Reflections From a Murky Pond

As I have alluded to before – here and here – President Obama, despite his ongoing rhetoric of appeasement, is not a true “Dove.” He, when it comes down to actions as opposed to “nuanced” speeches provided by his teleprompter,  has some strong “Hawkish” tendencies.

The upcoming Pentagon budget as proposed by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is strong evidence of that. The proposed 2010 defense budget is actually – despite the complaints of many of my fellow Conservatives – one that  focuses on offensive capabilities as opposed to defensive or deterrent capabilities.

2010 looks like it could be a whole new ball game when it comes to military spending and therefor how the US Military will be used. The focus is shifting from static deterrence and defensive capability to the ability to bring steel to target rapidly and effectively anywhere in the world.

As I told the Congress in January, our struggles to put the defense bureaucracies on a war footing these past few years have revealed underlying flaws in the priorities, cultural preferences, and reward structures of America’s defense establishment – a set of institutions largely arranged to prepare for conflicts against other modern armies, navies, and air forces. Programs to directly support, protect, and care for the man or woman at the front have been developed ad hoc and funded outside the base budget. Put simply, until recently there has not been an institutional home in the Defense Department for today’s warfighter. Our contemporary wartime needs must receive steady long-term funding and a bureaucratic constituency similar to conventional modernization programs. I intend to use the FY10 budget to begin this process.

— Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates
Defense Budget Recommendation Statement, April 6, 2009

At first read, it does sound pretty grim – especially to those people who have always been civilians. Under Gates’ proposal, the US Navy will have its new aircraft carrier program significantly slowed, and its Zumwalt Stealth Destroyer (DDG 1000) effort scuttled. The US Air Force will see the curtailment of production of ihe F-22 Raptor after only 187 planes – slightly less than 50% of what the USAF desired. The Missile Defense Agency’s interceptor portfolio will be reoriented around the threat from rogue states. Finally, the US Army will see its “Future Combat Systems” program gutted.

This is what has my compatriots upset, the destruction or deferral of our military’s progress and future. I don’t really blame them. They don’t – perhaps can’t – understand the changing face of war.

So a number of high-dollar programs are being slowed, deferred, or destroyed. While that’s not good, it is pragmatic, especially since these programs were heavily biased towards defensive capabilities and towards conflicts vs. another military superpower with similar technological capabilities.

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This has to be close to the penultimate fanboy fantasy. If not, it’s sure very, very close to it – though possibly something including Princess Leia and a Wookie might snatch the top slot among Star Wars geeks and fanboys.

Two hot women fight over geek with lightsabers

I’m guessing that, in the minds of the die-hard Star Wars fanboy nerds, it just doesn’t get much better than this. Getting hit on by not one, but two sexy hotties and then having them have a lightsaber and telekinetic duel you in which they strip each other down to their lingerie – and having “Jedi mind tricks” to fend off the other geeks – just has to in the top 10 fanboy wet dreams.

I wonder if George Lucas knows what he has wrought… 😉

I won’t call it a rally – it’s not even close – but there has been some improvement over the last week or so in both the stock markets and the credit markets. How long this will last and how far they will climb, along with the reasons for it, are still in doubt though.

From the NY Times:

It is hard to miss the news: the stock market has been on a bit of a roll lately. But with far less fanfare, the credit markets, where the financial crisis began, are also showing signs of a spring awakening.

Companies with good credit are borrowing more money in the bond markets. Confidence in the banking industry seems to be returning, despite the daily ups and downs of financial shares. Even junk bonds, the high-risk corporate debt instruments, are luring brave souls again.

The revival is tentative and, like the gains in the stock market, which pulled back on Monday, it may well prove fleeting. But analysts say the improvements suggest that investors are starting to get some of their old nerve back, mainly because of sweeping federal efforts to get credit flowing again.

So it’s possible that people may see some slight relief from the economic woes assailing the average American right now.

Yes, I know – the NY Times aka Pravda West aka The Jihadi Journal aka The Dirty Whore Who Was Once a Lady isn’t anywhere near the best source of information, but what can you do?

I’m sure the Liberals will agree with what passes for the NY Times’ analysts’ and “journalists'” assertions that this shows that the sweeping measures by Obama and his Liberals are working – and therefor their intervention and growing control of the American private sector is justified.

Of course it was President Bush who enacted TARP, so anyone who likes it or its supposed benefits should be thanking him, not Obama. Yeah – that’s not going to happen.

Of course this slight rise in the markets may just be an indication that, despite the current crisis, the fundamentals of the American economy are still sound and that we’ve hit the bottom of this recession. This may be – just maybe – the start of the long crawl back out of the pit.

Even the NY Times stated that companies with good credit are borrowing more – i.e. lenders are loaning them money – and that there’s been a small resurgence in the junk bond market, which indicates are certain courage and/or greed on the part of investors is in evidence. So it’s quite possible that this is just a case of the strong surviving while the weak perish.

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Hamas terrorists acquired smuggled US-made FIM-92 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles from smugglers in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula in 2008 and attempted to deploy against Israel in January 2009 during Operation Cast Lead. Happily for humanity – but far less so for the vermin involved – the weapons, produced by Raytheon, were far beyond the understanding of Hamas’ savages and the results were predictably comical.

Sources within Hamas said  they had smuggled four Stinger systems in 2008 into the Gaza Strip. The sources said the Hamas terrorists deployed the Stingers against Israel Air Force AH-64 Apache attack helicopters during strike missions in the northern Gaza Strip.

Via The World Tribune:

“We were disappointed by them, and they were found to have been useless,” a Hamas source said.

The source said Hamas smuggled four Stinger systems in 2008. The source said the Hamas military deployed the Stingers against Israel Air Force AH-64 Apache attack helicopters during strike missions in the northern Gaza Strip.

“Our gunners couldn’t fire the weapon,” the source recalled. “A notice came up on the display saying ‘friendly aircraft.'”

Another Hamas source said gunners deployed Stinger along with heavy machine guns in attacks on Israeli helicopters during the war in the Gaza Strip. The source said one Stinger surface-to-air missile was launched, but the projectile veered off course and struck a Hamas gunner squad.

“The Stinger was drawn by the heat of our guns rather than the engines of the Israeli helicopters,” the source said. “At that point, we stopped using this weapon.”

You see, Raytheon Missile Systems, the manufacturer of FIM-92 Stinger, installed identification friend/foe (IFF) capabilities into the system well over a decade ago, specifically so that the Stinger could not fired at against any aircraft used by the U.S. military or its allies.

It’s a shame Hamas are all cowards who wear black bags over their heads during their villainous actions. I’d have loved it if someone could have  gotten a picture of the look on their faces when their Stingers refused to fire. 😆

Perhaps they should stick with weaponry more suited to their capabilities – like sticks, rocks, and feces – or at least read the freaking manual.

Even crazed monkey muppets need love – or at least something compliant upon which to vent  their lusts… 😉

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I’m not sure that I’d want my wife to be “army surplus,” but them my tastes and Kim Jong Il’s probably differ on a great many things. But hey – he seems to prefer dressing in army castoffs, so maybe this makes sense in a twisted sort of way. 😆