40 Years In The Desert

Adding to My List of They Who Must Not Be Named

2009-11-09T17:00:00.003-05:00

A new addition to They Who Must Not Be Named, Levi Johnston.

Just cannot bring myself to care, and he is not currently involved in, or influencing, a national campaign, so he is on the list too.

Indeed

2009-11-09T06:11:00.000-05:00

Nice Hair

Ezra Klein, writing on the idea of The Washington Post having Texas Governor Rick Perry write an OP/ED on how states handle healthcare better:

Letting Perry serve as the spokesman for a federalist solution to the health-care system is a bit like letting Dick Fuld testify on the adequacy of self-regulation on Wall Street, or Donald Rumsfeld explain that occupations are easy.

Texas has, no big surprise, the largest percentage of uninsured in the nation.

Though to be fair, Texas Governor Rick Perry has really nice hair.

On a related note, one wonders how much longer he gets to the Washington Post OP/ED page, and by extension editorial page editor Fred Hiatt, c*cks*ck*rs.

I figure that the Bull Durham/Dan Froomkin rule cuts in eventually.

Pay Per View Review

2009-11-08T22:35:00.003-05:00

Well, it was time for another family movie, and it was my choice, and my Sharon absolutely put her foot down about the Simpsons Movie, so I chose Monsters vs Aliens.

Reese Witherspoon...Susan Murphy / Ginormica (voice)
Seth Rogen ... B.O.B. (voice)
Hugh Laurie ... Dr. Cockroach Ph.D. (voice)
Will Arnett ... The Missing Link (voice)
Kiefer Sutherland ... General W.R. Monger (voice)
Rainn Wilson ... Gallaxhar (voice)
Stephen Colbert ... President Hathaway (voice)
Paul Rudd ... Derek Dietl (voice)

It's an old story, girl is going to get married, girl gets struck by meteor, girl grows to humongous size, girl gets imprisoned in a secret government facility....

Actually, it is an story. It's the Wizard of Oz story with a bit of a twist.

I realized this about ¾ of the way through the movie.

That being said, it is well animated, well acted, and well scripted, and rather enjoyable.

It's also a movie that does well with the pause and rewind buttons, because there are a number of fractured takes on old SF films and film conventions.

The big surprise here are appearances by Stephen Colbert as the president of the United States, where he most amusingly chews scenery.

Watch through the credits.

Recommended, with one caveat: If you love the golden gate bridge, you may cry at one point.

Pictures after the flip.

Of Course They Don't, The Wall Street Owns Them

2009-11-08T14:28:00.001-05:00

Click for full size

Note: These numbers are inflation adjusted

So, after Gordon Brown finally comes out in favor of a Tobin tax on financial transactions, Timothy "Eddie Haskell" Geithner comes out categorically against it:

A day-by-day financial transaction tax is not something we are prepared to support," Geithner said in an interview with Sky News. In his concluding press conference, Geithner was asked repeatedly to say why he opposed such a tax on banks and indicated he doubted its effectiveness.

"This idea (of a bank transaction tax) has been around for a long time...I think frankly the experiences are mixed," he said, expressing an American view that there was no widespread backing for such a tax.

The banks f%$#ed us all, we spent to bail them out than on, "WW1&2 (omitted from graphic), the moon shot, the New Deal, total NASA budgets (omitted from graphic), Iraq, Viet Nam and Korean wars COMBINED," but somehow it's unreasonable to place a tax on speculation, to:

Reduce speculation.
Pay for their own bailout.

The Obama administration has its tongue so far up Wall Street's ass that it is tasting tonsils.

I was Right

2009-11-08T13:56:00.003-05:00

When I predicted that Representative Anh "Joseph" Quang Cao would be the 'Phant who voted for the healthcare bill.

A New Neologism

2009-11-08T12:07:00.001-05:00

Stupak (n) - The sepsis commonly experienced after unsafe back alley abortions

Coined by Atrios.

Not Enough Bullets: Fat Cat Tax Evader Edition

2009-11-08T11:49:00.001-05:00

Floyd Norris documents the latest outrage, that Goldman Sach is looking at buying tax credits from Fannie Mae.

The idea here is that Fannie Mae is losing money, and is federally owned now, so it can't use the tax credits, so it sells them to GS for something like 80¢ on the dollar, screwing the taxpayer.

Goldman, you may recall, was saved with taxpayer money when the panic spread last year. A naïve person might think such a company would see a patriotic virtue in paying taxes.

Fannie Mae is currently a ward of the government. So this boils down to a proposal to pay Uncle Sam perhaps 15 cents to avoid paying 20 cents to Uncle Sam. The gall involved in even proposing such a thing is awesome.

It also points out one reason companies pay so little in taxes. These tax credits exist as a nonbudgetary way of stimulating investment in low-income housing. It would be a lot cheaper for the government to simply subsidize that, but instead it offers tax credits so there is no “expenditure” for foes of big government to criticize.

Seriously, we need someone to move in and break heads, but the Obama/Geithner/Summers troika has no interest in challenging the excesses of Wall Street.

Well, At Least they Know that They Can't Find their Ass with Both Hands

2009-11-08T07:54:00.000-05:00

There are only two reasons for the US Army's Missile Defense Chief to want to give this to the Navy:

The chief of the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command would prefer the Navy assume oversight and execution of the budding mission to base SM-3 Block IB ballistic missile killers ashore in Europe for protection against an Iranian attack. “Today, we have a number of priorities that we have trouble meeting outside of missile defense,” Lt. Gen. Kevin Campbell says, including providing weapons for the wars abroad. The Pentagon plans to field in Europe the Block IB interceptors designed for use on Aegis ships by 2015, and later the longer-range Block IIAs. The Army has 10 years’ experience in operating land-based missile defense architectures abroad through the Patriot PAC-3 and now the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) system, but Campbell says his command is strapped for resources.

The first is that they think that the system will fail, though the Navy's Standard Missile has had a much better record in test than the Army's systems, and the second is that he legitimately believes that the Army would screw this up to the degree that it would harm his career.

Me, I go with the 2^nd hypothesis.

It's actually a good thing. The first step to getting out of a hole that you have dug yourself in is to realize that you are in a hole.

Brazilian Defense Minister Doubts Sincerity of US Technology Transfer Promises

2009-11-08T07:44:00.001-05:00

He talks about extensive difficulties in getting essential technology transferred as a part of contractual obligations:

According to the minister, the most controversial matter among the suppliers is the technology transfer issue and he emphasized that, in this area, the United States doesn't a have a favorable history.

"The trouble with the United States," he stated, "are past issues. The past is a big example of technology transfer embargo. We experience this here today at the Cetex."

Jobim revealed that during his visit to the technological center he heard reports by military men stating that American companies would supply technology for the finishing of military equipments, such as batteries and propellers, only in ten years.

While the quote is unclear, and I think intentionally so, I believe that this is a shot across the bow regarding the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet's AESA radar, the APG-79.

Truth be told, with the obvious issues with the Superbug's aerodynamics, it's the slowest of the three finalists, and the under-wing environment is noisy, hence the "splayed" arrangement of its stores pylons (see picture), required for safe stores separation, which increases drag.

Additionally, it's significantly larger size vs. its competitors, about 20% more than the Rafale, and about double the Gripen, which necessarily increases the cost per flight hour, makes it clear that its sensor suite, and the ability for Brazil to modify these systems to meet its needs, becomes paramount to Boeing's bid.

No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Die

2009-11-08T07:27:00.000-05:00

Click for full size

Where is the White Persian Cat?

Well, it appears that some sharp-eyed satellite imagery analysts have spotted what they think is a China’s anti-satellite laser installation in Google^™ Earth^™ pictures.

This conclusion is actually somewhat controversial, as there are any number of non-hostile applications, such as astronomy and precision satellite tracking (which would involve a low power laser range finder) that could explain these installation

You can find larger pictures here, which include two other similar Chinese installations.

Korea Shows Model of Stealthy UCAV

2009-11-08T06:54:00.003-05:00

Click for full size

Future Stealthy Korean UCAV

Video of Concepts, H/t The DEW Line

KAI showed off its latest UCAV concept at the Seoul air show last month.

It looks pretty much like just about every stealthy UAV out there, mostly because the way that air flows, and the way that radar bounces off of objects, works the same regardless of country of origin.

One of the dirty secrets of stealth is that not only are the basic principles public, but they have been since the beginning, having first been publicized in a Soviet unclassified scientific journal.

I think that we will see a lot of these systems, particularly in an anti-ship capacity, where deterring US aircraft carriers has a lot of value on the international arms market.

Ground-launched IRIS-T fired

2009-11-08T06:53:00.000-05:00

Click for Humongous Picture of IRIS-T SL Launch

MIM-72 Chaparral

Diehl BGT Defense has developed a ground launched derivative of its short range AAM IRIS-T.

The idea is that this system, IRIS-T SL, would be to the IRIS-T, as the Chaparral was to the Sidewinder.

One obvious difference here is that the IRIS-T has a lock after launch capability, and so does not need a trainable launcher, with the resulting savings in weight and complexity.

Additionally, the missile appears to be modified more than in the Chaparral, where the missile was basically a standard AIM-9D Sidewinder, while the IRIS-T SL uses a booster motor to get the missile out of the tube and up to speed, as well as an a shroud to protect it during the launch phase.

I'm kind of surprised that it's not a vertical launch, but that may be a trade off of coverage versus complexity of the launcher.

Speaking of Programs that are Seriously Behind Schedule and Above Budget

2009-11-08T06:28:00.000-05:00

It looks like the Republic of South Africa has had enough, and it has cancelled its order for the EADS A400M Transport.

I guess that between a 3 year (and growing) delay on deliveries, continuing cost escalation, and the fact that it is overweight and incapable of carrying its specified payload might lead one to look at other transport alternatives.

More JSF Delays and Cost Escalation

2009-11-08T06:08:00.000-05:00

It appears that the JSF rrequires another $17 billion and 2 years to be fielded (google translate link)

So far.

We've been down this road before, and I think that the JSF partners are in for a rude awakening.

H/t ELP Defens(c)e Blog.

House Passes H. R. 3962

2009-11-07T23:46:00.004-05:00

The House healthcare bill, the "Affordable Health Care for America Act" passes. The vote was 220-215.

What Krugman Said

2009-11-07T20:50:00.000-05:00

I'll just quote his last 'graph:

If the Democrats lose badly in the midterms, the talking heads will say that Mr. Obama tried to do too much, this is a center-right nation, and so on. But the truth is that Mr. Obama put his agenda at risk by doing too little. The fateful decision, early this year, to go for economic half-measures may haunt Democrats for years to come.

Actually, I am not entirely sure that this is true. There is a pat of me that believes that Obama's agenda has always been very minimalist.

Just read the whole thing.

Here's The Deal, Because You're Sorry, You Get a Better Cell*

2009-11-07T20:40:00.000-05:00

John Reed, who was the architect of the merger between Citicorp and Travelers Group, has now admitted that he was wrong:

John S. Reed, who helped engineer the merger that created Citigroup Inc., apologized for his role in building a company that has taken $45 billion in direct U.S. aid and said banks that big should be divided into separate parts.
“I’m sorry,” Reed, 70, said in an interview yesterday. “These are people I love and care about. You could imagine emotionally it’s not easy to see what’s happened.”

He then makes a very good analogy:

“I would compartmentalize the industry for the same reason you compartmentalize ships,” Reed said in the interview in his office on Park Avenue in New York. “If you have a leak, the leak doesn’t spread and sink the whole vessel. So generally speaking you’d have consumer banking separate from trading bonds and equity.”

(emphasis mine)

I am tempted to quote Admiral David Beatty, "There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today," when the Invincible and Queen Mary blew up in short order at Jutland

^*Originally, I was going to say a nice long drop and a tight knot to ensure that your end is quick, but then I remembered that I oppose the death penalty....Drat.

1000 Words on Republicans

2009-11-07T20:12:00.000-05:00

Link to original

Put a Fork in Frank Kratovil (DINO MD-1), He's Done

2009-11-07T20:10:00.004-05:00

So, he has officially come out against healthcare reform:

Kratovil, a freshman Democrat from the Eastern Shore, ended months of uncertainty by announcing that he would vote against the House plan, which would extend health insurance to an estimated 36 million Americans who lack coverage. The Marylander, among the most vulnerable House members in the country in next year's election, has long been skeptical of his party's proposal but had left open the possibility of supporting it.

He already had a tough row to how, seeing as how Wayne Gilchrest's endorsement won't mean anything next time around, and now he's going to discover that Harry S Truman's old adage, "Given the choice between a Republican and someone who acts like a Republican, people will vote for the real Republican all the time," is true.

What's more, there was a lot of support from outside the district that will not be getting as a result of this decision.

If you are looking for where to put your time and money in the 2010 elections, look elsewhere.

Kos Owns Tom Tancredo

2009-11-07T20:00:00.000-05:00

Markos "Kos" Moulitsas slaps down Tom Tancredo.

When Tancredo claims that all the veterans hate the VA, and would much rather have vouchers, Kos responds, "I'm a veteran, I did not get a deferment because I was too depressed to fight in a war that I supported in Vietnam."

Tancredo stormed off the set when Kos was not forthcoming with an apology.

Awww....Kos hurt his widdle feewings....Poor Tom Tancredo....He had to go off and cry.

It starts at about 2:50 in the video.

H/t What Would Jack Do for the vid.

They No Play-a daGame, They No Make-a da Rules*

2009-11-07T19:41:00.001-05:00

So, in order to pacify the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops which has been completely captured by the right-wing and hostile to Democrats for something approaching two decades, the House has agreed to a allow an amendment to be voted that would effectively ban all health insurance policies that pay for abortion services:

Under the agreement, anti-abortion Democrats will be permitted to offer an amendment on the House floor to the health-care overhaul bill. The amendment would prohibit a new government-run insurance plan created by the health-care bill from offering to cover abortion services, congressional sources said. It would also block people who received federal subsidies for the purchase of health insurance from buying policies that offered coverage for abortions.

No doubt about this: by excluding these plans, it will cause their extinction, because it effectively bans such plans from the new insurance exchanges.

I think that the House Leadership should have told Bart Stupak (D-Vatican) to go Cheney himself, and perhaps a fuller application of criminal conspiracy laws, against people like, for example, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, who actively conspired to conceal child abuse by clergy is in order too.

[update]

That piece of sh$# amendment passes, 240-194, a little bit after 10:00pm.

^*I'm paraphrasing Nixon administration Secretary of Agriculture, and notable bigot, Earl Butz, and yes, I can understand how it's potentially offensive, but far less offensive than members of the clergy attempting to dictate policy.

William Shatner Reads Levi Johnston's Tweets

2009-11-07T12:20:00.000-05:00

I really have nothing to add to this. It is simply brilliant.

2014 In Your Dreams

2009-11-07T07:16:00.001-05:00

Lockheed is saying that it can start delivering F-35s to the South Koreans in 2014.

The ROK is looking to purchase about 60 fighters, and Lockheed-Martin is pushing the JSF very hard, right to the limits of credulity.

I see it as even money whether or not the JSF enters UK service by 2014. For Korea, it is an impossibility.

Raptor Picture Pr0n

2009-11-07T06:45:00.000-05:00

In memoriam of the canceled program:

(click for full size image)

Lovely picture, just over-priced and not useful in any realistic scenario.

How to build the F-35 center fuselage - The DEW Line

2009-11-07T06:01:00.001-05:00

Click for full size

Blah, blah, blah!

Stephen Trimble has come across a very nice illustration the process of assembling the center fuselage of the F-35 JSF.

What is interesting here is the size of the final assemblies that are mated. It implies a pretty tight control of manufacturing tolerances.