The Rhodent Lied, Truth Died…

Re(1): The Randi Rhodent Show, www.TheRandiRhodesShow.com
Re(2): ‘2005 Freedom of the Press’, Freedom House
Re(3): 'Air America in Phoenix seeking venture capitalists…', Me

AKA: More Truth (partial and deceptive) Comming at You from Err America.

The Randi Rhodent ranted that the United States ranked 17th in Freedom House’s ‘2005 Freedom of the Press’ survey. Then she permitted a caller to spew that America must have been ranked 1st before ‘W’ was installed as dictator by the oil barron NeoCons. 17th in the world, eh… See how far we've fallen... BusHitler!!!

My antennae extended on that odd blather

Am I really living in the Gulag?

Ah, heart be still. When you get ‘information’ from a Rhodent always look at the primary source. How many silly little Libs are doing so right now – and if they are, can they figure out how the statistics were generated? Did your average Liberal Moonbat realize that there were no rankings higher than a 9? What’s up:

My question to the Randi Rhodent, did you read the survey?

It wasn’t that hard to figure out.

Here is how it works!!!

There are three categories (using 2005 America as an example):

Legal Environment: 5
Political Influences: 7
Economic Pressures: 5
Total: 17

So, Mrs. Rhodent, we are not ranked 17th. And, for the same reason we are not ranked 5th in ‘Legal Environment’ – for example, a fine socialists state like Cuba had a score of 38, they were not ranked 38th. We had a total score of 17 computed from three partial scores - and all those scores imply an extremely FREE press. So that makes the Rhodent a simpleton and a liar since she permitted some idiotic Lib to bloviate an untruth to her 16 listeners without correcting it.

So let us look at that score of 17. First, any score less than 30 means that the Press is FREE. Second, America has banded in the narrow range of between 12 and 17 for over a decade.

So, Randi, when were we ‘ranked’ 1 – you idiot.
Show me that survey - you idiot.

Study the documents before you lie about them!!!

Democrats Pledge to 'Elimidate' Osama!!!

Re(1): 'Hey, Isn't That What We've Been Saying?', HughHewitt, Mary Katharine Ham
Re(2): 'Democrats to Introduce Security Plan', Wizbang, Kim Priestap
Re(3): 'Democrats Release 'Real Security' Plan', The Spape of Days
Re(4): 'Democrats Pledge to 'Eliminate' Osama', Associated Press, By Liz Sidoti

The Democratic Party has published their Quadrennial 'Real Security Strategy' white paper today. In it they take some tough and sensible stands. Forthwith:

1. Congressional Democrats promise to "eliminate" Osama bin Laden
2. Redeploy U.S. forces away from regions of military importance
3. Reemphasize the importance of DOD entitlement programs
4. Create more special forces
5. Hire more spies

This tough stand would have been quite effective had President Clinton taken this 'aggressive' stance during the eight years he controlled the Executive Branch of our government...

Imagine if the mighty Democrats:

1. Eliminated Osama bin Laden
2. Doubled the number of special forces and
3. Add more spies

BEFORE we were attacked on 9/11.


However, from 1993 - 2001 we:

1. Could not pull the trigger on bin Laden
2. Cut our military force structure by about 40%
3. And decimated our human intelligence capabilities

Let us face facts...

We have to accept the fact that the Democratic Party wants to 'Elimidate' Osama bin Laden!!!

LateR

P.S. I really don't want to waste more time linking primary sources for these arguments. If you can't find them you should no longer use the internet. If you really want examples of Clinton not pulling the trigger to capture or kill bin Laden, or want primary sources to prove Clinton cut the military manpower and budget and wiped out the CIA while President please use the comments section. I will slave over a new post in an effort to regenerate all those points. Like Mark Steyn stated on Hewitt's program today - this is getting boring... I'm getting tired - and I have had only a little more than 2100 visits to this blog!!!

Mexican Citizens Protesting...

... the Fact that they are Mexican Citizens!!!

December 8, 1941 - What was that exit plan!!!

Re(1): 'We Shall Fight on the Beaches', Winston Churchill
Re(2): 'A Day of Infamy', Franklin D. Roosevelt
Re(3): 'Fourth Inaugural Address, January 20, 1945', Franklin D. Roosevelt
Re(4): 'I Shall Return', General MacArthur

Who will be the last idiot whining about an 'exit plan' in the GWOT?

I know that the truly idiotic think a battle is a war, but...

Can't remember those "exit plans" in World War II

For Example:

The Darkest Hour:

Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old. (Winston Churchill, 'We Shall Fight on the Beaches')

The Finest Hour:

What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, "This was their finest hour." (Winston Churchill - 'Their Finest Hour')

A Day of Infamy:

With confidence in our armed forces -- with the unbounded determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God. (FDR - 'A Day of Infamy')

When shoved hard:

"I shall return" (General MacArthur - 'I shall Return')

And, when we started looking past the war:

In the days and in the years that are to come we shall work for a just and honorable peace, a durable peace, as today we work and fight for total victory in war.

We can and we will achieve such a peace.

We shall strive for perfection. We shall not achieve it immediately--but we still shall strive.

We may make mistakes--but they must never be mistakes which result from faintness of heart or abandonment of moral principle. (FDR - 'Fourth Inaugural Address, January 20, 1945)

And, my personal favorite - when things got wobbly after Germany was smashed and Japan was making back door efforts to sue for peace:

For out of this Total War, Must Come Total Victory... Admiral Earnest King

It seems as if the "exit plan" for World War II was complete and total victory...

Nothing Else...

Simple...

Who will remember the quotes and speeches of Congressman Murtha, Howard Dean, John Kerry, Nanci Pelosi, and Howard Reid. Their speeches don't resonate... Their ideas don't motivate... They are footnotes in history as history is being made...

To the Murthas and the rest, on behalf of those who want to finish the task assigned, please move along - you are in the way.

NMCI - The Non-Mission Capable Internet

Re(1): 'Comments on NMCI', The Fourth Rail, Bill Roggio

Bill Roggio at the Fourth Rail is seeking feedback on the Non-Mission Capable Network (NMCI). Because I very much respect Mr. Roggio and thoroughly enjoy his site I responded in his comment section with:

NMCI - Non Mission Capable Internet

As far as using the network day to day with general COTS applications such as Microsoft Word/Excel/Access/Outlook there is no problem. Additionally, trouble calls on standard software and hardware seem good to go...

Now for the however...

If you want to build an information technology system to permit large entities to communicate effectively you are out of luck. For example, as we cut over to NMCI we had to take down our secure website that permitted recruiters to reach into recruit training to review how their pool (those they recruited) were doing while in training. Kindof important, and arguably resulted in a rather substantial reduction in recruit attrition.

We have never received an official quote on hosting an application (or hosting a development environment), but others have been quoted fees of between $80,000 to $250,000 per server/per year. And, that is after startup costs of about $500,000. Modern intranet based systems generally require multiple servers.

And, there even more fun... You must certify all applications through their mighty clearing house. They have no clue what they are doing there.

And, not to belabor the point... Mission Critical applications written by contractors that perform some minor security 'violation' like updating it's own configuration file have to be rewritten. Ah, the joy of spending millions and consuming months/years of development - all the while your customer base reverts to the 1950's.

NMCI is taking the Navy and Marine Corps to the era of pencils and paper. There will be (actually I think there is) an increase in manpower requirements as we accelerate into history. And the Marine Corps concurrently wiped out their data oriented MOSs.

Love and Kisses...
One very happy customer
Feel Free to use my email to reach me

Now, let me summarize my critique of NMCI

1. The NMCI Contractors do not integrate with the command. They could just as easily be in India or some city central nudie bar for all the local staff does for you or is capable of doing for you. Their boss is EDS.
   
2. Information Technology is supposed to be flexible. Things change in Information Technology every day – and change is not limited to hardware or operating systems. The NMCI contract places the Navy/Marine Corps in a position where our enterprise data and software is locked in place and time. NMCI has to certify every minor change in an application as though it were a massive rewrite or upgrade. Windows applications are bug-fixed constantly. Each modification will require thousands of dollars and months of ‘labor’ for NMCI to certify.
   
3. The certification process has resulted in attempts to ‘internet enable’ all applications. This is costly and buggy. The new user interface is slow and not nearly as effective as a windows application. There is NO return on investment and the most likely result is the death of an application.
   
4. The certification process, as well as the arcane and undefined and constantly changing client machine security settings, result in an enormous reduction in the use of work flow enhancement software.
   
5. And, finally, any attempt to develop a new application is halted because it cannot be hosted within the NMCI maintained domain - it's domain is simply too inflexible and too expensive. Thus, since military systems are not permitted to be hosted at commercial sites we have a chicken and egg problem. And, the egg cannot even form. There is no shared development platform within the NMCI network.
   

But Pakistan didn’t attack us on 9/11 (yelling and breathing rapidly)!!!

Re(1): 'Consolidating Power in Talibanistan', The Fourth Rail, Bill Roggio
Re(2): 'A place like many others', The Belmont Club, Richard Fernandez

The Crescent of Terror is a region, not a country. Our enemy is not a religion, a people, nor a culture – but anarchy. Neither we, nor the Chinese, nor the Hindu, nor the Africans, nor the Japanese, nor the Slavs, nor those within Islam will prosper till these turds are properly disposed of.

When are the ranting morons following Cindy Sheehan going to realize this.

Our enemy is the enemy of civilization – all civilizations. We cannot defeat a state and thus defeat this foe. They must be confronted everywhere they flow. And, those corrupt states that accept them into their fold must pay the price.

We will chase Hannibal till the end of his days.

The Plame, the Plame, there's the Plame!!!

Re(1): 'Plame's identity, if truly a secret, was thinly veiled', Duluth News, John Crewdson

Things seem to have gotten very sloppy in the covert world of the CIA in the 1990's...

The deep, dark secret undercover woman listed her place of employment in the early 90's as an American Embassy in Athens (a true hotspot for WMD sleuthing in the 1990's)...

When the Chicago Tribune searched for Plame on an Internet service that sells public information about private individuals to its subscribers, it got a report of more than 7,600 words. Included was the fact that in the early 1990s her address was "AMERICAN EMBASSY ATHENS ST, APO NEW YORK NY 09255."

Who would ever think an embassy employ could be a CIA operative. Shhhhhh, be very quiet.

After the CIA financed a European Vacation (to study) she landed a job at Brewster/Jennings & Associates - a 'legal services' office. Me thinks that she is not a lawyer so some red flags would probably be sent up the line - especially when the business grosses the amazing sum of $60,000 a year - enough to pay Mrs. Plame, apparently.

Two years later, when Plame made a $1,000 contribution to Vice President Al Gore, she listed her employer as Brewster-Jennings & Associates, a Boston company apparently set up by the CIA to provide "commercial cover" for some of its operatives.

Brewster-Jennings was not a terribly convincing cover. According to Dun & Bradstreet, the company, created in 1994, is a "legal services office" grossing $60,000 a year and headed by a chief executive named Victor Brewster. Commercial databases accessible by the Tribune contain no indication that such a person exists.

But her resume of sleuthing for the compartmentalized CIA WMD programs was not done yet. She next got a job at CIA headquarters as a private energy consultant.

After Plame was transferred back to CIA headquarters in the mid-1990s, she continued to pass herself off as a private energy consultant. But the first CIA veteran noted: "You never let a true NOC go into an official facility. You don't drive into headquarters with your car, ever."

Now that's a twist. Run a front business out of CIA headquarters and travel to Iran as a Greek energy consultant. She could then check up on Iran's Global Warming WMD development on the oil platforms. Nobody would suspect CIA involvement to be that open... Very sneaky...

But then one of Porter Goss' goons in the CIA made this unfortunate comment:

A senior U.S. intelligence official, who like the others quoted in this article spoke on condition of anonymity, noted that Plame "may not be alone in that category, so I don't want to suggest she was the only one. But it would be a fair assumption that a true-blue NOC is not someone who has a headquarters job at any point or an embassy job at any point."

The nerve!!!

The CIA could not have been this sloppy during the reign of Clinton the Great!!!

There was a President who took the intelligence services seriously!!!

He cut the budget in half - What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!!!

Sauron Reporting Doom from Mount Doom..

Re(1): 'U.S. Army records 10th straight month exceeding recruiting goals', SecurityWatchTower, C.S. Scott
Re(2): 'Iraq Coalition Casualty Count', Iraq Coalition Casualty Count
Re(3): 'Budget Deficit Estimation...', Me
Re(4): 'Federal Budget Deficit - MoveOn Libs, nothing to see here', Me

Byline: Mr. Sauron, Reporting from Mount Doom

After reading C.S. Scott’s post ‘U.S. Army records 10th straight month exceeding recruiting goals’ I immediately thought of a few other topics the media is silent about:

Military Recruiting: All active duty recruiting goals have been met or exceeded. Reserve recruiting has been spotty. I, however, contend that current Administration and DOD goals are deemphasizing reserve and guard strength. That cannot be stated for political reasons – but review the BRAC base closings. Reserve and Guard commands were ‘streamlined’ and closed at a much higher rate than active duty stations. Can anyone deny that the Army should restructure to more of a Marine Corps force structure?

Iraq Quagmire: Since the ratification of the Iraqi Constitution in October 2005 the Coalition fatality rate has dropped from 3.19/day to 2.07/day. This includes traffic accidents and the like, but the statistics are drawn consistently so we are comparing apples to apples. This month (March 2006) we are looking at a 0.91/day rate. At these low numbers any lucky hit by al Qaeda in Iraq will affect the rates. Regardless, the rates are in a rather dramatic decline.

Iraq Civil War: The statistics do not support that contention even though there has been a little upturn in Iraqi casualties. Here is what appears to be happening in our media: CNN will report an atrocity today, CBS tomorrow will report the same thing tomorrow, and ABC will follow a bit later. The viewer sees the same event three times as three discrete events. View the link and note how many mass attrocities are documented - and then remember how they were presented in the media. Day after day the same mass killing would be presented - and be presented in a slant that made them seem like new events.

Unemployment: National Unemployment rates have dropped from 6% in 2003 to less than 5% in 2006. Neither rate results in soup lines and migrations of populations. And, 5% is considered full employment. Right now wages are going up and the Federal Reserve is concerned about inflation. Unemployment concerns???

Economic Growth: Since 2003 we have had an average of 3.5% GDP growth. That is a perfect number. Neither too fast for a boom, nor slow enough to throw the US into a recession. This reasonable growth rate is sustainable and is the reason why many are whining about the Federal Reserve raising interest rates for ten consecutive cycles.

Annual Deficit: FY2003’s deficit was 3.4% of our GDP, FY2005’s deficit was 2.6% of our GDP. My estimate for FY2006 is it will come in around 2.1% of GDP. FY2007 will be better because Congress is starting to be shamed into a conservative alignment.

Corporate Tax Cuts: Corporate income tax revenues in FY2003 were 131 Billion, in FY2005 they were 278 Billion. At the height of President Clinton’s vaunted economy corporate income tax revenue were 185 Billion (FY1999). Thus, Bush’s corporate cronies are paying much more now than they did under Clinton. My guess is that we will see a corporate income tax revenue stream of about 350 Billion in FY2006.

Outsourcing Jobs: Uuuummmm, Lefties and Buchananites, ever hear about the baby boom. You folks still spend money like drunken sailors. There are fewer people in the US providing goods and services for them. Face up to the fact that you will have to accept immigration or accept outsourcing to satisfy your purchasing pattern. Understand another thing Boomers: Do you think the GenXers will pay for your retirement when you did not save for it. You reared a tough brood. Remember we were the latch key children that used to shoot each other in the classroom. More seriously, look at the comments from the SNCOs and mid-level officers in our military - they are willing to accept casualties for mission achievement.

Where shall Doom fall next...

Enjoy and invest!!!

Air America in Phoenix seeking venture capitalists…

Re(1): 'How Long', The Radio Equalizer, Brian Maloney
Re(2): www.SaveAirAmericaPhoenix.com

Evil Right Wing Christian Wingnuts purchased Air America’s powerhouse station in Phoenix after collecting donations from two pancake breakfast fundraisers in February. The current owners apparently did not get their monthly check from the Boys and Girls Clubs of New York in a timely manner. We all know what happens when the rent check is always late.

And, Air America was just starting to make money. I mean, their ratings grew from a dominating 1.5 in the Summer 2005 season to an amazing 1.1 now. That is some growth, eh… Kinda like a cancerous growth on the brain… Maybe next quarter they will be at less than a 1 share – editor’s note: Air America Phoenix is actually pulling in a flat 0 share right now.

You can donate money (or actually loan them money) here: SaveAirAmericaPhoenix

Note: I would not recommend this investment be part of your long term retirement plan.

If you want to see just how close you are toward funding the effort to restart Air America at the Arizona Technical College radio station (with an audience reach of almost 3,452 residents) view this site: GotStation

And they have a blog you can leave a nifty comment on their blog...

Here to help,
Boghie

THIS is the Leadership we NEED!!!

Re(1): ‘Democrats Struggle To Seize Opportunity’, Washington Post, Shailagh Murray and Charles Babington

There I was a decade ago:

"It could be a great year for Democrats," said Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), but the party must present a more moderate face and distinguish itself more clearly from the GOP on issues such as ethics. "The comment I hear is 'I'd really like to vote for you guys, but I can't stand the folks I see on TV,' " Cooper said in a telephone interview from Nashville.

Sounds like President Clinton fighting ‘The War on Terror’:

Democratic leaders had set a goal of issuing their legislative manifesto by November 2005 to give voters a full year to digest their proposals. But some Democrats protested that the release date was too early, so they put it off until January. The new date slipped twice again, and now House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) says the document will be unveiled in "a matter of weeks."

Maybe another meeting – or maybe appoint an ‘Election Tsar!!!

But many in the party have their doubts. On Feb. 27, Reid and Pelosi appeared before the Democratic Governors Association. At one point in the conversation, Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, noting that the two leaders had talked about a variety of themes and ideas, asked for help. Could they reduce the message to just two or three core ideas that governors could echo in the states?

According to multiple accounts from those in the room, Reid said they had narrowed the list to six and proceeded to talk about them. Pelosi then offered her six -- not all the same as Reid's. Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski said later: "One of the other Governors said 'What do you think?' and I said 'You know what I think? I don't think we have a message.' "

And, uh…

Even the party's five-word 2006 motto has preoccupied congressional Democrats for months. "We had meetings where senators offered suggestions," Reid said. "We had focus groups. We worked hard on that. . . . It's a long, slow, arduous process."

That slogan -- "Together, America Can Do Better" -- was revived from the 2004 presidential campaign of Sen. John F. Kerry. It was the last line of Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's response to President Bush's State of the Union address, and Reid, Pelosi and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean have used it in speeches. But there is an effort afoot to drop the word "together." It tests well in focus groups and audiences, Democratic sources said, but it makes the syntax incorrect.

I think I could vote for a party who follows the polls:

"There are lots of skeptics," Schumer conceded. But the polls look better and better, he stressed. "There may be some inside-the-Beltway babble, but it's not affecting the voters," said Schumer, who wants the agenda delayed again -- until summer.

China - World Domination...

Re(1): 'JOURNAL: When China Derails', Global Guerillas, John Robb
Re(2): 'Big Bangs', Global Guerillas, John Robb
Re(3): 'Mighty Chinese Armada spotted rounding South Korean peninsula!!!', Me!!!

Boing...

China is the Borg
We will be assimilated!!!

Boing...

Japan is the Borg
We will be assimilated!!

Boing...

The Soviet Union is the Borg
We will be assimilated!

On a post at Global Guerrillas John Robb posits that China may disintegrate rather than dominate. I think that is highly likely and commented as follows:

Getting my tinfoil hat out...

Is there a possibility that economic forces were used in a peaceful conflict with Japan in the 90's?

Remember the commentary that Japan was purchasing America, was outstripping our production, was competing us into oblivion, was too important to challenge because of the debt load it held over our head. Many of the same arguments noted above stating that the impending collapse of China's economy would destroy its polity and recall assets back from the United States were made in the 80's regarding Japan. Pat Buchanan ran a presidential campaign on such constructs.

Would you pull money out of U.S. backed securities or U.S. multinational Fortune 500 companies to reinvest into a collapsing state? Japanese investors who ‘bought on the bubble’ did have to ‘fire sale’ speculative real-estate in the early 90’s. And, their economy is only now reviving.

The interesting element of China is this: Is the vast majority of the U.S. debt load controlled by the government of China or by investors and individuals? The answer to that may inform us of how a political and economic collapse in China affects our
polity and economy.

Regardless, I think you are largely correct. China, like the Soviet Union, North Korea, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, etc. are hollow entities and will collapse spectacularly. I think your previous post ‘Big Bang’ plays an enormous role in these interesting times.

At least we will have something to talk to our grand children about!!!

Because I have caveated the comment (and hence this post) with the crossed fingers tin-foil hat clause this post shall not be subject to the ‘My Flameout’ list if disproved by an intrepid commenter. Still, a discussion would be welcome - and if someone completely clobbers the thought I might stick it in the anti-memory hole of the Flameouts as a token entry. Still waiting for the first Flameout...

Definitely visit John Robb’s Global Guerillas site.

Boing, Boing…

Late August, remembrance of Katrina…

Early September, remembrance of 9/11…

Early November, elections in the United States…

These events will shape our politics for decades to come. I have a read on how 9/11 affects the political discussion. I have no clue regarding Katrina. However, my guess is that the out of power Democrats may be boosted a bit in the very short term – till 2008. That is because I think the Katrina fiasco has been personalized by the Democratic Party – and personalized to President GW Bush.

Long term, we shall see if there is an increasing belief and confidence in the general incompetence of government as a result of viewing the brilliant leadership of all levels of government in the wake of catastrophe. Conservatives, and conservative stricture, do not count on a government savior to pluck the individual from decrepit rooftops.

We shall see, we shall see…