Tuesday, April 14, 2009
China's Naval Gambit
The future of America's long-running dominance of the seas is under threat. The Department of Defense reported recently that the Chinese navy is continuing to modernize at a rapid clip. It is adding guided missile destroyers and nuclear and diesel-electric attack submarines to its fleet, and is developing over-the-horizon radars and next-generation anti-ship cruise missiles, and possibly even the first ever anti-ship ballistic missile.
Not only have Chinese ships recently harassed unarmed U.S. naval vessels in the South China Sea, but according to reports emanating from Japan, China will likely complete construction on two conventional aircraft carriers by 2015, and will begin construction on two more nuclear carriers in 2020.
Recently, an influential People's Liberation Army (PLA) publication put these power projection plans in context. The newspaper described the concept of a "national interest frontier": national defense will be extended to include all areas of the globe where China has interests.
Unfortunately, these developments have received little attention in the United States... [snip]
President Obama must not allow short-term economic and security interests to blind him to long-term defense needs. We all hope China will prove itself to be a responsible great power in the years to come. But hope is no basis for policy...
[Highly Recommended > ]
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Killing the F-22
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The F-22 is very expensive, but delivers air superiority in return. The Secretary of Defense has announced that the Air Force will stop buying them.
In his Commentary posting regarding Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and his DoD budget proposals, Max Boot makes the following statement:
I think Gates made a perfectly defensible decision to stop buying more F-22s while increasing and speeding up the acquisition of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
That would seem a prudent choice except for one small problem: the F-35 is not a replacement for, nor equivalent to, the F-22, as the Wall Street Journal recognizes. The F-22 is a higher performance aircraft designed specifically for the air superiority role, while the F-35 -- as is suggested by its description as the "Joint Strike Fighter" -- is intended for use primarily as a ground attack aircraft. The F-22 sports a Mach 1.5 "supercruise" capability and vectored thrust for enhanced/high-altitude maneuvering whereas the F-35 does not.
One capability of the F-22 that seems to be ignored, or just left unmentioned, is that of a "first strike" weapon if armed with nukes. A fleet of these virtually undetectable and 1.5 Mach cruising birds could, theoretically, wipe out an enemy's nuclear strike capacity without forewarning, which ICBMs provide. [snip]
Another, more likely explanation for the Chinese objecting to the Japanese acquiring F-22s may be its built-in signals intelligence capabilities. Recall the "incident" shortly after Bush became President in 2001 that involved the collision between a Navy EP-3 reconnaissance aircraft and a Chinese fighter. [snip] All this would have been avoided had there been an F-22 on the job gathering electronic intelligence. The Chinese would not have suspected it was there even if it flew directly over their new underground/undersea nuke sub base. [snip]
With all the trillions being squandered on a whole host of diversionary and useless programs, Gates crying about "cost" and "fiscal responsibility" is, to put it mildly, hogwash. And, considering the past actions of the Chinese who, according to the FBI, are the most likely perps behind a couple of major blackouts in the U.S., these 'concerns' are well within the bounds of possibility.
If you think not, perhaps you should have a peek at Mr. Cox's report.
[Imagine US {or any military's} capabilities without air superiority. We cannot do without it. The F35 does not provide it. This is a foolish decision at any time - with the obvious intentions of China and Russia it's lunacy.
Highly Recommended > ]
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Trillions for pork but nothing for the Raptors?
Last week, with two active battlefields still requiring the complete air superiority Americans have come to assume is a condition of nature, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced that production of the Raptor –generally recognized as the greatest fighter plane in history with no equal on the planet-- would conclude at 187.
Proponents of a robust margin of safety in the skies when it comes to military power did not react well. Joseph E. Sutter, Chairman of the Board of the Air Force Association, asked in an op-ed whether the U.S. was “one day closer… to the day when the US loses air dominance, one of our asymmetric advantages in any conflict – irregular warfare or major conventional-strategic combat operations?”
“Every plan, every contingency, assumes we'll control the skies”
Sutter continued. “One of the first tasks of Operation Desert Storm was to wipe out Iraqi air defenses. Today, our unmanned air vehicles operate freely in Iraq and Afghanistan because we are unchallenged. Ending the production of the F-22 fighter at 187 places at risk our ability to meet known threats.
“We know others are producing highly capable systems to challenge our current F-15s and the F-22. And they will not stop at 187. As recently as last year, reducing the F-22 buy from 381 to around 250 was described by some as a ‘medium risk’ maneuver. What does capping it at 187 mean? [snip]
Forfeiting a huge advantage in the skies on the assurance that we will never need such superiority should be met with reminders that no one saw 9/11 or the market collapse of 2008 coming, and there are clearly threats on our horizon that could accelerate just as quickly as the Islamist threat or drops in the Dow did in the recent past.
Trillions for pork but not even millions for the greatest fighter plane in history?
Congress needs to step in and step up production of the F-22 and of the components of missile defense. We already have too many reminders of the ‘30s. A unilateral disarmament in air power is an unnecessary and dangerous addition to them.
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"RETAIN RAPTOR PRODUCTION-DEPLOYMENT"
Whitehouse: mailto:president@whitehouse.gov
YOUR Congressman: https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml
YOUR Senator: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
or: Speed Message them with your personal distribution list...
and as always, pass it on...
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Navy SEALs' Simultaneous Headshots on Somali Pirates Were Procedure
At least one former SEAL was not surprised that each of the three Somali pirates was killed with just one shot, despite the fact that they were on a rolling sea and the Navy snipers had to make a successful "headshot," something he said is "extremely difficult."
SEAL sharpshooters are trained to hit targets "under a minute," meaning able to hit within an inch of a target from 100 yards...
[Yeah it's a morbid topic, but c'mon: 3 bad guys with 3 bullets at sea.]
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UK cabinet minister recommends pandering to Islamists
The UK social cohesion minister (yes! - there is actually a such a position) Sadiq Khan has gone on the record suggesting that Britain adopt an anti-US foreign policy so as to appease radical Pakistani youth (in Pakistan!), a major source of UK immigrants. The Guardian/Observer reports:
The UK must distance itself from American foreign policy if Pakistani youths are to be prevented from growing up hating Britain, according to the government's social cohesion minister.
Pandering to the opinions of one segment of a foreign population is a startling basis for conducting a nation's foreign policy.
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The Free World Bars Free Speech
For years, the Western world has listened aghast to stories out of Iran, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern nations of citizens being imprisoned or executed for questioning or offending Islam. Even the most seemingly minor infractions elicit draconian punishments.
Late last year, two Afghan journalists were sentenced to prison for blasphemy because they translated the Koran into a Farsi dialect that Afghans can read. In Jordan, a poet was arrested for incorporating Koranic verses into his work. And last week, an Egyptian court banned a magazine for running a similar poem.
But now an equally troubling trend is developing in the West. Ever since 2006, when Muslims worldwide rioted over newspaper cartoons picturing the prophet Muhammad, Western countries, too, have been prosecuting more individuals for criticizing religion.
The "Free World," it appears, may be losing faith in free speech... [snip]
History has shown that once governments begin to police speech, they find ever more of it to combat. Countries such as Canada, England and France have prosecuted speakers and journalists for criticizing homosexuals and other groups. It's the ultimate irony: free speech curtailed for the sake of a pluralistic society.
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UN to NoKo's: 'Beware of our strongly worded memo!'
Monty Python may have put it a little differently: "Give them the comfy chair!"
The apparent agreement came after envoys from permanent members the US, France, China, Russia and UK - plus Japan - held two-hour talks in New York.
US Ambassador Susan Rice said that the presidential statement would send a "clear message" to North Korea.
The council "condemns the 5 April 2009 launch by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), which is in contravention of Security Council resolution 1718", the draft says.
The resolution, passed in 2006, bans North Korea from conducting ballistic missile or nuclear tests.
The statement urges North Korea to refrain from further launches and calls on the UN sanctions committee to better enforce existing sanctions against the communist country.
Rice is correct. It does indeed send a "clear message" to Kim:
"Go ahead and launch another one and we will respond with equal weakness."
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Koh and Justice Ginsburg - Soulmates
... A court should decide cases based on the facts and law before it. What anyone else, and most particularly foreign courts, think of the decision should be irrelevant to the decision-making process.
This is why fighting the Koh nomination is getting bloody and will probably get bloodier as we get closer to confirmation. The idea that our government should operate under any law save the Constitution is so outrageous as to place the individual arguing otherwise beyond reason.
Either we have a Constitution that we force our government to live under or we grant them the ability to import laws and precedents from anywhere in the world in order that they can justify doing anything they wish to us.
This is more than an ideological or partisan battle. It is a fight for the soul of America. Other nation's do not view individual liberty as we do and we are likely to lose it if we use other nation's legal formulations on what the relationship between government and its citizens should be.
[Not according to Koh...]
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The Fight Over Harold Koh
It looks like Harold Koh, President Obama’s nominee for legal adviser at the State Department, may turn out to be the first real confirmation fight in the new Administration. The controversy has been mentioned in a handful of newspapers, but there’s plenty of Internet fire on the anti-Koh, and pro-Koh, side.
The heart of the concern with Koh, who is now the dean of Yale Law School, is that he believes in “transnationalism,” which is the notion that American courts should honor and apply the laws of other nations in our courts...
[Apply the laws of other nations in our courts - that's all. Nothing that more than a 'handful of newspapers' should cover.]
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Gov Clinches Deal on Huge Tax Hikes
Albany - Personal income taxes for the upper middle class and the rich are about to skyrocket under a secret, soak-the-wealthy tax deal reached last night by Gov. Paterson and leaders of the Legislature, sources told The Post. The two-tier tax plan would bring in $4 billion annually, in part by hiking income taxes a stunning 31 percent for all New Yorkers making more than $500,000 a year...
[The bane of democracies: the lower economic classes learn they can steal from the higher...]
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CALIFORNIA SALES TAX RISES TO ALMOST 9 PERCENT
Starting Wednesday, California's sales tax rose to 6 percent, bringing the average local sales tax rate to almost 9 percent -- one of the highest in the nation.
In the coming months, Californians will also see an increase in personal income taxes and higher fees to license their vehicles.
- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers agreed to $12.5 billion in tax increases as part of a $42 billion deficit-closing plan to help stave off what they described as devastating cuts to education and health care.
- State officials predict consumers will spend less because of the tax, and included a 1 percent reduction in their revenue calculation.
- Besides a higher sales tax, the state will impose a.25 percent increase in the personal income tax rate in the 2009 and 2010 tax years and a.5 percent increase in fees to license vehicles from this May.
- A fourth tax increase reduces the dependent care credit parents and caregivers can claim to $99 from $309 for the 2009 and 2010 tax years.
Steve Levy, director and senior economist of the Center for the Continuing Study of the California Economy, described the package of higher taxes as a shift in wealth from the private sector to the public [government] sector.
Businesses and manufacturers are worried that the tax increase could prolong the worst recession in recent memory and further dampen retail sales.
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DOING TAXES TAKES UP 7.6 BILLION WORK HOURS A YEAR
Federal tax-filing requirements have become so complex that they eat up 7.6 billion work hours a year, making the overall compliance effort equivalent to one of the nation's largest industries, a new federal report found."A corporation shouldn't have to make business decisions based on what the tax code is going to do to them, but rather on conditions in the market,"
[support the FAIR tax.]
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Washington Post Says - Gasp! - Rich Paying Fair Share
A liberal pillar of the media is taking a decidedly conservative position.
The Washington Post says in an editorial that the wealthy already are pulling their weight when it comes to taxes.
“In 2006, the top 20 percent of earners paid 70 percent of all federal taxes. On average, they paid 26 percent of their income to the government,” the editorial states.
The numbers are particularly powerful for the richest of the rich – the top 1 percent of taxpayers. They account for 28 percent of all taxes, handing over 31 percent of their income to the government.
So even The Post had to conclude: “Based on these numbers, it would be hard to argue that the country doesn't already have a significantly progressive tax system.”
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Everyone Should Pay Income Taxes
It's bad for our democracy to exempt half the country
Everyone now has a sacred cow in the tax code. For my money, the most sacred thing of all is our country and its growth, but the sacred cows have turned into a pack of wolves. On both the spending and the tax side, the wolves are devouring our children's future... [snip]
It's time to create an Economic Growth Code whose purpose is to fix and grow the economy, not redistribute massive amounts of wealth. A new tax code that creates growth and reforms our entitlement system is the only way to dig our way out of the hole we're in.
Under an Economic Growth Code, everyone in American would pay income taxes -- everyone. Such a system would be designed to foster broad-based growth for all, in contrast to the loophole-ridden system we have today. Not only is the current code flawed from top to bottom, it is used by politicians to divide the public along class lines and fails to promote prosperity... [snip]
I'd also create a mechanism so tax rates go up or down for everyone -- no more dividing the country by lowering taxes for some or raising them only for others. A revenue system whose purpose is to pay the government's bills should apply fairly to one and all. If Congress wants to raise or cut taxes, it should do so for everyone.
Another benefit is that such a system will create an environment in which spending programs receive the scrutiny they deserve. It's funny what happens when everyone pays the bills; Americans may want less spending so they can pay fewer bills.
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FINALLY TAX REFORM?
...Other findings:
- Individuals and businesses spend 7.6 billion hours a year filling out tax forms for the IRS; and that figure does not even include the millions of additional hours that taxpayers must spend when they are required to respond to an IRS notice or an audit (those 7.6 billion hours consume the equivalent of 3.8 million full-time workers).
- The cost of complying with the code comes to $193 billion; other experts think that assessment is too low and have come up with estimates approaching $300 billion.
- The number of words in the code has grown by 2.3 million since 2001, meanwhile; in 2008 there were more than 500 changes to the tax code (other surveys have found that the code has been amended some 14,000 times since the mid-1980s).
- Individual taxpayers find the return preparation process so overwhelming that more than 80 percent pay transaction fees to help them file their returns.
- For instance, there are at least 11 incentives to encourage taxpayers to save for and spend on education, with each having different particulars on definitions, eligibility requirements, income-level thresholds, phase-out range and inflation adjustments.
- There are at least 16 incentives to encourage saving for retirement, again with different parameters.
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[click and learn how critically important this is to our economic competitiveness]
[and pass it on...]
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Americans Ready to Tea Party Like it's 1773. Where's the Media?
The nationwide Tax Day Tea Party movement is building incredible steam with an event on the day most Americans dread – April 15. It’s an H&R Block Party to take back our government from people who couldn’t manage the budget of a Kwik-E-Mart.
More than 64,000 have viewed Lloyd Marcus singing “American Tea Party” proclaiming “freedom ain’t free.” One video from the earlier tea parties has close to a quarter million views as angry taxpayers realize national media and politicians ignore their protests. Journalists are as clueless as ever despite the group holding at least 500 events this April 15th – including one in every single congressional district.
If you rely on the mainstream media, then much of what you’ve just read truly is news. The tea parties have only gotten passing mention on the major broadcast news shows. Papers like The New York Times and Washington Post would rather cover just about anything than a conservative-idea protest. The Times preferred to regale readers with the “significance of the tea ceremony in Japan” instead of telling them the significance of tea protest in the United States.
But a news blackout won’t stop the tea parties. They are just getting started. The April 15 event is only round two of 10 planned rounds. Round three, fittingly, is on July 4. On tax day, we get to remind Washington that we pay the bills for all of their pork-barrel spending. On Independence Day, we get to remind them that we can vote them out just as easily as they were voted in.
[Conversely, if they fizzle the message will be clearly heard {and reported by the MSM}: 'see, they don't really care - carry on...'
And you?]
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Kurtz Acknowledges CNN’s Lack of Tea Party Coverage -- On His CNN Show
With the Tax Day tea party rallies just three days away, outside of the Fox News Channel, the coverage has been lacking. And, it was something that even Washington Post media columnist and host of CNN's "Reliable Sources" Howard Kurtz acknowledged on his April 12 program.
However, Kurtz didn't condemn his network and other networks for lack of coverage - but instead explored the notion that Fox News was giving it too much coverage.
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Predictable: MSNBC’s Shuster, Newsweek’s Gross Belittle and Misconstrue Tea Party Efforts
Even before a single bag of tea has been dumped as a form of protest over government economic policies, the gang at MSNBC is in full-attack mode over the notion these protests merit any recognition.
On MSNBC's April 10 "Countdown," fill-in host David Shuster imitated his MSNBC colleague Rachel Maddow's juvenile and overdone description of the tea party protest to disparage the upcoming nationwide event.
"Now to the so-called ‘teabagging parties' you may have heard about," Shuster said. "They have been fluffed repeatedly by Fox News. Citizen protests over the government's collection of taxpayer money, specifically that the wealthiest taxpayers in our nation will see their rates go up 3 percent two years from now."
Shuster would be well-advised to go back to the root of the tea parties - to his sister network CNBC and review Rick Santelli's Feb. 19 comments that originally inspired the protests - that responsible Americans are upset the government, using their tax dollars, is stepping in for the benefit of the irresponsible.
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[Including PLEASANTON:
Pleasanton - TOMORROW
When: April 15, 12:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Where: 4301 Black Ave
Amador Valley Community Park
(directly across form the post office)
Map: Click Here
Contact: EMAIL
Facebook Group: “The” Pleasanton TEA Party!!
.[
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