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90 rounds of golf in his first 3 years really paid dividends!
No, this isn't a Photoshop'd image of a giant phallus, it's just the latest salvo in the USAF's war against piloted aircraft (Welcome to Outsourcing, Gentlemen!). Argus One, a dirigible-looking thing created by the World Surveillance Group (WSG), is currently undergoing tests at an "undisclosed base" - - can you say Groom Lake, aka 'Area 51'? Argus One can hover over a target area at 10-20,000' and provide real-time recon datalinked to some MWFIC who undoubtedly will give the order to launch some other drone to take out the target.
We've been talking about the de-manlyfication of the USAF for quite some time (The Future is Officially here...), but this is some really cheap-ass shit!!!
Bring back the Lockheed Skunk Works, I say!
If the steady flow of nuclear secrets to the ChiComs over the last decade wasn't enough, the recent capture of one of our RQ-170 "stealth" drones might prove to be a game-changer as far as US military superiority goes. While Iran was beating its chest about the alleged shootdown of the drone, the US military and the Administration were of course denying the whole affair - until Iranian state television produced the aircraft (which appears largely intact) at a propaganda-laced media event - check out the US flag with skulls for stars!
The USAF transition from manned fighter and recce aircraft to a fleet of drones mandates that we maintain a huge edge in technology. These pesky little things can be used quite effectively against enemy targets, whether the "enemy" is some Al-Qaeda asshole - or the US imilitary tself.
Perhaps the most disturbing thing about Drone-gate are reports that the US military had a chance to go after the wayward UAV and destroy in on the ground where it went down. This of course was vetoed by Obama, who was afraid the violation of Iran's airspace would have been seen as an act of war. Will the buffoonery never end?
If your 3 year old were groped in Sunday School like this - you'd go to the police... but when the government does it, what recourse do you have? Anybody been lucky enough to go through this "enhanced pat down" BS lately?
A couple thoughts:
How about wearing a bathrobe and flipflops to the airport... or better yet a Scottish Kilt and Tartan Sash...and nothing else!
An online Chinese newspaper recently reported that the Taliban was training monkeys to fight US soldiers in the Afghanistan theater, and supplied "proof" in the two photos at left featuring monkeys at the weapons range. A quote from a 'Taliban insider' reveals the true purpose behind this Top Secret program:
"If a person who loves animals knows the monkeys may be injured in the war, they might pressure the government to force the withdrawal of western forces in Afghanistan." Uhh, yeah.
If you Google "taliban monkey soldiers" you'll see that this somewhat creative bunch of hooey shows signs of going viral, much like the "Midgets vs. Lion" hoax which tore through cyberspace five years ago. And also like the midget article, this one ought to raise the hackles of our friends over at PETA - woo-hoo! Can't wait to see the commercials - maybe these monkeys will just do themselves in like the ones suffering from global warming!
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7GIl4zKrV8 400x300]
Shortly after Major Hasan shouted "Allahu Akbar" and gunned down dozens of our men and women in a terroristic rampage, the Administration was quick to caution Americans to not "jump to conclusions." Today his fleshy hedgehog of a Homeland Security chief, Janet Napolitano, was out talking the Obama talk - meeting with groups across the country to try to "deflect any backlash against American Muslims." Excuse me? Our heroes have yet to be properly remembered and put to rest, and all Obama can think about is damage control? What's it gonna take, a nuke to a major city to wake these assholes up?
The Lockerbie bomber was released from jail today and returned home to Tripoli. Obama of course vehemently 'objected' to the release, and implored the Libyans not to greet the little prick as a conquering hero. So what did they do? They gave him a hero's welcome!
Back in the old days our Commander in Chief would have scrambled some Eagles, intercepted the aircraft, arrested the terrorist swine and made him serve out the rest of his sentence in some ass-pounding prison. Who needs change?
The War on Terror -now officially referred to as an "Overseas Contingency Operation"- is apparently becoming a kinder, friendlier war, as evidenced by the story below.
Air Force may buzz before bombing in Afghanistan
SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. — The Air Force general in charge of the air war in Afghanistan says a new strategy means warplanes in some cases may be buzzing rather than bombing some insurgents.
Lt. Gen. Gilmary Hostage said Thursday that his job is to support the strategy of winning Afghan support as formulated by the new U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal. As part of that, McChrystal imposed restrictions on air power to limit civilian casualties.
Hostage told reporters at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina his forces can easily drop bombs with pinpoint accuracy.
But the three-star general said that at times, it may be better to fly low over enemy forces and disperse them with noisy warplanes that threaten with firepower but don’t immediately unleash it.
A brief historical note: I had an uncle named after this guy, (no kidding), I guess my Grandfather liked his style... So do I. Rock
Demonstrating yet again just how truly clueless the Administration is when it comes to terrorism, the Justice Dept. has reportedly ordered that Miranda Rights be read to captured terrorists overseas. Brings a strong argument to "shoot first, ask questions later", no?
Everyone's favorite little despot is apparently alive and well, and he's on a mission - a mission to...uh...hey, what's he trying to prove?
Kim Jong-il is snarling his teeth at the US, his southern neighbors and anyone who will listen. He's blowing up nukes and shooting off Estes rockets again to put some bite behind his bark - and once again starting to piss off the world. Today he announced that the North will no longer honor the 1953 Armistice, a move paramount to redeclaring war on the South.
Perhaps Hillary can craft a little peace deal with the North like her husband did over a decade ago. And hey, let's get the UN in on this too...But wait, why is this even happening? I mean, wasn't Bush 43 the only reason Kim, Mahmoud and Osama ever got their panties in a twist? I thought the election of Barrack Obama was supposed to put an end to all this international nastiness. Did they not get the word?
Speaking of Korea, did you see that 7'2" Korean behemoth that put the beater on Jose Canseco in his MMA debut the other night? Looks like all those roids didn't help much!
Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, April 28, 2009
MANILA, Philippines - U.S. and Philippine military medical personnel are helping young men in the Philippines with a rite of passage: circumcision.
The troops are performing the procedure as part of their work in Balikatan - an annual bilateral training exercise that runs through Thursday.
During a Medical Civil Action Project on Friday, 13-year-old Joel Bangate underwent the procedure, according to a U.S. military news release.
According to the release, Philippine boys are usually between 10 and 13 years old when they decide to have the circumcision. When Joel learned that the procedure would be offered thanks to the Balikatan troops, the teen decided to take that option.
Professional circumcisions are available at medical facilities in the area, but in most impoverished areas, a village elder usually performs the procedure with a razor blade and without any stitches, according to the release. Boys traditionally sit in a cold bath for two hours to numb themselves while chewing guava leaves for minimal anesthetic. The boys spit the leaves onto the open wound, hoping to heal themselves, according to the release.
Philippine army Capt. William Recuenco - a surgeon - said the end result of the traditional procedure is often an infection.
During the MEDCAP, doctors used sterile instruments and an effective anesthetic and provided antibiotics.
"I have a lot to be thankful for," Joel said after his procedure, according to the release.
Op-Ed Contributor By PAUL KANE Published: April 20, 2009
Silver Spring, Md.
ROBERT GATES, the secretary of defense, has proposed a budget overhaul that will go a long way toward improving our national security, but more can be done to meet his long-term goal: creating the right military for the 21st century.
Not since Henry Stimson's tenure from 1940 to '45 has a defense secretary been faced to the same degree with simultaneously fighting a war and carrying out far-reaching reforms. Yet there are three major changes Mr. Gates should add to his agenda, and they deserve President Obama's support.
First, the Air Force should be eliminated, and its personnel and equipment integrated into the Army, Navy and Marine Corps. Second, the archaic "up or out" military promotion system should be scrapped in favor of a plan that treats service members as real assets. Third, the United States needs a national service program for all young men and women, without any deferments, to increase the quality and size of the pool from which troops are drawn.
At the moment, the Army, Navy and Marine Corps are at war, but the Air Force is not. This is not the fault of the Air Force: it is simply not structured to be in the fights in Iraq and Afghanistan. While Army, Marine and Navy personnel have borne the brunt of deployments, commonly serving multiple tours, the Air Force's operational tempo remains comparatively comfortable. In 2007, only about 5 percent of the troops in Iraq were airmen.
Yes, air power is a critical component of America's arsenal. But the Army, Navy and Marines already maintain air wings within their expeditionary units. The Air Force is increasingly a redundancy in structure and spending.
War is no longer made up of set-piece battles between huge armies confronting each other with tanks and airplanes. As we move toward a greater emphasis on rapid-response troops, the Army has tightened its physical fitness regime and the Marine Corps has introduced a physically grueling Combat Fitness Test for all members. Yet an Air Force study last year found that more than half of airmen and women were overweight and 12 percent were obese.
Next, the current military personnel system is a peacetime bureaucratic construct that serves neither national security nor those who wear the uniform. Congress sets the level of manpower for each military service. Within this constraint, military planners have to decide how many riflemen, mechanics, cooks, medics, pilots and such there should be within the military's job types, known as Military Occupational Specialties. Then the Pentagon has to decide how many people will be retained in the ranks or promoted.
The result is an "up or out" system that demands service members move up the ladder simply to stay in the military. Any soldier passed over for promotion twice must leave or retire.
Treating service members like so many widgets - in particular, the enlisted men and women who make up 85 percent of the ranks - is arbitrary and bad management. I have seen many fit, experienced officers and enlisted Marines arbitrarily forced out because there were only so many slots into which they could be promoted.
The military should develop a new accounting and personnel system that tracks the cost of developing its human capital and tallies each service member as an investment with a fixed value based on his education, training, experience and performance. This would reflect the departure of a valued service member as an asset lost, not a cost cut. Why are fit men and women who have served in combat, a human experience that a million dollars can't buy, being pushed out instead of retained for 15, 20, 30 years?
Last, Mr. Gates should urge President Obama to confer with Congress and introduce national service at age 18 for all Americans. Under such a system, young people from all classes and backgrounds would either serve in the military or do other essential work like intelligence assessment, conservation, antipoverty projects, educational tutoring, firefighting, policing, border security, disaster relief or care for the elderly. The best qualified would be assigned to the military.
The 1.6 million Americans who have served in the current wars represent less than one percent of all citizens. We need to spread the risk and burden of fighting our wars. If more of our national leaders had been in uniform, or knew they might have children at risk in war, their decisions during military confrontations might be better. And this is not just about the struggle against terrorism: would New Orleans reconstruction have lagged so long if we had had a national service program in natural-disaster recovery?
President Obama has the political capital to make these critical changes. Given the urgency of war and money available under the economic recovery plan, now may be our best chance for decades to truly modernize America's defenses.
_________________________________________-
Paul Kane is a Marine veteran of Iraq and a former fellow with the International Security Program at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.
My experience with the Canadian military was never anything but positive. Like the Brits and the Yanks, Canadians are always up for a good fight especially if it involves taking down asshole groups like Al Qaeda. Despite a military budget that is a fraction of what we spend, they have some very highly trained soldiers and airmen which makes them pound-for-pound on par with any military force in the world.
Canada has stood shoulder to shoulder with the US in almost every major "good vs. evil"conflict and went into Afghanistan very early on. They operate in one of the most dangerous provinces over there and their casualty rate is four times that of the US. Because of that, Canadian Lt Gen Andrew Leslie recently came out and said that after Canada's deployment in Afghanistan ends in 2011, Canada's military may need a year to recover. A couple of douchebags on the Fox News show "Red Eye" took exception to this statement. I've never watched this show on Fox, and the banter below ensures that I never will:
Canada sometimes gets a bad wrap in the media, especially when one of those ultra-liberals from Parliament starts railing on the evils of American foreign and economic policy. Fortunately those types are a vociferous minority, and most Canadians share the share the same values and beliefs as we do. (I know because I married one). Fox host Greg Gutfeld and panelist Doug Benson, who both look like they never shot a BB gun let alone serve in the military - are way out of line here and hereby judged guilty of "indefensible douchery."
One of the best quotes from this video. Nuff said....
Officials: Afghanistan Taliban leader was at Gitmo
By PAMELA HESS - 2 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Taliban's new top operations officer in southern Afghanistan had been a prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, the latest example of a freed detainee who took a militant leadership role and a potential complication for the Obama administration's efforts to close the prison. U.S. authorities handed over the detainee to the Afghan government, which in turn released him, according to Pentagon and CIA officials.
Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul, formerly Guantanamo prisoner No. 008, was among 13 Afghan prisoners released to the Afghan government in December 2007. Rasoul is now known as Mullah Abdullah Zakir, a nom de guerre that Pentagon and intelligence officials say is used by a Taliban leader who is in charge of operations against U.S. and Afghan forces in southern Afghanistan.
The officials, who spoke anonymously because they are not authorized to release the information, said Rasoul has joined a growing faction of former Guantanamo prisoners who have rejoined militant groups and taken action against U.S. interests. Pentagon officials have said that as many as 60 former detainees have resurfaced on foreign battlefields.
Pentagon and intelligence officials said Rasoul has emerged as a key militant figure in southern Afghanistan, where violence has been spiking in the last year. Thousands of U.S. troops are preparing to deploy there to fight resurgent Taliban forces.
One intelligence official told the Associated Press that Rasoul's stated mission is to counter the U.S. troop surge.
Although the militant detainees who have resurfaced were released under the Bush administration, the revelation underscores the Obama administration's dilemma in moving to close the detention camp at Guantanamo and figuring out what to do with the nearly 250 prisoners who remain there.
In one of his first acts in office, President Barack Obama signed an executive order to close the jail next year. The order also convened a task force that will determine how to handle remaining detainees, who could be transferred to other U.S. detention facilities for trial, transferred to foreign nations for legal proceedings or freed.
More than 800 prisoners have been imprisoned at Guantanamo; only a handful have been charged. About 520 Guantanamo detainees have been released from custody or transferred to prisons elsewhere in the world.
A Pentagon tally of the detainees released show that 122 were transferred from Guantanamo in 2007, more than any other year.
The Pentagon's preferred option is to hand them over to their home governments for imprisonment. But the Defense Intelligence Agency's growing list of former prisoners that have rejoined the fight shows that, in some cases, that system does not work.
According to the Pentagon, at least 18 former Guantanamo detainees have "returned to the fight" and 43 others are suspected of resuming terrorist activities. The Pentagon has declined to provide a complete list of the former prisoners they suspect are now on the battlefield.
According to case documents assembled by the U.S. military for a 2005 review of Rasoul's combatant status at Guantanamo, the Afghan was captured in 2001 in Konduz.
Armed with a gun and sitting in the car of an alleged Taliban leader, Rasoul insisted to American authorities he was forced to carry the gun by the Taliban. Rasoul told the tribunal in 2005 that in fact he had surrendered with other Taliban members to the Northern Alliance in Konduz on Dec. 12, 2001.
The Northern Alliance was involved in a protracted civil war with the Taliban, and was allied with U.S. forces in the October 2001 invasion.
Rasoul told the tribunal that he and others were then handed over to the Americans for bounties.
According to the U.S. documents, Rasoul was conscripted into the Taliban in 1995, and was seriously wounded in a bombing in 1997. He returned to the Taliban in Kandahar in southern Afghanistan in 1999.
Rasoul, who hailed from Helmand province in southern Afghanistan_ a Taliban stronghold_ never attended a Taliban or al-Qaida training camp. A key piece of evidence against him was that he was captured with two Casio watches similar to those used in al-Qaida bombings. He said he was holding the watches for a Taliban member who lacked pockets.
He told the tribunal that he intended to return to a peaceful life in Afghanistan.
"I want to go back home and join my family and work in my land and help my family," he said, according to a U.S. military transcript of the hearing.
National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair said Tuesday that at least two Saudi detainees also turned up recently as members of al-Qaida in Yemen after they were released from Guantanamo. The Saudis had been handed over by the U.S. to Saudi Arabia, where they were supposedly rehabilitated as part of a Saudi program to reform extremists.
The Bush administration's decision to transfer militants to Saudi Arabia for rehabilitation "doesn't inspire confidence," Blair said.
But he told the House Intelligence Committee last month that the prison must be closed because of the damage it has done to America's reputation. It is too powerful a negative symbol to remain open, he said.
The jail at the U.S. base in Cuba, created by the Bush administration in 2002, has been criticized worldwide for allegations of abuse of prisoners and their legal status.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
As a follow-up to a couple of previous stories on the MQ-9 and "UDT" , here's a recent graphic released by the USAF that illustrates how quickly they are outsourcing manned aircraft, esp. on the tactical end with the MQ-9. My prediction for the end of manned CAS by 2020 stands...
I'm quite sure anyone who gives a crap about our national security has not soon forgotten little Johnny Walker Lindh, the American Taliban captured in the early days of the Afghan invasion. After a good old-fashioned whupping from our boys in the field, he returned to the homeland, stood trial, and was convicted of serving in the Taliban army. His sentence? A measly 20 years in federal prison... and hopefully a lot of seriously violent ass pounding along the way! Twenty years was a gift; he should have been tried for treason and hanged - end of story.
Yesterday, his parents called on Pres. Bush to issue a full pardon for their sore-assed son, asking that he "show some mercy" this holiday season and commute his sentence. Ridiculous? Who knows? After bailing out everybody and his brother and paving our nation's road to socialism, fifty-fifty says Bush will do it! And if he won't, you know Obama will!
The Air Force recently announced plans to swap out manned fighter aircraft in Iraq with its newest fighter pilot replacement, the MQ-9 Reaper from the 42nd Attack Squadron based at Creech (remember that asshole?) AFB, NV. Roughly the size of an A-10, and weighing in at over 10,000 pounds, the Reaper can deliver a smörgåsbord of precision-guided stuff including Hellfires and GBU-12's.
"Today we are in an environment where we may not need the large number or persistence of manned aircraft," said LT Gen Gary North, the USAF MFWIC in the Middle East. "There are periods where we've gone a week to ten days without having to release a single kinetic attack, and that is a real success story," he said, referring to bombing enemy targets. "Will we need to have manned kinetic capability to respond either with overhead or ground alert? The answer is yes, for a period of time," he said.
"Kinetic attacks" and "kinetic capability"? WTFO??? Obviously political correctness has infested the USAF to the point of no return - didn't we used to call it "old-fashioned whup-ass?" Worse, these Reapers are flown by a "two man crew" back at Creech AFB (the former Indian Springs AFB) - two guys sipping java and working a mouse and a monitor in pleathor lounge chairs, no doubt looking good with their neatly-pressed silk scarves.
My prediction? Twenty years from now manned CAS will be a thing of the past. But as efficient as drones may be, they are incapable of emotion and can't yell out "Shack!" when they toast some Al-Qaeda asshole, so what's the point? And who will they call when they have a problem - some dude in Bangalore?
This is a dead - on assessment of what this nation is facing vis a vis the "peace loving" Muslim fascists. Newt Gingrich is our Churchill in the wilderness in the 1930's - warning us of The Gathering Storm - to a nation that will not hear, and will not react until faced with cataclysm. Will this nation wake up before we witness a mushroom cloud over an American city, or will we sink into our politically correct, multiculturally fueled apathy?
Why Bridgette Bardot? Well, besides the obvious, seems she shares a lot in common with what this site stands for -- free speech and lack of political correctness. Right now she is on trial in France for "inciting racial hatred" for claiming the Muslim immigrant community was "destroying our country and imposing its acts". She earlier said, "I am fed up with being under the thumb of this population which is destroying us, destroying our country ..."
I'm willing to overlook her anti-fur PETA activity (but just barely) because of her willingness to stand up and call a spade a spade. Personally, I see her comments as a straight-up freedom of speech issue vs. political correctness - replace "Muslim" with "American" and then ask yourself if French prosecutors would still be pursuing this case...
Link to News Article (with less than flattering current photo of Ms. Bardot)
