I’m really going to miss this guy. He is one-of-a-kind. . .thank God!
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Compiled during the Summer of 2011 debt ceiling debate, here’s more “Fun with Congressman Barney” 
I love a parade!
For some reason the Chinese love whitewalls. Note that they even paint them on the tracked vehicles.
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Nothing to worry about, right? It’s all just for show. Try confirming this with the Vietnamese, Philippinos or Japanese. From Thursday’s WSJ see: “Beijing’s naval aggression is a threat to peace in the Pacific”
When Beijing’s campaign of assertiveness began three years ago, many observers believed it was either a miscalculation that would be corrected, or else a temporary phase related to jockeying for the recent leadership transition. It has proved to be neither. [ Note: The assertiveness campaign is definitely more than three years old. In 1988 the Chinese and Vietnamese navies clashed at Johnson Reef in the Spratlys. Several Vietnamese boats were sunk and over 70 sailors killed.
What is driving Beijing? Chinese military men, who make up about 20% of the Central Committee, have become increasingly vocal about their desire to drive the U.S. out of their adjacent (and not-so-adjacent) waters. The Communist Party’s longstanding rhetoric about ending a “century of humiliation” at foreign hands makes such calls difficult to ignore.
Another driver is the uneasy relationship between the military and their putative civilian masters. On Wednesday, new Chinese leader Xi Jinping publicly exhorted military officers to “put an end” to corruption and remain completely loyal to the Communist Party—a call that presumably would not have been necessary if such loyalty was not in doubt.
Don’t forget, the Chinese are already in Panama. You don’t really think they’re all civilians, do you? And who knows where else?
By the way, China provides military aid to Iran, in case you didn’t know. Some of It gets trans-shipped through Venezuela via the Panama Canal. Didn’t we build that?
To top it all off, we have essentially financed a good chunk of the Chinese military buildup/modernization through trade deficits, and have transfered to them, in one fashion or another, most of our military technology. Such a deal!
They must love us. NOT!
Ciao.
Video Hat Tip: HBS Classmate Harry D.
Consider this from Wednesday’s “Inside the Ring” report from Bill Gertz :
China military report upgraded
The Senate version of the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill contains language that would require the Pentagon to highlight China’s growing cyberwarfare and strategic nuclear capabilities.
[snip]
China’s nuclear forces also would be highlighted under the bill, including the size and state of China’s nuclear stockpile, its nuclear strategy, and data on its missile and warhead developments.
Also, for the first time, the Pentagon would include details on Chinese efforts to develop electromagnetic pulse weapons – the disabling electronic effect of a nuclear blast that China is thought to be developing as a dedicated weapon.
The Senate bill is seeking “a discussion of any significant uncertainties or knowledge gaps surrounding China’s nuclear-weapons program and the potential implications of any such knowledge gaps for the security of the United States and its allies.”
That provision was disclosed through a Georgetown University arms-control project studying China’s so-called Underground Great Wall that includes 3,000 miles of tunnels dedicated for nuclear weapons.
“…3,000 miles of tunnels dedicated for nuclear weapons”? Nothing to see here, folks. Move along, please. It’s all just a bunch of hooey. Right?
Considering also that China has obtained, in one fashion or another, essentially all of the latest satellite, missile, and nuclear weapon design technologies from the U.S., well, there’s no telling how much more militarily capable they’ll end up — or already are — than the Ruskies ever were. Not to worry though, the Chinese would never risk damaging their trade and creditor relationship with America, would they?
And we just keep feeding that alligator.
Ciao.
In this past week’s “Inside the Ring” column, Bill Gertz mentions the following:
The Defense Intelligence Agency is looking for a senior analyst to move to Hawaii’s U.S. Pacific Command headquarters to focus on the issue of China’s rapidly expanding military.
[snip]
The new official will develop intelligence analysis on Chinese military operations and capabilities “including complex assessments that may be predictive in nature.”
The analyst also will prepare and present briefings to senior decision-makers and intelligence leaders on issues and programs “that may be considered controversial due to their precedent-setting nature.”
That wording, according to U.S. officials, is an oblique reference to the ongoing debate inside U.S. intelligence agencies on Chinese military developments and specifically Beijing’s strategic intentions.
Most China hands currently in the intelligence community are known to share the “benign China” outlook that argues that China poses little or no threat, is only nominally a nuclear-armed communist state, and must be shielded from anti-communist conservatives who want to turn it into a Cold War enemy.
However, more “realist” intelligence officials are gaining influence in government, having long ago abandoned the “benign China” view. They see China as the most serious national security challenge and one that the U.S. military urgently needs to take steps now to deter and defeat in a future conflict.
Just about six years ago I put together a little something called “China as Strategic Competitor” that would appear to be in the direction the DIA pendulum is swinging. Wonder if I should apply for the job?
I’m certainly senior enough. And I’ve never been to Hawaii.
Ciao.
UDM engineering ranked among country’s best programs:
U.S.News & World Report has ranked the University of Detroit Mercy College of Engineering & Science’s (CES) undergraduate engineering program as one of the top 100 undergraduate engineering non-doctorate programs. Through a combination of academic rigor, hands-on experience, and direct faculty-student engagement, UDM engineering graduates are highly sought out by industry and graduate programs with over 95 percent placed within six months after graduating.
“Our engineering program has just celebrated 100 years of excellence in engineering education and this report affirms the high quality of our program and their value for our students,” says E&S Dean Gary Kuleck. “Our mandatory co-op program, one of the oldest in the country, along with a project-based approach to engineering education, has allowed us to graduate high-caliber students who go on to leadership positions in industry, academia and government. The percentages of women and minorities in our program are also significantly higher than the national average. We are proud of the achievements of all our alumni and want equally great things in the future for our current students.”
Since the first engineering class was offered on Oct. 2, 1911, the College has awarded more than 13,000 engineering degrees in 17 different undergraduate and graduate programs. Graduates have made significant contributions to their professions and to society. Many have risen to top positions at leading corporations, including serving as president at Ford Motor Company; as CEO at DTE Energy; and as vice presidents at Xerox, Lear, GE, Boeing and General Dynamics. Engineering graduates also made strides in the government and higher education, including four deans of engineering colleges.
The U.S.News college rankings group more than 1,400 accredited four-year engineering programs based on categories created by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and compares them based on a set of 15 widely accepted indicators of excellence.
After the fall of the Soviet Union and the introduction of genuine electoral politics to Russia,
the city of Moscow, in order to save money, purchased used voting machines from the city of Chicago. When they held their first election for Mayor, Richard J. Daley won by a landslide. (That’s a joke. Then again, maybe not.)
Is this the first national election to be stolen? Or, are the following just “rumors”?
Perhaps the missing “White Voters” voted but weren’t counted, and the U.N. election observers showed up just to ensure the “correct” result.
Excerpts from this week’s Woodpile Report, courtesy of Remus:
The only unfair fight is the one they lose.
Philadelphia – One polling site in Philadelphia apparently had a mural of President Obama emblazoned on the wall directly behind the voting machines. The mural, at a local school being used as a polling site, contained the words “change!” and “hope,” along with a quote from the president.
foxnews.com
Philadelphia Black Panthers – Jerry Jackson, who was charged in the 2008 case along with Minister King Samir Shabazz, but later saw charges dropped by the Department of Justice, was seen early Tuesday outside a North Philadelphia voting site wearing the group’s trademark black beret, combat-style uniform and heavy boots. Fox News confirmed he is a designated poll watcher.
foxnews.com
Philadelphia, ACORN affiliate CVP – The Community Voters Project is a “non-partisan” lefty organization whose mission is to register people to vote, with a particular emphasis on minorities… This year, however, it seems they aren’t registering everyone who wants to vote. Outside a CVP office in Philadelphia, for example, they shredded and threw away numerous registration forms.
Mike Flynn at breitbart.com
Perry County Pennsylvania – A video posted on YouTube at a Pennsylvania polling station allegedly shows an electronic voting machine changing a man’s vote from President Barack Obama to Mitt Romney.
CBS DC at washington.cbslocal.com
Chicago – “This photo, taken by a voter this morning at the Ward 4, Precinct 37 polling place shows an election judge checking in voters while wearing an Obama hat,” a source writes. “Chicago’s 4th ward is home to President Barack Obama.” The voter who took the photo says: “Woman in front of me also given an extra ballot.
Daniel Halper at weeklystandard.com
Guilford County North Carolina – I cast my vote for Mitt Romney but Obama’s name got the Check Mark (touch screen machine)! I was LIVID! So I called over a volunteer to show them. I clicked on Romney again and NO Check Mark appeared. So I clicked Romney AGAIN and PRESTO CHANGE-O..Obama’s name got Check Marked AGAIN right in front of the volunteers’ eyes!
Voter, via Joel Pollak at breitbart.com
Charlotte North Carolina – On Tuesday morning, there was a concern raised at Winding Springs Elementary School. Two voters Eyewitness News talked with said when they pressed the button attempting to vote for Mitt Romney, the machine put the check mark next to the name of President Barack Obama.
wsoctv.com
St. Louis Missouri – Claims of faulty machines giving votes intended for Mitt Romney to President Obama are unfounded, the Missouri Secretary of State’s office says.
Johnny Kampis at watchdog.org
Detroit – The Michigan Republican Party is alleging that a poll watcher in Detroit on Tuesday morning was threatened with a gun. According to the Michigan GOP the poll watcher’s 911 call was rejected.
Kerry Picket at washingtontimes.com
Detroit – A woman in a Detroit polling location was aggressively campaigning for Obama. A female voter in line objected. The Obama supporter punched the woman in the face. Police came to arrest her and she smacked the cop.
@electionjournal via breitbart.com
Bay Area California – We found over 25,000 questionable names still on the state voter rolls. A closer look at the data revealed that some of the dead people were not only registered, but somehow, even voted, several years after their death.
Stock, Escamilla and Nious at nbcbayarea.com
Pueblo, Colorado – officials have received reports of touch-screen voting machines casting votes for Obama after people intended to vote for Romney.
foxnewsinsider.com
Las Vegas – Last week, I met with two immigrant noncitizens who are not eligible to vote, but who nonetheless are active registered voters for Tuesday’s election. They said they were signed up by Culinary Local 226.
Glenn Cook at lvrj.com
Medina Ohio – Flyers claiming to be from a non-existent Tea Party in Medina, Ohio were placed in mailboxes on Monday urging Ohio voters to defeat “the n***er” in the White House to “help keep our country strong and white.”
Tony Lee at breitbart.com
Sturtevant, Wisconsin – Voted this morning at 9:30 am. I was confronted by two Obama supporters, wearing pro Obama shirts, taking pictures of everyone inserting their paper ballots in the voter machine asking how we were voting. I told clerk and she kicked them out but they just moved to the hallway of the entrance.
breitbart.com
Boca Raton Florida – A woman attempting to vote in West Boca Raton this morning was initially prohibited from entering the polling place because she was wearing a tee shirt with the letters MIT.
bocanewsnow.com
Tallahassee Florida – A poster featuring President Obama that read “Change the Atmosphere” was reported to be hanging on a wall at a Florida, polling station. This photo was reportedly taken by a voter.
danjoseph at mrctv.org
Alan West candidacy and the St Lucie County Florida election results:
“Race remains undecided. Before moving forward, the St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections must make public the poll book counts from Election Day and early voting. Given the dramatic late night swing in votes in St. Lucie County, we want to ensure that early votes were not double counted. The only way to know that is to compare the poll books to the actual number of votes cast. We are hopeful the Supervisor of Elections will cooperate and make that data available for inspection,” Edson said in a statement to The Huffington Post.
Jennifer Bendery at huffingtonpost.com
Update: From Twitchy: Myth of ‘141% turnout’ in St. Lucie County, Fla., persists…
Hat Tip: Allahpundit @ HotAir Greenroom
At the City Journal site, Andrew Klavan, a former Hollywood liberal now converted to conservatism, offers his post-election suggestion on how we can turn the electorate away from our ever more libertine and morally bereft culture:
The Long Game
Three areas the Right should address, financially and intellectually
7 November 2012Life is short, said Hippocrates, but art is long. There is a practical corollary to that great truth: elections are won and lost in the politics of the moment, but it’s the culture that makes the nation.
In the aftermath of President Obama’s victory, conservative political thinkers will have to ask themselves some hard questions. How much of our defeat was due to strategy and how much to structure? […]
The smartest political writers in the country, all of whom are conservative, will now be addressing those questions. I’m an artist; I play the long game.
To win that game … there are three areas to which conservatives need to commit intellectual and financial resources—three areas that our intelligentsia and funders, in their impractical practicality, too often ignore.
Those three areas are:
“The mainstream news media”
“The entertainment industry”
and “Religion for intellectuals”
Speaking to the last, Mr. Klavan echoes Beran but mostly Solzhenitsyn when he says:
[…] The triumph of science, the comfort of Western life, and a sophisticated elite virulently hostile to religion have all contributed to an intellectual atmosphere of unbelief—a sense that atheism should be the default mode of reasonable, thinking people. That is a mere prejudice and needs to be answered in the culture, not with Bible-thumping literalism and small-minded judgmentalism—nor with banal happy-talk optimism—but by sound argument made publicly, unabashedly, and without fear. John Adams and the other Founders were right about this: an irreligious people cannot be free. Liberty lives in the palace of moral truth, and you can’t build that palace on the empty air.
In the aftermath of a crushing electoral defeat, all this may seem a distant business, an airy conversation for another day. It isn’t. The demography of the country is changing, but demography is not destiny. Ideas are. We must retake the culture and begin speaking truth to a new America.
You may read it all here >
In February of 2011, I believe, Charles Krauthammer made the following comment on FOX’s “Special Report” regarding open homosexuality in the military:
“It’s an idea who’s time has come”
I don’t believe that is the kind of disciplined moral reasoning Mr. Klavan has in mind. After all, once-upon-a-time in Germany the same could be said of the National Socialist Party, i.e., Nazi Party. Popular acceptance or legalization isn’t a moral argument.
Ciao,
Dennis
From the foreword to Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s Harvard commencement address of June 8, 1978:
Harvard’s motto is “Veritas.” Many of you have already found out and others will find out in the course of their lives that truth eludes us if we do not concentrate with total attention on its pursuit. And even while it eludes us, the illusion still lingers of knowing it and leads to many misunderstandings. Also, truth is seldom pleasant; it is almost invariably bitter. There is some bitterness in my speech today, too. But I want to stress that it comes not from an adversary but from a friend.
Here, Solzhenitsyn voices his misgivings about embracing the West as an alternative to Soviet Communism:
It is almost universally recognized that the West shows all the world a way to successful economic development, even though in the past years it has been strongly disturbed by chaotic inflation. However, many people living in the West are dissatisfied with their own society. They despise it or accuse it of not being up to the level of maturity attained by mankind. A number of such critics turn to socialism, which is a false and dangerous current.
[snip]
But should someone ask me whether I would indicate the West such as it is today as a model to my country, frankly I would have to answer negatively. No, I could not recommend your society in its present state as an ideal for the transformation of ours. Through intense suffering our country has now achieved a spiritual development of such intensity that the Western system in its present state of spiritual exhaustion does not look attractive.
This is in no small measure a result of the West’s abandonment of self-restraint:
However, in early democracies, as in American democracy at the time of its birth, all individual human rights were granted because man is God’s creature. That is, freedom was given to the individual conditionally, in the assumption of his constant religious responsibility. Such was the heritage of the preceding thousand years. Two hundred or even fifty years ago, it would have seemed quite impossible, in America, that an individual could be granted boundless freedom simply for the satisfaction of his instincts or whims. Subsequently, however, all such limitations were discarded everywhere in the West; a total liberation occurred from the moral heritage of Christian centuries with their great reserves of mercy and sacrifice. State systems were becoming increasingly and totally materialistic. The West ended up by truly enforcing human rights, sometimes even excessively, but man’s sense of responsibility to God and society grew dimmer and dimmer. In the past decades, the legalistically selfish aspect of Western approach and thinking has reached its final dimension and the world wound up in a harsh spiritual crisis and a political impasse. All the glorified technological achievements of Progress, including the conquest of outer space, do not redeem the Twentieth century’s moral poverty which no one could imagine even as late as in the Nineteenth Century.
In my previous post, Mr. Beran asserts that..
At the same time, conservatives ought to recognize that our deeper problems … are cultural, not political, and are therefore not susceptible of a political solution.
However, Solzhenitsyn sees our “deeper problems” as resulting from the “Twentieth century’s moral poverty” which is, I believe, closer to “Veritas” than calling our current travails cultural issues. And as everyone knows, you can’t legislate morality.
But we should have paid more attention to Alexander’s voice crying out from within the wilderness.
Mr. Beran speaks out from the wilderness of National Review’s Corner blog:
The Wilderness
By Michael Knox Beran
November 7, 2012 1:42 A.M.At a low point in the fortunes of the Tory Party, Disraeli said, “The pendulum swings.” It does indeed, but it is not going to swing back to limited-government republicanism any time soon; in fact such republicanism has for some time been effectively dead in California, New York, and the other arrantly blue states. Nor, to judge from yesterday’s election, is such republicanism especially vibrant in middle-of-the-road states like Florida, Virginia, Ohio, and Colorado. Put it another way: only once since the 1980s has a Republican candidate won a greater number of votes in a presidential election than the Democratic candidate (Bush in 2004).
Defeat offers clarity. If we had any doubts as to our position, yesterday’s election put an end to them. Those of us who continue to oppose the fiscal and constitutional overreach of the modern social state now find ourselves in the wilderness.
Insofar as politics are concerned, the best the center-right in America can do, in the foreseeable future, is to act as a check on folly in the political arena, and in doing so hope to prove Macaulay wrong when he said that the American Republic would fail because the poor would plunder the rich and increase the country’s distress by devouring the “seed-corn” of future growth.
At the same time, conservatives ought to recognize that our deeper problems – as I tried to show in the summer issue of the Claremont Review of Books – are cultural, not political, and are therefore not susceptible of a political solution. The social state was intended to be such a solution: but even were its ever-expanding programs fiscally sustainable, its ideal of social welfare would still be paltry substitute for the older, better approach to the good life it was meant to replace.
I’ve nothing to add nor can I say it better. Best left as it stands.
Ciao,
Dennis
It will be most interesting to see what story, if any, finally emerges about General Ham’s reported attempt to send aid to the beleaguered American ambassador in Benghazi the evening of 9/11. As of this writing, apparently, only the American Thinker is reporting that Gen Ham is still the head of Africa Command. But that leaves open the question of whether or not General Ham made the attempt and was rebuffed by the Pentagon or thwarted by his second in command. In any case, General Ham’s retirement was announced by SecDef Leon Panetta on October 18th. Perhaps it is best to keep an allegedly recalcitrant General out of the country and on ice until after the election.
However, considering or attempting to come to the aid of fellow Americans is, apparently, less of a faux pas than speaking the truth in a military classroom about the terrorist machinations of Muslims. As the Thomas More Law Center recently reported:
October 8th, 2012
Muslims Offended—Soldier’s Career Destroyed—Official Army Records Show Loss to NationANN ARBOR, MI – During a Pentagon press conference on May 10, 2012, General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, publicly excoriated Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Matthew Dooley, a 1994 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and a highly decorated combat veteran. His reason: The course on Islamic Radicalism which LTC Dooley was teaching at the Joint Forces Staff College (JFSC) of the National Defense University was offensive to Muslims.
General Dempsey characterized LTC Dooley’s course as “totally objectionable,” and ordered all material offensive to Islam scrubbed from military professional education within the JFSC and elsewhere. But that’s not all. LTC Dooley was fired from his instructor position and given an ordered negative Officer Evaluation Report (OER) — the death-knell for a military career.
The actions against LTC Dooley follow a letter to the Department of Defense dated October 19, 2011 signed by 57 Muslim organizations demanding that all training materials offensive to Islam and Muslims be purged and the trainers disciplined.
A review of LTC Dooley’s OERs going back several years, including his OER as an instructor with JFSC, paint a picture of an outstanding officer with unlimited potential. . .
Political incorrectness excepted, of course.
It’s been almost two years since Navy Captain Owen Honors was disappeared off the deck of the USS Enterprise for demonstrating poor judgment by taping and playing “raunchy” videos intended to boost crew morale when he was Executive Officer on that same carrier. His having poked some good-natured fun at homosexual activities sealed Capt Honors’ fate despite the fact that his crew supported him over the videos:
The public may be cringing at the videos created by the captain of the USS Enterprise containing gay-bashing and sexual jokes, but many crew members who served with him are rallying to his defense.
Capt. Owen Honors, who has been relieved of his command due to his role in making the videos, received glowing praise today from his sailors, who are joining Facebook groups, signing petitions, and creating bumper stickers to show support.
[snip]
In solidarity with Honors, Facebook groups with titles like “We Support Captain O.P. Honors!“ have garnered thousands of members. Nearly 1,000 have signed a petition to keep him as commander of the carrier, and many have swapped out their Facebook pictures for images of Honors in uniform.
Before Honors became XO of the Enterprise, the mood on board was “awful,” said Kimberly Wooster, 32, who served as an electronics technician from 2001 to 2005 and left because she was so unhappy.
[snip]
When asked if other XOs or commanders did anything to boost morale on the ship before Honors, Wooster responded, “Hell no.”
The morale of a super-carrier’s crew is apparently of less concern to Navy brass than offended homosexual sensitivities. And thus, the career of another outstanding officer was unceremoniously flushed.
Political correctness and social engineering have no place within the ranks of the military, especially amongst the leadership. The ongoing feminization, homofication, lawyerization and Islamification of the military cannot but weaken our armed forces. And, in my opinion, this is not entirely unintentional.
“Sequestration” budget cutting is therefore not the only issue relevant to the degradation of the U.S. military’s combat capacity and effectiveness. Nor is it necessarily even the most destructive. Budgets are more readily restored than lost fighting spirit.
So, you should not be too surprised that we did essentially nothing to rescue Ambassador Stevens and his fellow sacrificial lambs. There was a time when no one would think of publicly humiliating the U.S. as they did in Benghazi. Those days are long gone. We’ve been backsliding and downsizing our military capacities for quite some time now. And it doesn’t seem as though Mr. Romney has any major reversal planned.
However, if he’s elected on Tuesday and names Allen West Secretary of Defense, I could be persuaded to reconsider.
Ciao,
Dennis
Update: There are any number of ways to skin the military cat as illustrated by a recent report from George Soros’s minions at the Center for American Progress. The former USAF spooks at In from the Cold once again provide some insight into the “war” on military retirement benefits that is another battleground in the assault on America’s fighting forces. If you’re interested in reading the full report, please click here >