Excused Lame

News From the Show Scene

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hlatky) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:54:00 +0000

To our enormous delight and relief, Miss Tess (Ch. Soyara's Cunning Little Vixen) picked up her second major last month at the McKinley KC shows to finish her championship.

Tess was a handful to show. After some early come-to-Jesus meetings with my lovely bride, Tess would slink down in the ring, making her look long and low. We turned her over to the capable hands of Nina Fetter, who did a wonderful job of showing her. Still, the road was longer and harder than we wanted, but Tessie is finished now and can return to pestering her brother Sarge.

To Remember

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hlatky) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:36:00 +0000

Today marks the 92nd anniversary of the first day of the Battle of the Somme. Some 20,000 British soldiers were killed that day and nearly 40,000 more wounded.

The 1st Newfoundland Regiment went into action at Beaumont Hamel. Of the 800 soldiers who went over the top, only 69 answered the roll call the next day. Every officer was either killed or wounded. The memorial caribou, facing the German positions, marks where they fell.

Handy Latin Phrases

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hlatky) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:29:00 +0000

Non calor sed umor est qui nobis incommodat.
It's not the heat, it's the humidity.

Di! Ecce hora! Uxor mea me necabit!
God, look at the time! My wife will kill me!

Estne volumen in toga, an solum tibi libet me videre?
Is that a scroll in your toga, or are you just happy to see me?

Lex clavatoris designati rescindenda est.
The designated hitter rule has got to go.

Sentio aliquos togatos contra me conspirare.
I think some people in togas are plotting against me.

Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris.
If Caesar were alive, you'd be chained to an oar.

Animadvertistine, ubicumque stes, fumum recta in faciem ferri?
Ever noticed how wherever you stand, the smoke goes right into your face?

Sona si Latine loqueris.
Honk if you speak Latin.

Si Hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes
If you can read this you're over-educated

Sentio aliquos togatos contra me conspirare.
I think some people in togas are plotting against me.

Vidi Vici Veni
I saw, I conquered, I came

Vacca foeda
Stupid cow

Mihi ignosce. Cum homine de cane debeo congredi.
Excuse me. I've got to see a man about a dog.

Raptus regaliter
Royally screwed

Si hoc signum legere potes, operis boni in rebus Latinus alacribus et fructuosis potiri potes!
If you can read this sign, you can get a good job in the fast-paced, high-paying world of Latin!

Gramen artificiosum odi.
I hate Astroturf.

Nihil curo de ista tua stulta superstitione.
I'm not interested in your dopey religious cult.

Noli me vocare, ego te vocabo.
Don't call me, I'll call you.

Nullo metro compositum est.
It doesn't rhyme.

Non curo. Si metrum non habet, non est poema.
I don't care. If it doesn't rhyme, it isn't a poem.

Fac ut gaudeam.
Make my day.

Braccae illae virides cum subucula rosea et tunica Caledonia-quam elenganter concinnatur!
Those green pants go so well with that pink shirt and the plaid jacket!

Visne saltare? Viam Latam Fungosam scio.
Do you want to dance? I know the Funky Broadway.

Re vera, potas bene.
Say, you sure are drinking a lot.

Utinam barbari spatium proprium tuum invadant!
May barbarians invade your personal space!

Utinam coniurati te in foro interficiant!
May conspirators assassinate you in the mall!

Utinam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant!
May faulty logic undermine your entire philosophy!

Radix lecti
Couch potato

Quo signo nata es?
What's your sign?

O! Plus! Perge! Aio! Hui! Hem!
Oh! More! Go on! Yes! Ooh! Ummm!

Mellita, domi adsum.
Honey, I'm home.

Tam exanimis quam tunica Nehru fio.
I am as dead as the Nehru jacket.

Ventis secundis, tene cursum.
Go with the flow.

Totum dependeat.
Let it all hang out.

Te precor dulcissime supplex!
Pretty please with a cherry on top!

Magister Mundi sum!
I am the Master of the Universe!

Fac me cocleario vomere!
Gag me with a spoon!

Te audire no possum. Musa sapientum fixa est in aure.
I can't hear you. I have a banana in my ear.

Estne volumen in toga, an solum tibi libet me videre?
Is that a scroll in your toga, or are you just happy to see me?

Prehende uxorem meam, sis!
Take my wife, please!

Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Nihil est--in vita priore ego imperator Romanus fui.
That's nothing--in a previous life I was a Roman Emperor.

Recedite, plebes! Gero rem imperialem!
Stand aside plebians! I am on imperial business.

Vescere bracis meis.
Eat my shorts.

Sic faciunt omnes.
Everyone is doing it.

Fac ut vivas.
Get a life.

Anulos qui animum ostendunt omnes gestemus!
Let's all wear mood rings!

Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam.
I have a catapult. Give me all the money, or I will fling an enormous rock at your head.

The Dogs Bark, but the Caravan Moves On

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hlatky) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:25:00 +0000

In December, my company was purchased by a private European concern. Otherworldly as I am, I knew that mergers are rarely good news for the employees of the mergee. Still, hoping against hope, I hedged my fears: they're technology oriented... I'm technology oriented... I'm one of the leading people in my field... I can be a big help to the new company...

Late in March, some members of our catalyst R&D group went for a joint meeting in Europe with our catalyst colleagues from the two European labs. In a meeting on their return, our new group head said that the meetings went very well... there would be all kinds of joint projects... Hlatky (who had just filed half a dozen new invention disclosures) for president...

Twenty-four hours later, our site manager said something quite different at an employee meeting: research would be concentrated in Europe and North American research activities were to be scaled back. Two weeks later, on April 17th I was told that my position was to be eliminated effective at the end of August.

I am now looking for a new job. This is not an easy prospect. With mergers and the high cost of feedstocks, the North American polyolefins industry looks like the steel industry did twenty-five years ago. In my industry, we go through troughs and cutbacks every three or four years. It's like being a duck in a shooting gallery: this time I just got hit. Our catalyst group, which numbered 11 researchers ten years ago, is now down to three.

And yet to my surprise I don't feel as depressed as I thought I would. Sure I wake up and say to myself, "I'm going to be out of a job soon," but on the whole I'm not pessimistic. I have a long record of accomplishments and I think something is going to turn up in the shorter rather than the longer term.

Goodby to a Good Guy

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hlatky) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 09:51:00 +0000

Soyara's A Shade of Difference
May 28, 2000 - March 19, 2008

We lost Rufus last night.

Ordinarily a house dog, Rufus was moved back out to the kennel because of the puppies and bitches in season as well as heavy recent rains leading to flooding in the basement.

Last night I went out to the kennel to change water and fill feeders. I found Rufus covered in mud, whimpering and unable to walk. We got him inside, cleaned him up and took him to the vet. There we found he had a catastrophic separation of his hip, with ruptured ligaments. Probably he was fence-fighting with another one of the boys in another pen, slipped in the mud and injured himself.

We have known for quite a while that Rufus was living on borrowed time. He had a tumor on his spine that was causing issues with his movement and which ended his show career one major short of his championship. This may have had something to do with his injury; perhaps because of it he wasn't able to recover his balance when he started sliding.

Surgery was a possibility, but the vet said that with the extent of the injury, his existing issues and his age the prognosis for a successful recovery were very poor. Rufus slipped from this world quietly, hearing soothing voices and feeling gentle strokes.

Rest well, big guy.

Snowbound

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hlatky) — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 16:49:00 +0000

Sixteen inches of global warming, starting yesterday morning and still going on. F'r Heaven's sake, it's March! Enough already!

Fine, Thank You

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hlatky) — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 13:32:00 +0000

The little ones are flourishing and developing some impish personalities. They've been weaned and are now eating what we call "puppy paste," a combination of soaked puppy kibble, a little canned meat, Esbilac and baby rice slurried in hot water. It's made up in a large shallow pan so the pups can all eat together.

Every evening the puppy pen has to be cleaned up, disinfected and fresh newspaper put down. While I'm doing this, the babies have the run of the rest of the sun room, supervised by my lovely bride. They tear about, wrestle and knock each other over, play tug-of-war with toys and generally run wild. Eventually they wind down, go back into the pen and go to sleep, looking angelic. A puppy's day is done.

We think we've settled on names for them, both call names and ones for AKC registration.

Dutch (Soyara's The Flying Dutchman)
Ilya (Soyara's Ilya Murometz)
Carmen (Soyara's Carmen Fantasy)
Aida (Soyara's Celeste Aida)

Outlasting Nine Presidents

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hlatky) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 01:03:00 +0000

Commie thug Fidel Castro has resigned the presidency of Cuba, leaving only Hugo Chavez for lefties and Hollywood rich folks to fawn over.

The press make much over his "outlasting" every U.S. President since Eisenhower. Over at the Weekly Standard blog, Brian Faughnan points out that West Virginia Senator Robert C. Byrd has it all over the soon-we-hope-to-be-late Maximum Leader in the outlasting category. Byrd has been a Senator since 1959 and has been in Congress since 1953, a length of tenure exceeded so far only by Arizona's Carl T. Hayden, who served his state in the House and Senate from February 9, 1912 to January 3, 1969.

Faughnan has a moment of forgetfulness when he says he believes Byrd is the only one to outlast Fidel's regime. Add to the list "The Truck," Representative John D. Dingell, Jr., elected December 13, 1955 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of his father, John D. Dingell, Sr.

Death in Panama

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hlatky) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 00:19:00 +0000

In the course of making revision to this little project, I came across the entry in the 62nd Congress for William W. Wedemeyer, who represented Michigan's 2nd district. The Biographical Directory of the United States Congress says of Wedemeyer, that he "was accidentally drowned" in the harbor at Colón, Panama during an official visit to the Canal Zone. The full truth is less mysterious but sadder.

William Wedemeyer was born in 1873 near Ann Arbor, was educated at the University of Michigan and held official positions in his native Washtenaw County as well as the state of Michigan, also serving as American consul in British Guiana in 1905. Active in the Republican party, he was a member of the state party's central committee for four years.

Wedemeyer was elected to Congress in 1910, succeeding Charles E. Townsend, who moved to the Senate. With his experience in the Carribean, he sat on the Committee for Territories; the governement of the Canal Zone was of particular interest to him. In the election of 1912, the Democrats swept to power in both the White House and the Capitol. Wedemeyer was one of those who went down to defeat, losing to Democrat Samuel W. Beeks.

During the long lame duck session, a congressional party including Wedemeyer sailed on a junket to Panama to inspect progress on the Panama Canal, then nearing completion. On the voyage Wedemeyer suffered a severe nervous breakdown, violently raving that President Taft had a hand in his electoral reverses. On arriving in Panama, Wedemeyer was committed to a secure room in sanatarium under a suicide watch. Several days later, the delegation departed from Colón on the steamer Panama.

Wedemeyer, accompanied by two male nurses, was with them, his condition not improved. He was consigned to a cabin under watch. His guards, who thought he was asleep, left Wedemeyer's care to friends while they went to supper. He escaped his cabin and ran up to the deck, where many of the congressional party were taking the evening air. The insane man ran to the railing and, to the horror of those watching, leaped overboard.

The ship stopped and spent two hours searching for him, to no avail. His body was never found.

Westminster Week

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hlatky) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 02:06:00 +0000

Of course you know that Westminster Kennel Club show is being held today and tomorrow at Madison Square Garden. For our household, it's what the Super Bowl is for everyone else. The difference is that we know many of the participants and are familiar with many of the dogs competing.

We've done well at Westminster, with Lacey getting an Award of Merit in 2003 and going Best of Breed in 2004. Diva got AOM's in 2005 and 2007, nearly taking the Breed in 2005.

We didn't enter anyone this year. Mostly it's because of the babies being so young and partly because we didn't have anyone to show except, perhaps, for Alan.

It didn't mean that we didn't have, so to speak, a dog in this fight. Lacey's son Knight, bred by us and owned by Gretchen Thiele and Charles Green, was entered this year and was handled by Nina Fetter. Knight, at 3 years old, is starting to come into his own and we were hoping that maybe an Award of Merit wasn't out of the question.

Alas, the judge failed to fulfill our desires. Poor Knight showed well (Charles gave us play-by-play over the phone), but didn't make the cut in the male competition. Best of Breed went to Hunter (Ch. Sunburst Huntsman of Metcha), Best of Opposite Sex to Rose (Ch. Raynbo's Winter Rose) and AOM's to Cameo (Ch. Majenkir Raynbo Silver Cameo), Ace (Ch. Auroral's Across Time Sirius), Jolie (Ch. Chihawk Tahoe Tomb Raider JC) and Tasia (Ch. Majenkir My Fantastasia). Congratulations to all the winners.

I Know the Feeling!

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hlatky) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 02:03:00 +0000

The babies now have their eyes open. They're starting to toddle unsteadily around the whelping box (actually a kid's paddle pool), growl and tussle (or at least mouth) with their siblings. Faith has been an excellent mother, just like her dam Possum was.

The schedule during any litter's first two weeks, their most vulnerable period, is for me to go to bed at around 9:00 PM and get up at 2:00 AM to relieve my lovely bride. She has the first week's day watch and I take over the second.

The purpose of the 24-hour watch is to see that nothing untowards happens, such as Mama rolling over on someone and crushing it, and to make sure that each of the babies has equal time at the milk bar. There's a heat lamp shining on the whelping box and a portable radiator keeps the place warm for them.

We do our best to stay awake during all this time, but sitting in a comfy chair in the sun room inevitably one or the other of us doze off briefly, in my case between 3:00 and 4:00 AM. When I awoke, my entire body was paralyzed and great effort was needed to get any muscle moving.

Now that the pups eyes and ears are becoming active, we no longer have to spend all our time in the room with the pen or in the adjacent kitchen. For which deliverance we can only say, "Thank God." We're still very attentive to both Mama and babies, but at least we can sleep in our own bed during customary hours. I am now only just recovering from the newborns' schedule.

We still have a long way to go, but every day the little ones grow stronger and more active. In a few weeks they'll stop being digestive tracts with legs and start being little hellions.

Annals of Bad Sub-Editing

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hlatky) — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 00:06:00 +0000

Headline: "Ex-St. Paul teacher is off to workhouse for sex with teen"

Silly me. I thought doing it was what landed you there, not what you did after you landed there.

Great Piece, Lame Performance

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hlatky) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:36:00 +0000

Here's a video of a 2001 performance by the Berlin Philharmonic (!) of Juan Pablo Moncayo's delightful Huapango. Unfortunately, it's soddenly conducted by Placido Domingo, whose talents with the baton are distinctly inferior to those with his voice.

If you'd like to hear a sparkling performance of this piece at a low price, purchase Enrique Batiz's with the Mexico Festival Orchestra.

The Crying Game

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hlatky) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:25:00 +0000

Madame, the Cattle Baroness, blubs again at a campaign appearance:

Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton had an emotional reunion Monday with a colleague from the early days of her legal career as a child advocate.

The moment came as she revisited her law school days while hosting a campaign event at the Yale Child Study Center where she first pursued her interest in child advocacy.

Penn Rhodeen, a New Haven public interest lawyer who worked with Clinton as a student, recalled her showing up on his doorstep wearing purple bellbottoms.

"It was so 1972," he recalled, praising Clinton for her longtime interest in helping children.

"Here is the abiding truth we know — you have always been a champion for children. Welcome home, dear friend. We are so proud of you," he said.

Clinton responded emotionally to Rhodeen's praise, at one point wiping her eyes with her hand.

Just as at her first crying jag, what has set Madame off? Emotional reaction to artistic sublimity? The recognition of death-defying courage? The love of country?

Naah, Madame is sobbing about herself. As always with the Clintons, it's all about them. Do we really want these people back? It would be like a second appendicitis attack.

Profiles in Courage

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hlatky) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 18:00:00 +0000

Senator Barak Obama's campaign for the presidency has earned the endorsement of The Fat Rich Kid and America's Princess, Caroline Kennedy, whose major accomplishment in life - like that of her mother - appears to be limited to marrying a wealthy guy. Mrs. Schlossberg says:

All my life, people have told me that my father changed their lives, that they got involved in public service or politics because he asked them to. And the generation he inspired has passed that spirit on to its children. I meet young people who were born long after John F. Kennedy was president, yet who ask me how to live out his ideals.

Sometimes it takes a while to recognize that someone has a special ability to get us to believe in ourselves, to tie that belief to our highest ideals and imagine that together we can do great things. In those rare moments, when such a person comes along, we need to put aside our plans and reach for what we know is possible.

We have that kind of opportunity with Senator Obama...

Now the comparisons between the two (lightweight senators with little policy experience and an addiction to bomfoggery) have been pointed out by others. Let me add one more.

Senator Obama, it has been pointed out, had an odd habit while an Illinois legislator, of ducking tough votes on issues like partial birth abortion, where the popularity of the measure among Democrats and his constituents may have diverged.

In 1954, the censure of Senator Joseph McCarthy came before the Senate. McCarthy was very popular among Kennedy's Massachusetts constituents and Kennedy found it difficult to square this with his Democratic colleagues in the Senate. He joined the vote to establish a select committee to investigate McCarthy but said:

Many times I have voted with Senator McCarthy, for the full appropriation of funds for his committee, for his amendment to reduce our assistance to nations trading with Communists, and on other matters. I have not sought to end his investigations of Communist subversion, nor is the pending measure related either to the desirability or continuation of those investigations.

When the vote on McCarthy's censure came up on December 2, 1954, Kennedy was the only Democrat who didn't vote on the measure or, because he was in the hospital, acquire a pair. In short, he ducked the issue, saying to a friend:

You know, when I get downstairs I know exactly what's going to happen. Those reporters are going to lean over my stretcher. There's going to be about ninety-five faces bent over me with great concern, and every one of those guys is going to say, "Now, Senator, what about McCarthy?" Do you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to reach back for my back and I'm going to yell, "Owww," and I'm going to pull the sheet over my head and hope we can get out of there.

Now all Senator Obama has to do is get an aide to ghost-write a Pulitzer Prize-winning book and the comparison will be complete.

The New Kids

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hlatky) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:32:00 +0000

For the last week, I've been helping my lovely bride look after our new pups. Miss Faith went into labor a little after midnight on Wednesday. She pooped out from uterine inertia after a short time, so we called the vet for her to go in for a C-section. We had to work to get the little guys going; the act of natural birth forces the fluids from their lungs, so delivery by C-section has its hazards.

There are two boys and two girls. All of them are doing just fine, as is Mama. Until the babies have their eyes open, either my lovely bride or I will be in the room or in the adjacent kitchen, and even then just briefly. The concern is always that the mother might roll over on one of them or one may wander off. Faith has been an excellent mother, lying quieter than I've ever seen her and tending her kids carefully.

We've moved a computer into the sun room where the whelping box is located, so more regular posting should now resume.

They're Here

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hlatky) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 10:36:00 +0000

Two boys and two girls, born by C-section early this morning. More follows.

Waiting

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hlatky) — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 20:22:00 +0000

Miss Faith is due to deliver any time, so we wait on her pleasure. The X-rays showed 5 or perhaps 6 puppies. The sire is the great Virago.

One Less Potential Running Mate for Ron Paul

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hlatky) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:48:00 +0000

Bobby Fischer has died in Reykjavik at 64.

Commie Dies, Times Weeps

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hlatky) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 16:15:00 +0000

Another old Red bites the dust:

Milton Wolff, the last commander of the American volunteers who fought against Franco in the Spanish Civil War and the longtime commander of the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, died Monday in Berkeley, Calif. He was 92.

At first a young Communist rabble-rouser on soapboxes in New York City, Mr. Wolff was wielding a machine gun in Spain by the time he was 21. By 22, he was the ninth commander of what is commonly called the Lincoln Brigade; four of his predecessors had been killed, four wounded; none now survive, the archives confirm...

While Mr. Wolff was in Spain, he became a friend of Ernest Hemingway, who served him his first glass of Scotch; Hemingway was in Spain as a reporter and wrote fiction about the conflict as well. Later, in a pamphlet issued when sculptures of the fighters were unveiled, he called Mr. Wolff “as brave and as good a soldier as any that commanded battalions at Gettysburg.”...

Mr. Wolff never stopped defying authority. He helped lead the fight against United States support of Franco’s government and battled fiercely for civil rights and against the Vietnam War. He even offered the services of the aging veterans of the Lincoln Brigade to the North Vietnamese leader, Ho Chi Minh, who declined them...

Mr. Wolff always said he first met Hemingway after stealing his mistress, something he told Salon in 1999 that Hemingway did not
mind. Hemingway minded more when he found out that Mr. Wolff had no idea who he was. For his part, Mr. Wolff resented Hemingway’s description of villagers loyal to the Republic as having murdered fascists in “For Whom the Bell Tolls.”

Mr. Wolff said he was turned down for combat duty in World War II because of concerns about his leftist politics. He later fought successfully against the “subversive” label pinned on the Lincoln veterans for decades. He personally delivered 20 ambulances to the Nicaraguan government when the Reagan administration was supporting rebels against it.

Not subversive perhaps, brave perhaps, but a fool for all that. Stand on the wrong side of the 20th century's biggest questions and you'll be assured of a respectful send-off in the Times.

Not Reassuring

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hlatky) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:01:00 +0000

The dust-up between Revolutionary Guard speedboats and U.S. naval vessels in the Strait of Hormuz is worrying for what it might be a harbinger of:

There is a reason American military officers express grim concern over the tactics used by Iranian sailors last weekend: a classified, $250 million war game in which small, agile speedboats swarmed a naval convoy to inflict devastating damage on more powerful warships.

In the days since the encounter with five Iranian patrol boats in the Strait of Hormuz, American officers have acknowledged that they have been studying anew the lessons from a startling simulation conducted in August 2002.

In that war game, the Blue Team navy, representing the United States, lost 16 major warships — an aircraft carrier, cruisers and amphibious vessels — when they were sunk to the bottom of the Persian Gulf in an attack that included swarming tactics by enemy speedboats.

“The sheer numbers involved overloaded their ability, both mentally and electronically, to handle the attack,” said Lt. Gen. Paul K. Van Riper, a retired Marine Corps officer who served in the war game as commander of a Red Team force representing an unnamed Persian Gulf military. “The whole thing was over in 5, maybe 10 minutes.”

General Van Riper said he complained at the time that important lessons of his simulated victory were not adequately acknowledged across the military. But other senior officers say the war game and subsequent analysis and exercises helped to focus attention on the threat posed by Iran’s small, fast boats, and helped to prepare commanders for last weekend’s encounter.

“It’s clear, strategically, where the Iranian military has gone,” Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters on Friday. “For the years that this strategic shift toward their small, fast boats has taken place, we’ve been very focused on that.”

In the simulation, General Van Riper sent wave after wave of relatively inexpensive speedboats to charge at the costlier, more advanced fleet approaching the Persian Gulf. His force of small boats attacked with machine guns and rockets, reinforced with missiles launched from land and air. Some of the small boats were loaded with explosives to detonate alongside American warships in suicide attacks. That core tactic of swarming played out in real life last weekend, though on a much more limited scale and without any shots fired...

That was not the case in the simulation, sponsored by the military’s Joint Forces Command. The victory of the force modeled after a Persian Gulf state — a composite of Iran and Iraq — astounded sponsors of what was then the largest joint war-fighting exercise ever held, involving 13,500 military members and civilians battling in nine live exercise ranges in the United States, and double that many computer simulations to replicate a number of different battles.

General Van Riper’s attack was much more complex and sophisticated than anything that could have involved the Iranian boats last weekend. The broad outline of the 2002 war game was reported at the time, but in interviews since last weekend’s episode, General Van Riper and other officers have provided new details about the simulation.

In the war game, scores of adversary speedboats and larger naval vessels had been shadowing and hectoring the Blue Team fleet for days. The Blue Team defenses also faced cruise missiles fired simultaneously from land and from warplanes, as well as the swarm of speedboats firing heavy machine guns and rockets — and pulling longside to detonate explosives on board.

When the Red Team sank much of the Blue navy despite the Blue navy’s firing of guns and missiles, it illustrated a cheap way to beat a very expensive fleet. After the Blue force was sunk, the game was ordered to begin again, with the Blue Team eventually declared the victor.

In a telephone interview, General Van Riper recalled that his idea of a swarming attack grew from Marine Corps studies of the natural world, where insects and animals — from tiny ant colonies to wolf packs — move in groups to overwhelm larger prey.

“It is not a matter of size or of individual capability, but whether you have the numbers and come from multiple directions in a short period of time,” he said.

Let's never forget that while the United States is a powerful and resourceful nation, our enemies should never be underestimated nor should we think they'll operate in a rational way. We seem to have forgotten that in World War II suicide planes sank many ships during the Okinawa campaign and placed enormous strain on the sailors of the U.S. fleet. Let's never again blunder into another Pearl Harbor or Battle of the Bulge or 9/11 through complacency.

Proof of a Just and Merciful God!

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hlatky) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 01:04:00 +0000

The Dallas Cowboys (The Greatest Team that Absolutely Ever Was, Is, or Will Be) has lost to the New York Giants 21-17.

In losing, Dallas has gone 12 years without winning a post-season game. If they went through the next 120 years without winning any game it wouldn't be enough for me.

An End, We Hope

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hlatky) — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 13:12:00 +0000

It looks like the campaign of Ron Paul (or Dr. Paul his supporters insist) is now in serious trouble with the revelation that racist and homophobic columns appeared in a newsletter with his name on the banner. Who knows who actually wrote them? But, Paul (sorry, Dr. Paul) is the responsible officer of his own publiction. Saying, "Sorry, I had no idea people were writing this stuff under my name," pushes libertarianism a little too far.

In my young and foolish days, I had libertarian leanings that eventually I abandoned to become an out-and-out reactionary. One of the problems with libertarianism as a political movement is that there's a creepy sense of dictatorship underneath all the rhetoric: "Vote for us and everything will be completely different!" It just ain't gonna happen. Politics is the art of the possible and as Ace says, you'll never get elected or re-elected:

Let's take the Department of Education for starters. I assume, without knowing for a fact, Professor Science wishes to abolish it. I'm copacetic with that general notion. I do not consider that to be a "deranged" or "lunatic" idea.

What I do consider deranged is the assertion by Professor Science's supporters that such a thing is possible. Wake up: It's not. The Department of Education may be an ineffective, even counterproductive, scam that hurts more than it helps and is indeed an example of the federal government's growth into areas it shouldn't venture into.

But the Department of Education is popular. Very popular. Among dopes, yes, who think that if you're against the Department of Education you're against education itself and don't want children to have an education, but those dopes, I have to say, constitute about 75% of the electorate.

This is why those "sell-out RINOs" are forced to accomodate themselves with the reality that the DoE isn't going anywhere. The best a real, serious, non-fringe candidate can hope to do is to reform this institution so it at least is not harmful to education.

Would abolishing it be preferable? Possibly. Probably, even. I would not be sad at all to see this crap department go. But it is not politically possible. You can either have a Republican who says he supports the DoE and wants it to do its job better or you can have Democrat who says he suppors the DoE and wants it do its job better. What you can't have is a Republican President who vows to abolish it, because he won't be elected. Period.

There's a real place in this country for a serious debate about personal liberties vs. public order, the role of government in our lives, the relationship of states to the federal government and the place of America in the world. None of the major candidates are asking these questions.

The problem with libertarianism as a political movement is that it's neither broad nor deep. Ron Paul's about the best you get. Soon afterwards, if not sooner, what kind of people are its proponents? Gold bugs. Truthers. Potheads. Whore-bonkers. Porn-pushers. Jew baiters. Racial supremicists. Survivalists. Drinkers of colloidal silver. Neo-Confederates. Conspiracy theorists. Secessionists. Little America types.

In short, the sort of folks who forty years ago put out badly typed mimeographed newsletters and who now have badly designed websites. Assistant dog warden in Arthur County, Nebraska is about the upper limit of their electoral prospects. Anything wider rapidly becomes an embarrassment.

Population of Hell Up by One!

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hlatky) — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 00:50:00 +0000

The famous Cuban health care system so praised by Michael Moore can't help a traitor:

Renegade former CIA agent Philip Agee, whose naming of agency operatives helped prompt a U.S. law against exposing government spies, has died in Cuba, his wife said Wednesday. He was 72.

Agee quit the CIA in 1969 after 12 years working mostly in Latin America at a time when leftist movements were gaining prominence and sympathizers. His 1975 book "Inside the Company: CIA Diary," cited alleged misdeeds against leftists in the region and included a 22-page list of purported agency operatives.

Lest we think of Agee as some martyr to freedom, he proved a true Commie lickspittle:

One of Agee's last essays was published in Granma International newspaper in 2003 shortly after the Cuban government arrested 75 leading dissidents and political activists.

"To think that the dissidents were creating an independent, free civil society is absurd," he wrote, "for they were funded and controlled by a hostile foreign power and to that degree, which was total, they were not free or independent in the least."

Rot in the Inferno, swine.

Surprise!

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hlatky) — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 02:26:00 +0000

Headline: "Canadians would root for Democrats: poll"