CDR Salamander

In pursuit of this vision, AI’s mission is to undertake research and action focused on preventing and ending grave abuses of the rights to physical and mental integrity, freedom of conscience and expression, and freedom from discrimination, within the context of its work to promote all human rights.

AI is independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion. It does not support or oppose any government or political system, nor does it support or oppose the views of the victims whose rights it seeks to protect. It is concerned solely with the impartial protection of human rights.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 14:12

"Son, didn't your Daddy ever tell you to get a haircut!?! What in the he11 is this? Highlights!?!?"

"Boy, you do that again and I am going to shove that sign....."

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 11:27

The European Union's highest court on Tuesday overturned an agreement
that provides Washington with personal data on air passengers flying to the United States from Europe.

The decision did not address privacy issues, but it forces the two sides back to negotiations at a time when privacy safeguards are increasingly being debated.

The European Court of Justice gave the European Commission four months to formulate a new agreement with the United States. Until then, current procedures remain in effect. ... The 2004 agreement, which took 18 months to negotiate...

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 11:24

A former Marine used a pocket knife to fend off a group of would-be robbers, killing one and wounding another, police said.

Thomas Autry, who authorities said will not be charged, had been walking home from his job waiting tables Monday night when four people got out of a car and chased him, Atlanta police detective Danny Stephens said.

One of the attackers had a shotgun and another had a pistol, Stephens said.

The suspects caught up with Autry, who yelled for help and pulled a knife out of his backpack. He kicked the shotgun out of one of the attacker's hands and stabbed both a 17-year-old girl who jumped on him and a man who also attacked him.

The suspects fled in their car but police found them later at a hospital where the girl was pronounced dead. The man stabbed in the incident was in critical condition, Stephens said.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 11:19

A tail section from an F-14 Tomcat discovered on a beach in Ireland came from an Oceana-based plane that crashed 3½ years ago off Key West, Fla., the Navy confirmed Tuesday.

How it got at least 4,900 miles away, no one knows for certain.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:30

After being cooped up for months in giant rolling tin cans in the Persian Gulf, the sailors dock on the West Side piers of Manhattan and stay for a few days. New Yorkers see them move about in groups or in pairs, their crisp summer whites against the gray of the asphalt.
...
Once it was strip clubs and bars and tattoo parlors and girls. And while there still may be some of that, sailors who sauntered around Midtown on Memorial Day gave some surprising answers when asked how they experience New York City in the two or three short days they are here.
They mentioned frozen cappuccinos, and Off Broadway, and the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, and architecture — specifically, terra cotta facades.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 14:41

The Air Force chief of staff will name the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter by June 30, choosing from six monikers that range from the historic to the arcane, military and industry officials say.
...
The Black Mamba is one of the longest venomous snakes in the world and one of Africa's most feared. Col. Jaap Reijling, air attaché for the Embassy of the Netherlands in Washington, said his country proposed Black Mamba because the snake and the F-35 have much in common.

Among their shared features, according to a statement from the Dutch F-35 office: "Both can target a prey without being discovered. Both are very fast and lethal but not aggressive by nature."

"I think that is a definite Dutch feature: 'fast and lethal but not aggressive by nature,' " Col. Reijling said with a laugh.
...
The Air Force and Navy both proposed Lightning II, while the Marine Corps advocated Spitfire II, said a U.S. officer familiar with the deliberations.
The Air Force also submitted finalists Cyclone and Reaper, this officer said.
The finalists also include two more curious suggestions – Black Mamba and Piasa.
...
Britain proposed Fury, a favorite of many Lockheed and military officials but a name that risked a trademark conflict with the Plymouth Fury auto, this officer said.
Other rejects and the countries or services that offered them include Phantom, Australia; Scorpion, Canada and the Marine Corps; Mustang, Marine Corps; and Skyruler, Turkey.

However they managed to become finalists, Black Mamba and Piasa appear to have little chance of passing Gen. Moseley's muster.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 14:19

It is not only the weather that is bad. The herring is not ready either. For the Dutch who have been waiting for the official opening of the herring season, normally starting today, the news is not good. The season will have to be postponed for two weeks. The herring is not fat enough. Apparently the herring has started to eat later than normal. This is linked with the cold weather in the spring. Small herrings cannot be sold but will count as part of the quota.

This is the first time in history that the auction cannot proceed on the planned date.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 13:55

We are at the outset of a long war, and not just in Iraq. Yet it is being led politically by the short-sighted, from both sides of the aisle. The deterioration of American support for the mission in Iraq is indicative not so much of our military conduct there, where real gains are coming slowly but steadily, but of chaotic leadership.

Somehow Operation Iraqi Freedom, not a large war by America's historical standards, has blossomed into a crisis of expectations that threatens our ability to react to future threats with a fist instead of five fingers. Instead of rallying we are squabbling, even as the slow fuse burns.

One party is overly sanguine, unwilling to acknowledge its errors. The other is overly maudlin, unable to forgive the same. The Bush administration seeks to insulate the public from the reality of war, placing its burden on the few. The press has tried to fill that gap by exposing the raw brutality of the insurgency; but it has often done so without context, leaving a clear implication that we can never win.

If we can put 2003's debates behind us, there is a swath of common ground on which to focus. Both Republicans and Democrats agree we cannot lose Iraq. The general insurgency in Iraq imperils our national interest and the hardcore insurgents are our mortal enemies. Talking of troop reductions is to lose sight of the goal.

Second, America's conscience is one of its greatest strengths. But self-flagellation, especially in the early stages of a war against an enemy whose worldview is uncompromising, is absolutely hazardous. Three years gone and Iraq's most famous soldiers are Jessica Lynch and Lynndie England, a victim and a criminal, respectively. Abu Ghraib remains the most famous battle of the war.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:43

When the motorcades and military escorts ended in January 2001, his final financial disclosure form listed tens of thousands of dollars of charge-account debts at interest rates as high as about 25 percent.

Within weeks of leaving office, he was living in a $3.5 million McLean mansion with a swimming pool, a cabana and a carriage house.

Cohen's career had entered a classic final phase: the monetizing of the public man.

In December 2000, shortly before Cohen left office, the Pentagon awarded Iridium Satellite LLC a $72 million contract , without competitive bidding, that helped save the company's communications satellites from destruction. David R. Oliver Jr., who was a senior procurement official at the time, said that he and Cohen were the Pentagon's principal advocates for the Iridium deal.

Over the past two years, Iridium has paid the Cohen Group about $400,000 to lobby the House, Senate and Department of Defense, according to lobbying disclosure statements.

"Several months after Secretary Cohen left office, The Cohen Group was contacted by the Chairman of Iridium to assist with marketing to several government agencies including DoD, as well as foreign governments," Tyrer said in writing. "Obviously, we had no such discussions while in office."

...charge-account debts of $65,005 to $180,000. ... Despite the financial strain, Cohen said that during his final year in office he and his wife were working on blueprints to build a house in the Woodlea Mill section of McLean. ... Cohen said he called Frank G. Zarb, who then was chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market, after hearing that Zarb was preparing to sell a house in Woodlea Mill. Instead of putting the house on the market, Cohen said, Zarb sold it to Michael S. Ansari, chairman and chief executive of defense contractor M.I.C. Industries Inc.

Ansari and his wife paid $3.5 million for the house in October 2000, according to land records. The Cohens moved in during January or February of 2001, Cohen said. ... A real estate broker who worked with Zarb, Caroline Rocco, said that as far as she could tell, "it was the Cohens who wanted the house, and how they went about, you know, buying it is their business."

The Cohens did buy the house eventually, paying $3.6 million for it in April 2002, according to land records. ... Ansari, who canceled an interview scheduled for this report, sent a written statement saying the property "was of longstanding interest to me."

"When I learned that it might be put on the market, I acquired it as a sound investment and paid the seller's price of $3.5 million," Ansari said. (18 months and you only made 1.1% in one of the hotest markets in the country?) ... The arrangement with Ansari prevented the McLean house from slipping away, and it made it possible for Cohen to live in the house before he had the means to buy it. It also spared Cohen a potential bidding war for the property. ... Cohen went on to join the board and audit committee of the Nasdaq Stock Market, and, in a January 2001 news release, 11 days after Cohen left office, M.I.C. announced Cohen's appointment as chairman of its board of advisers.

- Cohen is SECDEF and ends his tour deep in high interest credit card debt.
- He wants a house that he cannot afford that belongs to the Chairman of NASDAQ (Zarb) – an exchange that has A LOT of Defense Contractors on it.
- Defense contractor (Ansari) buys house from Zarb for $3.5 million and holds it, unoccupied, for 3 months until Cohen leaves office. Cohen rents the house and goes to work for Ansari less than two weeks after he leaves office.
- Cohen also starts to work (in parallel) for the original owner of the house, Zarb.
- Cohen buys house ($3.6 million) 18 months later from Ansari for only ~2.9% ROI and a rate of return of 1.9% for Ansari. In McLean VA.
- Cohen sells house ($4.0 million) 14 months later for ~11.1% ROI and a rate of return of 9.8%. Use this calc if you want.

Labels: Food Trough

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:22

Five hundred police officers are carrying out anti-terrorist operations across England.

The raids, which began in five police force areas at 0300 BST, are targeting people suspected of plotting terrorism attacks abroad.

Nine arrests have so far been made in raids - one person has since been released and eight remain in custody.

The Dutch parliament approved new anti-terrorism measures Tuesday that make it easier to arrest suspects without strong evidence and hold them longer without charge.

Prosecutors will be able to approve surveillance, infiltration or wiretapping of suspects even when there is not "reasonable suspicion" that a suspect may have committed a criminal act.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:08

The first wild bear seen in Germany since 1835 is believed to have left the country after authorities ordered it shot or captured, an official said Tuesday.

The brown bear was first spotted in the southern state of Bavaria over the weekend. Officials decided Monday that it had to be stopped after it killed seven sheep and raided a chicken coop.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:04

---

May 11, 2006


Vice Admiral Rodney Rempt, USN
Superintendent
United States Naval Academy
Annapolis, MD 21412

Re: Double Standards at the United States Naval Academy

Dear Admiral Rempt:

I am writing to protest what is clearly an official recognition of gender-based double standards at the United States Naval Academy. As you know, I am pending charges for “sexual harassment” due to comments I made off-duty while on liberty to Midshipman Sxxxx Fxxxx. As you are also aware, Midn. Fxxxx did not believe she had been sexually harassed and did not intend to make such a report. The incident was blown out of proportion by LCDR Whisenhunt in a self-serving effort to punish me because of our significant and obvious disagreements concerning the safe operations of YP-686 during summer training last year.

While I am pending charges, I have learned that similarly off-color, wholly inappropriate remarks were made at the May 9, 2006 NAAA Spring Sports Wrap Up Dinner and Team Presentations held at Smoke Hall and attended by the Deputy Commandant of Midshipmen, Academic Dean, Dean of Admissions, Athletic Director, Team Officer Representatives, coaches, and midshipmen athletes of both genders. I report the following, which may be verified by questioning the attendees, some of whom were offended and reported their concerns about the obvious double standards to me and others.

ITEM 1:

A female midshipmen from the track team was being introduced by her female coach. She is a hammer thrower and the coach explained that the hammer is a steel ball suspended by a chain connected to a handle for throwing. The coach said the female midshipmen hammer thrower is a tough competitor and is known by the motto “Only real women can handle steel balls.”

This is obviously a sexually-motivated double entendre intended to refer to the male reproductive organs and the female hammer thrower’s strength and power. Some persons in the audience were embarrassed by the comment because it was so clearly inappropriate for an “official” ceremony. Most of the persons present were well-aware of the hypocrisy of sending me to a court-martial while the senior Naval Academy staff sat by and permitted such inappropriate commentary to take place in an officially sanctioned event.

ITEM 2:

A female midshipmen of the swimming team was summing up the undefeated season and directed the following to the athletic director, “Mr. Gxxxxx, we are still waiting for the steak dinner you promised the team if they went undefeated.” He chuckled and motioned for her to come closer so he could say something to her. The Master of Ceremonies then went to the podium and said something to the effect of “He meant to say tube steak.”

The slang reference to male genitalia was offensive, yet no prompt corrective action was taken at the time or thereafter for what was utterly offensive and equally inappropriate as anything I might have said in a private setting in mixed company. Failure to take appropriate action at the time was an apparent official sanction of the inappropriate comments and behavior. I am writing this letter to inform you, as a member of your command with a responsibility to do so pursuant to U.S. Navy Regulations, that I believe misconduct occurred and that your subordinates are engaging in hypocrisy and double standards with regard to handling female midshipmen. I cannot any longer remain mute because other officers now feel, like I do, that they cannot trust the Naval Academy chain of command to deal fairly and equally where female misconduct is involved and that any transgressions by males are handled disproportionately to the magnitude of the offense due to the politics and scrutiny you have been subjected to by outside sources. In addition, I am providing this letter to the Navy Inspector General, to ensure that my official complaint is a matter of record within the Department of the Navy.

Very Respectfully,

BRYAN BLACK
LT, USN
__________________________________________________________________
May 16, 2006

Vice Admiral Rodney Rempt, USN
Superintendent
United States Naval Academy
Annapolis, MD 21412

Re: Double Standards at the United States Naval Academy

Dear Admiral Rempt:

I am writing as a Naval Academy graduate with some considerable personal investment in the reputation of the United States Naval Academy. As a graduate and a former active duty military officer, I take seriously the Honor Concept and the importance of honor and integrity to the officer corps and the Naval service.

Imagine my surprise to learn that the Naval Academy has ignored flagrant violations of Naval Academy regulations and the Honor Concept in matters relating to the alleged rape of Midshipman *** by Midshipman Lamar Owens. Apparently, in testimony provided at the Article 32 hearing, a female midshipman varsity athlete who is “best friends” with Midshipman ***, Midshipman Betsy Burnett, admitted to repeated and serial violations of both State law and midshipman regulations by engaging in underage drinking alone and with Midshipman ***. Apparently, although Midshipman Burnett is not an alleged “victim” of any sexual assault or sexual harassment, her serial violations have gone unpunished.

What is much more serious from an Honor and integrity stand-point is Midshipman Burnett’s admission at the Owens Article 32 hearing that she lied to Midshipman *** by falsely telling her that Midshipman Owens had admitted to raping midshipman ***, a lie that Midshipman Burnett knew was false when she made it. Moreover, Midshipman Burnett apparently made a sworn statement to NCIS in which she repeated the lie, under oath to criminal investigators. At the Article 32 hearing, Midshipman Burnett admitted to these lies. I have checked with Academy sources and have determined that Midshipman Burnett has not been reported nor processed for an Honor violation despite these flagrant lies, including a lie under oath in a criminal investigation.

Whether the decision not to take disciplinary action against Ms. Burnett was made on account of her sex or her status as a star varsity athlete, the double standard is breathtakingly unacceptable and indicative of a complete absence of fair and unbiased leadership at the Naval Academy. I don’t know the name of the last male midshipman to be separated from the Naval Academy and forced to repay the cost of his $100,000 education by reason of an Honor violation, however, whoever that male midshipman is, I am certain that he did not engage in the serious and repeated lies, including those made to NCIS that affected their investigation, that Midshipman Burnett admitted to under oath at the Article 32 hearing in Midshipman Owens’ case. I fear that until there is a leadership change at my alma mater enlisting leaders who are committed to just and unbiased treatment of like offenders, the Naval Academy will continue to reap the negative headlines, inconsistent character in its graduates, and rampant criticism both by its alumni as well as the public.

I do not expect that you will take any action because of my letter. I long ago disabused myself of the notion that effective leaders were in charge at USNA, however, you need to know that there are a significant Alumni membership who are aware of the deficient leadership at the Naval Academy and find it unacceptable.

Charles W. Gittins

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 13:51

On the ground in San Jose, Army recruiter Sgt. Brian Ditzler recently fashioned a theory behind the numbers. Ditzler, who was raised by his mother in Corozal, Puerto Rico, and speaks fluent Spanish, staffed a booth during the city's Cinco de Mayo festival. He said of the 22 recruits he enlisted last year, 15 were Latino.
"The remarkable thing that is consistent with Latinos is the sense of pride," Ditzler said. "More than any other group, they have a deep sense of pride about serving for this country."

By comparison, Ditzler observed that his Asian American enlistees were more interested in job-training skills, while African Americans spoke of college tuition as the trade-off. Whites, the recruiter observed, were most intrigued by the "sense of adventure" the Army provided.

"So, knowing that Latinos were focused more on pride," Ditzler added, "that's the thing I'm going to show them: how they can make themselves and their families proud."
For more empirical evidence, researchers such as Asch are just now beginning to examine the results from field studies. Already consistent with Ditzler's observations, Asch said recent post-enlistment surveys indicate Latinos noted "patriotism" and "service to country" as the top two reasons for joining, as well as "duty" and "honor."

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:45

And as a result of going through that process, several facilities have been closed in the Southern California area: El Toro and Tustin and other (bases). At the same time, we're in a process where we are seeing from a strategic perspective more and more need to support and provide capability in the Pacific region. And that was one of the conclusions out of the QDR, the Quadrennial Defense Review. I think basically we're kind of about as tight as we could ever imagine given both the current and projected needs.

What do you mean by tight?

In terms of capacity. We're down to a minimal capacity relative to both the operational and training needs that we have now.
......

The idea being looked at with Miramar is to have separate runways so that the aircraft you're talking about wouldn't be using the same runways as civilian aircraft. And separate air spaces?

Obviously not flying into the same air space. They'd both be in the same air space. I have seen no way presented that deconflicts the air space to an extent that anybody in the Navy aviation community is comfortable with.

One of the options being looked at is potentially moving the carrier landing practice away from Miramar to either a new runway that the airport authority would build at Camp Pendleton or to Yuma. Where at Camp Pendleton?

They've identified a site on the base where a single runway could be built that's not subject to flooding like the current runway is there. And so the idea is that in the middle of artillery ranges and live fire exercises at Camp Pendleton we'll be running additional aircraft.

No, that's not the idea. The idea is shared space. You've got tens of thousands of acres at Pendleton and at Miramar, and the idea is to share that space sensibly.

And I guess what I'm trying to make clear, and I'll just restate my position here. We had a lot more space. We have had a lot of that space taken away from us. We are in the middle of a war. We are using the hell out of Pendleton, out of Twentynine Palms. We've got Marines that are preparing – I was out at Pendleton, I was out at Twentynine Palms earlier this week – a group of Marines out there that are preparing in three weeks to go out into the theater (Iraq). You know something? Some of them are not going to come back.

Is that relevant to the airport debate?

I think it is.

Explain the connection.

I think the connection is that we are in a land war. We are trying to provide for the defense of the nation. And we are utilizing our facilities very extensively. And we recognize the need to be able to provide the maximum possible training experience for the people that we are putting in harm's way.

And do you think the airport authority is going to come forward with a proposal that will undermine the training and readiness of the troops?

All of the suggestions that you have made here this morning have all gone in the direction which would take significant facilities and significant flexibility away from the Navy and Marine Corps, too.

I don't know, do you?
...
We did not ask him to do that. Congressman Hunter is fully capable of taking his own lead in such matters.
...
They have outlined a number of concepts and we have evaluated those and found them to be wanting.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 17:20

1. Special Forces Combat Patch (Wrong)
2. Two "Tabs" sewn above SF patch (Wrong- Only One)
3. No Ranger Tab
4. No Airborne Wings
5. No Unit Crest
6. No Sewn on Rank
7. No One in the Army rolls their sleeves like that.
Bonus: 8. Mustache is out of regulation by extending past the corner of the mouth.

Labels: Stolen Valor

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 16:50

The Carter-Baker commission issued 87 recommendations to improve the functioning of election systems. One called for a national requirement that electronic voting machines include a paper trail that would allow people to check their votes, while another would have states establish uniform procedures for counting provisional ballots.

But the biggest surprise was that 18 of 21 commissioners backed a requirement that voters show some form of photo identification. They argued that with Congress passing the Real ID Act to standardize security protections for drivers' licenses in all 50 states, the time had come to standardize voter ID requirements. Former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle joined two other commissioners in complaining that the ID requirements would be akin to a Jim Crow-era "poll tax" and would restrict voting among the poor or elderly who might lack such an ID.

Mr. Daschle's racially charged analogy is preposterous. Almost everyone needs photo ID in today's modern world. Andrew Young, the former Atlanta mayor and U.N. ambassador, believes that in an era when people have to show ID to rent a video or cash a check, "requiring ID can help poor people" who otherwise might be even more marginalized by not having one.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 07:24

A number of issues arise. Why is Henry Stimson (“Gentlemen do not read each other's mail”) still Secretary of War? After the debacles at Pearl Harbor, the Philippines tragedy, the Kasserine Pass disaster, the unforeseen bocage in Normandy, the Falaise Gap escape, the Anzio mess, the fatal detour to Rome, the surprise at the Bulge, the bloodbath at Tarawa, and now the Iwo Jima and Okinawa nightmares, is not five years of his incompetence and arrogance enough? A number of our retired generals seems to agree, who have recently bravely come forward to remind us that Sec. Stimson long ago tried to dismantle key elements of our intelligence services, attempted to curtail the operational command of our Army Air Corps generals in conducting bombings of Europe, and has on more than one occasion intervened to remove targets from Gen. LeMay’s campaign over Japan.

As we see thousands of Americans dying and our enemies still in power after four years of war, it is also legitimate to question the stewardship of Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Marshall. The Sherman tank tragedy, the daylight bombing fiasco, the absence of even minimally suitable anti-tank weapons and torpedoes—all these lapses came on his watch, and the man at the top must take full responsibility for mistakes that have now cost thousands of American lives. Indeed, it is not just that America has worse tanks and guns than our German enemies, but they are inferior even to the rockets and armor of our Soviet allies. The recent publication of “The Sherman Tank Scandal” follows other revelations published in “Asleep at the Philippines,” “The Flight of Gen. MacArthur,” “Gen. Patton and the Atrocities on Sicily,” “Do Americans Execute POWs?” “Torture on Guadalcanal,” “Incinerating Women and Children?” and “Civilian Massacres in Germany”—publications in their totality that suggest a military out of control as often as it is incompetent.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 07:18

OK, follow this closely. Over in Britain, a lawsuit has been going on, Apple Corps Ltd. (the music company started by the Beatles back in 1968) suing Apple Computer Inc., claiming that the U.S.-based computer company has broken a 1991 agreement in which each agreed not to enter into the other's field of business. Apple Corps argues that Apple Computer has infringed its territory by entering the music business. They want the courts to make Apple Computer to drop the apple logo from the iTunes Music Store and pay unspecified damages.

With me so far? Well, BBC TV wanted a talking head to come and give an opinion about the case, so they invited British blogger and journalist Guy Kewney, an expert on Internet music downloads. Guy duly showed up at the studio and sat in a reception area, waiting to be called to go on air. When the call came, though, there was a mix-up in the reception area. The minion sent to get Mr. Kewney got Mr. Kewney's taxi driver instead.

The taxi driver, who didn't know what was going on, was sat down in the studio, had a mike pinned to his jacket, and was then interviewed. He coped quite well.

The cab driver is now, of course, a media star. He may never have to work again.

"I was very shocked. I just thought, 'Keep going'," said Mr Goma, a university graduate from Congo. He said he was "still waiting for the result" of his interview to become an IT assistant.

Unfortunately, News 24 presenters Simon McCoy and Carrie Gracie appeared about as sure of themselves today as Bowerman had last week.

"Is there anyone else you would like to impersonate?" asked Gracie. Misunderstanding the question, Mr Goma replied: "Yes, I really want to work at the BBC."

And when Mr Goma mumbled a reply to McCoy's query whether "EU membership for Bulgaria and Romania is a good thing," Gracie asked: "Do you have an opinion on everything?" Mr Goma, understandably, was lost for words a second time.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 14:55

A Naval Academy instructor set to stand trial on allegations of sexual harassment has filed an equal opportunity complaint with the Navy, citing "gender-based double standards" in how the school handles such claims.

Lt. Bryan Black, who is accused of using crude and sexually explicit language in front of a mixed group of midshipmen last summer, wrote a detailed account of "off color, wholly inappropriate remarks" made from the lectern at an athletic association dinner May 9.

The letter states that the dinner was attended by several high-ranking academy officials, including the deputy commandant of midshipmen.

The claim, filed two days later, says an unidentified female track coach introduced a female hammer thrower by explaining that the hammer is a steel ball connected by chain to a handle. She then said, according to the letter: "Only real women can handle steel balls."

Later at the event, a Navy swimmer asked Athletic Director Chet Gladchuck if he would buy the steak dinner he promised the team if it went undefeated during the season. The master of ceremonies at the event, whom the letter did not identify, then made a joke using a vulgar term for the male sex organ.

"The slang reference to male genitalia was offensive, yet no prompt corrective action was taken at the time or thereafter for what was utterly offensive and equally inappropriate as anything I might have said in a private setting in mixed company," Black wrote in the letter.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 11:03

“This HBO production is reality television with a vengeance – warfare as it really is.”

The movie is neither pro-war nor anti-war. It is simply a searing record of the ferocious toll that combat takes on real human beings.”

..they watched, -- and taped --, the heroic struggle of doctors, nurses and other medical personnel to salvage as many lives as possible from what amounted to a non-stop conveyor belt of bloodies, broken and burned G.I.’s.

..you just knew that every single day that door was going to open up, that the helicopter was going to land, and they were just ging to bring in something that looked like hamburger instead of a human being.

Above all else, war is about the suffering of individuals. The suffering is endured mostly by the young, and these days the government and the media are careful to keep the worst of it out o f the sight of the average American. That was we can worry in peach about the cost of the gasoline we need to get us to the mall.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 07:06

Court-martial dates have been set for a pair of U.S. Naval Academy football players charged by the military with sexual assault.

A trial will begin July 10 for Lamar S. Owens Jr., a senior and last season's starting quarterback for the Navy football team, who is accused of raping a junior classmate in her dorm in January. The general court-martial is expected to last several days, academy officials said yesterday.

A second football player, senior linebacker Kenny Ray Morrison, will face a special court-martial July 24 on indecent assault and other charges, officials said. He is accused of taking advantage of a drunken female midshipman and exposing himself to other midshipmen and civilians during a Feb. 4 incident at the Embassy Suites hotel in the District.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 07:14

As hundreds of veterans looked on solemnly, the Navy blew holes in a retired aircraft carrier and sent the 888-foot USS Oriskany to the bottom of the sea Wednesday, creating the world's largest manmade reef.

The rusted hulk took 37 minutes to slip beneath the waves, about 4 1/2 hours faster than predicted, after more than 500 pounds of plastic explosives went off with bright flashes of light and clouds of brown and gray smoke.

Korean and Vietnam War veterans aboard a flotilla of 300 charter boats watched from beyond a one-mile safety perimeter as the "Mighty O" went down in 212 feet of water, about 24 miles off Pensacola Beach.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:56

That transition from becoming a member of a clan to becoming a citizen in an open society is what public service has come to mean for me. Only clear thinking and strong action can lead to real change, and free many people within our society from the mental cage of submission. The idea that I can contribute to their freedom, whether in the Netherlands or in another country, gives me deep satisfaction.

Ladies and Gentlemen, as of today, I resign from Parliament. I regret that I will be leaving the Netherlands, the country which has given me so many opportunities and enriched my life, but I am glad that I will be able to continue my work. I will go on.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:40

Metro:
I'm alone
sitting with my empty glass
my four walls
follow me through my past
I was on a Paris train
I emerged in London rain
and you were waiting there
swimming through apologies

I remember searching for the perfect words
I was hoping you might change your mind
I remember a soldier sleeping next to me (not in that way...)
riding on the Metro

You wore white
smiling as you took my hand
so removed
we spoke of wintertime in France
minutes passed with shallow words
years have passed and still the hurt
I can see you now
smiling as I pulled away

I remember the letter wrinkled in my hand
"I'll love you always" filled my eyes
I remember a night we walked along the Seine
riding on the Metro

I remember a feeling coming over me
the soldier turned, then looked away
I remember hating you for loving me
riding on the Metro

I'm alone
sitting with my BROKEN glass
my four walls
follow me through my past
I was on a Paris train
I emerged in London rain
and you were waiting there
swimming through apologies(sorry)

I remember searching for the perfect words
I was hoping you might change your mind
I remember a soldier sleeping next to me (not in that way...)
riding on the Metro

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 15:05

A shortage of minority generals -- 62 out of 884 in the four combat branches -- is a fact that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld readily acknowledges and insists he's trying to remedy.

Both the Pentagon and Hawkins see minority officers as fundamental to the military's success. ... "It's because of the wealth of intellectual capital that's gained," Hawkins said. "Everybody who doesn't look the same doesn't think the same, so you need the wealth of that diversity that comes from having minorities of all races, ethnicities and gender."

“Everybody who doesn’t look the same doesn’t think the same,..”

Right now, according to Shavers, the Pentagon is hoping to increase diversity two ways: by recruiting more promising minority students to become officers...

..and by helping guide the careers of newly commissioned minority officers. ... "I didn't really even think or believe in that and focus in on that until I was already a colonel selectee," he said. "And so that's why I'm telling you there were some blessings and people in my path that made this possible because, in all honesty, it could have just passed me by, and I'd have never known any difference."

Hawkins commissions about 80 percent of the officers entering the Air Force, so he knows first-hand how stiff the competition is for talented minority candidates.
"I see it all the time in this job, when I've got a corporation telling a minority individual that they will pay for all of their college and give them X number of thousands of dollars just to come into their company," he said.

• Mixed race officers. Why do they have to choose what side of the family they want to call themselves? If they don’t, who “classifies” them?

• Why should the military give special attention to the son/daughter born in 1988 to a black lawyer and black doctor over the son/daughter born in 1988 in Bosnia who came over here at 7 yrs with nothing but the clothes on his back? Just on melanin content? Is that it?
• Does a 6’2” blond haired, blue-eyed officer with the last name Gonzelez qualify as a Hispanic to him?
• Does a dark skinned, brown haired, brown eyed female names O’Neil whose father was half Italian-Columbian / half Andean Indian, and whose mother was of mixed European bloodlines qualify as American Indian, Hispanic, or Caucasian? What? Who decides? Who verifies? What if sitting next to her is a person with lighter skin and blue eyes call himself “African-American.” Who decides, who verifies, who makes the call? The right answer should be “who cares,” but not since the Eugenics Movement of the early 20th Century and the Third Reich have we see people so concerned about race.
• Why in 2006 should we allow serving 2-Star Admirals to push “select lists” to board members, and that list consist of people only of the same ethnic group of the Admiral?
• Where in all of recorded history has a culture or nation survived where it has all owed/endorsed a multi-ethnic/multicultural Balkanization of its people?

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 08:01

The percentage of work visas that would go to the highly educated or highly skilled would be cut in half to about 30 percent. The percentage of work visas that go to unskilled laborers would more than triple. In hard numbers for those categories, the highest skilled workers would be granted 135,000 visas annually, while the unskilled would be granted 150,000 annually.

As we focus on what to do about illegal immigration, it's easy to lose sight of the issue of how much, and what type of, legal immigration we should permit. Robert Rector at the Heritage Foundation puts that issue into sharp relief. He estimates that the Senate immigration reform proposal sponsored by Senators Hagel and Martinez would allow an estimated 103 million persons to legally immigrate to the U.S. over the next 20 years -- fully one-third of the current population of the United States.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 13:12

Range: 8,900 nautical miles at 20 knots (16,500 km at 37 km/h), or 19,000 nautical miles at 10 knots (35,000 km at 18.5 km/h).

Plant: Eight 9-cylinder double-acting two-stroke MAN diesels two screws, 52,050 hp (40 MW). Yes, you read that right. A diesel-electric Pocket Battleship. Seven decades ahead of her time....

Guns: Six 11 inch (280 mm) guns in two triple turrets,
eight 5.9 inch (150 mm) guns,
six 150 mm guns
eight 37 mm anti-aircraft guns
ten 20 mm anti-aircraft guns
eight 21 inch (530 mm) torpedo tubes in 2 quadruple mounts

Labels: Battleship, Fullbore, Germany

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:51

Mr. O'Connor told a Senate committee on national security yesterday that the military has sufficient ground troops to remain in Afghanistan indefinitely. But when asked whether Canada could send soldiers to help maintain peace in Darfur, Mr. O'Connor said, "We would be greatly challenged to take on a commitment anywhere else in the world."

The minister later told reporters that other branches of the Canadian Forces might be able to provide some sort of assistance in a pinch if an international force is assembled to police a peace agreement in Darfur, where a civil war has killed at least 180,000 people in the past three years.

"We can't just instantly adjust the Armed Forces," he said. "It's what we have today that we have to deal with."

Mr. O'Connor said the Canadian army won't have additional ground troops to take on another major mission for at least several years.

Canada has 2,200 soldiers involved in the counterinsurgency operations to root out Taliban fighters in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan. Prime Minister Stephen Harper says his government will decide later this year how long Canada will keep troops in that war-ravaged country.

The Canadian Forces plan to recruit and train an additional 13,000 full-time personnel for all three services in the next several years. The current force strength is about 62,000.

Last week's federal budget pledged $5.3-billion in new defence spending over the next five years. This would boost the defence budget to almost $20-billion by 2010 from the current $14.5-billion.

Mr. O'Connor, a former army general and retired defence industry lobbyist, said the military has wasted time and money over the years by requiring that military suppliers meet particular Canadian requirements for equipment. "We are abandoning Canadianizing everything."

The military, he said, spent 10 years and $15-million on research and development to get a uniquely Canadian helmet to protect "this peculiar Canadian head when they could have put a table out there with a Russian helmet, a Chinese helmet, an American helmet, a French helmet and said, 'Which helmet do you want?' "

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 16:38

American troops have complained that a new armoured body suit designed to be worn in Iraq makes them look "goofy".

The water-cooled "alien spacesuits" are being handed out to turret gunners in their notoriously vulnerable Humvee vehicles.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 07:17

The battle at Mill is one of the symbols of the Dutch opposition during the German invasion. With insufficient manpower, weapons and supplies the battalions that fought at this location achieved a remarkable success against a far superior enemy that failed to profit from an important success in the first hour of the invasion. The German price was very high. More than 500 KIA and WIA, whilst the Dutch only lost 30 men KIA and 31 WIA. The war-reports of the 481st and 456th Regiment respectively report 62 and 41 KIA, the latter reported 136 WIA. The 481st WIA are not traceable. The third regiment did not report any figures.
Moreover, the tough defence that was achieved facilitated the main forces to be able to move back over the Waal into the Fortress Holland. An escape that had been seriously jeopardized when the German armoured train had already penetrated the Peel-Raamline at 0430 in the morning of the 10th. The significance of the Dutch defence at Mill is sometimes underestimated by historians. It caused the Germans to lose one full day in their pursuit to reach the western sectors of the country.

The Germans believed to have booked a major victory. They were still under the impression that two divisions of the III Army Corps had been defeated. The German 18th Army staff only realised that this had in fact not been the case when the battle was long fought.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:02

In it, Mr Ahmadinejad criticises the US invasion of Iraq and urges Mr Bush to return to religious principles.

Mr Ahmadinejad spoke of the invasion of Iraq, a US cover-up over the 11 September 2001 attacks, the issue of Israel's right to exist and the role of religion in the world.

"On the pretext of the existence of WMDs [weapons of mass destruction], this great tragedy [the US invasion of Iraq] came to engulf both the peoples of the occupied and the occupying country.

"Lies were told in the Iraqi matter," Reuters news agency quoted the letter as saying. "What was the result? I have no doubt that telling lies is reprehensible in any culture, and you do not like to be lied to," Mr Ahmadinejad is quoted as saying.

"Why is it that any technological and scientific achievement reached in the Middle East region is translated into and portrayed as a 'threat to the Zionist [Israel] regime'?

In another part of the letter, Mr Ahmadinejad suggests Washington has concealed elements of the truth about the 11 September 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, Reuters reports.

"Why have the various aspects of the attacks been kept secret? Why are we not told who botched their responsibilities?" he asks.

The president ends the letter by appealing to Mr Bush to return to religion.

"We increasingly see that people around the world are flocking towards a main focal point - that is the Almighty God.

"My question for you is, 'Do you not want to join them?'"

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 12:06

The peace agreement in Darfur opens up an opportunity for Canada to get back to its trademark United Nations peacekeeping role and ease its way out of the ill-advised U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.

Our initial deployment in Kabul in 2001 involved peacemaking. Our troops secured the city with force and tact, using little of the former but a lot of the latter, winning kudos worldwide.

But without telling Canadians the whole truth, Gen. Rick Hillier and the Paul Martin Liberals committed our troops in Kandahar to U.S. command and also the failed U.S. war on terrorism.

By most accounts, the Taliban are all over the south in greater numbers than at any time since they were toppled and are ambushing foreign troops and terrorizing the local population.

Foreign soldiers and their Afghan helpers may rule by day but it is the Taliban writ that runs at night, with the civilians caught in-between, pressed for "intelligence" by one side and squeezed for food, money and protection by the other.

This is the archetypal nightmare scenario of societies under siege, like Chechnya and Vietnam. We need to get out of it, not because it is dangerous but because it is of dubious value.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 16:45

Standing 1.6 meters tall and weighing about 50 kilograms, she can understand others, speak, blink with her eyes and makes several facial expressions.

But she is not human, rather an android developed by a team of South Korean scientists. It is only the second time in the world that an android has been developed _ Japan made the first one.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 15:15

DDG denotes a guided-missile destroyer, and today’s Arleigh Burke destroyers will run from DDG 51 to DDG 112. This makes DDG 113 the obvious choice for the new ship.
...
Some observers expected a 21st-century theme, citing the SSN 21 submarine and CVN 21 aircraft carrier. In any case, they couldn’t fathom the meaning of “1000.”

In a written response to a query, Navy officials said the new number “serves to highlight the ship’s capability and technological differences from the Arleigh Burke class.” They noted that the Spruance destroyer class, now retired, ended at DD 997.

“Starting the Zumwalt class at 1000 is appropriate for numerical consistency,” the response read.

But it’s hardly consistent to link the new DDG to a DD number. DDs are equipped with missiles for point defense, DDGs for longer-range strikes — though this distinction blurred when the Tomahawk cruise missile was installed aboard the Spruances.

So what?

One Capitol Hill source called the response “incoherent” because the service calls the Zumwalt-class ship a DDG, not a DD.

He said the official explanation “will only feed suspicions that the Navy chose DDG 1000 simply because it sounds flashy, and perhaps additionally because of a concern regarding potential triskaidekaphobia,” the fear of the number 13.

Last year’s decision to designate the new ship type “LCS” annoyed some people, as the “L” prefix was previously used to denote ships related to amphibious warfare — a type that evolved from landing craft. The LCS is meant as a small combatant but has no amphibious capability.

And there’s an even bigger distinction to be drawn: the different designs of the Independence and the ostensible lead ship of the type, the Freedom (LCS 1).

LCS 1 is being built to a 378-foot, 2,860-ton monohull design by Lockheed Martin. LCS 2 is a 418-foot, 2,784-ton trimaran concept being built by General Dynamics. The two designs are nearly identical in function, but different in configuration and dimensions. Still, the Navy is referring to both designs as the same class.

“The name of the class — which includes both variants — is Freedom,” Navy officials said.

That doesn’t sit well with one analyst.

“‘Class’ means design, characteristics, dimensions, appearance,” said A.D. Baker, a longtime naval analyst and author of “Combat Fleets of the World.”

“It has nothing to do with type,” he said.

Referring to both ships as the same class “is not in concurrence with standard practice of any Navy at any time in the history of the world,” Baker said.

Many naval professionals simply shrugged off the lapses in practice. But Baker said he saw a darker meaning.

“It tells me the powers that be don’t pay attention to carefully drafted instructions that are supposed to guide them,” he said.

Labels: DDG-1000, LCS

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:59

Gen. McCaffrey also warns that "there is a rapidly growing animosity" among U.S. troops toward the press.

"The reason it bothers me is shades of Vietnam," Gen. McCaffrey said in an interview. "It took my generation 20 years to get over Vietnam, the sense that the press had been against us as soldiers."

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 15:12

Their book appears about three years into this war. As I read, I couldn't help but imagine (given today's political atmospherics) how a book like Messrs. Trainer and Gordon's might have read had it appeared three years after Pearl Harbor.

Such a book would have hit the bookstores at Christmas time in 1944. Messrs. Gordon and Trainer would most certainly have written about the unconstitutional arrogance of an administration that violated international neutrality laws by taking sides with Great Britain against Germany. They would have recognized that Pearl Harbor was the greatest intelligence failure in American history. We would have read the whole horrific story of the humiliating surrender at Corregidor that signaled the shameful loss of the entire American Army in the Philippines.

The condemnatory tenor of the book would continue with depictions of the useless slaughter at "Bloody Buna" in New Guinea, the humiliating loss to the German Army at Kasserine Pass in North Africa, the failure of Dwight Eisenhower to trap the retreating Germans in Sicily, the horrifically wasteful daylight bombing campaign against Germany in 1943. Messrs. Gordon and Trainer would have reserved their worst for the conduct of George C. Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower in their abortive "Crusade in Europe."

We would have read about an Army unprepared to meet the Germans in the hedgerows of Normandy. Operation Market Garden would be depicted as a foolish "bridge too far" that left our bravest soldiers to die for a few square miles of Dutch territory. The useless slaughter in the dank wilderness of the Huertgen Forest would have shocked us. And of course the book would have appeared just at the time the folks back home got word of Hitler's greatest defeat of the Americans at the Battle of the Bulge, evidence of another grand failure of intelligence and a testament to the genius of German arms.

Of course there was no such book written at the time. There were no calls for impeachment, dismissal or relief. None of this happened because military men of that age understood war as the most unpredictable of all human endeavors. Our grandfathers realized that unlike lawyers or doctors, soldiers practice their craft infrequently and often get it wrong at first. Thus, even the greatest military men make mistakes that all too often cost lives.

Sure, soldiers of that era carped about the human shortcomings of their leaders but they kept their own counsel because they realized that there was, first and foremost, a war to be won. They forgave the difficulties experienced by an army that had no choice but to learn to fight by fighting, the most wasteful form of education in the art of war. And they came home to a grateful nation sure in the confidence that they had done their part to destroy a great evil.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 15:07

A Chinese businessman has bought an old MiG-21f fighter jet for nearly $25,000 (£14,000) on eBay to decorate his office, a Chinese newspaper reports.

Zhang Cheng bought the Soviet-made jet from a seller in the United States, where it is said to be in excellent condition though last flown in 1995.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 14:26

The roadside bomb that killed three Italian soldiers in Nassiriya, Iraq, today quickly caused problems for the government being formed by Romano Prodi.

"This tragedy hits all of Italy," the prime minister-designate said in a statement.

Politically, it refocused Italy's antipathy to the war, which is strong even as the outgoing prime minister Silvio Berlusconi slowly withdrew troops on duty in Iraq from a peak of 3,200, to about 2,600 now.

Some coalition partners of Mr. Prodi urged an immediate withdrawal of the remainder.

"The right is using this serious episode of terrorism to justify the Italian military presence in Iraq," said Paolo Cento, a leader of the Green Party which is part of Mr. Prodi's coalition, "and therefore it is that much more opportune to arrive at a rapid withdrawal of the Italian military, not by the end of 2006 but even earlier." Vladimir Luxuria of the Reformed Communist Party — another coalition partner — also called for an immediate withdrawal, although its party leader, Fausto Bertinotti, said only that the attack "is one more reason to be against the war and terrorism."

Hans van Balen is a member of parliament for the conservative-liberal VVD party. Although he accepts that the threat from the Taliban and al-Qaeda within Afghanistan is growing, he doesn't see that as a reason for the Dutch to withdraw from this mission:

"If we don't have a stable environment in Afghanistan, al-Qaeda and the Taliban can rearm, reinforce and threaten us. So things are not going very well […] but it's a reason to stay longer or at least to take that option seriously."

Forgetting history is one thing, flaunting it is another. They need to remember what most of the Muslim world thinks of Europe. They ain't helping.

Buy Pounds, sell Euros. Dollars? Heck, I don’t know, ask the Chinese and Gulf Arabs; they own us.

Keep shopping at Wal-Mart. Keep opposing ANWAR, wind farms, natural gas off VA and FL. Shut up and pay your gas card when you fill up. You have it cheap. Me? I need a slice of rhubarb pie.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 07:20

Lamar S. Owens Jr., last season's starting quarterback for the U.S. Naval Academy, will face a court-martial on rape and other charges, Navy officials said yesterday.

A second football player will also face a court-martial on charges of indecent assault and other offenses in connection with a separate incident, the academy said.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:34