Greenpeace Co-Founder: "My bad. I likes the nuclear power."

Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace now co-chairs the "Clean and Safe Energy Coalition"--a nuke industry association. Money quote:

As a co-founder of Greenpeace, even though I was a scientist, I made the same mistake in those days as all the rest of my colleagues did. We kind of lumped nuclear energy in with nuclear weapons as if all things nuclear were evil. It was an honest mistake.

An honest mistake? Doh. "My bad."

An interesting interview, although I am suspicious of his motives, since he is currently serving as a nuclear industry spokesman of sorts. His interesting take on solar:

Solar photovoltaic simply has no place on the grid. All the money that's going into subsiding solar is a waste of money because it could be being used on more effective technologies that we already have that are not unreliable and intermittent.

His statement rings true concerning the reliability of solar, but I have to, again, question his motives in stating that solar has absolutely no role in supplying our energy needs. Still, it would seem there is hope reasonable people will come around.

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Presidential Primary

Well I have to vote tonight so my absentee ballot will be received by Tuesday for the California primary.

Before he dropped out, I was leaning towards Fred Thompson and had still wanted to vote for him afterwards because I wanted to vote FOR someone rather then against someone.

Now with McCain gaining strength, and I want to stop him, I guess I will have to change my vote for Romney. I'm not excited about him, but I really do not want McCain to win the nomination.

Victor Davis Hanson says McCain is conservative enough and can win against the democrats if the republicans don't destroy him first. I don't agree because too many of the conservative base dislike him and may stay home (like in 2006 or 1996). They would rather have a real liberal (a democrat) win then a pretend one.

Mark Steyn and Red County, an OC Blog have comments on the debate last night and can't say the write ups are making me consider McCain.

Ethanol

Cellulose ethanol is the goal for wide spread ethanol use.

Forbes has an article saying it will also be the destruction of plants and nature if it really works as advertised.

I don't think cellulose ethanol will ever be that effective or cost efficient but I also don't think ethanol is a cure all for our energy needs. However, some of the arguments against ethanol are just wrong. One is that ethanol can only be transported by tanker and not by pipelines. That is NOT correct. We can send ethanol through pipelines that are dedicated for ethanol, just like we have pipelines dedicated for oil and others dedicated for natural gas. We can't send ethanol through oil pipelines so we will have to build new ones, but if the product will replace gasoline then it will be economical to build the new pipelines.

California Prop 91

Prop 91 is basically another version of Prop 1A which the voters passed back in 2006. It may be a little stronger, per this article but don't know if it is needed. It won't hurt to vote for it or against it.

WWGD?

Another half point today? After a three quarters point cut less than a month ago? 125 basis points in less than a month makes it sound like somebody hit the panic button. It almost seems as if the Fed was asleep at the switch when the economic train thundered by with the words "Recession Express" stamped on the side. Seriously, did the FOMC wake up and just realize this? And just how does one "fix" an economy perceived to be ailing because of credit problems? Allow consumers to borrow more? As I remarked to Kalvin today:

"As a dog returns to its vomit...so will a fool return to sub-prime, securitized mortgages."

The signals are mixed right now, GDP grew a bit last quarter, not much, but it was still growing--despite expectations of worse for high energy prices and a slumping housing market. But is there enough there to justify such an adjustment?

Part of me wonders what would Greenspan have done (WWGD!), his reign as Fed chair seemed to be more measured, more thoughtful. Greenspan led. Bernanke (so far) has come across as a market appeaser at best, un-observant at the worst. He follows. One has to believe there is a better way to influence markets than this; in fact, one might make the case economies must contract every so often and macroeconomic factors are just out of our influence. We might be able to ease the pain, but the pain must be felt.

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Animal Population Control

Animals will increase until they run out of food and disease and starvation thins them out if there are no predators to keep their numbers in check.

In New Jersey a small wilderness park has too many deer and so they finally hired hunters to thin the herds. The park is near expensive homes so introducing wolves is not an option. Of course many of the comments are condemning the thinning because shooting animals is bad and deer are cute. Of course no one who is writing to oppose the culling has offered any alternative to prevent the deer population from destroying the park habitat, nor would they be happy to see the deer starve to death.

Many of the commentators would most likely be the same who would be paralyzed if their Starbucks couldn't sell them their latte or their grocery store ran out of food.

Scary but not surprising

Hand Gels Alone May Not Curb Infections, goes the headline of the story.

Even washing with soap and water is not enough, if the equipment, tables, door knobs, furniture and anything else is also not cleaned.

And even if the surfaces are clean, a lot of stuff still can travel by air. So, hand gels cannot prevent hospital infections, but neither can soap and water. It can be scary for patients but its not surprising. Put a lot of sick people together and germs will be spread, all we can do is try to prevent it as much as practical.

Bush & Clinton delivered on their promise

President Bush and former President Clinton both made their original campaigns by promising to be a different Republican and Democrat politician.

Clinton signed a major reform to welfare, declared "The era of big government is over" and signed NAFTA.

Bush signed No Child Left Behind, Campaign Finance Reform and is hoping to sign a stimulus package any liberal econ person would love.

As Jonah Goldberg says:

We were warned. Bush and Clinton promised to be different kinds of leaders. And they delivered.

Middle East peace plan

Victor Davis Hanson has a very good article on how to solve the problems in the Middle East. He looks at 5 other areas where there were territorial disputes and how the world solved the problem and asks why the same can't be done here. A very good article.

Florida and the state of the campaign

Today the Republican Primary in Florida is being held. I have no idea who will win as the polls I've seen show either Romney or McCain winning by several points or they are tied. Basically, you can find a poll to support either candidate or to say the race is a toss up.

Rudy and Huckabee don't have any polls showing them winning. But then again, we all know how accurate polls have been this year.

David Freddoso looks at the Huckabee campaign and wonders why he isn't doing better when he should be. I'm glad he isn't doing better and can only hope McCain does not win the State.

Military recruiting centers the same as porn shops?

Well according to a proposed Berkley zoning ordinance they will be.

Next time there is a fire, flood or earthquake in Berkley, let their friends help them out and keep the NG and any military out of the city, after all we wouldn't want the "children" to be offended by the sight of the bad military now would we?

Better yet, can the federal government stop all spending in the city and pull all federal offices, including the post office out of the city? The citizens can go to the next city post office to get their mail.

Unbelievable.

Let the Pork Begin!

It sounds like the tax rebates promised to us won't arrive anytime soon as Senate Democrats intend to puff up the existing economic stimulus plan with MORE free money. In other words, this bill has become a free ticket for politicos to stuff it with voter-pleasing gifts such as:

• Free cash to senior citizens on Social Security, meaning less rebate for the rest
• More unemployment benefits, possibly extending it by 13 to 26 months
• Extra home heating subsidies
• Raising food stamp amounts
• More money for public works
• Business being allowed to reclaim past taxes

In other words: Don't expect the $600 / couple + $300 / child formula to stand up after the House is done with it.

This is a golden chance for the Dems to be able to get in a little extra wealth redistribution and just-in-time-for-election-year perks. Who says you can't buy votes?

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Democracy in action

Or as the Stones song goes "You can't always get what you want".

Norma Heyser is an activist. She has been her whole life. She helped organize her neighborhood of single family homes to oppose a library which was too large.

Now she wants to tear down her single family home and put six condos on it for senior housing and the neighborhood is saying NO. And she is not happy that the people she encouraged to become involved and active in the neighborhood oppose her plan strongly.

Democracy is the will of the people, even when the people oppose your ideas as Heyser is finding out.

The USS Pueblo

The only US Navy ship held captive by another country. The USN and NSA did make some major mistakes with not protecting the Pueblo nor training the crew how to repel borders or even giving them the tools to defend themselves. We don't want to forget, but I'm not sure bringing the ship back to the US is the right thing to do. I'm afraid we would focus on the wrong lessons, how much the crew suffered and how their job got them into trouble (it was the US' fault). The lesson should be the USN needs to protect its own and if any country tried that again, they would receive salvos of cruise missiles and smart bombs on their naval and air force assets as a warning. Yes totally out of proportion but the lesson would be learned.

The crew should be honored and remembered for their ordeal, but the lessons for the USN must be to promise never again will it allow one of its ships to be attacked by friend (USS Liberty) or foe (USS Pueblo) without the attacker suffering much greater loss.

What is this, Singapore or the MidWest??

No, the title is not a dig at either place.

The contributors of this blog are in the South Bay, 20 minutes South West of downtown Los Angeles in California. Our rain is supposed to work like this. It gets cloudy, then rains, then cloudy and then clears. It may take a few days for all of this to happen but that is the format.

Last night (Saturday) we had heavy rain. Today, Sunday, it was sunny and DRY at 8:45am, by 1pm it was raining so hard the water was to the top of the curbs. Now by 3:30pm its sunny again and the ground is drying out. Guess who followed the normal format and didn't bother taking a jacket when he left at 8:45am because the sky was clear and warm. At least I had my umbrella.

Where the weather goes from sun to rain to sun is NOT typical of SoCal but of Singapore or the Mid West. We need the water so I'm glad for the rain, but am not used to the weather patterns here.

Rain rain take a break

Yes, when it starts to rain in SoCal, the news has headlines "Flood Watch 200X" and most people seem to forget how to drive when the roads are wet.

Over the last two days we have had a lot of rain here. If this keeps up, we will have all the water we need.

With all the fires we had last year, I hope we have a few days for the ground to dry out before the next storm so the hills don't slide.

Afternoon light reading

A retired Special Forces soldier was tried for defending himself when an intruder broke into his home.

The charge?

"Failing to use a weapon of sufficient caliber".

Fortunately, his defense attorney was able to get him acquitted.

The trial was by his peers at the Chapter XXXIII of the Special Forces Association.

Read the whole thing.

Hat tip Of Arms and the Law

Tax Rebates

Lets see, the economy appears to be slowing due to excess debt of consumers and companies, the housing and financial markets are hurting due to bad loans and the deficit is expected to be over $219B for this fiscal year. What to do?

Well spend another $150 billion in giving money to people to spend, spend, spend. Those who work but didn't pay any income taxes will get $300 while those who did pay income taxes but make under $75,000 if individual or $150,000 if married will receive up to $1,200. So Bill Gates or Britney Spears won't receive a rebate check. They also want to allow Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac to purchase mortgages up to $700K from the current limit of $417K, so even more loans will be guaranteed by you and me, John and Jane Q Taxpayer.

GWB will learn the hard way what GHWB learned back in 92, tax rebates won't and don't work and the Democrats won't take be nice to you either.

Gaza continued

Now the folks of Gaza have blown up the fence between Gaza and Egypt so people could flee the hell hole of Haamas and buy supplies.

While Egypt says the fault of the crisis in Gaza belongs to Israel, Israel's response sums up why they keep closing the border between Gaza and Israel.

"Why should we supply electricity to Gaza, when the Kassam rocket operators aim their shots at the very power station in Israel that is supposed to provide that electricity?" a Jerusalem official asked yesterday, speaking to the Sun on the condition of anonymity. He referred to recent attempts by Gaza-based Palestinian Arabs to hit a power station in Israel's major city of Ashkelon.

If Egypt and Europe are so concerned about the people of Gaza, reroute the supplies from Israel to Egypt, it will help the Egyptian economy (port charges and transport fees) and hurt the Israeli economy and Gaza will receive the supplies it needs and wants.

Politics

David Frum has an interesting story about Rudy Giuliani and why some people who are not from New York want him elected president. A good read on the character of the man when he was mayor of NYC.

A look at Mitt Romney and does he meet the criteria of a conservative. No the link will not take you to the Hugh Hewitt web site (Hewitt has been a declared supporter of Romney for over a year).

I still don't know who I will vote for in the California primary since Fred T dropped out.

Damned If You Do...Damned If You Don't

...biofuels were held up as a panacea for countries struggling to cope with the rising cost of oil or those looking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions...But in recent months, scientists, private agencies and even the British government have said biofuels could do more harm than good. Rather than protecting the environment, they say energy crops destroy natural forests that actually store carbon and thus are a key tool in the fight to reduce global warming.

Not to mention the destruction wrought on clearcutting jungles and forests for land to grow biofuel crops. As they say, there is no free lunch, especially if it's corn.

(hat tip Instapundit)

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Church and State Separation

Very interesting article whereby a pastor openly endorses Obama, who was visiting the church.

the pastor of the Pentecostal Temple Church of God in Christ, speaking from the pulpit, advocated for Obama, possibly breaking the law. Pastor Leon Smith told the congregation that "the more he (Obama) speaks, the more he wins my confidence, and ... if the polls were open today, I would cast my vote for this senator.

Of course, the MSM doesn't follow up on this.

As much as the article doth protest, I think that we take separation of church and state too far in this country in that never the two shall mix in any context. This, to me, is a duality that I cannot support. If faith is true, then faith must inform politics. What then does separation of church and state mean? It means we must abide by the principle set by the framers: no religion should be excluded from public discourse or made verboten.

I found this comment by the pastor more disturbing:

[Pastor Leon Smith] urged them to [vote] the same, saying, “If you can’t support your own, you’re never going to get anywhere."

One blog commentator sums it up:

"In other words, blacks should always vote for blacks in order to “get anywhere,” which must mean that as President Obama is expected to favor blacks over whites in signing legislation, in awarding positions in government and in giving out lucrative contracts. He will not be the President of all the people, but of one slice of America. Note too that Obama apparently didn’t have any problem with that remark. Judging by his silence, that’s apparently what he intends to do." (emphasis mine)

I'm just as alarmed as he is, although I'm not quite ready to tar Obama with motives not yet proved out.

(hat tip Mark Stricherz at getreligion.org)

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Credibility

James Circello went AWOL and was given an "other than honorable" discharge. It appears Mr Circello posted a piece at Men's Journal positing a number of Geneva Convention violations against his former unit, the 173rd Airborne Brigade. It appears, as Blackfive says, Mr Circello left out some key facts, facts filled in by a company XO, Lt Roy Emerson, from the 173rd:

• Mr Circello reenlisted after his initial tour in Iraq


• Mr Circello was assigned to Italy during his second tour, a tour that would have ultimately led to a second deployment to Iraq


• Mr Circello reported to duty intoxicated, lost a promotion, and was arrested for DUI


• Mr Circello went AWOL, for which he was discharged

Lt Emerson attempts to make it clear that Mr Circello's performance as a soldier may not have a bearing on his views vis a vis Iraq or his subsequent desertion, but the train of events seems mighty suspicious. Mighty. Mr Circello might have more creditability had he been a better soldier.

(hat tip and the complete story at Blackfive)

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Thompson's out - now what??

Well its official, Thompson has dropped out of the 2008 race.

He was the person I was most interested in as a candidate.

So who is left to choose from???

Republicans:
McCain - as I've said before I WILL NOT vote for this man
Huckabee - as I've said before I WILL NOT vote for this man
Giuliani - There are lots of things I do not like about his positions, but he will fight the GWOT, and appoint conservative judges, which should protect the 2nd amendment. I can hold my nose and vote for him.
Romney - He is similar to GWB, but much more polished. I'm not sure I want another 8 years of continuation of the Bush policy on the domestic front. He smells a little less then Giuliani and could vote for him.
Paul - Either he is nuts, doesn't know or doesn't care what his supporters are doing in his name. I WILL NOT vote for this man.

Democrats:
Obama - Nice guy, does he understand there are people out there who just do not like the US and never will? And some of those people have weapons that can hurt us?
Clinton - No, I can't stand the thought of another 8 years of the Clinton's in the White House.
Edwards - He is a fool or is doing a wonderful job of playing one. With him in the WH and a conservative Republican Congress, the country would survive. But with a Democratic Congress, some of his foolish ideas would get passed.

In the primary, I may still vote for Thompson, because I want to vote FOR someone rather then picking the lessor of two evils. In the general, I do not know.

Thompson Plans to Withdraw?

Looks like it from the "Breaking News" banner over at FoxNews.com. Booo! I so wanted to vote for the guy who said,

Plan? Son, the Russians don't go to the bathroom without a plan."

Alas, another actor bites the dust. Seriously, though, I don't really like many of the remaining choices at all. Could this be the year I don't vote the party line? It may very well be.

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Israel

Yesterday I wrote about how Israel was cutting off fuel to Gaza because Haamas was firing rockets into Israel. Well today, Israel has allowed some fuel to be sent and has promised to keep supplying electricity to Gaza. In reply, Haamas sent more rockets into Israel.

Maybe Israel should make a policy, for every rocket fired, they will tear down one house or city block, start with those buildings nearest Israel or nearest the crossing points and continue towards Egypt and the sea. Tell the folks there the buildings will continue to be torn down until the rockets stop and remind the people of Gaza, they elected Haamas and therefore can vote them out of office.

If the people say Haamas is not a democratic party, but rather running a dictatorship, well the people still have the right of revolution to rid themselves of the people who are causing the misery. Ok, so this is a dream and won't happen. If Mexico was firing rockets into the US, do you think the US would respond by sending fuel there? Or if Germany was firing rockets into France, do you think France would respond? Why doesn't Israel have the same right?

Body Armor

Body Armor
I've seen the debates on Strategy Page and on the Military Channel about Dragon Skin verses the Interceptor vests. NBC has also weighed in and basically accused the Government of refusing to buy superior body armor for the troops because of corruption or sweetheart deals with the manufacturer of the current vest. And the president of Pinnacle Armor, makers of Dragon Skin has not been shy about saying his company's vest is superior and should be the Army standard.

I do NOT claim to know the answer, never having worn or even seen either vest in person.

However, Michael Yon purchased a Dragon Skin vest for $4,000 and is selling it on Ebay for what ever he can get for it. He WILL NOT wear it in Iraq and does not think it should be worn in combat. At his web site he states why he doesn't like DS. Here is what some other solders think of DS. Why should I accept the word of Michael Yon, well he has shown over the last 5 years he is a man of integrity and would rather tell the truth then be popular. Check out his web site to learn more about him.

Wall Street Journal

I've been an online reader of the WSJ since it was first launched back in 1997 or so. I always get nervous when someone buys a successful paper and says they want to improve it. I was and am nervous about News Corp owning the WSJ and now with the claim they want to replace the NY Times as the paper of record.

While having a good newspaper be the paper of record would be a good thing (and I do not think the NY Times is a good paper), I am not sure I want to see the WSJ move from a business paper to a general paper. Even if they just added the other parts to the paper and didn't change the business section. But I am just a reader not the owner so will have to wait and see.

Canada and Israel

The thought police have come to Canada. This is in the province of Alberta, which is more conservative then say British Columbia or Ontario. This is rather frightening from a free speech point of view.


The PM of Israel is telling the folks living in the Gaza strip since they are allowing rockets to be fired from their land into Israel, Israel isn't going to supply anymore gasoline so they can walk. Wow, actions have consequences. Besides it will be harder to move the rockets from the factories to the launching site by hand cart and easier to detect them.

The EU of course is asking Israel to resume the fuel to Gaza. I think Israel should tell the EU to go pound sand or deport the entire population of Gaza to Belgium since they are so fond of rocket launching terrorists and their supporters. Remember, the people of Gaza elected Haamas and actions finally have consequences.

This happened at UCI????

My niece is a freshman at University of California, Irvine and is staying in the dorms there. This weekend there was an armed robbery at her dorm. 3 guys broke in and tied up two students and took all their stuff (cell phones, etc, probably left the test books). The police have not caught the guys. One of the victims had lost his key to the dorm and police think that is how they got in. Only stuff was taken and no one was hurt, so it is a recoverable incident. However, how will these kids be able to protect themselves? The police (city and campus) can't be everywhere at all times. My niece is a little frightened (as are her parents), but she will be going back today (Monday is a holiday).

Earthquake Preparedness

After service this morning, a company called Safe-T-Proof came by to talk about earthquake preparedness. They also brought a trailer that would simulate what an 8.0 earthquake would feel like. Just for comparison sake, the Northridge quake back in 1993 was only 6.8.

A friend's cousin was there from Chicago and she said she'd take the cold winters and tornado's after seeing and trying the quake demo. The company's website if you want more information is http://www.safe-t-proof.com/.

We have been trying to put together some supplies ourselves but we finally broke down and purchased some water and food which will not need to be replaced until October 2012. Some goes in the cars and the rest into the earthquake kits we have. We will need to purchase a few more things, 2 more flash lights that use a crank instead of a battery for power and another fire extinguisher.

I've also been making some changes to the label naming convention for the blog as we had way too many, I'm sure this will be a constant source of work for us, keeping the number of labels small enough to be search able yet descriptive enough to be useful.

Hitler Rooted for the 'Boys

Funny video mashup of Hitler getting a wee bit upset about the playoffs (the clip used is from a movie portrayal; NOT the real deal). It's a hoot!



ETA: It appears the video has been made private and yanked from public access. Methinks the PC police are at it again...

(hat tip: Blackfive)

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Do Your Part...Spend!

It appears that some form of "tax rebate" will be in the works for us this year as part of President Bush's economic stimulus plan.

Congressional aides said the White House plan is looking at rebates of up to $800 for individuals and $1,600 for married couples...

I have little background in economics, but it seems to me that giving money directly to people just isn't enough to change a macroeconomic environment brought about by years of senseless housing prices, lending irresponsibility, and irrational spending. As a result, a family who bought into the golden riches of million dollar homes are suffering from the weight of an adjusting mortgage now. It also means that $1,600 may only cover a housing payment.

Years of such reckless abandon in the housing markets cannot be corrected though what amounts to a 10% coupon on this year's mortgage payments.

Markets must correct. We have to pay the piper, as it were. Can $1,600 per family shift the direction of the economy? Soften the blow? I don't know. I will say it will be nice to see $1,600 of my money again and it is our duty to see that the money will be put into the economy; rather than salting it away for a rainy day (because I do have money set aside). I will do my best to spend this $1,600. Not a tough task, for I am an American.

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The Dissident Frogman

Gives us all a firearms lesson. Watch and learn, grasshopper. Watch and learn.

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Happy birthday to me

Yes today is my birthday and I have to be at work, how sad is that. Oh well. Did learn one interesting trivia fact today, listening to a biography on Ben Franklin and his birthday is also January 17th 1706. He's only 260 years older then me. Doesn't mean anything but is interesting trivia.

In the news today:

Reagan was a man of the possible, not a saint. Victor Davis Hanson reminds us the former President made a lot of decisions that were not popular at the time and would mean he would not be electable today. It doesn't take away from the accomplishments of President Reagan to say he was not perfect, nor was he a saint, but rather it reminds us in choosing our leaders today, look for those who can get things done and stand fast, rather then ideology purity.

Alicia Colon writes why she likes Fred Thompson. I can only agree with her.

WSJ's John Fund looks at government issued photo ID requirements are embraced by Democrats when it is in their interest.

Finally, from NRO Corner, a look at the Taliban in Pakistan and the numbers of people under arms they have for operations. If these reports are correct, Pakistan will need more help from the US, supplies and equipment rather then troops to destroy the bad guys.

Have a good day.

Plug-in hybrids

Well the boss and I seem to have a race on who can post the most today, a race I will be happy to lose if it means he will post often.



Over lunch saw this article on a pre-production plug-in hybrid. Once they get lithium batteries to work, without catching fire, the I think it will be time to upgrade my 04 Prius for the new version.



Hat tip Instapunit

Blackfive posted concerns for the Northrop Grumman/EADS entry into the Air Force's bid to obtain new tankers.

I commented thus:

I used to work for Northrop Grumman on a few unrelated aircraft programs (Full disclosure: I hold no economic interest in NGC), where I read the company press releases for the NGC led partnership with EADS. I submit, however, the reliance on EADS isn't as technologically threatening as one might suppose.

Sure, developing new technology is risky and seldom goes as the managers plan (often a pollyanna view of development) and I would be hard-pressed to approve any sort of defense development with EADS where American industry is dependent on European ability to develop or share new technology. Shoot, I would be hard pressed to be dependent on American ability to develop new technology.

The thing of it is the way the partnership is currently framed. I admit not knowing the entire program specifics, but from what I can tell, NGC as the prime takes the already existing Airbus airframe and integrates other subsystems for the tanker mission. From the standpoint of EADS involvement, there is low risk, as long as the existing airframe meets the needs of the integrator without change. If we were only sharing with EADS what is necessary for integration, then I see little risk of "brain suck".

This is a tanker, not the F-35 or F-22. Other than defensive and communication systems, there should be little else that is sensitive. I would think that NGC would be integrating these without much involvement from EADS other than what it takes to get it on the aircraft.

The heart of the tanker issue is not the technology, but the politics. Still, is this really an issue? The reality of modern defense contracting is foreign corporations already are involved in American defense contracting--globalization at work. Just look up BAE and see how they're involved in DoD contracting. We do the same, look up Eurohawk--a Europeanized version of the Global Hawk. The F-35 is a prime example of what's going on today. The F-16 is being produced by Koreans. If we hue and cry about the EADS tanker, cry about what's being going on with tactical fighters for decades.

I have no horse in this race, not caring who gets the contract because I see it as a wash. I will grant giving business, even partially, to a foreign entity is not entirely desirable and, despite how the Air Force measures the programs against each other, I believe it's going to boil down to the perception of who we give money to. The cries of loss of technology is just window dressing.

Leave it to the French

To decide free shipping by Amazon isn't French. In fact, it's unlawful:

That law forbids booksellers from offering discounts of more than 5 percent off the list price, and Amazon was found to be exceeding that discount when the free shipping was factored in.

The beauty of all this? The lawsuit leading the court to rule against Amazon was brought by the plaintiff, the French Booksellers' Union. What is it with European unions and governments where they seemingly do what they can to disallow competitive business practices? This sort of law only destroys pricing competition; without which the consumer ends up paying more. Perhaps you end up with more mom and pop shops staying in business, but isn't that a choice that the consumer should make?

You know, in America we call that price fixing. Good for the citizens of France, they're protesting via an online petition (sponsored by Amazon, of course). Bless their consumer hearts.

(courtesy of Ars)

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Another Hollywood Split

Peter Parker and Mary Jane are splitting up--a deal with the devil--to save her life. Synopsis at marvel.com:

"Peter...awoke to a world where his marriage never took place, and his relationship with Mary Jane broken."

This is a heavy blow, I like the Peter Parker character, he is the average guy doing his best despite his frailties, gifted extraordinarily. He is the geek who was able to marry the model (Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21)! Now, alas, it is no longer to be.

Say it ain't so, Petey and MJ! Say it ain't so! What next? Superman marries Lana?

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4 down and 46 to go

Yes, we have had four States hold their primaries so far. With Romney's win in MI, there is no clear front runner for the Republican ticket. I think that is a good thing because I want to see the candidates views and statements in different regions and see where they contradict themselves.

This is from CNN on how each candidate placed in the 4 primaries so far.

	Iowa	NH	Wyoming	MI
Giuliani	6th	4th	4th	6th
Huckabee	1st Place	3rd	5th	3rd
Hunter	7th	7th	3rd	7th
McCain	3rd tie	1st	6th	2nd
Paul	5th	5th	7th	4th
Romney	2nd	2nd	1st	1st
Thompson	3rd tie	6th	2nd	5th

(Yes I wish I knew how to make a table in html) (Ed: Your wish is my command)

The person I am leaning towards the most, Thompson isn't doing well but hopefully he will be able to bounce back in South Carolina or elsewhere in the South.

The strongest candidate so far seems to be Romney, who has finished first or second in each primary so far, stronger then any other candidate.

South Carolina is in 3 days, it will be interesting to see what happens.

With friends like these . . .

Yes, I borrowed the title from the article. Why did the Bush administration file a brief with the Supreme Court supporting the Washington DC gun ban? I think the appellate court was correct and hope the Supreme Court upholds them by at least a 7-2 margin.

The Navy can finally train

President Bush has exempted the Navy from environmental laws and a court injunction that prohibited the use of SONAR near marine mammals. The Navy has said the training was necessary to keep its ASW people ready to protect the ships from any enemy submarines. The Navy has and is taking reasonable precautions to protect marine life, but it must be able to train its sailors to protect our ships.

Afternoon update

Well for the second day in a row, I'm posting a second entry in the afternoon because of something I saw at lunch.

The "perfect" gift for those who either like or hate guns. Or as a good white elephant gift to those with a sense of humor. Hat tip John at Castle Argghhh!

Tuesdays happenings

Tuesdays happenings

First off, child trafficking in America. The money quote from the article

This is a war in which millions of ordinary Americans “need to be willing to get their hands bloodied in battle,”

Read the whole thing.

No bias reporting here, A ship in international waters has unauthorized people board it, the crew tries to repel the boarders and then ties them up. The boarders were not law enforcement or military personnel. Sounds like the crewman were fighting off pirates. Well the crewman are being called pirates because their ship is a whaling ship and the boarders were anti-whaling activists who were unhappy they were tied to the mast of the ship and were not comfortable. Maybe these folks will learn that their actions have consequences. While I'm not keen on whaling, I find it hard to be sympathetic to people who try to board a ship on the high seas without permission with the rise of piracy on the oceans. The exception is when the boarders are military or coastal law enforcement personnel, who have clearly identified themselves.

Another look at replacing our energy dependence on fossil fuels with other options and how big that task really is.

Finally, today is the Michigan primary, this site has updates through out the day on the turn out there and other information, no information on who is winning, that will be decided after the polls close.

Have a good day.

Afternoon Updates

Three stories I found over lunch and wanted to highlight.

Another reason why citizens need to arm themselves. The police cannot guarantee your safety. Hard to listen to the video, but do it. Especially true for women.
Hat tip Glenn Reynolds.

GM claims they have a process on making ethanol for about $1.00 a gallon. It sounds almost too good to be true, but here is hoping it is. Hat tip Glenn Reynolds.

And finally, in South Carolina, Fred Thompson is gaining at the expense of Mike Huckabee, which is good news for Fred supporters. But McCain is now leading in the state (who I dislike only a little less then Huckabee).
Current polling data:
McCain at 28%
Huckabee at 19%
Mitt Romney at 17%
Fred Thompson at 16%
Rudy Giuliani and Ron Paul are tied with 5%
Hat tip Glenn Reynolds (Yes I read Instapundit and highly recommend it, wide range of items discussed there)

I hope Fred does better and McCain falls, actually while I haven't made up my mind yet, I'm leaning more towards Fred then anyone else. Mitt or Rudy would be next in line.

Opt Out

Just in case you get too much snail mail or phone calls, here's some handy pointers I've picked up over time. Save some postage, save a tree, save yourself from fraud and opt out of junk mail and telemarketers. Too bad there spam is so lawless. The 411:

• Opt out of those annoying credit card offers you get in the mail: OptOut Prescreen.com
• Opt out of junk mail, use the Direct Marketing Association's optout form . NOTE: They will soon remove the $1 charge to be on the list. I was just there today and the webpage still seemed to require the $1. Just wait.
• Stop telemarketers by registering your phone number at the Federal Trade Commission's Do Not Call Registry. NOTE: To be put on this list is free, but you have to renew every five years.
  

Hat tip: Lifehacker

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Giving Government Employees a Bad Rap

Six city employees are being fired for their failure to respond to a social workers pleas for action concerning four girls who were allegedly murdered by their mother. What I find appalling is the response to the school social worker trying to raise the alarm:

"she expresses frustration at being transferred among several departments." (emphasis mine)

That sounds like the typical bureaucratic nightmare coupled with rampant pass-the-buckism. The employees and their departments are not stated and that's a shame because it would make for interesting reading. Judging by the city's response, the Powers-that-Be were not impressed with these six civil servants' work ethic. I have dealt with the usual DMV/city hall crowd and I also work with a good number of government engineers. Sadly, my experiences inform me I should not be surprised with the events leading up to the death of the children. To be sure, as in any workplace public and private, there are those who work hard and those who don't. There are those who take their jobs seriously and those who are in early retirement. The difference is you can't fire the lazy ones from the government.

Sadly, I'm predicting a wrongful termination lawsuit within days.

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Iraq, Tankers, Economy and more

Two stories from Iraq, Pete Hegseth at NRO looks at the political developments in Iraq and how US political leaders could learn something from them. The second compares how the NY Times verses a boot on the ground sees the same offensive. David French explain why an operation where bad guys did escape is not necessarily a bad thing. Its an interesting perspective from someone who is there.

Some of the Republicans are talking about tax cuts and spending cuts. The economy is the biggest concern from Republicans. But while it is easy to talk the talk (after all, candidates who tell the electorate what they don't want to hear (remember president Walter Mondale who promised to raise our taxes if he won, neither do I) generally don't win elections or nominations. Larry Kudlow looks at the statements from McCain and Romney. McCain I do not believe because of his record for the last 8 years, he's saying the right thing, but I just do not trust him to do what he says. I haven't made up my mind about the other candidates yet, my ballot is sitting on my desk now and have to decide who I want to vote for. Any suggestions other then McCain, Huckabee or Paul are welcome. I WILL not vote for any of them in the primary.

Citigroup is writing off more bad mortgages. This latest write off will hurt their balance sheet but do not know if it will really hurt their cash flow or if this is more of a bookkeeping entry.

Finally, Airbus says it will build the KC-30 tankers in the US if it wins the contract. Personally, I just assume buy Boeing 777's, put an extra gas tank in the luggage compartments and use the rest of the space for cargo (like the KC-10) and be done with it. Why are we still flying tankers that were build in the early 1960s? Their engines are not as efficient as current engines, their airframes are old and we use our tankers a lot.

Have a good day.

The value of war games and other stuff

NY Times (Yes, I am linking to a NY Times story, for positive not negative reasons) has a very good article about the Iranian boat incident and comparing it to the 2002 war games that the Pentagon put on. In the war game, a red team consisting of a number of small craft plus cruse missiles swarmed against the blue team which had expensive and very capable navy ships. The red team one. Blue team lost cruisers, destroyers, aircraft carriers and amphibious ships. OUCH.

What the war game showed was how the US cannot let Iran or anyone else set the rules for the engagement and if they threaten the Navy, the Navy needs to shoot back sooner then later.

If Iran keeps trying to provoke the US, they will succeed because the Navy would rather have to explain why it took out Iranian ships who were threatening US ships then why US ships are damaged or sunk.

Mark Steyn has another great article comparing the true master of change (capitalism) compared to the want-a-be change agents (politicians).

Have a good day.

Changing all the rules

The title is borrowed from The Harrow Group, which used to publish a technology newsletter and they pointed out how certain inventions would change all the rules to the game.

The iPhone is one such devise. I do NOT have an iPhone nor plan on buying one, but it has changed how the phone makers and the wireless networks in the US related to each other and how this can and likely will end up with the customer being able to use their phone on more then one network (instead of each phone being locked down to a particular network) and the carriers making a lot more money.

Hat tip Hugh Hewitt. In reading the comments on his blog about this, a story about a phone and most of the comments are about politics. People need to get a life as there is more to life then presidential politics.

The winner is . . . . . .

Well we have had 3 States elect delegates for the republican primaries so far, 2 caucuses and one primary. Iowa was first, Wyoming was second and now New Hampshire. We have had two sanctioned Democratic primaries so far, Iowa and New Hampshire.

On the Democratic side, Obama and Hillary both have one win each and it will now be interesting to see how each does in the South.

On the Republican side, Huckabee, Romney and McCain each have one win. Now they will have to show they can run a national campaign and the South may have different views on what they want in a candidate then the first 3 States.

California has already sent out its absentee ballots, yet I haven't seen any commercials or received any junk mail from the candidates for the Feb 5 primary. Will be interesting to see if anyone bothers to campaign here, especially since many Republican voters tend to vote absentee and will have made a choice before any candidates arrive.

I also haven't seen any Democratic candidates commercials yet, but they can wait since more Democratic voters vote on election day then Republicans.

Will be interesting to see what will happen.

On a personal note, I had jury service this week. I am so glad LA County has changed the system. The old system was you went to the court for two weeks and sat around waiting.

Now its one week, one day or one trial. I was on call for this week and had to call in each day to see if I needed to report. If they don't need me I go to work and if after 5 days they haven't had me come in, my service is done. If they call me in to the court and haven't been put in a court room by the end of a day, my service is done (this is what happened to me yesterday). If I had been sent to a trial and got on a panel, once the trial is over my service is done. Its not a bad system and I did get to read a book yesterday which is always good.

Have a good day.

Obama v. Clinton

Now, mind, I'm a CCRWC* but for some odd reason Obama has seemed to be more attractive to me than Clinton from the perspective, "the lessor of two evils". For the longest time I wondered why, especially puzzling is I know nothing about their positions to have informed me of this.

Then, this morning, I Knew.

Despite the fact I know very little of the Democratic candidates, I realize the feeling is a product of media perception and how the candidates have appeared. In fact, it's a product of the media perceptions that I hold from previous campaigns. Interestingly, I realized that Obama, being black and younger, appears to the casual viewer to be less of the "Establishment" than Clinton--who (in my mind) comes more from the "old monied power-broker" sort of crowd.

There's little, to me, that distinguishes political candidates other than their chosen ideology--most having the money and connections to have made it as far as they have; somehow, Obama comes across less so. At least to this distant observer.

====
*Card Carrying Right-Wing Conservative

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What are They Thinking?

Iranian boats charged a US cruiser, destroyer, and a frigate. This is worrisome. Either:

• Their crazy president allowed the act as some sort of saber rattling or


• Their military forces, in this case the Revolutionary Guard, took it upon themselves to beat their chests

In either case this is bad. It either shows that their civilian leadership is either crazy, or not in control of their military. Maybe there are a few Iranian sailors hoisting a few tonight at the local bar and talking up a story of their confrontation with the Americans, but perhaps they should think it through a little.

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Fifth Grade and Steroids

It appears that Mike Wallace's revealing interview lays Roger Clemens' soul open to us. Roger repeatedly denied using steroids. Mike's journalistic talents came up a zinger of a question and Roger, surely caught off-guard, was exposed for all to see.

"Swear?" Wallace asked Clemens at one point, according to a partial transcript of the show, which is to air Sunday night.

"Swear," Clemens responded.

What a hard-hitting interview! What insight! What..what...UTTER CRAP. "Swear"? Give me a break, that level of soul-searching honesty was given up back in the fifth grade. Good lord, Clemens might as well have said,

"Pinky promise," Clemens responded

Or, better yet,

"Cross my heard, hope to die, stick a needle in my...ooops," Clemens responded with a wink.

Good grief, just end it already, Roger. I know. He knows. We ALL know.

Hat tip to Co for the tip.

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Do NOT let your wife/girlfriend see this

More on the guy who took a rifle and made it cute by putting Hello Kitty on it.

Read the comments on the thread, a lot of guys are now having to see how to get a copy of the gun for their wives and daughters, all because of a paint job.

The gun is a real Stag 2H rifle with a MonsterMan grip, ambi-selector, an A1 stock, a YHM Phantom muzzle brake, and a C Products 10/30 magazine.

Light bulbs and thermostats

Well first I'm going to talk about Iowa. ITS FINALLY OVER. Who won and why? Lots of good blogs and media talking about it so I won't bore you (or me), besides there are two more interesting stories I want to share with you.

Now the scientists are saying florescence lights, especially the compact type can be bad to human health and even cause skin cancer. While the boss doesn't like CFL's I've been using them for a number of years and haven't had any problem. I find this article more humorous and label it junk science. Maybe we should all go back to burning whale oil. After all, it is a renewable source of energy. Each family will get one lamp and it can only be burned for an hour a day, that should keep demand to within reason. (disclaimer, the bit about using whale oil is sarcasm).

The other is from our good State of California (where this blog is written). A proposed change to the building code laws will mandate programmable communicative thermostats in all new construction. That means someone else can control your thermostats and turn off your heat or A/C when they not you think they need too. Currently Southern California Edison is trying to get people to install these system by offering incentives. But we has homeowners have the choice to install them or not. The new law will make sure that someone else (the power company or a government agency) will decide when a house is using too much heat or A/C. No thank you.

Have a good weekend.

Dirty Job

I scuba dive for recreation, but think this job falls under the category "they can't pay me enough to do this". Mike Rowe here is a new dirty job for you.

Some people might pooh-pooh it, but Brendan Walsh likes his job.

I'VE been a professional diver for 25 years. My company will do any job that involves wetness. As long as there's a fluid of some kind, we'll attack it. We'll do anything from pier rebuilds and bringing up boats that have sunk, to high-tech diving in sewage farms.

Mostly we do general maintenance at the sewage farms but it could be rebuilding pumps or clearing blockages. I've done about 1000 hours of sewage diving. Working in a pit of sewage is very difficult; you can't see anything for a start, so everything's done by feel.

Here is the money quote of the article, well for me anyway.

It doesn't really worry us, what we're diving in, but it would be nicer if people actually chewed their corn.

Its finally begun

Finally, after months of so called debates, of professional pundits telling us who we should vote for etc etc, the first caucus will take place tonight and we will see what the voters not the pollsters have to say about the candidates.

I am really starting to like the UK style of campaigns. 3 or 4 weeks only and then its over, unlike here where the Presidential campaign has been underway for the last year or so.

See you tomorrow. Wonder who will win. I have no idea.

New year and new stories

Did you make any New Years resolutions? If so, how many have you broken so far?

One resolution many make is to get organized. The problem often isn't due to lack of space but a lifestyle of keeping everything. The comments at Lucianne are also worth a read.

People move out to the country to get away from city life and then complain about the lack of city amenities and their country neighbors. Well John Edwards got his wish, his country neighbor is moving but the sign stays.

Will Data from Star Trek be with us by 2050? And if the robots are able to replace humans in relationships, Scott Adams (Dilbert) is correct, society will be doomed when robots or virtual reality becomes cheaper then dating.

Wolves and the changes taking place in the West.

World War V, nuclear war between Israel and Iran. Who wins? An interesting and rather frightening look at the subject. Oh yeah, WW1 1914-1918, WW2 1939-1945 WW3 (Cold War) 1948-1989, WW4 (War against terror) 2001-???

A look at life in Fallujah, slightly different then what the media would have us think.

This will drive the anti-gun folks crazy

The law of unintended consequences is alive and well in the State of California.

Guns are evil because they look scary etc. etc. etc.

Go and check out the HK AR-15 at RifleGear.com. No, HK does not stand for Heckler and Koch but rather Hello Kitty. Yep you read that right. Go over and check out the gun. Perfect gift for your 8 year old daughter, introduce her to weapons early so she will know how to use them correctly and how to defend herself if or when the bad guys come and the police are not around.

Hat tip Of Arms and the Law