HOO-AH: Boots On The Ground !

Admiral Kuznetzov footage...

The Sukhoi Su-33 (NATO reporting name 'Flanker-D') is a naval military aircraft produced by Russian firm Sukhoi in 1982 for aircraft carriers.

It is a derivative of the Sukhoi Su-27 and was initially known as the Su-27K. The main difference from the Su-27 is that Su-33s can operate from aircraft carriers.

Moreover, unlike the Su-27, the Su-33 can be refueled during flight.The Su-33 first flew in May 1985, and entered service in the Russian Navy in 1994. An air regiment comprising 24 fighters of the type was formed up on the Russian Navy's only operating aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov.Admiral Flota Sovetskogo Soyuza Kuznetsov (Russian: Адмирал флота Советского Союза Кузнецов, originally named Tbilisi and then Leonid Brezhnev) is an aircraft carrier (heavy aircraft carrying cruiser (TAVKR) in Russian classification) serving as the flagship of the Russian Navy.

She was originally commissioned in the Soviet Navy, and was intended to be the lead ship of her class, but the only other ship of her class, Varyag, has never been commissioned and was sold to the People's Republic of China by Ukraine under the condition she would never be refitted for combat.Kuznetsov was named after the Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov.While designated an aircraft carrier by the West, the design of the Admiral Kuznetsov' class implies a mission different from that of either the United States Navy's carriers or those of the Royal Navy.

The term used by her builders to describe the Russian ships is tyazholiy avianesushchiy kreyser (TAKR or TAVKR) - "heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser" - intended to support and defend strategic missile-carrying submarines, surface ships, and maritime missile-carrying aircraft of the Russian fleet. This designation allows the Soviet/Russian navy to circumvent the refusal by Turkey to let aircraft carriers pass the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

Fixed-wing aircraft on Admiral Kuznetsov are essentially constrained to air superiority operations. The carrier also carries aircraft for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations, as well as anti-ship missiles.

The limiting of aircraft to only air-to-air operations is a result of the carrier's lack of catapults. With the relatively short length of a carrier versus an airstrip, an aircraft weighted down by bombs which are much heavier than missiles; cannot gain enough velocity to get off the deck without aid. Large aircraft armed for strike mission launched from a catapult, like the F/A-18E will often make a short momentary descent.

The catapults however impart enough velocity that when combined with the aircaft's engines allow it to accelerate above its stall speed before crashing into the sea. (Unarmed or very lightly armed aircraft however are generally light enough to immediately ascend)

The ship will undergo another modernization refit, in an attempt to correct some of its many technical issues. Admiral Vladimir Masorin, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, also stated that several Su-33 fighters assigned to the aircraft carrier would return to the ship after undergoing maintenance and refits of their own.

Obama Brother #2 found living in China, promoting cheap exports...

From The Sunday Times
July 27, 2008
Barack Obama’s brother pushes
Chinese imports on US
Michael Sheridan Shenzhen, China

BARACK Obama’s half-brother has been helping to promote cheap Chinese exports in a low-profile business career while the Democratic senator has been winning worldwide fame in his race for the White House.

He has gone to extraordinary lengths to avoid public attention and his family links remain unknown to most of his acquaintances in Shenzhen, a border boomtown in southern China where he has lived since 2002.

Mark Ndesandjo is the son of Barack Obama’s late father and his third wife, an American woman named Ruth Nidesand who runs the up-market Maduri kindergarten in Nairobi.

Obama, however, refers to him simply as “my brother” and says he was the only uncontested heir after their father, a Kenyan, died in a car crash in 1982.

But the two men held sharply diverging views on their African heritage and while Obama chose to live in the glare of publicity, his half-brother submerged himself in the crowds of the most cosmopolitan city in China.

Friends say he has a long-term Chinese girlfriend in her 20s from Henan, a poor landlocked province that sends millions of migrants to the coastal cities.

He lives in Nanshan, a brash new district of high-rises and streets teeming after dark with young migrants eating spicy street food and cramming into bars, karaoke joints and massage parlours.

“He is big, strong and full of energy, speaks good Chinese and is a really easygoing guy,” said a Chinese friend, “He always wears a hat over his shaven head. I believe he has several consultancy jobs.”

Chinese officials said there are unanswered questions about his internet-based company, Worldnexus Ltd. It has provided corporate communications and website design to Chinese firms seeking customers in English-speaking markets, of which the United States is the biggest.

Worldnexus is not registered to conduct business in Shenzhen and officials at the city’s commercial administration bureau said this raised potential issues of taxation and compliance with the law by its customers.

The company’s Chinese-language website promises “increased communication efficiency” to clients and lists Shenzhen exporters of electronics and machine parts among its contracts.

The website lists an office address in the west of the city but despite a search of the area and checks with local police, no such building could be located.

Nor is Worldnexus Ltd legally registered in Hong Kong, where many businesses choose to incorporate for their China trade, according to an official data check.

Contacted by The Sunday Times last week, Ndesandjo said: “Thanks for your interest. However I am not giving interviews at this time.”

He did not respond to four subsequent requests for comment.

However Ndesandjo told a Chinese businessman last week that Worldnexus was not trading at the moment, saying that he hoped to “re-start the business next year” and adding that the website was “out of date.”

Any family connection between the Democratic presidential contender and the flood of Chinese imports that are blamed by many Americans for destroying American jobs could be politically embarrassing.

Obama has staked out a populist position on trade with China in the US election campaign, calling in December 2007 for a ban on all toys from Chinese factories until safety inspections were put in place.

But although the kinship between the two men is bound to cause a sensation in China – as in their father’s native Kenya, no distinction is drawn between full and half brothers – they do not appear to be close.

Ndesandjo, who had an elite education in the United States, collecting a degree from Brown University, a masters in physics from Stanford and an MBA from Emory, did not share Obama’s emotional view of his roots.

Obama painted a disappointed picture of his half-brother in his 1995 memoir, Dreams from My Father, in which he celebrated his own return to Kenya and rediscovery of his African inheritance.

At a rather tense lunch, Obama quoted “Mark” – his family name is never given away in the book - as saying Kenya was “just another poor African country” to which he felt little attachment.

Mark added: “there’s not much work for a physicist, is there, in a country where the average person doesn’t have a telephone.”

According to Obama’s account, Mark looked him in the eye and said: “You think that somehow I’m cut off from my roots, that sort of thing. Well, you’re right.”

“At a certain point I made the decision not to think about who my real father was. He was dead to me even when he was still alive. I knew that he was a drunk and showed no concern for his wife and children. That’s enough.”

Barack Obama senior fathered eight children by four different women.

Obama wrote that Mark didn’t want to ask himself a lot of questions about the meaning of racial identity, dismissing the idea with the words: “life’s hard enough without all that excess baggage.”

Asked last week whether he was quoted accurately in the book, Ndesandjo did not respond.

Obama wrote that on parting, “we exchanged addresses and promised to write, with a dishonesty that made my heart ache.”

Two decades after that encounter, the extended and complex Obama family is bound to come under further scrutiny as the US election enters its final months after the Democratic and Republican party conventions.

“That not enough has been written about his family is strange,” wrote columnist Roger Cohen in the New York Times last March, “If nominated, Obama’s family baggage will be pored over.”

Obama's brother is a Muslim in the UK

Obama's brother is in Bracknell
By OLIVER HARVEY
Chief Feature Writer

So proud ... Bernard Obama with Oliver Harvey

THE may be living in a Bracknell council house, but soon he could be dining with his brother at the White House.

The Sun was the first newspaper to track down and speak to Bernard Obama, 37.

And he said of Democrat candidate Barack: “I’m very proud of my big brother.

Happy families ... back row from left: Unknown, Barack Obama, half-brother Malik, unknown, half-brother Abo, Bernard. Front: Half-sister Auma, stepmum Kezia, stepgran Sarah, unknown

“It’s quite a funny feeling that he might be the next President of the USA.”

Muslim Bernard — an avid Manchester United fan and Sun reader — is staying with his bingo-loving mum Kezia, 67, who has lived in the Berkshire new town for six years.

He was glued to the TV news in the modest suburban bungalow last night as Barack, 46, was due to arrive in Britain.

Bernard leads a quiet life, running a car parts firm in Nairobi, Kenya.

But he is a regular visitor to the UK to visit Elvis fan Kezia.

She married Barack Obama Snr in Kenya in 1957 when she was a teenager.

He later left for the US and went on to meet Ann Dunham, who gave birth to his now widely acclaimed son.

Obama Snr, a Kenyan goatherd who became a leading economist in his east African homeland’s government, was killed in a car crash in 1982.

Barack Jnr was 21 and Bernard 12. He said: “Our father passed away when I was young and I didn’t get the chance to get to know him very well.

“When you lose your dad at such a young age, that’s when you really miss him.”

Bernard smiled when he spoke of his famous half-brother. He said:

I was around 17 when I first met Barack.

He was visiting Kenya and it was obvious from the way he spoke and his charisma that he was going to be a success.

He is charming, very good company and very charismatic.

I’ve met him since with his wife Michelle in Kenya. She’s very nice, a very strong and intelligent person. I don’t think we will see him on this visit to Britain. It’s official business and he’ll be very busy.

Bernard is remaining with Kezia for the next month as she recuperates from illness.

Barefoot and dressed in cream shorts and red T-shirt, he said: “I love coming to Britain because I love football and I like reading about it in The Sun.

Converted

“I’m a big Manchester United fan but I think Barack’s more into basketball.”

Bernard converted to Islam 18 years ago. The dad of one said: “I’m a Muslim, I don’t deny it. My father was raised a Muslim.

“But it’s not an issue. I don’t know what all the hullabaloo is about.”

Barack is a staunch Christian. A recent cartoon in the New Yorker magazine caused a furore by portraying him as a turban-wearing Muslim and his wife as a terrorist.

In February, photos emerged of Barack in traditional Somali robes during a trip to Kenya in 2006.

But Bernard dismissed jibes about Barack’s religion and said there was no significance to the photos.

He added: “If you go to Japan or Nigeria you put on the traditional dress. People are trying to look for ways to tarnish him.”

In his biography, Dreams From My Father, Barack told of meeting Bernard in Kenya.

He wrote: “That sweetness, the lack of guile, made him seem much younger than his 17 years.

“As we stepped into the street, Bernard draped his arm over my shoulder. ‘It’s good to have a big brother around,’ he said, before waving goodbye and vanishing into the crowd.”

The pair’s dad left Kenya in 1959 when he took up a US scholarship. Kezia, then three months’ pregnant with daughter Auma, already had a year-old son Malik to look after.

Barack Snr met Barack’s mum Ann in Hawaii, and she gave birth to the now presidential hopeful in August 1961.

The Democrat’s dad returned to Kenya in 1965 and Kezia subsequently gave birth to two sons, Abo in 1968 and Bernard in 1970.

Raunchy

Barack’s former brother-in-law Ian Manners, 55 — divorced from Bernard’s and Barack’s sister Auma — is writing a book about his in-laws.

Daughter Akinyi, 11, spent Christmas with Barack in the US. She said: “I asked him if I could meet Beyonce. He smiled and said he’d see what he could do.”

Barack attended Ian’s 1996 wedding to Auma and famously ran out of a pub in Wokingham, Berks, during Ian’s stag bash when a raunchy dancer took to the stage.

Businessman Ian said: “We were having a few drinks, then a stripper dressed as a St Trinian’s schoolgirl appeared.

“She was no Miss World and it was the last thing I wanted. As soon as Barack saw what was about to happen he made a hasty retreat.

“He was in politics already and left the pub immediately.”

Ian added: “I played a couple of rounds of golf with him in 1997.

Bash ... Barack Obama and wife at Ian's wedding

“We had to go to a municipal course because golf clubs wouldn’ t have been keen on a black man playing on their course back then.

“He is very competitive and beat me both times. It was obvious Barack was going to get to the top.”

Bernard agreed, saying: “Barack is going to win the election, definitely, and I want to be in the US for his inauguration.

“He will be a breath of fresh air for the world.”

GOP losing the new-media war

GOP losing the new-media war

By JONATHAN MARTIN

Republicans have no lack of would-be George F. Wills.

But what they really need are some more Robert D. Novaks.

The distinction between the two prominent conservative journalists isn't always obvious, but it's nevertheless important to understand: One almost exclusively writes opinion pieces, while the other offers reporting with a point of view.

The same might be said of the emerging differences between the conservative presence on the Internet and the liberal one: The right is engaged in the business of opining while the left features sites that offer a more reportorial model.

At first glance, these divergent approaches might not seem consequential. But as the 2008 campaign progresses, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the absence of any websites on the right devoted to reporting — as opposed to just commenting on the news — is proving politically costly to Republicans.

While conservatives are devoting much of their Internet energy to analysis, their counterparts on the left are taking advantage of the rise of new media to create new institutions devoted to unearthing stories, putting new information into circulation and generally crowding the space traditionally taken by traditional media. And it almost always comes at the expense of GOP politicians.

While online Republicans chase the allure of punditry and commentary, Democrats and progressives are pursuing old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting, in a fashion reminiscent of 2004. Back then, the Drudge Report and other lesser-known conservative portals played a key role in defining John Kerry and pushing back against criticism of George W. Bush, such as when conservative bloggers debunked documents purportedly related to the president’s Air National Guard service.

Just as Drudge and critics of the now-infamous “60 Minutes” report on Bush were able to push stories damaging to Kerry or beneficial to Bush into the mainstream media, liberal online organs are now doing the same, to the detriment of GOP presidential nominee John McCain.

This week, for example, a young liberal writer named Spencer Ackerman heard that McCain committed a gaffe on Iraq in an unaired portion of an interview with CBS anchor Katie Couric. Ackerman, a former reporter for The New Republic and The American Prospect who now blogs at the liberal Firedoglake site, posted the transcript and pointed out the relevant portion just after 5:00 p.m. Tuesday night.

It was picked up by the Huffington Post two hours later, discussed on Keith Olbermann’s MSNBC show, moved onto The Associated Press wire overnight and by Wednesday afternoon McCain was forced to respond.

“We amplify its effect and then stay on it,” explains Arianna Huffington, namesake of the popular liberal news and entertainment hub.

But the left isn’t simply promoting its own version of the news — it’s also breaking it.

Deploying writers with backgrounds grounded in journalism rather than politics, The Huffington Post and Talking Points Memo, in particular, have already become a persistent problem for McCain’s campaign, regularly posting negative opposition research and embarrassing videos in addition to advancing damaging story lines against the GOP nominee.

There is simply no equivalent on the right to these two liberal-leaning websites.

The challenge these sites present have become so apparent that McCain was forced to hire his own in-house blogger to ensure dissemination of a steady stream of anti-Barack Obama material, much of it culled from the campaign’s extensive research file.

Michael Goldfarb, a former reporter at the Weekly Standard, almost exclusively uses his blog on McCain’s website to target the Democratic nominee in the hopes mainstream reporters will link to or pick up the oppo he’s posting.

To be sure, neither of the two liberal-leaning sites — referred to online as TPM and HuffPo — have yet to break the next Watergate story this campaign.

But every day, there comes a steady drip.

It ranges from the amusing (reporting that McCain’s campaign lifted recipes from the Food Network while he’s giving a major economic speech) to the strategic (popping up research on McCain’s opposition to a bill that included wind energy incentives when he’s about to give a speech at a turbine facility) to the eyebrow-raising (disclosing that Mitt Romney said at a private meeting that he would not likely appoint a Muslim Cabinet member).

In some cases, the stories incrementally move the anti-McCain message forward (by flagging an off-message Iraq statement by a McCain surrogate, for example). In others, the reporting scores broadside hits that inflict notable damage (such as posting controversial audio of the Rev. John Hagee that would prompt McCain to finally renounce the pastor).

Add in the increasingly aggressive online efforts of liberal think tanks such as the Center for American Progress, and it leaves the right at a severe disadvantage in the high-stakes business of distributing information about favored candidates and the opposition.

“It’s something we have to get in gear on,” says Patrick Ruffini, the Bush campaign’s webmaster in 2004 and former RNC ecampaign director. “What drives discussion in the blogosphere is original information.”

The lack of any meaningful right-wing entities today is partly because of how left and right media outlets sprung up, he says.

“Liberal media has traditionally been upstream media, generating information and putting it into circulation. Conservative media is downstream; it’s the second bite at the apple.”

For years, says New York Times columnist David Brooks, the model for conservatives who developed a passion for writing (or vice-versa) was not a reporter but a commentator: National Review founder William F. Buckley Jr.

Besides being attracted to his elegant language and compelling arguments, up-and-coming conservatives saw something else in Buckley: job stability.

“In the past 60 years, only one employee of the National Review, Weekly Standard or any conservative magazine has actually been hired as a reporter for a newspaper,” says Brooks, who researched the question a few years ago.

At the same time, scores of young reporters from liberal-leaning journals such as The New Republic or The Washington Monthly have been called up to the journalistic big leagues by general interest newspapers and magazines.

“There is just no career line for a conservative reporter,” observes Brooks.

Further, prominent conservatives such as Rush Limbaugh and Michelle Malkin have prospered by seizing upon the sense of grievance conservatives have felt toward the mainstream media.

Liberals, on the other hand, responded to their own disenchantment with the media and the Bush era by channeling their anger into the creation of parallel reporting outlets geared toward doing what old-line news outlets purportedly weren’t doing.

This development just happened to take place right when the mood matched empowering new technologies, enabling new players who would have found it impossible to break through under the old media model.

“It’s fair to say that the mainstream media…was increasingly either neutral or effectively browbeaten by the right,” says Josh Marshall, the founder and editor of Talking Points Memo.

The powerful presence of Limbaugh on the radio airwaves and the ascendance of Fox News on cable television energized liberals, Marshall says.

“People on the center-left, especially in the lead-up to the Iraq war and after the 2000 recount, realized that there was nothing on that side of equation,” he adds.

The result was the emergence of TPM and HuffPo, along with the opinion- and organizing-centered Daily Kos.

“Republicans haven’t developed a lot of that infrastructure because they haven’t been forced to,” says Michael Turk, a former ecampaign director at the RNC.

But Turk and others say that must change — and the GOP might soon find the impetus.

“If Republicans are out of power, they’ll start to realize this is one of the things we need to do to rebuild,” he says.

A writer for TPM puts it more bluntly.

“If Obama gets in, we'll see a lot of this stuff spring up, probably following the same initial pattern as the lefty Netroots,” predicts Eric Kleefield. “First it's a bunch of nobodies with dingy websites doing the equivalent of writing profanity on bathroom walls. And then it will evolve into some kind of real organization and discourse, and with its own journalism.”

While there is no real national site, Erick Erickson, founder of the popular RedState, points out that there is some reporting taking place on conservative blogs in Minnesota and Colorado.

“The next major wave of conservative funding will be toward journalistic institutions,” he says hopefully.

But for now, Erickson concedes that most potential angel funders are hesitant to bankroll a start-up, still gun-shy after many websites have flopped and skeptical that a right-wing version of HuffPo or TPM would be taken seriously by established media organs.

Conservatives have not been able to obtain the sort of financing that has powered the two sites — for HuffPo, it’s venture capital; for TPM, initially it was reader contributions but is increasingly advertisements.

Amidst the inertia on the right, HuffPo and TPM are not only prospering but growing.

Both major liberal sites have added new elements for this election, and the proprietors for each are already thinking past 2008.

Huffington said in the site's next round of financing, to take place later this year, she’ll hire more reporters.

Each promises that, even if Obama wins in November, they’ll keep up the scrutiny.

“If you want to break stories or report the news, you cannot do it only from your political views,” says Huffington, citing the ironic case of their most significant splash to date: Obama's comments, reported by an Obama donor, concerning the presumptive nominee’s assessment of the psyche of rural America.

“I think if Obama wins, people will see that we’re fundamentally a news organization,” adds Marshall. “We’d cover an Obama administration equally as aggressively. People will believe it when they see it, but that’s what we plan to do.”

Avi Zenilman and Alexander Burns contributed to this report.

HOO-AH: Medal of Honor Recipient Remembered

PO2 (EOD2) Mike Monsoor, a Navy EOD Technician, was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for jumping on a grenade in Iraq, giving his life to save his fellow Seals.


During Mike Monsoor's funeral in San Diego, as his coffin was being moved from the hearse to the grave site at Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery, SEALs were lined up on both sides of the pallbearers route forming a column of two's, with the coffin moving up the center. As Mike's coffin passed, each SEAL, having removed his gold Trident from his uniform, slapped it down embedding the Trident in the wooden coffin.

The slaps were audible from across the cemetery; by the time the coffin arrived grave side, it looked as though it had a gold inlay from all the Tridents pinned to it. This was a fitting send-off for a warrior hero.

Summary of Action

Petty Officer Second Class (SEAL)
Michael A. Monsoor
For actions on Sept. 29, 2006

Petty Officer Michael A. Monsoor, United States Navy, distinguished himself through conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a Combat Advisor and Automatic Weapons Gunner for Naval Special Warfare Task Group Arabian Peninsula in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom on 29 September 2006. He displayed great personal courage and exceptional bravery while conducting operations in enemy held territory at Ar Ramadi Iraq.

During Operation Kentucky Jumper, a combined Coalition battalion clearance and isolation operation in southern Ar Ramadi, he served as automatic weapons gunner in a combined SEAL and Iraqi Army (IA) sniper overwatch element positioned on a residential rooftop in a violent sector and historical stronghold for insurgents. In the morning, his team observed four enemy fighters armed with AK-47s reconnoitering from roads in the sector to conduct follow-on attacks. SEAL snipers from his roof engaged two of them which resulted in one enemy wounded in action and one enemy killed in action. A mutually supporting SEAL/IA position also killed an enemy fighter during the morning hours. After the engagements, the local populace blocked off the roads in the area with rocks to keep civilians away and to warn insurgents of the presence of his Coalition sniper element. Additionally, a nearby mosque called insurgents to arms to fight Coalition Forces.

In the early afternoon, enemy fighters attacked his position with automatic weapons fire from a moving vehicle. The SEALs fired back and stood their ground. Shortly thereafter, an enemy fighter shot a rocket-propelled grenade at his building. Though well-acquainted with enemy tactics in Ar Ramadi, and keenly aware that the enemy would continue to attack, the SEALs remained on the battlefield in order to carry out the mission of guarding the western flank of the main effort.

Due to expected enemy action, the officer in charge repositioned him with his automatic heavy machine gun in the direction of the enemy’s most likely avenue of approach. He placed him in a small, confined sniper hide-sight between two SEAL snipers on an outcropping of the roof, which allowed the three SEALs maximum coverage of the area. He was located closest to the egress route out of the sniper hide-sight watching for enemy activity through a tactical periscope over the parapet wall. While vigilantly watching for enemy activity, an enemy fighter hurled a hand grenade onto the roof from an unseen location. The grenade hit him in the chest and bounced onto the deck. He immediately leapt to his feet and yelled “grenade” to alert his teammates of impending danger, but they could not evacuate the sniper hide-sight in time to escape harm. Without hesitation and showing no regard for his own life, he threw himself onto the grenade, smothering it to protect his teammates who were lying in close proximity. The grenade detonated as he came down on top of it, mortally wounding him.

Petty Officer Monsoor’s actions could not have been more selfless or clearly intentional. Of the three SEALs on that rooftop corner, he had the only avenue of escape away from the blast, and if he had so chosen, he could have easily escaped. Instead, Monsoor chose to protect his comrades by the sacrifice of his own life. By his courageous and selfless actions, he saved the lives of his two fellow SEALs and he is the most deserving of the special recognition afforded by awarding the Medal of Honor.

Planting for future in Duncan

Planting for future

Gala raises funds for crapemyrtles in Duncan

Jayne Boykin
The Duncan Banner

DUNCAN — Anyone driving around Duncan can see an array of large bushes covered with clusters of small ruffled flowers in shades ranging from white to pink to purples and lavender to red, with many variations between. The crapemyrtles are in bloom, and they are beautiful.

But, picture that wave of color spreading across the city, brightening up the hot, dry summer landscape and drawing visitors to the city, and the often-taken-for-granted shrub becomes, in the words of an Oklahoma horticulturist, a “summer show-off!”

A July 11 gala at Duncan Golf & Country Club — “Crepes for Crapemyrtles” — celebrated the 2008 Oklahoma state Legislature’s designation of Duncan as the Crapemyrtle Capital of Oklahoma, and did so in style, said Carolyn Rodgers, who came up with the idea of clothing Duncan in colorful crapemyrtles and is overall chairman of the project.

Approximately 200 people turned out for a filet mignon dinner and dessert crepes followed by dancing to a jazz band, Rodgers said. By the end of the evening, more than $5,000 had been raised for the cause.

Her husband, Rick, served as emcee for the evening, and introduced Sen. Anthony Sykes and Rep. Dennis Johnson, who sponsored the Legislature’s Resolution 44 that made the designation official. The resolution was signed by Lt. Gov. Jari Askins, who was acting governor at the time. Askins was unable to attend the gala, however.

“Then it was my turn to speak, and I outlined our plans for the future. There are three great ways to make Duncan bloom with crapemyrtles.

“The first is for individuals to plant crapemyrtles in their yards, especially in their front yards where everyone in the community can enjoy them. Crapemyrtles will grow anywhere they can get about eight hours of sunlight a day.

“The second way is to encourage the city to work with us — to think crapemyrtles any time there is a need for plantings around town.

“The third is what we call our ‘Super Sponsors.’ There are five levels of sponsorship, depending on the size of the donations. Gene Nelson of Duncan was our first Super Sponsor,” Rodgers said.

She explained that each of the five levels of sponsorship is named for a variety of crapemyrtle: “Dynamite,” “Red Rocket,” “Raspberry Sundae,” “Victor” and “Tight Wad,” which really is the name of a variety of crapemyrtle.

Dr. Carl Whitcomb, who operates the Horticultural Research Center outside of Stillwater, has bred many of the crapemyrtles seen around the state. Representatives from Beijing came to Oklahoma about six years ago to obtain crapemyrtles to plant around the Olympic venues, concentrating on the red varieties.

“So when you watch the Olympics this summer, and see the beautiful Red Rocket and Dynamite crapemyrtles on TV, you will know that they came from Oklahoma — with a Southern accent!” Rodgers said.

It was Whitcomb who established the style for the designation, Rodgers said.

“You see it as crepe myrtle, crape myrtle, crapemyrtle, but Doctor Whitcomb insisted it should be one word, and he explained it like this: ‘There is a type of plant known as the myrtle. If you write it as crape myrtle, with a space between the two words, it can be confusing, as people could see it as part of the myrtle family, which it is not.’

“We decided to make it crapemyrtle, and we’re sticking with it,” Rodgers said.

While it’s best to plant crapemyrtles in the fall, they can really be planted all year long, even in the winter if the ground is not frozen.

Crapemyrtles bloom 90 to 120 days of the year, with varieties that begin blooming in June, July and August, and continue flowering until frost, she said.

Dream Duncan’s Destiny Beautification Committee hopes to be able to hold crapemyrtle festivals in Duncan each summer, much like the azalea festival for which Muskogee is known. If as few as 1,000 new crapemyrtles are planted in Duncan each year, in five years, there will be a really big showing, Rodgers noted.

“If medians are filled with crapemyrtles, if business owners, particularly along the highway, plant crapemyrtles, and if homeowners plant them in their yards, Duncan will be a beautiful place to be in the summertime,” Rodgers said.

Tax-deductible donations can be made to the Communities Foundation of Oklahoma through the Duncan Area Economic Development Foundation, 2124 N. U.S. Highway 81, Duncan, OK 73533. For information, call Rodgers at 580-252-7229 or e-mail crapemyrtle@cableone.net.

Sen Harry Coates - Ok maybe I left it in the bathroom LOL

Hat Tip to Mike @ The McCarville Report Online

Coates' Missing File Investigation Called Off At His Request, April 30 Letter Shows

A Department of Public Safety investigation into the disappearance of a confidential file in the possession of Republican Senator Harry Coates has ended at his request, The McCarville Report Online has learned.

A letter from Coates, R-Seminole, dated April 30, reports that the investigation to that point had found nothing conclusive and to avoid additional expense, he asked that it end.

Coates wrote that the number of individuals with access to his office, and the cost associated with interviewing large numbers of people, prompted his request that the probe end. He urged senators to take steps to secure confidential files in their offices.

The letter was sent to senators, with copies to Senate Co-President Pro Tem Mike Morgan, Co-President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee, Attorney General Drew Edmondson, Commissioner of Public Safety Kevin Ward, and Senate Chief of Staff Dr. Tom Walls.
The file, which contained email exchanges connected to House Bill 1804, the state's new immigration law, became a controversial topic of discussion over both where it was when it disappeared, and because of its contents. Emails apparently in the file appeared on a blog that has been the center of continued attacks on Coates over his opposition to the new law.

Coates said the file apparently disappeared from his office; those attacking him claimed he or someone else left it where it was found by someone who then sent the contents to the Missouri-based blogger, who then printed excerpts. Christoper Arps, who operates Oklahoma Political News Service, said, "I received them in the mail in a plain manila envelope with no return address."

Asked by a reporter for Fox 25 News if he left the file in a restroom, Coates said, “No, that’s not the way it happened, I promise you.”

After some of those emails were made public, Coates said, “...this is an overt attempt to embarrass and intimidate anyone who does not agree with the immigration law. The Senate is currently conducting an internal investigation in an attempt to discover who is behind this. Once we learn their identity, that information will be turned over to law enforcement, and we would expect it to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

The internal probe apparently involved a review of camera images of the hallway outside Coates' office. That review obviously produced no evidence the file was taken from Coates' office.

Senate Co-President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City, said at the time that Senate "security breaches" would be addressed aggressively.

"We are trying to find out the facts internally," Coffee said. "At some point, we probably would bring in the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, once we find out what has gone on."

Coates said he does not believe that any lawmakers are behind what he called the theft of the file with the e-mails.

He said the publication of the private e-mails on the blog could stifle debate on issues.

"Some of the material has been taken out of context with the rather obvious purpose of embarrassing anyone who dares to defy those who relish the thought of ridding our state of people who speak another language, legal or illegal," Coates, whose family operates a Seminole roofing company, said.

Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore, the author of House Bill 1804, called the incidents "bizarre."

He said he doesn't believe that supporters of his legislation were behind the missing documents.

"The pressure of being on the wrong side of an 80-20 issue has apparently gotten to Senator Coates," Terrill said at the time.

McGowen to Wesselhöft: Come back to Oklahoma

Got this in the email box today...

McGowen to Wesselhoft: Come back to Oklahoma

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Dustin McGowen (405) 834-6335

MOORE, Okla. – Dustin McGowen, candidate for the State House of Representatives, is calling on his opponent, state Rep. Paul Wesselhoft, to return to Oklahoma for the election.

Wesselhoft is expected to leave for Chicago today, four days before the primary election, to attend the American Legislative Exchange Council's annual meeting. However, the conference doesn't begin until one day after the election.

"I'm outraged that he would abandon this campaign for a vacation in Chicago. He doesn't take this campaign seriously, just like he wastes our time at the State Capitol," said McGowen.

According to public records, only about 2 percent of Wesselhoft's bills have become law.

Wesselhoft has been planning to attend the conference since at least June 3, when he purchased registration. He is using campaign funds to attend the conference, spending at least $652 on registration and airfare, according to campaign expenditure documents.

"It's appalling that he would use campaign funds to attend this conference," said McGowen. "I guess it's good that he's received thousands of dollars from lobbyists and PACs, otherwise he'd have to watch election returns from home instead of the Chicago Sheraton."

McGowen's watch party will be at Dale's BBQ in Moore. McGowen works there to help pay for his senior year of college.

HOO-AH: Troops Angry At Media Bias and Laziness

American troops in Afghanistan are not happy with how a July 13th battle with the Taliban was reported. In that action, some 200 Taliban attacked a U.S. "base" and killed or wounded more than half the 50 or so U.S. and Afghan troops found there. Actual U.S. casualties were nine dead and fifteen wounded (including walking wounded).

U.S. troops were irked that, once again, the mass media got lazy and didn't bother to report the action accurately. For one thing, there was no "base". What the Taliban attacked was a temporary parking area for vehicles used to conduct patrols of the area. These are set up regularly, and have been used for years. These are secure areas, but basically a parking lot surrounded by barbed wire and several sandbagged observation posts. This one was set a few days before the attack, and was due to be taken down soon, as the patrol activity moved to another area.

Such defensive precautions are taken any time U.S. troops stop for more than a few hours. That's a tactic pioneered by the Romans over two thousand years ago. In this case, it paid off. The Taliban infiltrated several hundred fighters into a nearby village, and opened fire from homes, businesses and a mosque. The U.S. and Afghan troops called in air support and kept fighting until the Taliban fled, taking most of their dead and wounded with them.

The troops are angry because, while the Taliban got lucky (such attacks are rare), the enemy did not succeed in taking the U.S. position, and fled the battlefield after suffering heavier casualties. The U.S. troops are much better shots, and know they killed far more of the Taliban. Moreover, they saw smart bombs and missiles hitting buildings that Taliban were firing from. From long experience, they know that people inside bombed buildings rarely survive the explosion.

Finally, the troops involved were from the 173rd Airborne Brigade, and paratroopers do not like anyone implying they were beaten at anything. Especially because, in this case, they weren't.

Hoo-ah: The Kurds Show The Way

The sudden collapse of al Qaeda operations in western Iraq was largely due to tribal politics. There are only a few tribes, or major clans, in western Iraq (Anbar province), and once U.S. commanders had finally convinced the tribes to switch sides, it was like hitting a light switch. Discipline within the tribes is pretty good, and many tribesmen had been on bad terms with al Qaeda for years. The terrorists had killed several tribal leaders, in an effort to insure support for terrorist operations. This backfired, and the tribes went after al Qaeda, literally, with a vengeance.

Now the remaining al Qaeda member, and their Iraqi Sunni Arab allies, are making their last stand in northern Iraq (Kirkuk, Salah ad Din, Nineveh and Diyala provinces). This is a much more complex situation. While Anbar was almost exclusively Sunni Arab, the four provinces up north also have Kurds and Turks, as well as some Shia Arabs, Christians and other religious minorities. This is made even more complex by the presence of over a hundred tribal and clan organizations. No one-stop deal making here.

Many of the Sunni Arabs up north are some of Saddam's most enthusiastic supporters. That's because Saddam spent over a decade expelling Kurds from the area, and turning the Kurdish property over to poor Sunni Arabs from down south. All Saddam asked for was loyalty. Saddam's immigrants are still loyal, especially since many of the disposed Kurds returned after 2003, looking to get their property back.

The Iraqi Army and police are doing most of the fighting up north, which is bad news for al Qaeda. Iraqi security forces speak the language, and have a good understanding of the social dynamics. Many of the tribes and clans (including some of the Sunni Arab ones) up north are pro-government, and as the terrorist organizations get chewed up month after month, more and more locals decide that loyalty to Saddam just isn't worth it any more. The Iraqis know this process has long term benefits. All they have to do is look at northernmost Iraq, the autonomous Kurdish territory. There, several million Kurds have, for fifteen years, lived without Sunni Arab terrorists, and have prospered mightily. They still have the infamous Middle Eastern corruption and cronyism to worry about, but even those ancient curses are openly discussed and attacked.

Iraqis now have something they have not experienced for decades; hope.

Hoo-ah: Lessons Of The Iraq War

As the U.S. armed forces have done so many times before, they entered the uncertainty of a new war in 2001, and are now trying to figure out what they gained from it. Most of what went on during this war was unreported or misreported. This is nothing new. The important details, and lessons, of all past American wars were poorly reported, and what the military is trying to avoid is taking away the wrong lessons.

Throughout the current conflict, the military made no secret of what they were doing, and just kept focused on winning. They knew they would be dealing with an unusual enemy, a stateless force based on ideology and religion based hatred. This foe was weak, in the conventional military sense, but was armed with two powerful weapons. First, there was the suicide bomber, and terrorism in general. Against civilian populations, this was a very effective weapon. Against a professional and resourceful military foe, it was much less so. But the enemy had another weapon; the media and political opposition in their opponents homeland. The media is eager to report real or imagined disasters and mistakes. This is how the news business has stayed solvent since the mass media first appeared in the mid 19th century. Al Qaeda was run by people who were aware of this, and knew how to exploit it, both among friendly (Moslem) populations, and in nations they had declared their enemy. This they did by exploiting the proclivities of the political oppositions in the West.

Many in the West considered terrorism a police matter. But al Qaeda believed that if they could turn it into a military campaign, by getting Western nations to use military force, they would trigger an angry reaction among Moslems. Al Qaeda had long preached that the West was the enemy of Islam, and a Western invasion of Moslem nations would prove this. They also knew that many in the West would not approve of military action. These politicians, and their followers, would continue to insist on treating Islamic terrorism as a police matter. This would cause political turmoil in the West, and weaken counter-terror operations.

The invasion of Afghanistan, after September 11, 2001, did indeed enrage many Moslems, even though many of them admitted that the Taliban government there had provided bases for al Qaeda. But the Islamic terrorists also took advantage of the fact that Moslems did not use the same logic as Westerners. Even after the Taliban government quickly fell in late 2001, to an "invasion force" of only 300 NATO troops (U.S. Army special forces and CIA agents), many Moslems insisted this was an unwarranted attack on a Moslem nation. This despite the fact that most Afghans wanted to be rid of the Taliban. And then it got worse, as many Moslems insisted that al Qaeda did not carry out the September 11, 2001 attacks. Many Moslems(and some in the West) still believe that the Israelis were behind it, or that the Americans staged an attack on themselves to provide an excuse to make war on Islamic nations. Al Qaeda knew how to exploit fantasies and cultural biases, even while al Qaeda leaders were taking credit for the 911 attacks.

The invasion of Iraq was even more contentious. In hindsight, the Iraq operation was essential to the defeat of al Qaeda, and the shattering of their popular support in the Moslem world. Al Qaeda, true to its own beliefs and tactics, tried to use terror attacks against the Shia Arab majority in Iraq, after 2003, as a way to put the Sunni Arab minority back in control. All this did was kill thousands of Moslem civilians and deflate popular support for al Qaeda. This could be seen, year by year, as opinion polls in Moslem countries revealed declining al Qaeda popularity.

But al Qaeda still had a lot of Support in the West. The political opposition in the United States, true to form (as in all past American wars) found ways to criticize the Iraq operation without actually joining the enemy. The media in the West backed the opposition, as that's where the headlines, and the profits, were.

Out of all this, the American military found other lessons. Their professional and resourceful troops found ways to neutralize enemy weapons (suicide and roadside bombs) while keeping their casualty rate at less than half what it was in Vietnam and pervious wars. The generals got no credit, in the media, for that, but the troops sure appreciated it. This resulted in the volunteer military to maintain its strength in wartime, the first time the U.S. had accomplished that since the American Revolution.

The troops developed a wide array of new techniques for fighting "irregular wars" (where the opponent is not a regular army.) The military adapted many new technologies to this new kind of war (smart bombs, data mining, forensics, persistent surveillance and lots of modern police techniques). The new problem is transferring as much of this new knowledge to future conventional wars. And there will be a transference. Most other major military powers are also trying to figure that out, so they can also profit from the American success.

Finally, the continued hammering the military is taking, for "failing" in this new kind of war, at least makes it less likely that there will be a problem with the victory disease (where winning brings with it complacency and all the ills that follow believing your own press releases.)

Candidate’s claim questioned

Candidate’s medal claim questioned by servicemen

By M. Scott Carter
The Norman Transcript

A Cleveland County legislative candidate’s claim that he earned a Meritorious Service Medal while serving in the Oklahoma Air National Guard is drawing complaints from some of his fellow servicemen.

However, Aaron Stiles — who is seeking the GOP nomination for the House District 45 race — says the whole matter is a misunderstanding and that he simply referred to the wrong medal in his campaign Web site.
Stiles is involved in a heated four-way race for the Republican nomination for House District 45. Stiles faces Republicans Les White, David Hopper and Ron Henderson in the primary, set for Tuesday.

A runoff, if needed, will be Aug. 26. The eventual winner will face incumbent Democrat Wallace Collins in the Nov. 4 general election.
Earlier this month, Stiles’ campaign Web site said the 28-year-old “served our nation for eight years — earning a Meritorious Service Medal, a Humanitarian Service Medal and Served in Operation Noble Eagle after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.”

That statement drew the wrath of Stiles’ former boss, Matthew Dukes.
Dukes, a chief master sergeant in the state’s Air Guard, said Stiles falsified his military service by saying he earned the award. “I cannot and will not stand by and allow him to discredit the brave men and women of the Oklahoma Air National Guard who have served without complaint since Sept. 11,” he said.

Dukes, a Midwest City police officer, said Stiles never received the Meritorious Service Medal.

“I served with Stiles, as a matter of fact, I was his boss,” he said. “He never received the MSM; and I would know because the paperwork would have gone through me.”

Stiles said the issue is simply a mistake.

“Honestly, I didn’t know the difference between the two,” Stiles said during an interview at The Transcript office this week. “It was simply a typo, it wasn’t like I was claiming to have won the Bronze Star.”

As proof, Stiles displayed an Air Force Meritorious Achievement Service Medal, the medal, he says, he actually received.

“It was my mistake,” he said. “But I wasn’t trying to mislead anyone. It was a simple mistake.”

Since then, Stiles said he’s changed his campaign Web site to reflect the accurate name of the medal. “The site has been changed. I wanted to make sure the right medal is listed,” he said.

Dukes, however, said there were “other issues” with Stiles’ service.
“He is misrepresenting his military service,” Dukes said. “And there are too many Air National Guardsmen that have served for him to do that; he is not one of them.”

Dukes said Stiles — on two separate occasions — sought conscientious objector status so he would not have to be deployed overseas.

“Right after Sept. 11, things settled down and deployments were starting to come down,” he said. “We had received a requirement to send a team to Kuwait and all of a sudden Aaron submits a conscientious objector packet. I believe it was a subterfuge to keep from going to the desert, ’cause he was on the list.”
Not true, Stiles countered.

While Stiles confirmed he did seek the CO status, he said it was because he had “real issues” with the fact that he “might be asked to kill someone.”
“Yes, I did seek CO status,” he said. “I also did everything I was asked to do and went everywhere I was asked to go. I sought the CO status mainly because of my Christian principles.”

But it’s not true, he said, that he was trying to avoid going overseas.
“I was faced with the possibility of killing someone,” he said. “And I had serious questions about whether or not I could take someone’s life.”
Still, Duke said, the application for the CO status kept Stiles from being deployed.

“You’re not deployed while the request is being acted on,” Duke said. “So until it’s either approved or disapproved (the CO application) he was saying he can’t pick up a weapon to defend this country. He sat in an administrative role at Will Rogers while other people filled in for him and went to the desert.”

Eventually, the application was denied, Stiles said.

“Honestly, it never really entered my mind when I signed up for the service that I might have to take another person’s life. That’s why it was such a tough decision. I did it to protect the guys I was with.”

Additionally, Duke said he investigated Stiles for fraud during his tenure in the Air Guard.

“I investigated Mr. Stiles for fraud,” he said. “I did a brief investigation, found out what he was doing, and submitted the information to the Judge Advocate General (JAG).”

The investigation, Duke said, centered on whether Stiles was paying for his meals.

“When you’re in a certain status you have to pay for your meals,” he said. “But he was going over and eating and not paying for his meals, which constitutes fraud.”

Stiles said Duke has a grudge against him and that the issue was blown out of proportion.

“It was a small deal,” he said. “It was over one meal. And he placed me in cuffs and said he was charging me with fraud. People were shocked, they were completely surprised.”

In the end, Stiles said, he was never charged and only received a written reprimand. “And I didn’t even want to sign that,” he said.
However, Kenneth Ericson, who is serving in Iraq, said Duke’s information is accurate.

“I served with Mr. Stiles,” Ericson said in an e-mailed statement to The Transcript. “He was involuntarily mobilized and deployed stateside under Operation Noble Eagle, which was only stateside. I was deployed with him at this time. While deployed he did everything he could think of to get home after he found that there was a chance we could be forward deployed overseas.”

Stiles, Ericson said, was investigated for fraud because he repeatedly didn’t pay for meals.

“He was required to pay for meals he ate at the Base dining facility,” Ericson said. “He was investigated and it was found that even after being told this, he still ate there without paying for (those) meals.”

Other servicemen, however, support Stiles’ claim.

Jack Clark, an Air Guard member who says he served with Stiles, said Duke was out to wreck Stiles’ career.

“That base is a joke,” he said. “Aaron didn’t do anything wrong; he did what I did: He used the Guard to go to OU. Duke didn’t like him and would do whatever he could to wreck Stiles’ career. This is absolutely wrong, Duke has his own demons.”

Former Air Guard Chief Master Sergeant Bob Spinks praised Stiles’ record.

“Aaron is led by strong Christian values and a duty to serve others,” Spinks said. “His heart is in service to his country, not to himself. I would proudly serve with Aaron Stiles again.”

Still, Stiles said he can’t explain why Dukes and others would have issues with his campaign.

“I don’t want to speculate,” he said. “He (Dukes) and I used to be friends, but something happened and since that time we haven’t gotten along. But I can tell you this: I will be filing a defamation suit against him.”

Records opinion affects lawmakers

Communications between lawmakers and state agencies are subject to Oklahoma's Open Records Act, according to an attorney general's opinion released Thursday.

However, lawmakers themselves do not have to disclose the communications, including e-mails, because the Legislature exempts itself from the state Open Records Act.

Public bodies including state agencies are compelled to disclose such communications with lawmakers, the opinion states.

Written or electronic exchanges between legislators are not subject to the Open Records Act, the attorney general said Thursday.

The communications aren't open because the Legislature and legislators don't come within the act's definition of a public body, Attorney General Drew Edmondson said.

The opinion requested by Rep. Mike Reynolds, R-Oklahoma City, concludes that communications between lawmakers, whether in written or electronic form, are not subject to disclosure.

The opinion written by Assistant Attorney General John Crittenden states that records of expenses incurred by legislators and their employees are subject to disclosure.

Navy to cancel new destroyer program and buy older model

The Navy plans to cancel its DDG-1000 destroyer program after the first two ships are built and instead buy older but more affordable surface combatants, lawmakers said Wednesday.

Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England and Pentagon procurement chief John Young, a longtime supporter of the DDG-1000, signed off on the plan during a meeting with Navy leaders Tuesday, sources said.

Under the new acquisition strategy, the Navy would use the money once planned for the five remaining DDG-1000s to buy between eight and 11 DDG-51 Arleigh Burke class destroyers, whose production line has been dormant for years.

Navy Secretary Donald Winter and Adm. Gary Roughead, the Navy chief of staff, have been briefing their plan on Capitol Hill, where it is expected to draw mixed reviews from key lawmakers and could figure in the re-election prospects of Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. Members of the Maine and Mississippi delegations, whose states are home to the shipyards that build the Navy's destroyers, have long been divided over the issue.

At the urging of House Armed Services Seapower Subcommittee Chairman Gene Taylor, D-Miss., the House-passed version of the fiscal 2009 defense authorization bill rejected the Navy's $2.5 billion request to build the third DDG-1000 and instead included $400 million in advanced procurement for either the DDG-1000 or the DDG-51. Taylor, whose district includes Northrop Grumman's Pascagoula shipyard, has long said he would prefer the Navy buy the older destroyers.

Collins has fought for the continuation of the DDG-1000 program and immediately voiced her opposition to the Navy's decision. Bath Iron Works in Maine also builds DDG-1000s and split production of DDG-51s with Pascagoula.

"Compared with the DDG-51 program, which the Navy is considering continuing, the DDG-1000 program provides far more work and about three times the amount of money for BIW per ship," Collins said. "Bath's share of the DDG-1000 it now has under contract is $1.4 billion, while the shipyard's share of the most recent DDG-51 it now has under construction amounts to only about $500 million." Collins met Wednesday with Bath Iron Works President Dugan Shipway, who flew to Washington upon hearing of the Navy's new plan.

"I have pledged to work with him and everyone at BIW to fight for a plan to lessen the potentially devastating consequences of this decision on BIW," said Collins, who is in a tough re-election fight with Democratic Rep. Tom Allen. If the Navy buys nine DDG-51s over the next six years, she added, Bath Iron Works would have to work on "virtually all of them" to maintain its workload and prevent job losses, she added.

Roughead's support for the DDG-1000 program has long been considered lackluster. "On balance, the procurement cost of a single DDG-51 is significantly less than that of a DDG-1000 and the life-cycle costs of the two classes are similar," Roughead wrote in a May 7 letter to Senate Armed Services Seapower Subcommittee Chairman Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. But support for the program has remained high at the senior echelons of the Pentagon, particularly within Young's office. In a July 2 letter to Taylor, Young, a former Navy official, said that restarting production on the DDG-51s would "pose a risk to the shipbuilding budget and inject additional cost."

The Nerd Gap Is Real

Because, for so many years, U.S. university science departments have been staffed with so many (often a majority) foreign graduate students, the pool of available scientists and engineers for developing U.S. military equipment, or doing any intelligence or defense work, has been shrinking. You have to be an American citizen to get the security clearances necessary to work on classified projects.

Worse yet, many American don't want to work in such a classified environment. But even those who do are now discouraged by the long wait to get a security clearance (a side effect of the enormous growth in need for people to fight the war on terror). This is made worse by the growing demand for scientists and engineers in general. So defense contractors and intelligence agencies often have to settle for less qualified candidates, or leave positions unfilled.

While the number of foreign graduate students declined seven percent since September 11, 2001, U.S. citizens did not step up to make up for that loss. An increasing number of American college students are avoiding science and engineering. Most of them consider the study requirements too high, and the opportunities to make money better in non-science fields.

The New Taliban Tactics Have a Catch

The Afghan government believes that key leaders in the Pakistani army and intelligence service (the ISI) are still making deals, some of them secret, with the Taliban and Islamic radical groups, to make it easier for Afghanistan to be attacked, while providing Pakistan some immunity from terrorism. This kind of cynical arrangement is a staple of politics, especially in the Moslem world.

Islamic radical groups will grant such immunity from attack in return for favors, then later resume attacks. So while the Afghan accusations may sound bizarre to Western ears, they make a lot of sense along the Afghan-Pakistan border. Behind the scenes, the U.S. is trying to get the Pakistani army and ISI to change their strategy, but that is not easy. The generals leading both organizations (and the current head of the Pakistani military used to head ISI) are more concerned with self-preservation in the long term, than in eliminating Taliban activity inside Afghanistan. To the Pakistani generals, the Taliban are just another in a long line of tribal troublemakers. And it's traditional to deal with these fellows using bluff and bluster, rather than anything more expensive (like bullets and soldiers lives). Ideally, you'd like to get the tribes fighting each other, which is exactly what is happening when the Taliban go to Afghanistan. This year, however, there is an additional complication. Several thousand al Qaeda terrorists (or recruits) have showed up, the aftereffect of the al Qaeda defeat in Iraq. It's not yet clear how many of the al Qaeda men will cross the border, or stay and try to take control of Pakistan. The ISI is negotiating, hoping to get most of these new thugs into Afghanistan. But al Qaeda needs Pakistan as a base, and NATO is leaning on Pakistan hard to not allow that.

The Taliban have developed more effective tactics this year. After a disastrous outing last year, the Taliban were under a lot of pressure to reduce their casualties this year, and they have. The Afghans have always been adaptable, especially when it is a matter of life and death, and there have been many small changes in Taliban tactics to counter the greater lethality of NATO forces (who use UAVs, smart bombs and better trained troops). Taliban forces now operate in smaller groups, keeping weapons (which can be identified from the air by UAV or aircraft cameras) hidden, and concentrate forces just before an attack. Cell phones and walkie-talkies make this easier. Taliban will also break off an attack quickly, knowing that the smart bombs are on the way. The Taliban will stay near the Pakistani border, because the Americans and NATO rarely pursue, although smart bombs are more frequently dropped on the Pakistani side. But once a group of armed Taliban have made it into Pakistan, they can melt into the civilian population. Which leads to another popular Taliban tactic, using civilians as human shields. It doesn't always work, and when it doesn't the Taliban are quick to claim another NATO atrocity. The Taliban have also been using a growing number of deceptions to try and get NATO smart bombs or artillery to hit friendly targets. A favorite one on the border is to fire mortar shells at NATO troops on one side of the border, and at nearby Pakistani border guards just across the frontier, to try and deceive NATO and Pakistani troops into believing they are firing at each other. NATO counter-fire radars have spotted the shells, and traced them all back to the same location. But such radars are not always available, and sometimes this trick works. Another deception is feed bad intel to the followers, and try and trigger a missile or smart bomb attack on civilians.

This year's Taliban tactics, however, are more disruptive and less concerned with taking permanent control of territory. The Taliban is trying to disrupt the Afghan government control (which was never very great to begin with), and wear down the foreign troops (and cause popular discontent back home that will lead to NATO forces being recalled). The Taliban are playing the long game, which is how things are done up in these hills, when you are dealing with a more powerful opponent. The Taliban have no doubt that their foe (the Afghan government and their foreign allies) are more powerful. The foreign troops in particular, are very deadly. The older Taliban, who fought the Russians in the 1980s, note that the NATO and U.S. troops are all equal to the small number of commandos the Russians used. Back then, the only Russians the Afghans feared were the few thousand paratroopers and Spetsnaz commandos they sometimes encountered. When that happened, the Afghans knew it was time to retreat, quickly. But now, even the Afghan Army troops are more lethal. They have been trained by the Westerners, and that has made a difference. But most of the opponents the Taliban face are anti-Taliban (or pro-government, there is a difference) tribal fighters. The "Taliban War" is basically a tribal conflict, just as it was back in the 1980s, against the Russians, and in the 1990s, when the Taliban captured Kabul, and almost took over the entire country (cut short by the U.S. invasion of late 2001.)

The Taliban are paying more attention to extortion and taking over business operations, on both sides of the border. The Taliban may be on a Mission From God, but God's children have expenses and must get paid. The more the better. The tribal areas are poor, and the Taliban attracts a better grade of roughneck if they can pay better. The Taliban leaders, in particular, want more reliable gunmen, if only to provide themselves with better personal security. NATO has stepped up efforts to track down and kill the Taliban and al Qaeda leadership. This is happening more often, and is disrupting Taliban operations in areas where key leaders are taken out. The American get more cooperation from Afghans in this, because the Taliban have increased their attacks on reconstruction projects. This year, more efforts are being made to kidnap foreign aid workers, and hold them for ransom. The Taliban could kill these guys, but the ransom routine has the same demoralizing effect on the aid workers, and raises badly needed cash as well. In the last week, two French aid workers were grabbed, and two Turkish ones were released, after ransom was paid, after being held a week.

The U.S. is doubling the number of MRAPs (armored trucks designed to deflect mine and roadside bomb explosions) in Afghanistan (to 1,600). These must be driven in from Pakistani ports. That will come in handy, because the Taliban are trying to take down the road based NATO supply line, that stretches from the Pakistani coast into Afghanistan. These trucks are protected by lucrative security arrangements made with tribes that "own" the roads. These guys don't like seeing this income threatened by a bunch of religious fanatics. Most of this fighting is taking place on the Pakistani side of the border, and NATO has quietly told the Pakistanis that if these supply lines cannot be protected, NATO would have to come in and do it. This, more than anything else, motivates the Pakistanis to tone down Taliban violence, at least on the Pakistani side of the border.

July 16, 2008: Despite new tactics, the Taliban still get chewed up pretty badly. A Taliban war band, of about 300 men, was spotted as it crossed over from Pakistan, and quickly jumped on by NATO troops and smart bombs. About half the Taliban were killed, and the rest wounded, captured, or scattered. It's catastrophes like this that force the Taliban to pay better, and to encourage their commanders to keep their fighters dispersed. But many of the Taliban big shots are traditionalists, and just love the feeling of leading a column of several armed men through the mountains. It's a tradition that's become an expensive luxury, one that often costs you your life.

Hoo-ah: Marines And Army Get New Parachute Designs

This year, the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps are both getting new parachutes. The army is getting the ATPS (Advanced Tactical Parachute System), while the marines are introducing the Multimission Parachute System.

The new marine parachute is intended for use by recon and commando type operations, where the need was for a parachute that could be guided to a specific spot for landing. This new parachute enables the user to maneuver five kilometers or more (depending on the altitude jumped from) to the preferred landing zone. The marines like to use this for inserting scout teams at night. SOCOM (Special Operations Command) has long used similar chutes (rectangular in shape, rather than round, like the current marine MC-5 chute.)

The U.S. Army is replacing its half century old T-10 parachute with a new and improved model; the ATPS (Advanced Tactical Parachute System). The reason is that, in the last half century, paratroopers, and their equipment, have gotten heavier. The T-10 was designed to handle a maximum weight of 300 pounds (a paratrooper and his equipment.) In practice, the average weight is now closer to 400 pounds. This means that the troops are hitting the ground faster and harder, resulting in more injuries. Since World War II, the average injury rate for mass parachute drops has been 1.5 percent, but all that extra muscle and gear has pushed it to over two percent.

The fault was traced to the venerable T-10 chute not being able to handle larger and heavier (it's all muscle, folks) paratroopers and the more numerous bits of equipment they jump with. The 51 pound ATPS (main chute and backup) can bring over 400 pounds of paratrooper and equipment to the ground at 16 feet per second. The 44 pound T-10 could bring 300 pounds down at 23 feet per second. When the T-10 was dealing with more weight, it came down faster, causing more injuries. The ATPS, when deployed has a diameter 14 percent greater than that of the T-10, with 28 percent more surface area. The ATPS harness is more reliable and comfortable. Operational testing of the ATPS has been underway for three years, and the new chute will have completely replaced the T-10 in six years.

The new marine chute also takes advantage of the new parachute technology, in the same way the ATPS does. Thus reducing hard drops, for marines landing with a heavy load of weapons and equipment. The new marine chute has been in testing for two years, but has been getting more tests, and some actual use, in Iraq.

Blogs4Borders! July 21, 2008

Our weekly podcast -- vlog on illegal immigration and border security. In this weeks edition...

Uncounted beans: cooked crime stats? Is our government covering up Hispanic crime?

100% Preventable! Americans continue to pay the bloody price for open borders, when will the madness end?

Importing extinct crimes? Along with funky restaurants and 'vibrant' neighborhoods illegal immigrants also revive dead crimes.

HOO-ah: An American Tradition

The war on terror, and especially the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, have brought back an old American battlefield tradition; tracking and stalking the enemy.

Even before the American revolution, colonial militias used the hunting skills of their members to develop uniquely American infantry tactics.

The generals never completely accepted or permanently adapted these skills. But in every war, and especially in World War II and subsequent conflicts, the tracking and stalking skills of troops were recognized, and utilized, on the battlefield.

During World War II, many divisions organized special scouting units, recruiting troops who were particularly skilled at tracking, and stalking game. These hunting skills are easily transferred to the battlefield. Indeed, the earliest armies made use of these skills, and primitive tribes still use "hunting parties" as "war bands" when the game is two-legged and able to fight back. The most successful army in history, that of the Medieval Mongols, was based on the hunting organization and tactics employed to survive on the great plains of Eurasia.

During the Korean War (1950-53), division commanders created "Ranger Companies," composed of their most skilled stalkers and scouts. These rangers were disbanded after Korea, but were revived in Vietnam, in the form of LRRPs (Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols) and other specialized units. After Vietnam, the Ranger Regiment was created, but as a force of elite light infantry, not scouts. More of these ranger type skills were taught to all troops, but not in a concentrated enough way to make a difference.

But the U.S. Marine Corps noted that snipers, a development of the late 19th century smokeless powder (making it more difficult to spot a sniper who had just fired the more accurate and longer range rifles), also had to use stalking and tracking skills to be effective. So the marines established small "Scout-Sniper" units, and utilized both these skills to both find the enemy, and kill them if necessary.

In Iraq, policemen and detectives, serving there in large numbers as reservists, brought their concept of "street marts" to the growing bag of tricks developed for fighting in Iraq. Being able to spot who was a bad guy, dressed as a civilian and trying to stay undetected in the population, was something urban police are good at. In many infantry units, these skills were codified, and taught to troops. The marines took this a step farther, and developed a new stalking and tracking program for all marines.

The U.S. Army Special Forces, and commando troops world-wide, have long recognized the usefulness of these skills, and now the U.S. Army is trying to incorporate more of it into their regular training. After all, it's an old American tradition.

People's Republic of Norman leaders have already made up their minds ?

People's Republic of Norman have leaders have already made up their minds ?

Will Cindy Rosenthal just say let them eat cake ?

Who care what the people want...

Norman residents
say they prefer 2-way roads
By James S. Tyree
Staff Writer

NORMAN — Norman residents and business people prefer keeping the Interstate 35 frontage roads as two-way streets, according to early survey results revealed Thursday.

With work to widen Interstate 35 in Norman scheduled to begin in January, the city council hopes to decide by early fall what changes, if any, to make with the frontage roads.

Kip Strauss of HNTB Corporation, a company hired by the city to study the frontage road issue, said results came from an online survey on the city's Web site and from postcards sent to 376 residents and businesses in the frontage road area.

The online frontage road survey will remain at www.normanok.gov through July 31. Anyone interested is invited to respond.

When asked what they liked most about Norman's frontage roads, 47 percent said that they're two-way streets and another 32 percent stated they like the easy access.

Only 12 percent said they didn't like the frontage roads, Strauss said, although public safety officials have told him the current arrangement delays their response times. [I would like to see data on this point]

Traffic safety is another concern. Strauss said Norman has had 330 collisions on or near the frontage roads from January 2004 through last month.

Published studies have shown one-way frontage roads have better traffic flow and have fewer crashes than two-way roads, although they do add travel distance. [Yes on the first point, but NOT on the second point]

"The community likes the ease and access of the two-way,” Strauss said. "There are concerns that a decision has already been made and about congestion and safety on the east/west streets (like Robinson and Main).”

Matt Bauer, of Development Strategies Inc., another company working with the city, said the frontage road decision would make little economic difference as a whole either way, though individual businesses could be affected. [Then why did OKC make 1-way streets into 2-way for economic and businesses, just a few weeks ago ?]

If the city opts for one-way roads, Bauer suggested creating "Texas turnarounds” — U-turn lanes placed right before intersections that give drivers easier access to the other opposing one-way road — and more secondary access roads. [Who are they trying to FOOL ??? Texas turnarounds work great for underpass's, BUT, IN NORMAN WE HAVE OVERPASS's !]

Shawn O'Leary, Norman public works director, said a third public meeting will be planned after city staff receives the state Transportation Department's traffic analysis. He said that study has been delayed, so the city won't make a final decision on frontage roads until September or later. [But it not on Ch 20, Funny how Mayor Cindy "them eat cake" Rosenthal shut down the people voice on Ch 20, just a few weeks ago]

[City of Norman] Questions seem vague
on one-way frontage road survey

Editor, The Transcript:

The City of Norman has posted a survey on the city Web site asking for input on the Interstate 35 frontage roads. Two of the questions on this survey suggest the city leaders have already made up their minds and want one-way frontage roads along I-35. One question asks whether drivers will accept delays crossing I-35 at Main Street or Robinson Avenue in order to maintain two-way frontage roads. The next question asks how much of a delay the driver will accept in order to maintain two-way frontage roads. As written, these questions imply that if you don't want to be delayed crossing I-35 on Robison or Main, you'd better not be in favor of two-way frontage roads.

My first concern is that these questions are vague. Is the city asking us to accept a delay greater than what we are currently experiencing? Is the city saying that after spending millions of dollars in design and construction the best they can do for us is make traffic worse?

My second concern is that this line of questioning seems to pit drivers who primarily cross I-35 at Robinson or Main against drivers who primarily use the frontage roads to travel to and from their residences and who patronize businesses on the frontage roads. Many residents and businesses along the frontage roads have been very vocal in their opposition to one-way frontage roads. Now the city is implying that if it maintains two-way frontage roads that cross-town travelers will be forced to accept increased (but unspecified) delays crossing I-35 at Robinson or Main. Is this the best we can do -- spend millions of dollars in design and construction for a zero sum game -- one group wins and the other loses? This also overlooks the fact that there aren't really two groups of drivers. Frontage road drivers often need to cross I-35 at Robinson or Main and I-35 crossers often need to drive along the frontage roads.

My third concern is that these questions make the survey unbalanced. A balanced survey would also ask questions such as, "In order to minimize delays crossing I-35 at Robinson or Main, how many extra miles are you willing to travel (and gallons of gas used) along a one-way frontage road system to get to your residence, school, retail store, favorite car dealership or restaurant?" "In order to minimize delays crossing I-35 at Robinson or Main, how many extra minutes are you willing to wait for police, fire and ambulance to respond to an emergency at your business, school or residence?"

The attributes of a redesigned I-35 frontage road system have been accurately expressed from the first city council meeting on this subject way back in late 2006: safety, accessibility, responsiveness of emergency services, orderly flow of increasing traffic volume and how the Rock Creek bridge fits into the picture. More surveys will not shed any further light on this issue. What we need is design options which include both one-way and two-way frontage roads and how each option will fulfill these attributes. While there may be some trade-offs, the "winning" design should benefit everybody -- a win/win solution. Who knows, maybe a one-way frontage road system is the best fit. Unfortunately, the current scope of the contract with HNTB to study this issue will not answer this question.

DAVE McCLURKIN Norman