I wonder if any of the mercenaries will become a witness for the prosecution….Rats and sinking ship, after all.
If so, this should get interesting.
Month: August 2008
Norm Coleman Certainly Has Chutzpah Down
In response to the fact that his apartment rental in DC is at well below market rates, and does not include utilities from a lobbyist, he is saying that, “I gotta tell you, people of Minnesota actually appreciate the fact that I live humbly as a senator — that I’m not living the way some people think senators live.”
The classic definition of Chutzpah is killing your parents and asking for mercy as an orphan. Norm Coleman may very well have beat that classic out.
What a bloody weasel.
Don’t Expect Oil Prices to Fall Much Further
Because OPEC is talking about output cuts to stabilize the price.
I don’t think that they will allow it to break $100/bbl.
Nouriel Roubini Gets Profiled in the NY Times
They call him Dr. Doom.
It’s a rather nice profile of Dr. Roubini, though I agree with Paul Krugman that his prediction of a housing crash was hardly unique, and that they missed what was special about his predictions, that there would be as Krugman says, “there would be large “knock-on” effects from the bursting bubble on the financial system”, i.e. the credit crunch as we are currently experiencing it.
Interestingly enough, it looks like the crisis will exceed Roubini’s most pessimistic projections, which is kind of scary.
Bob Ney Out of Jail
He served 1½ years of a 2½ year sentence. He was given time off for entering an alcohol treatment program.
I wonder how long before he starts doing the Sunday morning gasbag pundit circuit.
Howard Dean Makes “Gaffe”
One wonders if this “slip” in an interview is a Freudian slip, or intentional:
If you look at folks of color, even women, they’re more successful in the Democratic Party than they are in the white, uh, excuse me, in the (chuckles) Republican Party, because we just give more opportunity to folks who are hard-working people who are immigrants and come from members of minority groups.
I’m hoping intentional.
In either case, I’m Matthew Saroff, and I approve of Chairman Dean’s message.
Obama and DNC Rake in Dough
Both Obama and the Democratic National Committee outraised their Republican counterparts in July.
Obama raised $51 million, as compared to McCain’s $27 million, and the DNC raised 27.7 million, as compared to the RNC’s $26 million, the first time that the DNC has outraised the RNC since 2004.
Happy dance time, though the combined cash on hand is about $94.3 million Obama + DNC vs $96 million McCain + RNC, because the DNC has spent a lot of money on Dean’s 50 state strategy.
Signs of the Apocalypse: Press Notices Swift Boat Author is a Bigot and Lunatic
I’m stunned. This time, when Jerome Corsi comes out with a book, the press is noting that his book is unsupported by the facts, and that Corsi is a bigoted cook kook.
As writer Greg Mitchell notes, even Nedra Pickler is saying that the emperor has no clothes.
Economics Update
You know that the economy is bad when you go broke filling people’s Jones for chocolate chip cookies, but Mrs. Fields cookies is filing for reorg under chapter 11.
The dollar is down a bit, because there is concern that the Fed won’t raise interest rates soon.
Honestly, they won’t raise rates before the election, because that is what the Fed does.
Oil is up a bit, on concerns of the effects of tropical storm Fay on rigs in the Caribbean.
Georgia
Well, Georgia and Russia have now signed a cease fire agreement, and Russia will begin to withdraw troops on Monday.
What the Russians have always wanted is to be able to kick Georgia in the teeth regarding the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and they did, and under the terms of the cease fire, they get to keep troops there, and in a “buffer zone”.
What’s more, they are installing SS-21 missiles in South Ossetia, and possibly Abkhazia, which can cover most of Georgia.
Truth be told, nothing shows Georgia’s defeat more clearly than the words of Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, who is now pleading to mend fences.
Saakashvili’s political platform has been almost exclusively about putting the boot back on the neck of the Ossetians and the Abkhazians (once again proving that there are no good guys in the Caucasus), and now he is trying to make nice with the Russkys.
Interestingly enough, if you believe in signs of the apocalypse, a Washington Post OP/ED is suggesting that the knee jerk anti-Georgian reaction is unwise.
Of interest to the war buffs, this article, if I read the numbers right, suggests that the number of Russian troops sent into the region were not hugely larger than the numbers for the Georgians, even though the Georgian military ceased to function as a fighting force within about two days of their intervention.
Lockheed Martin Loses BAMS Protest
This means that Northrop-Grumman can resume work on the Naval drone contract, based on the Global Hawk airframe.
If you go to the full article, you see that the number of protests is skyrocketing, almost doubling over the past 4 years, which is raising costs, and pushing back schedules, on the projects involved.
The problem is that a contract award protest is risk free at this point, so throwing the dice for another bite at the apple is a good move from a business perspective.
USAF Cyber Command Suspended
It looks like the formation of the 8000 man Air Force Cyber Command has been put on hold.
This is probably a good thing. It’s an activity that is best done in a way that benefits all the services, and the USAF would no doubt spend much of the formative years of such an effort with a primary focus on making itself the sole provider of these services.
That’s what happened with drones, and Bob Gates slapped them down on that one too.
Japan’s C-X Delayed
The CX is Japan’s indigenously designed replacement for their Kawasaki C-1 and Lockheed Martin C-130H transports, and it appears to be in serious trouble.
Normally, when a Japanese program is delayed, it’s politics and budget, but the CX prototype has significant technical problems, weakness in the horizontal stabilizer and cracks in the landing gear, in addition to a bribery scandal with regards to the engine selection.
Boeing Looking to Significantly Modify Tanker Bid
Well, this is a breath of unexpected common sense.
Basically, they are currently looking at replacing their original bid with a 777 derivative, or replacing their current bid, a 767-200ERX, with a 767-400 derivative.
The latter would be less involved, but it would also have tail strike issues, and so would likely have less rotation angle and require a longer takeoff run.
If Boeing asks for more time for this, and my guess is that they would, it is likely that they would get the time requested, which means that the final decision would be pushed into the next administration.
Offset Proposals Submitted on Indian Fighter Dids
The Indian government is requiring a 50% offset, and F/A-18E/F, Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon, Lockheed Martin F-16, the RSK MiG-35 and Saab Gripen have submitted proposals.
My money would still be on the MiG-35s, since they already operate the MiG-29, though the Gripen is probably best bang for their buck, and closest in size to the MiG-21s that will be replaced.
Spacecraft Bus Failure to Drive Up Insurance Rates
SES Lockheed’s A2100 bus appears to have a problem with its solar arrays, and insurers are getting skittish, because if the satellites fail, they are on the hook for a large chunk of change, seeing as how their are 35 in service.
At this point, it appears that only two of the satellites have experienced enough power loss to degrade their performance, but you know how insurers are.
Yes, Wait, Because After the Graduation…Engineering Groupies!!!!!
I’m an engineer, that this makes me feel like a complete lamer.
Why do we pretend that sex is as dangerous as plutonium?
Business as Usual, Ship it Broke, and Pay for the Fix
Galrahn at Information Dissemination has review the Navy budget, and found a nugget, that the Navy is intending to upgrade the DDG-1000 Zumwalt class ships to be able to launch the Standard SM-2 missile.
The lack of this capability was given as one reason to can the entire class, and Galrhan is angry that the Navy, upon canceling the program, did not tell Congress about the upgrade proposal.
Me, I’m upset that the navy was willing to accept delivery of a ship that was incapable of defending itself. I’m even more upset that they did so knowingly.
More F-35 Problems
Well, we have more schedule slips in the F-325 Progam.
We have, ailures of the engine bay cooling fans, though this may be unique to AA-1, which is not production standard, and Failures in the engine and transmission for the STOVL variant, which are delaying the build down tests to vertical landing, and there are still doubts as to whether the aircraft will overheat on hot days on the ground, which was also a problem in the F-22 program.
It looks like those build down flights will be delayed from Q1 2009 to Q2, at best, which will delay shipment to the first customers, the US Marines.
Late and Overbudget, LCS No. 1 Underway
So the first first littoral combat ship got underway at the end of last month, more than a year behind schedule, and at twice the forecast cost.
The ships, the size of a large corvette or small frigate, are intended to work in coastal waters.
Interestingly enough, the Israelis are considering the conventionally hulled LCS as the basis of a ship for their navy, but they are ditching the modular weapons system, because they feel that it leaves the ship too lightly armored.