This one hits the science nail on the head…
And sometimes I get to sit off to the side, watch and laugh… 🙂
Like today… (needless to say I am NOT making any friends!)
More and more ‘pundits’ are claiming that exploding military personnel costs and health care costs will bankrupt DOD by 2020…
As always, it’s a thin film of truth, surrounded by and build on lies…
From VADM (ret) Ryan’s open letter to SECDEF in his capacity as the President of the Military Officer’s Association of America (MOAA)-
You’ll hear that military personnel costs are “rising out of control” and will “consume future defense budgets.” Bean-counters use these bogus arguments – and pundits repeat them — to divert money from military people programs to hardware or non-defense programs.
Yet those arguments simply aren’t true.
Here are the facts:
The defense budget has consumed a progressively smaller share of federal outlays. Today, it’s at its smallest share in 50 years and will drop further – below 12.5 percent – by 2017. That share is projected to continue to decline for the foreseeable future.
Defense leaders complain military personnel and health costs are consuming roughly one-third of the defense budget – implying this is a dramatic increase from the past.
Yet personnel and health care costs have comprised that same budget share consistently for the last 30 years. They’re no more unaffordable now than in the past.
Moreover, this is a bargain when compared to the most similar corporations.
Personnel costs comprise 61 percent of the budget for United Parcel Service, 43 percent for FedEx and 31 percent for Southwest Airlines.
Your predecessors complained health care costs approach 10 percent of the non-war defense budget. However, health costs comprise 23 percent of the federal budget, 22 percent of the average state budget, 16 percent of household discretionary spending and 16 percent of U.S. Gross Domestic Product. By comparison, Defense’s 10 percent is modest.
Truth be told, the Pentagon has used the military health care account as a “cash cow” to fund other programs — $708 million was diverted from the fiscal 2012 account to other programs, and diversions totaled $2.8 billion over the last three years.
/snip/
That last sentence says a LOT about the games being played inside DOD…
Read the whole op-ed at the Washington Times HERE.
I have been privileged to know VADM Ryan and his brother for over 30 years, and they always have been straight shooters, and ALWAYS stood up for those who worked for them…
And HERE is a follow-up from MOAA testimony at a SASC sub-committee meeting…
Bottom line (or should I say ‘factual’ line) costs have not in fact become a disproportionate portion of the DOD budget. Granted the actual $ amounts have risen, but as a percentage of the overall DOD budget it has not risen above previous levels.
Having said that, I believe BO and his cronies WILL cut the military pay raise as far as they can, for as long as they can… 1% vs. 1.8% may not seem a lot, but military salaries are NOT equitable now, and if you look at real inflation and cost growth, that is rising at between 3-4% per year. Once again the military (all volunteer by the way), will bear the brunt of the administration’s displeasure, because they cannot speak out!!!
And that just pisses me off…
Cruising the web while sitting at the airport, I ran across THIS piece of garbage, and actually started laughing out loud at the comments…
Once again crap is spewed in the hopes that ‘someone’ will believe it, but the advantage of the net is that one can actually FACT CHECK things before posting…
But that assumes one actually WANTS to put facts out there…
And according to CNN (spit), Manchin et al are bringing the gun check back up again in the next week or so. I’m betting that if they don’t get it through we’ll see EOs to regulate background checks, guns et al…
And THIS article from the Star Tribune in Olympia, Washington gives another approach they are going to use…
There has been a lot of back and forth over the ‘supposedly’ 90% in favor of background checks, but I believe the wording used and the preponderance of calls to ‘democratic’ voters skewed the hell out of that survey…
On to the next flight…
I’m STILL very happy with the pistol and the way it shoots, especially since Spear was good enough to inlet some contrasting material into the front sight (old eyes and all that), and cleaned up the trigger a bit for me.
Early reading this morning over at The Miller reminded me it’s ‘that’ time of the month. Cleaning time, cleaning time… sheesh…
Anyhoo, after going to the range it was time to clean the Mustang. I’ll apologize in advance for the lousy pics. Brigid I’m not…
Here’s a target…
I’m still shooting it a tad low, but I can live with that…
So, to break it down…
Unload it, remove all magazines and ammo, check that slide again and make damn sure there isn’t one up the pipe!
Rack the slide and get the hammer back (makes it MUCH easier to position the slide); push the slide stop out through the cut out in the slide like so…
Remove the slide stop, and the slide can move forward, note the double coil recoil spring. Also note the slide stop spring now has a nicely CNC’ed niche for it to ride in and it actually stays in the pistol (one of the BIG problems with the older version)!!!
Now you have three pieces
Remove the recoil spring and barrel and you’re down to the main parts for cleaning…
Clean, oil/grease as you desire, and start the reassembly…
Note the way the recoil spring is placed just like it is on the ‘big’ Colts.
Reassemble and function check (again ensure NO ammunition is anywhere near). In this pic you get a good view of the insert in the front sight Spear did for me…
And back in battery and ready to go!!!
One down and WAY too many to go on the cleaning… sigh…
I’ve been very happy with this little pistol, it’s easy to carry, and especially with summer coming, the ability to deep conceal/pocket carry will make things a LOT easier!
On the way to the range this morning, I ran into a neighbor just coming back from seeing her hubby. Nothing like being stationed 2800 miles apart… She’s here, he’s at McCord…
And since I’m getting ready for another road trip, it’s time to clean out the fridge…
I told her I’d make dinner if she wanted the leftovers, to which she quickly agreed, but first she was going to SLEEP! Redeye flights are NOT good for sleeping, especially in the back of the bus.
What to fix? Hmmm… NOT chicken pot pie…
Got some burgers, got a little pork and some veal, I’m tasting MEATLOAF… 🙂
Dug out the old family recipe and away I went. Found some new potatoes that won’t be any good for long (or as long as I’m going to be gone).
And VOILA…
It may not be pretty, but it IS bacon wrapped, because I could! And the light spot is where the Bay leaf was removed…
And some garlic and parsley new potatoes, and some butterbeans and the last of the French bread and I have a last good meal before the trip starts, AND no leftovers…
I know, the picture is crooked… so sue me… 🙂 But at least the fridge is cleaned out so no ‘science’ experiments when I get home…
And she’s a happy camper, since she’s got food for at least tomorrow and probably lunch for Monday!
Anybody ever hear of the Horton brothers??? How about the HO229???
Advance warning, this is a LONG video (45 minutes) but worth it if you have time and are an airplane buff!
This is a fascinating story, and one that was ‘close hold’ for many years. Thanks to NG and NatGeo, we now know how ‘good’ their design was. And frankly, it’s scary as hell how close they came to the proverbial “game changer”…
The brother’s Wiki page is HERE.
They take ‘such’ good care of me!!!
But I’m ‘still’ trying to figure out if that is was a cookie or extra packing material!!!
And just in time for the latest trip from hell no less… If I use the glow in the dark stuff, maybe I can actually FIND the bathroom(s) in the middle of the night!
Thanks y’all (you know who you are)!
Over the weekend, we came four votes away from the United States Senate giving our Constitutional rights over to the United Nations. In a 53-46 vote, the senate narrowly passed a measure that will stop the United States from entering into the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty.
The Statement of Purpose from the bill read:
To uphold Second Amendment rights and prevent the United States from entering into the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty.
The U.N. Small Arms Treaty, which has been championed by the Obama Administration, would have effectively placed a global ban on the import and export of small firearms. The ban would have affected all private gun owners in the U.S., and had language that would have implemented an international gun registry on all private guns and ammo.
Astonishingly, 46 of our United States Senators were willing to give away our Constitutional rights to a foreign power.
Here are the 46 senators that voted to give your rights to the U.N.
Baldwin (D-WI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bennet (D-CO)
Blumenthal (D-CT)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Coons (D-DE)
Cowan (D-MA)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Franken (D-MN)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Harkin (D-IA)
Hirono (D-HI)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kaine (D-VA)
King (I-ME)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Merkley (D-OR)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murphy (D-CT)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schatz (D-HI)
Schumer (D-NY)
Shaheen (D-NH)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Udall (D-CO)
Udall (D-NM)
Warner (D-VA)
Warren (D-MA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wyden (D-OR)
Remember this in 2014 please…
Words have meanings…
Drone- n.
1. A male bee, especially a honeybee, that is characteristically stingless, performs no work, and produces no honey. Its only function is to mate with the queen bee.
2. An idle person who lives off others; a loafer.
3. A person who does tedious or menial work; a drudge: “undervalued drones who labored in obscurity” (Caroline Bates).
4. A pilotless aircraft operated by remote control.
Historically, these were small units, used for target practice, or older airframes modified with a remote control system and flown from an adjacent aircraft to provide target services for either other aircraft, or missles for testing/training.
UAV/UAS- unmanned aerial vehicle/unmanned aircraft system, is an aircraft without a human pilot on board. Its flight is controlled either autonomously by computers in the vehicle, or under the remote control of a pilot on the ground or in another vehicle.
More and more of these autonomously controlled units are coming into existence in the military and are not weaponized. They are programmable to fly specific missions/patterns without intervention.
RPV/A- Remotely piloted vehicle/aircraft, is an aircraft first envisioned by Nicola Tesla in 1915, later utilized by the Army/Air Force in WWII and still in use today with Predator/Reaper/Global Hawk.
These systems are not autonomous, requiring both a pilot and a sensor/weapons operator (depending on the variant). Per USAF documents (so figure the CIA units in the covert ops are similar), it requires roughly 200 people to actually conduct 24 hour operations and perform a strike (includes pilots/sensors, maintenance personnel, command chain, overwatch chain, approval chain for strikes and intel support.
The word “Drones” draws immediate fire from both the left and the right, with images of Predator aircraft firing Hellfire missiles with controllers in some far away location (like Creech).
Depending on which side of the equation one falls on, they may be FOR or AGAINST use of any of the three types depending on what level of privacy/freedom they care about.
For example, what if a UAV is operated by the Fire Department or a volunteer group and not a police organization. Does this get it away from the spying on your neighbor fears that the law enforcement mission seems to conjure up? Or does it bring up even MORE issues of spying??? Think about the PETA types that are flying quadrotors (UAS) to ‘spy’ on bird hunters…
The other question is who will develop a list of policies and procedures for when and how the information collected- audio, video files, internet, IR, other; and how will be stored and who will have access to them and when or IF they be destroyed.
This is what the FAA says…
In the United States, the United States Navy and shortly after the Federal Aviation Administration have adopted the name unmanned aircraft (UA) to describe aircraft systems without a flight crew on board. More common names include UAV, drone, remotely piloted vehicle (RPV), remotely piloted aircraft (RPA), remotely operated aircraft (ROA). These “limited-size” (as defined by the FAI) unmanned aircraft flown in the USA’s National Airspace System, flown solely for recreation and sport purposes such as models, are generally flown under the voluntary safety standards of the Academy of Model Aeronautics,[22] the United States’ national aeromodeling organization. To operate a UA for non-recreational purposes in the United States, users must obtain a Certificate of Authorization (COA) to operate in national airspace. At the moment, COAs require a public entity as a sponsor. For example, when BP needed to observe oil spills, they operated the Aeryon Scout UAVs under a COA granted to the University of Alaska Fairbanks. COAs have been granted for both land and shipborne operations.
The term unmanned aircraft system (UAS) emphasizes the importance of other elements beyond an aircraft itself. A typical UAS consists of the:
- unmanned aircraft (UA)
- control system, such as Ground Control Station (GCS)
- control link, a specialized datalink
- other related support equipment.
For example, the RQ-7 Shadow UAS consists of four UAs, two GCSs, one portable GCS, one Launcher, two Ground Data Terminals (GDTs), one portable GDT, and one Remote Video Terminal. Certain military units are also fielded with a maintenance support vehicle.
Because of this systemic approach, unmanned aircraft systems have not been included in the United States Munitions List Category VIII – Aircraft and Associated Equipment. Vice versa, the “Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems” are clearly mentioned at paragraph 121-16 Missile Technology Control Regime Annex of the United States Munitions List. More precisely, the Missile Technology Control Regime Annex levels rocket and unmanned aerial vehicle systems together.
The term UAS was since adopted by the United States Department of Defense (DOD) and the British Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
The term used previously for unmanned aircraft system was unmanned-aircraft vehicle system (UAVS).
Now having read all that, there is still the question of where the government and companies will actually be ‘allowed’ to fly these systems over the US for ‘testing’…
Note- The FAA say NOTHING about data collection!
Meanwhile, folks are flying the hell out of them basically illegally (like the guys out of Germany. Team Black Sheep or something like that) and some agencies are flying them for any number of reasons…
So people are now spinning up over privacy issues with these flying systems, but what about wearable camera systems or the new Google Glasses that are coming on line, the license plate readers that can be see in most metro areas on patrol cars, security cameras, street surveillance cameras, and other handheld video collection methods (can we say cell phones).
Where/how do you draw the line? Or do you just go with the flow and try to limit your exposure??? Or move the hell out in the country???
At least we still HAVE choices, and I guess we should be thankful for that…
Remember, words have meanings, and KNOWING those different meanings give you dramatically different perceptions of what may be/is going on under the ‘guise’ of “it’s no biggie, they’re just drones…
15 Bogus predictions from the original earth day, and governments starting enacting policies that for the most part do nothing more can cost us money and/or make money for those raising the issue
“Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind.” • George Wald, Harvard Biologist
“We are in an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of this nation, and of the world as a suitable place of human habitation.” • Barry Commoner, Washington University biologist
“By…[1975] some experts feel that food shortages will have escalated the present level of world hunger and starvation into famines of unbelievable proportions. Other experts, more optimistic, think the ultimate food-population collision will not occur until the decade of the 1980s.” • Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University biologist“Demographers agree almost unanimously on the following grim timetable: by 1975 widespread famines will begin in India; these will spread by 1990 to include all of India, Pakistan, China and the Near East, Africa. By the year 2000, or conceivably sooner, South and Central America will exist under famine conditions….By the year 2000, thirty years from now, the entire world, with the exception of Western Europe, North America, and Australia, will be in famine.” • Peter Gunter, professor, North Texas State University
“It is already too late to avoid mass starvation.” • Denis Hayes, chief organizer for Earth Day
“Scientists have solid experimental and theoretical evidence to support…the following predictions: In a decade, urban dwellers will have to wear gas masks to survive air pollution…by 1985 air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching earth by one half….” • Life Magazine, January 1970
“Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make. The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years.” • Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University biologist
“At the present rate of nitrogen buildup, it’s only a matter of time before light will be filtered out of the atmosphere and none of our land will be usable.” • Kenneth Watt, Ecologist
“Air pollution…is certainly going to take hundreds of thousands of lives in the next few years alone.” • Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University biologist
“We are prospecting for the very last of our resources and using up the nonrenewable things many times faster than we are finding new ones.” • Martin Litton, Sierra Club director
“By the year 2000, if present trends continue, we will be using up crude oil at such a rate…that there won’t be any more crude oil. You’ll drive up to the pump and say, `Fill ‘er up, buddy,’ and he’ll say, `I am very sorry, there isn’t any.’” • Kenneth Watt, Ecologist
“Man must stop pollution and conserve his resources, not merely to enhance existence but to save the race from intolerable deterioration and possible extinction.” • New York Times editorial, the day after the first Earth Day
“Dr. S. Dillon Ripley, secretary of the Smithsonian Institute, believes that in 25 years, somewhere between 75 and 80 percent of all the species of living animals will be extinct.” • Sen. Gaylord Nelson
“We have about five more years at the outside to do something.” • Kenneth Watt, ecologist
“The world has been chilling sharply for about twenty years. If present trends continue, the world will be about four degrees colder for the global mean temperature in 1990, but eleven degrees colder in the year 2000. This is about twice what it would take to put us into an ice age.” • Kenneth Watt, Ecologist
Today, Earth Day, the eco-wackos will surely get their day moment in the spotlight and their soundbites on the nightly news. They’ll predict a future even grimmer than they predicted 43 years ago.
And they’ll be just as wrong 43 years from now. Just sayin…
Oh yeah, and Ehrlich? He studies butterflies… Wald? Political activist and Harvard Biochemist. Watt? Apparently a professor emeritus from UC Davis, no other info… Commoner? Biologist Washington Univ St. Louis, political activist. He was a leading ecologist and among the founders of the modern environmental movement.