Month: September 2008

I Wish This Were My Congresscritter

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Matt Stoller, of Open Left, got the following missive from an unnamed Congressman:

Paulsen and congressional Republicans, or the few that will actually vote for this (most will be unwilling to take responsibility for the consequences of their policies), have said that there can’t be any “add ons,” or addition provisions. F$#@ that. I don’t really want to trigger a world wide depression (that’s not hyperbole, that’s a distinct possibility), but I’m not voting for a blank check for $700 billion for those mother f$#@ers.

Nancy said she wanted to include the second “stimulus” package that the Bush Administration and congressional Republicans have blocked. I don’t want to trade a $700 billion dollar giveaway to the most unsympathetic human beings on the planet for a few f$#@ing bridges. I want reforms of the industry, and I want it to be as punitive as possible.

Henry Waxman has suggested corporate government reforms, including CEO compensation, as the price for this. Some members have publicly suggested allowing modification of mortgages in bankruptcy, and the House Judiciary Committee staff is also very interested in that. That’s a real possibility.

We may strip out all the gives to industry in the predatory mortgage lending bill that the House passed last November, which hasn’t budged in the Senate, and include that in the bill. There are other ideas on the table but they are going to be tough to work out before next week.

I also find myself drawn to provisions that would serve no useful purpose except to insult the industry, like requiring the CEOs, CFOs and the chair of the board of any entity that sells mortgage related securities to the Treasury Department to certify that they have completed an approved course in credit counseling. That is now required of consumers filing bankruptcy to make sure they feel properly humiliated for being head over heels in debt, although most lost control of their finances because of a serious illness in the family. That would just be petty and childish, and completely in character for me.

I’m open to other ideas, and I am looking for volunteers who want to hold the sons of bitches so I can beat the crap out of them.

Making a Bad Situation Worse

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Well, it appears that the American House fetish and the lobbying of predatory realtors is getting results, as the House Financial Services Committee has approved the markup of H.R. 6694, which re-institutes the insane downpayment assistance program, in which sellers make a payment to non-profits, plus a “service charge”, and the non profits “gift” this to a potential home buyer, so that they can qualify for a FHA loan.

Typical scenario: a home owner has a buyer who has no downpayment for a $100K house, so the home seller “donates” $6000 to to a “non-profit” group, which takes a $500 fee, and “gifts” the remainder to the home buyer, so the home buyer now buys the house at $106,000, which the FHA recognizes as 5% down, and so qualifies for a loan.

Of course, the buyer has still put no money down, and they owe more on the mortgate, and the statistics show a much higher default rate.

It does not put people in houses. It creates a default/foreclosure timebomb.

Foreign Relations Committee Tells Condi to Go Cheney Herself

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Condoleeza Rice has negotiated agreements with the UK and Australia to allow for smoother transfers of defense technologies between the nations, as ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) can be a rather ponderous apparatus.

After repeated delays in the State Department supplying information regarding the impact of these treaties on existing statute, U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee has decided to defer consideration of the compacts until after Bush and His Evil Minions&trade are out of office.

Payback is a bitch, bitch.

The Cause of the 777 Crash at Heathrow

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BA038 crashed when it lost power on descent on January 17 of this year, and it appears now that the problem was caused by ice accumulation in the fuel system impeding fuel flow.

It flew over Siberia at relatively high altitudes and low fuel flows, and so ice accumulated, and when the throttle was added during descent, ice broke loose, and plugged the fuel lines.

If it wasn’t a one in a million thing, it was close.

It’s an interesting read.

Replacing the M16/M4 and Possibly the 5.56 Round

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Well, this is one of those issues that leads to heated discussions, so let’s start with my position:

The 5.56 round is just find, and any lethality issues are an artifact that the barrel on the M4 carbine, at 14.5 inches, is too short. The M-16 with its 20 inch barrel does not have the lethality issues.

The solution is to replace the M4 with a Bullpup design with a barrel length of at least 18 inches.

Such a design will still be shorter than the M4, and hence easier to handle in enclosed spaces, such as city warfare.

I would also go with a piston arrangement, as opposed to a gas tube, which to bring too much fouling.

‘Nuff said.

In any case, the Army is now looking at an M4 replacement, and is considering going with something like a 6.5mm or 6.8mm round.

This has all the hallmarks of a fiasco to my mind though. They are bidding a new weapon and allowing for a new caliber at the same time, which means that they will not really be able to compare apples to apples.

It should be interesting on the boards for a while though as various gun religions engage in Jihad.

Boo Yah!!!!

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I was reading this article about the spate of aerial encounters between Russian bombers and NATO aircraft, and it appears that it gets pilots pumped up on both sides.

Regardless of the political fallout of the situation, pilots on both sides just love this stuff.

In any case, a commenter at this article, after noting that the Russian pilots get only about $800/month, said something very wise:

[R]ather than build JSF or Raptors, why not just take that money, and recruit Russian pilots away? We can move them into foreclosed condo’s down in So Beach, pay them twice what they make, and I think save the American Taxpayer a ton of money.

Very wise.

Malaysia Looking at Airborne Radar Purchase

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When you consider their airforce, a mix of MiG-29s, Su-30 MKMs, and F-18s, it seems inevitable that they would start to consider some sort of airborne command and control capability, particularly given Thailand’s purchase of Saab’s Erieye, Australia’s oft delayed Wedgetail, and Singapore’s E-2Cs and future deliveries of Phalcons.

I think that over the next few years, we will see a lot posturing, both on the part of the Malaysians and on the part of the companies who want to make a sale to them.

Boeing Shows off Bomber Proposal at AFA Convention

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So, now we have some models of the competing Boeing and Northrop Grumman concepts to compare:

Boeing Above

Northrop Grumman Above

Both are clearly designed with stealth in mind, and Boeing’s design is rather similar to the B-2, though they have made comments about laminar flow designs to reduce drag. The outer wings, given their narrow chord would likely be laminar flow naturally.

N-G’s design looks as if it would more easily accommodate a large weapons bay, which might make it easier to carry ultra heavy bunker busters.

Based on my estimates of scale, both appear to carry less in the way of bombs than a B-52 (20-30 tons), and more in line with something along the line of the B-47 (10-15 tons).

My guess is that given miniaturization of nuclear weapons, and the available of relatively small guided weapons, a larger capacity is considered redundant.

The Undeniable Lightness of Being a Rich Pig

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We are now seeing sob stories out of Wall Street like this:

‘A lot of those people will have to sell their homes, they’re going to cut back on the private jets and the vacations. They may even have to take their kids out of private school,’ said Frank. ‘It’s a total reworking of their lifestyle.’

He added that it’s going to be no easy task.

‘It’s going to be very hard psychologically for these people,’ Frank said. ‘I talked to one guy who had to give up his private jet recently. And he said of all the trials in his life, giving that up was the hardest thing he’s ever done.’

The Chinese have the right idea: A bullet to the back of the head for the folks who managed this fiasco.

H/T Kevin Drum.

A Witch Hunter? Palin is Linked to a Kenyan Witch Hunter?

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Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

Well, if you are waiting for the next shoe to drop in the dsyfunctional religious freak show that is Sarah Palin, here it is.

It now appears that everyone’s favorite hock mom has said that her election as governor was as the direct result of the prayers of a Kenyan witch-hunter, Thomas Muthee.

I’m not sure which I find more disturbing, the belief that the prayers of a self admitted witch hunter somehow got her elected governor, or the complete self-absorption to think that here elections are somehow the direct will of God.

In either case, it’s clear that she is just plain nuts, in a way that makes John Seymour McCain look pretty damn sane.

Here’s a hint, girl, if you believe that God is on your side, you are almost certainly arrogant, wrong, and deluded.

Sane people don’t believe that God is on their side; sociopaths do. Sane people worry if they are on God’s Side.

In any case, here is a vid of her talking about how she sees herself as have being elected by dint of God supporting her.

H/T Group News Blog.

Israel Conditions Number of JSFs Purchased on Ability to Add Domestic Content

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Once again, one of the issues with the F-35 JSF is that, to a greater degree than any other fighter aircraft history, the country operating the aircraft will be unable to modify its systems to meet their needs.

It now appears that the Israeli Air Force will purchase the F-35, the number that it purchases will be highly dependent on the ability it will have to install indigenous systems, as the JSF is a remarkably closed system.

In the long run, I think that follow-on orders for the aircraft may be hindered by this, as operators, and nations becoming operators, find out the degree to which they have to jump through hoops to integrate upgrades and new systems that were routine in prior aircraft.

Number 3421 on the List of Things that I’d Never Say

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God Bless Jerry Brown.

He’s always rubbed me the wrong way, but his decision to accurately label the Califoria hate initiative is a very good thing:

Those voters were much more likely to oppose the measure when read Brown’s wording (58 percent against it and 30 percent for it) than those in the same category who were read the old version of Prop. 8 (42 percent against and 37 percent for it), according to the Field Poll.

The Brown language reads, in part: “Eliminates the right of same-sex couples to marry.” The original version read, in part: “Limit on marriage.”

No big surprise here…If you tell the truth people vote now on this abomination.