Month: December 2007

Israel Wants JSF As Soon As Possible, But Has Problems With Aircraft

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Unlike Japan, Israel has come to the conclusion that there will be no F-22 sales, so they want JSF deliveries as soon as possible (paid subscription reqired, preferably starting in 2012, because they want to add stealth as soon as possible.

There are, however, some road bumps on the way:

  • Lockheed-Martin is saying that there can be no foreign deliveries until 2014.
  • There are no Israeli weapons qualified for use on the aircraft, and it’s closed, tightly integrated architecture will make qualifying those weapons (Python 5 AAM and successors, Spice PGM) extremely difficult.
  • The IAF does not believe that it can perform its missions as a single seat aircraft.
    • As an aside, the USAF has been trying to get rid of the weapons system operator (guy in back) for years, probably to free up a few more planes for the fly-boys.
  • Integration of Israeli radar and EW systems could “difficult and expensive”.

These issues mirror many of the UK’s issue with the aircraft, where, as it currently stands, the RAF and the RNAF will not be able to maintain the aircraft fully, and in some cases aircraft would have to be sent back to the States for maintenance or upgrade.

Why It’s Called The Grauniad

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Corrections and clarifications | The Guardian | Guardian Unlimited

· This article was amended on Wednesday September 26 2007. We misspelled the word misspelled twice, as mispelled. This has been corrected.

And you wonder why I call it The Grauniad*

*According to the Wiki, The Guardian, formerly the Manchester Guardian in the UK. It’s nicknamed the Grauniad because of its penchant for typographical errors, “The nickname The Grauniad for the paper originated with the satirical magazine Private Eye. It came about because of its reputation for frequent and sometimes unintentionally amusing typographical errors, hence the popular myth that the paper once misspelled its own name on the page one masthead as The Gaurdian, though many recall the more inventive The Grauniad.”

Pilot Retirement Age Raised to 65

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Normally, this sets up a battle with the younger pilots and airlines (they like replacing expensive senior pilots with cheaper junior ones) on one side, and older pilots on the other, but given given the fact that there is a severe pilot shortage as a result of airlines engaging in a 30 year war to pay pilots less and screw them out of their retirement packages, it is unsurprising that this made it into law.

The older pilots need the money to account for their bankruptcy reduced pensions, and the younger pilots have plenty of openings anyway, and the airlines, having succeeded in making the job of pilot suck, just need the additional years.

Gripen Upgraded Engine Cheaper

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It turns out that in addition to providing 20+% more thrust, the F-414 has about the same air flow requirements, meaning no major redesign of the inlets, and it is actually cheaper than the F-404 derived RM12 that it replaces.

Of note, the AESA that they are looking at installing is angled:

Which could give lower radar cross section, and possibly better azimuth performance if the antenna rotates.

What is really amazing is that they expect the proof of concept demonstrator to fly next year.

To the degree that there is a Mirage III type success of this generation of aircraft, I think that it will be the Gripen, though purchases of the previous generation (or half generation depending on how you count) F-16s may still dominate the market because of the relatively low cost.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) accuses Senate Democratic leaders of developing “Stockholm syndrome”

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Well, at least one Democrat gets it:

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) accuses Senate Democratic leaders of developing “Stockholm syndrome,” showing sympathy to their Republican captors by caving in on legislation to provide middle-class tax cuts paid for with tax increases on the super-rich, tying war funding to troop withdrawal timelines, and mandating renewable energy quotas. If Republicans want to filibuster a bill, Rangel said, Reid should keep the bill on the Senate floor and force the Republicans to talk it to death.

Wanker of the Day: Matt Stoller

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Yep, this time I’m going after a liberal blogger, Matt Stoller.

Three, the Clinton’s have, how to put it, real character issues. I haven’t written this before, because I don’t believe in going after family members unless they make themselves an issue, but Chelsea Clinton, despite the opportunity to do anything she wants, chose to be a hedge fund manager. What does that say about the Clinton family commitment to public service? I write this because Clinton is using her daughter in an ad that says ‘My Mom taught me to stand up for myself, and to stand up for those who can’t do it on their own’, and then express pride at passing those values on to her daughter. What kind of value system is that? And what does it say that Clinton is bringing her daughter into the contest bragging about her daughter’s greed? This is one small example (Mark Penn is another), but it’s pretty clear that the Clinton’s have become in some ways Bourbon-esque aristocrats.

Bullsh@$….She’s campaigning for her mom, but her choice of work is not a valid critique.

Heck, if I had seen done to my parents what she saw done to hers, I’d run away from public servide like the plague.

Today’s “Liberal Blogosphere Worst Person in the World”…….

That being said, I think that it is a momentary lapse. He generally gets it.

Mr. Dodd Goes To Washington

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Dodd promised to filibuster teleco immunity, and he has kept his word.

Unfortunately, the Senate voted 76 to 10 to stop his filibuster.

As I predicted, Obama did not show up for the vote, and neither did Clinton or Biden.

Obama issued a statement to Firedog Lake:

“Senator Obama unequivocally opposes giving retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies and has cosponsored Senator Dodd’s efforts to remove that provision from the FISA bill. Granting such immunity undermines the constitutional protections Americans trust the Congress to protect. Senator Obama supports a filibuster of this bill, and strongly urges others to do the same. It’s not clear whether he can return for the vote, but under the Senate rules, the side trying to end a filibuster must produce 60 votes to cut off debate. Whether he is present for the vote for not, Senator Obama will not be among those voting to end the filibuster.”

I understand the basic mechanics of cloture, but I would like to see him a reason to bloody show up for work.

This applies to Biden and Clinton too.

Covering Religion Made These Guys Lose Their Faith

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Stephen Bates, former religion reporter for the Grauniad*, his work covering religion caused him to lose his faith.

Specifically, his coverage of the entire “Gay Bishop” brouhaha in the Anglican Church”

….

There is also no doubting, personally, that writing this story has been too corrosive of what faith I had left: indeed watching the way the gay row has played out in the Anglican Communion has cost me my belief in the essential benignity of too many Christians.For the good of my soul, I need to do something else.

….

The trouble with these people, my wife always says, is that they don’t read their Bibles, for they know nothing of charity. I think she’s right and I am in mortal danger of losing mine. It’s time to move on.

The whole article is rather forceful about what he found that turned him off of religion, and I feel that he is entirely justified.

You should also look at William Lobdell’s article, Religion beat became a test of faith, where he describes how covering the abuse scandals and similar obscenities in the Catholic Church, along with the “capitalist nearest to God” con games of “prosperity gospel” of some of the mega churches, which seem even more obscene to me, caused him to lose his faith.

There are strong arguments to be made that organized religion is inimical to real faith.

Luckily for me, I am not a member of an organized religion, I am a Jew, to paraphrase Will Rogers.

*According to the Wiki, The Guardian, formerly the Manchester Guardian in the UK. It’s nicknamed the Grauniad because of its penchant for typographical errors, “The nickname The Grauniad for the paper originated with the satirical magazine Private Eye. It came about because of its reputation for frequent and sometimes unintentionally amusing typographical errors, hence the popular myth that the paper once misspelled its own name on the page one masthead as The Gaurdian, though many recall the more inventive The Grauniad.”

Regulation Encourages Innovation

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Bradford Plumer makes a very good point.

While the free market evangelicals constantly say that deregulation is the heart and soul of innovation, this graph of patents for sulfur dioxide emissions:

The Government spent money on reducing sulfur dioxide emissions before 1963, but when they started regulating the actual emissions is when we saw the technology develop?

It’s information like this that leads me to be suspicious of “market driven” procedures. A cap and trade system is a carbon tax, it’s just that speculators, rather than the government get the money….Let’s get it for the tax payers instead.

Czechmate in Austria

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In addition to this being a great headline, this also reflects something that we should see, but never do in US Defense procurement.

The Czech Republic canceled a $1.1 billion contract with Austrian manufacturer Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeug to buy 199 Pandur II armored 8×8 personnel carriers.

The vehicles failed to meet 24 of the 93 required criteria, and missed their end of November delivery date.

In the United States, of course, we just throw more money at them.

Kevin Drum Explains Social Security and the Very Serious People In Washington

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As we all know, the “Very Serious People” go on and on about how Social Security is not affordable….After all, look at this picture from the CBO looking at budget impact:

Needless to say, it’s clear that it’s medical costs, and not Social Security that are the issue, But Kevin Drum explains why the “Very Serious People” think that Social Security must be gutted today:

Of course, Russert and his pals actually use medical services, of which Medicare is merely a reflection, and are thus not quite so keen to bang on endlessly about how we should be working to control medical costs and distribute medical care more efficiently and more equitably. After all, that might actually affect them. Slashing Social Security benefits really doesn’t.

This, is more than an insight into their attitudes into Social security. This is an insight into their attitudes on EVERYTHING. Basically, it’s all about making the tough choices that hurt other people.

That is what makes one a “Very Serious Person” in Washington DC. Hurting those who have no power and who you don’t know, except perhaps as landscapers, housekeepers, and waiters. They define this as bold thinking.

I believe that Marie Antoinette said something similar, “Let them eat cake.”

Quick Economic Update

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Citigroup just took a $49 Billion charge after deciding to take a bunch of exotic, and well below par, investments and put them on its books.

My guess it that they think that they will have to account for this piece of the big sh#@pile sooner or later, and that sooner is the better option.

And there are inflation worries, that are making Treasurys tumble. If this is a part of a trend, then we can see interest rates going way up.

Fannie Mae CEO expects home prices to fall 4 to 5 percent more in 2008.

I think that he is an optimist. My house is (according to Zillow) down 5% so far this year already.

Krugman On Difference Between Illiquidity and Insolvency

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Once again, Paul Krugman demonstrates why the New York Times pays him to write.

He clearly and concisely describes why the current problem is insolvency, and not illiquidity.

He then goes on to explain just why the Fed really cannot fix this. If you have a run on a sound bank, an quick loan to infuse of cash works, because it gives everyone time to get their heads screwed on straight again, but if a bank is busted, a loan, no matter how large cannot help.

Basically, it means that the Fed, which after all only loans money, and sets up rules for short term loans, cannot help.

Go read his article.

The last line, which is a note from the editor, that “David Brooks is off today,” is also a bit of an unintentional hoot.

David Brooks is a bit off every day.