Doug: IRAN, NUKES, & OIL: THE GULF CONFRONTATION

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Doug

General McCraffrey’s presentation is an eye opener … View the entire report if you can.

Doug

A basic axiom of military operations starts with an assessment of enemy CAPABILITIES-­-­ not enemy INTENTIONS.

There is now widespread intelligence agreement that the Iranians would be foolhardy (INTENTIONS) to blockade the Gulf inviting GCC and US retaliation-­-­ and also
shutting off their own oil exports which provides 80% of their foreign revenue.
There is also a widespread incorrect intelligence assessment that the Iranians lack the CAPABILITIES to shut down the Gulf exports. NOT SO.

…

The latest saber rattling by the Iranian Armed Forces threatening the US Navy Carrier Stennis Battle Group to not return to the Gulf was significant. It was immediately and widely derided as an empty threat by 5th Fleet in Bahrain. In my judgment the US will not and should not place a carrier at risk in the narrow Gulf waters if combat operations are deemed likely. There is a high probability that the Iranians could SINK a US carrier (with 5000+ sailors) in these constrained waters with their current military capabilities. It would mean all-­out war if that happened.

View the entire report if you can.

 

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Why is the Concordia on its starboard side?

Posted on January 19, 2012 by On the North River

Costa Concordia: investigators probe role of young Moldovan woman on cruise ship

Adding to the mystery, she was reportedly not on the official list of passengers and crews.

The Telegraph of London has had the best coverage, though I still have questions on aspects of the accident that I don’t understand. I have read that the damage to the ship was on the port side, and in fact a huge piece of sea bottom rock is still struck in the ships hull on that side. What I don’t understand is why the ship capsized on the STARBOARD side?

With a 160ft gash on the port side, the flooding would have caused a list to port. Normally in other disasters at sea the ship’s officers have counter-flooded on the opposite side from the damage to maintain a even keel so that the lifeboats could be launched. So why is the ship on its starboard side? And why did the ship capsize so quickly that almost none of the ships boats were able to be launched?

It has also been reported that the captain dropped his anchors on one side of the ship, which side not specified. No anchor cables are seen in photos of the dry port side, so did he drop his anchors while the ship was still at high speed on the starboard side and by doing so literally pull the ship over?

Italy is a nation with a very long history and traditions of seafaring, Italian sailors have been among the worlds best. I can understand why the entire Italian nation is so outraged and embarrassed by this Captain.

April 15th, 2012: The One Hundredth Anniversary of the Titanic Sinking.

Posted in All the News not fit to print., Foreign Newspapers, Low Tide | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Nigel Farage Jan 2012

Posted on January 19, 2012 by On the North River

Video: UKIP Leader Nigel Farage first speech to new President Schultz Jan, 2012

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SOPA

Posted on January 18, 2012 by On the North River

xkcd.com logo

A webcomic of romance,
sarcasm, math, and language.

Boston reacts to Wikipedia’s protest blackout

By Dan O’Brien
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 – Updated 1 hour ago

Like it or not, you’re going old school today.

The Web’s go-to information site, Wikipedia, will be blocked all day today to protest two pending anti-piracy laws.

“I think a lot of people will be upset because they didn’t know about it,” said Katie Elmore, 27, of Brighton, who uses Wikipedia to look up information on celebrities.

Wikipedia is joining a slew of websites including Facebook and Google, that are upset over two federal bills, the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect Internet Protocol Act, that would allow the government to shut down sites that might contain pirated material – something opponents say would have chilling effect on free speech. Neither Google nor Facebook has any plans to block their sites in protest.

But for Mina Tsay, a social media professor at Boston University, the Wikipedia break might be a breath of fresh air. She’s noticed a disturbing rise in the number of students who cite facts in research papers from the user-generated, not-always-accurate Internet encyclopedia.

“A lot of students cite Wikipedia, which is quite terrible, especially in academia,” Tsay said. “It’s something we don’t consider an academic source.”

Robbie Goodwin, 20, a film- writing major at Emerson College, looks up facts on Wikipedia using his smartphone in and out of class, including for research papers, saying it’s good for “cursory information” and “is a little deeper than an encyclopedia, which is cool.”

“At the dinner table, whenever there’s a fact nobody knows, I look it up on my phone and everyone thinks I’m really smart,” he said.

Wikipedia has 460 million visitors a month. A link to the site is often first to pop up when typing a question into a search engine, such as Google.

Fred Hapgood, 70, a retired writer from Brighton, said he donates $60 a year to Wikipedia. “I use it (when I) run into something that’s mysterious or unclear.”

Alex Clarke, 20, of Boston supports Wikipedia’s blackout decision, especially after the website Tumblr recently blocked out its content over the same issue. “It freaked people out.”

Nicco Mele, public policy lecturer at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, said the piracy vs. censorship spat won’t end soon.

“This is just another installment in a very long war between the Internet giants and the Hollywood and cable giants,” he said.

Wikipedia plans to return at midnight.

Herald reporter Brendan Lynch contributed to this report.

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Doug: Rudy on Newt

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Doug

Giuliani: “What the Hell Are You Doing, Newt?”

“I expect this from Saul Alinsky.”

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who ran for President in 2008 and dipped a toe in the waters of the 2012 contest, professed himself “shocked” by Newt Gingrich’s attacks on Mitt Romney’s private-sector career during a “Fox and Friends” appearance this morning.

Giuliani asked, “What the hell are you doing, Newt?  I expect this from Saul Alinsky!  This is what Saul Alinsky taught Barack Obama, and what you’re saying is part of the reason we’re in so much trouble right now.”

Kinda how I feel.

Doug

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Visit some friends.

Posted on January 17, 2012 by On the North River

The Original Green Movement

MissRed

copied this from a friend…
Checking out at the supermarket recently, the young cashier suggested I should bring my own carrier bags because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment. I apologised and explained, “We didn’t have this green thing back in my earlier days.” The cashier responded, “That’s our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations.”
She was right about one thing — our generation didn’t have the green thing in “Our” day.

It’s true, it’s true…

Continue reading →

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Why piss on the Taliban,God sends rain, Huntsman who?

Posted on January 16, 2012 by On the North River

Afghan boy suicide bombers tell how they are brainwashed into believing they will survive

The mission was as simple as touching two wires together, the little boy was promised. The resulting blast would obliterate the American infidels – but God would spare him from the flame and shrapnel. Abdul Samat would be unharmed and free to run back to the men who had fitted his bomb vest.

No, No, No. It’s WRONG to piss on dead Taliban terrorists.

Why God sends rain to Mexico but not to the Middle East [Papa B]

Huntsman: A boutique candidacy that didn’t sell

…and the few people who were attracted to the Huntsman campaign were moderate Republicans, independents, Democrats — and the media.

I realized recently that I had left Huntsman off the poll I had up of Republican Candidates. Good thing I had “other” as a choice. But no one chided me on the lapse or wrote him in. You know what that means? Jon Huntsman will be a killer trivia question in about a year from now.

Advisory Board Says LightSquared Can’t Coexist With GPS

“Based upon this testing an analysis, there appear to be no practical solutions or mitigations that would permit the LightSquared broadband service, as proposed, to operate in the next few months or years without significantly interfering with GPS. As a result, no additional testing is warranted at this time.”

That seems clear, now we get to see if political leverage with the Obama Red Shed (formerly known as The White House) trumps the public’s unhampered use of a key and increasingly important technology.

LightSquared’s response…This is nothing more than a thinly-veiled attempt by government agencies to protect the interests of the GPS industry who are unauthorized users infringing on spectrum licensed to LightSquared.

We are all “unauthorized users”? FU, Mr. Falcone.

Outrage over a pair of bills, the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House and the Protect Intellectual Property Act in the Senate, is building ahead of a planned protest on Wednesday in which popular websites plan to black out their front pages to raise awareness.

OK, I’m in. Once I figure out how to “black out” my front page.

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Soros Man?, If we’re dumb and win?, Its Israel.

Posted on January 14, 2012 by On the North River

Ron Paul’s Soros Defense Plan

It was recently observed that Ron Paul was to the left of Obama on national security and the best evidence for that statement can be found when one year ago Ron Paul joined forces with Barney Frank on a proposal to gut national defense via a panel of experts, quite a few of whom were tied to George Soros.

I’m glad that Ron Paul wants to cut the Federal Budget and cut taxes, that’s great. But when you elect a President you get the whole package. Ron Paul’s stated stands on National Defense and Foreign Policy disqualify him from the office of President. If he won’t agree to pledge not to break off in a third party run in the Fall, then we must all work to deny him every vote and every dollar. He would then be a Democrat/Soros tool.

“Conservatives Remain the Largest Ideological Group in U.S.” (And, of Late, the Dumbest)

No doubt a sub-set of the “Republicans, they thirst for death” mime.

From the ever terrific and amazingly well written, “American Digest”.

Who’s killing Iranian nuclear scientists?

I couldn’t decide on which is the best comment:

A.   But do they need a grant?

B.   Who was that masked man? I wanted to thank him!

C.   Don’t worry about it, its all Kosher.

Is the Republican Party Stupid?

We are making the same mistakes made four years ago. First, stop treating Liberal Media types as if they weren’t there to gain an advantage for the Democrats.

Progressives Attack Dana Loesch For ‘Cheering’ Marines Pissing On Dead Taliban

I didn’t even know that CNN had someone like her, I may have to stop calling them, “Communist News Network”.

Posted in 2012, All the News not fit to print., Blogbits, Cartoons, News and opinion, Time to talk a little treason, When Progressives Attack | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Tricks and traps, missing workers, dangers of being insuffiently sad.

Posted on January 13, 2012 by On the North River

Retail really below 2006 levels?………….from Rico

The reported ‘offishul’ retail sales for Dec 2011 were up 0.1%…BUT…things are actually worse than we are being told.
– We are being lied to (again).

In the last 20 years, the US population has grown by 23% while the Dollar has ‘lost’ 39% of its purchasing power to inflation.

The retail “consumer” economy, adjusted for population growth and inflation is thus about 7% below Jan 2006 levels.

This is not a recovery, but we can all be ‘happy’ that the government declared the recession ‘over’ a couple years ago.

Hmmm…how did that go again? Oh yeah….figures lie, and liars figure.
– ad erratum est….our government lies.

Nearly 1 Million Workers Vanished Under Obama

In the 30 months since the recession officially ended, nearly 1 million people have dropped out of the labor force — they aren’t working, and they aren’t looking — according to data from Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the past two months, the labor force shrank by 170,000.

No, No, Here I Am! Of course I’m not working, or at least I’m not getting a paycheck.

If you adjust for this drop, the unemployment rate would be close to 11%, instead of the official 8.5%.

And then there is Under-employed and graduate students that have never worked full-time and can’t get started in this economy.

Justice Department memo argues Obama recess appointments were legal

In 2004, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals validated the presidential power and refused to set a minimum length of recess for such appointments to be valid.

“The Constitution, on its face, does not establish a minimum time that an authorized break in the Senate must last to give legal force to the President’s appointment power under the Recess Appointments Clause. And we do not set the limit today,” the court ruled in Evans v. Stephens.

On Thursday, Tom Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said the business trade association has not made a decision on challenging the recess appointments in court, a sign the administration might have a strong case.

My analysis is that the Congress didn’t do its homework and forgot what they are dealing with, namely, a Con-Man and a Megalomaniac. Just because no American President has behaved in this way before, means nothing with this President. We have never had a President who refuses to respect the Flag, Veterans, and the Law before either.

And If This Goes On…

North Koreans Who Weren’t Sufficiently Hysterical Over Kim Jong-Il’s Death Headed to Labor Camps

Risk and dangers of being insufficiently sad.

The informant from North Hamkyung Province told the website: ‘The authorities are handing down at least six months in a labour-training camp to anybody who didn’t participate in the organised gatherings during the mourning period, or who did participate but didn’t cry and didn’t seem genuine.’

What a great line I just came up with, of course I can’t print it.

It wouldn’t be the same as if I were threatening George Bush…

Death Threats Against Bush at Protests Ignored for Years

Lucky for these scum that the unionized police are around to protect them.

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On Photography, Part Two.

Posted on January 12, 2012 by On the North River

I had quite a response to my previous post, “On Photography”, I wonder to what degree that is because everyone has a interest in or experience with photography. A.K.A. “Writing with Light”.  Today, just about 100% of the population over the age of 10 has a camera. The strange thing is, most are hyphenated cameras. There are Cell-phones with cameras, PDA’s with built-in cameras, laptops with cameras (most of those are really video cameras), cameras built into light fixtures and books to spy on the babysitter, and even remote cameras you can access across the internet and “snap” pictures half a world away.

There are cameras built into ATM’s and elevators. Cameras in banks and bodegas. Cameras can be built into mailboxes and Cop cars, traffic lights and stop signs, beds and doors. And lets not forget, (five year annual appointment coming up) anal probes.

(Aside: Why do Dentists and Proctologists insist on printing the images they get and showing them to you?)

This introspection lead me into thinking about and remembrance of the cameras I’ve owned or used throughout my life. Starting with the Kodak Starmite 1961 (I or II). A plastic body, a plastic lens with a fixed focus (infinity) and still used AG-1 flashbulbs.  This being many years before the first photographic strobes became available.

Continue reading →

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