Author: Matthew G. Saroff

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.

Steve Gilliard Would Be Happy

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The last game ever to be played at Yankee Stadium will be played tomorrow, with the Orioles and the Yankees fighting for the basement.

I’m not sure if Steve would give a damn about that, but the fact that the Yankees will be out of the playoffs for the first time in 13 years, that would make him smile.

Oh…Yeah….F@#$ the F@#$ing Yankees.

Economics Update

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If you think that this crisis is over, it’s not even close, as evidenced by the fact that 40% of US money market funds posted no returns yesterday:

More than 40 percent of U.S. taxable money market mutual funds posted zero return Thursday amid persistent turmoil in the credit markets, fund tracker Lipper said Friday.

Lipper said 560 of the 1,263 classes of taxable money funds it tracks earned no return Thursday. This compared with 73 classes that posted zero return Wednesday and 63 Tuesday.

A lot of taxable money mutual funds “put up big fat zeros yesterday,” said Jeff Tjornehoj, senior research analyst at Lipper in Denver. “This is unprecedented in recent history.”

Expect to see the phrase, “unprecedented in recent history,” a lot in the next few months.

Part of this was no doubt the rather large gyrations in US T-Bills over the past few days, which went almost to 0% a on Thursday, because people were so concerned about finding safe havens. The 3 month T-Bill was at 0.22% Thursday, before heading back up to 0.91% on Friday following announcement of various rescue plans for the financial markets.

The dollar rose in response to the bailouts too, as did oil, though gasoline is down for the 3rd straight day, as that market adjusts to the realities of Hurricane Ike.

That being said, even with the rescue packages, Moody’s is still looking at cutting its ratings on monoliner insurers Ambac and MBIA.

Also, it now looks like Morgan Stanley is still looking at merging with a commercial bank, even if the news of the bailout plans may have helped.

Raytheon Eyes Sidewinder-X Upgrades

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It appears to be a significant improvement on the original AIM-9X, with lock on after launch, and could drive the move to a new rocket motor, the rocket motor on the AIM-9X is the same as previous models, as it would allow launches to longer range.

From all I know about the missile, the kinematics (basically range and long range maneuverability) are not that good, having a single pulse motor (with thrust vectoring, you want lower thrust at the start in order to make the vectoring work better) and being smaller (5″ body diameter as vs 6″) than many of its competitors.

Looks Like the DDG-100 May Be More F$#@ed Up than Previously Found

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Well, it looks like the sad saga of the DDG-1000 Zumwalt destroyers may become even sadder, as there are now doubts that the two ships purchased may never sail.

Noah Schactman cites a report from Defense News:

Issues have arisen in guaranteeing the seals between the composite construc­tion panels of the huge Zumwalt deckhouse… [where] all of the ship’s major sensors… are em­bedded in the structure, and all of the ship above the first super­structure level is contained…

[O]ne source familiar with the situation said the Navy is so wor­ried about the problem that it has been canvassing other manufac­turers of composite structures to see if an alternate production source could be found.

So will any Zumwalts be built?

… Sen. Susan Collins, R­-Maine, and a key supporter of the DDG-1000, told Defense News, “I still expect the Navy’s going to abandon the DDG-1000.”

It sure sounds to me like the ships cannot be built right now.

Background here.

And in the Never Ending Quest for Budget Dollars…..

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Yep, some of the whiz kids at the National Defense University are pitching the idea that they need funding to protect us all from terrorists who would use Wizard of Warcraft to rehearse attacks on all of us.

Yes, it’s real, see, they’ve got PowerPoints, and everything, complete with a conversation using code words, simulated, of course.

See how they simulate some seriously Kule d00dz haxor terrorists?

So they need to pay someone play Warcraft in order to look for this non-existent problem.

I want the job….I REALLY want the job.

In reality, if terrorists want to engage in virtual training, they will do it on a private server…Just like you see people do with Doom….

After all, who wants to be in the middle of planning to nuke the VP residence, when some n00b comes up and starts asking stupid questions?

If this is why my taxes are so fracking high, I’d rather pay for Sarah Palin’s bridge to nowhere.

I Still Think that the Dutch are Sandbagging SAAB over their F-16 Repladement

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But they are certainly making it look like a real competition. The Swedes needed extra time to get approvals for data release from the US, and the Dutch MoD extended the deadline on the bid to 30 September.

I still do not believe that the Dutch are serious about considering an alternative to the Lockheed-Martin JSF, they simply have invested too much time and effort, but they are doing their best to look fair about the process.

DPRK Testing New Missile Engine

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It appears that they are in response to the US refusing to take them off the terrorist list, as was previously agreed to.

Seriously, taking them off the list is just a stroke of a pen, and can be reinstated with a stroke of a pen, but Bush and His Evil Minions&trade are so busy swinging their dicks that they are convincing the North Koreans that this is all some sort of ploy to destroy them.

Fracking with paranoids for giggles when they have missiles and nukes is stupid, but for Bush and His Evil Minions&trade, stupid is as stupid does, I guess.

Marine Corps Eyes M249 SAW Replacement

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It looks like the Marines are looking at partially replacing their belt fed M249 SAW with a lighter magazine fed automatic rifle.

They are hoping for a 12 lb weapon to replace the 17 lb SAW.

Given that they are also dropping the quick change barrel as a way to get there, and using a slower rate of fire to deal with barrel heating this implies a significant drop in firepower.

Not having served, I’d appreciate any comments from people who have about the merits of such a change.

The US army is looking for a lighter weapon too, but they are sticking with the high rate of fire and belt feed.

Japan Looks at F-15 Updates, Indigenous Stealth Projects

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They really want the F-22, but it appears that this is simply not going to happen, so they are looking at F-15 upgrades and a stealth platform of their own, the ATD-X.

Honestly, for legitimate defensive needs, the upgraded F-15 is all the JASDF needs. It’s actually superior for cruise missile interception, since it has a larger antennae than the F-22, and AESA radars have already been fitted to some export models.