Author: Matthew G. Saroff

Special Prosecutor in US Attorney Gate a Coverup

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Here is an interesting tidbit on Mukasey assigning a special prosecutor to look at the US Attorney firing scandal: “

Because of the litany of public corruption cases Dannehy, 47, has prosecuted, she has a reputation as a pitbull, say attorneys. But in actuality, they say, she’s merely meticulous, hard-working and dedicated to her job. To that end, lawyers involved in cases with her know she sometimes calls meetings on Sunday evenings. And given Mukasey’s request for a report in 60 days, Nora might well log some weekend work between now and Thanksgiving

Enough time so that nothing comes out before the election, but not enough to send it to the next administration, clever, Mukasey, clever.

I have to believe that Mukasey’s actions have gone beyond mere hypocrisy. He is actively obstructing justice, and needs to be criminally investigated too.

H/T Emptywheel

Menage à Bank

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Well, it looks like Citi and Wells are going after it hammer and tongs over who gets wachovia.

First, Citi got a NY state judge to grant an injunction against Wells proceeding, and then Wachovia went to Federal Court to overturn that, and he
vacated the lower court ruling, as did a New York state appellate court.

Basically, Citi was going to pay $1/share, and getting money from the FDIC, and Wells is offering $7/share with no FDIC involvement.

Not sure what Citi’s motive is, but they seem to be eager to spend this money, for reasons that are unclear to me, particularly since they have lost money in the past few quarters.

Overheard on Stellar Parthenon

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Thanks to JR for this teachable moment

I have a British coworker. We were discussing the election and he just shook his head. “Explain this Palin woman to me,” more of a rhetorical WTF than an actual request but I obliged him.

“What we are looking at is the first chav presidency.”

He looked suitably horrified. “But what about the current bloke?”

“Ok, second chav presidency.”

“Bugger.”

Heh.

It Appears that I Have Been Invited to Join the Illuminati

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So I get the following in my email

Date: Mon, 6 Oct 2008 06:59:11 -0500 (CDT)
From: Toby #### #####@roundtablegroup.com
To: me
Subject: Armored Vehicles Consulting Opportunities from Round Table Group

Dear Mr. Saroff:

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to the Round Table Group. The firm provides clients — including the world’s most prestigious law firms — access to top experts (such as yourself) in all fields, including Armored Vehicles.

We are the premier expert witness referral firm, having pioneered this practice 14 years ago. Round Table Group has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Fortune, as well as many other publications. We have also been named on Inc. Magazine’s prestigious list of the fastest growing U.S. private companies five times!

This is a personal invitation to become part of the Round Table Group expert consortium. There are no fees to join, and becoming part of our network is non-exclusive. By submitting your CV and creating a profile with us, you will enable us to contact you when a client has a need for your precise interests and experience. Our client engagements are varied, lucrative, and interesting.

You let us know on a project-by-project basis whether you are qualified, interested, and available, and you set your own billing rates for each project. We will present your information to the client as part of a resume book and make introductions if there is mutual interest. When you are engaged, we will handle billing and collections for you, so you can spend more time doing what is enjoyable and profitable.

Again, we would be delighted to welcome you to our expert network. Please join Round Table Group’s expert network by clicking here and submitting the application which should take less than 5 minutes. Feel free to contact me and my staff with any questions! We hope you will take a seat at the Round Table, where clients receive a level of service and a breadth and depth of expertise that are unmatched.

Best Regards,
Toby #######
Vice President of Operations
Round Table Group, Inc.
#############
##############
Washington DC
202-###-####

RTG: The Inc. Magazine 2003, ’04, ’05, ’07 & ’08 Winner — fastest growing U.S. private companies”

To discontinue future correspondence from RTG, please let us know.

So I Google them, to see if they are on the level.

It appears that they are a repository of expert witnesses for court testimony, but I also find links on the first page tying them to the Illuminati.

Delving further, it appears that in the early 20th century, Cecil Rhodes was involved in a eponymous group in the early 20th century, and if you Google “Round Table Group” and Rhodes, it appears that this older group is:

  • Part of a worldwide conspiracy to create one world government
  • A Plan to create a theocracy.
  • Or the reason that pop music sucks these days.

I guess I’ve made it in the world.

Palin Aids to Testify in Troopergate

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In light to judge saying that the investigation was legal, and the subpoenas binding, 7 members of Palin’s staff have agreed to testify to the State Senate investigator, Steve Branchflower.

When all is said and done, this entire bit was stupid. With only minor effort, they could have put off any meaningful report until after the election, and the report will likely be inconclusive anyway.

For some reason, however, they chose to create about 6 weeks of coverup stories.

The JSF is Less Capable and More Expensive Than Previously Admitted

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Well, we now have reports of Israel signing a contract to buy F-35 JSFs for $15.2 billion (see also here).

As Bill Sweetman notes this means that the JSF costs about $200 million a plane, well over the $80m claimed for the aircraft, and more than the fly away cost of the F-22.

As I’ve noted earlier, there was a Rand study modeling the F-35 against an upgraded Su-27, and it was allegedly clubbed like a baby seal (here and here).

This is unsurprising: with a thrust to weight ratio of about 0.85:1 in air to air configuration, and a wing loading of 108 lbs/sq ft, similar to the F-105 Thunderchief (aka the “Lead Sled”), this will not be a particularly agile aircraft, even with a state of the art flight control system.

It appears now that the USAF and Lochkeed Martin are claiming that Maneuvering is Irrelevant, as the fighter will have the Distributed Aperture System (DAS), a system of multiple wide angle sensors that will create a 360° view around the aircraft, and so it will be able to fly through at high speed and launch a, “high-off-boresight, lock-on-after-launch (LOAL) missile shot with any datalink-equipped missile.”

They said that the missiles would do all the work before Viet Nam too, and the USAF and the Navy had to start training their pilots to dogfight again.

BTW, Bill Sweetman (again), in writing about the 360 degree attack, notes that there was a precedent, the Boulton-Paul Defiant, and notes:

If the Germans had had an expression for “clubbed like baby seals” in 1940, the Luftwaffe would have used it.

My thoughts exactly.

Hope Hits Target in Tests

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The German Hope penetrating glide bomb hit its target in flight trials in September.

It’s a 3000 lb class weapon that is supposed to have a better penetrating capability than the 5000 lb GBU-28, and it has a range in excess of 100 km and a CEP of 3m.

I find it interesting that it appears to have a variable incidence oblique wing, at least as shown in the picture, which is probably needed to get the range.

If one assumes a launch at 35,000 feet, and a terminal dive from 5000 feet, the range implies a 10:1 glide ratio, which would require decent aerodynamic efficiency.