Posts from — August 2005

An avid hiker, Mr. Cook collapsed while hiking in Scotland, his home. The BBC has an obituary and more coverage.

It is always tragic to lose a politician who shows some evidence of statesmanship and principles.

I guess if our governor wants to experience the joy of hurricanes he’s going to have to provide his own trailer.

A major problem for orcas and other mammals that live in the oceans are the large nets lost from the major fishing fleets, but we are reminded that other mammals, humans, can also be victims of these nets by the situation of the Russian rescue submersible off the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula. The vessel is apparently entangled in a fishing net.

The CBC has an article, Reports conflict on whether stranded Russian mini-sub has been hooked, on the efforts to rescue the crew.

We are informed: “…the amphibious assault vehicle [AAV]- the Marine Corps’ signature transport – is designed to carry troops in water operations from ship to shore, then operate on the beach and inland…”, which makes its use in a desert hundreds of miles from any significant beach a bit of a problem.

Because it is required to be amphibious, the AAV uses lighter armor than the Army personnel carriers. This difference in armor results in much higher casualty rates among the Marines who encounter roadside bombs. Although the Marines make up a quarter of the forces in Iraq, 49% of the casualties in the last four months of 2004 were Marines.

My concern is: what happened to the Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicle? The article was published in December of 2000 and talks about a 2005 deployment. The AAAV offers more protection to the personnel inside, so what happened?

I would assume it was another victim of Rumsfeld’s “vision” for the military. His belief in his program, and his continuing spending decisions in the face of the reality of conditions in Iraq is getting people killed.

If this works as is currently anticipated, you will get a single shot and be protected from influenza viruses for life. This is a long-term possibility, not a “talk to your doctor so a large pharmaceutical company can make obscene profits” moment, but it is encouraging.

Anyone who hasn’t figured out that the Iraqi army and police are thoroughly infiltrated by the insurgents is subject to having life support removed. It has been obvious for well over a year that the various Iraqi groups responsible for attacks know more about what is occurring than anyone in the Green Zone.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon condemned the attack, calling it “a reprehensible act of a bloodthirsty Jewish terrorist who sought to attack innocent Israeli citizens.”

So now they need to start searching Israeli soldiers.

I mentioned Larry Franklin when talking about the Plame investigation, so it was no surprise that he is one of those indicted along with AIPAC lobbyists in Pentagon probe.

The USS Liberty was attacked by Israel on 06/08/1967 while in international waters during the Six-Day War. Israel claimed that they attacked a clearly marked US navel vessel flying the US flag in daylight by mistake. Although Israel paid reparations, Israel’s supporters in Congress increased aid to Israel to cover the costs.

The USS Pueblo attacked by North Korea on 01/23/1968 while in international waters and not only was no penalty paid, they continue to use the Pueblo as a tourist attraction.

The USS Stark was attacked by an Iraqi air force Mirage fighter on 05/17/1987 in the Persian Gulf. Iraq paid no penalty and we continued to support them in the Iran-Iraq War.

The USS Cole was attacked by al Qaeda on 10/12/2000. Nothing was done about al Qaeda until after the 9/11 attacks.

American military personnel died in these attacks, and nothing was done. That’s how much support is given to the troops. Compare these reactions to what happened after four mercenaries were killed in an ambush in Fallujah.

No need to discuss the clearly marked US reconnaissance aircraft attacked or shot down while flying over international waters. You won’t find links for the majority of these events, because not only doesn’t the government not react, they rarely even bother to tell people that it has happened.

Really makes you want to go and enlist, doesn’t it. You don’t want to know what I think should be done with yellow ribbons.

[™ Kevin Drum]

New Kid

Chewing food is hard work.

[Edit: This “tuxedo” kitten appeared this afternoon on my front steps. It must be weening time and Mom brought him/her to the feeding station.]

Friday Ark

Excuse me, but Hackett called Bush an SOB and said he didn’t like him. How does that spin into trying to associate with Bush? Not only does Hackett not deny disliking Bush, he calls him an SOB again in this audio report. Hackett’s a Marine, and Marines use that kind of language.

Hackett goes on to say that the reason that Rove and company don’t like the language is because they never served in the military.

The local political science professor [a requirement in NPR political stories] said that Hackett needs to tone down his language, but Hackett kicked butt, winning four of the six counties in the Ohio 2nd district. Schmidt won the two largest counties, but she barely squeaked by for a Republican candidate.

For the sports betters: she lost on the spread: a dead Republican candidate should have been able to win by 5%.

My only question is: why did my cats arch their backs and hiss when Schmidt talked?

Some gas stations ought to have generators. Most gas stations have had generators since Ivan, but they didn’t have any gasoline to either power the generators or sell to the public.

People should only keep a three-day supply of gasoline for their generator, instead of a 30-day supply. The standard 5500 watt generator uses 10 gallons of fuel a day, no one was storing 300 gallons of gasoline, and when my generator arrives I won’t be storing more than 15 gallons.

People should stop evacuating and make their homes sturdier or go to local shelters. Does he know what “Mandatory Evacuation” means? The shelters don’t have anything but a roof. You bring your own food, water, bedding, etc. and they don’t accept pets. The “special needs” shelters for people with medical problems don’t have generators or medical personnel. The local hospice program tries to get their patients into the hospitals or nursing homes where there is back-up power and medical assistance.

He also thought the oil companies ought to consider having more gasoline on the Panhandle. There is no more private land available in my area, and certainly none near any transportation which is why they ship gasoline in by barge. The barges have to be pulled off the water when a hurricane hits.

The governor shouldn’t be complaining about evacuees clogging the roads, he should be improving the infrastructure so that the roads aren’t clogged and cap development until that happens. He really needs to take a few days the next time we are set to get hit and come down to take the part of the idiot standing out in the wind and surf for the Weather Channel. You don’t experience the thrill of a hurricane from waiting until it’s over and flying over in a helicopter, you need to sit in one of FEMA’s trailers for the full effect.

At least Attorney General Charley Crist is being useful regarding Hurricane price gouging. It’s only a recovery of $200K from one of the raging horde of contractors who flocked down here after the storm, but it’s a start.

You need people to come in to help with rebuilding, but you don’t need to be ripped off. FEMA money comes from the taxpayers and the insurance companies have every intention of getting their money back.

I lived through it and watched it happened. It was totally insane, and yes, the US government actually did these incredibly stupid things, and more.

Be aware that Pipes and Mylroie, the philosophers of the neocons, backed this mess and wrote articles and books in support of these policies. Cheney and Rumsfeld were featured performers in this entire danse macabre.

The Rumsfeld plan includes all of the standard business reasons for downsizing: more efficiency through consolidation of similar units, reduction of overhead, elimination of duplicate services, etc. What is left out is the fact that the Guard is only under Federal control when it is called up, and is under state control at all other times.

While the regular and Reserve components are obviously under the control of the Pentagon, it is not clear that a Guard unit of one state can be transferred to another state. It is also unclear how you transfer the personnel to another state, as this may violate the enlistment contract and would certainly cause a further decline in the Guard if you tried.

This is obviously headed to court, and I doubt the courts want to see it. It could prove that the only way to consolidate is to dissolve existing units and create new ones at the point where they are wanted. It is not clear how people would be found to staff the new units.

Given the record of the Bush administration, I don’t doubt that Rumsfeld has any number of legal opinions telling him that anything he decides to do is legal, whether it is or not.

Former Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz has become King and has chosen his half-brother, Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, as Crown Prince.

The since the death of Abdul Aziz, the kingdom has passed to his sons: Abdul Aziz [1932-1953], Saud [1953-1964], Faisal [1964-1975], Khalid [1975-1982], Fahd [1982-2005], and Abdullah [2005-].

At least the transition wasn’t the result of an assassination, as has happened in the past, but I wouldn’t expect any move towards liberalizing political life in the kingdom.