Posts from — June 2005

Among them were former Undersecretary of Defense Edward “Pete” Aldridge, who oversaw Pentagon purchasing and approved the tanker deal in May 2003; former Air Force Secretary James Roche, who resigned under fire for his role in the Boeing deal; and Gen. John Jumper, the current Air Force chief of staff.
[snip]
The 256-page report also connected Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to the proposed arrangement, recounting a statement by Roche that Rumsfeld had called him in July 2003 to say “he did not want me to budge” on the tanker deal, despite criticism.
[snip]
The report is the most sweeping in a series on the failed tanker deal, which military and Boeing officials have long sought to blame on Darleen Druyun, a former Air Force acquisitions official now serving a nine-month federal prison term.

There were references in the report to White House officials but their names were blacked out.

Ms. Druyun and a Boeing official took the heat for this, but anyone familiar with the military contracting process knew that two people couldn’t pull it off. It’s the same “rotten apple” excuse this administration continues to use.

Does the Air Force need to begin replacing its KC-135 fleet? Yes, there are a lot of old airframes with a lot of hours on them that should be replaced, but they weren’t all bought at once and they don’t all need to be replaced at once. They have seen a lot of use recently, but their replacement needs to be a competitive process to get the best new airframe to fulfill this vital role. The specifications on the 767 say it had major deficiencies that weren’t being addressed and there is no reason to lease in any case.

This was a rip-off, start to finish. If Boeing can’t make a go of it, Boeing should fail. The concept is called capitalism. They aren’t going to bail out the dry cleaners located near the bases they’re closing, so why are they bailing out Boeing?

I guess the problem was he was white.

[I noticed that Maru also saw it.]

You see these dictators on their pedestals, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers and the truncheons of their police. Yet in their hearts there is unspoken – unspeakable! – fear. They are afraid of words and thoughts! Words spoken abroad, thoughts stirring at home, all the more powerful because they are forbidden. These terrify them. A little mouse – a little tiny mouse! – of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic.

Winston Churchill
[via Pourquoi Pas]

Sir Winston dealt with most of the best-known dictators of the Twentieth Century, and was awarded a Nobel Prize for Literature, so his comments on banning and/or burning books is certainly reasoned and relevant, but I had a vision of someone more current when I read the words.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt told a news conference the invasion did not mean the war was over.

He said: “You don’t just walk to Berlin, and the sooner this country realizes that the better.”

FDR was a real “War President”. He didn’t go around telling people “Mission Accomplished” when there were a lot of battles to come. He was a Democrat and based his actions on reality. His children enlisted in “his war”.

“Two books were recovered and they are currently being held in secure circumstances as evidence,” said a spokesman.

Police said later that the two men arrested had both been charged with weapons offences and with handling the stolen books, though they did not confirm Sun reports that shots were fired.

The books are in the evidence room, not the reading room, and no one will be reading them…well, of course, someone will have to examine the books to ensure they really are copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I mean, if the books aren’t real, that would change the crime, right? So, the police are going to have to have an “expert” in to review the books…or maybe a couple of “experts”.

Keep in mind that UPI [United Press International], like the Washington Times, is a Reverend Moon franchise and not always meticulous about fact checking. I really hope this story is bogus.

This is stupid enough to be true. These Chrysler products will be cheaper to buy and operate than the GM Humvees, although they have a protection rating on a par with a denim work shirt.

According to the story, the Pentagon is worried about the cost of fuel to operate the Humvees! Hey, Don, liberals forced auto manufacturers to put the fuel economy on the window. You could have called Arnold, he would have told you about the lack of fuel economy. Fuel economy standards might have been better if your guys hadn’t been fighting tightening the requirements for years. Aren’t you supposed to be providing the troops with better armored vehicles?

Air Force Academy Admits Prejudice

As a commander, I know I have problems in my cadet wing,” Lt. Gen. John Rosa said at a meeting of the Anti-Defamation League’s executive committee. “I have issues in my staff, and I have issues in my faculty – and that’s my whole organization.”

Among the General’s problems are a deputy who has been “emphasizing” his religious views, a head Chaplain who thinks those views are the only proper views, and hundreds of college-age people following along. These are people who “believe” Lieutenant General William “my G-d is bigger than yours” Boykin is an example to be followed [in spite of his multiple failures].

There is already a tacit policy of allowing bullying in military academies. Some fool felt that humiliation and abuse builds character, and anything that is done for more than a year is considered an honored tradition. For whatever reason clannish groups tend to practice some form of the omerta code, and view revealing the bad/criminal conduct of any member of the group is a heinous crime. This is reinforced by a desire to belong to a group that is inherent in humans and emphasized by the military.

If you look at what happened to the helicopter crew that reported the My Lai massacre, the Army sergeant who blew the whistle on Abu Ghraib, and the reaction of some to the identification of Deep Throat, you can see the reaction by too many is that the whistleblowers are somehow worse than those who committed the crimes they reported.

General Rosa is still dealing with the sexual assault problems, and now religious discrimination. I don’t find this at all unusual given the actions of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General Richard Myers. When the person at the top is a political flack, those below him/her will see that as the path to promotion. Under George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld the only people advancing are those that slavishly agree. Disagreeing with the current administration leads to unemployment and personal attacks.

The way things are going even if we start up the draft, we won’t have officers capable of leading the troops. Yet another Bush disaster to add to the growing list.

In the spirit of finding out who “Deep Throat” was let’s repeat this together:
it’s not the crime, it’s the cover-up.

This is not going to go over well with our slave trading Islamic friends.

Now CNN is reporting that the military investigation claims that detainees were the ones flushing the Quran.

[Ed: listening to the BBC World Service and the announcer [Linda Duffin] doesn’t buy it. Some American apologist [Bruce Fein] is claiming that these were mistakes based on a lack of comparative religious studies by “a few lower ranking individuals”. She indicated that she thought the excuse was piffle.]
[Updated for the names.]

You will not see Ana Marie Cox of Wonkette on my blogroll. She is a paid gossip columnist for a media company, not a political blogger. She markets sexual innuendo about people in DC, but her one-liners and short posts don’t add anything to the conversation because she deliberately stays politically neutral. In spite of this, the people who form panels keep including her. She fails the “Deep Throat Test”, i.e. when someone says “Deep Throat” Watergate is one of your top two responses. She is not acceptable as the “token woman” on the panel, which is also not an acceptable practice.

Melanie, Susie, and Echidne all have post about the panel. Melanie and Susie were sitting in the audience. That was stupid.

The organizers of such panels need to start reading blogs, and stop looking at statistics. As a programmer/system analyst I won’t even charge them to tell them that all current web statistics only have value within their own scope, and only when comparing two sites within that scope. No need to go into the effects of caching by large ISPs, or any other hidden variables. If you are forming a panel and want to know who to invite, ask bloggers.

The ladies on my blogroll aren’t there for “balance”: I read what they write, I refer to them when I post, I comment at their sites. I use my blogroll first, before I use bookmarks. I had to manually insert those sites on my template, so I use them.

The Chamber of Commerce feels that there needs to be something to combat Pensacola’s festivals, so they created this “local legend” about a pirate seizing the town. The pirate is probably real, but the town didn’t exist for a century after the guy died. Given that the Capone mob used to come down here during the Winter, it is highly unlikely that the locals would have done anything but welcome Bowlegs in hopes of selling him some property that was “only temporarily under water”.

[I don’t find fireworks fun. I don’t like being around exploding gunpowder. Large flashes of light and loud sounds do not make me happy.]

Amnesty International says Yes based on the many complaints. The Busheviki say No based on their hurt feelings.

The Medium Lobster weighs in to support the Shrubbery with: So You’re Being Tortured To Death In An American Military Prison!. [Usual warning about visual assault when visiting Fafblog!.]

Steve Bates feels that complaining about AI terms is being used to let Bush off the hook by allowing the conversation to become about terminology in his post: Gulag Absurdity.

I will side with Peter Klein and his NPR commentary: Amnesty Misses the Mark with ‘Gulag’ Tag.

The American system lacks the procedures, and time limits that were part of the Soviet system: the Bush system isn’t as bad, it is worse than the Soviet system with fewer checks and protections for prisoners.

In the Soviet Union you had to be accused of a “crime” and be tried by a “court” before you were sent to the GULag for a stated period of time. You were given an attorney to represent you at trial and you were “released” at the end of your sentence. While it is true that the “crime” was political, the trial was to hear you “confess your crime”, your lawyer was to assist you in writing your confession, and the fact that you were usually forced to live in Siberia after you finished your sentence, there were more “protections” for the individual than under current system. Those sent to the GULag were not subjected to torture, only harsh living conditions.

Where are the protections for “enemy combatants”? Where are the terms of imprisonment? The American system needs many changes to take it to the level of the Soviet system. Such a system does nothing to “spread democracy”.

The Soviet GULag system was harsh, repressive, and despicable. It is sad that the United States can’t even make it over that obscenely low level of legality.

Read the book here: Архипелаг ГУЛаг.

[Update: edited to better express Steve Bate’s point and fix link.]

[™ Kevin Drum]

The Ringo Kid

Crash, what crash?

[Edit: Ringo relaxes in her basket and knows nothing about the mess caused by “someone” attempting to climb a bathrobe left on the vanity. Time to review “kitten proofing procedures”. On the good news front she has figured out the purpose of the pan of granulated clay.]

Friday Ark

Jillian of skippy the bush kangaroo and The Snarky Cat sent me a note about this Defense Tech article which is pushing me towards X Files territory.

If Air Combat Command is cutting its training flight schedule by 60% during a time of “war” for budgetary reasons, given the increased Defense Budget, and the special appropriations for the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, somebody is lying like hell. In excess of a quarter-billion dollars is real money even in the Defense Department. This isn’t a misplaced decimal point.

What is going on in the Pentagon? Where is the Congressional oversight? WHERE IS THE MONEY?