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Operation TORCH, again - one month and 66 years later.
Back to the basics a bit. I want to spend some time on what I consider one of the most aesthetically pleasing ships - and one h311 of a warship - this nation has ever built, the NORTHAMPTON Class Heavy Cruiser, USS AUGUSTA (CA-31).
I mean, come on - just look at her.
I want you to review a few spots here, here, here, here, here and here about AUGUSTA and TORCH - but for the sake of time - just read this one diary entry and ponder. War Diary, November 10, 1942.
Patrolling station near the transport area since midnight.. At 0615 prepared to repel enemy air attacks. At 0850 the New York and Cleveland stood into the transport area. No events of importance until 1120 at which time we received word that two enemy destroyers were bombarding our troops on the beaches and roads north or Casa Blanca. We received orders to proceed at best speed to destroy them but were warned to stay out of range of the battery at El Hank. The air group had reported the previous day that the Jean Bart had been "gutted by fire". At 1135 we opened fire on one of the destroyers with the 8" battery and scored four and possibly five straddles on her. At 1145 while still out of range of the battery at El Hank, the Jean Bart opened fire on us with two gun salvos and scored several straddles before we were able to withdraw beyond her range. One of these projectiles landed so close to the bow that we rode through its splash drenching the forward half of the ship with its yellow dyed water. However, no hits were registered and we returned to the transport area feeling very fortunate that no damage had been sustained and indignant at the falsity of the report that the Jean Bart had been "gutted by fire". Admiral Hewitt then ordered that another dive bombing attack be made on the Jean Bart by our carrier planes. This was carried and a report received that seven out of ten 1000 lb bombs had hit her. Anchored in the transport area about 1300 and made plans for a co-ordinated attack on Casablanca ships and shore batteries by the Augusta, New York, Cleveland and four destroyer while the Army attacked the city from the rear.
A.G. Caden, Lt. Cmdr, USN,
Communication Officer
All that less than a year after the war started.
As President-elect Obama seems to be going gangbusters WRT his "Quadrilateralization" strategy (knob to 11 from Clinton's "Triangulation") strategy (see foreign policy team and Purpose Driven Inaugural ) - why not finish the job and be a much better President than I though McCain might be - let's kill Affirmative Discrimination as well.Let's let Edward Blum set it up,As Obama wrote in his book, "The Audacity of Hope," "An emphasis on universal, as opposed to race-specific, programs isn't just good policy; it's also good politics." This case may determine if he really meant it.
Well, here is your chance,Will President-elect Barack Obama be a real agent of change, as he has promised, or will it be business as usual for racial and ethnic preferences in the Obama administration? A ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington may give us an opportunity to find out.
The November decision in the case of Rothe Development Corp. vs. Department of Defense struck down a race-based affirmative action contracting program mandated by Congress more than two decades ago. Within weeks of settling into the Oval Office, President Obama and his administration must decide whether to appeal. They should let the court opinion stand.
Here here! As a mixed-race, upper class head of a family - does he really think that his daughters should be given preferential treatment just by the color of their skin? Naw ... I don't think so.Enough already. Not only is it time to dismantle the disparity-study industry, but we should end the use of race, ethnicity -- and gender -- in the awarding of federal contracts as well. If Washington wants to offer a helping hand to small, emerging businesses, that's fine, but limiting these opportunities to minorities and women is wrong.
Do that and your path to 2012 would be unassailable - let's leave the 20th Century behind.
Ungh. Every few years it seems a very smart and well meaning person just got through reading something about supply chain management or just-in-time and we get the laser dot on the forehead about the supply system. The Navy keeps an average of $7.5 billion worth of spare parts and other goods it doesn't need every year because of poor planning and management, congressional investigators say in a report to be released today.
The Government Accountability Office report says the Navy hasn't heeded repeated warnings since 2001 about longstanding problems with the military's inventory management. The report from the GAO, Congress' non-partisan investigative agency, says the Navy's failure to keep track of changing requirements and a lack of communication among the proper officials led to surpluses of spare parts ranging from submarine sonar sets to engine fan blades for fighter jets.
The GAO found "incredible waste," says Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., one of the lawmakers who commissioned the report.
Consider the source, I guess. Seriously though, who here thinks we have too many spare parts? Things can always be improved, especially in expediting and delivery, but when it comes to spares ... we're fat? No, not from what I see. Inefficient, of course - we're the military. Be glad we aren't hyper efficient.Something that isn't mentioned enough is the fact what surplus there is in certain areas is there because it is needed. We have been lucky for the most part during this war - we haven't had to feel the hard facts of what war can do to equipment like the Army and the USMC. Some of our aircraft and a few specialty areas sure ... but not in the mainline Fleet.No, in war isn't where you want to have a part-time peacetime MBA inspired spare parts system ..... or is that what we have anyway?
Are we looking at what the Navy version of the .50 cal ammo challenge .... the ..... well you get the idea.
Kind of like this.
There are few things out there US and UK officers like to do more than pick each other apart. Like two brothers always trying to judge one by the other, from the outside it looks like conflict; it really isn't. It is understood that there has been “tension and resentment” over the air of superiority adopted by British commanders such as Brigadier Nigel Aylwin-Foster, who suggested that his American counterparts needed to take lessons from Britain’s experience in Northern Ireland and Malaya.
David Kilcullen, an adviser to the US State Department, told a recent seminar that there had been “lots of fairly snide criticism” from the British whose attitude had been: “Look at us, we’re on the street in our soft caps and everyone loves us.”
He added that such claims had been undercut by the performance since then. “It would be fair to say that in 2006 the British Army was defeated in the field in southern Iraq.” At the same event, Daniel Marston, an American consultant who until recently was a senior lecturer at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst and has been embedded with troops in Afghanistan, said that Britain was being forced to learn some humility after being “embarrassed by their performance”.
It is just two nations who expect a lot out of each other. In the end, we both know that both do the West's heavy lifting.Any tension out there is for this reason, Mr Brown hinted at some of his doubts when he told reporters in Kabul: “We are the second largest force in Afghanistan and we will expect as part of the burden-sharing that other countries will do more.” Senior diplomatic sources say there is also frustration in Britain’s military over the lack of a coherent mission statement for the Nato forces in Afghanistan. This has led to problems with US forces sometimes wrecking carefully nurtured community relations in their pursuit of al-Qaeda.
Carter Malkesian, an expert at the Centre of Naval Analysis, said: “Among those in the Department of Defence who are paying attention to these operations, Britain’s reputation has probably fallen. But they still recognise that the British Army, among all the allies, are those that fight the most and fight the best.”
A British officer in Afghanistan expressed surprise at the criticism from the US. “They have few enough allies who will actually do any fighting,” he told The Times.
That is the story - not the US and UK giving each other weggies.
Where illogic and hate ends - in illogical hate. The Carleton University Students’ Association has voted to drop a cystic fibrosis charity as the beneficiary of its annual Shinearama fundraiser, supporting a motion that argued the disease is not “inclusive” enough.
Cystic fibrosis “has been recently revealed to only affect white people, and primarily men” said the motion read Monday night to student councillors, who voted almost unanimously in favour of it.
Every year near the beginning of fall classes, during university orientation for new arrivals, students fan out across the city and seek donations from passersby. According to the motion, “all orientees and volunteers should feel like their fundraising efforts will serve their (sic) diverse communities.”
Nick Bergamini, a third-year journalism student on the student council, said he was the only elected councillor present to vote against the motion. The decision is an example of campus political correctness gone too far, he said.
“They’re not doctors. They’re playing politics with this,” said Mr. Bergamini. “I think they see this, in their own twisted way, as a win for diversity. I see it as a loss for people with cystic fibrosis.”
I guess Sickle-Cell Anemia is next - there was enough pressure on this to fix the problem and return the fundraiser, but the fact it happened gives you a look into their mind.Hat tip Michelle.
Those eyes .... and where is the filter on that ......
Of course it is The One. What I want to know; where was this photo during the election? That would have been fun.No fun allowed. SNL & The Daily Show knows that....Hat tip Drudge.
