Free Republic

GM already has a huge investment in China...they're currently the #1 carmaker in the PRC. Get ready for a "made in China" Chevy Tahoe, with the same sticker price, but half the labor and medical benefits costs. If GM can find a way around the "content" rules for U.S.-manufactured cars, they'll shift most of their manufacturing overseas....

Interestingly, GM benefits from long-standing hatred of the Japanese in China. A lot of Chinese remember what happened in WWII, and want nothing to do with Japanese-built products. Ditto for South Korea.

I've heard (from a somewhat reliable source), that Murtha is the target of an ethics investigation. If that's true, then his criticism of the war was just a smokescreen, an effort to build some goodwill among his liberal allies before the inquiry goes public--and allowing him to paint the investigation as a GOP "smear."

Lest we forget one of the "Marines" who helped raise the flag at Iwo Jima was actually a Navy corpsmen--John Bradley. As recounted in "Flags of Our Fathers" (written by Bradley's son), the elder Bradley won the Navy Cross on Iwo, for using his body to shield a wounded Marine. His family didn't learn of his courage--or the medal--until after John Bradley died in 1994.

In part; the idea behind a CAOC (Combined Air Operations Center) is to have a permaent, standing control node, focused on a particular geographic area, allowing us to transition to contingency operations much more quickly. We've had similar facilities for years in places like Korea, where the threat was very present and very clear; now, the concept is being expanded to include other areas of the globe. The D-M CAOC, I'm told, will focus on Central and South America. Hello, Hugo Chavez; that Global Hawk is watching you, and it's downlinking to D-M (among other locations)

Sad to say, but in today's liberal-dominated MSM, Rosenthal's photo wouldn't even garner a Pulitzer nomination, let alone win the award. In fact, his bosses at the AP would probably scold him for taking "propaganda" photos for the Marine Corps.

To their credit, Rosenthal's AP editors in World War II instantly recognized the drama and majesty of his photograph. The photo was transmitted by radio from Iwo Jima to Guam, where the AP had established a bureau. When Rosenthal's photo rolled off the printer, the senior photo editor exclaimed, "there's one for the ages." Today, a similar photo would be tossed in the trash, with an admonition to the photographer to show more "balance" between U.S. forces and their adversaries.

I vote for option #2--morons extrordinare. Reading the article, I got the impression that these "investors" never bothered to look at the properties they purchased; if that doesn't qualify for "stuck on stupid," nothing does. Also, if you're living in Section 8 housing, it's probably not a wise idea to acquire debt (equal to 20 times your annual income) in questionable real estate investments. P.T. Barnum was right. A sucker is born every minute.....

I'm not a Zoomie (USAFA grad), so I can't say how "tight" security is at night. But the cadets aren't supposed to be roaming the campus late at night, so the Mids get some kudos from me for mission planning and execution. I only hope our AFA kids can repay the favor next year. Navy better make sure the goat--both the statue and the live version.

BTW, this may be the second greatest Academy prank ever pulled. I'm still partial to the Army cadets who painted "Beat Navy" on the hull of a Navy destroyer anchored in NY harbor, the week before the Army-Navy game.

As a retired Air Force officer, I've got to hand it to the Mids--after that Spirit mission, victory in the football game was almost preordained. Something tells me the Navy exchange cadets at the "Zoo" will be on lockdown before the game next year. BTW, it's impressive how Navy has resurrected its football program; nice to have some competition for a change.

Then of course, there's Army. They lost today to that gridiron powerhouse, Central Michigan. The Black Knights of the Hudson don't exactly strike fear in the hearts of their opponents--at least on the football field.

All of your points are correct, but there is one obvious need to keep Pakistan in the fold. If you abandon Pakistan, you run the risk of letting the country fall into the hands of the Islamists. When that happens, you've got a Taliban-style government in a country of 100 million people, armed with nuclear weapons and medium-range delivery systems--with the capability to field a crude ICBM within a decade. If we ever win the War on Terror, we might be able to tilt in favor of India. Until then, we have to keep Islamabad out of the hands of the Islamists, and keep Pakistan engaged in fighting the terrorists.

I think this proposal reflects panic on the part of Airbus. Orders for the A380 have been relatively flat in recent months, while Boeing has secured a number of options and purchase orders for the Dreamliner/787.

Here's something else to think about: how will development/production of the A350 affect A380 production? Despite huge government subsidies, Airbus--like any aircraft producer--has limited production capabilities for airframes, subsystems and components. The rush to get the A350 in service may result in decreased ouput for the A380, which may turn out to be something of a flop.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) is both technically and tactically advanced; they operate some of the most sophisticated aircraft in the world, including the Sukhoi SU-30MKI which even the Russians don't have. And, they know how to employ their aircraft in a highly effective manner, as we discovered during the COPE INDIA exercise last year--although, in fairness, we imposed some Rules of Engagement (ROE) restrictions that put us at a severe disadvantage.

Bottom line: the Indians want advanced fighters, not recycled third-generation jets like the F-4 and F-5. India's potential purchase of U.S. military jets raises several interesting questions. First of all, In dia has spent millions of dollars upgrading its MiG-21s, giving them advanced avionics and a beyond-visual-range (BVR) missile capability. New Delhi's attempts to buy U.S. jets may indicate some dissatisfaction with the upgrade program.

Secondly, the U.S. will have to maintain a delicate balancing act with Pakistan to push this deal through. Islamabad has done much to support the war on terror, and (as one carrot) we finally released a squadron of F-16s that Pakistan had paid for more than 10 years ago. To sell F-15s or F-18s to New Delhi, we might have to make a similar offer to Pakistan, and probably finance the purchase to boot.

Here's something else to think about: those Wal-Mart managers, mostly hired from within, aren't making $9.68 an hour. The manager of a Supercenter, supervising a staff of 400-600 employees, can earn $200,000 a year, including bonuses. I know one veteran Wal-Mart manager, 30 years with the company (and only a high school education). His annual bonus is well into the five figures. The libs bellow about Wal-Mart's CEO earning $30 million a year. Fact is, there are thousands of Wal-Mart managers earning six-figure salaries each year, and most of them began as hourly employees. In fact, MBAs are rare within the company, and one of Wal-Mart's best managers, the head of their Asia division, barely graduated from high school.

But even the hourly workers at Wal-Mart fare better than this article suggests. I also know an hourly Wal-Mart worker, who worked for the company for 25 years--she never rose above the rank of department manager. But she put part of her paycheck into Wal-Mart stock, and accumulated a nest egg of more than $250,000. And remember: they're called "entry level" jobs for a reason. People that want to move up in Wal-Mart--and prove themselves--can do just that. Funny, but I never hear similar stories about Costco.

Wal-Mart has bettered the lives of thousands of Americans, and continues to provide opportunties for people that want to work hard and advance. And this isn't "good" for the economy?

The word is getting out only because of the blogosphere, talk radio, the Oklahoma City media and forums like Free Republic. Predictably, the MSM is virtually ignoring this story, despite the revelations about his Islamic ties, his attempts to buy fertilizer, the "takeover" of the investigation by the FBI's joint terrorism task force, and today's sealing of the search warrant.

BTW, does anyone know if that report--from a Colorado Springs TV (KKTV) station--is accurate. According to a previous post, KKTV reported that the bomber was wearing a remotedly controlled explosive device at the time of his death.

The word is getting out only because of the blogosphere, talk radio, the Oklahoma City media and forums like Free Republic. Predictably, the MSM is virtually ignoring this story, despite the revelations about his Islamic ties, his attempts to buy fertilizer, the "takeover" of the investigation by the FBI's joint terrorism task force, and today's sealing of the search warrant.

BTW, does anyone know if that report--from a Colorado Springs TV (KKTV) station--is accurate. According to a previous post, KKTV reported that the bomber was wearing a remotedly controlled explosive device at the time of his death.

WWII ace Richard Bong did you one better...fresh out of P-38 training and bored with his stateside assignment, he did a loop around the Golden Gate in his "Lightning." The Army Air Corps tried to court-martial him, but his commanding general decided that Bong needed to be in combat. He went on to shoot down 40 Japanese planes in the Southwest Pacific and won the Medal of Honor.

This is a response to Infinity Broadcasting's recent decision to pull oldies from WMJK-FM in Chicago, just as they did from WCBS-FM in New York. In both cities, the oldies formats were dumped in favor of something called Jack FM, a DJ-less format that includes everything from Tony Bennett to the Beastie Boys.

The Jack format is supposed to attract more young male listeners, but in NY, ratings have plunged more than 50% in less than three months.

If ABC is smart, they'll hire some of the jocks from WMJK, including the legendary (and ageless) Dick Biondi, the "Eye-tallion Stallion" who was part of the original crew at WMJK. WZZN, BTW, has never done much in any format, so the shift to oldies makes sense. And finally, the Jack disaster in Chicago and NY proves that a lot of radio executives know nothing about their business...

Follow the money on this one; in addition to his gig at Fox, Cowan also owns a private security firm. He's on the Gulf Coast in hopes of landing a government contract to assist in the search and rescue and security ops. I'm guessing that someone from the military or FEMA told Cowan thanks, but no thanks.

FEMA and DOD are far from perfect; but rest assured, the people who need to be on duty are at their desks this weekend--I've spoken to more than a few of them.

Dean was an internal medicine specialist. I say "was" because he hasn't practiced in more than a decade. Details of Dean's medical career have always been sketchy; I've heard rumors that he might have lost a couple of high-dollar malpractice suits, and that helped convince him to give up medicine.

By comparison, Bill Frist was one of the nation's preeminent heart surgeons before entering politics; and he graduated at the top of his class from Harvard Medical School.

This is not surprising; the Dims who've run Louisiana and N.O. for decades are getting a pass, while President Bush is being blamed for the debacle.

I'm guessing the CNN report failed to mention that roughly 1/4 to 1/3 of the NOPD have been AWOL since the passing of the storm, despite department orders that all officers be on duty during and after the hurricane. Or, that some of New Orleans's finest were photographed looting downtown stores in the aftermath of the storm. To be sure, many police officers remained on the job and performed heroically. But the fact remains: the NOPD essentially collapsed after the hurricane, and never mounted a viable effort to restore order and security.

The degree of order now restored in N.O. is a testament to the National Guard and active duty military M.P. units now in the city. BTW, the city's police chief and mayor should simply shut up and let the professionals handle things. The "mayor" of the Big Easy is now an Army 3-star general at Camp Shelby, MS (running JTF Katrina) and the police chief is the senior provost marshal officer inside the city limits. They're getting the job done--something Nagin, Blanco and their cronies wouldn't even attempt.

Some law enforcement officials have stated that some people deliberately stayed behind for a chance to loot if the opportunity arose. It did, and of course, they did. The same thing happened during the LA riots in the 1990s; the LAPD predicted it before the jury acquitted those white cops in the Rodney King case. A similar prediction could have been made in N.O. But anyone making that prediction would have been labeled a racist. Now, four days into the looting, few Louisiana politicians seem to be willing to refer to the looters as criminals...