Who thinks this builds unity?

Seriously. From the 11APR08 Rhumblines one of the most direct calls to bigotry I have heard outside of, well - I don't hear real people outside the Diversity Bullies talk this way.

• Retention: Research shows that people perform (and retain) better in organizations that respect and celebrate their uniqueness. This includes cultural, ethnic, geographic and other areas of interest. Leaders: ensure your Sailors know the Navy appreciates their service and respects their heritage.
• Public perception/recruiting: Between 1993 and 2003 Hispanic college enrollment increased by 70%, Asian- American enrollment grew by 43.5%, Black enrollment rose by 42.7% and Native American enrollment increased 38.7%. Caucasian enrollment increased by less than 4%. Leaders: you must take a proactive effort to reach out to your communities, hometowns, schools and civic groups.

Disgusting, racist, and divisive. Message is clear though. For those who aren't "in the business" - imagine what the message is behind closed doors if that is what they put out there in open source.

Shame on all of us for allowing this in our Navy. Do what you can to promote unity, fairness and the American idea of equality. I don't support this stuff in the square footage that I am trusted with (posters, "celebrations" etc). Do you?

Touchy ... touchy ..

Remember the little point we made towards Timmy's snarky comments on LCS last week? -Well thanks to reader Mike, we see that within a day, a winded, breathless Shipmate came out to respond to the squeaking mice in the corner.

The U.S. Navy's first Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) remains on track for delivery this summer, service and shipbuilder officials said, belying a blogger's claim that the ship will be a year late.

"We're on track for trials beginning in May. We're on track for a summer 2008 delivery," said Diana Massing, a spokeswoman for Lockheed Martin.

Joy - oh, joy!

I am also thinking about all the ships we built from 1940 to 1945 of every shape, mission and form. How we built the U-2, the SR-71 - heck, the first SSBNs. Then we have this itty-bitty ill-named corvette,

The Freedom is about 82 percent complete, Allison Stiller, the Navy's top shipbuilding official, told the U.S. Senate on April 8. "She'll go to builders' trials here in May."

Heh! LCS started as Streetfighter,

As of mid-2001 the Office of Naval Research was considering construction of a Littoral Combat Ship with a displacement of 500 to 600 tons. The LCS would have a draft of about three meters, an operational range of 4,000 nautical miles, and a maximum speed of 50-60 knots. The cost per ship might be at least $90 million.

Now we are over $500 million a hull - without any "mission modules" included. With a ship that has yet gone to sea.

LCS may make it to the Navy this summer - I think it will - but the core question is at what cost vs. what capability and bite out of the shipbuilding budget? Who is being held accountable beyond the token SES and Rear Admiral whose heads rolled last year? Lie about an affair 18 years ago like Stufflebeam - and get fired. Fudge to the American taxpayer and Congress - get promoted or your contract back.

And more importantly; yes - I am a little upset that Timmy got all the face time while Galrahn and myself are still in shadow....but I am petty like that. Anyway, it doesn't matter. It is amazing what you can get done, in this case awareness, if you don't care who gets credit.

The GAO report says the Navy expects the first two LCS to exceed their combined budget of $472 million by over 100 percent and anticipates lead ship delivery will occur nearly 18 months later than initially planned. As a result of these challenges, the Navy canceled construction of the third and fourth LCS and deferred construction of additional seaframes. The GAO report says the Navy plans to use funds previously appropriated for construction of the fifth and sixth LCS seaframes to pay for cost growth on the remaining two ships under contract.

All this led Rep. Gene Taylor (D.Miss.) Chairman of the House Seapower and Expeditionary Forces Subcommittee to declare that LCS,

"will go into the textbooks to train future acquisition officials how not to run a program."

Ummmm, yep. Get the new RAND study here.

Sing like 'ya got a pair

Here is the video - even if it is hard to look over the Knights of Columbus' lids....

Sunday Funnies

Ahhhh, the English

If you have ever been subjected to CNN International or in one of the Commissariat's dungeons that does not have the BBC, Sky, or Fox News - then this will come as no surprise.

CNN personality Richard Quest was busted in Central Park early yesterday with some drugs in his pocket, a rope around his neck that was tied to his genitals, and a sex toy in his boot, law-enforcement sources said.

Quest, 46, was arrested at around 3:40 a.m. after a cop spotted him and another man inside the park near 64th Street, a police source said.

You know, minus the drugs, if he was just coming back from liberty in Thailand no one would have said a word about the rest, and he was so polite that it sounds like he wouldn't have even rated a clamshell.

Saturday Movie Stop

First of all, I am a fan of all things Ben Stein. Second, the Commissars of Academia are thugs.

I'll leave Darwinism, Creationism, Intelligent Design up to you and yours. That is only fair isn't it? Free discussion in a free nation that embraces the marketplace of ideas? Right?




More from Ben here.

Costs more per pound than Skippy's ex-wife

Heck, it may be Skippy's ex-wife for all I know.

In deference to my "sensitive readers" You are warned.
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Lucian Freud's one-time muse was paid £20 a day to sit for a painting expected to fetch more than £17m.

But Londoner Sue Tilley said she did not do it for the money and had "lovely lunches" with the artist.

Freud's 1995 work, Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, looks set to become the most expensive painting by a living artist when it is sold in New York next month.

That is almost $35 million. Is that what you want covering your wall? And the model is all happy about it as well.

Like we talked about last week; art isn't anymore.

I'll take my c.1930 80x100cm painting of St. Godarduskerk in Bekkerzeel (Beckerzeele), Belgium any day. Heck, getting that thing across the pond in one piece could be defined as art.....