition government. And another civil war would be an opportunity to increase Iranian influence there, and to hurt Israel. There are also risks, but these are the kinds of, behind the scenes, risks that Iran prefers.

Russia has called for an international investigation of the Stuxnet computer virus, and punishment of those responsible. Iran has admitted that their nuclear program was damaged by Stuxnet,and blames the attack on the U.S. and Israel. Although Russia has recently cancelled several important weapons sales to Iran (in return for Western and Israeli help in updating Russian weapons industries), Russia still wants to maintain good relations with Iran. Thus the loud, but largely meaningless, campaign to punish whoever unleashed Stuxnet.

Another result of Stuxnet is the government announcing a cyber (computer security) police force. Not just to protect against Stuxnet type threats, but the more insidious Internet based dangers (Facebook, twitter, email and so on). Help is being sought from Russia and China, two nations that have long had powerful "cyber police" operations.

Iran: There Can Be No Greater Sin

Medal of Honor Recipient Barney Hajiro Dies

 

The nation's oldest living recipient of the Medal of Honor, Barney Hajiro, died Friday at Maunalani Hospital in Honolulu.

He was 94.

Hajiro had been awarded three Distinguished Service Crosses by the Army while serving with a rifle company in the 442 Regimental Combat Team during World War II in Europe.

One of those awards was upgraded to the Medal of Honor 46 years after the war ended at the urging of Sen. Daniel Akaka who authored congressional legislation requiring the Army to determine whether 22 Asian and Pacific Island Americans who received the Distinguished Service Cross had not been properly recognized because of the war's anti-Japanese sentiment. Twenty, including Sen. Daniel Inouye, were members of the famed segregated Japanese American 100th Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

During one of the 442nd's fiercest campaigns in dense forests of France's Vosges Mountains to free the towns of Bruyeres and Biffontaine, Hajiro on Oct. 29, 1944, led a charge on "Suicide Hill" drawing fire and single-handedly destroying two machine gun nests and killing two enemy snipers before being wounded by a third machine gun.

The effort by the nisei soldiers of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team's I and K companies to rescue Texas 36th Division's "Lost Battalion" is considered to be one of the key battles in U.S. Army history.

In a 2000 Star-Bulletin story, Hajiro discussed the battle before President Clinton hung the sky-blue ribbon that dangles a gold star around his neck at a special White House ceremony.

"There was shooting coming from all sides. I got hit in my arm ... my BAR was hit ... and then my helmet was blown off my head."

During the battle, an enemy bullet had penetrated Hajiro's left wrist and severed a nerve. Another bullet had entered his shoulder. His left cheek also was scarred by an enemy bullet.

Several days earlier Hajiro, while acting as a sentry near Bruyeres, helped allied troops by attacking a house 200 yards away by exposing himself to enemy fire and directing fire at an enemy strong point. He assisted the unit on his right by firing his automatic rifle, killing or wounding two enemy snipers.

On Oct. 22, he and fellow soldier took up an outpost security position about 50 yards to the right front of their platoon, concealed themselves, and ambushed an 18-man, heavily armed enemy patrol, killing two, wounding one, and taking the rest as prisoners.

Edward Yamasaki, president of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team's I Company chapter, in his book -- "And Then There Were Eight" -- noted that I Company started the battle with 140 riflemen. "Then there only eight soldiers standing at the end."

Hajiro was the eldest of nine children and left the 8th grade at Puunene on Maui to work in the sugar-cane fields for 10 cents an hour, 10 hours a day. Because he had to leave school to help support his family, Hajiro, an aspiring track star, was never able to pursue his dream to compete in high school and college.

He is survived by a son, Glenn; wife, Esther, and one grandson.

Funeral services, which are being handled by Hosoi Mortuary, are pending.

Medal of Honor Recipient Barney Hajiro Dies

Stealth Engineer Sentenced for Selling Secrets

 

A former B-2 stealth bomber engineer was sentenced to 32 years in prison Monday for selling military secrets to China in the latest of several high-profile cases of Chinese espionage in the U.S.

Chief U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway said Noshir Gowadia, 66, would likely be in his late 80s by the time he is released if he gets credit for good behavior in prison.

"He broke his oath of loyalty to this country," Mollway said. "He was found guilty of marketing valuable technology to foreign countries for personal gain."

Gowadia, who was born in India, was convicted in August on 14 counts, including communicating national defense information to aid a foreign nation and violating the arms export control act.

Prosecutors said Gowadia helped China design a stealth cruise missile to get money to pay the $15,000-a-month mortgage on his luxurious multimillion dollar home overlooking the ocean on Maui. They say he pocketed at least $110,000 by selling military secrets.

Stealth Engineer Sentenced for Selling Secrets

“Obama Resubmits Berwick Nomination to Senate for Medicare Post”

 

Civility! Comity! Working together!

– If the end result we’re working together toward is socialized medicine, that is. Which, if you think about it, is nothing more than an “investment” in our bureaucracies, stimulating their growth.

What, did you misunderstand the President’s message last evening?

“Obama Resubmits Berwick Nomination to Senate for Medicare Post”

The Speech Is Flat - WSJ.com

 

So of course President Obama was talking nonsense when he said, in his State of the Union Address last night, that "this is our generation's Sputnik moment." He was merely trying to make his calls for pouring tax money down the drain of "renewable energy" and "high-speed rail" sound like inspiring ambitions rather than boondoggles.

(On high-speed rail, by the way, the president promised: "For some trips, it will be faster than flying--without the pat-down." At the risk of overestimating the competence of the federal bureaucracy, could it be that the Transportation Security Administration insists on touching everyone's junk because the president wants us to get excited about trains?)

NASA

Sigue Sigue Sputnik!

"Sputnik moment," however, sounded to us not just false but clichéd. And in fact, it turned out the president himself had trotted out the "our generation's Sputnik moment" line before, at a Dec. 6, 2010, speech in North Carolina. But we doubted it originated in the White House speechwriting shop. It sounded like the work of a far, far worse writer. Sure enough, our suspicions were confirmed by a book review in the Sept. 9, 2008, edition of the New York Times: "Thomas L. Friedman's latest book is a plea for a new Sputnik moment."

Friedman, it turns out, has been beating the Sputnik drum since the Clinton years:

• "Just as the Soviet launch of Sputnik elevated the importance of science education in the early cold war, the onset of globalization and intensified economic competition is elevating the importance of technology education today."--March 10, 2000
• "Think about this. We are facing a mounting crisis in science and engineering education. The generation of scientists, engineers and mathematicians who were spurred to get advanced degrees by the 1957 Soviet launch of Sputnik and the challenge by President John Kennedy to put a man on the moon is slowly retiring."--Dec. 5, 2004
• "A few years ago my youngest daughter participated in the National History Day program for eighth graders. . . . My daughter's project was 'How Sputnik Led to the Internet.' "--June 1, 2005
• "I came to Detroit looking for the hottest new American cars. Instead, I found Sputnik."--Jan. 20, 2006
• "The big question for me is, how will President Bush and the Democratic Congress use China: as a scapegoat or a Sputnik?"--Nov. 10, 2006
• "We used to try harder and do better. After Sputnik, we came together as a nation and responded with a technology, infrastructure and education surge."--June 29, 2008
• "I believe this Chinese decision to go green is the 21st-century equivalent of the Soviet Union's 1957 launch of Sputnik. . . . Well, folks. Sputnik just went up again: China's going clean-tech. . . . China is embarking on a new, parallel path of clean power deployment and innovation. It is the Sputnik of our day."--Sept. 27, 2009
• "I hope Americans see China's rise as the 21st-century equivalent of Russia launching the Sputnik satellite. . . . Unfortunately, the Cheneyites want to make fighting Al Qaeda our Sputnik."--Jan. 16, 2010

The Speech Is Flat - WSJ.com

Weapons: Russia Seeks A Foreign Replacement For The AK-47

 

The Russian Defense Minister caused a firestorm of bad publicity recently when he announced that Russia was shopping for foreign assault rifles and sniper rifles. This offended many Russians, who consider the AK-47, and all of its derivatives, to be perfectly suitable for Russian troops, and national icons as well. But the defense minister has a point. Professional soldiers prefer more accurate assault rifles, and Russia wants to create a more professional army. While the AK-47 was popular with irregulars and bandits, that's mainly because it was a rugged weapon that could survive a lot of abuse and neglect, and still fire. Not very accurately, but as amateurs often fired the AK-47 type weapon on full automatic, accuracy was besides the point. Russians also take pride in the fact that the AK-47 was the first modern assault rifle when it was introduced in 1947. That's not true either. A very similar weapon, the German Sturmgewehr 44 (also known as the MP43, MP43/1, MP44 and StG44) [VIDEO]  was introduced, on the Russian front, in July 1943 and remained in production, and use, until 1945. The Russians had four years to examine captured Sturmgewehr 44s. It's resemblance to the AK-47 was no accident.

Weapons: Russia Seeks A Foreign Replacement For The AK-47

GOP would amend Constitution to prohibit feds from owning stock - The Hill's Floor Action

 

House Republicans have relaunched their ambitious effort to amend the U.S. Constitution this year with language that would prohibit the federal government from owning stock in any company. 

The effort is a direct reaction to the Bush and Obama administrations' bailouts of auto and financial companies, which saw Treasury take significant stakes in General Motors, Chrysler and major Wall Street institutions.

Under a resolution proposed Monday night, those bailouts could not have happened, at least the way they were structured.

Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio) and key Republican leaders introduced H.J.Res. 22. The resolution would add an amendment to the Constitution that states: "The United States shall not own, subscribe to, or otherwise have any interest in the stock or equity of any company, association or corporation: Provided, That the foregoing prohibition shall not apply to any investments through any pension funds."

GOP would amend Constitution to prohibit feds from owning stock - The Hill's Floor Action

Forces: Iraq Prepares For War With Iran

 

The Iraqi Army is hustling to get ready to deal with Iran, by the time the last 50,000 U.S. troops leave at the end of the year. Increased oil production, and oil prices, has made it possible to recruit more troops, and equip more combat divisions. Particularly noteworthy is the creation of Chemical Defense Regiments, with the goal of one of these units being assigned to each combat division over the next few years. The only neighbor known to have chemical weapons is Iran. Iraqi diplomats spend a lot of time trying to improve relationships with Iran, but just in case things go south, the Iraqi military is preparing for the worst.

While Iraq has sought to obtain a lot of American weapons, particularly tanks, artillery and combat aircraft, it's been easier, and faster, to get Russian type gear from Russia or East European nations. A lot of this stuff is newly made, but most of it is Cold War surplus. These vehicles and artillery are cheap, a lot of older Iraqis are familiar with them, and they are as good as anything the Iranians have.

The Iraqi ground forces currently have nearly 200 infantry and tank battalions, organized into over 70 brigades and 17 divisions. There are a lot of independent brigades, and divisions are still waiting to receive artillery and armored vehicles and support units. Meanwhile, troops spend a lot of time performing security tasks, to aid the effort to track down the few remaining Sunni Arab terrorists.

By the end of the year, the army will have about 230,000 troops. They will not be as well as equipped as during Saddam Hussein's tenure (1960s-2003), but they are better trained. This is important, because Iraqi troops have long been the least effective in the Arab world, largely because of poor leadership. The war with Iran in the 1980s changed that, but Saddam purged most of the competent new leaders, soon after, as he feared they would lead a coup against his disastrous rule (he was probably right.)

Forces: Iraq Prepares For War With Iran

Supreme Court Justices Could Be No-Shows for Obama's State of the Union Address - FoxNews.com

 

Just one day before President Obama’s State of the Union address, it’s still not clear whether Chief Justice John Roberts will attend or, like high court colleague Justice Samuel Alito, skip the event.

The recent uptick in collegiality from lawmakers on Capitol Hill in the run-up to Tuesday’s speech contrasts sharply with the lingering controversy from last year’s speech in which President Obama rebuked the justices over a campaign finance decision. If Roberts decides not to attend, it would be his first absence at a State the Union Speech since joining the court in 2005.

Roberts’s decision -- or that of any other justice for that matter -- wouldn’t normally be an issue but for the instant uproar that resulted from last year’s address and the observations he and some of his colleagues have made over the last 12 months about the celebrated but often hyper-partisan evening.

Supreme Court Justices Could Be No-Shows for Obama's State of the Union Address - FoxNews.com

Suicide bomber kills 31 at Russia's biggest airport | Reuters

 

At least 31 people were killed and more than 100 injured on Monday in a suicide bombing at Russia's biggest airport, Russian news agencies reported.

Russia's ruble-dominated stock market MICEX fell by nearly two percent following the blast, which ripped through the baggage claim area at Moscow's Domodedovo airport at 1332 GMT.

Smoke wafted out of the baggage claim area and people were seen running out of the emergency exits at the airport, local media reported.

Initial casualty figures were contradictory with ITAR-TASS saying about 20 people had been killed. A spokeswoman for prosecutors put the number of casualties at about 20.

Suicide bomber kills 31 at Russia's biggest airport | Reuters

Space: Spy Launcher Succeeds

 

The Delta IV is a modular system, allowing engine and fuel tank parts to be configured to launch satellites of from 5 to 14 tons. One of the features of the Delta IV is a second stage that can put itself into orbit and restart its engine for precise placement of satellites. Launch cost is $10 million to $20 million per ton of payload. This is expensive for commercial satellites, but the Delta IV is one of the few rockets that can put up larger and heavier military satellites, so most of its work has come from the Department of Defense. The Delta IV was built to take up some of the slack created by the end of the Space Shuttle program. The Space Shuttle is the most expensive way to get stuff into orbit. Satellites sent up via the Shuttle cost $25 million a ton. Moreover, while the max payload of the Delta IV is 15 tons, the Space Shuttle could lift up to 24 tons. Despite those differences, new satellites can be designed to go up via the expendable 700 ton Delta IV, rather than in the more spacious, reuseable and expensive, 2,000 ton Space Shuttle.

Space: Spy Launcher Succeeds

Murphy's Law: Fatal, But Manly, Addiction

 

For the last two years, deminers in Afghanistan have increasingly been under attack. This is a major change. Even before September 11, 2001, the Taliban declared that deminers should not be molested in any way. That's because all the mines and unexploded munitions buried all over Afghanistan do not discriminate. Anyone who comes upon this stuff is likely to get hurt. But last year, 125 deminers were killed, wounded or kidnapped by Taliban or bandits. Most of the victims were kidnapped for ransom.

The reasons for this upsurge of violence against deminers is all about a job well done. No good deed goes unpunished. After 22 years, and over $300 million, the demining effort in Afghanistan is in its final stages. Most of the largest and most dangerous minefields were cleared by 2008, and attention turned to retraining programs for deminers who no longer had work. In many parts of Afghanistan, all the explosive stuff has been cleared, and many of the deminers don't want to move to another part of the country to continue their work. That can be dangerous given all the tribal and religious animosities, not to mention the bandits and Taliban. Some of the recent attacks were the result of deminers operating in an area where the locals were of a different tribe.

The demobilized deminers were given training mainly in the building trades (carpenters, painters, plumbers, electricians, and masons.) Having been a deminer is a splendid resume enhancer in Afghanistan, so these men usually had little trouble getting in on the building boom that is currently sweeping the country. But many deminers had become addicted to their dangerous task, and kept at it. With much less fear of old mines or unexploded bombs, more Taliban and bandits simply saw deminers from another part of the country as potential victims.

The demining effort, using nearly 9,000 demining personnel (nearly all of them Afghans) removed over 350,000 anti-personnel mines, over 20,000 anti-tank mines and over seven million pieces of unexploded ordnance (shells, grenades). The demining effort should be finished in another year or two.

Murphy's Law: Fatal, But Manly, Addiction

“Right place, right time, right song” aka China flips the bird at Obama’s State Dinner [Darleen Click]

 

China got its State dinner with Obama, an evening that made the papers for its glitz, food, Pandas and the usual pandering over M’chelle as bestest fashion icon evah!

But in the midst of the evening of music, China put one over on Barry and company.

Lang Lang the pianist says he chose it. Chairman Hu Jintao recognized it as soon as he heard it. Patriotic Chinese Internet users were delighted as soon as they saw the videos online. Early morning TV viewers in China knew it would be played an hour or two beforehand. At the White House State dinner on Jan. 19, about six minutes into his set, Lang Lang began tapping out a famous anti-American propaganda melody from the Korean War: the theme song to the movie “Battle on Shangganling Mountain.”

The film depicts a group of “People’s Volunteer Army” soldiers who are first hemmed in at Shanganling (or Triangle Hill) and then, when reinforcements arrive, take up their rifles and counterattack the U.S. military “jackals.”

The movie and the tune are widely known among Chinese, and the song has been a leading piece of anti-American propaganda by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for decades. CCP propaganda has always referred to the Korean War as the “movement to resist America and help [North] Korea.” The message of the propaganda is that the United States is an enemy—in fighting in the Korean War the United States’ real goal was said to be to invade and conquer China. The victory at Triangle Hill was promoted as a victory over imperialists.

The song Lang Lang played describes how beautiful China is and then near the end has this verse, “When friends are here, there is fine wine /But if the jackal comes /What greets it is the hunting rifle.” The “jackal” in the song is the United States. [...]

“My Motherland” having been played at the White House will be seen as a propaganda triumph in China.

“Right place, right time, right song” aka China flips the bird at Obama’s State Dinner [Darleen Click]

Idaho, 6 Other States, to “Nullify” ObamaCare « Hot Air

 

Idaho is not the only state considering nullification as a remedy. Six others, including Maine, Montana, Oregon, Nebraska, Texas and Wyoming, are also considering bills that would in essence nullify the president’s signature on the reform law.

Pearce, who has expressed optimism that the law will pass, becoming the law of the land in Idaho, is quoted by FOX as having saud:

There are now 27 states that are in on the lawsuit against Obamacare. What if those 27 states do the same thing we do with nullification? It’s a killer.

One potential fly in the ointment for Idaho and other states considering nullification is the 1958 U.S. Supreme Court decision reaffirming that federal laws “shall be the supreme law of the land.” If nothing else, these moves will result in some interesting legal battles

Idaho, 6 Other States, to “Nullify” ObamaCare « Hot Air

The limits of Second Amendment rights « Hot Air

 

The argument goes something like this:

Look ,nobody is trying to take your guns away. We’re on board with you there, brother! The Supreme Court has ruled that you have an individual right to own a gun. But all rights have limits, you know? I mean, you can’t yell “Fire” in a crowded theater. And besides, nobody really needs a clip that holds thirty rounds unless they’re hunting humans, do they? We can limit the body count in cases like this by simply reducing the capacity of the magazines. That’s not so unreasonable, is it?

Unfortunately somebody has to be the bad guy here, so I’ll field the question. Yes. Yes, it is completely unreasonable. And furthermore, this is precisely the wrong time to be having this discussion. You’re only doing it now because politicians tend to get a bit gun shy (if you’ll pardon the phrase) at times like this and fidget around, not wanting to look too gun happy. But since you took the time to ask, I’ll sit down with you here and try to explain why that is.

There are two related but equally dangerous problems with this argument. The first is whether or not there is a “need” for people to have a high capacity magazine which holds 30 or more rounds. (And this is one argument which even Ed Morrissey seemed willing to give some ground on in the article linked above.) I’ll grant you that the number of scenarios where it might be useful is limited indeed. You’ll never get that many shots at any game animal you’re hunting and a Glock is really a fairly useless weapon for hunting to begin with. And you’re never going to be in that much of a rush to get off such a large number of rounds in conventional target shooting competition.

But I can think of one – hopefully very rare – situation where it might come in handy. That would be in a home defense situation where you’re facing multiple armed assailants. Granted, with a lot of practice you can switch out a clip on a handgun in a few seconds, but not everyone has that skill. (I’ve actually experimented with this in the past, and under ideal conditions I can do it in about four.) The point here, though, is that it isn’t totally inconceivable that somebody might run into a use for it.

But that is actually a far less important consideration than the second point of the argument. The real question here is whether or not the need to be able to fire that many rounds constitutes sufficient grounds, and if the government could or should mandate such a limitation on that basis.

There is no end to the list of things Americans may not need to do. You don’t really need to be able to dance in a public park. Let’s face it, there are plenty of other ways to express happiness. And as far as physical training goes, you could always just do calisthenics. Further, as some nanny state enthusiasts might reason, the possibility exists that while dancing in a public park, you might fall down and hurt yourself. Even worse, your clumsy frolicking could lead you to fall down and hurt someone else. But does that lack of need and potential self-injury provide grounds for the federal government to prohibit dancing in national parks? Where in the Constitution are we to find that power granted to them?

The point being, a lack of need for someone to perform a given activity does not automatically make a constitutionally sound argument in favor of government regulation. And if we were to give ground on this admittedly rational sounding argument – that the vast majority of Americans would never need a 30 round clip – then you have just established a very dangerous precedent.

What if the next argument comes in the form of the Gentleman from Vermont saying that 30 was too low of a bar, and perhaps 20 was more in line with our “needs?” It’s only a short hop from there to saying that only single shot weapons are required with each round needing to be manually expelled and replaced directly into the chamber.

The limits of Second Amendment rights « Hot Air

Verizon files challenge to FCC’s “Open Internet” order « Hot Air

 

House Republicans cheered Verizon’s challenge, which rests on four arguments.  The two that will probably carry the most weight with the court will be that the FCC has abused its regulatory discretion, and that the FCC has exceeded its statutory authority.  Congress made the latter argument last year — with large Democratic majorities — as Genachowsko’s first attempt at treating the Internet as a public utility foundered.  The same court ruled in favor of Comcast that Congress had not granted the FCC the authority to regulate the Internet, and that without a Congressional mandate, their actions were invalid.

The FCC claims that they have tailored the new rules to fit within their authority, but that may change anyway.  A statement from the new leadership in the House Energy and Commerce Committee sent a warning to Genachowski:

“Equally important is putting a check on an FCC that is acting beyond the authority granted to it by Congress. Between our legislative efforts and this court action, we will put the FCC back on firmer ground,” they said.

The message is as clear as one can make it: Stop your regulatory adventurism, or we’ll stop it for you.  It may not take a court to settle this question in the short run, especially with the remainder of the FY2011 budget in Republican hands.

Verizon files challenge to FCC’s “Open Internet” order « Hot Air

Remembering the Korean War, 60 years ago - The Big Picture - Boston.com

Four LST's unload men and equipment on beach in Inchon on Sept. 15, 1950. (AP Photo) #

Remembering the Korean War, 60 years ago - The Big Picture - Boston.com

NBC Picks Up Wonder Woman After All | Superhero Hype

 

Entertainment Weekly is reporting that NBC has picked up David E. Kelley's new "Wonder Woman" pilot after all! The network was the final one to pass on the show over a week ago, but that was before the new regime headed by chairman Robert Greenblatt was officially in place in light of the impending Comcast takeover. The magazine reports:
One factor that seemed to have sunk the Wonder Woman project the first time around was the price of rebooting the series, with the studio requiring a rich license fee to bring the iconic character back to life. But then, NBC has been down this road before: It rebooted Bionic Woman. Kelley’s take incorporated the superhero’s signature lasso, cuffs, and plane in the script, and insiders said it was a serious, non-campy take on the DC Comics character.

NBC Picks Up Wonder Woman After All | Superhero Hype

War Machine Spin-Off Has a Writer? | Superhero Hype

 

"They're developing it now, they're working on that," Cheadle said. "I think they've hired a writer, so we'll see how it goes. It would be a lot of fun."
He doesn't think James "Rhodey" Rhodes will appear in The Avengers, however.
"I don't think he shows up in ['Avengers']," Cheadle added. "I think he's kind of a lone wolf."

War Machine Spin-Off Has a Writer? | Superhero Hype

Electronic Weapons: Beating Babel On The Battlefield

The U.S. is distributing several thousand new Harris RF-310M handheld radios. While not a battlefield smart phone, the 1.23 kg (2.7 pound), 5 watt radio has a range of up to ten kilometers and is multimode (FM, AM, PSK, CPM, FSK). The radio has a numeric keypad and a small display. The radio is waterproof, has a rechargeable lithium battery, a speaker and GPS. Most importantly, it can handle high-grade encryption and can be programmed to communicate with a wide variety of frequencies and different national radio systems. With the proper access codes, the RF-310M can talk to any NATO ally, the Afghan military and police and civilian organizations. Thus the main purpose of the RF-310M is to increase the ability for many different groups to talk to each other.

Electronic Weapons: Beating Babel On The Battlefield

Marvel Studios Hires Black Panther Writer | Superhero Hype

 

Mark Bailey is set to pen the script

Marvel Studios has hired Mark Bailey to write the script for The Black Panther, reports Heat Vision.
Bailey hails from the documentary film world and his credits include HBO documentaries such as "Pandemic: Facing AIDS" and "Ghost of Abu Ghraib." The trade says his latest project is a feature adaptation of the non-fiction book "The Last of the Tribe: The Epic Quest to Save a Lone Man in the Amazon," to which Doug Liman is attached to direct.
The Black Panther first appeared in the pages of the "Fantastic Four" comic in 1966. The character is the king of a resource-rich fictional African country who becomes a superhero.

Marvel Studios Hires Black Panther Writer | Superhero Hype

Mafia bust nets more than 100 members of organized crime in sweeping crackdown

 

Federal authorities have arrested more than 100 members and associates of organized crime Thursday in a sweeping crackdown on the city's five Mafia families.

The gangsters, including the current acting Colombo boss who hails from Rhode Island,  are charged with racketeering, murder and a slew of other crimes in multiple indictments that will be unsealed in Broooklyn Federal Court.

Federal agents carried out the takedown beginning yesterday in New York City, Long Island and New Jersey.

The defendants are being held in the brig at Fort Hamilton until they are arraigned later today in court.

Mafia bust nets more than 100 members of organized crime in sweeping crackdown

Electronic Weapons: Body Heat Reveals All

 

An American firm has developed a camera that combines a regular daylight vidcam, with an infrared (heat detecting) camera to spot objects people are carrying (like guns or explosive vests). This is done by taking a regular and infrared picture of the same object and superimposing them on each other to show cooler objects that block the body heat. Software is used to almost instantly produce the images. VerifIR  can also spot buried objects. The VerifIR cameras cost $50,000 each and are being sought by troops manning checkpoints with lots of foot traffic, and sailors who have to check out lots of small boats. The 7.3 kg (17 pound) VerifIR works on standard camera tripods. The dual camera system is 28 cm/11"x25.4 cm/10"x13.3 cm/5.25" and draws less than 20 watts when operating.

Electronic Weapons: Body Heat Reveals All

Information Warfare: America Pays Hackers To Annoy China

Internet Marti?

e-Voice of America?

While the U.S. government has had a long, combative and acrimonious relationship with the hacker and Internet freedom communities, that has shifted a bit since Internet freedoms programs were established. The American government has provided $30 million dollars for hackers seeking to create software that will enable people to evade Internet surveillance and censorship. One of the more notable programs funded from this program is Tor, a system that enables users to communicate without anyone able to identify the sender. Similar to anonymizer software, Tor is even more untraceable. Unlike anonomizer software, Tor relies n thousands of people running the Tor software, and acting as nodes email (and attachments) to be sent through so many Tor nodes that it is virtually impossible to track down the identity of the sender.

The American money has funded development of software that makes smart phones safer for users who want to say things to others that their governments disapprove of. All this activity is directed at countries with heavy Internet censorship programs, like China, Burma, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela and several African countries.

While this software can also be used by criminals, terrorists and spies, the U.S. government believes that these groups already have access to software that can hide them, and that it's more important that police states have more reason to pay attention to what their citizens want.

Information Warfare: America Pays Hackers To Annoy China

Afghanistan: Something To Die For

 

During the Summer, as operations to shut down drug production and smuggling operations peaked, there were several weeks when there were about a thousand incidents. Most of these were defeats for the gangs (bombs discovered or ambushes that went wrong, as most of them do for the Afghans). The drug gangs are depending on time (and NATO patience) and bribes (to keep Afghan forces at bay) to help them survive. The violence is expected to be higher this year, as the drug gangs have nothing to lose by fighting on to preserve their lucrative drug operations.

The locals enjoy seeing the bad boys take a beating, and NATO troops have learned to exploit this by offering goodies (schools, including building, books and furnishings, are a favorite) in return for cooperation. As the old saying goes,  "all politics is local," and the troops take advantage of this. The gangsters and Taliban keep saying that the foreigners will tire of Afghanistan and leave in a few years, but the locals figure that getting aid from the foreign troops in the meantime isn't a bad deal. Life is short in Afghanistan anyway (one of the lowest life expectancies in the world), so there's not a lot to lose. Moreover, the Taliban finally realized that their anti-school fixation was counter-productive, and they now (well, most of them) will tolerate schools (even for girls, although grudgingly).

Afghanistan: Something To Die For

Many Russians here [Staten Island, NY] aligning with Republicans | SILive.com

 

"We decided we had to support this club," said Fridman, a former Soviet Army officer who came to the United States in 1992. "They are very close to our political and business vision."
In the wake of the national GOP's big wins this year, when the party took back control of the House, Republicans everywhere are more confident that their bedrock message of smaller government and lower taxes will resonate with American voters.

Fridman said that the Democrats "are going in an absolutely different direction," focusing on "income redistribution" and rich-versus-poor "class war."

"It's too socialistic," said Fridman, head of the non-profit Staten Island Community Center and president of Citizens Magazine, a public affairs publication. "It's very painful for us to see."

The Democrats' national losses were seen as a rejection of President Barack Obama's health care reform law and other initiatives that opponents say went too far in pushing government control on Americans.

BAD REMINDERS

The Big Brother approach reminds Fridman too much of what he left behind in the former Soviet Union.

"It's the same rule like it was there," said Fridman, who estimates there are around 55,000 Russian immigrants here.

Michael Petrov of the Digital Edge data management firm in Bloomfield, said that he objects to the "micro-managing of the economy" he's seen from city as well as federal officials.

"Government is affecting small business more and more," said Petrov, who came to the United States in 1994. "It's the same as what's happening in Russia."

Many Russians here aligning with Republicans | SILive.com

House Passes Bill Repealing Health Care Law - ABC News

Emphasis mine.

Three Democrats joined all 242 House Republicans in voting for repeal.

On Thursday, the House will hold another vote calling on four committees to begin work on crafting a replacement bill that will yank some of the most contentious parts of the bill, such as the changes to Medicare Advantage and the requirement that all Americans must purchase health insurance by 2014.

House Passes Bill Repealing Health Care Law - ABC News

UPDATE:  Three Democrats--Dan Boren of Oklahoma, Mike Ross of Arkansas and Mike McIntyre of North Carolina--joined all 242 Republicans in voting "yes." National Review Online reports another North Carolina Democrat, Rep. Larry Kissell, initially assented to the bill but switched at the last minute.

Survey: US Doctors Fear Healthcare Reform - CNBC

 

Nearly two-thirds of U.S. doctors surveyed fear healthcare reform could worsen care for patients, by flooding their offices and hurting income, according to a Thomson Reuters survey released Tuesday.

Jill Fromer | Photodisc | Getty Images

---

The survey of more than 2,900 doctors found many predict the legislation will force them to work harder for less money.

"When asked about the quality of healthcare in the U.S. over the next five years, 65 percent of the doctors believed it would deteriorate with only 18 percent predicting it would improve," Thomson Reuters, parent company of Reuters, said in a statement.

The U.S. House of Representatives began debate Tuesday on efforts to repeal President Barack Obama's overhaul of the U.S. healthcare industry.

Survey: US Doctors Fear Healthcare Reform - CNBC

NationalJournal.com - Exits Accelerate Senate’s Rapid Transformation - Wednesday, January 19, 2011

 

Tuesday’s announcement that Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., will not seek reelection—with Sen. Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., following suit today—accelerates an already rapid rate of turnover in the Senate that is altering the body’s composition and its leadership.

The last two elections cycles produced about one-third of the current members of the Senate: There have been 32 new senators sworn in since 2008, which represents the fastest turnover rate since the 1978 and 1980 elections, which together added 38 new members.

With the exits of Conrad and Lieberman in 2013, the Democratic leadership of the Agriculture; Appropriations; Budget; Banking; Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; Small Business; and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committees will have changed hands.

Senators and observers who bemoan a loss of comity and bipartisanship in the body will see Conrad’s exit as exacerbating that trend. Moderate Senate Republicans in particular have continued to dwindle both in number and influence. And the big and relatively liberal Democratic classes of 2006 and 2008 have increasingly asserted influence in recent months. Members of those classes successfully pressed party leaders to adopt a more aggressive communications approach and are pressing to alter Senate filibuster rules.

The moves by Conrad and Lieberman, who were likely to face stiffs challenges in 2012, follows an announcement last week by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, that she would not run again. And these early announcements only raise the question of which other incumbents will bow out ahead of 2012.

Sens. Jim Webb, D-Va., and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., have left their 2012 reelection plans unclear. Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., faces speculation because of presumed difficult elections.

Age and longevity is also a factor. Some veteran members such as California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, 77, and Hawaii Democratic Sen. Daniel Akaka, 86, as well as Indiana Republican Sen. Richard Lugar, 78, have been in the Senate long enough that retirement becomes a logical part of the calculation, whatever they decide. 

NationalJournal.com - Exits Accelerate Senate’s Rapid Transformation - Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Rogen stunned by Lucas' 2012 theory | Movies | Entertainment | Toronto Sun

 

“I first thought he (Lucas) was joking... and then I totally realized he was serious and then I started thinking, ’If you’re George Lucas and you actually think the world is gonna end in a year, there’s no way you haven’t built a spaceship for yourself... So I asked him... ’Can I have a seat on it?’

“He claimed he didn’t have a spaceship, but there’s no doubt there’s a Millennium Falcon in a garage somewhere with a pilot just waiting to go... It’s gonna be him and Steven Spielberg and I’ll be blown up like the rest of us.”

Rogen stunned by Lucas' 2012 theory | Movies | Entertainment | Toronto Sun

Submarines: South Korea's Secret SOSUS System

 

South Korea recently announced that it will place underwater submarine sensors off its coasts. Details were not revealed, but this sort of thing is similar to the system of passive (they just listen) sonars the United States deployed on the sea bottom in key areas during the Cold War. SOSUS (SOund Surveillance System) consisted of several different networks. On the continental shelf areas bordering the North Atlantic was the CAESAR network. In the North Pacific there was COLOSSUS plus a few sensors in the Indian Ocean and a few other places that no one will talk about. The underwater passive sonars  listened to everything and sent their data via cable to land stations. From there it was sent back to a central processing facility, often via satellite link. SOSUS was accurate enough to locate a submarine within a circle no wider than 100 kilometers. That's a large area, but depending on the quality of the contact, the circle might be reduced up to ten kilometers. The major drawback of the system was that it did not cover deep water areas more than 500 kilometers from the edge of the continental shelf. This is not a problem for the South Korean system, as they only want to cover coastal waters.

Submarines: South Korea's Secret SOSUS System

Fifty Taliban Switch Sides in North

 

Kunduz province police chief Abdul Rahman Sayedkhaili said 10 or 15 militants at a time have switched sides in recent months, but that on Tuesday, 50 Taliban fighters joined forces with the government. The Taliban - from Iman Sahib district - were being heavily pressured by Afghan and coalition forces, he said.

Gen. Daood Daood, regional Afghan police commander in northern Afghanistan, also confirmed that the fighters had switched sides.

Fifty Taliban Switch Sides in North

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Detainee Appeal

 

The Supreme Court declined Tuesday to take a new case involving a Guantanamo Bay detainee who was ordered released by a federal judge before an appeals court said he could continue to be held.

The court turned down an appeal from Mohammed Al-Adahi, a Yemeni who has spent more than eight years at the U.S. naval base in Cuba.

In 2009, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler said there was not "reliable evidence" to justify al-Adahi's continued detention, despite his family ties to Osama bin Laden, his admission that he met with the terrorist mastermind in the weeks before the Sept. 11 attacks and his attendance at an al-Qaida training camp.

But last year, the federal appeals court in Washington voted 3-0 to reverse Kessler's decision, saying she displayed insufficient skepticism about al-Adahi.

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Detainee Appeal

Dick Armey and Matt Kibbe: What Congress Should Cut - WSJ.com

 

The primary economic challenge today is that our government spends too much money it doesn't have, and it is involved in too many things it cannot do well and shouldn't do at all. This burden is manifested by a $1.3 trillion annual deficit and a $14 trillion national debt. The more pernicious effects of this fiscal drag are unseen: a debased dollar, massive (and hidden) unfunded liabilities, and a crushing burden on would-be job creators.

Milton Friedman correctly argued in 1999 that the "real cost of government—the total tax burden—equals what government spends plus the cost to the public of complying with government mandates and regulations and of calculating, paying, and taking measures to avoid taxes." He added, "Anything that reduces that real cost—lower government spending, elimination of costly regulations on individuals or businesses, simplification of explicit taxes—is a tax reform."

Since 2007, Congress has been on an unprecedented spending binge. That means a first and obvious budget-cutting step would be to return discretionary spending to the baseline before things got so out of control. If Congress returned to the baseline before the supposedly "temporary" stimulus bill of 2009, $177 billion per year would be saved, according to calculations by FreedomWorks based on figures from the Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). If spending went back to the 2007 baseline, the beginning of the first Pelosi Congress, $374 billion would be saved. Over 10 years, that is $748 billion and $1.56 trillion in savings, respectively.

Dick Armey and Matt Kibbe: What Congress Should Cut - WSJ.com

Obama Wants to Shed Rules That Hurt Job Growth - CNBC

 

President Barack Obama Tuesday ordered a government-wide review of regulations with the goal of eliminating those that hurt job creation and make the U.S. economy less competitive.

Photo by : Pete Souza

Obama took action after unveiling his plan in an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal in which he said some rules have placed "unreasonable burdens on business — burdens that have stifled innovation and have had a chilling effect on growth and jobs."

The executive order marked Obama's latest move to repair relations with U.S. business, which were frayed amid bitter debate over his overhauls of Wall Street regulations and healthcare that some business leaders said would stymie corporate America.

Obama has struck a more business-friendly tone since his Democrats lost the U.S. House of Representatives and saw their Senate majority reduced in November congressional elections widely seen as a verdict on his handling of the stumbling economy and persistently high unemployment.

It was not immediately clear, however, how far-reaching Obama's new regulatory strategy would be in changing the way the federal government operates.

We should all hold our breaths while we find out, right?

Obama Wants to Shed Rules That Hurt Job Growth  - CNBC

Scientists trying to clone, resurrect extinct mammoth – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

 

A team of scientists from Japan, Russia and the United States hopes to clone a mammoth, a symbol of Earth’s ice age that ended 12,000 years ago, according to a report in Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun. The researchers say they hope to produce a baby mammoth within six years.

The scientists say they will extract DNA from a mammoth carcass that has been preserved in a Russian laboratory and insert it into the egg cells of an African elephant in hopes of producing a mammoth embryo.

The team is being led by Akira Iritani, a professor emeritus at Kyoto University in Japan. He has built upon research from Teruhiko Wakayama of Kobe's Riken Center for Developmental Biology, who successfully cloned a mouse from cells that had been frozen for 16 years, to devise a technique to extract egg nuclei without damaging them, according to the Yomiuri report.

The U.S. researchers are in vitro fertilization experts. They, along with Kinki University professor Minoru Miyashita, will be responsible for implanting the mammoth embryo into an African elephant, the report said.

"If a cloned embryo can be created, we need to discuss, before transplanting it into the womb, how to breed [the mammoth] and whether to display it to the public," Iritani told Yomiuri. "After the mammoth is born, we'll examine its ecology and genes to study why the species became extinct and other factors."

Scientists trying to clone, resurrect extinct mammoth – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

A response to: Premature 5th Star for Petraeus? | Jamie McIntyre

I haven’t fully decided myself, but I tend to favor the idea.  I also find the arguments presented by Mr. McIntyre to be less then persuasive:

With Iraq in serious danger of backsliding once the U.S. leaves at the end of this year, and Afghanistan teetering on the brink of becoming a endless quagmire, it may be just a little too soon to be planning a coronation for “King David.”

I have little quarrel with those who believe David Petreaus to be an outstanding general, one who seems to be uniquely suited to wrestle with the challenges of the post-Sept 11th world, but for now four stars on each shoulder seems plenty.

Little quarrel, yet we’ll refer to him by the, less than charitable, nickname of “King David” in the first paragraph?

I haven’t talked to Petraeus, but I’m sure he’d brush aside any notion that he ought to be promoted to General of the Army, a wartime rank that would, at least nominally, put him ahead of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

Which is not the problem that many might assume, as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs is not in GEN Petraeus’ chain of command.  Neither the Army Chief of Staff nor the Joint Chiefs’ Chairman are. They are advisors to the President and to the Combatant Commanders and while they may make policies that impact the roles of Combatant Commanders and their subordinates, they do not have command authority over them.

Advancing an argument regarding outranking the CENTCOM commander would have merit, but that's not an insurmountable obstacle either. At least one way to resolve this would be to elevate the Afghanistan/ISAF mission to a Specified Command, changing the CENTCOM Commander's relationship with him to one much like the ACoS and CJCS.

If President Obama wants to reward Petraeus’ exemplary service, and the general wants to continue to serve his country once his tour of duty in Afghanistan ends, Joint Chiefs Chairman would be the next logical, appropriate move.

Gen. Petraeas (sic) is a winner and a great military thinker, no doubt, but the wars he is fighting have not yet been won. Let’s not let our admiration for his undeniable accomplishments overrule the cold hard facts.

A 5th star is not a reward for missions accomplished--we elevated the 7 WWII 5 stars during the fight well before they were won, based on merit certainly, but GEN Petraeus is not lacking in that department.

I remember when there was a lot of talk around Washington about awarding Gen. Colin Powell a fifth star, after the 1991 Persian Gulf, as everyone in the Pentagon was basking in the glow and patting themselves on the back for how well war went.

But Gen. Powell went on the make a number of dubious decisions, including okaying manhunt for Somali Warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid, which resulting the so-called “Black Hawk Down” debacle.  Turns out allowing Powell to retire with four stars was the right call.  And Powell himself never sought such an honor.

As for GEN Powell's post-Gulf War actions somehow justifying not elevating him, does that mean that having decided not to elevate MacArthur would have been justified in light of his eventual sacking by Truman? Not knowing the future then, you create a standard by which it would be impossible to ever again elevate a General Officer to 5-star.

If there were a measure by which I'd definitively deny a 5th star, it would be if they sought the elevation themselves. Humility is a by-product of Selfless Service, the value we expect of our service members regardless of rank. Humility in an individual who has achieved so much is a an argument in favor, not against.

Pete Hegseth and Wade Zirkle, directors at Vets for Freedom, make the case for Petraeus’s elevation in a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed, and have started a Facebook campaign.

The pair of combat veterans argue that as “a soldier-statesmen who works with foreign diplomats and generals in hot spots across the globe.” Petraeus could us (sic) the “prestige that would come with a fifth star.”  It would help the United States they say, “in its negotiations with neighboring states—and show the enemies of freedom that we are fully committed to the war against terrorism.”

One of the reason Congress instituted the five star rank is so that during World War II, U.S. commanders would not be outranked by their British counterparts.

That is not the case today.

Quite true, but there’s a trade off between the mass of forces commanded by those WWII Generals and the complex environment of today’s fight, not to mention the tempo of operations.  Part of that complexity is cited by Hegseth and Zirkle, in that a modern General, more than ever before, is both a military and a civil leader, both commanding his forces and coordinaing NGOs and conducting negotiations alongside the State Department and at levels well below where State will go.

It may well be that Petraeus ends up as the first general since Omar Bradley to merit a fifth star, but it’s too soon to make that judgment.

I think this is only true, that its too soon, if we accept the impossibly high standards to which Mr. McIntyre would hold all future candidates for that 5th star which not only make it “too soon” but, effectively, never, or perhaps only as was done for George Washington, posthumously.

Premature 5th Star for Petraeus? | Jamie McIntyre#IDComment122095586#IDComment122095586#IDComment122095586#IDComment122095586

Infantry: Battery Powered Uniforms For Chilly Chinese

 

Chinese media recently ran stories about battery powered Winter uniforms for the army. The purpose of this kind of story was twofold. First, to show off the neat new gadgets China is producing, and then to show how modern and high-tech the Chinese armed forces are. Unspoken is the admission that China has traditionally treated the lower ranking soldiers very poorly, especially when it comes to decent food and special equipment. During the Winter of 1950-51, American troops in Korea frequently came across Chinese troops who had frozen to death in their positions, being equipped with inadequate Winter clothing. No more, as the Chinese TV and newspaper stories about the battery powered heated uniforms. Such military clothing has been around for over half a century, using external power. The battery powered stuff showed up more recently as lithium battery technology advanced. This type of battery can be made in just about any shape. Many brands of battery powered clothing are made in China, and exported for the outdoor market.

Infantry: Battery Powered Uniforms For Chilly Chinese

JLTV Demos

BAE Systems

GTV (AM General/General Dynamics)

Lockheed Martin

Military Report - Budget Reform Seen as Job-Killer

“Seen as?”  Really?  There’s a question in anyone’s mind?

The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform's suggests that civilian employers should payback the Pentagon for the cost of health care for their retired military employees who choose to use TRICARE over employer provided health care insurance. According to the Military Officers Association of America, this employer penalty will make military retirees undesirable and will  hurt their chances for post-service employment in the worst job market in decades.

Military Report - Budget Reform Seen as Job-Killer

Hu calls currency system 'product of the past'

 

"The current international currency system is the product of the past," Hu said in written answers to questions posed by The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.

Highlighting the dollar's importance to global trade, Hu implicitly criticized the Federal Reserve's recent decision to pump 600 billion dollars into the US economy, a move criticized as weakening the dollar at the expense of other countries' exports.

"The monetary policy of the United States has a major impact on global liquidity and capital flows and therefore, the liquidity of the US dollar should be kept at a reasonable and stable level," Hu said.

China's own currency, the yuan or renminbi (RMB), is also expected to be a bone of contention in Hu's talks with Obama, with the United States complaining that it is artificially overvalued to boost Chinese exports.

Asked about the view that appreciation of the yuan would curb inflation in China, Hu suggested that was too simplistic a formula.

"Changes in exchange rate are a result of multiple factors, including the balance of international payment and market supply and demand," he said.

"In this sense, inflation can hardly be the main factor in determining the exchange rate policy," he said.

At the same time, Hu signalled no imminent move away from the dollar as a reserve currency, saying it would be a long time before the yuan, or renminbi (RMB), is widely accepted as an international currency.

Hu calls currency system 'product of the past'