Author: Matthew G. Saroff

Tom Friedman, Suck on This

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Tom Friedman, the New York Times Columnist, and blithering idiot, who is always suggesting that we should give the Iraq War, “Another 6 Months,” is having financial difficulties.

You see, he married into money, a lot of money. His wife is an heir to the General Growth Properties fortune, and since September, the value of the stock in the company in which the family wealth is held has fallen in value from a high of $51/share to 35¢ a share (See stock chart below), taking the value of the family fortune from $3.6 billion to $25 million.

In fact, GGP is warning of a potential bankruptcy.

As to my saying, “suck on this,” I am actually quoting Thomas Friedman, who, in an interview with Charlie Rose, suggested that it was imperative that we invade some Arab country to show that we were serius:

We needed to go over there, basically, um, and um, uh, take out a very big state right in the heart of that world and burst that bubble, and there was only one way to do it.

…

What they needed to see was American boys and girls going house to house, from Basra to Baghdad, um and basically saying, “Which part of this sentence don’t you understand?” You don’t think, you know, we care about our open society, you think this bubble fantasy, we’re just gonna to let it grow? Well, Suck. On. This.

(emphasis mine)

This places him in exactly the same position as the Rwandan radio broadcasters who were convicted of crimes against humanity, and any misfortune that he suffers for his continuing advocacy of an invasion that has cost hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians renders me incapable of feeling the smallest bit of sympathy.

I guess it makes me a bad person, but I haven’t had a hand in killing nearly a million Iraqis….Scratch that…We all had a hand in that as Americans, because it was done in our name, but he was cheer leading from his position atop the most respected news paper in the nation.

Here is the vid of the interview. Look at it, because this is what evil looks like.

Lieberupdate

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One of Lieberman’s frequent allies in the Senate, Tom Carper (D-DE), is saying that there should be real consequences to Lieberman’s behavior.

You think? Not only did Lieberman campaign for McCain, he campaigned for Republican candidates for the Senate, and he has publicly said that the Democratic Party breaking 60 Senators would be a catastrophe.

One interesting development in all this is that the caucus vote to decide this will be a secret ballot.

Secret ballot….Hmmmm…This means either that the Senators in the Democratic caucus can use this to avoid enmity* from Lieberman, or they can use it to avoid consequences with their constituents.

I do not know what way this will cut.

*Except to the degree that he has been vindictive, retributive, and evil son of a bitch towards Democrats ever since he got skunked in the 2004 Presidential primaries, so they will be the victims of his bile regardless of how they choose.

Paulson Won’t Ask For the Second $350B

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There is only 10 weeks left in the (mis)rule of Bush and Paulson and their Evil Minions™, and now they are saying that they do not want the 2nd half of the bailout package.

So Obama, and whoever is his SecTreas will get to make the decision on that chunk of change.

I can’t figure this one out. They are passing up an opportunity to reward friends, and to fiscally constrain the incoming administration.

My guess is that given the incompetence, opacity, and general corruption of Paulson, he realizes that the Congress will attach strings to the second half that will get his ass thrown in jail over what he did with the first $350 billion.

Election Update

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Nothing yet on the Alaska Senate race, but in Minnesota, Al Franken’s move to count wrongly rejected absentee ballots before the official tally was released was denied, which was not unsurprising, as this is typically the sort of thing that is handled in a recount.

Frankin wanted to enter the recount with a lead, since there are always judgment calls, and even being ahead by one vote could effect an election judge’s view of a ballot.

Economics Update

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Well, in a case of stating the blatantly obvious, the Philadelphia Fed;s Survey of Professional Forecasters says that we are in a recession, and have been since Spring, though the Conference Board has not yet chimed in on this, so it’s not yet “official”.

In any case, Japan is officially in recession. I guess that they have better record keeping than we do.

In the mean time Calculated Risk’s Credit Crisis Indicator interest rate metrics are basically unchanged.

We also have some mixed numbers in industry, with post hurricane industrial production, but the New York Fed’s Empire State index of hitting its lowest level ever.

In the UK, they are seeing an explosion in jingle mail, where mortgage holders mail their keys back to the bank, either figuratively or literally.

In the US, pending sales are down from September to October, but up against last October, which Barry Ritholtz catches, it’s really a net up, who wants to buy a house in October, but the National Association of Realtors does not get.

In currency, then dollar is down on recession worries, though my guess is also that the G20 meeting being hosted by a drooling idiot did not help.

In energy, oil is at a 21-month low, and retail gasoline prices fell for 61st straight day, which does not surprise me, as I filled up for $1.979/gallon yesterday.

The South Fell This November

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Kevin Drum makes a very good point about the south, specifically from 1932 on, reactionary southerners have controlled much of American politics.

First, they were the tail wagging the dog for the Democratic party through until 1994, when they had completely become Republicans, and from 1968 or so through the present, they were, and are, the backbone of the Republican party.

This is the first time since at least the 1930s, and Kevin Drum argues that it’s since Reconstruction, when we have had a government in power which was not beholden to them.

I am sure that Democratic strategist, and advocate for capitulation to so-called Southern values, Dave “Mudcat” Saunders is crushed, but for the rest of us, and for the nation, the idea that a group of reactionary, bigoted, and small minded Neo-Confederate assholes are out of power is a very good thing.

Great, Now I’m Agreeing With A German Politician

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Former German Finance minister Oskar Lafontaine, now a member of the Left Party, is calling for an 80% income tax for people earning more than €600,000 a year.

While a maximum marginal income tax rate of 91%, which persisted through much of the Eisenhower administration, and was lowered to 77% under Kennedy, is probably excessive, the explosion in executive pay, and the falling real wages for the rest of us , largely correspond with the maximum tax rate falling to 50% in 1980, and below 40% from 1987 on (link).

Higher marginal tax rates, with greater limits in deductions would go a long way to fixing much of what is wrong with the US economy.

Joementum Update

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Well, now it appears that Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) has said that Lieberman’s behavior is unacceptable for a committee head:

As a chairman of one of our significant committees in the Senate, not just going off and supporting a presidential candidate of the other side but also criticizing the candidate on our side, and also involving himself in a couple of senate races on the other side. The question is, is that acceptable? The answer is no.

I think the thing that may tip the Senate is his campaigning for Republicans in Senate races.

While the only two Senators to explicitly call for his removal as chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, Dorgan, from North Fracking Dakota, comes pretty close to it.

So, Charlie Went on a Hike Today

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As a part of his being with Webelos, the last year of Cub Scouts. The whole family went with him.

I try to keep my involvement with the Boy Scouts to a minimum, the Supreme Court may have given them the right to be bigots, but it doesn’t mean that being a bigot is the right thing, so I don’t take an active role in the organization.

Basically I won’t ever do anything that would have me donning one of their insignia.

In any case, the hike was was three miles down the path that was once the NCR (North Central Railroad) line.

It’s ind of a pity to see rail lines torn up.

1½ miles each way, for a total of 3 miles heading south from Monkton. It was rather chilly.

At the end, there was a little sweet/coffee shop, and we had coffee (adults) and hot cocoa (kids), along with a sweet snack.

It was a nice afternoon.

Passive Air to Air Attacks

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Well, here is an interesting nugget buried in an an otherwise run of the mill article on how an upgrade to an AESA radar will boost the Rafale’s export sales prospect

Meanwhile, the Rafale’s ability to shoot down an enemy aircraft using only passive detection was demonstrated for the first time in October, says Chaltiel. Two aircraft flew ‘several miles apart’, the first using electronic support measures to monitor the target and communicate its track via Link 16 datalink to the second Rafale.

The second aircraft also passively tracked the target using its infrared search and track system and was able to achieve a lock-on by sending ‘a few pulses’ from its laser rangefinder. The enemy aircraft was then ‘shot down’ using an MBDA ‘Mica-type’ air-to-air missile with an active seeker that became effective at a range of around 18km (10nm), says Chaltiel.

Youtube Vids of Talk on Su-30MKI at Red Flag

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It was a talk given by a Colonel Fornof, the Director of the Requirements and Testing office at Nellis AFB and an F-15 pilot.

There is nothing here that is particularly sensitive, though it is very interesting.

The bullet points, or at least the ones that surprised me:

  • The pilots in the Su-30MKI’s did not use thrust vectoring well, so when they used it, they got hosed.
  • The French showed up, after having changed aircraft, from the Mirage 2000 to the Rafale, and were there for the electronic signals. They were sucking up radar data from that IAF, and did not tend to engage much.
  • The Indians had real concerns with foreign object damage with their aircraft, which surprises me, as the USSR designed its aircraft for austere basing, though it might have been because the engines had to go back to Russia if there was any damage…Something that the Indians might want to discuss with the manufacturer.
  • That for both the Su-30MKI and the F-22, if they go into post stall maneuvering with thrust vectoring, it provides an opportunity, which seems to give an answer about thinks like the Cobra maneuver: They are flight show BS, at least most of the time.
  • That the IAF’s upgraded MiG-21s are formidable aircraft, not bad for a roughly 50 year old design.
  • His admission that he does not think that the F-22 carries enough missiles

Links here, here, here, and here, and the videos are below.


Part 1


Part 2


A compare/contrast airshow demonstrations Su-30 vs F-22

Russia Makes Offer on Euro Missile Defense

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They won’t place missiles in Kaliningrad if the US terminates its ABM installation in Poland and the Czech Republic.

It’s not surprising that the Russians consider this a direct threat.

It’s also not surprising that they consider the expansion of NATO a direct threat.

Their worst case scenario is, “What would have happened if Georgia had been a NATO member?”

There are people in positions of power, or one election away from a position of power, in many of the former Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact nations who would be inclined to be just as crazy as Georgian President Saakaskvili, only when they launch an assault on an unarmed populace that is inclined toward the Russians.