Merry X-Mas!

Sorry folks, bloggings going to be light due to the holiday season and I have some Army Stuff[tm] going on. I’ll post some updates. I promise.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Hot Crew! Kiera Knightly

Ah the magic of the intertubes, they bring us:

“Keira Christina Knightley (pronounced /ˌkɪərəˈnaɪtlɪ/;[1] born 26 March 1985) is an English[2] film actress. She began her career as a child and came to international prominence in 2003 after co-starring in the films Bend It Like Beckham and the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy.”–Wikipedia

“By her own admission, rather thin (but not anorexic) and, she does have a tendency to get naked or at least into revealing outfits in a lot of her movies- one might say she’s Naked Knightley. She did her first topless scene at 15 in The Hole (this was pre the 2003 Sexual Offences Act that rendered that sort of thing illegal). She has commented that she only really does it when the plot calls for it. Cynics might say the plot calls for it a lot… ” Tv Tropes.org

How far we’ve come since WWII: yes there is a war on.

(CNN) — Another wartime Christmas week has arrived.

Yet on the streets of the United States, it often feels as if this is a nation that has half-forgotten that its sons and daughters are in combat.

Not literally, of course; Americans are intellectually aware that the campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq continue. And for the families of the young soldiers, sailors, Marines and aviators in combat zones, the wars never go away, even for a single tick of the clock.

But the lack of shared sacrifice during these war years — the sense that those of us at home go on with our lives pretty much as usual while the men and women who have volunteered to be in uniform risk their own lives anew with each rising of the sun — is a notion that is especially acute during the holiday season.

How have our lives changed during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq? What has residing in an America at war done to the texture of daily life?
–
Where’s the shared sacrifice of war?
by Bob Greene.

Mr. Greene, we have endured countless protests by the left, crying crocodile tears over the causalities of the war and the “suffering” of US troops and their families.

Greene goes on and on about war time rationing and restrictions. Newspapers would run stories on it, ration cupons were a part of everyday life. Nylon, silk, rubber, metal, things we take for granted toady were drafted into an effort to beat the Axis was machine. They became scarce during the war, shortages were common. Something never seen in the postwar years.

There was more to the war than rationing. The technology of the day still required massive man power. Ships took hundres of men to keep them running. Mechanics, welders, truck drivers, carpenters, plumbers were all drafted to make the army run. It was a rule of thumb that for every soldier or marine with a ruck sack and a rifle, seven other service members made his job possible.

Now one of the left’s favorite boogymen is the “permanent war economy”, that means US industry is geared for war. This came about due to President Dwight Eisenhower ’s farewell address. The “military-industrial complex” was his warning about President-elect Kennedy and his rhetoric. He fears the JFk would run the US headlong into war with the USSR.

See the US had to build up it’s military to face the USSR. Their used to be several Army divisions, Air Force Wings, Navy ships and overseas bases the US had to fight the cold war if it got hot.

Between the wars, the US downsized it’s forces, reverting back to the model of the last century. A small professional force augmented by the state militias (the national guard). After the war, most thinkers figured that we’d be fighting the massive red hoards. So we did not cut back as massively as we did after WWI. We did another round of cut backs after the USSR fell apart in the 90’s.

Elvis Presley served in the US Army’s 3rd Armored Division. That unit fought in Desert Storm then was deactivated. Just one example of the post Cold war draw down.

Technology improved. Of all the causalities in Europe, 1/4 of those belonged to the US Army Air Force’s 8th Air Force. To bomb a factory took waves and waves of bombers. Flash forward to the Vietnam war era. To destory the Bridge at the Dragon’s Jaw took a flight (5-6 aircraft) a fe laser guided bombs. We lost lots of pilots in Vietnam, don’t get we wrong. But the “War of a Million Sorties” was nowhere near as costly as WWII, the firepower was greater.

And so we come to the War on Terror. The US military is growing, WITHOUT a draft. We need men and women with technical skills, not bodies. The “permanent war economy” actually produces the internet and other peace dividends. It makes it possbile for Greene to enjoy this holiday season with out worrying about the war.

Yes, to those of you who have been there, those of you down range and those with loved ones over there, it seems strange. Like a dream. That we can enjoy “normal” with a war on.

But that’s the point.

While the left bitches about the “new normal”, moaning about security measures and drone strikes, we are safe.
Rough men and women are doing violence on our behalf with more firepower than any WWII general could have dreamed of. A Private in the Army today knows more than a sergeant did in WWII. His platoon has access to more firepower than an entire battalion of WWII soldiers.

Times have changed, for the better. That’s the real lesson of WWII, Mr. Greene. Thanks to the hard work of the WWII, cold war generations and this generation of service members, leaders, scientists and engineers, we can be free.

Your Welcome Mr. Greene

Before people get carried away: Predator video links compromised

Using a $26 program from Russia, some insurgents have been able to view the video from US drones:

Senior defense and intelligence officials said Iranian-backed insurgents intercepted the video feeds by taking advantage of an unprotected communications link in some of the remotely flown planes’ systems. Shiite fighters in Iraq used software programs such as SkyGrabber — available for as little as $25.95 on the Internet — to regularly capture drone video feeds, according to a person familiar with reports on the matter.

Not control mind you. Those links are encrypted. The DOD wanted those video feeds to have as wide a distribution as possible. The only way to do that was to use commercial off the shelf (COTS) electronics and unencrypted links. Many assumed that the terrorists did not have the know how.

In from the Cold puts that baby to bed:

It’s another testament to our hubris–the same mindset that (prior to World War II) assured us that the Japanese could never produce–let alone fly–a first-class fighter, and that the B-17 would not require fighter escort to reach enemy targets. In both cases, the cost of our arrogance was measured in human lives.

The response has been muted, at least out in public:

“What do you mean the ‘compromise of the data’,” Deptula says. “Nothing is compromised. I want to get information out to the joint forces on the ground, you follow me? If someone does pick [the video feed] up and they don’t know the context of how the information is being used, what’s the compromise?”

Deptula also says the military has been aware of the vulnerability first reported yesterday by The Wall Street Journal.

“We’re talking about interception of signals that are broadcast over the air – duh,” Deptula says.

– Hacked Predator video no concern: USAF intel chief
By Stephen Trimble

What has happened, to some extent, is that the media smells a scandal. The fable of low-tech insurgents beating the high tech US military started in Vietnam. That story was false. The North Vietnamese had lots of help from the USSR. From SAM sites, to intel ships off the coast that spotted US aircraft. And lots of massive shipments of arms and equipment.

But the media likes to believe the myth. That’s why this story has some legs. The reality is that the signals were broadcast over a wide area, and anyone with a receiver could have picked them up. The terrorists needed Iranian help. That’s what matters. Many in the Obama administration think that we can deal with these maniacs.

They’re wrong.

That Iran had been exploiting this vulnerability speaks volumes over the shortsightedness of the DOD, the Bush and Obama administrations.

While the terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan would not find much use, for Iran, Syria, China and Russia (who sells tech to nations we don’t like) this was a goldmine. They now know how we operate our UAV’s (and sensors on our aircraft too).

No UAV’s were “hacked”, the control signals are narrow band, encrypted and they don’t have the tech for that. The danger lies in future operations being compromised by our present shortsightedness.

Chew on this: A stolen sign, Star Wars reviews and snowball fight

Tasty links, stupid crooks and :

• Flopping Ace’s finds out why Tiger Woods ‘got away’ with his affairs.
• Neptunus Lex shows whymarying your cousins is bad, reduce a family tree to a family shrub, you can’t hide as much under it.
• “Mark Steyn: It’s settled; climate circus was a fairy tale” (OC Register)
• Hot AirUses corn syrup to show why government intervention is bad.
• Awww, Politico says that “Under Obama, the left feels left out”
• Real Clear Politics on why the health care “reform” bill= political suicide.
• This Ain’t Hell shoots down the lapses of logic in a VoteVets article.
• Powerline asks “What Happened to Abdul Ali al-Megrahi? “
• Who stole the sign at Auschwitz.” Jules Crittenden breaks down the reasons for the theft.
• The only Star Wars Movie review you’ll ever need to see. (H/T: Instapundit)

From Instapundit & Youtube:

Quick Take: The Stupid Federal Shield Law and Left Burnout

Powerline has two take-downs of a proposed shield law.

Quoting the proposed law:

(iii) in a criminal investigation or prosecution of an unauthorized disclosure of properly classified information by a person with authorized access to such information, such unauthorized disclosure has caused or will cause significant and articulable harm to the national security;

A reader shoots back:

A really bad, totally unnecessary law. I ran a prosecutor’s office for many years, and I can count on the fingers of one hand (and still have one or two fingers left over) the number of times I authorized the issuance of a subpoena to a reporter, and I think in my own cases I only did it twice in 18 years

So what we have here is a law designed to protect Big Media and their lefty fellow travelers. The irony is that if Climate Gate had happened here, this law would have protected the hackers from penalties.

Someday a reporter or news outlet will hurt American troops, the government or expose us all to a terrorist attack. And since the average American knows little about the working of Government (military or civilian), a simple misunderstanding could be used by the left to make a mountain out of every molehill. (remember the “assassination program” that got no further than a paper study?). The tinfoil hat crowd will have a field day.

This law is a bone tossed to a lap dog press by the Democrats. They’re paying them back for getting their help in November. And I bet that a leak that hurts the current white house will be found to cause “significant and articulable harm” to the left’s poll numbers national security.

In other news, the anti-war crowd is burning out. A protest against Afghanistan only attracted 300 people. Not even the LA Times was impressed.

“People are burned out,” explained the rally’s organizer, Laurie Dobson. As she and other antiwar activists struggle to remake their movement, they also acknowledge there are obstacles.– La Times

Some media outlets are pumping up the numbers of protesters to 1500, but even on Matthis Chiroux’ Facebook page World Can’t Wait admits to only 300; –This Aint Hell

It was always about Bush, Anti-Americanism and communist propaganda. They were never intrested in the suffering of the people of Iraq, Afghanistan or the 3,000 Americans killed on 9/11.

The Al-Qaeda/Taliban death cult has killed or maimed more people than the US military has. We liberated two nations, despite the cut and run brigade. The left said that Afghanistan was the “good war”. They lied. They hate all wars started by the US or involving the US. Wars started by anti-western forces are just fine with them.

With no draft, the lazy jaded youth have no reason to cut class and hit the streets. While they try to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, the US Army goes rolling along….

The Worm Turns (and the left turns on the President)

President Obama has announced his strategy of sending 30,000 troops (short the 10,000 GEN McChrystal wanted).

But there have been many missteps. And the left is turning on the President, despite saying (during the Iraq War) that Afghanistan is the “just war.”

Outside West Point. On MSNBC.

And the biggest (and I mean biggest) political gadfly Michael Moore had this to say:

MOORE: No. That didn’t work in Vietnam. It’s not going to work in Iraq. It was interesting to hear him essentially praise the Bush policy in Iraq and how it succeeded. I mean, it was really bizarre to hear him say some of these things. And I have to tell you, Larry, I hate to be even saying these things because I honestly think Barack Obama is a good and decent man. He has a good heart. I believe he’s a man of peace. I was thrilled that he won the [Nobel] Peace Prize. So to see him make this mistake- I don’t think there’s any kind of evil or dark place in his heart that- where this is coming from. I just think that he’s listened to the generals.

Of course the President listened to the Generals. That’s what the generals are for! Only in the left’s fantasy land can troops magically be shifted to Afghanistan duringt he battels for Iraq (or magically come home in a few months with out the 100 mile long convoy of doom ‘cut and run’ would have required).

Now that the president is trying to fight the war, the left just turns on him.

“Obama’s escalation in Afghanistan is the last in a string of disappointments. His flip-flopping acceptance of the military coup in Honduras has squandered the trust of Latin America. His Wall Street bailout leaves the poor, the unemployed, minorities and college students on their own. And now comes the Afghanistan-Pakistan decision to escalate the stalemate, which risks his domestic agenda, his Democratic base, and possibly even his presidency.”
Granolakrieg!– Jules Crittenden quotes 60’s leftover Tom Hayden

They don’t hate war (the left was silent when Russia invaded Georgia and used ballistic missiles on their cities). They don’t hate killing (the left is silent on suicide bombers, some western profs even write poems to them*). they hate the US, the US military and for some reason seem to want to use their freedoms to take away ours.

The anti-war left was never about being anti-war. It was always about power. Now that the President is using his war powers to act, they turn on him.

*–Yes, Google the name of Ayat al-Akhras and you’ll find the sickening ode to her murders.

They want to believe

Charles Krauthammer on the Democrats health care proposal:

The United States has the best health care in the world — but because of its inefficiencies, also the most expensive. The fundamental problem with the 2,074-page Senate health-care bill (as with its 2,014-page House counterpart) is that it wildly compounds the complexity by adding hundreds of new provisions, regulations, mandates, committees, and other arbitrary bureaucratic inventions.
…
The bill is irredeemable. It should not only be defeated. It should be immolated, its ashes scattered over the Senate swimming pool.

Then do health care the right way — one reform at a time, each simple and simplifying, aimed at reducing complexity, arbitrariness, and inefficiency.

First, tort reform. This is money — the low-end estimate is about half a trillion per decade — wasted in two ways. Part is simply hemorrhaged into the legal system to benefit a few jackpot lawsuit winners and an army of extravagantly rich malpractice lawyers such as John Edwards.

The rest is wasted within the medical system in the millions of unnecessary tests, procedures, and referrals undertaken solely to fend off lawsuits — resources wasted on patients who don’t need them and which could be redirected to the uninsured who really do.

We hear the endless droning of the MSM on how the US healthcare system is so unfair. We must give insurance to everyone! We must make it fair! Universal coverage!

Of course ask how this will be paid for and when you get past the usually soak the rich argument (and counter that taxing the “rich” who even begin to pay for “universal coverage”) and be prepared to hear crickets chirping.

Even Howard Dean admist that Republicans are right to try and kill this bill. Polls show that most are happy with the current health care.

Great Britain tired “universal coverage” and they are reaping what they sowed: Lower standards, “Poor nursing care, filthy wards and lack of leadership”.

If conservatives are accused of being heartless, liberals seem to revile in how much they appear to care. Wages too low? Raise the minimum wage. Despite what that does to the poor Social problems? SPEND! and SPEND MORE! Until the bill comes due and your state’s credit rating takes a hit. And taxes won’t help.

Caring is isn’t half the battle, it’s barely the start of the battle (unless you’re fighting a villain from a Saturday morning cartoon). We’ve had to endure decades of “caring” and “social welfare” until we spend more on entitlements than anything else. We listen to lawyers who say they “care” and now our laws are a hopeless jumble. Bad case laws, junk administrative law and regulations and junk statutes that line the pockets of big law firms. All for huge cash rewards that barely trickle down to the injured parties.

It’s time for rational thinking to take over. It’s time for less caring and more problem solving. We can solve this mess with out taxes, with out employing armies of lawyers. Government is not your parent, your caretaker or you doctor. It is raw naked force. The ax, the jail cell, the audit. Once people realize that they’ll stop clamroing for universial health care pipe dreams and start working on solutions.

knowledge is power!

M-4 Mods and HK-416 rumors (Brief update)

I’ve covered the M-16 and M-4 debate/issue/bone of contention here before but two news items came across my laptop and I’d thought I’d share my take:

• Defense Tech quotes and Army Times article that points to M-4 mods in the works Army wide.
• the civilian version of the HK-416 may NOT be crippled, that means it could be dropped into any M-4/M-16 style lower receiver.

From a new rail system to a gas-piston upgrade and a round counter, I hope the Army follows through. This would put a better rile in soldiers hands while the Army awaits for that “new technology” that’s on the horizon. (Color me skeptical, but when it does arrive I’ll be the first to cheer it on).

HK took a lot of flack for appearing to cave into the anti-gun lobby and modifying their HK-416 uppers to not work with any lower. The damn thing’s expensive enough as it is. If the rumor is true then black rile fans will P A R T Y!

Hot Crew! : Sophie Dahl

Sophie Dahl (born Sophie Holloway, 15 September 1977 in London) is an English author and former model. She is the daughter of actor Julian Holloway and writer Tessa Dahl. Her maternal grandparents were the author Roald Dahl and the actress Patricia Neal. Her paternal grandfather was the Celebrated English Stage and film Actor Stanley Holloway.
…
Dahl achieved a degree of notoriety in 2000 after she appeared in an advertisement for the Yves Saint-Laurent perfume brand Opium. The ad featured a photograph of her posing nude on black satin….
–Wikipedia Article”Sophie Dahl”

DO WANT!