Hey Washington DC, don't panic...

Well, in order to insure that the nation doesn't get all panicky, the Department of Defense has issued a press release about some exercises over Washington, DC. This is to avoid embarrasment to the administration over the Air Force one photo op over New York City. The military is often involved in very complex operations and takes great pains to analyze and avoid "blue on blue" incidents. These are events where friendly forces engage one another in unintentional combat. There are a host of famous examples of "friendly fire" incidents. But the military considers the level of risk at much earlier levels. For example, erroneous identification of aircraft are a real risk for blue-on-blue actions. As such, the nation exercises routinely to avoid this type of error - for once an engagement takes place, the results are usually irreversibly lethal.

As a public service, I put forth the attached press release. No doubt this has been forwarded to the media, who are bombarded by the DoD with numerous press releases daily. Hopefully this will not be lost in the shuffle. However, given the proximity to its occurrence, the exercise initiaties on 15 MAY, we may be in for some panic.

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From: DoD Advisories
Sent: Wed 5/13/2009 11:20 AM
Subject: NORAD Flight Exercise Planned for Washington, D.C.

NORAD Flight Exercise Planned for Washington, D.C.
Wed, 13 May 2009 11:17:00 -0500

No. 039-09 May 13, 2009

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NORAD Flight Exercise Planned for Washington, D.C.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command and its geographical component, the Continental United States NORAD Region, will conduct exercise Falcon Virgo 09-07, on May 15 and 19 between midnight and 6:00 a.m. in the National Capital Region (NCR), Washington, D.C.

The exercise comprises a series of training flights held in coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Capital Region Command Center, the Joint Air Defense Operations Center, the Continental U.S. NORAD Region (CONR), Civil Air Patrol, U.S. Coast Guard and CONR's Western Air Defense Sector.

Exercise Falcon Virgo is designed to hone NORAD's intercept and identification operations, as well as procedural tests of the NCR Visual Warning System. Two Civil Air Patrol Cessna aircraft, two Air Force F-16s and one Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin helicopter will participate in the exercise. Residents may see these aircraft approaching and flying in the vicinity of the Washington D.C. area as part of this exercise during the late night and early morning hours from midnight through 6:00 a.m. on May 15^th and the 19^th .

For more information on the Falcon Virgo exercise, please contact CONR Public Affairs at (850) 283-8080, or the NORAD Public Affairs Office at (719) 554-6889.

U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)

On the Web: http://www.defenselink.mil/Advisories/

Media Contact: +1 (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public Contact: http://www.defenselink.mil/faq/comment.html or +1 (703) 428-0711 +1

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Britney Spears Naked...

Cheap and pathetic experiment to attract folks to the blog. Since I can't duplicate Sonic Frog's exceptional ability to draw the attention of the Instapundit crowd, I will resort to tabloid blogging.

After all, aren't my opinions and musings worthy of huge, adoring audiences?

Actually, probably not. As I have observed in the past, blogging is one of the most self indulgent activities of the modern age. It provides the unique feeling of self-righteous confidence with the ruthless editorial ability of a Chinese newspaper. If someone comments unfavorable - zap - deleteorama!

It is remarkably satisfying to me to foist my opinions out onto my site and occassionally in the comment areas of other blogs and news sites. I routinely receive synopsis e-mails from the Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post (I can barely stand to look at this site), Forbes and others with a list of topical news and opinion stories.

A friedn of mine formerly worked for Bloomberg as a financial reporter. he is a serious journalist with some extensive experience in China and the Pacific Rim. He confides in me that the print media is in worse shape than is being reported, even by the "alternate media". There are wide spread contractions, layoffs and consolidations coming - the likes of which will alter forever our methods of seeing news and information.

Far from some vast global conspiracy to control all the news through a few easily manipulated media - we are devolving to a niche arena where good information will be provided at a high price while the rest of the world will have to contend with rumor, unsubstantiated gossip and Wikipedia.

I have nothing against Wikipedia, however, time and time again it has proven itself to be seriously flawed, subject to gross error and even outright lies. Long ago our world was linked by travelers who carried news, mail and stories from village to village. Fact was almost impossible to come by and tales evolved into myth as the stories distorted and changed over time.

It seems that we are returning to that time. The failure of a robust and reliable mass media is at hand. Lasting barely two hundred years, a free and objective press is collapsing to a network of dedicated fanaticists and the occassional "big story" discussion board.

Hmm.

Maybe there is hope for my site yet...

Round up...

Way late – yes I am way late. No blogging for three weeks, only random trolling on some very nice sites.

UPDATE - Horrible spelling error corrected!!!

I wanted to point out a few interesting spots on my holiday travels, Lana Walker-Helmuth has a very nice site here. I spent some time discussing the various benefits of fluoridation and talking about Ron Paul – who appears to be destined for the dustbin of history. Laura seems to be an engaging person who has a genuinely bright outlook on life.

I found her site from this fabulous one, a sassy spot run by Connie Schmidt. Here she skewers the easily misled and the criminally dishonest.

I also trolled around the Respectful Insolence site (Orac’s joint) and Dr. Martin Rundkvist's place. He poses an interesting question about the definition of skepticism. I take a purists view and contend that skepticism is simply doubt of a proposed idea. On the site we talk about the role of words and the tendency of folks to label people. The term denialism is used to besmirch folks who argue against conventional wisdom. This is typically applied to folks who claim the Holocaust did not occur or that evolution is unproven. It is also applied to people who argue about global warming (GW) and anthropogenic global warming (AGW).

SPECIAL DISCLAIMER – I have several concerns about the causality of global warming. At one point I was an out and out skeptic of global warming, but I have warmed up to the possibility. I am simply not convinced that the human factor is as significant. Thus, I am a denialist according to Mark Hoofnagle’s definition.

UNITED STATES POLITICS

Hillary recovered, slightly, in New Hampshire and McCain knocked Romney for a loop in his own backyard. I am pleased that Edwards, Huckabee and Paul continue to drop behind. None of the aforementioned individuals should be considered viable candidates. This is notwithstanding the very questionable history of Paul’s alarming newsletters or Huckabee’s sermons. We live in a world where what you have said and written before starts to define you. I think that’s a fair measure to use when judging an individual. We can not all be Saul, subject to some monumental conversion and then given a pass on all our former behavior.

UNITED STATES NAVY

The Navy nearly lit up a squadron of Iranian Revolutionary Guard patrol boats . Most likely they were simply tricked out outboards, and not the truly lethal Boghammers which lurk in the NAG (North Arabian Gulf).

Side note: If you want to irritate an Iranian, call the Persian Gulf the Arabian Gulf.

The three warships in question were just about to open fire on the boats in question when they sped away. Having stood watch where FP (force protection) measures were in full force, the threat posed by high speed boats is all too real. Additionally, the risk to our vessels from mines (as described in the report) is likely the greatest in the PG. I do not want US Navy vessels to needlessly incinerate potentially hostile craft – but the reality of self-defense makes this circumstance likely – if not inevitable.

If you can't build it...

The Navy, like a most of the military, is keen to be efficient. Whether it is in the prosecution of a mission or the acquisition of a weapons system. I am pleased to see the cancellation of LCS 4. I am NOT a fan of the littoral ship program. I think there are conventional systems already available which will more than meet the need of the Navy in this regard. Specifically, these systems are currently called "helicopters". They can operate with little regard to sea state, can remain on station for sufficient periods of time and have the capability to avoid pesky hazards like mines.

The Coast Guard uses helicopters to great effect in the littorals. The Navy needs to look at their model and adopt the same. We could quickly deploy air assets against a small waterborne threat and actually interdict them, vice trying to move (even at 50 kts) a 1000ton vessel.

Navy Terminates Littoral Combat Ship (LCS 4) Contract
Thu, 1 Nov 2007 10:31:00 -0500

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 1269-07 November 01, 2007

Navy Terminates Littoral Combat Ship (LCS 4) Contract Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead announced today that the Department of the Navy is terminating construction of the fourth littoral combat ship (LCS 4) for convenience under the termination clause of the contract because the Navy and General Dynamics could not reach agreement on the terms of a modified contract. The Navy had not yet authorized construction on LCS 4, following a series of cost overruns on LCS 2. The Navy intended to begin construction of LCS 4 if the Navy and General Dynamics could agree on the terms for a fixed-price incentive agreement. The Navy worked closely with General Dynamics to try to restructure the agreement for LCS 4 to more equitably balance cost and risk, but could not come to terms and conditions that were acceptable to both parties. The Navy remains committed to the LCS program. "LCS continues to be a critical warfighting requirement for our Navy to maintain dominance in the littorals and strategic choke points around the world," said Winter. "While this is a difficult decision, we recognize that active oversight and strict cost controls in the early years are necessary to ensuring we can deliver these ships to the fleet over the long term." "I am absolutely committed to the Littoral Combat Ship," said Roughead. "We need this ship. It is very important that our acquisition efforts produce the right littoral combat ship capability to the fleet at the right cost."

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U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)

On the Web: http://www.defenselink.mil/Releases/

Media Contact: +1 (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public Contact: http://www.defenselink.mil/faq/comment.html or +1 (703) 428-0711 +1

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Too much noise...

In my little section of del.icio.us on this blog are a number of articles which are of interest to me. As I still haven't figured out how to e-mail links to the blog, my attempt at redirecting you will have to suffice. Some of the topics include;

The bleak future painted by the UK Ministry of Defence (I always thought MOD sounded WAY cooler than our own DoD) includes a cyber-punk universe where jacked in middle class types overturn the status quo. My follow up question would be to do what? Get a bigger TV?

IMPORTANT BOOK RECOMMENDATION - Go and buy Daniel Gilbert's Stumbling on Happiness.. It is a great analysis of why we are or are not happy. Including some interesting neuroscience.

I also have been nursing an on again / off again fascination with the present wave of NewWage (Cosmic Connie's coined phrase) self-indulgence, ala the Secret and other pop psychology. My new prediction for events "jumping the shark" will be any appearance on Oprah.

Finally the British sailors and marines have been released. Yeah! The Iranians are, well, Iranian. Not bad as a people but lousy and dangerous as a government and ideology. Now that they are safe an home, drinking fine beers and eating pork pies, they can tell us the truth of their captivity.

Surprise! The Iranians used coercion, deception and tortuous interrogation to manipulate their responses.

My own personal life has become so hectic that my time to blog has been enormously reduced. I have found a few interesting sites and intend to update my blog rolls in the near future.

Oh yeah, that DADT editorial still sits half written...