All posts by Chief

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Flash! Bang!

Navy Sets World Record With Incredible, Sci-Fi Weapon

In the perennial naval contest between guns and armor, score a big one for guns!

A theoretical dream for decades, the railgun is unlike any other weapon used in warfare. And it’s quite real too, as the U.S. Navy has proven in a record-setting test today in Dahlgren, VA.

Rather than relying on a explosion to fire a projectile, the technology uses an electomagnetic current to accelerate a non-explosive bullet at several times the speed of sound. The conductive projectile zips along a set of electrically charged parallel rails and out of the barrel at speeds up to Mach 7. The result: a weapon that can hit a target 100 miles or more away within minutes.

“It’s an over-used term, but it really changes several games,” Rear Admiral Nevin P. Carr, Jr., the chief of Naval Research, told FoxNews.com prior to the test.

For a generation raised on shoot-’em-up video games, the word “railgun” invokes sci-fi images of an impossibly destructive weapon annihilating monsters and aliens. But the railgun is nonetheless very real.

Can the BFG-9000 be far behind?

An electromagnetic railgun offers a velocity previously unattainable in a conventional weapon, speeds that are incredibly powerful on their own. In fact, since the projectile doesn’t have any explosives itself, it relies upon that kinetic energy to do damage. And at 11 a.m. today, the Navy produced a 33-megajoule firing — more than three times the previous record set by the Navy in 2008.

“It bursts radially, but it’s hard to quantify,” said Roger Ellis, electromagnetic railgun program manager with the Office of Naval Research. To convey a sense of just how much damage, Ellis told FoxNews.com that the big guns on the deck of a warship are measured by their muzzle energy in megajoules. A single megajoule is roughly equivalent to a 1-ton car traveling at 100 mph. Multiple that by 33 and you get a picture of what would happen when such a weapon hits a target.

Uff da!

The article goes on to describe some more of the characteristics, as well as some of the tactical and strategic implications of the deployment of this sort of system. It really does remind the Chief of something from military science fiction…aspects of something from Hammer’s Slammers, or perhaps David Weber’s Honorverse series.

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UN Conference Delegates: Ban DHMO!

What was this actually about? According to the DHMO site these are some of the effects of DHMO in the environment:

* DHMO contributes to global warming and the “Greenhouse Effect”, and is one of the so-called “greenhouse gasses.”
* DHMO is an “enabling component” of acid rain — in the absence of sufficient quantities of DHMO, acid rain is not a problem.
* DHMO is a causative agent in most instances of soil erosion — sufficiently high levels of DHMO exacerbate the negative effects of soil erosion.
* DHMO is present in high levels nearly every creek, stream, pond, river, lake and reservoir in the U.S. and around the world.
* Measurable levels of DHMO have been verified in ice samples taken from both the Arctic and Antarctic ice caps.
* Recent massive DHMO exposures have lead to the loss of life and destruction of property in California, the Mid-West, the Philippines, and a number of islands in the Caribbean, to name just a few.
* Research has shown that significant levels of DHMO were found in the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 which killed 230,000 in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and elsewhere, making it the deadliest tsunami in recorded history.
* It is widely believed that the levee failures, flooding and the widespread destruction resulting from Hurricane Katrina along the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005 were caused or exacerbated by excessive DHMO levels found in the Gulf of Mexico, along with other contributing factors.

So what’s the problem? DHMO = “dihydrogen monoxide”….for the chemically illiterate, that means it has 2 atoms of hydrogen in one of its molecules, along with one oxygen…H2O, otherwise known as WATER!

UN Climate Change Delegates Support Prank Petition to Ban Water; Derail U.S. Economy

…got to hand it to the folks at the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow. They‘ve come up with a creative new way to expose the scientific ignorance of many of today’s climate change fanatics….CFACT asked attendees of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Cancun, Mexico, to sign two different petitions. The first asked participants to support the purposeful destabilization of the United States economy (see article for details…realistically, what else would one expect from a bunch of UN envirowonks)

And to prove that some people will sign anything that has the right buzz words — think “global effort,“ ”international community,“ and ”planetary” — COP 16 participants were asked to sign in support of a ban on a dangerous chemical compound: water.

The second project was as successful as the first. It was euphemistically entitled “Petition to Ban the Use of Dihydrogen Monoxide-DHMO (translation water).” It was designed to show that if official U.N. delegates could be duped by college students into banning water, that they could essentially fall for anything, including pseudo-scientific studies which claim to show that global warming is man-caused.

Despite the apparently not-so-obvious reference to H2O, almost every delegate that collegian students approached signed their petition to ban that all too dangerous substance, which contributes to the greenhouse effect, is the major substance in acid rain, and is fatal if inhaled.

You’ve got to just love it! Moonbats caught in the act of being themselves!

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Venezuela-2011 is the new Cuba-1962

Iran Placing Medium-Range Missiles in Venezuela; Can Reach the U.S.

Iran is planning to place medium-range missiles on Venezuelan soil, based on western information sources[1], according to an article in the German daily, Die Welt, of November 25, 2010. According to the article, an agreement between the two countries was signed during the last visit o Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to Tehran on October19, 2010. The previously undisclosed contract provides for the establishment of a jointly operated military base in Venezuela, and the joint development of ground-to-ground missiles.

The Chief recently finished reading Michael Dobbs’ One Minute to Midnight, his engaging, authoritative, and detailed account of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, and how we were able to avoid a thermonuclear war largely due to the fact that grown-ups (Kennedy and Krushchev) were at least nominally in charge, and in spite of a spontaneous flow of negative events were able to engineer a mutually tolerable conclusion to the situation. (By the way, the book is a great read…sort of Tom Clancy for real!)

Unfortunately one doubts that with Obama, Hugo Chavez, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the players today, that the character and level of rationality available will prove to be adequate to maintain sanity, to say nothing of national security.

The situation that is unfolding in Venezuela has some resemblance to the Cuba crisis of 1962. At that time, Cuba was acting on behalf of the USSR; now Venezuela is acting on behalf of Iran. At present, the geopolitical situation is very different: the world is no longer ruled by two superpowers; new nations, often with questionable leaders and the ambition of acquiring global status, are appearing on the international scene. Their danger to the free world will be greater if the process of nuclear proliferation is not stopped. Among the nations that aspire to become world powers, Iran has certainly the best capabilities of posing a challenge to the West.

Back in the 1962, thanks to the stern stance adopted by the then Kennedy administration, the crisis was defused.

Nowadays, however, we do not see the same firmness from the present administration. On the contrary, we see a lax attitude, both in language and in deeds, that results in extending hands when our adversaries have no intention of shaking hands with us. Iran is soon going to have a nuclear weapon, and there are no signs that UN sanctions will in any way deter the Ayatollah’s regime from completing its nuclear program. We know that Iran already has missiles that can carry an atomic warhead over Israel and over the Arabian Peninsula. Now we learn that Iran is planning to build a missile base close to the US borders. How longer do we have to wait before the Obama administration begins to understand threats?

Pray.

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Hang’m High

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KUHNER: Assassinate Assange
Web provocateur undermines war on terror, threatens American lives

Julian Assange poses a clear and present danger to American national security. The WikiLeaks founder is more than a reckless provocateur. He is aiding and abetting terrorists in their war against America. The administration must take care of the problem – effectively and permanently.

…the Obama administration refuses to stop Mr. Assange. His previous document dumps disclosed the names and identities of foreigners working with the United States in Afghanistan and Iraq – individuals actively involved in defeating al Qaeda and the Taliban. Their exposure could lead to many of them being killed, tortured or targeted by insurgents. Mr. Assange is directly responsible for endangering their lives. He is an active, willful enabler of Islamic terrorism. He is as much a threat as Osama bin Laden or Ayman al-Zawahri. In short, Mr. Assange is not a journalist or publisher; rather, he is an enemy combatant – and should be treated as such.

Kuhner’s piece has more to say on this all, with more gory details on the damages as well as the near total fecklessness of the B.O. administration in its failures to deal with national security issues:

Mr. Obama, however, could not be bothered with any of this. For him, foreign policy is a distraction – something to be crammed into his schedule as he seeks to transform America into a multicultural social democracy.

The United States is paying a severe price for Mr. Obama’s negligence. This is the greatest diplomatic crisis since the late 1940s, when communist agents in the U.S. government provided atomic secrets to the Soviet Union. The world is witnessing the absurd, almost surreal spectacle of the American superpower standing helpless in the face of a lone hacker. Her diplomatic secrets are no longer safe; her allies and friends are being betrayed; and her cyber-enemies are free to roam with impunity. America is no longer feared or respected.

Rope, hacker, tree.  Some assembly required.

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Food for Thought

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Pomegranate Market opens Wednesday with focus on local foods

One has to appreciate the optimism, hope, commitment, and enthusiasm it takes to open a new retail business.

A new grocery store is opening Wednesday in Sioux Falls’ southwest part of town that will focus on offering people as many locally grown products as possible.

The Pomegranate Market, located in the Beakon Centre at 57th Street and Louise Avenue, will be the newest addition to the health foods market in Sioux Falls….The store will have about 9,000 square feet of retail space offering all the things a supermarket has but on a smaller scale including a floral, dairy, produce and meat departments and a bistro with a seating area. In addition it has more than 200 bulk food items and spices.

“We want to be the experts in food,” said Brice Autry, one of the store’s owners.

This is a good thing…and the Chief wishes Brice  Autry & company the best of luck….meanwhile, in another and possibly related item of food news:

Senate Passes Sweeping Law on Food Safety

The Senate passed a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s food safety system on Tuesday, after tainted eggs, peanut butter and spinach sickened thousands of people in the last few years and led major food makers to join consumer advocates in demanding stronger government oversight.

The legislation, which passed by a vote of 73 to 25, would greatly strengthen the Food and Drug Administration, an agency that in recent decades focused more on policing medical products than ensuring the safety of food. The bill is intended to keep unsafe foods from reaching markets and restaurants, where they can make people sick — a change from the current practice, which mainly involves cracking down after outbreaks occur.

This is also a good thing, right? I mean, who can be against safe food? Besides, this sort of thing isn’t really new…it represents an expansion and extension of the power of the FDA which first came into being as one of the “progressive” policies invented by Teddy Roosevelt…and we all know that progressive programs all work well, right?

Oh. Maybe not. In this case there are a few concerns given a hat tip even from The NY Times:

The legislation greatly increases the number of inspections of food processing plants that the F.D.A. must conduct, with an emphasis on foods that are considered most high risk — although figuring out which those are is an uncertain science. Until recently, peanut butter would not have made the list.

OK…we aren’t sure what’s risky…but we still will be able to reduce the (unknown) risk proactively. HUH? That’s science based? It’s not even LOGIC based!

Staunch opposition to the bill by Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, forced months of delay and eventually required the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, to call a series of time-consuming procedural votes to end debate. Mr. Coburn offered his own version of the legislation. It eliminated many of the bill’s requirements because he said that more government rules would be deleterious and that the free market was working.

In general…we really have a minimal amount of food problems in this country…although when they do occur the media are all over it like flies on a fertilizer pile. Of course, then if there is the perception of a bigger problem, then surely it calls for a bigger government to protect us, right?

Among the Senate bill’s last major sticking points was how it would affect small farmers and food producers. Some advocates for small farms and organic food producers said the legislation would destroy their industry under a mountain of paperwork. Senator Jon Tester, Democrat of Montana, pushed for a recent addition to the bill that exempts producers with less than $500,000 in annual sales who sell most of their food locally.

That provision led the United Fresh Produce Association, a trade [big producer lobbying] group, to announce recently that it would oppose the legislation since small food operations have been the source of some food recalls in recent years.

We are disappointed that the Senate continues to ignore the egregious loopholes allowed in this legislation that will erode consumer confidence in our nation’s food safety system. Now, when going to a supermarket, restaurant, farmers market or roadside stand, consumers will be faced with the question of whether the fruits and vegetables offered for sale adhere to basic food safety standards or not.

To unpack this, what they are actually saying is that Ole Jensen, hauling a load of Forestbut melons to sell in the strip-mall parking lot (or wherever) has to have the same administrative load complete with lab-grade certification of quality as Dole, DelMonte, Cargill, Kraft, etc. Oh, Ole doesn’t have a legal/administrative department to keep up with that load? Oh well, I guess he’ll need to do something else with his land, and time….and the same thing would apply to those selling in a local farmer’s market, or to small specialty retailers like the above mentioned Pomegranate Market.

The House version of the bill does impose this extensive bureaucratic framework, although it is somewhat less obnoxious in the Senate bill, thus causing the unhappiness of the United Fresh group, who apparently would would love to use the regulatory regime to weed out local competition (up to including the eventual enforcement of FDA standards on backyard garden production, strictly for our own good of course.

Unfortunately, instead of adhering to a science- and risk-based approach that was consistently the foundation of the underlying bill, the Senate has chosen to include a provision that will exempt certain segments of the food industry based on the size of operation, geographic location and customer base.

As far as the science is concerned, as noted above, the reasoning here is missing in action. Again, they want NO exception for small local producers…trusting in the wisdom of the bureaucracy to do the right thing…and not co-incidentally eliminate a competing consumer choice.

Frankly, the Chief has more faith in Ole Jensen, and in the local suppliers of Brice’s Pomegranate Market than in some major member of United Fresh bringing in produce from Mexico, Honduras, or somewhere else, where there REALLY are some grounds for concern about food production and quality standards.

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GOP South Looks Sort of Like South Dakota

Democratic South finally falls

Once upon a time, the South was known as the “Solid South” for the Donkey Party and “yellow-dog Democrats” kept it that way. (The name came from a proudly stated determination that they would vote for a yellow dog, if it was on the Democratic ballot.)

Times have changed, and this report on the current situation shows a real similarity between what’s happening in the south and the current condition of party politics in SOUTH Dakota.

For Democrats in the South, the most ominous part of a disastrous year may not be what happened on Election Day but what has happened in the weeks since. After suffering a historic rout — in which nearly every white Deep South Democrat in the U.S. House was defeated and Republicans took over or gained seats in legislatures across the region — the party’s ranks in Dixie have thinned even further.

THe gory details of what’s happening in Dixie have some resemblance to events in SD:

In Georgia, Louisiana and Alabama, Democratic state legislators have become Republicans, concluding that there is no future in the party that once dominated the so-called Solid South.

Hmmm. Nygaard’s jump in the SD Senate comes readily to mind.

The realignment in the South has resulted in more similarity to SD – with the GOP in control of both houses of the legislatures…in many cases for the first time since the post-Civil War reconstruction ended in the 1870’s.

The losses and party switching, one former Southern Democratic governor noted, “leave us with little bench for upcoming and future elections. There’s little reason to be optimistic in my region,…We can opportunistically pick up statewides every now and then, but building a sustainable party program isn’t in the cards.

Looks like the situation of the SD Donkeys at this point. While the benefits of a vigorous “loyal opposition” certainly are worth talking about…there is no entitlement for any party to hold power, win elections, etc. At some point, a pattern of overwhelming defeat HAS to be a big clue that there is a lack of situational awareness, and that there is a major disconnect between the afflicted party and the voters.

If any party continues to advocate and stand for policies and principles that the sovereign voters decide they want no part of, then what else could be expected than a pattern of electoral defeat and political stagnation. In the here and now, as long as the Democratic Party continues, like a stubborn donkey to adhere to the failed liberal-progressive paradigm, they will continue their slide, and IMHO, will deserve nothing more.

Meanwhile, if the Republicans assume they now have a license to play “politics as usual” and turn away from principles, they can easily end up in the same political dust-bin as the Democrats. Time will tell.

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TSA Celebrated Musically

Grammy Winner Pens TSA Pat-Down Protest Song

Grammy-winning musician Steve Vaus has used an Oceanside man’s experience with airline security as inspiration for a new parody he released Friday, “Help You Make It to Your Flight.”

Like the classic country song “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” the song starts off romantic.

Take the ribbon from your hair
Shake it loose and let it fall

Then, it gets right into the sarcasm.

Leave your shoes right over there
Now, get up against the wall

See the video for the rest…

Vaus, aka Buck Howdy, said he couldn’t resist poking a little fun at the TSA for all their poking, prodding and patting down.

Concerns over the agency’s policies struck a nerve after Oceanside resident John Tyner likened it to sexual assault. TheTSA launched an investigation, a Congressman has called for a hearing and there’s now even a T-shirt with Tyner’s rally cry “If You Touch My Junk, I’m Gonna Have You Arrested.”

All we needed was a parody song.

It speaks for itself.

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Calling General Pershing!?

Perry says consider military in Mexico

GOP Gov. Rick Perry, who continues to insist he’s not interested in the presidency, is nevertheless always ready to tell the federal government how to do a better job on such matters as border security — including indicating the U.S. should be open to sending military into Mexico to help fight the drug war.

Appearing on MSNBC on Thursday, Perry was asked, “Would you advocate military involvement in Mexico on the Mexico side of the border to help Mexico in this drug war?”

Perry answered: “I think we have to use every aspect of law enforcement that we have, including the military. I think you have the same situation as you had in Colombia. Obviously, Mexico has to approve any type of assistance that we can give them.

“But the fact of the matter is, these are people who are highly motivated with money. They are vicious. They are armed to the teeth. I want to see them defeated. And any means that we can to run these people off our border and to save Americans’ lives we need to be engaged in.”

General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing commanded a US expeditionary force that fought Mexican insurgents under Pancho Villa after the burning of the town of Columbus, NM. The effort was finally ended only with Pershing and the Army having bigger fish to fry with the US entry into WW-I. The Mexican expedition never actually caught up with Villa himself, but it did have the effect of keeping the border clear…which seems today to be a most positive outcome.

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Party Switch in SD Senate

Wow! The SD Democrats can’t even win when they win.

South Dakota Democrat switches to GOP after being elected to Senate

The already large number of Republicans in the South Dakota Legislature got a little larger today with the announcement by Sen-elect Eldon Nygaard that he would be switching his party affiliation to Republican just weeks after being elected into the Senate as a Democrat.

Nygaard, who represents District 17 covering Clay and Turner counties, said in a statement he made the move because his philosophy regarding government’s role in society is more in line with the Republican Party.

That being said, Nygaard is certainly free to do whatever he thinks is right regarding party affiliation…just as say, ex-US Senator Spector in Pennsylvania, or in the past, the party change of Scott Heidepriem did. It’s also understandable that District 17 Democrats might feel a bit ruffled about it all. C’est la vie.

This additional evidence of the political dominance of the GOP in South Dakota politics, gives a heavier burden to the Elephant herd, to insure that the party doesn’t fall into the trap of the 90’s GOP Congresses that decided that now that they were in charge, they could do the same kinds of crap that the Donkey party does, and get away with it. (For that matter, this is the same caveat that the new House of Representatives needs to keep in mind…right, Kristi?)

The Chief seriously wonders where the SD Democrats go from here to regain some life…just as an intellectual exercise, mind you, not a shift in the vote.
We can take the SDGOP’s party dominance isn’t based on the type of machine politics and corruption that much of the urban Democratic dominance is rooted in elsewhere in the country. Also, the very real contest between SHS and Noem shows that sizable numbers of registered SD GOP-ers are willing and able to swing across party lines if the spirit so moves them. That thought, if nothing else, should help the GOP keep a good sense of political situational awareness.

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TSA BS

Senators and TSA Defend “Love Pats” at Airports

Transportation Safety Administration chief John Pistole and several senators from both parties defended the new, enhanced airport security screening procedures as necessary in the face of a persistent and evolving terrorist threat in a hearing Wednesday on Capitol Hill….

Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri said prior to Pistole’s testimony that she believed TSA was in a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation, because people would be hopping mad at TSA if Christmas bomber Umar Farouk Adbulmutallab had succeeded. She went on to say the new advanced imaging technology–which has caused uproar because of its leave-no-secrets imaging and potential health risks–is more of a blessing than a curse.

A blessing to the TSA pornohobbyists who have saved and promulgated scan images in spite of solemn assurances that this is impossible.

“I’m wildly excited that I can walk through a machine instead of getting my dose of love pats,” Sen. McCaskill said.

If the Senator is “wildly excited” by this, she has to be what is sometimes referred in college to as a “cheap date”. Also, maybe it WOULD be “Love Pats” to Barney Frank, but I have somewhat different standards…

Anyway, what’s really annoying is the assumption of these wanna-be Gestapo that THEIR plan is the only thing that can be done to give what they laughingly refer to as security…which is patently idiotic at best, or else something much worse…

The most secure airline on the planet is El Al…for obvious reasons. If you want to fly securely, THAT’S the one to use. Of course they make active and continuous use of that ultimate bugaboo of the politically correct: PROFILING! And it works!

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Ag Assessment Changes Revolting

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I find myself both in a state of near-total agreement with Cory in this posting over at Madville Times, and in a state of astonishment at this unusual occurrence.

This is really a very badly screwed up system…under it’s application in Moody County, some very high productivity land in the southern part of the county had their assessments reduced, while land in the NW part of the county, qualitatively rated as mediocre based both on soil types as well as actual production figures had increases in the range of +50%. Result overall: our smallish county ended up with the highest increased assessment under the new order.

We had the opportunity to visit with Sen. Peterson (D), as well as Sen. Knudsen (R) who were involved in drafting the bill. While both agreed that the implementation in our county was not at all what they thought was in the law, neither could offer any resolution beyond the normal appeal process through the Township Board and thence to the Board of Assessment (County Councilors with a different “hat”.) Beyond that, nothing. It WAS amusing to see my wife literally back Knudsen into a corner as he tried to escape after one of the Gov. candidate forums at Brookings, but it didn’t help any with the problem.

As far as the appeal process…after presenting eleven years of actual and exact production figures for each field, both the township and county were in agreement about the quality and accuracy of our records…and made a minor tweak to the assessment, and said, “Have a nice day!”

As far as the County Treasurer was concerned, she stated to us that her hands were tied by the new law…and that she HAD to make the 55% increase in assessment in one year, which directly contradicted the STATED intent of Peterson, Knudsen, and company in the new law.

So, where does that leave things? Hopefully not where Sen. Rhoden wants them to be. Time will tell…meanwhile we figuratively batten down the hatches and await the onslaught of next years tax bill based on the new assessment. It’s not a joyful prospect.

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Int’l Effect of Fed’s Quantitative Easement: Unease!

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Specter of trade war looms as G-20 nations gather

When I made this posting a few days ago, I was really sort of hoping that the comparison between what’s happening now regarding international trade and exchange and what happened when FDR figuratively blew-up the 1933 London World Economic Conference would prove not to continue to hold water, since the outcome then, and the expected outcome (given no change of course) now are both Very Bad Things for economic health.

Unfortunately, it seems that there is more expectation of the present, problematical course of the B.O. administration continuing.

The world’s economies stand on the brink of a trade war as leaders of rich and emerging nations gather in Seoul.

A dispute over whether China and the United States are manipulating their currencies is threatening to resurrect destructive protectionist policies like those that worsened the Great Depression. The biggest fear is that trade barriers will send the global economy back into recession.

Hopes had been high that the Group of 20, which includes wealthy nations like Germany and the U.S. and rising giants like China, could be a forum to forge a lasting global economic recovery. Yet so far, G-20 countries haven’t agreed on an agenda, let alone solutions to the problems that divide them.

Doesn’t sound like everyone is ready to play nicely together.

G-20 leaders were expected to issue a communique detailing results of the summit on Friday.

Good luck on THAT! Oh, for sure there’ll be a “statement”, but it doesn;t look like there will be much to state except “Yep, we’ve been there, and done that – time to go home. See you all next time around!”
Meanwhile, as the Fed fires up the printing presses, and the results on Main Street will be predictable: don’t get a crick in your neck watching the rocketing contrail of higher prices.

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Cold War-II Update

Top Russian spy defects after betraying U.S. ring

The head of Russia’s deep cover U.S. spying operations has betrayed the network and defected, a Russian paper said on Thursday, potentially giving the West one of its biggest intelligence coups since the end of the Cold War.

The newspaper, Kommersant, named the man as Colonel Shcherbakov, and said he was responsible for unmasking a Russian spy ring in the United States in June whose arrests humiliated Moscow and clouded a “reset” in ties with Washington.

The betrayal would make Shcherbakov one of the most senior turncoats since the fall of the Soviet Union and could have consequences for Russia’s proud Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and its chief, former prime minister Mikhail Fradkov.

This sort of thing sounds like something from the 60’s or 70’s.

All the 10 spies arrested in the United States [as the result of Shcherbakov’s actions] pleaded guilty and were deported to Russia in a spy swap less than two weeks later.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, himself a former KGB spy, greeted them as heroes. He said traitors came to a bad end, and that the informer would be left to the mercy of his own kind. “The special services live by their own laws and everyone knows what these laws are,” he said.

Sounds like the defector will be needing witness protection on steroids.

Additional ramifications of the situation include re-integration of foreign intelligence efforts into the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) which is the successor to much of the old KGB, no doubt bringing a warm glow of satisfaction to Putin as he sees things moving back to the way things were in his “good old days”:

Despite Moscow’s tough talk, the revelation could damage the reputation of the SVR. Kommersant cited an unidentified source as saying that Fradkov could be sacked and the SVR folded into the powerful Federal Security Service (FSB), the main successor of the Soviet-era KGB.

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B.O. to World: Too Bad If You Can’t Take a Monetary Joke!

Obama says U.S. low growth or no growth danger to world

U.S. President Barack Obama defended the Federal Reserve’s policy of printing dollars on Monday after China and Russia stepped up criticism ahead of this week’s Group of 20 meeting.

The G20 summit has been pitched as a chance for leaders of the countries that account for 85 percent of world output to prevent a currency row escalating into a rush to protectionism that could imperil the global recovery. [ID:nSGE6A703T]

But there is little sign of consensus.

The summit has been overshadowed by disagreements over the U.S. Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing (QE) policy under which it will print money to buy $600 billion of government bonds, a move that could depress the dollar and cause a potentially destabilising flow of money into emerging economies.

So, where will be be when China decides to bail out on buying our debt, since it’s value will be diving due to the Fed’s inflationary debt monetization? We don’t really want to go there…but we might not be given a choice in the matter.

As a historical sidebar note, something somewhat similar happened to us before…where a reform-minded US president with economic difficulties told the world to shove it, that we were doing our own thing in spite of it’s impact on them.

The occasion was during the early days of the FDR administration in 1933. Roosevelt set the stage in his first inaugural address by stating that “our international trade relations, though vastly important, are in point of time and necessity secondary to the establishment of a sound national economy.” He went on in June 1933, to instruct the Secretary of State who was attending the London World Economic Conference that “…far too much importance is attached to exchange stability…”

AS the Conference continued, he sent what has become known as the “bombshell message” July 3, 1933 in which he told the Conference delegates that the U.S. would NOT be a party to efforts at exchange-rate stabilization while declaring that “old fetishes of so-called international bankers are being replaced by efforts to plan national currencies”.

THe ultimate take-away message to the world was that the U.S. was going to be focusing on its own situation, and was not willing to extend itself to take part in concerted international efforts to avert danger. The lesson was not missed by Hitler, who saw a green light to his own nationalistic plans for “problem solving”.

(ref: Freedom from Fear; David M. Kennedy; Oxford Univ. Press, 1999)

So we REALLY want to give a similar impression to such luminaries of international peace and enlightenment as the Chicoms, and Putin’s Russia? REALLY?

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Some Notes from Across the Pond, and More

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First a thought about the Tea Party from The London Telegraph in this excerpt from a James Delingpole post:

Liberty is not a pick and mix free-for-all in which you think government should ban the things you don’t like and encourage you things you do like: that’s how Libtards think. Libertarianism – and the Tea Party is nothing if its principles are not, at root, libertarian ones – is about recognising that having to put up with behaviour you don’t necessarily approve of is a far lesser evil than having the government messily and expensively intervene to regulate it.

And this isn’t an argument for anarchy. There are still plenty of ways society can make known its disapproval of certain “immoral” practices, such as through the traditional method of stigma. Libertarianism doesn’t mean doing what the hell you like and letting everyone else go hang themselves. It’s about doing whatever the hell you like so long as it doesn’t harm others. (Property rights, for example, would remain sacrosanct).

Maybe this technically isn’t directly from the Brits, but it is the Brit Samizdata blog quoting the American Richard Viguerie:

Some have asked how the Tea Party movement hopes to pressure Republican leaders or influence the party. That’s the wrong way to look at it. The goal is not to pressure Republican leaders but to become the Republican leaders. The goal is not to influence the party but to become the party.

That led to another Viguerie comment

“Voters have given Republicans one more chance to get it right,” Richard A. Viguerie said today. “They are on probation, and if they mess up again, they won’t get another chance.”

“The last time the Republicans were in charge, they became the party of big spending, Big Government, and Big Business. They abandoned the philosophy of Ronald Reagan and cozied up to lobbyists and special interests. And they paid a price at the polls.

“This year, the Democrats under President Obama and Speaker Pelosi drove millions of voters right back into the arms of the Republicans. But if Republicans return to their bad habits – if they start working for K Street instead of Main Street – they will pay a terrible price. Tea Party voters and conservatives will turn them out in the 2012 primaries.

“People will say: Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, and the Republican Party is dead,” Viguerie said.

The Chief would add the observation that there was once a political party called the Federalists. A bit later in history there was one called the Whigs. Both died and went away. The Republicans are still able to profit from those examples.

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B.O. Continues to Show Poor Situational Awareness

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Obama acknowledges his message didn’t get through

This is SO wrong! (Explanation follows.)

President Barack Obama is acknowledging in the wake of this week’s election rout that he hasn’t been able to successfully promote his economic-rescue message to anxious Americans.

Obama says in an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” that he “stopped paying attention” to the leadership style he displayed during his run for the presidency.

Typical liberalism: style trumps substance darned near every time!

Obama also said he recognizes now that “leadership is not just legislation,”…

Real world translation: B.S. isn’t the same as reality.

,,,and that “it’s a matter of persuading people. And giving them confidence and bringing them together. And setting a tone….

LIncoln said something about this…oh yeah, the bit about not fooling all the people all the time!

And making an argument that people can understand.”

Real message: “You stupid people are just too dense to appreciate and accept the sheer genius of the Obamunist fundamental transformation that I’M trying to bless you with.”

“And I think that – we haven’t always been successful at that,…”

DUH! Lipstick on a pig still gives you a pig.

…he said. “And I take personal responsibility for that. And it’s something that I’ve got to examine closely as I go forward.”

One starts to doubt that there is the ability for enough “examination” to break through and achieve some accurate situational awareness: We GOT it, B.O! Your message came through loud and CLEAR, and we DO understand it…but we’re not buying it, at all, at all!

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USN Indian Expeditionary Force Update

The Chief’s conclusion that the reported 34 ship escort to that “it is a bit much” apparently turned out to be the case…it WAS a bit much, acording to the Pentagon. One presumes SOME naval presence for the occasion of B.O.’s visit…but there’s appropriately no comment on that. OPSEC (operational security) and all that.

Now, if only the fleet of jet aircraft and 3000 retainers was similarly an exaggeration…no such luck.

No, Pentagon says, Obama will not be guarded by 34 ships

President Barack Obama will not be protected by a vast armada of 34 US warships when he visits Mumbai this weekend, officials said, calling reports from India on security preparations “comical.”

The claim that many of the 288-ship US naval fleet would be deployed to waters off Mumbai was “absolutely absurd,” Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters on Thursday.

US officials usually decline to discuss details about security precautions for the president, but the media accounts circulating out of India were so off the mark that press officers at the Pentagon and the White House said they felt compelled to speak up.

“I will take the liberty this time of dismissing as absolutely absurd this notion that somehow we were deploying 10 percent of the Navy — some 34 ships and an aircraft carrier — in support of the president’s trip to Asia,” Morrell said.

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USN Indian Expeditionary Force

My tendency has been to just note in passing, to the accompaniment of internal headshakes and and recognition of the tendency of B.O.’s administration to not economize in its travel plans when wretched excess will do, the amazing scope of The One’s latest travel extraviganza to India.

Even with a jaded expectation that this spectacle is inevitable given the nature of the beast, a report from India that 34 US Naval combat ships are yet another part of the plans broke through the Chief’s shell of cynicism, and caused him to catch his breath in amazement due in part to the Naval connection, and the realization of exactly what is taking place.

34 warships sent from US for Obama visit

The White House will, of course, stay in Washington but the heart of the famous building will move to India when President Barack Obama lands in Mumbai on Saturday.

Communications set-up and nuclear button and majority of the White House staff will be in India accompanying the President on this three-day visit that will cover Mumbai and Delhi.

He will also be protected by a fleet of 34 warships, including an aircraft carrier, which will patrol the sea lanes off the Mumbai coast during his two-day stay there beginning Saturday. The measure has been taken as Mumbai attack in 2008 took place from the sea.

Oh yeah, there were a few boats with outboard motors that moved into Mumbai an dropped off the Islamoterrs in ’08. A carrier battle group plus other deep-water combattant ships is just the ticket to stop something like that from happening again? NOT.

Admittedly, given that B.O. (or any President) is visiting overseas, security, communications, etc. is of necessity huge…hence the Chief’s initial lack of getting exercised about the entourage…but this? Just to add a bit of historical and military perspective:

FDR was able to travel to Newfoundland aboard a single Navy cruiser during the height of the N. Atlantic U-boat war to meet with Churchill. He later traveled to Casablanca, Cairo, and Teheran to meet with foreign leaders during the war. Casablanca at the time had been recently seized from Vichy France, and French troops had recently been involved in combat against the U.S. concerning that issue. Neither Cairo nor Teheran were exactly noted as being completely stable places: Teheran was available since the Persian Shah was elsewhere…after playing diplomatic footsie games with the Nazis. Roosevelt somehow thought he might be able to survive with fewer than 3,000 staff plus additional military security forces. (He was right!)

Another perspective is the 34 Navy ships. According to the US Navy web site as of today there are 288 deployable battle force ships as of today. As this is written, there are 147 ships underway (away from home ports), and 110 ships on deployment. SO…about 1/3 of the total US deployed Naval force, or 12% of the total US combat fleet will be at Mumbai to defend B.O.

Seems a bit much, at least, especially when deployments and operational commitments have been placing a heavy load on the ships and personnel, but what does THAT matter to His Eminence? Not much.

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A moment in the sun…

The Sioux Falls Argus-Leader has a moment in the sun of the Drudge Report:

Drudge Header: SDAkota’s rising star wins…
…which links to this article:
Wave carries Kristi Noem
Anger over economy helps Republican oust incumbent Stephanie Herseth Sandlin

Republican challenger Kristi Noem, riding a wave of voter discontent with President Obama’s administration, defeated Democrat U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin in Tuesday’s election.

With all precincts reporting results, Noem won by a margin of 48.1 percent to 45.9 percent. Shortly after midnight, Noem declared victory, saying “I will do my very best to represent every single South Dakotan.”

“Now make no mistake,” Noem told supporters. “I think we need a strong dose of fiscal conservatism in Washington, D.C.”

You get the picture…

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Post-Election Notes

SD Headers:
GOP SWEEPS STATEWIDE RACES
NOEM SPEEDS PAST SANDLIN! (heh heh heh!)
DEMS’ RANKS at PIERRE DEPLETED

Not a happy day for the Donkey Party in South Dakota when Cory looking for a bright spot notes the earthshaking event that Indy candidate Marking got more votes in Kristi’s home county than he did in Herseth-Sandlin’s. (Otherwise, his comments about Marking were pretty good, give credit where credit’s due!)

The turnout was good for a mid-termer…mostly 60-70% range or thereabouts, of course some lower and some higher…still, not too bad. I had occasion to look at the Missouri results for comparison…their turnout was in the 30-50% range mostly, and they also had some serious Congressional, and a Senatorial race. A good one for SD’s voters!

The one personal sour twinge was that the Chief would have liked to have seen dairyman Jim Gilkerson make it in District 4…have known him and his family for some time…he would have made a positive contribution in the legislature.

Nationally, the Donk’s consolation is our curse, that we still have to put up with Dingey Harry Reid, to go along with Barbara Boxhead…er…Boxer, and Patty “Lady in Tennis Shoes” Murray. I know–with the left coast being tilted so much that it’s now filled up with the loose nuts, Nevada is getting the overflow!

Another MAJOR benefit of the national outcome is less free Botox(r) commercials (otherwise known as Pelosi “pressers”) from the Capitol. That’s a major blessing in and of itself, above and beyond the obvious improvement in the composition of the House.

Now the heavy lifting starts, to start to repair the damage inflicted by almost two years of Obamunism (as well as from the RINO progressives).

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Surprise Agreement!

Bill Maher(!?) scores big with this comment. It is highly unusual for the Chief to agree with one of his comments…but this one is the exception to the rule:

Bill Maher Defends Mohammed Remarks, Unapologetically a ‘Proud Westerner’

CNN‘s Wolf Blitzer guesses that Bill Maher’s comments last week created “a buzz” on the internet, but Maher stands by his statement about the ‘alarming’ number of ‘baby Mohammeds’ in England.

During a sit-down interview with Blitzer, Maher said that he felt no need to “apologize for being a proud Westerner” or for worrying about “Muslim people are in these [Western] societies“ having babies ”at a faster clip than non-Muslims.” He went on to clarify his position as a Westerner, or “someone who believes in the values that Western people believe in that a lot of the Muslim world does not, like separation of church and state…”

“I would like to keep those values here,” Maher concluded.

Sort of like a broken analog clock…it does have some times when it’s correct.

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Essential Congressional Race

From the Rapid City Journal…this boils it down to the basics: SHS essentially has the traditional progressive attitude that government action is the best way to deal with problems; while Kristi Noem has expressed a more Jeffersonian view that government often is a fearful master, that bears close watching at all times, and like kudzu vines, needs to be ruthlessly chopped back to keep it from taking over everything.

Split over stimulus defines candidates

WHICH DIRECTION?: Challenger Noem seeks to rein in government while Herseth Sandlin sees benefit of action.

THAT’s the real, boiled down essence of the differences between them.

Chief’s call on this…tune in Tuesday night. I have a feeling that Noem will win…but it’s just that. (If you put $1 with it you can get a can of pop, and THAT’s for sure!)

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Back to Basics…

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Bachmann wants Constitution class

For the Tea Party soldiers worried that the young upstarts they’re poised to send to Congress will lose their constitutional druthers once they get to Congress, Rep. Michele Bachmann has a message: Fear not, she’s going to set up constitutional classes.

Bachmann spokesman Sergio Gor says, “It was something she’s always wanted to do. There’s so many folks that come to Capitol Hill to discuss obscure and mundane topics, but no one coming regularly to discuss bill of rights or the role of government.”

Bachmann won’t be teaching the classes, Gor says, but will help organize sessions with constitutional scholars, experts, and judges likely to be held in one of the committee rooms on the Capitol Hill complex. The classes will be open to any members — not just freshman — looking to continue their study of America’s founding documents. They will not be open, however, to staff or members of the press, and the list of speakers won’t be made public.

This is much needed in a day when the (hopefully soon to be ex-)House Speaker reacts with scorn to a reporter who had the temerity to ask her about the constitutionality of a proposed bill.

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November 3rd Political Contest

Stopping Sarah Palin
There have been some ferocious denials today about it. Many would-be 2012 candidates have denounced it, etc.

Here are the facts: there is a significant, though small contingent of heavily anti-Palin forces at the upper echelons of the Establishment GOP in Washington….

…here is what you need to know about these same people: they largely despise the tea party movement. They loath Jim DeMint too, but view Palin as easier to pick on. They think the issues being advanced by small government types are ridiculous. They do not like Sarah Palin because they think (a) she is not very bright and (b) she is not ‘grounded’ in the ways of the political world of Washington.

In reality, these people loath Sarah Palin because she is standing up to them, the policies these people have long advocated and Palin opposes have contributed to the mess we are in, and Sarah Palin and the candidates she is backing have largely been kicking their asses to kingdom come.

Between those attacking Palin and Palin, I’m with Palin.
The Chief heartily concurs!

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B.O. Backpedals to Cover Freudian Slip

Obama seeks to blunt Republican attack over comment

Obama, in an interview with talk radio host Michael Baisden, said, “I probably should have used the word ‘opponents’ instead of enemies.”

He was backtracking from a comment he made a week ago in an interview with Univision radio in which he sought to persuade Hispanics to vote for Democratic candidates instead of Republicans: “If Latinos sit out the election instead of, ‘we’re going to punish our enemies and we’re going to reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us’ — if they don’t see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it’s going to be harder,” Obama had said.

Republicans in hot pursuit of control of the House of Representatives in Tuesday voting were drawing attention to Obama’s “enemies” comment in hopes of encouraging more turnout by Republican voters.

Hammering home the issue was John Boehner, the Republican who would oust Democrat Nancy Pelosi as House speaker if Republicans win control of the House on Tuesday as most pollsters believe will happen.

Methinks his original comment shows his true attitude…I doubt that he concedes the existence of a “loyal opposition”…opponents ARE the enemy to him (as opposed to the friendly folks of Iran, HAMAS, Hezbollah, etc. that we need to seek understanding with).

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Needed: American Heroes

H/T to an e-mail correspondent for the video:

“And now, verily I say unto you concerning the laws of the land, it is my will that my people should observe to do all things whatsoever I command them.
And that law of the land with is constitutional, supporting that principle of freedom in maintaining rights and priviliges, belongs to mankind, and is justifiable before me.
Therefore, I, the Lord, justify you, and your brethren in the church, in befriending that law which is the constitutional law of the land:
And as pertaining to to law of man, whatsoever is more or less than this cometh of evil.
I, the Lord God, make you free, therefore ye are free indeed; and the law also maketh you free.
Nevertheless, when the wicked rule the people mourn.
Wherefore, honest men and wise men should be sought for diligently, and good men and wise men ye should observe to uphold; otherwise whatsoever is less than these cometh of evil.”
Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, section 98: 4-10

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Christmas Gift Idea?

Once in awhile something so totally cool comes out that even a father who doesn’t normally know what he’d like for Father’s Day or Christmas would immediately ask for it. Thank you, DeWalt!!! (Not in stock yet at Menard’s or Running’s Farm & Fleet…haven’t tried Gary’s Gun Shop yet.)

New Nail Gun by DeWalt

It can drive a 16-D nail through a 2 X 4 at 200 yards.
This makes construction a breeze; you can sit in your lawn chair and build a fence.

Just get your wife to hold the fence boards in place while you sit back,relax with
a cold drink and when she has the board in the
right place,just fire away.

With the hundred round magazine
you can build the fence with a minimum of reloading.

After a day of fence building with the new
DeWalt Rapid Fire Nail Gun, the wife will not
ask you to build or fix anything else,
probably, ever again.