All posts by Chief

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Border Breakdown Escalates

Violence in Mexico spills across U.S. border

“It’s almost like a military fight,” Ahern said Tuesday. “I don’t think that generally the American public has any sense of the level of violence that occurs on the border.”

Why not? Oh, yeah…the MSM won’t report on the situation…it might generate a backlash against the feckless lack of border security that seems to be the administration policy!

As the cartels fight for territory, this carnage spills over to the U.S., Ahern said – from bullet-ridden people stumbling into U.S. territory, to rounds of ammunition coming across U.S. entry ports.

U.S. humvees retrofitted with steel mesh over the glass windows patrol parts of the border to protect agents against guns shots and large rocks regularly thrown at them. At times agents are pinned down by sniper fire as people try to illegally cross into the U.S.

Where’s General “Black Jack” Pershing, now that we really need him?

Or more to the point, where’s someone in the Administration with enough integrity to live up to their oath of office… you know, the bit about “…defend…”??!!

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The Road to Serfdom via Bureaucracy

E-who? The EU power game has begun

The more the Chief watches the EU political machinations, the more queasy the stomach gets.

This account of the sort of political dealing going on surrounding the EU should seem familiar to one familiar with history…similarly complex dealing is an old Euro tradition…the Borgias, deMedicis, Hapsburgs, and the Court of Louis XiV at Versaille all too readily come to mind as precedents of the type. Of course there ARE differences, obviously…this stuff is more reminescent of more recent efforts at Europen unification that took place in the 30’s-40’s.

On the other hand, the former examples of this sort of back-channel political intrigue were in essence family enterprises,,,and in that way at least still had a touch of humanity involved, unlike the administrative regime that is currently evolving in a direction that seem to lead in the direction of the soul-less administrative self-absorption of latter-day Adolf Eichmanns.

China Watch, Defense Matters!

ChiCom Crap Stuff Zaps US Troops?

Families demand answers in Iraq electrocutions

Here’s another one to add to the litany of ChiCom garbage foisted off on us, which has ranged from bad ped food, adulterated or faked food additives (for humans), toxic toys, etc.

Three years and three months before Ryan Maseth stepped into a shower Jan. 2 in Baghdad, an Army safety specialist identified electrocution as a “killer of soldiers.”

Still, when the 24-year-old Shaler Green Beret turned on the faucet, water flowed from a pump powered by an improperly grounded electrical system manufactured in China. Borne on water, an electrical current surged through the pipes, out of the shower head and into his body. His heart stopped.

Maseth’s electrocution, the latest of 14 among service personnel in Iraq since 2003, set into motion a series of events to determine how and why these deaths occurred.

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McCain Learns nothing since Immigration Bill Debacle

McCain to attend convention of ‘reconquista’ group

back during the primary season for the GOP, Sen. John McCain noted that he had learned from his experience of getting politically worked over within the Republican Party in relation to the so-called “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” bill that went down in flames.

Sen. John McCain, the de facto Republican presidential nominee, announced today he will attend the national convention of La Raza, a radical Hispanic lobby tied to the movement to reconquer the Southwestern U.S. that was part of Mexico before the Mexican-American War that ended in 1848.

Looks like he still seeks to align with those who have the attitude of “Borders? What Borders? We don’t need no steenking borders!”

At this rate it’s getting harder and harder for the Chief to contemplate holding his nose and voting to McCain…in spite of the opposition’s consisting of a contest between the Stalinist and Trotskyite wings of the Party.

Maybe McCain’s been hitting the Absolut.

China Watch

ChiCom Olympic Preps Continuing…

Senator: China plans to spy on Olympic hotel guests

So what’s the news here?

A Senate lawmaker accused the Chinese government on Thursday of ordering U.S.-owned hotels in China to install Internet filters that can spy on international visitors coming to see the summer Olympic games.

Sen. Sam Brownback, a Kansas Republican, made the charge at a Capitol Hill news conference where he and other lawmakers denounced China’s record of human rights abuses and urged President Bush not to attend the opening ceremonies in Beijing.

HAH! Fat chance of Bush not kowtowing to Beijing – unfortunately.

“This is wrong, it’s against international conventions, it’s certainly against the Olympic spirit,” Brownback said. “The Chinese government should remove that request and that order.”

Olympic spirit? Is there such a thing any more?

Brownback said he has seen the language of memos received by at least two U.S.-owned hotels. He declined to name them, and said he obtained the information from two “reliable but confidential sources” in the hope that public pressure would persuade the Chinese government to back off the demand.

Public pressure? Affecting the ChiCom regime? Only on a frigid day in hell.

The senator called China “the foremost enabler of human rights abuses around the world” and said the Chinese government is turning the summer games into “an Olympics of oppression.”

HEAR, HEAR! The Chief heartily concurs, but without surprise…the ChiComs are still…the same bunch that killed off some 10’s of millions of their own people in the name of the Glorious Chairman Mao’s Revolution. What’s a bit of surveillance compared to that? A mere bagatelle! A nothing!

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Carter’s HAMASS Buddies: Jews Killed Themselves in Holocaust

Hamas Adds ‘Sinister Twist’ to Holocaust Denial

Although Holocaust denial has long been a common theme among Palestinians, Hamas has added a ‘sinister twist,’ claiming that the Jews themselves devised the Holocaust to exterminate the disabled and handicapped among them so they wouldn’t be a burden to the future State of Israel.

The documentary, which aired on Hamas Al-Aksa television on April 18 – two weeks before Israel marks Holocaust Remembrance Day on Thursday — was translated by the Palestinian Media Watch and can be found on YouTube.

The only thing more bizarre than this is the spectacle of the apparently demented ex-Presidential peanut farmer shaking hands with the butchers of HAMASS…a burned-out moonbat, indeed.

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Blog Note

As you may have noticed blogging has been a bit sparse lately…lots of stuff going on with school this time of year, plus fighting off a couple of late spring blizzards (!) here in eastern South Dakota, most recently last Friday, has had a certain…disruptive effect here.

There’s been the usual ration of insane news lately, however, and the Chief is definitely still hangin’ in there…

National Insecurity

Food Spot Shortages…in the U.S.? Huh?

Food Rationing Confronts Breadbasket of the World

Many parts of America, long considered the breadbasket of the world, are now confronting a once unthinkable phenomenon: food rationing. Major retailers in New York, in areas of New England, and on the West Coast are limiting purchases of flour, rice, and cooking oil as demand outstrips supply. There are also anecdotal reports that some consumers are hoarding grain stocks.

An employee at the Costco store in Queens said there were no restrictions on rice buying, but limits were being imposed on purchases of oil and flour. Internet postings attributed some of the shortage at the retail level to bakery owners who flocked to warehouse stores when the price of flour from commercial suppliers doubled.

The curbs and shortages are being tracked with concern by survivalists who view the phenomenon as a harbinger of more serious trouble to come.

ANY food shortages, even limited spot shortages of specific items in the US is one heck of a LONG way from what it should be.

Spiking food prices have led to riots in recent weeks in Haiti, Indonesia, and several African nations. India recently banned export of all but the highest quality rice, and Vietnam blocked the signing of a new contract for foreign rice sales. “I’m surprised the Bush administration hasn’t slapped export controls on wheat,” Mr. Rawles said. “The Asian countries are here buying every kind of wheat.”

Mr. Rawles said it is hard to know how much of the shortages are due to lagging supply and how much is caused by consumers hedging against future price hikes or a total lack of product. “There have been so many stories about worldwide shortages that it encourages people to stock up. What most people don’t realize is that supply chains have changed, so inventories are very short,” Mr. Rawles, a former Army intelligence officer, said. “Even if people increased their purchasing by 20%, all the store shelves would be wiped out.”

“It ain’t that pretty at all.” – Warren Zevon

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Strict Gun Laws Lower Crime Rate? Not in Chicago!

Bloody Weekend: 32 Shot, 2 Stabbed, 6 Dead

Rough weekend in the Windy City.

Another illustration of the uselessness of highly restrictive gun laws…the bad guys will ALWAYS have access, while the disarmed and defenseless good guys pay the cost.

NOTE: This is not to disparage the work of the police…but realistically…the odds of them being on scene to actually PROTECT, as opposed to responding, is vanishingly small.

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Correctly labeling Islamofascism hurts?…too bad, get over it!

Muslims press McCain on ‘Islamic’ terror label

A coalition of American Muslim groups is demanding that Sen. John McCain stop using the adjective “Islamic” to describe terrorists and extremist enemies of the United States.

Like…they AREN’T the Islamofascists? Then WHO are they?

Fortunately some sanity seems to be prevailing…at least so far:

An aide to Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee who is counting on his pro-Iraq war stance to attract conservative voters, said the senator from Arizona will not drop the word. Steve Schmidt, a former Bush White House aide who is now a McCain media strategist, told The Times that the use of the word is appropriate and that the candidate will continue to define the enemy that way.

“Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda represent a perverted strain of Islam at odds with the great many peaceful Muslims who practice their great faith peacefully,” Mr. Schmidt said. “But the reality is, the hateful ideology which underpins bin Ladenism is properly described as radical Islamic extremism. Senator McCain refers to it that way because that is what it is.”

Tell it like it is!

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Hil Hangs In there…so who cares?

Undecideds flock to Clinton

Undecided Democratic primary voters who wait until Election Day before choosing a candidate have overwhelming went with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton — a trend that she needs to continue in tomorrow’s crucial Pennsylvania primary to claim a decisive victory.

The Chiefs view of this contest? If one were hiking along and happened upon a rattlesnake fighting with a scorpion, you wouldn’t pick a favorite, you would rapidly walk away from both.

’nuff said.

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Bring it on!

Moqtada al-Sadr threatens ‘open war’ in Iraq

Iraq’s most powerful militia leader, Moqtada al-Sadr, has threatened the Baghdad government with “open war” after 20 of his fighters died in clashes with US troops.

Guess what? Does he think that he’ll lose LESS of his troops thugs by escalating? With Petraeus in charge? Sounds like a classic case of poor situational awareness.

In a statement read at mosques, Sadr accused Iraq’s government of using foreign forces to crush his Mahdi Army movement, the country’s biggest popular organisation.

Wow! Speaking of a lack of situational awareness…let’s see…how many years has the US been fighting in Iraq? Hello? This is something new that needs special comment?

“I am giving my last warning and my word to the Iraqi government to take the path of peace and stop violence against its own people, otherwise it will be a government of destruction,” he said.

Yep. Iraq will have the government…and Sadr will get the destruction.

One can only hope so!

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New Atrocity Charges Involving Serbs – Oooops! The Serbs were the victims!

Serb prisoners ‘were stripped of their organs in Kosovo war’

This is REALLY ghoulish:

Serb prisoners had their internal organs removed and sold by ethnic Albanians during the Kosovo war, according to allegations in a new book by the world’s best known war crimes prosecutor.

Carla Del Ponte, who stepped down in January as chief prosecutor at the Hague tribunal for crimes committed in the Balkan wars of the 1990s, said investigators found a house suspected of being a laboratory for the illegal trade.

A senior adviser to Hashim Thaci, Kosovo’s prime minister and a leading member of the Kosovo Liberation Army which is accused of benefiting from the trade, yesterday denied the allegations.

Naturally.

According to the sources, senior figures in the Kosovo Liberation Army were aware of the scheme, in which hundreds of young Serbs were allegedly taken by truck from Kosovo to northern Albania where their organs were removed. Miss Del Ponte provides grim details of the alleged organ harvesting, and of how some prisoners were sewn up after having kidneys removed.

“The victims, deprived of a kidney, were then locked up again, inside the barracks, until the moment they were killed for other vital organs. In this way, the other prisoners were aware of the fate that awaited them, and according to the source, pleaded, terrified, to be killed immediately,” Miss Del Ponte writes.

The claims in The Hunt: Me and War Criminals have renewed tensions between Serbia and its former province of Kosovo, which declared independence two months ago. In it, the Swiss ex-prosecutor reveals how her efforts to bring alleged war criminals to justice were stymied by lack of co-operation from all sides – Serb, Albanian and even Nato.

Hmmmmm. Remember those evil (CHristian) Serbs, abusing the innocent (Moslem) Kosovar Albanians meriting the military wrath of NATO during Pres. Bubba Clinton’s “Wag the Dog” episode in response to Monicagate?

Maybe the Serbs had a point in not wanting the Kosovars around.

As for the Moslem Kosovars and what brings to mind a certain Dr. Josef Mengele of the unlamented 3rd Reich, perhaps it’s worth recalling that the literal Arabic translation of Mein Kampf is, al-Jihad.

By the way…this sort of stuff is why I HATE the use of terms like “human resources”. THIS is an ultimate form of utilization of humans as a resource…literally. Whether it’s the old Nazi fascism, the Kosovars’ modern repeat performance of it, or for that matter the modern “liberal” and their advocacy of pre-natal infanticide, it’s all just a different face of the same type of ultimate evil.

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SanFran Misses the Target

State high court shoots down S.F. handgun ban

The Chief is frankly amazed that there is still this much sanity left in the California judicial system. There may still be hope for them out there!

The state Supreme Court dealt a final blow Wednesday to San Francisco’s voter-approved ban on handguns, rejecting the city’s appeal of a lower-court ruling that sharply limited the ability of localities to regulate firearms.

The court’s unanimous order was a victory for the National Rifle Association, which sued on behalf of gun owners, advocates and dealers a day after the measure passed with 58 percent of the vote in November 2005. The initiative has never taken effect.

The ordinance, Proposition H, would have forbidden San Francisco residents to possess handguns, exempting only law enforcement officers and others who needed guns for professional purposes. It would have also prohibited the manufacture, sale or distribution of any type of firearms or ammunition in San Francisco.

Score one for the good guys.

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Mugabe Election Fix Fails

ZIMBABWE VOTES TO LIVE

It takes a special kind of dictator to fix an election – and still lose.

Yet that’s exactly what seems to have happened to Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, whose 28-year reign of terror has dragged a nation once known as Africa’s breadbasket to the brink of starvation.

Voters went to the polls Saturday for elections that no one of sound mind thought would turn out to be free or fair. Still, the Zimbabwe Election Commission revealed yesterday that Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF party has lost control of parliament for the first time since 1980.

You’ve GOT to hope that Mugabe and his thugs are somehow ousted, once and for all. NOBODY deserves what he’s done.

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Terr Details Outed in Brit Trial

Terror suspects ‘planned nuclear station strike’

This si stuff coming out in a Brit terror trial currently underway:

Jurors were told their ambitions were “limitless” and they were shown chilling suicide videos in which one alleged plotter promised to leave body parts “decorating the streets”.

Prosecutors revealed that as well as discovering alleged plans to blow up transatlantic passenger jets, police found documents which suggested the gang had considered other targets in the UK. The jury was told that a computer memory stick found by officers concealed in the High Wycombe home of Assad Sarwar contained details of gas terminals, oil refineries, the national grid, and “power stations, including nuclear power stations”.

Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, said the targets included Canary Wharf, a gas pipeline which runs between Belgium and the UK and companies which store and process hydrogen peroxide. “There was also information on Chernobyl, and on UK airports including Heathrow’s new control tower,” he said. A diary found in Mr Sarwar’s home listed oil and gas refineries at Bacton, Fawley, Correton and Kingsbury, it was alleged.

Mr Wright said: “The horizon in respect of Mr Sarwar’s terrorist ambition was, we say, limitless.”

A document about an Islamic ruling on the permissibility of self-sacrifice, including suicide and martyrdom, was also found on the memory stick, prosecutors said.

A couple of perhaps redundant observations come to mind.

First, this is what Islamofascist terrs do. No one should be surprised.

Second – it’s not necessary to be a “card-carrying member” of al Qaida, HAMAS, or any other group for that matter in order to plan and execute serious terrorist operations. THis is contrary to a common attitude, especially in the US Government, and MSM to soft-peddle any terrorist incidents lacking such a formal affiliation…like the Salt Lake mall shooter, or the self-proclaimed Islamoterr militant who drove his SUV into a crowd in N.C. to make his point.

SD Politics

Petition Does End-run around Gov, Senate RINOS

H/T to PP at Dakota War College on this one. He notes that he got it on an e-mail notice…the Chief is on the same mailing list, but can’t access that e-mail acct. at work, but am posting anyway based on the second-hand version.

Clean and Open government act makes the ballot

South Dakotans for Open and Clean Government ballot committee today announced that Secretary of State Chris Nelson has certified the more than 26,500 signatures collected to place the South Dakota Open and Clean Government Act on the November ballot.

“This is a great moment for South Dakotans who will finally have their voices heard that they want more transparency in their government. This time, the bureaucrats will have to listen,” said Jim Anderson, board member from Sioux Falls. “The fact that better than one out of 15 voters in South Dakota has already gone on record as strongly supporting this vital initiative clearly indicates that it will soon become the law of our state.”

After the veto, and the support of the veto by Knudson et al in the Senate of SB 1233, this is a good follow-up response.

The measure submitted includes the following:

* Taxpayer funds could not be used to lobby or campaign for partisan political agendas, including increased taxes.
* Legislators and their staff would be unable to use their legislative positions to secure a “golden-parachute”, state-contracted job.
* The “pay to play” system — where state contracts are traded for campaign donations — would be outlawed.
* A simple, searchable website with information on all state contracts over $500 (excluding employment contracts), would be launched so citizens can know how their money is being spent.

Sounds like a plan!

National Insecurity

Iranian Nuke Efforts Continue

Diplomats: Iran Assembling Centrifuges

Iran has assembled hundreds of advanced machines reflecting a possible intention to speed up uranium enrichment, diplomats have told The Associated Press.

One diplomat said more than 300 of the centrifuges have been linked up in two separate units in Iran’s underground enrichment plant and a third was being assembled. He said the machines apparently are more advanced than the thousands already running underground, suggesting they could be the sophisticated IR-2 centrifuge that Tehran recently acknowledged testing.

Meanwhile, business as usual in Washington: ignore the threat, and voila! It disappears!

Right? Wrong!

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I was talking about this tomorrow…

Physicist Says Time Travel Is Not Only Possible, but Likely

Time travel? Teleportation? No problem, says renowned physicist Michio Kaku.

A somewhat more detailed presentation of this is in the Friday London Telegraph:

Teleportation and forcefields possible within decades, says Professor Michio Kaku

Teleportation and forcefields could become scientific realities within decades, and time travel will also be possible in the future, according to one of the world’s leading physicists. Professor Michio Kaku of City University in New York has studied a range of scientific “impossibilities” and concluded that most will almost certainly be achieved as our knowledge expands.

The Chief concurs!

Space Patrol

Who’s on First? The Doctor is In!

The stars line up for Doctor Who

‘You know, as an actor, the things to do here are to play at the National, open at the West End, do a BBC film that’s so good it’s really a quality movie – and be in Doctor Who?!” says Michael Brandon, the American actor and committed anglophile who gave us Jerry Springer on stage and Dempsey of Dempsey and Makepeace on TV. He’s not joking: a guest role in the new, regenerated Doctor Who, the fourth series of which begins tomorrow, has become, if not quite the holy grail of the thespian world, then certainly an acting badge of honour.

Interesting. The Chief really liked the Doctor…it seems he isn’t alone.

Uncategorized

Not the Fed Again!

Bush Administration Proposes Most Sweeping Overhaul of Financial Regulation Since Depression

The Bush administration is trying to confront the credit crisis that has rattled nerves from Wall Street to Main Street by proposing wholesale changes in how Washington oversees the financial system. A plan set for release Monday would give new powers to the Federal Reserve so that the central bank serves as the system’s overarching protector of stability.

Great! The Fed has been doing the same sort of stupid stuff that it did in the late 20’s to try to artificially maintain a semblance of prosperity, so now the Fed is going to get even more powers to screw things up with. Just what we need! Not with the Fed shoveling cash out the helicopter door lest idiots who don’t think enough to stop themselves from gambling with their livelihood might lose out.

SD Politics

SD GOP Notes

Quad County Lincoln Day at Brookings

The Chief was in attendance at the combined Brookings – Duel – Grant – Moody County GOP Lincoln Day dinner Friday night at Brookings’ new Shamrock center.

As one might expect many of the legislative and congressional candidates were on hand, and had a chance to give a thumbnail presentation of their candidacy and views.

H/W is the Chief’s humble reaction to some of this:

7th District Senate Primary:

An interesting race in the Senate primary between incumbent Orv Smidt, and DAKOTA WAR COLLEGE blogger Pat Powers. Smidt first noted his extensive ties to the Pierre and Brookings movers and shakers, and, as an example of his effectiveness commented on progress for the Federal mandating of state sales tax collections. Sen. Smidt cited the currrent $2M/year the state receives from the semi-voluntary sales tax collection that in in force now, and contrasted the expected $24M/yr haul after the new rules are in place. (DOUBLETHINK ALERT!) He THEN stated that this was a very good thing for the state of South Dakota, since it would help to prevent future tax increases!

HUH????!!!! Time out for a logic check: (Think, think.) $2M/year now, vs $24M in the future. No tax increase. Uhhhh…OK, so where is the extra $22M coming from, except from reaching deeper into the taxpayers’ pockets? Hmmmmmm. Taking more money from the taxpayers sort of seems like a tax increase to the Chief however it’s described. (If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, then hey, must be a duck!).

By the way, not a word on voting to upbold the veto of the state spending disclosure website. I guess that’s not worth commenting on.

His opponent, Pat Powers, a late entry in the race, also introduced himself, and noted his support for the disclosure measure.

Admittedly, since the Chief is in the 4th District, not the 7th, he doesn’t have a dog in that fight…but if he did…the nod would have to go to PP, based on both these issues.

District 7 House: Incumbants Carol Pitts and Larry Tidemann both look good to the Chief.

8th District Senate: Russell Olson, looking to move up from the house to go for the Senate seat presently held by Dan Sutton (no comment). Hopefully he will be able to move up. This sort of stretched out district includes Flandreau, and the southern part of Moody County, along with Lake, and Miner Counties.

District 4 House: Incumbant Val Rausch not able to make it, but Brookings dairyman Jim Gilkerson who has also filed for the House was present. He presented a very strong, and very good statement of the basic Republican principles that would be the basis for his actions if elected. The Chief has known him and his family for a number of years, and looks forward to helping his campaign in northern Moody County as needed. He’s a great candidate, and will make an excellent legislator!

US House: Chris Lien will make a strong run for Stephanie’s seat…if he runs a strong conservative campaign she should have vulnerabilities resulting from her de-facto alignments with left-lib Donks in Washington.

US Senate: Kephardt vs Dykstra

Both candidates presented well. Dykstra correctly noted the fundamental importance of teh 2008 election cycle, but the Chief was particularly impressed with Kephardt’s highlighting some of the recent financial instabilities on and around Wall Street. This is an issue of fundamental importance…every bit as vital as the war on Islamofascism…and IMHO the fact that he was the only one to mention this, is a point in his favor.

Hmmmm. This race is tough. Both look good. Will take further thought.

Space Patrol

Competition for Branson’s Virgin Galactic

1 Comment

XCOR AEROSPACE SUBORBITAL VEHICLE TO FLY WITHIN TWO YEARS

lynx_suborbital_ascent.jpg

A small California aerospace company today unveiled a new suborbital spaceship that will provide affordable front-seat rides to the edge of space for the millions of people who want to buy a ticket.

The company, XCOR Aerospace, of Mojave, CA, announced that its two-seat Lynx suborbital spaceship will carry people or payloads to where they will experience weightlessness and see the stars above and the Earth and its atmosphere below. This will launch XCOR into the emerging space tourism market, estimated at over a half-billion dollars.

The Lynx will offer affordable access to space for individuals, researchers and educators,” said XCOR CEO Jeff Greason. “Future versions of Lynx will offer ever-improving capabilities for scientific and engineering research and commercial applications.

The spaceship, roughly the size of a small private airplane, will first take off in 2010 and will be capable of flying several times each day.

First, Sir Richard Branson’s budding Virgin Galactic suborbital servide, and now this…Great!

Competition for the space tourism market! Maybe someday it’ll be cheap enough that even the Chief will be able to afford a trip to space!

National Insecurity

A New Holy League with a Gondor Strategy?

Resurrecting Christendom: A Blueprint

Historically the Holy League was an alliance of the 16th Century’s Christian powers (Spain, Venice, various other Italian states, to oppose the serious threat of the Ottoman Empire to continue to expand to the west, and dominate the entire Mediterranean.

Although the League did not achieve all of its immediate political and military objectives (which included the relief and liberation of Cyprus), it did gather a large fleet (still outnumbered by the Ottoman fleet) and decisively defeat the Islamic force at the battle of Lepanto (1571). Lest you think the threat to Europe at the time was overblown, Vienna itself was repeatedly attacked and besieged by the Ottomans…the final time as late as 1683, when the timely intervention and assistance of Jan Sobieski’s Poland was all that saved the day.

Historically, as noted by Baron Bodissy’s GATES of VIENNA blog, our current situation with regards to the 21st Century’s militant Islamofascism, is merely the latest chapter in a 1300 year struggle of Christianity to maintain its independence if not its existence in the face of Islamic aggressive and violent proselytizing. (The Baron notes it thus: “At the siege of Vienna in 1683 Islam seemed poised to overrun Christian Europe. We are in a new phase of a very old war.” The Chief concurs!)

This piece by Dr. Timothy Furnish (Ph.D in Islamic and World History, is a former U.S. Army veteran and college professor, now working as an editor for Praeger Publishing) suggests the possibility of a sort of revived Holy League…and models its policies on what is described as a “Gondor Strategy”…taken from J.R.R. Tolkien’s LOTR Trilogy.

Again, as Pinkerton points out, the purpose of the majority-Christian parts of the planet uniting against the Muslim world would NOT be to impose democracy or in any way to change that civilization—much less to wage a new “Crusade” (although we’d better inure ourselves to that inevitable charge): “not conquest, not occupation, not ‘liberation’” but rather “feasible strategies of containment, even quarantine.” A cordon sanitaire would be created around the Islamic sandbox until Muslims learn to play nice and stop inflicting both their near and far neighbors with anti-democratic, anti-women, anti-tolerance, and anti-modernist ideology—not to mention IEDs, assassinations and plane-bombs. And until that violent minority of Muslims obsessed with creating a global caliphate is eliminated, or at least convinced of the fruitlessness of their quest—hopefully by their own co-religionists, backed up by the resolve and non-interventionist support of the larger Christian world.

Pinkerton calls this the “Shire Strategy”—but there’s a better analogy from Tolkien. Other than four hobbits who rode off to help in the war against the arch-expansionist Sauron, the Shire folk stayed home—fat, happy and clueless about the serious and deadly conflict being fought to protect them. Even Frodo, the hobbit who eventually destroyed the Ring of Power, would never have been able to do so had not Men—dedicated survivors of the destroyed Kingdom of Arnor (called, fortuitously by Tolkien, Rangers!) and committed soldiers from the extant kingdom of Gondor—engaged Sauron’s legions in both covert and overt ops. As Boromir put it at the Council of Elrond: “it is by the blood of our people that your lands are kept safe.” Rather than Pinkerton’s Shire Strategy, we should envision the rather more muscular Gondor Strategy, which would entail setting a “Watchful Peace” upon the bloody borders of Islam, as in Tolkien the most poweful human kingdom did against Sauron’s land of Mordor.

The Chief isn’t totally sure that the approach WOULD work…but it probably COULD. Nevertheless, it’s an interesting concept, and one that ultimately may become much more of a necessity that it seems to be at present. Well worth checking it out further and giving it some thought!

H/T on this one to the above noted GATES of VIENNA.

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Effect of Socialism on Venezuela

Polls: Support for Chavez government falling

Public support for President Hugo Chavez’s government has significantly declined, according to two polls published on Tuesday.

Some 34% of Venezuelans surveyed said they support Chavez’s government, down from a high of 67% in early 2005, to the lowest level in five years, a quarterly survey of 2,000 Venezuelans by Caracas pollster Datos found.

The poll was published by the Caracas-based newspaper El Nacional, which said it had a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points and was carried out last month in cities and towns representing 75% of Venezuela’s population….

Another survey, by Venezuelan pollster Alfredo Keller, showed that 37% of Venezuelans questioned identified themselves as Chavez supporters in February, down from 50% in mid-2007.

Chavez’ moves towards a Marxist socialism is having its usual effect on the economic situation:

Polls have consistently shown that rampant crime is a major concern to Venezuelans. Double-digit inflation has also accelerated, and sporadic shortages of milk and other food products persist.

Meanwhile, apparently the usual lib apologists attempt to explain things away:

Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research, was skeptical of the polls’ results, citing Chavez’s longstanding popularity and the growth of the country’s oil-rich economy. “Obviously, Chavez has been affected by these food shortages,” said Weisbrot, who has supported Chavez’s policies.

This is worth some examination.

First, the assertion that Venezuela’s economy is growing. Obviously the curse of economic growth is causing the food shortages, and inflation. Sounds like a healthy economy to the Chief. Not.

Secondly, there is the point that there are food shortages at all. D’ya think that just MAYBE food shortages might cause people to think less of the leadership of their gloriously “progressive” socialist government?

DUH! The sooner Chavez is gone from the scene, the better it will be for Venezuela.

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Gorby Outs Himself as Believer

Mikhail Gorbachev admits he is a Christian

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Communist leader of the Soviet Union, has acknowledged his Christian faith for the first time, paying a surprise visit to pray at the tomb of St Francis of Assisi. Accompanied by his daughter Irina, Mr Gorbachev spent half an hour on his knees in silent prayer at the tomb.

This is definitely grist for the historical/biographical mill.

Mr Gorbachev’s surprise visit confirmed decades of rumours that, although he was forced to publicly pronounce himself an atheist, he was in fact a Christian, and casts a meeting with Pope John Paul II in 1989 in a new light.

Mr Gorbachev, 77, was baptised into the Russian Orthodox Church and his parents were Christians. In addition, the parents of his wife Raisa were deeply religious and were killed during the Second World War for having religious icons in their home.

Ronald Reagan, the former United States president, allegedly told his close aides on a number of occasions that he felt his opponent during the Cold War was a “closet believer”.

Interesting.

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BIG Dakotas, Montana Oil Find

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500 Billion Barrels Possible in Bakken Formation?

The potential to develop a HUGE oil find in the northern plains through the use of advanced (slant-horizontal) drilling is being reported on the Coast-to-Coast AM radio program. (Betcha this looks a lot more attractive with $100/bbl oil.)

While the Coast show is admittedly a somewhat edgy source (noted for UFO reports, etc.), this paper by the North Dakota Geological Survey is much harder data to give an idea of what’s potentially there: 200-300B barrels IN NORTH DAKOTA…remember, this formation also extends into Montana, South Dakota, and Canada!

Folks, that’s a LOT of oil…hmmmm…not for nothing is Texas-based Hyperion Energy moving toward construction of the first new US refinery in 25+ years -  in South Dakota.

UFF DA!