gdp's Comments

Big Peace : 1-Mar-12 World View -- ECB: 'Euro Crisis Is Over' After €1 Trillion Quantitative Easing

Thu, 1 Mar 2012 20:48:49 +0000

Having lost two uncles to cancer from being inveterate smokers (both died ugly, one from colon cancer and the other from cancer that metastasized to his spine), I definitely can see both sides of this argument (the other side being that everyone has the right to merrily go to hell in their own, personalized handbasket). But this argument strikes me as the worst kind of legal sophistry possible. The intent of the image was not to warn the user "You may get autopsied when you die!" but "if you smoke, this is what you doing to your insides!" The consequence they are warning you about is the destruction of your internal organs due to smoking, not having your body cut open post-mortem (at which point they really don't care). The last time I checked, autopsy was one of the few ways to examine organs post-mortem. So that particular argument is ridiculous.

Big Peace : 1-Mar-12 World View -- ECB: 'Euro Crisis Is Over' After €1 Trillion Quantitative Easing

Thu, 1 Mar 2012 19:26:34 +0000

"They call me Mister Beausabre!" You're welcome! IFF codes are somethign that can be changed fairly easily, to prevent just what you are suggesting from happening. Apparently, the latest generation of electronic warfare suites are powerful enough to actually go into the computer systems of a hostile emitter and turn them off. This was apparently done in Libya by the US to kick in the door.

Big Government : Clueless Socialists Protest MacIver Institute

Thu, 1 Mar 2012 18:05:59 +0000

Well, the problem is that they thought they were protesting the MacGuyver Institute. They take objection to his inappropriate and unethical use of devices beyond the role authorized by the Federal Government!

Big Peace : 1-Mar-12 World View -- ECB: 'Euro Crisis Is Over' After €1 Trillion Quantitative Easing

Thu, 1 Mar 2012 17:20:54 +0000

The Tor-M1 missile complex is a surface-to-air missile system, not a ballistic missile used to attack cities. The Israelis would be interested in the "codes" for those missiles as it would enable them to conduct air attacks against the Iranian missile facitilies. I think the "codes" they are referring to are likely the software command dictionary for the system's data links, including the guidance channel from the ground station to the missile in flight. This would allow Israeli electronic warfare specialists to divert missiles, or even shut down the entire system by hacking their network. You can't really change those codes without rewriting the entire software package for the system.

Big Peace : 29-Feb-12 World View: China's Military Buildup Continues 'Unabated'

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 18:55:54 +0000

Continued: Its not the communists you should be worried about, its the rabid nationalists who count here. The Chinese government tends to use nationalist sentiment to cover up their own shortcomings, stirring up trouble about the "dignity" of China when dealing with the US or Japan. This is exactly how Imperial China found itself at war with Europe and the US during the Boxer Rebellion. Court officials decided to exploit an unsettled population and embraced a virulent anti-Western popular movement. The end result was US Marines bivouacing in the Fobidden City, and the beginning of the end of the Quing dynasty. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxer_rebellion

Big Peace : 29-Feb-12 World View: China's Military Buildup Continues 'Unabated'

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 18:55:06 +0000

Then why did Germany go to war with its biggest trading partners (UK, France and Russia) twice in 20 years? In 1909, there was a book written by Norman Angell called The Great Illusion. In it, he posited that war in peaceful, integrated, industrialized Europe was impossible because it didn't make economic sense. Billions of dollars in trade, equity and funds would be flushed down the drain if Europe went to war with itself, which is obviously ridiculous! And yet, less than 5 years later, peaceful, civilized Europeans were killing each other wholesale from Poland to France, and would do so for 4 more years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Illusion As to the debt, I'm sure they would rationlize that they can force us to continue to honor those bonds as part of a peace settlement.

Big Peace : 29-Feb-12 World View: China's Military Buildup Continues 'Unabated'

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:59:19 +0000

Who says it would be a total war, besides John here? They could be planning for a local, limited conflict over either Taiwan or the East China Sea, and thinking, based on their analysis of our leadership (weak and fragmented) and optimistic appraisals of their own strength versus our own (probably inflated by scripted test results and perjured testimony from generals looking to keep their jobs. Hey, it happens here, why wouldn't it happen there?). They could be thinking that after taking a significant number of casualties, we would cede regional ascendancy to them as part of a negotiated settlement. This is exactly the sort of thinking the Japanese had at the start of the Pacific War.

Big Government : Geithner: Rich Need to Pay for 'Privilege of Being an American'

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:30:11 +0000

She'll let you have a bite of her bacon-onion ring-double cheeseburger with extra cheese, bacon, onion rings and arugula after she's done with it.

Big Journalism : John King Twists Audience Question Around Completely to Protect Obama, and Iran, in #CNNDebate

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 15:05:14 +0000

And you just contradicted yourself. How can the CIA say they have 3-5 nukes, when GEN Dempsey is saying “We also know, or we believe we know that Iran has not decided to make a nuclear weapon”. Those two statements are mutually exclusive. It appears that you are arguing out of both sides of your mouth - ie we don't know that Iran has a weapon, but since Iran has a weapon and hasn't used it, they can be trusted to have them.

Big Journalism : NYT's Charles Blow Mocks Romney's "Magic Underwear"

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 13:21:24 +0000

Or Joe Lieberman's "magic beanie".

Big Hollywood : Director Oliver Stone's Son Makes Excuses for Ahmadinejad's Holocaust Denials

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:19:39 +0000

It almost sounds like he's saying that the (Islamic) Republic ought to have nuclear weapons to keep its own people in line. I mean, why else would having a nuclear weapon be "Okay" for a factionalized government?

Big Hollywood : 'This Means War' Latest Rom-Com to Devalue Relationships

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 18:21:28 +0000

Does anybody else realize that this is essentially the old "Spy vs Spy" strip from Mad Magazine on the big screen? The romance angle is the McGuffin to bring White Spy and Black Spy into conflict.

Big Hollywood : 'Star Wars: Episode One - The Phantom Menace 3D' Review: Jar Jar Aside, Prequel Still Has Merit

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 23:02:12 +0000

:rimshot:

Big Hollywood : 'Star Wars: Episode One - The Phantom Menace 3D' Review: Jar Jar Aside, Prequel Still Has Merit

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:18:35 +0000

Bingo. As a character in a webcomic put it: "Midichlorians are the answer to a question no one was asking!" That phrase sums up the entire problem right there - there was absolutely no need to explain the Jedi (or Sith) beyond the original metaphysical "kung-fu monks in space" premise.

Big Government : Time to Repeal the Patriot Act

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:57:54 +0000

Military exercises taking place on the East and West Coasts? Why? Because we let them close down our previous amphibious exercise area, the Puerto Rican island of Vieques, in 2003. And after patrolling the deserts for the past 10 years, the Marines need to learn how to swim again.

Big Peace : The Obama Administration’s Anti-Israel Tenor Forces Iran and Israel Toward War

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:45:41 +0000

Iran, of course, blamed Israel for trying to ruin its relationships with India and Georgia – as though they had any real relationships to begin with. Well, India is buying a significant amount of oil from Iran, and refusing to go along with the oil embargo proposed by the Administration - probably both out of necessity and their sense of pride as a "non-aligned" nation. http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/worldbusin... I think it will be interesting as to whether an investigation shows it was Iran or Hezbollah what was responsible. If its Hezbollah, India will probably write the bombing off as the usual intramural activities between Israel and their neighbors. If there is a big, bloody Iranian thumbprint, then India will have to make a decision - turn the other cheek or put up with their territory being used for these sort of shenanigans by soveriegn powers.

Big Peace : 12-Feb-12 World View: Dramatic Greece Vote Will Affect Course of Europe and World

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:10:56 +0000

It appears more and more that Ahmadinejad is siding with the younger post-war generation against Khamanei and the geezers in the survivor generations. Buh-wuh? So, that's why Ahmadinejad staged a fraudulent election, then sicc'd the police and Basiji militias onto the "younger post-war generation"? Because he sides with them? I've always looked on this as a struggle between the doctrinal and security sides of the Islamic Revolution, the clerics versus the Revolutionary Guards. Sort of like the SS taking on the Nazi party heirarchy. That may be the generational divide you are looking at - between the ones who fought and bled as foot soldiers for the Revolution and now want a bigger say in things, and the people who's idea it was in the first place, the philosophers who created the idea of the Islamic Republic.

Big Peace : North Korea Developing Drones...Based On US Drones Purchase In Middle East

Tue, 7 Feb 2012 21:23:58 +0000

Eh. the big question is what have the NK's done to the airframe to make it more of a threat? 1) The MQM-107 was designed to be flown by an off-board pilot, or by a simple autopilot. It did not come with the sort of sensors necessary for low-level flight through terrain. They could modify these things to fly on inertial guidance, or even GPS. Adding a TERCOM flight system would be a major technological challenge. 2) The MQM did not have a sensor system like a radar or infrared sensor for terminal guidance to a target. 3) At a max gross weight of 1500 lbs, these things aren't going to be carrying a large warhead. Maybe 150-250 lbs? Without more data, the best I think the NK's could do is make a new equivalent to the V-1, a strategic bombardment/harassment weapon for attacking stationary targets. If they add a good enough camera and a secure datalink, they could make a "precision attack" weapon, but not a carrier killer, and it would have to cued onto the target area by other systems.

Big Peace : Syria: A Rogues' Gallery of Assad's Useful Idiots

Tue, 7 Feb 2012 18:44:09 +0000

These photos need to feature prominently in the re-election campaigns for the pictured pols - from the opposition!

Big Peace : North Korea Developing Drones...Based On US Drones Purchase In Middle East

Tue, 7 Feb 2012 17:46:49 +0000

The Defense News report alleges that the North Koreans imported the drones from Syria, but Syria was never a recipient of the drones from the US. So the Syrians got them from somebody. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MQM-107_Streaker#Ope... I'm wondering if the "D" designation is a mistake. The South Koreans use the D model, and that could be a natural mistake since they are the ones reporting this. The list at Wikipedia is hard to use to identify a donor, since it doesn't correlate the offical USAF designation to the export model numbers (999A, C, L, etc). My thought: what the North Koreans are using are Iranian knock-offs of MQM-107A models, which we sold to the Shah. The Iranians have reverse-engineered several weapons systems we sold them before the revolution, and copying the MQM-107 and its updates would be fairly easy.