War on Terror Global SitRep

As the Global War On Terror continues, some news briefs haven't made the main stream media. The politically correct press continues to shield the Islamofascists and other bad guys from scrutiny.

Russia

Our Russian "ally" delivers Tor-M1 air defense systems to Iran. This system is capable of identifying 48 targets, and firing at two simultaneously. This $700 million sale defies the US arms boycott agreement.

North Korea

As starvation continues this winter, refugees pay $20 to cross into China. China exploits the situation and demands that Pyongyang implement Chinese Communist style government.

China

People's Liberation Army foments terror in Southeast Asia, and the goal is to take the strategic Malaaca Straits. PLA also behind training and arms supply to Islamofascists in India.

Thailand

Islamic terrorists continue to kill innocent Buddhists in drive by shootings.

Philippines

Bounties on terrorists are working! To date, 155 criminals have been caught and $834,000 in bounty has been paid.

Canada

Canada's armed forces are so small that its 2,400 troop NATO deployment in Afghanistan leaves them short for security for the 2010 winter Olympics.

United States

Hawaiian spy ring busted. Indian-born defense contractor indicted for selling B-52 and cruise missile technology to China. Al Qaeda's revolutionary creed is based on Marxism-Leninism, and can be discredited, according to Rand Corp.

Costa Rica

US busts a home-made submarine with 2.7 tons of coke worth $90 million as it headed for the US from Columbia. 4 bad guys arrested.

Ecuador

US takes a hit in the drug war. US to be ousted from a crucial anti-drug base in South America. Ecuadorian government intends to convert the base into an airport.

United Kingdom

Russian dissident Aleksander Litvineneko, author of Blowing Up Russia: Terror From Within, a book critical of Russian President Vladmir Putin, was poisoned by radioactive polonium-210. Two other Russian diners with Litvinenko were also poisoned.

Germany

Master Communist spy Marcus Wolf has died. The stalinist's 40-year reign included torture and imprisonment of thousands of defiant East Germans during the cold war.

Turkey

Turk-Iran commission to fight Kurdish PKK terrorism in Turkey and Iran is implemented.

Israel

After losing dozens of Merkava tanks from Russian-made Kornet missiles during last summer's war with Hezbollah, Israel has developed an active missile protection system that can detect incoming missiles with radar.

Iraq

Death squads, made up of female Shiites, head to Baghdad armed with silenced pistols and bayonets. They will be disguised as Sunnis displaced by Shiites, according to Sunni intelligence sources.

Afghanistan

Utilizing smart bomb technology, allies forces eliminated 1,000 Taliban fighters during the summer offensive. Thanks go to coalition A-10 and F-16 drivers.

Saudi Arabia

Taking a cue from the US, perhaps, the Kingdom plans a high-tech, $12 billion wall along its border with Iraq to protect it from invading Islamofascists and other terrorists.

Guinea-Bissau

Law enforcement has all but collapsed in this tiny Atlantic coast African nation. Long known as a drug transit haven, a recent bust of cocaine from South America resulted in the bad guys being turned loose.

Nigeria

In a new twist, Operation Samaria seeks to train and send 50,000 Nigerian Christian missionaries during the next 15 years to evangelize Islamics from Nigeria to Saudi Arabia.

Somalia

Ethiopian troops deployed to support government forces and prevent violent Islamic Courts terrorists from invading Ethiopia. Yemen, Uganda and Kenya join forces against the Islamic Courts.

South Africa
Air Force seeks troop racial mix to 75% black and 25% white, reversing current racial makeup of 81% white. Transition is a problem; government's recruitment of unseasoned pilots has increased air training accidents.

Hat tip to Dr. Martin Brass for his global intel.

Seems Like Old Times

Jane! Hanoi Jane! Gee, it's great to see you protesting a war again, just like back in the 70s. It's like the old days! Look, here we are in front of the capital, with all our loopy friends out there in the crowd. Well, I don't see any Black Panthers, but there's Dick Gregory over there, so that's close. And in lieu of flower-power hippies, we have Code Pink. Code Pink, hey! Over here! "Pull. Out. Now!" That is so heavy. Where's Cindy?

This is so neat! Look, Sean Penn! And there's Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins, and Jesse Jackson and Maxine Waters and Dennis Kucinich. All the beautiful, enlightened people are here.

And what else is cool, is we get to spray paint our inane slogans on the capital steps! That will show 'em - it'll really make our voice heard. Back, off Capital pigs! We know our rights! Yeah, those Neo-Cons won't mess with us.

If we just had an Iraqi anti-aircraft gun, or maybe an RPG, to stage some photos with. Oh, well, this rally of useful idiots will just have to do. Well, gotta go. I'm babysitting my grand kids today.

Peace, man!

The Ballad of Smoothride Glide and Lightfoot Cruise; Part II

Every once in while
The stories, they must be told
It keeps the flame alive to spread the news:
So hear ye now the ballad
Of Smoothride Glide and Lightfoot Cruise.

The day was dark and the wind’s a-howlin
Drivin’ the lee rail under
The rigging is singing a mournful song -
So vang the main and sheet the jib -
Hell, storms don’t last long.

Lightfoot’s praying and Smoothride’s laughing
You know how daring serves a fool.
But they’re nicely making way
With forty feet of waterline
Turning gray swells into spray.

The water in the cockpit is ankle deep
And Smoothride’s on the helm.
The jib sheet has gone flying
Lightfoot’s on the for’ard winch
And the halyards are sighing.

Now she may blow down,
And she may not right,
And the mast may crack asunder.
But she’ll make port at her own good speed
Amid laughter that sounds like thunder.

So it’s always a day for sailin’
And it’s always a day for livin’
And a dare fair won dispels the blues.
So take you now this life lesson
From Smoothride Glide and Lightfoot Cruise.

Copyright © 1998-2007 All Rights Reserved

Antikythera Decoded

One of the most intriguing archeological finds this century was the encrusted mechanical device found in 1901 on a 2,000 year-old shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea midway between Greece's Peloponnesian peninsula and the island of Crete.

Although having been studied extensively over the years, it was only recently that sophisicated x-ray and light imaging technology allowed a fuller understanding of the the so-called Antikythera mechanism.

The device, dating from Greece about 200 BC, was a very accurate solar and lunar calculator, able to predict eclipses and identify subtle irregularities in the lunar orbit. The bronze instrument tracked the Metonic cycle, which is based on the near equivalence of 235 lunar months to 19 solar years.

US Sub Hits Fishing Vessel

The nuclear-powered fast attack submarine USS Newport News reportedly collided with a Japanese fishing vessel in the Arabian Sea just south of the Straits of Hormuz. No injuries were reported, but there was some damage.

Nuclear High Noon

Israel's secret plan to use tactical nuclear weapons against Iran's uranium enrichment facilities was leaked last week. According to government sources, a single air strike, using tactical nukes roughly one-fifteenth the yield of the relatively small 1945 Hiroshima bomb, would follow conventional "bunker-busters". The small nukes would detonate deep underground, destroying the Iranian facility, while containing radioactive fallout.

The Israeli government has warned repeatedly that it will never allow nuclear weapons to be made in Iran, whose president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has declared that “Israel must be wiped off the map”.

In Iran, Tehran has issued its own warning that anyone attacking them would regret it, while at the same time used the Israeli threat as proof that Israel has nuclear weapons.

Broken Vows

To no one's surprise, after only five days of basking in congressional power, which they believe is their birthright, it comes to light that the Democrats have lied to us.

Campaigning to expand the work week to five days, like those of us in the electorate, Dems are now only working four days a week. Home come? Monday's a holiday because of the Florida-Ohio game. I'm not making this up. And next Monday's a holiday, too, because it's MLK's birthday. Well, we can't expect the anointed to put in the same hours of labor that we mere mortals are expected to produce, can we?

But what's worse is despite Pelosi's campaigning against raising taxes, the very first vote of the 110th congress was to change the house rules in order to circumvent the super-majority rule necessary to enact tax increases. Others have taken notice, too:

"American taxpayers need to hold on to their wallets because the new House rules concerning taxes are not worth the paper they're written on," said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR).

"After spending an entire year on the campaign trail claiming she will not raise taxes, the first vote Nancy Pelosi brings to the floor for a vote as speaker will open the door to billions and billions of dollars of tax increases over the next two years," Mr. Norquist said.

Democrats cannot get elected by campaigning as who they really are. The midterm elections saw many "moderate" and "conservative" democrats win their races. But once in congress a democrat "grows," and is free to "vote his conscience." And that always means that we the taxpayers will once again foot the bill.

I'm not surprised, and yeah, I told you so.

Harbingers of the New Year?

Well, we're just 15 hours into the new year, and several interesting things have happened, some good, some bad and some just . . . interesting.

Aside from unusual happenings around the ol' homestead, like a stopped-up sewer line early this morning, and the aft davit lift motor on my dock going on the fritz, things are relatively normal. On New Year's Eve, in accordance with generations-old Southern custom, we always make a batch of Hoppin' John, and it was delicious, topped with chopped green onions and liberal dashes of hot sauce. The libations and fine cigars were enjoyed, and all here is well. However, elsewhere . . .

In Japan, a country of staid and conservative social values, a televised New Years Eve music special raised some eyebrows and caused national broadcaster NHK to issue an apology for the special's "topless" dancers. NHK said the dancers were actually wearing body suits, but I watched the video, and well, watched it again, just to be sure. Judge for yourself.

In Denver, just hours after the San Francisco 49ers and Dever Broncos game, Denver Bronco cornerback Darrent Williams was shot and killed in his limousine during a drive by shooting. Others were hit, as well, and were taken to local hospitals. Williams was 24.

In Chicago, witnesses reported the sighting of a UFO over O'Hare Airport. This is notable, because unlike the myriad UFO reports and conspiracy theories posted on Jeff Rense's website, this one made mainstream media. Officials explain the sighting as a weather phenomenon caused by heavy, low-hanging clouds reflecting city and airport light. Right. That's creative. At least they didn't use the old "it's just a weather balloon" cover.

Seems the AP-AOL pollsters can't get it right. A poll by Associated Press-AOL News indicates that most Americans see doom and gloom in the new year. In an Associated Press-AOL News poll, most Americans are optimistic about the new year. OK. Got it.