COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Monday, March 16, 2009

While we squander ourselves in the Middle East, Latin America turns further left.



The US becomes the repository of all that goes wrong in Latin America. When we gave China a free pass in a ridiculously lopsided trade agreement, the US not only killed off much US manufacturing but also took much of the starch out of the factories in Central and South America.

Cheap Chinese goods transported on subsidized ships filled the stores and bodegas of the Americas. Nascent industries collapsed and a growing underclass fueled with crack and smack spread violence and terror throughout the slums in the southern part of our own continent.

Salvador, a country of six and one half million and two million of them is the US, is the latest American country to select a left-wing government. Many more good people will flee to the US. Along with them will come the refuse of failed ideas.

We continue to consume our treasure and time in the Middle East when our freedom, opportunity and future is in the Americas. We have been screwing around in the Middle East for forty years. Why?

Our presence and attention is needed where it matters and where we can have an effect and that is in our own continent in America.

_____________________________________



El Salvador moves Latin America further left
BY DAVION FORD AND JOSÉ ZEPEDA Radio Netherlands
16-03-2009

El Salvador has a new left-wing president. Former journalist Mauricio Funes defeated the ruling right-wing president Rodrigo Avila in Sunday's election, polling 51.2 percent of the votes. He defeated his right-wing opponent from the ARENA party by a mere 60,000 votes.

Mr Funes ) explained the cause of his victory to Radio Netherlands' José Zepeda:

"What matters is not the long time that ARENA was in power, but the way they were in power. (...) A small group got preferential treatment, at the disadvantage of the rest of society. In the end, everybody will rise up against that."
The victory seals an historic journey to power for Mr Funes' FMLN party of former Marxist rebels. It also means El Salvador joins the growing tide of socialist-led Latin American countries.


But regional expert Dirk Kruijt told RNW Newsline's Davion Ford that the president-elect is considered a moderate; so is his deputy:
"The newly elected president is a former journalist with sympathy for the original guerrilla Frente which transformed in 1992 into the Farabundo Martí political party, FMLN. A late member, and a person who could forge alliances with other parts and segments of the population.

President-elect Funes has always presented himself as a friend of the US. And Sánchez Cerén, the vice president, the representative of the orthodoxy line, stated in several interviews that 'Socialism cannot be decreed from above.'"

Security problems

The regime change will not make much difference for El Salvador's economy, which is not doing too badly. But, Mr Kruit says, the new president has another task on his hands:
"The real problem of Salvador is public safety and public security. It is one of the countries with the highest murder rate in the world, in terms of murders per 100,000 inhabitants; it has a stock of small arms that is sufficient to kill 40 percent of the world population, and it is in part terrorised by youth gangs. The country is also suffering from hard crime and organised crime, and that is not attacked by the police authorities."

Shift to the left

El Salvador had been a right-wing stronghold for decades. With the leftward shift in Central and South America, some of the people in El Salvador are saying that the country will become a Venezuelan satellite. But Mr Kruit points out that neither the new man, nor his deputy favour a sharp move to the left, and adds:
"The changes will be slow, there is not going to be a process of nationalisation of industry, it wouldn't be in the interest of the national economy, so the claim of a second Hugo Chávez of Venezuela is an enormous exaggeration."
The main challenge for the new president is to live up to the hopes of the impoverished one-third of El Salvador's population. The people who elected Mauricio Funes will judge him by his successes in fighting poverty and insecurity in his country.


173 comments:

  1. they got any of that there black gold in those places? Not much...ahhhhhh!

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  2. The Chinese have proved that if you have the money, you will get all the oil you need.

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  3. The oil argument has made no sense since the Saudis nationalized Aramco in the seventies.

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  4. Old habits die hard, or is it oil habits die hard?

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  5. Ash, any other thoughts on your art selection?

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  6. I'm not sure I like the right so much. At least not the American corporate right. I see totalitarian evil in both camps.

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  7. Dr. Bill Wattenberg's ad placed in the Wasington Post to President Obama--

    Here

    The way out of our coming gas crisis is--natural gas to power our vehicles, he says. Doesn't disagree with Mat's ideas of electric vehicles, just points out they aren't good enough yet, and, today we'd be getting the electricity most from coal fired plants, if we are so stupid as to nix nuclear.

    Says Honda has a natural gas vehicle on the market. And cars could be easily developed to switch from natural gas, to gas, to ethanol.

    Natural gas is also widely available nationwide.

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  8. Even plug-in electric cars are a fantasy without cheap, non-polluting nuclear power to charge the batteries.

    Dr. Bill


    If we can get away from the arabs, we can more easily turn our attention to our own hemisphere, as Deuce suggests.

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  9. We're pumping more natural gas back into the ground up there in Alaska and we use in the lower 48. If Sarah can get her pipeline built, she'll save the country.


    A woman without guile.

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  10. Dr. Bill thinks the economy will recover later this year, then get crushed as the arab blackmailers get the prices up again, putting us in a permanent recession, less we do something.

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  11. Bill will be shocked at how quickly his arguments will be debunked when EVs finally make it to mass production. Natural gas can be used, but it makes much more sense to use natural in central power stations. And until bill is willing to move his family to within 1000m of a nuke plant and drink from the water used to cool the reactors, I really don't want to hear from him how safe the are.

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  12. Non-OPEC producers cannot bring new supply to market for less than $80/bbl. Can the world economy withstand $100/bbl oil? I doubt it.

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  13. ..use natural ^gas in central power stations..

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  14. We've already got some natural gas powered electrical generating stations around, don't know how many. Beats coal.

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  15. Was looking at Time's 'Israel at 60' photos. A bunch of propaganda photos. Not one authentic picture there. All are tired made up stereotypes. What a useless publication Time magazine is.

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  16. $25,000 for a $14,000 Civic? That's insane.

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  17. My intuition tells me that the day of the $10,000 EV is fast approaching. I think that within 2 or 3 car generations, we will see prices at that range.

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  18. It's Latin America, Deuce.

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  19. SHANGHAI -- Chinese companies have been on a shopping spree in the past month, snapping up tens of billions of dollars' worth of key assets in Iran, Brazil, Russia, Venezuela, Australia and France in a global fire sale set off by the financial crisis.

    The deals have allowed China to lock up supplies of oil, minerals, metals and other strategic natural resources it needs to continue to fuel its growth. The sheer scope of the agreements marks a shift in global finance, roiling energy markets and feeding worries about the future availability and prices of those commodities in other countries that compete for them, including the United States.

    Just a few months ago, many countries were greeting such overtures from China with suspicion. Today, as corporations and banks in other parts of the world find themselves reluctant or unable to give out money to distressed companies, cash-rich China has become a major force driving new lending and investment.

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  20. No, rufus, it is just America.

    Based upon population migration all of America is Latin, now.

    Wal-Mart plans to open its first Hispanic-focused supermarkets this summer in Arizona and Texas as the largest US retailer continues its drive to expand its dominance of the US grocery business.

    The pilot stores, named Supermercado de Walmart, will open in Phoenix and Houston in remodelled 39,000 sq ft locations occupied previously by two of Wal-Mart’s Neighborhood Market stores.

    The retailer said that the stores were in “strongly Hispanic neighbourhoods” and would feature a “new lay-out, signing and product assortment designed to make them even more relevant to local Hispanic customers”. The staff will also be bilingual.

    Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Club warehouse store also plans to open a 143,000 sq ft Hispanic-focused store called Más Club in Houston this year.

    Several leading regional US supermarket chains already operate Hispanic store brands, including Publix in Florida, which operates three Publix Sabor markets, and HEB in Texas, which opened a Mi Tienda store in Houston in 2006.

    The markets include elements such as cafés serving Latino pastries and coffee, and full service meat and fish counters.

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  21. To be clear I refer to standing back and watching the Chinese setting up their mercantilism and the leftists further weakening the hemisphere.

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  22. Obama is playing right into their hands. Nothing new in the ME and a recovery program based on Chinese lending. We can replace every Chinese import with goods made in the Americas. We can create unbelievable wealth and jobs and send the Chinese packing.

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  23. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  24. Mr Cheney was deriding the Obama choice for Ambassador to Iraq, because he does not "speak the language", but Team43 had no problems sending an Ambassador to Costa Rica that did not "speak the language".

    It is understandable in that there are not many Arabic speakers available on the diplomatic roster. The same cannot be held out as an excuse for not sending Spanish speakers to Spanish speaking countries.

    Rank disregard for the sensibilities of the other American countries is hubris, through and through. It is a bi-partisan hubris, to be sure.

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  25. Given the choice between Hookah Bars and tamales, open the banana leaves please.

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  26. Buchanan Defends Freeman

    Hence, when his name surfaced as Blair's choice to chair the NIC, the Israel Firsters went berserk, with Steven Rosen declaring him to be a "textbook case of the old-line Arabism" that infected the Department of State when Gen. George Marshall was secretary.

    And who is Rosen?

    A former fixture at AIPAC, Rosen faces imminent federal criminal prosecution under the Espionage Act for transferring top-secret Pentagon documents to the Israeli Embassy. Rosen's accomplice, Larry Franklin, is serving a 12-year sentence.
    Picking up the Rosen dog whistle, the neocommentariat came howling.

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  27. Barry's Hookah Bar was Anna Bannana's

    Comments

    Renee
    26 Dec 2006, 19:07
    They haven't had hookahs at Anna Bannana's for over a year now.
    (It's Decembet 2006.)
    You should probably take this listing off of your site.

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  28. A snip from dougo's link may provide the Skull and Boner link.

    Educated at Yale and Harvard Law, Freeman has served his country in Delhi, Taipei, Bangkok and Beijing. He was Ronald Reagan's deputy assistant secretary of state for Africa and Bill Clinton's assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs. George Bush I named him ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Freeman was our man in Riyadh when Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf and 500,000 U.S. troops arrived to evict the army of Saddam Hussein from Kuwait.

    Little wonder Freeman was China centric, he's just following the tenents of The Russell Company, as the US has, ever since Teddy sent the Great White Fleet to Asia.

    Which has been at the core of US foreign policy, ever since.

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  29. They make relatively inexpensive conversion kits for gas?
    ---
    Standard Oil workers used to run them somehow...

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  30. ...the Standard workers were running on Propane, actually.
    Some converted their pickups themselves.

    On a standard work truck, they made a refrigerator which just let propane expand and cool the box, and then just exhausted into the atmosphere!
    That EPA Bitch would have a cow.

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  31. Carol Browner
    She who legislates against dust.

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  32. After commenting upon an Iranian drone penetrating Iraqi airspace, westhawks comments end with:

    Military supplier countries such as Russia and China, who for their own reasons want to keep up with U.S. military technology, may see a good reason to clandestinely cooperate with countries such as Iran that are on the edge of active conflicts. In such a case, supplier countries such Russia and China would get a chance to test out their UAV technologies through a proxy, gaining experience while preserving deniability. And in order to fully test their UAV systems end-to-end, they could allow their Iranian customer access to the Russian or Chinese secure military satellite communications networks. If this were to occur, small to mid-size military powers such as Iran could enjoy heavy and deep strike UAV capabilities such as those found on Reaper and Predator.

    The brief age of U.S. dominance of UAVs and other robotic systems will very likely come to a rapid end. U.S. soldiers in the field will have to learn how to defend against enemy robotic systems. And these enemy robotic systems may be as deeply penetrating and heavily armed as U.S. systems as high-end supplier countries such as Russia and China look for ways to test out their programs in combat conditions.


    Says that the UAV was 6 kms into Iraq when it was engaged. Wonder how deep the Israeli could penetrate Iraqi airspace before they were engaged?

    That Franklin fella should be shot dead, by a firing squad, fuckin' spy. That Rosen, if convicted, too.

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  33. Dust, you do not know the half of regulations and rules against dust, doug.

    particulants

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  34. I got stuck posting a bunch @ BC
    here
    AIG
    and here
    Newspapers
    in case anyone's interested.

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  35. Some retired General was saying only the F-22 could penetrate Iran.

    ...what about B-1's and 2's firing missles?

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  36. Did not trish report they were closing PJs this month?
    Seemed appropriate, seeing which way the wind is blowing.

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  37. They're goin' to cancel the F-22, there will be lots of bogus claims made, doug.

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  38. I thought you reported on PJ, was going to ask for a source.

    someone else asked about it there.

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  39. http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/02/defense_budget.html

    Supporters of a vastly increased defense budget, including many who support the Pentagon’s internal request for $584 billion for FY2010, have argued that Obama’s baseline represents a budget cut in a time of war. They contend that this so-called reduction will unnerve our allies, embolden our enemies and, by ending programs like the F-22 Raptor and slowing down programs like the F-35 and Future Combat Systems, will not only weaken defense but hurt our economy. Objective analysis reveals that these arguments are without merit.

    ...

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  40. Better to give it to Goldman and the Euros.

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  41. (not mere billions, trillions)

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  42. Nobody warned me our kids would live to see the end of the country.

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  43. Every single fucking act of his is either Anti American, Anti Military, Anti Capitalist, Anti Corporation, Anti "Rich" Anti Taxpayer, Anti Innocent Life etc etc etc.

    ...no doubt will have a legacy of a Compassionate Centrist spanning the Universe in the MSM

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  44. ... and favorable ratings of over 60%

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  45. The kid sez the Ammo Mutilation Regulation was meant to apply to motar shells.
    ...we'll see, won't me.
    Thinks I'm a damned conspiracy junkie.
    I think he's brainwashed.

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  46. Dumbed down, brainwashed Amerikans.

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  47. "the American corporate right"

    Majority of successful corps are run by liberals.

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  48. If the DoD wants to broaden the policy, beyond the letter of the leglislation, that would certainly be lawful.

    As long as the CiC was on the same mind.

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  49. "My intuition tells me"
    ---
    You puttin your money down on that, 'Rat?

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  50. It's progress vs conservation, doug

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  51. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  52. If "Snall Arms Control" is a real issue with the ObamaNation, doug, that's where you'll see the controls emplaced.
    Upon the ammo, not the weapons.

    Easy as pie, really.

    So, if Obama lives up to bobal's expectations, they will limit that surplus supply chain of 7.62 and 5.56 surplus brass from public access.

    If you are not ready for the revolution, by now, time may be running out, or not.

    Stockpiles of ammo, you have to know, or at least have a basic scenario of what the weaponry and ammo will be utilized for.
    Big difference 'tween a hunting trip, a firefight and a prolonged siege of the homestead.

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  53. "prolonged siege" !

    Waco Nation!

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  54. Kid's got both Warsaw and US arsenal.
    ...I'm planning on checking out prior to the siege.
    the best laid plans...

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  55. .380 ammo is unavailable in our neck of the woods..

    backordered

    no problem for .40 .45

    i aint stockpiling for a revolution...

    I am stockpiling to keep the home safe...

    I dont need 2 million rounds...

    If i lived on the border of texas and mexico i might feel i need more..

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  56. He may be brainwashed, but he ain't stupid.

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  57. 'Rat's not gonna have Sheriff Joe around much longer to keep him safe, WIO.

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  58. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  59. He's also got the Feds on his ass!
    ...under new leadership!

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  60. Franks said it's vital that Arpaio continue his tough stance, especially now that Phoenix is the kidnapping capital of the U.S.

    He said the sheriff's opponents are backwards in their thinking.

    "I'm just sort of astonished that we keep seeing this trend on the part of the Judiciary Committee especially under the Democratic control here, where they are seemingly more committed to going after the good guys than they are the bad guys."
    ---
    'Rat lives in the kidnapping kapital, WIO!

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  61. Of course I've seen it, post a piece on kidnapping weeks ago.

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  62. Any bets that they "clear" him and he moves back to DC?

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  63. Let's send a message to our castro-like president...

    Mid-term elections are JUST around the corner...

    It's time to make the stink of BO go away...

    Make him a lame duck....

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  64. "Any bets that they "clear" him and he moves back to DC?"

    huh?

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  65. "The pilot programme has been opposed by many lawmakers and by the Teamsters Union, which says that Mexican trucks are unsafe. Because they are largely restricted to short-run hops over the border, most Mexican trucks entering the US are run by so-called “drayage” operations that use older vehicles more likely to fail inspection tests. But a study funded by the US Department of Transportation found that when comparing like with like, Mexican trucks were often safer than their US counterparts."
    ---
    That's a little difficult to believe.

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  66. An image provided by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer shows the front page of the news section of their final edition. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which has chronicled the news of the city since logs slid down its steep streets to the harbor and miners caroused in its bars before heading north to Alaska's gold fields, has produced its final print edition, Monday March 16, 2009. (AP Photo/Seattle Post Intelligencer

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  67. 1970s radical set to be freed from prison

    Olson has served seven years _ half her sentence _ after pleading guilty to placing pipe bombs under Los Angeles Police Department patrol cars and participating in a deadly robbery of a suburban Sacramento bank.

    On Monday, California state Sen. Jeff Denham invoked the bank robbery in a letter to Schwarzenegger asking that Olson not be allowed to return to her adopted state.

    In the 1975 robbery of Crocker National Bank near Sacramento, Myrna Opsahl, a 42-year-old mother of four who was trying to deposit a church collection, was killed by a shotgun blast.

    "She fled the state, changed her name, and lived a leisurely life of lies and deception in Minnesota, while the children of Myrna Opsahl were forced to grow up without a mother," Denham said in his letter.

    The SLA was a band of mostly white, middle class young people best known for kidnapping newspaper heiress Patty Hearst. It also claimed responsibility for assassinating Oakland Schools Superintendent Marcus Foster and was involved in a shootout with Los Angeles police officers that killed five SLA members.

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  68. Obama Questioned on AIG Payouts Response

    Outrage from the public and politicians over the $165M in bonuses paid out to firm's executives is blowing back on the president and his initiatives.
    ---
    Meanwhile, the BIG BUCKS go unaccounted for as the Pols stir up populist outrage over the small change.

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  69. China Buys Up Global Assets
    Lower prices worldwide allow acquisition of key natural resources needed to fuel growth.

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  70. Meanwhile, the BIG BUCKS go unaccounted for as the Pols stir up populist outrage over the small change.
    ==

    I bet accounting practices will shape up pretty quickly when people finally start acquainting these fscks with their baseball bats.

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  71. When times get good again, and they will, there will be a lot of blow-back against the Chinese on those strategic assets that were bought for a fish cake.

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  72. Blogger 2164th said...

    "Obama is playing right into their hands. Nothing new in the ME and a recovery program based on Chinese lending. We can replace every Chinese import with goods made in the Americas. We can create unbelievable wealth and jobs and send the Chinese packing."


    aye, protectionism rearing its ugly head. It is particularly interesting watching from up here in Canada thus allowing an 'outside looking in' kinda perspective. Dealing with the US can be very frustrating. You get pontificating and gnashing of teeth over the benefits of free trade but it seems the US only wants it to occur if they benefit more than others. As soon as the tables are turned the whining, and trade action start. With Canada one long running irritant is Softwood lumber. Countless tribunals ruled against the US but the powerful US lumber lobby keeps the dispute alive and the tables tilted. I've watched with interest as China appears to be beating the US at its own game. Now what, use the military to roll them back?

    Speaking of Central America - don't you find it interesting that the only government with a democracy is the one where the US has not meddled with its governance? Costa Rica that is.

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  73. "Back in Salt Lake City, Layne Morris isn't buying any of it. He points out that one of Khadr's sisters has publicly advocated jihad and a brother has admitted to smuggling weapons to Al-Qaeda and plotting to kill the Pakistani prime minister. Most recently, Khadr's family showed up at a Toronto courtroom to show solidarity for a terrorist cell accused of planning to use truck bombs to blow up buildings in the city's downtown."

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  74. hmmm, free speech and guilt by association....

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  75. Obama says no quick end to ethanol dispute
    By Alan Beattie in Washington

    Published: March 15 2009 02:37 | Last updated: March 15 2009 02:37

    Barack Obama on Saturday said there would be no quick resolution to a dispute with Brazil over restricting ethanol imports to the US, following his first meeting with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

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  76. Speaking of Central America - don't you find it interesting that the only government with a democracy is the one where the US has not meddled with its governance? Costa Rica that is.

    ah, potatohead

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  77. Need we ask?

    Dick Morris

    The furor over the huge federal spending under President Obama - a $1.75 trillion deficit, 13 percent - obscures an even more basic question: Does he know what he is doing?

    That is, does he know how to do anything other than spend?

    His stimulus package, of course, took no special ability: He left the details to Democrats in Congress. But his two other major initiatives - his banking - and mortgage-relief plans - are both flawed and unlikely to solve their respective problems.

    Indeed, they're so wide of the mark as to prompt questions not of Obama's ideology but of his basic competence.

    The bank-bailout plan seems to be largely stillborn. Having wished that the private sector would flock to invest in toxic assets if offered the right incentives, the Treasury secretary is still hoping. Crossing his fingers seems to have replaced effective policy in his planning.

    To date, no massive infusion of private-sector capital seems in view and Washington is doing little more than writing checks to prop up the failing banks. That doesn't take a genius. But the difficult task of relieving the banks of toxic assets so they can rekindle the flow of loans seems to be beyond the ability of the president and his administration.

    Perhaps Obama privately isn't so concerned about the banks or the businesses that need the credit markets restored. Those are Republican interest groups, right? But he surely must want his mortgage-rescue plan to work - the homeowners facing foreclosure tend to be Democratic constituents.

    But this plan, too, falls far short of the mark.

    Incredibly, it excludes anyone who has lost their job and can't afford to make their payments even if they were to spend 31 percent of their income trying to do so. If you can't come close to affording your mortgage, even if only because of a (hopefully temporary) loss of employment, forget about it: Obama is not going to help you.

    Nor will he help you if your mortgage exceeds your home's value. One out of five mortgages now falls into this category - and the continued fall in property values will put more and more homeowners in it. But they can expect no help from Obama's rescue plan.

    Why would a liberal be so callous? Why would he leave so many out in the cold? Could it be that the administration simply can't figure out how to help these folks? That the president couldn't devise a counter to his financial advisers, who presumably wanted to exclude these folks?

    It was Clinton-era Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros who urged Fannie Mae to spend 42 percent of its money buying mortgages for lower-income people and who suggested that they no longer require down payments. And it was his successor, Andrew Cuomo, who upped the ante to 50 percent of the Fannie Mae portfolio.

    After Democrats inveigled people to buy homes they could not afford, how can they justify passing a plan that excludes them from assistance?

    It appears that Obama is at sea when it comes to financial policy, economic-recovery planning and credit-rescue efforts. We're stuck not only with a socialist but seemingly an incompetent one.

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  78. If one had to design a symbolic ineffectual and moronic green/economic policy, it would pretty much match the current Administration's plan. It almost feels like this thing is designed to fail.

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  79. The F-22 is killing F-15's Eight at a Time.

    It could fly into Iran, land in Tehran, and fly back without the Mullahs knowing it'd been there.

    It's the F-22's, and B-2's that inform the Russkies, and Chinee that They Can't Win. That's how you "Stay Out" of Wars.

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  80. There's no art to find the mind's construction in the face

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/natashap/2232914624/sizes/o/

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  81. The F-22 is killing F-15's Eight at a Time.

    That's the one to cancel then. Got to save money now.

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  82. F-15C/D:
    Unit cost: US$30 million

    F-22
    Unit cost: US$400 million

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  83. Israel should buy Russian Blackjack bombers. They'd be much more useful technically, and politically.

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  84. Blackjack Bomber

    We've got a Russian MIG fighter plane parked at our airport here, owned by some private guy. Flys, too. He doesn't know what to do with it, trying to sell it I think. Not a very useful item, really. I'd rather have a crop duster.

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  85. We have 182 of those F=22s, best take care of those we got, cause that supply chain is going to dry up, sure as shootin'.

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  86. The economic rescue policy package, mat, is designed to further concentrate economic and political power in the White House and the Federal Reserve.

    It will fully succeed in attaining that goal.

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  87. Not really, Mat. Every "new" copy costs about $137 Million.

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  88. Not really, Mat. Every "new" copy costs about $137 Million.
    ==

    Yes, and the US economy will posit positive growth for this year.

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  89. Rage at AIG Swells As Bonuses Go Out
    Fed Decided Payouts Couldn't Be Stopped


    By Brady Dennis and David Cho
    Washington Post Staff Writers
    Tuesday, March 17, 2009; A01

    A tidal wave of public outrage over bonus payments swamped American International Group yesterday. Hired guards stood watch outside the suburban Connecticut offices of AIG Financial Products, the division whose exotic derivatives brought the insurance giant to the brink of collapse last year. Inside, death threats and angry letters flooded e-mail inboxes. Irate callers lit up the phone lines. Senior managers submitted their resignations. Some employees didn't show up at all.

    "It's a mob effect," one senior executive said. "It's putting people's lives in danger."

    Politicians and the public spent yesterday demanding that AIG rescind payouts that they said rewarded recklessness and greed at a company being bailed out with $170 billion in taxpayer funds. But company officials contend that the uproar is scaring away the very employees who understand AIG Financial Products' complex trades and who are trying to dismantle the division before it further endangers the world's economy.

    "It's going to blow up," said a senior Financial Products manager, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak for the company. "I have a horrible, horrible, horrible feeling that this is going to end badly."

    President Obama yesterday vowed to "pursue every legal avenue to block these bonuses." But that pledge might have come too late. About $165 million in retention payments started to go out Friday to employees at Financial Products, after numerous discussions with the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve.

    Attorneys working for the Fed had been examining the matter for months and determined that the retention payments couldn't be touched because AIG would face costly lawsuits and be subject to penalties from states and foreign governments. Administration officials said over the weekend that they agreed with that assessment.

    AIG disclosed its retention-payment program more than a year ago, and the amount of the bonuses -- more than $400 million for Financial Products alone -- had been widely reported. But as the payments were coming due in recent days, the White House began to express its indignation.

    Pressure on the 370-person Financial Products unit, based primarily in Connecticut and London, grew even more intense yesterday when New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo threatened to issue subpoenas if the company failed to provide details about recipients of the retention payments.

    The payments represent only the most contentious of a larger group of bonuses being paid throughout AIG. The company's top seven officials, including chief executive Edward M. Liddy, agreed in November to forgo bonuses through this year.
    .
    .
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/16/AR2009031602961_pf.html
    ==

    These people really should to be lynched.

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  90. Washington battles over costly F-22 jet
    Foreign sales are a main sticking point

    By Leslie WaynePublished: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2006

    NEW YORK: The F-22 fighter jet, now being delivered to Air Force bases around the country, is the Maserati of the skies. Intended to take on a military opponent that no longer exists - the Soviet Union - it has a cruising speed of Mach 2, twice the speed of sound; its top speed is a Pentagon secret. And with radar-evading stealth technology, it can attack its enemies almost invisibly.

    But the F-22's only real battles these days are taking place in the corridors of power in Washington. F-22 supporters have been taking on the Bush administration and Washington budget-cutters who want to limit production to 183 planes because the cost to taxpayers has risen to $350 million per plane.
    .
    .
    http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/11/business/plane.php

    ReplyDelete
  91. Mat, that includes all of the "embedded" costs (development) that have already been paid.

    The cost of every "additional" copy is about $137 Million.

    ReplyDelete
  92. ..the US economy will posit positive growth for this year..
    ==

    Same voodoo economics that has increased growth equated with increased debt, while industries are shutting down and sent overseas.

    ReplyDelete
  93. The cost of every "additional" copy is about $137 Million.
    ==

    And that's acceptable?

    ReplyDelete
  94. Look, if you send 8 F-15's up at a cost of $240 Million, and the $130 Million F-22 shoots them all down, which was the most expensive airplane?

    Repeat, day, after day.

    No Contest.

    Besides, what's it worth to have any potential enemy say, "aw, fuck it; we can't win."

    ReplyDelete
  95. No Contest.
    ==

    Yes, in favor of the F15. For each F22 you loose due to maintenance or accident, you loose over ten F15s. And ten F15s can carry much greater payload of missiles than any F22.

    ReplyDelete
  96. No, you don't understand Mat. You can't carry ANY missiles if you're DEAD.

    And, it's not 10 - 1. It's more like 4 - 1.

    ReplyDelete
  97. You must understand; the new Mig can pretty much stand toe to toe with the F-15. That's not good.

    ReplyDelete
  98. No, you don't understand Mat. You can't carry ANY missiles if you're DEAD.
    ==

    That's shadowboxing nonsense.

    ReplyDelete
  99. Make the F15 a better platform

    Better radar
    Better missiles
    Better engine
    Better maintenance
    Better software
    Better pilots

    And better the price of the Mig

    ReplyDelete
  100. You CAN'T make it "stealthy," Mat. And, That's the key to the kingdom.

    ReplyDelete
  101. Mat can make it disappear with revolutionary battery technology.

    ReplyDelete
  102. When the F-22 is in the air, Mat, Ivan is blind. That's the way most of us like him.

    Chinee, boy, too.

    ReplyDelete
  103. "Besides, what's it worth to have any potential enemy say, "aw, fuck it; we can't win.""
    ---
    Two new welfare cases in 50 states in BHO's World.

    ReplyDelete
  104. You CAN'T make it "stealthy," Mat. And, That's the key to the kingdom.
    ==

    I'm not so convinced. You can track acoustic and thermal signatures and calibrate radar software to find your stealthy objects accordingly. I'm not an engineer, but my intuition tells me that this "stealth" sales pitch, is just that, a sales pitch.

    ReplyDelete
  105. "The economic rescue policy package, mat, is designed to further concentrate economic and political power in the White House and the Federal Reserve.

    It will fully succeed in attaining that goal.
    "

    ---

    The bottom of this thread has the latest on that

    ReplyDelete
  106. Sell Stealth futures NOW, 'Rat,
    Mat's intuition's kicked in again!

    ReplyDelete
  107. :)

    Very bullish market action today.

    ReplyDelete
  108. The F-115 lost it's "stealth" when flying in the middle of a rainstorm. The B-2 might, also, be susceptible to this. That having been said, no one has "tracked" an F-22, yet.

    ReplyDelete
  109. THE POOR MAN'S STEALTH DETECTOR

    http://www.defensetech.org/archives/003892.html
    ==

    As I said, I'm not an engineer. Neither am I that interested military technology. All I have is a little bit commonsense and an instinct for fraud and liars. To me, this thing smells like fraud.

    ReplyDelete
  110. ..a little bit ^of commonsense..

    ReplyDelete
  111. The Saab deal is a joke. They quit it because it was a silly idea, and didn't work.

    I'm afraid, Mat, I want a little more than your well-honed "intuition" to protect my family.

    ReplyDelete
  112. The only reason Israel exists is US Military technology.
    Mat wants to short the US Military.

    ReplyDelete
  113. The only reason Israel exists is US Military technology.
    ==

    Actually, it was because of Israeli copies of Czech copies of Russian copies of German WWII fighters. :)

    ReplyDelete
  114. Mat wants to short the US Military.
    ==

    I want better accounting. Innovation comes when subtract zeros from the budget.

    ReplyDelete
  115. I'm afraid, Mat, I want a little more than your well-honed "intuition" to protect my family.
    ==

    Protect them from what? Russian Migs dominating US skies?

    ReplyDelete
  116. Tax Day Tea Parties--

    Birmingham, Ala. – Wednesday, April 15, from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Veteran Park on Highway 17 Valledale Road



    Huntsville, Ala. – Wednesday, April 15, 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., vacant lot (lot k) across the street from Clinton Avenue post office

    Decatur, Ala. – Saturday, March 28, at the Rhodes Ferry Park, (also known as River Park)

    Mobile, Ala. – Wednesday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. at the USS Alabama battleship

    Montgomery, Ala. – Wednesday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. at the Alabama Statehouse located at 11 South Union Street

    Springdale, Ala. – Wednesday, April 15, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in downtown Springdale, exact location to be determined

    Phoenix, Ariz. – Wednesday, April 15, at 6 p.m. at capitol building

    Tucson, Ariz. – Wednesday, April 15, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in front of Joel D. Valdez Main Library on 101 N. Stone Ave.

    Mountain Home, Ark. – Wednesday, April 15, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., location to be announced

    Atascadero, Calif. – Wednesday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., Sunken Gardens on El Camino Real

    Citrus Heights, Calif. – Wednesday, April 15, from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., intersection at Greenback Lane and Sunset Boulevard

    Hollister, Calif. – Wednesday, April 15, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., corner of San Benito and 4th St.

    Los Angeles, Calif. – Saturday, July 4, from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Santa Monica Pier

    Modesto, Calif. – Wednesday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. at 1010 10th Street

    Pasadena, Calif. – Saturday, April 11, from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at 100 N. Garfield Ave.

    Sacramento, Calif. – Wednesday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. at state capitol building on L Street

    San Bernadino, Calif. – Wednesday, April 15, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. from Meadowbrook Park to Joe Baca's Office, 201 N. "E" St.

    San Diego, Calif. – Saturday, April 11, 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., West Basin on N. Harbor Dr. across street from airport, Spanish Landing Park

    San Diego, Calif. – Wednesday, April 15, 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. at a post office near you

    San Francisco, Calif. – April 1 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Civic Center Park, one block from Nancy Pelosi's office at 450 Golden Gate Ave.

    San Francisco, Calif. – April 15 at 1 p.m., location not yet chosen.

    San Jose, Calif. – Wednesday, April 15, 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. at IRS offices at 55 S. Market Street, across the street from Saint Joseph’s Cathedral

    Santa Ana, Calif. – Wednesday, April 15, 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., tentative location at Santa Ana Civic Center

    Santa Barbara, Calif. – Saturday, April 4 at 2:30 p.m., meeting at Santa Barbara County Courthouse

    Temecula, Calif. – Wednesday, April 15, 11 a.m., Duck Pond

    Hartford, Conn. – Wednesday, April 15, time and location to be announced

    New Haven, Conn. – Wednesday, April 15, time and location to be announced

    Ridgefield, Conn. – Saturday, March 21, 10 a.m. at Ballard Park

    Stamford, Conn. – Saturday, March 28, 10 a.m. at 96 Broad Street (Starbucks/library location), corner of Broad and Bedford

    Colorado Springs, Colo. – Wednesday, April 15 from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. at city hall, 107 North Nevada

    Denver, Colo. – Wednesday, April 15 from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. on the west steps of the capitol, 200 East Colfax

    Grand Junction, Colo. – Wednesday, April 15 from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. at 12th Street and North Avenue

    Dover, Del. – Wednesday, April 15 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., location to be announced

    Inverness, Fla. – Saturday, April 18 from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m., at the old historical courthouse, One Courthouse Square

    Jacksonville, Fla. – Wednesday, April 15 from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m., either Jax Landing or Friendship Fountain

    Miami, Fla. – Wednesday, April 15 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., location to be announced

    Naples, Fla. – Wednesday, April 15 from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., Pine Ridge Road and U.S. 41

    Orlando, Fla. – Saturday, March 21, from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. at the amphitheater at Lake Eola in downtown Orlando

    Orlando, Fla. – Wednesday, April 15 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., location to be announced

    Palm Beach, Fla. – Wednesday, April 15 from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., location to be announced

    Panama City, Fla. – Wednesday, April 15 from 3 p.m. to dark at Sherman Avenue Post Office

    Pensacola, Fla. – Wednesday, April 15 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at downtown courthouse, Palafox Street and E. Garden St.

    Punta Gorda, Fla. – Wednesday, April 15 from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., Gilchrist Park, 400 W. Retta Esplande

    Tampa, Fla. – Wednesday, April 15 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., at Gaslight Park, downtown Tampa

    West Palm Beach, Fla. – Wednesday, April 15 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., location to be announced

    Tallahassee, Fla. – Thursday, March 17, from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., 400 South Monroe


    Tallahassee, Fla. – Thursday, March 19, at 5 p.m. at the Leon County Commission Chambers, 5th floor, Courthouse

    Atlanta, Ga. – Wednesday, April 15 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.at the capitol building located at 206 Washington St.

    Atlanta, Ga. – Saturday, July 4, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the capitol building located at 206 Washington St.

    Augusta, Ga. – Wednesday, April 15, time and location to be announced

    Gainesville, Ga. – Wednesday, April 15, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., downtown Gainesville

    Savannah, Ga. – Wednesday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m., location to be announced

    Honolulu, Hawaii – Wednesday, April 15, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., at the state capitol building

    Boise, Idaho – Wednesday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., at the state capitol building

    Burley, Idaho – Wednesday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., Overland Bridge over the Snake River just off exit 208

    Idaho Falls, Idaho – Wednesday, April 15, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., downtown Idaho Fall

    Urbana, Ill. – Wednesday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m., location to be determined

    Chicago, Ill. – Wednesday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. at the Daley Plaza Civic Center at 50 Washington St.

    Chicago, Ill. – From Saturday, July 4, at 7 p.m. to Sunday, July 5, at 5 a.m. at Belmont Harbor on Lake Shore Drive

    Bloomington, Ind. – Wednesday, April 15, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. outside the Shower’s building, corner of W 8th St. & N. Morton St.

    Fort Wayne, Ind. – Saturday, April 18 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. downtown at Courthouse Square on Main Street

    Indianapolis, Ind. – Wednesday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. in downtown Indianapolis, exact location to be announced

    Bettendorf, Iowa – Wednesday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., 2023 Ridgeway Court

    Davenport, Iowa – Wednesday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. at 4th and Main Street (in front of office of Rep. Bruce Braley D-Iowa)

    Iowa City, Iowa – Wednesday, April 15, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Burlington Street Bridge

    Overland Park, Kan. – Wednesday, April 15, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Johnston Community College

    Wichita, Kan. – Wednesday, April 15, at 4:15 p.m. airport post office

    Louisville, Ky. – Wednesday, April 15, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Jefferson Square (tentative location), 10th and Jefferson St.

    Lexington, Ky. – Saturday, March 21, from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. at the Robert Stevens Courthouse Complex, 150 North Limestone

    Baton Rouge, La. – Wednesday, April 15, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on the steps of the capitol building

    Lake Charles, La. – Wednesday, April 15, at 5 p.m. at Lake Charles Civic Center on Lakeshore Drive

    Shreveport, La. – Wednesday, April 15, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. at downtown Shreveport Riverfront

    Augusta, Maine – Wednesday, April 15, at 5:30 p.m. at Capital Park

    Annapolis, Md. – Wednesday, April 15, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at Campbell Park on the dock/boardwalk at Annapolis Harbor

    Salisbury, Md. – Wednesday, April 15, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at downtown Salisbury

    Boston, Mass. – Wednesday, April 15, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at City Hall Plaza

    Boston, Mass. – Wednesday, April 15, 12 p.m. at Ivy Restaurant at 49 Temple Place

    Boston, Mass. – Saturday, July 4, from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Griffin Harbor on Congress Street Bridge

    Newburyport, Mass. – Saturday, March 28, from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., 60 Pleasant St., City Hall

    Worcester, Mass. – Wednesday, April 15, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Lincoln Square (in front of the auditorium)

    Bancroft. Mich. – April 11 from 9 a.m. to sundown at Camp Stasa, 7963 Cork Rd.

    Lansing, Mich. – Wednesday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. at Michigan State Capitol, 100 N Capitol Ave

    St. Paul, Minn. – Wednesday, April 15, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at capitol

    Jackson, Miss. – Wednesday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., in downtown Jackson, exact location to be determined

    Jackson, Miss. – Saturday, May 16, from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m.on the steps of the capitol building

    Joplin, Mo. – Wednesday, April 15, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., location to be determined

    Kansas City, Mo. – Wednesday, April 15, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., location to be determined


    St. Louis, Mo. – Wednesday, April 15, from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., location to be determined

    Missoula, Mont. – Wednesday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., downtown Missoula, exact location to be announced

    Lincoln, Neb. – Wednesday, April 15, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., location to be announced

    Omaha, Neb.– Wednesday, April 15, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., at Bob Kerrey Memorial Pedestrian Bridge

    Carson City/Reno, Nev. – Wednesday, April 15, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., 101 N. Carson Street in front of state capitol building and Supreme Court

    Las Vegas, Nev. – Wednesday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., at sidewalk across from Sunset Post Office at 1001 E Sunset RD

    Morristown, N.J. – Wednesday, April 15, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., location to be announced

    Newark, N.J. – Wednesday, April 15, 12 p.m., visiting Sens. Lautenberg and Menendez offices, Gateway Center One, 782 McCarter Highway

    Trenton, N.J. – Wednesday, April 15, from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at New Jersey State House, 125 W. State St.

    Albuquerque, N.M. – Wednesday, April 15, time and location to be announced

    Las Cruces, N.M. – Wednesday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m., location to be announced

    Albany, N.Y. – Wednesday, April 15, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Corning Preserve

    Buffalo, N.Y. – Saturday, March 28, at 2 p.m. at the Terminus of the Erie Canal

    Fishkill, N.Y. – Wednesday, April 15, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Doug Phillips Park

    Gardiner, N.Y. – Wednesday, April 15, from 64 p.m. to 8 p.m., the Rail Trail, Route 44/55

    New York, N.Y. – Wednesday, April 15, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., location to be announced

    New York, N.Y. – Saturday, July 4, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at South Street Seaport and Pier 17

    Rochester, N.Y. – Wednesday, April 15, at 11 a.m. at Genesee Crossroads Park

    Staten Island, N.Y. – Tuesday, March 31, from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., 265 New Dorp Lane

    Staten Island, N.Y. – Wednesday, April 15, at 12 p.m., Rep. Michael McMahon's office, 265 New Dorp Lane at corner of Edison Street

    Asheville, N.C. – Wednesday, April 15, from 4:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., in front of the Asheville City building and the Buncombe County Courthouse

    Charlotte, N.C. – Saturday, April 4, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Marshall Park (uptown Charlotte)

    Charlotte, N.C. – Wednesday, April 15, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., City Hall lawn at 600 E. Trade Street

    Edenton, N.C. – Wednesday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., Edenton Courthouse Green, Court and Water Streets

    Greensboro, N.C. – Wednesday, April 15, location and time to be announced

    Raleigh, N.C. – Wednesday, April 15, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the state capitol building on East Edenton Street

    Canton, Ohio – Wednesday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. in downtown Canton, exact location to be announced

    Cincinnati, Ohio – Saturday, March 15, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Fountain Square at the corner of Fifth and Vine Streets

    Cleveland, Ohio – Wednesday, April 15, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., Public Square, downtown Cleveland

    Dayton, Ohio – Wednesday, April 15, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in downtown Dayton, exact location to be announced

    Oklahoma City, Okla. – Wednesday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. at state capitol step

    Tulsa, Okla. – Wednesday, April 15, from 11:25 a.m. to 1:25 p.m. at Tulsa City Hall, 175 E. 2nd

    Bend, Ore. – Wednesday, April 15, time and location to be announced

    Grants Pass, Ore. – Wednesday, April 15, time and location to be announced

    Medford, Ore. – Wednesday, April 15, time and location to be announced

    Portland, Ore. – Wednesday, April 15, from 3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., location to be announced

    Roseburg, Ore. – Wednesday, April 15, time and location to be announced

    Salem, Ore. – Wednesday, April 15, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at capitol building, in the park

    Harrisburg, Pa. – Wednesday, April 15, at 12 p.m. west steps of capitol building

    Philadelphia, Pa. – Wednesday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. at downtown Philadelphia, exact location to be announced

    Philadelphia, Pa. – Saturday, April 18, from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. at Independence Hall

    Pittsburgh, Pa. – Wednesday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. at downtown Pittsburgh, exact location to be announced

    Pittsburgh, Pa. – Saturday, April 11, at 12 p.m. at Allegheny Landing

    Providence, R.I. – Wednesday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. at state capitol steps (city side across from Providence Place Mall)

    Charleston, S.C. – Wednesday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. at the Old Customs House building, East Bay St. and Market St.

    Columbia, S.C. – Wednesday, April 15, from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. at state house, 1101 Gervals Street

    Sioux Falls, S.D. – Wednesday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Terrace Park, Coval Lake (free lunch and entertainment)

    Memphis, Tenn. – Wednesday, April 15, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., location to be announced

    Nashville, Tenn. – Wednesday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., location to be announced

    Austin, Texas – Wednesday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. on south steps of state capitol building

    Austin, Texas – Saturday, July 4, time and location to be announced

    Amarillo, Texas – Saturday, March 28, 11 a.m., Randall County Annex, I-27 & Georgia

    Amarillo, Texas – Wednesday, April 15, 12 p.m., Potter County Courthouse

    Burleson, Texas – Wednesday, April 15, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., across the street from Wal-Mart, 951 S. W. Wilshire Blvd.

    Dallas, Texas – Saturday, July 4, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Victory Park

    Dallas, Texas – Wednesday, April 15, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., location to be announced

    Dallas, Texas – Wednesday, April 15, from 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Dallas City Hall

    Denton, Texas – Wednesday, April 15, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Courthouse on the Square, 110 W. Hickory

    El Paso, Texas – Wednesday, April 15, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., location to be announced

    Fort Worth, Texas – Wednesday, April 15, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., location to be announced

    Fort Worth, Texas – Saturday, July 4 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Cowtown Bar & Grill

    Houston, Texas – Wednesday, April 15, from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. across street from downtown post office

    Kerrville, Texas – Wednesday, April 15 at 11 a.m. at Kerrville County Courthouse at 700 Main Street

    Longview, Texas – Wednesday, April 15 from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. at the Gregg County courthouse lawn

    McAllen, Texas – Wednesday, April 15, time and location to be announced

    Nacogdoches, Texas – Wednesday, April 15, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.at downtown square

    New Braunfels, Texas – Wednesday, April 15, from 10 a.m.to 2 p.m., gather around local plaza and down Main Street into town

    San Antonio, Texas – Wednesday, April 15, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., location to be announced

    Woodlands, Texas – Wednesday, April 15, from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., location to be announced

    Tyler, Texas – Wednesday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., location to be announced

    Salt Lake City, Utah – Wednesday, April 15, downtown Salt Lake City, time and location to be announced


    Annandale, Va. – Saturday, April 25, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Mason District Park, 6621 Columbia Pike

    Charlottesville, Va. – Wednesday, April 15, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., downtown mall by the pavilion

    Richmond, Va. – Wednesday, April 15, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Kanawha Plaza in downtown Richmond, 8th and Canal Street

    Virginia Beach, Va. – Wednesday, April 15, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Central Plaza, Towne Center (across from Sen. Webb's Office)

    Rutland, Vt. – Wednesday, April 15, downtown Rutland, exact time and location to be announced

    Everett, Wash. – Wednesday, April 15, time and location to be announced

    Mt. Vernon, Wash. – Wednesday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. on corner of College Way and Riverside Drive (1 block from freeway exit)

    Olympia, Wash. – Wednesday, April 15, at 12 p.m. on the capitol steps

    Seattle, Wash. – Wednesday, April 15, from 5:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m., Westlake Park by the arch, 410 Pine St., downtown Seattle

    Spokane, Wash. – Wednesday, April 15, from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., location to be announced

    Vancouver, Wash. – Saturday, April 18, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Clark County Courthouse lawn

    Washington, D.C. – Wednesday, April 15, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Lafayette Park

    Washington, D.C. – Saturday, July 4, from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., at Upper Senate Park adjacent to Capitol building on north side

    Washington, D.C. – On April 1, 2009, all Americans are asked to send a teabag to Washington, D.C.

    Beckley, W. Va. – Wednesday, April 15, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., at large fountain on Neville Street, across from university book store

    Charleston, W. Va. – Wednesday, April 15, 12 p.m., at state capitol

    Wheeling, W. Va. – Wednesday, April 15, time and location to be announced

    Appleton, Wis. – Wednesday, April 15, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., at Fox Banquets, 111 E. Kimball

    Madison, Wis. – Wednesday, April 15, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., at state capitol

    Cheyenne, Wyo. – July 4, from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the state capitol building

    ReplyDelete
  117. 182 existing F-22s fill the bill of what is needed to deter Ivan and Charlie Chicom.

    Don't need any more of that obsolete weapons platform, not even at $137 million per copy.

    No, the age of the manned fighter is all but over, the F22 the last of its' kind. We have all we need to tide US over.

    If it can't launch and land on a carrier, it's worthless as a piece of power projection in the 21st Century.

    The drones of 2015 will more than surpass the capacities of the F-22.

    Ground-launched UAV fighters will be even more revolutionary. They do not need vulnerable fighter bases and really don't need large ground-based radar support that can be jammed. Infrared search and track systems can provide target data to a truck-mounted UAV fighter if radar support is unavailable. Fighter UAVs may have a recovery parachute, so they may be launched to look for enemy aircraft, and if nothing is found, they return home. After the parachute landing, they can be hoisted back on their launcher, refueled, and used again. The US Air Force deployed truck-mounted F-104 fighters during the 1960s that were boosted with small expendable rockets at launch, so the idea of a truck-mounted UAV fighter one half their size is certainly realistic.

    This will make the concept of total air superiority against a modern army part of history. Truck-mounted UAV fighters may appear from anywhere, and just one can devastate easy targets like helicopter transports and heavy bombers. Recall that during the 1991 Gulf War, the US Air Force was unable to locate and destroy a single SCUD missile launcher. They proved elusive even after they were elevated to the priority target. In addition, their ballistic launches were detectable by long-range radar, whereas UAV launches are not ballistic.

    Therefore, a commander will employ nothing more than agile fighters and UAVs over enemy territory if hundreds of truck-mounted UAV fighters are hidden below. Today's surface-to-air missiles are normally detected from the flash of their rocket engines at launch. However, the launch of a truck-mounted jet-powered UAV fighter using pneumatic assist will be difficult to detect. In addition, escort fighters will find it difficult to chase down and destroy nimble UAVs. A UAV fighter will be much more expensive than today's missiles. The US Air Force recently developed and successfully tested the stealthy X-45 (below) that can fly 0.9 Mach and carry a 3000 lb payload over 650 miles. This is a good start, but US Air Force fighter pilots seemed to have blocked development of a UAV fighter. The production cost of a X-45 is estimated at $15 million a copy.


    That's a 10 to 1 swarm capacity that an X-35 varient would have on a F-22, and if one or more of the swarm splash, NO ONE DIES!

    There is no DEAD pilot on the X-45.

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  118. The link to the future of fighter aircraft

    Fighter UAVs will prove disastrous for modern air forces dominated by fighter pilots, which explains why the US Air Force refuses to evaluate this idea. While billions of dollars have been devoted to stealthy UAVs for reconnaissance, there is resistance from fighter pilots to even test UAV fighters. The development of fighter UAVs by other nations is just a matter of time. Less sophisticated nations once purchased top fighter aircraft, but they have learned they are no match for a sophisticated well-trained team of aircraft like those of the US Air Force. In addition, the cost and complexity of maintaining a professional cadre fighter pilots is unobtainable for most nations. In contrast, fighter UAVs in storage require no spare parts, no fuel for training flights, and will not be lost during common training accidents. They can be stored in dehumidified bunkers for wartime use decades in the future. While they may become "obsolete" over time, they can always be used in a future warfare since sending them aloft puts no one at risk, except enemy fighters.

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  119. "The US Air Force deployed truck-mounted F-104 fighters during the 1960s that were boosted with small expendable rockets at launch"
    ---
    The good old days!
    ...we probly need to spend money refurbishing out Nukes.
    BHO will dismantle them instead.

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  120. Unionize Fighter Pilots!
    We need Bailouts, not ejection seats.

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  121. The US Air Force deployed truck-mounted F-104 fighters during the 1960s that were boosted with small expendable rockets at launch

    Humm---sure never knew that.

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  122. The Navy's Fighter-Plane-Size UAV, the X-47B, Is Unveiled in California

    Yesterday at its Palmdale, Calif., manufacturing facility, Northrop Grumman unveiled its first completed X-47B Navy Unmanned Combat Air System. This giant UAV could soon be one of the most lethal unmanned aircraft in the U.S. military.


    By Andrew Moseman
    Published on: December 17, 2008

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  123. Meanwhile, yeager was strapping them on the Starfighter @ 100,000 feet, al-Bob!
    ...almost spelled the end of chuck.

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  124. Manned fighter aircraft are going to be obsolete, no need to build any more, the existing fleet of 182 planes is enough to deter the as yet unbuilt or even designed threat from Charlie Chicom.

    The Navy's latest, biggest and baddest unmanned aerial vehicle has just been unveiled. Yesterday in California, Northrup Grumman showed off a completed X-47B Navy Unmanned Combat Air System, the first of two fighter-plane-size UAVs that the company will produce for the U.S. Navy. The second will follow in 2009. The Navy hopes to start flying the X-47Bs next year. The UAV is expected to have the ability to take off from and land on an aircraft carrier, and the Navy plans to start those trials in 2011.

    The X-47 was designed to be adept at long-range surveillance because of its large range and high flight ceiling. And despite being a beast—it will have a 62-ft wingspan and weigh around 45,000 pounds at takeoff—the X-47B is designed for stealth. This aircraft shows the Navy's growing embrace of unmanned technology, including both unmanned underwater vehicles and aerial vehicles. But the X-47B would be a technological step forward—besides carrying stealth features, it is supposed to have the ability to execute some maneuvers, such as refueling in midflight, autonomously.

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  125. The Right Stuff is now honed on a Wii

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  126. According to this report:

    Russian military reform – can industry keep pace?

    02/19/2009
    THE ISCIP ANALYST
    An Analytical Review
    Volume XV, Number 8, 19 February 2009
    ARMED FORCES


    Ivan does not have the capacity to produce those Migs that can come even up on the F-15. So the 182 F-22s and the remaining F15s will just have to "Bridge the Gap" until the next generation of lower cost, unmanned, fighter aircraft take to the skies.

    Killing the F-22 program will accelerate the development of the UAV varients.

    All around, a good thing, for the F-22 to cease being manufactured.

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  127. I wonder how vulnerable those UAVs are to having their control signals zapped/jammed out by the other side.

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  128. The F-22, an expensive white elephant now walking towards the graveyard.

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  129. Internal computers, bob. They are not fly by wire, but independent preprogramed hunter/killers.

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  130. What they refer to as fire and forget.

    The cutting edge in smart weapon technology.

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  131. MGM Mirage fell 20 cents to $3.03 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have tumbled 78 percent this year after plunging 84 percent for all of 2008.

    Time To Bail Out Gambling Stocks

    heh, maybe Motel 6 up the street is one of the few joints with a positive cash flow these days.

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  132. They just launch them, and they're on their own?

    Wow.

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  133. While there is a sense of optimism surrounding the new fighter, some military analysts note that Zelin’s fifth generation aircraft are really fourth generation fighters with upgraded avionics. One of the important elements that denotes a fifth generation fighter, namely stealth, is not seen with the SU-34, which has 22 square meters of reflecting radar surface versus the United States Air Force’s F-22 “Raptor” with a reflecting surface of 0.003 square meters. (14)

    Another Russian Defense Ministry expert source points out that many of the modifications to the Russian fighters (Mikoyan-Guervich MiG-35 or the Sukhoi Su-35) are primarily designed to assist in extending the lifespan of these aircraft and that Russia’s fifth generation fighter program has “largely remained on paper.” (15) In the meantime, an aging Russian aerospace industry workforce, slumping oil prices, and continued cooperation with the government of India (for funding) all play into the development of Russia’s next front-line fighter, as well as meeting Serdyukov’s reform objectives. (16)


    By 2015 Ivan may or may not have a proto-type ready, to handle the F-15.

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  134. seems one's gotta control space to control UAV's...

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  135. Article at Drudge say hybrid car sales are on the skids now. The American consumer is nothing if not shortsighted. Buy an SUV when gas is low, gas goes high, buy a hybrid when gas is high, gas goes low, switch back the other way. Back and forth.

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  136. Just like a super duper cruise missile, but one that comes back after hitting the target, or if no targets are found..

    Program the mission parameters, send it hunting. If it loses commo, it can continue the mission based upon the programed parameters.

    Then send them aloft in swarms, bob. 20 at a time, the financial equivelent of 2 F-22s, but cpable of delivering 5 to 10 times the ordnance on the target area.

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  137. Come along way from the machine gun aircraft in WWI, that's for sure.

    The Red Baron Weeps

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  138. And that, ash I think the US still does. Both publicly and privately

    SpaceShipOne Makes History with First Manned Private Spaceflight

    By Leonard David
    Senior Space Writer
    posted: 11:20 am ET
    21 June 2004



    Though Ivan is leading in capitialist space travel

    U.S. Billionaire to Make Second Private Spaceflight

    By Becky Iannotta
    Space News Staff Writer
    posted: 30 September 2008
    10:49 am ET



    WASHINGTON — American billionaire Charles Simonyi, a computer software executive who paid more than $20 million to fly to the International Space Station aboard a Russian-built Soyuz capsule in spring 2007, will train for a second Soyuz trip to the space station in spring 2009.

    Vienna, Va.-based Space Adventures announced Tuesday that Simonyi will be the first repeat customer since the company began organizing space missions for private citizens in 2001.

    The company's sixth customer, Richard Garriott, son of NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, is scheduled to launch to the space station Oct. 12. He is paying about $30 million under an agreement between Russia's Federal Space Agency and Space Adventures.

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  139. Warplanes: Army UAV Replacing Predator
    Apr 15, 2008 ... The army wants 45 squadrons (each with 12 UAVs), at a cost of about $8 million per ... This appalls the air force, which is scrambling to turn fighter and transport pilots ...


    It is happening, already, bob.
    The USAF is fighting the trend to modernize te battlespace. They do not want to admit the 20th Century is over.

    The air force and army have already agreed to cooperate on supporting Predator and Sky Warrior UAVs, which will save money for both services. But the air force is alarmed at some of the army ideas for operating Sky Warrior. For example, the army wants to rely more on the software, than trained pilots, for flying the UAVs. In fact, the army will not use pilots at all as operators. This appalls the air force, which is scrambling to turn fighter and transport pilots into Predator operators. The air force does use non-pilots for micro-UAVs (similar to the army's five pound Raven), which are used to help guard air force bases. But for larger UAVs, the air force is concerned about collisions, with other UAVs or manned aircraft. The army believes the future holds technological solutions for this problem. Besides, the army can't spare pilots to man its planned force of over 500 Sky Warriors. The initial order will be for 132 UAVs.



    The size of the army UAV force also scares the air force. The Sky Warrior will be carrying Hellfire missiles and Viper Strike smart bombs. The army has also been discussing developing its own version of "JDAM Lite." This would be a hundred pound GPS guided smart bomb, which would have about fifty pounds of explosives. That's about the same bang as the new air force SDB (the 250 pound "Small Diameter Bomb"), which also has a steel penetrator. The Hellfire carries about ten pounds of explosives, and Viper Strike two pounds. The GPS guided 155mm Excalibur artillery shell has about 20 pounds of explosives, and the 227mm GPS guided MLRS rocket, with 150 pounds of explosives. "JDAM Lite" would fit into this arsenal nicely. The air force sees all these army "smart weapons" as replacing the need for air force close air support. That's what the army is thinking, as they want to control their own "death from above," and not be forced to ask the air force (which often turns them down.) The U.S. Army lost control of bombers, after many squabbles with the air force, in the 1960s. Only armed helicopters were left. But now the army is buying over 500 bombers, and the air force doesn't like, and hasn't been able to stop it, yet.

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  140. A Georgian UAV and the Mig 29 that shot it down. Cool, if short video

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  141. I'm waiting for the day when dRat will publicly thank Israel for all the innovation, technical, tactical, and strategic, its pioneering UAV program has spun. How long do you figure I will have to wait? :)

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  142. Hope you brought your lunch.

    :)

    I know you're on the right track, Rat; but the Super-Duper "killer" UAVs are in the future (although, maybe, not too far) and I sleep better knowing the F-22 is "up there" right now.

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  143. The F22 is up there, rufus, right now.
    All 182 of them.

    Now some may want for more, but the argument that the current fleet of 182 planes more than deters Ivan or Charlie Chicom is sound and rational.

    It sends that message you think is so important, while we cut out frivilous spending for outdated technologies.

    Mount the AIM-120C on that X-47 and you have a super potent hunter/killer at a tenth the cost.

    There are 182 of the F22s in the air or in the supply chain, already. It's not as if the plane was never built or fielded. It's deployment will be limited, because it is obsolete, from both an air superiority and cost benefit standpoint.

    No dead pilots.

    Beter have packed more than just a lunch, be waiting until I hear an apology for stealing and selling US technologies to the Chinese, back in the day.

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  144. 29. RWE:


    Well, I should apologize to my suggestion that someone modify the brakes on Murtha’s car. I had that impression but I don’t think anyone should act on it.

    The bad part is that Murtha was not that bad, as Crookgressional members went. He never seemed to siphon off tens of millions of dollars at once for his “constituent interests” like say, Ted Stephens and Sen Byrd did. And in one case I even had the job of answering a rather nice letter from him. When a couple of our contractors took on a job, screwed up very badly, and multiplied their problem by making some bad business decisions, they handled it by visiting a certain member of the New Jersey delegation. The NJ Congressman inserted language in the appropriations bill to the effect that the Air Force should apologize for expecting the companies to actually meet their contract requirements and should give them another $250M to assuage their hurt feelings.

    The letter from Murtha in effect said “Okay, I know you are being hit with this new Congressionally directed bill. Now let me know right away how much you really need to fix this problem and we will get it taken care of.” Unfortunately, despite my efforts, the robotic Air Force response had to be on the order of “We are not programmed to respond to those words. We have already submitted our officially approved budget. Have a nice day.” Murtha was suitably POed and I can’t blame him.

    The thing people have to realize about those infamous Earmarks is that “We have met the enemy and he is us.” Virtually all Congressional earmarks in appropriations bills are not thunk up in DC but by people back home, for whom $250M to fix their screw up with a rocket motor design or $350M to build a bridge for a dozen people to use seems to be right and proper. But in Murtha’s case it is pretty clear that the inspiration flow for at least some of the Earmarks goes the other way – it originates between his ears and those shell companies that receive the money are created to respond to his largess.

    Well, enough of this for now. I have to go fix a certain car’s steering. But I won’t touch the brakes.

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  145. Beter have packed more than just a lunch, be waiting until I hear an apology for stealing and selling US technologies to the Chinese, back in the day.
    ==

    I you think you have case, take the Chinezies to court for patents infringement. Otherwise, youz blowing smoke out youz pipe.

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  146. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  147. ..If you think you have a case..

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  148. Heading off another lost decade

    The Curse of the Caudillo

    From Fidel Castro in Cuba to Anastasio Somoza in Nicaragua to Juan Perón in Argentina to Juan Velasco Alvarado in Peru, Latin America has a long history of caudillos who usurp power and hold on to it by strumming populist chords. In that sense, Chávez and his acolytes Evo Morales in Bolivia, Rafael Correa in Ecuador, and Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua are following a well-worn path. However, the latest is a more virulent strain of authoritarian populism because it is part of an international movement sustained by Chávez's imperialist petrodollar diplomacy and is characterized by hijacking, concentrating, and retaining power through putatively democratic means.

    The conscious political empowerment of the powerless and the building of institutions that will effectively defend the rights of all citizens without fear or favor are the unfinished business of the Americas today.

    Although many countries in the region have imperfect democratic institutions, the proposition that the rights of individuals would be better protected by concentrating power in the hands of caudillos is more than a little implausible. Indeed, the course of events in Venezuela reveals the abuse of power and corruption that accompanies this authoritarian populist model. Moreover, these caudillos often sow social and racial division as a political tactic, and the unrest that comes with rigged elections and the arbitrary abuse of power stirs instability.

    In short, this pattern of authoritarian populism has shaken the confidence of international investors and repelled foreign capital from certain countries in the region.[7]

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  149. Hehe, John Cole.

    Another person who lost his mind due to hatred.

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  150. Nice to read your article! I am looking forward to sharing your adventures and experiences. bongs

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