Perfunction

Pole Position: US Forced To Consider Alternate Interceptor Sites

In a shot across the bow of a particularly hard-bargaining Poland, the US is considering a missile defense interceptor base in neighboring Lithuania:

Poland is balking at further negotiations with the United States over plans to deploy an antiballistic missile shield, prompting Washington to seek out Lithuania, formerly part of the Soviet Union, as a possible alternative location, officials said Wednesday.

Attempting to run out the clock on a departing Bush administration, Poland has been intransigent on closing the interceptor deal since a new government came to power last fall. Realizing they are in the catbird seat, the Poles --- already the largest NATO recipient of US aid --- are holding out for more US goodies:

In March, Poland’s center-right government, led by Donald Tusk, presented the United States with a short but costly list of conditions for placing up to 10 interceptors on its territory. It demanded that the United States provide a mobile air defense system that NATO diplomats have said could cost billions of dollars.

Naturally, as the price goes up, alternatives become attractive:

"I think they [Poland] want an agreement, but it's a question of what price," said [Pentagon Press Secretary] Geoff Morrell. "And that's what a negotiation is all about, and that's what we're in the midst of right now."

"We are hopeful that we can soon reach a deal with the Poles, but we have always said that there are other options available to us," he said. "There are several other European nations that could host the interceptors, and Lithuania is one of them.  That said, we have not entered into negotiations with any other country, and hope that that does not become necessary."

Why Lithuania? Like Poland, it is a NATO ally. And while it, too, is on the "frontline" of European missile defense against medium range Iranian ballistic missiles, it is also in the defensive corridor that provides early continental US (CONUS) defense against longer range Shahab ICBMs. Lithuania is the red triangle I added to this previously posted diagram:

So why not Lithuania? You thought the Russians were pissed before:

Not only is Lithuania geographically closer to Moscow, but unlike Poland and the Czech Republic, it was once part of the Soviet Union. To Russians, it "will be perceived as even more provocative than Poland or the Czech Republic," Lukyanov said.

Washington wants to set up two missile defense bases in Eastern Europe — a site with 10 interceptors in Poland and a linked radar installation in the Czech Republic. His administration says the system is meant to protect the U.S. and Europe from possible Iranian attacks.

Russia, however, is furious at the idea of U.S. military installations so close to its borders, in a region it controlled during the Cold War. It sees them as initial steps in a longer-term plan that would undermine its own security.

Already, Moscow has threatened to target prospective missile defense sites with nuclear missiles.

No biggie. This back and forth between the US and Poland is all just the part of the grandest negotiating game in the world. "I'm gonna write a number on this slip of paper." {slides it gently across the table} "Pffft. I want free floormats or I'm walking."

I would normally say the Poles will ultimately come around, before or after our election. But it's likely none of this really matters. You guessed it, my standard coda --- "unproven missile defense systems" will never be part of our national defense:

UPDATE: Welcome, Jawas (thanks, Rusty) and AOSHQ (thanks, Dave) --- you didn't even click over here before spouting off, did you, icus? Dude, the whole "this boondoggle doesn't work" gripe has been thoroughly trashed over the past year --- 9 successful intercepts in 2007 alone, plus that little impromptu satellite shootdown in February. You and every critic look woefully uninformed and foolish every time you trot out that lame circa 1986 argument.

Video: Obama Lied To St. Russert

Given NBC's interminable Dianafication of Tim Russert's death, Obama has tempted fate by reneging (careful, careful...) on his promise to Russert at a Feb. 26 debate that he would "sit down with John McCain" to discuss the public campaign financing that he just jettisoned:

(Transcript here.)

Russert's angry, luminous ghost at the beginning of the video was not my doing. It's...unexplainable.

Way to go, Barack --- thanks for disturbing the Other Side.

What Did Saddam Hussein Bid?

Asks Don Surber after the screeching about evil "no-bid" Iraqi oil contracts gets cranked up:

The big news from Baghdad is that they are putting together that old coalition of the drilling: Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP are reforming the Iraq Petroleum Company, the New York Times reported.

This comes 36 years after Saddam Hussein nationalized — seized for his own personal gain — the oil industry.

This news warms my cold little imperialist heart. My only question: why the hell are the French (Total) at the table?

(original NY Times story here)

Cindy McCain: For The First Time In My Adult Life, I Am Proud Of My Cookies

SCANDAL:

[Cindy] McCain's recipe for oatmeal-butterscotch cookies, published on the Family Circle Web site earlier in the month, appears to be an almost exact replica of a Hershey’s recipe.

And it's not the first time --- to the ramparts, Kos Kidz! Nice "Never Forget" Twin Towers 9-11 imagery in the comments. Stay classy, Kos:

 

The Kossacks obviously did not get the DNC memo.

Male Britney? Hasselhoff Would Hit It

From America's Got Talent, the Hoff's pants get tight over Britney Spears impersonator Derrick Barry:

Obama Rounds Up, Deports Muslim Women...

...from behind his podium at one of his campaign events:

Two Muslim women at Barack Obama's rally in Detroit on Monday were barred from sitting behind the podium by campaign volunteers seeking to prevent the women's headscarves from appearing in photographs or on television with the candidate.

"I was coming to support him, and I felt like I was discriminated against by the very person who was supposed to be bringing this change, who I could really relate to," said Hebba Aref, a 25-year-old lawyer who lives in the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills. "The message that I thought was delivered to us was that they do not want him associated with Muslims or Muslim supporters."

OK, it was a couple of volunteers that segregated the Muslim women, not Obama himself. The campaign apologized.

It was from this event with Al Gore.

An Excuse To Use My Favorite Animated GIF

Al Gore, still full of it:

After the Tennessee Center for Policy Research exposed Gore’s massive home energy use, the former Vice President scurried to make his home more energy-efficient. Despite adding solar panels, installing a geothermal system, replacing existing light bulbs with more efficient models, and overhauling the home’s windows and ductwork, Gore now consumes more electricity than before the “green” overhaul.

Since taking steps to make his home more environmentally-friendly last June, Gore devours an average of 17,768 kWh per month –1,638 kWh more energy per month than before the renovations – at a cost of $16,533. By comparison, the average American household consumes 11,040 kWh in an entire year, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Via Instapundit.

Plasticized Harpy Booted From UK Talk Show

In my own version of giving the disobedient finger to the AP (again), here's some news:

Joan Rivers booted from British TV over curse word

Jun 17 03:21 PM US/Eastern LONDON (AP) - entertainmentminute Joan Rivers' salty tongue got her booted from a British daytime talk show in the middle of its live broadcast. Rivers used two expletives while talking about Russell Crowe as a guest host on the live gab-fest "Loose Women." She was asked to leave during a commercial break. The 75-year old comedian said in a statement Tuesday she was sorry for the swearing, and assumed that a censor would be able to "bleep" the words out. Then she cracked wise, saying the incident reminded her of her wedding night—because she was asked to leave in the middle of that, too. Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

On second thought, it's not so much AP's ghey new policy that annoys me as much as someone using the term "cracked wise" --- I hate that shit.

(h/t: HotAir headlines)

Very Special Former VP Endorses Obama

YAAAAAAAAAAAAY! CHICKEN POT, CHICKEN POT, CHICKEN POT PIIIIEEEE! YAAAAAAAAY!

Actually: Yawn.

Grow. The F#ck. Up.

Future Obama National Security Advisor Richard Danzig says Winne the Pooh is a seminal work on par with Clausewitz and Machiavelli:

“Winnie the Pooh seems to me to be a fundamental text on national security."

He spelt out how American troops, spies and anti-terrorist officials could learn key lessons by understanding the desire of terrorists to emulate superheroes like Luke Skywalker, and the lust for violence of violent football fans. . . .”

Mr Danzig spelt out the need to change by reading a paragraph from chapter one of the children’s classic, which says: “Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump on the back of his head behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming down stairs. But sometimes he thinks there really is another way if only he could stop bumping a minute and think about it.”

And as a nice bookend to this "who's a big boy? Yes, YOU are!" advice Barack Obama will absorb like an ever-looping Baby Einstein DVD, MoveOn.org reminds us that John McCain wants to kidnap infants to serve as adorable cannon fodder:

(h/t: CampaignSpot for the Pooh story)

Associated Press Brings Down The Hammer On Blogs

So reports AP member, the New York Times:

The Associated Press, one of the nation’s largest news organizations, said that it will, for the first time, attempt to define clear standards as to how much of its articles and broadcasts bloggers and Web sites can excerpt without infringing on The A.P.’s copyright.

The A.P.’s effort to impose some guidelines on the free-wheeling blogosphere, where extensive quoting and even copying of entire news articles is common, may offer a prominent definition of the important but vague doctrine of “fair use,” which holds that copyright owners cannot ban others from using small bits of their works under some circumstances. For example, a book reviewer is allowed to quote passages from the work without permission from the publisher.

Fair use has become an essential concept to many bloggers, who often quote portions of articles before discussing them. The A.P., a cooperative owned by 1,500 daily newspapers, including The New York Times, provides written articles and broadcast material to thousands of news organizations and Web sites that pay to use them.

Last week, The A.P. took an unusually strict position against quotation of its work, sending a letter to the Drudge Retort asking it to remove seven items that contained quotations from A.P. articles ranging from 39 to 79 words.

On Saturday, The A.P. retreated. Jim Kennedy, vice president and strategy director of The A.P., said in an interview that the news organization had decided that its letter to the Drudge Retort was “heavy-handed” and that The A.P. was going to rethink its policies toward bloggers.

The quick about-face came, he said, because a number of well-known bloggers started criticizing its policy, claiming it would undercut the active discussion of the news that rages on sites, big and small, across the Internet.

The Drudge Retort was initially started as a left-leaning parody of the much larger Drudge Report, run by the conservative muckraker Matt Drudge. In recent years, the Drudge Retort has become more of a social news site, similar to sites like Digg, in which members post links to news articles for others to comment on.

But Rogers Cadenhead, the owner of the Drudge Retort and several other Web sites, said the issue goes far beyond one site. “There are millions of people sharing links to news articles on blogs, message boards and sites like Digg. If The A.P. has concerns that go all the way down to one or two sentences of quoting, they need to tell people what they think is legal and where the boundaries are.”

On Friday, The A.P. issued a statement defending its action, saying it was going to challenge blog postings containing excerpts of A.P. articles “when we feel the use is more reproduction than reference, or when others are encouraged to cut and paste.” An A.P. spokesman declined Friday to further explain the association’s position.

After that, however, the news association convened a meeting of its executives at which it decided to suspend its efforts to challenge blogs until it creates a more thoughtful standard.

“We don’t want to cast a pall over the blogosphere by being heavy-handed, so we have to figure out a better and more positive way to do this,” Mr. Kennedy said.

Mr. Kennedy said the company was going to meet with representatives of the Media Bloggers Association, a trade group, and others. He said he hopes that these discussions can all occur this week so that guidelines can be released soon.

Still, Mr. Kennedy said that the organization has not withdrawn its request that Drudge Retort remove the seven items. And he said that he still believes that it is more appropriate for blogs to use short summaries of A.P. articles rather than direct quotations, even short ones.

“Cutting and pasting a lot of content into a blog is not what we want to see,” he said. “It is more consistent with the spirit of the Internet to link to content so people can read the whole thing in context.”

Even if The A.P. sets standards, bloggers could choose to use more content than its standards permit, and then The A.P. would have to decide whether to take legal action against them. One important legal test of whether an excerpt exceeds fair use is if it causes financial harm to the copyright owner.

“The principal question is whether the excerpt is a substitute for the story, or some established adaptation of the story,” said Timothy Wu, a professor at the Columbia Law School. Mr. Wu said that the case is not clear-cut, but he believes that The A.P. is likely to lose a court case to assert a claim on that issue.

“It’s hard to see how the Drudge Retort ‘first few lines’ is a substitute for the story,” Mr. Wu said.

Mr. Kennedy argued, however, that The Associated Press believes that in some cases, the essence of an article can be encapsulated in very few words.

“As content creators, we firmly believe that everything we create, from video footage all the way down to a structured headline, is creative content that has value,” he said.

But he also said that the association hopes that it will not have to test this theory in court.

“We are not trying to sue bloggers,” Mr. Kennedy said. “That would be the rough equivalent of suing grandma and the kids for stealing music. That is not what we are trying to do.”

What? Quit looking at me.

Miss Jackson, If You're Nasty

In round two of the Eggheads vs. Warriors debate, Noemie Emery picks up where Michael Barone left off, contrasting the soon-to-be conventional wisdom that Newsweek is pushing (all opposition to Obama is racial) against the more likely theory that Obama's weakness among white working-class voters is based on, well, his inherent weakness as an "Academician." She describes the Newsweek Doctrine:

In this view--let us call it the Newsweek Doctrine--race is the issue, and the big years in history were 1964 and 1965, when Lyndon B. Johnson did the Right Thing, signing the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, and consigning his party to electoral darkness by losing the South for the next several eons. By these lights, bigotry and fear are the main factors, and all the others are thinly masked surrogates for them. If Obama loses, this will be the excuse of the campaign and of the press that supports it.

As opposed to the Barone Manifesto:

The second school of thought admits the presence of bias as a contributing factor, but not the most important one. The real cause, it thinks, is a cultural divide among whites that splits them on matters of worldview and attitude into hostile and competing camps. Let us call this rival approach the Barone Manifesto, after its author, political analyst Michael Barone, who crunched the poll numbers for Obama's primary battles with Hillary Clinton and discovered that while the former did exceedingly well with white voters in university towns and state capitals, he did poorly almost everywhere else. From this, Barone broke the electorate down into two large divisions--academics and state employees who live in these places, whom he calls Academicians, and Jacksonians, who live elsewhere, especially in the regions close to the Appalachian mountains.

Emery then stacks Academicians and Jacksonians side by side --- anything sound familiar?:

Academicians traffic in words and abstractions, and admire those who do likewise. Jacksonians prefer men of action, whose achievements are tangible. Academicians love nuance, Jacksonians clarity; academicians love fairness, Jacksonians justice; academicians dislike force and think it is vulgar; Jacksonians admire it, when justly applied. Each side tends to look down on the other, though academicians do it with much more intensity: Jacksonians think academicians are inconsequential, while academicians think that Jacksonians are beneath their contempt.

Which brings me back to my photoshop up top. There's Obama, wearing the manifestation of modern nanny-state vanity, the bike helmet. The most physical danger Obama has ever encountered is the chance of reeling headfirst over his handle bars, as opposed to warrior Democrat Andrew Jackson, who endured more danger and violence in his childhood than Obama has in his entire lifetime:

During the American Revolutionary War, Jackson, at age thirteen, joined a local regiment as a courier. Andrew and his brother Robert Jackson were captured by the British, and held as prisoners of war; they nearly starved to death in captivity. When Andrew refused to clean the boots of a British officer, the irate redcoat slashed at him with a sword, giving him scars on his left hand and head, as well as an intense hatred for the British.

As Emery concludes:

...the first credible black candidate to be running for president of the world's greatest power is also one of the least Jacksonian candidates who ever drew breath.

(h/t: memeorandum)

UPDATE: Elsewhere in the Emery piece, she wonders what might happen should a black Jacksonian appear on the scene. See-dubya has found one (and thanks for the link).

It's The Stupid TREES

They kill everyone in M. Night Shyamalan's new movie shitflick The Happening. That's right --- fucking trees release neurotoxins as revenge against mankind's pollution.

Say...I guess now would be a good time for a spoiler alert, huh? Yeah, whatever. Oh, and you're welcome.

Goddamned trees.

UPDATE: Here's the most brutal, spoiler-laden review I've read. Holy shit.

Have A Nice Day

Duck Season!

Sure to cause instantaneous enviro-pants-shitting everywhere, scientists have determined that there is a safer type of duck shot than poisonous ol' lead shot:

Depleted uranium should, perhaps, be the ammunition of choice for duck hunters. That's the conclusion of a study called Response of American Black Ducks to Dietary Uranium: A Proposed Substitute for Lead Shot.

The recommendation, published in 1983 in the Journal of Wildlife Management, has not been much disputed. The study's authors, biologists Susan Haseltine and Louis Sileo, were based at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Centre in Laurel, Maryland.

Lead shot is dangerous for ducks, especially if it hits them. When it doesn't hit a duck (or another hunter, as sometimes happens), the shot falls into the wetlands. The lead leaches into the muck, slowly poisoning any ducks that have managed to avoid being shot.

(h/t: Danger Room)

It's Official: Ron Paul Ends His Campaign Today

Originally announced back in March, it begs the question: how much of a $33 million campaign warchest of worthless fiat currency can you launder into a Scrooge McDuck horde of precious, precious gold in a 3 month period?

Rep. Ron Paul's presidential campaign, a pugnacious, ideological crusade against big government and interventionist leanings in the Republican party, will officially end Thursday at a rally outside the Texas GOP's convention, ABC News has learned.

Paul told supporters back in March, in a video posted on his Web site, that he was "winding down" his campaign and planning a new phase to what he and fans call their "revolution."

(h/t: memeorandum)

John McClane in hot pursuit:

Good Grief?

Terrible news from San Diego --- please say a fake prayer:

OCEANSIDE, Calif. (AP) - On a Monday morning last month, highway patrol officers visited 20 classrooms at El Camino High School to announce some horrible news: Several students had been killed in car wrecks over the weekend.

Michelle de Gracia, 16, was in physics class when an officer announced that her missing classmate David, a popular basketball player, had died instantly after being rear-ended by a drunken driver. She said she felt nauseated but was too stunned to cry.

Sympathetic school counselors and administrators rushed in to comfort the grieving, emotionally wounded students:

"They were traumatized, but we wanted them to be traumatized," said guidance counselor Lori Tauber, who helped organize the shocking exercise and got dozens of students to participate. "That's how they get the message."

UPDATE: Thank you for sharing your fake condolences, Ace and HotAir readers.

UPDATE (6-13-08): Now with video --- guidance counselor/mindfacker Tauber looks/talks exactly as I imagined...

Take No Prisoners

The Supreme Court just guaranteed the wholesale slaughter of terrorists captured on foreign battlefields:

Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the court, said, “The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times.” …

In dissent, Chief Justice John Roberts criticized his colleagues for striking down what he called “the most generous set of procedural protections ever afforded aliens detained by this country as enemy combatants.”

Miranda Rights and interminable legal hearings or expeditious battlefield justice? What's a soldier to do...

Unbelievable (corrected)

***My Very First Correction!***

The video is from April 5, 2004. I thought his hair looked more Harold Fordish with the high part, and the dark shirt is clearly not in his current wardrobe. Trust your instincts, Cuffy! Anyway, this exercise did prompt me to revisit Obama's Senate page on his Iraq De-Escalation Act --- and my antennae are still bristling about it (see postscript).

==============

Via Ace and HotAir comes video of Barack Obama from April 5, 2008 where he claims he NEVER called for a troop withdrawal from Iraq:

Really? No, REALLY?

Because just five freaking days before this bald-faced lie was uttered would have been Surrender In Iraq Day had one of Obama's scant pieces of Senate legislation been passed:

The Iraq War De-escalation Act of 2007

The Obama plan offers a responsible yet effective alternative to the President's failed policy of escalation. Realizing there can be no military solution in Iraq, it focuses instead on reaching a political solution in Iraq, protecting our interests in the region, and bringing this war to a responsible end. The legislation commences redeployment of U.S. forces no later than May 1, 2007 with the goal of removing all combat brigades from Iraq by March 31, 2008, a date that is consistent with the expectation of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group.

Shameless.

P.S. Re-reading my old post, for which I did a bunch of digging, something looks fishy on the Obama legislation page --- I don't remember the words "phased reployment" figuring so prominently and repeatedly the first time I read this jewel. Hmmmmmm. Anyone know how to use that Google cache thingamabob?

Obama Veepstakes & Gen. James Jones: Move Along

MSNBC's FirstRead pipes in on the Obama VP vetting process and gets hooked by a whopper:

The conversations are free-flowing but one name the vetters are inserting in the conversations is one that is not a household name... Ret. Gen. James Jones, the former Marine-turned-NATO Supreme Allied Commander....Jones, a Vietnam vet born in Kansas City, MO (swing state alert!), was a career military officer rising to one of the highest posts possible. Now retired, Jones has been critical of the number of troops currently in Afghanistan. He's been appointed to independent posts by both the Democratic Congress and the Republican-run State Department.

Hmmm. Marine, Vietnam vet, swing state, cold-eyed critic of the Good War, mavericky independent --- sounds good so far for Obama. Alas,

Potentially problematic is that he's on Chevron's board. He also serves on the boards of Boeing...

Are you freakin' kidding me?

CHEVRONNNNN!!!! $4.00 gas! Price gouging! Oil Companies! Apocalypse!

BOEINGGGGGGG!!!!one!!! Largest manufacturer of the highest carbon-footed vehicles on the planet! Second largest defense contractor war profiteer in the world! Lead prime contractor on Obama's hated unproven missile defense system!

(sorry, that never gets old)

I understand --- political reporters have a job like everybody else. Deadline, content, scoops; they gotsta fill some space. But geez, to be roped in by this trial balloon is ... sad.

Slapped By The Invisible Hand. Again.

As a cranky economics major, I love love LOVE seeing bossy, ignorant, normative liberals learn the heartless, iron rules of supply and demand. While the Senate Democrats officially start screeching about windfall profits and price gouging by the oil companies today, Adam Smith's invisible hand coldly touches its next victim --- you cannot escape:

Dealers selling hybrids at $2,000 to $3,000 over MSRP? Sounds pretty ... gougey. Either that or --- and I'm spitballin' here --- hybrids are in very high demand with low supply. Like other ALL stuff, increase the supply and the prices come down.

College isn't cheap, so these painful real world lessons in Econ 101 (i.e. there is no such thing as price gouging, just prices. Deal with it.) will have to suffice for our benighted acolytes of feelgood command economy prescriptions. Delicious.

UPDATE: Thanks for stopping by, HotAir and Ed Driscoll readers.

American Dynastic Reign Averted

Say what you will about the damage Obama will do to the country, but the potential for 28 years of uninterrupted 2-family rule has narrowly been avoided. A one-term Carter clone is better for our long-term health than cementing the nepotistic aura of a Banana Republic. Whew.

It's Vintage, Duh at Doubleplusundead has another reason to cheer Hillary's defeat. But it will only remind you of how depressing this election is.

"Fireball, Fireball, Fireball!"

So blared the intercoms (audio) aboard the USS Lake Erie, alerting the crew to a ballistic missile launch in their patrol area near Hawaii yesterday. Scrambling to their battlestations, the veterans of February's toxic satellite shootdown locked on to the screaming SCUD as it arced through the atmosphere, and quickly launched a salvo of two SM-2 missiles from the Aegis cruiser's forward bays:

"Mark India!" (mark intercept)

Unlike the modified SM-3 hit-to-kill kinetic interceptor launched against the failing spy satellite, this time the Lake Erie fired already-deployed SM-2 interceptors, the Navy's standard air defense missile. It uses an explosive fragmentation warhead to destroy its targets --- which explains the two explosions in the video, the first is the intercept and the other is the second SM-2 self-destructing (range safety!).

The purpose of this test was to demonstrate the Navy's capability to engage ballistic missiles in their terminal phase with off-the-shelf munitions. Think of it as a floating Patriot PAC-3 battery --- our very last chance to splash an incoming missile before it reaches its target city, base or troops in the field:

Over the next 20 months, the military plans to install terminal-phase missile interception capability on all 18 Navy ships equipped with Aegis ballistic missile defenses, Hicks said.

He said the technology would give commanders more options to defend against missiles, particularly if the Patriot missile defense system — a land-based technology designed to shoot down missiles in their final phase of flight — was unavailable.

"If I don't have a Patriot nearby on a shore station to do a short-range threat, near the defended area, I have nothing," Hicks said. "The flexibility of having a ship to complement the Patriot, or to be there when it can't be, is very high on a warfighter priority."

This now-proven Aegis capability complements the short-range Patriots and the longer range THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) batteries, the first of which was just activated (Alpha Battery, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 11th Air Defense Brigade, 32nd Army Air & Missile Defense Command).

And where did that target SCUD come from? Well, Steven Segal fans, from a decommissioned amphibious assault ship, of course:

The ballistic missile had been fired from the decommissioned helicopter carrier USS Tripoli about 250 miles northwest of Kauai....The Tripoli, which was decommissioned in 1996, also was used as a mobile launch platform last year.

Here's the Tripoli in fighting trim, during three tours of Vietnam and the lead Marine assault ship during peacekeeping operations in Somalia:

And here she is being towed out of San Francisco in her new role as floating launchpad. Note the upright radar dishes and the big tent aft --- that's where the target missile resides:

It's nice to know that the Bauer-esque scenario of a rusty freighter anchored off Chesapeake Bay lobbing first-generation ballistic missiles into the heart of DC has just been tested as well. Well done!

While these successful tests are starting to get old for us missile defense guys, others are certain that these "unproven missile defense systems" should be scrapped ASAP:

UPDATE: Thanks, Ace, Jawas, STACLU, and Doubleplusundead.

UPDATE: To clarify the SM-2's being "off-the-shelf," I meant that the Navy has about 100 SM-2 Block IV missiles in inventory, ready to go. These SAM's were not originally designed for ballistic defense duty, but have been modified for that role. The distinction I was making was between this new stockpile and the heavily modified, one-of-a-kind SM-3 that took down the spy satellite.

UPDATE: Thanks, Free Constitution --- check out his kickass Obama/missile defense remix. Also, Redstate and the bot(?) at the NY Times' Blogrunner.

WSJ: Edwards Calls Obama Highly Flatulent

I was just going to post this RNC ad and hat-tip Susan Davis's WSJ blog for it. But I have to admit I giggled when I read her accompanying story and witnessed the power of unchecked spellcheck:

Clips of former President Bill Clinton and former candidate John Edwards are also used. “Rhetoric is not enough. High flatulent language is not enough,” says Edwards from a debate appearance.

High-falutin'.

Anyway, the ad:

Day One

Welcome to the general election campaign, where any and all opposition to Obama will be painted as simple racism. Yawn. Without further ado...

The Florida GOP is circulating a --- gasp --- "DOCTORED PHOTO!" (aka "satirical photoshop") of Fidel Castro endorsing Barack Obama. Outrage ensues (video).

I don't know which is dumber, the newscasters' incredulity that someone would do such an underhanded thing, the people-on-the-street being asked if it's evil, or the newscasters (again) injecting some reeeeeaching racial slant to the story. I'm afraid Florida still retains the title, Dumbest State.

Oh, and by the way, Fidel Castro actually kinda sorta endorsed Obama in an op-ed in Cuba's state-run newspaper. Said Castro:

What did [Obama] say in his speech in Miami, this man who is doubtless, from the social and human points of view, the most progressive candidate to the U.S. presidency?

"For two hundred years," [Obama] said, "the United States has made it clear that we won't stand for foreign intervention in our hemisphere. But every day, all across the Americas, there is a different kind of struggle --not against foreign armies, but against the deadly threat of hunger and thirst, disease and despair. That is not a future that we have to accept --not for the child in Port au Prince or the family in the highlands of Peru. We can do better. We must do better. (…) We cannot ignore suffering to our south, nor stand for the globalization of the empty stomach."

A magnificent description of imperialist globalization: the globalization of empty stomachs! We ought to thank him for it.

Hey, Castro's just returning Obama's favor, you imperialist running dogs racists:

UPDATE: Thanks, Ace and long time no see, morons. Welcome, HotAir (thanks, AP).

UPDATE: Exurban Jon is on the same page --- get ready for an ugly campaign. Nice widget!

UPDATE (6-6-08): Welcome, Conservative Grapevine (thanks, John). I suppose criticizing Obama's stance on missile defense is now verboten as well...

Obama Makes Eagles Weep

Flag pin. Anthem. Michelle's newfound pride. 57 states. You've surely seen all of these uncomfortable Obama clips. But apparently, the ham-fisted maker of this video thinks you're a freakin' retard:

Really --- crying eagles, the soundtrack, and the big honkin' GOP logo at the end. I had to check this guy's other videos just to make sure it wasn't an over-the-top false flag posting from a Colbert wannabe. Nope.

Dude, I question Obama's patriotism without hesitation. But geez, I don't bash folks over the head with half-witted banal tropes to make the point. Ease up there, Riefenstahl.

UPDATE: A late "thanks for linky", DPUD!

Hillary Delegate: "God Damn The Democrats"

God bless the Democrats? NAW NAW NAW!

Hotter Than The Reichstag: Ron Paul Fire Sale!

BILLY MAYS HERE! FABULOUSLY SUCCESSFUL NEWSLETTER PUBLISHER RON PAUL IS KRAZY! HOW KRAZY, YOU ASK? WHO ELSE WOULD GIVE YOU THIS INSANE OPPORTUNITY?

For a mere $25, Ron Paulians can order a grab bag of magnets, buttons, stickers, mouse pads, key chains, hats, wrist bands "and more!." The package will also include a single t-shirt. And if that's not enough to sway you, the $25 includes shipping.

ACT NOW AND HE'LL DOUBLE YOUR ORDER! PLUS HE'LL THROW IN A PAIR OF SPECIAL RON PAUL TOXIN-WICKING JAPANESE FOOT PADS FOR FREE! DID I SAY FREE? I MEANT YOU'LL ALSO GET A LIMITED EDITION RON RAUL GOLD DOUBLOON CAST FROM ORIGINAL BULLION FROM THE TREASURES OF THE SPANISH MAIN!

Oh wait:

The Ron Paul 2008 online store is currently closed for inventory updates.

Off To Whine Country

 

Leaving today for the missus' big fortieth birthday trip --- Napa & Sonoma. I'll chug a spit bucket and punch a hippie ... just for you! See you next week.

Geraldine Ferraro Goes There...Again

The first time, she got booted from the Hillary Clinton campaign for saying "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position." Spinning furiously, Ferraro doubled-down, taking great umbrage at being called a racist for simply stating facts (video).

Having learned her lesson, this time she deploys an oblique line of attack.

Talking about sexism in the campaign on the Today Show, Geraldine says it would be an outrage if a hypothetical racist (not her!) held up a "SHINE MY SHOES!" placard at an Obama rally, whereas there wasn't a peep when a sexist actually held up an "IRON MY SHIRT!" sign at a Hillary event. It comes at the 5:45 mark:

Got that? Geraldine is just saying other folks would be inclined to denigrate Obama's race. Just like Bob Kerrey said other folks were calling Obama the Islamic Manchurian Candidate. They're just sayin', yo.

Enjoy these magic moments while they last...

UPDATE: Welcome, HotAir (thanks, Ed).

Back To The Future

At the pinnacle of USSR power, Soviet road-mobile ICBMs, SS-25's ("Sickles") parade in front of Lenin's Tomb for Victory Day 1985 --- 1985, Marty!

And at the 5:00 mark, Russian SS-25's lumber across Red Square on Victory Day for the first time since the fall of the Soviet Union:

Meh. While the sight of hordes of rumbling Russian military hardware would prompt President Obama to reflexively beg to talk to them about something/anything!-please-pretty-please-let's talk!, the Pentagon says "whatevs":

The United States expressed no alarm over the parade. Russia has become a leading global arms exporter again, but its wares are almost all items designed decades ago. A Pentagon spokesman, echoing a view common among military analysts, had characterized the planned military review as a hollow show of dated gear bearing fresh coats of paint.

“If they wish to take out their old equipment and take it for a spin and check it out,” said the spokesman, Geoff Morrell, “they’re more than welcome to do so.”

In any case, it's been a loooong time since we in the missile defense business have seen their big missile rigs in action --- nice show, comrades. I bet the launch tubes were empty or full of beets.

Gas Tax Holiday? Too Late For Jevic Transportation

Derided by both the left and the right as gimicky and a modern example of bread & circuses, the proposed gas tax holiday comes too late to save trucking company Jevic Transportation:

Citing high diesel and insurance costs and the economic downturn, Jevic Transportation of Delanco, N.J., said today that was ceasing operations after 27 years.

So, while we bicker endlessly about short term perceptions versus the long term implications of a TAX CUT...:

Call me a radical, but a tax is a tax. It’s my money being confiscated, and even if I get one penny of relief via baldfaced pandering, it’s still a victory.

It sickens me when conservatives ignore a cornerstone of our philosophy—tax relief—because they deem it “too small.” Weak.

...today's high fuel costs claim their first big victim. Congratulations!

Done

Strange Juice Up The Caboose

While Ace courts controversy with Darwinism vs. Intelligent Design, I ... lower ... my sights somewhat to examine colon cleanses, aka colonics.

First, here's the Scientific Method at its very best --- experimentation with various liquids (coffee, Red Bull, and Schlitz). As Newton said, Pigmaei gigantum humeris impositi plusquam ipsi gigantes vident, oh yeah and links to frothy jets of liquid shit are obviously NSFW.

And here are noted scientists Penn & Teller debunking the purified bunghole bonanza that's fleecing America. Even YouTube will tell you --- NSFW:

It's your ass. It's dirty. Have a great weekend!

Respected TV Pundit Gives Obama Advice On His Future Cabinet

Taking a refreshingly candid, contrary postion on Obama's problems with bitter, religious gun owners, an influential campaign strategist passionately stresses that Obama actually doesn't "need a Cabinet full of clingers":

I got swimmer's ear at the lake last weekend. Sue me.

1,356,745th Example Of Clueless Email Habits

After permanent paper email trails have brought down countless individuals and companies, you'd think folks would wise up --- especially at the Department of Defense:

Back in June 2006 there's this email ...

hi. jed babbin, one of our military analysts, is hosting the michael medved nationally syndicated radio show this afternoon. he would like to see if general casey would be available for a phone interview any time between 3 and 6 pm. topics would be: status of operations in iraq and if troop levels should/can/will be reduced. ... please feel free to contact jed directly (contact info below) if the general can/would be available for the interview. this would be a softball interview and the show is 8th or 9th in the nation.

A short time later a press flack from the Office of the Secretary of Defense writes back ...

Hi Thanks for sending this. Just fyi, probably wouldn't put "softball" interview in writing. If that got out it would compromise jed and general casey.

NEWSFLASH: It always gets out. A-L-W-A-Y-S. While you're at it, just assume everything you ever write ON A DoD COMPUTER will be a) read by a dozen other people and a few hundred algorithms at the NSA, and b) backed- up forfreakingever.

(h/t: memeorandum)

Slammed

Please pardon the light posting. I'm slammed with a rebranding of my company, have a big vacation coming up, and am simply burned out on everything else (politics, pop culture bullshit, etc.). Posting here and commenting elsewhere will be fitful for the rest of May. See you again soon --- maybe!

Polarization: A Coda

Point:

"I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on," [Sen. Clinton] said in an interview with USA TODAY. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article "that found how Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me."

"There's a pattern emerging here," she said.

Counterpoint:

Polarization Complete

Mission accomplished, Hillary:

With Clinton posing alongside pioneering Indy speedster Sarah Fisher, there were almost no African-Americans to be seen. Many in the white, working-class crowd were simply not ready to back Barack Obama - for reasons that are disturbing.

"I'm kind of still up in the air between McCain and Hillary," said Jason Jenkins, 32, who cited information from a hoax e-mail as a reason to spurn Obama.

"I'll be honest with you. Barack scares the hell out of me,"he said. "He swore on the Koran."

Obama did manage to pull in many white voters, but still encountered similar sentiments from a man who refused to shake his hand at a diner in Greenwood, Ind.

"I can't stand him," the man said. "He's a Muslim. He's not even pro-American as far as I'm concerned."

Such feelings leave Clinton and the Democratic Party in a tough spot. With the largest number of remaining delegates nowbeing party insiders, they have to decide if Obama can overcome enough of that antipathy - essentially deciding if enough working-class whites will back away from the black candidate, whether because of the false Muslim rumors, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright flap or old-fashioned racism.

To reiterate: these are white Democrats talking.

So, thank God for Hillary Clinton. Had Obama just skated through the primaries unopposed, blame for all of this voter racism would have been laid exclusively and reflexively on Republicans. Don't get me wrong --- it will still happen to the GOP by November. But at least Hillary's white Democrats and Obama's black Democrats respectively own it right now.

(h/t: memeorandum)

Caption That!

Horning in on V the K's game...

Yahoos

Greed is good:

Yahoo! Inc. fell the most in almost two years on the Nasdaq after Microsoft Corp. abandoned its $44.6 billion takeover of the Internet search company because executives couldn't agree on a price.

``Yahoo's stock is going to crater, and Yahoo shareholders are going to go bang on everyone's head and say, `How does this benefit me?''' said Richard Williams, an analyst in Short Hills, New Jersey, at Cross Research who advises investors to hold on to Microsoft shares and doesn't own any.

``Yahoo is going to be under a lot of pressure,'' said Peter Falvey, managing director at Boston-based technology-merger adviser Revolution Partners. ``A lot of shareholders are going to say, `Hmm, maybe we overreached.'''

Ballmer and deputy Kevin Johnson met May 3 in Seattle with Yahoo co-founders Yang and David Filo, two people familiar with the talks said. Yang and Filo refused to accept less than $37 a share and flew back to California.

``To say we are disappointed is an understatement,'' William Morrison and Robert Coolbrith at New York-based ThinkPanmure wrote in a report yesterday. Rejecting Microsoft's offer is ``likely to go down as one of the more destructive decisions for shareholder value in the history of Internet stocks.''

On a related note, I can't remember the last time I visited Yahoo for anything.

Operation Barbara Ann

Getting ready to strike the Iranian frontier:

The US military is drawing up plans for a “surgical strike” against an insurgent training camp inside Iran if Republican Guards continue with attempts to destabilise Iraq, western intelligence sources said last week. One source said the Americans were growing increasingly angry at the involvement of the Guards’ special-operations Quds force inside Iraq, training Shi’ite militias and smuggling weapons into the country.

“If the situation in Basra goes back to what it was like before, America is likely to blame Iran and carry out a surgical strike on a militant training camp across the border in Khuzestan,” said one source, referring to a frontier province.

Reporting on the arrival of USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group in the Persian Gulf last week, NBC News says we have a "target list" already drawn up:

Meanwhile, Iranian state news is in panic mode --- the Sword of Damocles hangs over their head:

On April 29, a second American aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, arrived in the Persian Gulf in what observers see as a tacit declaration of war on the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Under a plan approved by the US Defense Department, Central Command would be allowed to retaliate for an Iranian attack with US air strikes. The US government is in fact contemplating on an attack against Iran. Yet they are waiting for a ripe time. Any excuse they find can be used for their attack. According to reports, the attack would range from a limited to full-scale one.

Elsewhere on that Iranian state news website, US Democrats are lauded:

Pre