Retro Wednesday

VR-8 social life.

Broad ranging Brad Thor

Ward Carroll over at Military.com does a very good, long ranging interview with author Brad Thor mostly about his new novel The Apostle.

Ward does a very good job in that he lets Brad speak and tell the stories that he wants to tell --- about a lot more than selling the soap of his new novel. It is 45 minutes and well worth the listen.

I already listened to one Brad Thor novel this year, The Last Patriot, and I think I may have to get the next one, and I usually don't read fiction. Funny, this year I seem to be in an fiction mood. Dude fiction, sure, but fiction nonetheless.

Thor may seem a little over the top to some, but I won't ping on the guy for his enthusiasm. I will take enthusiasm any day .... and his novels are a good read and/or listen.

Your patriotic duty

Teh anser.

ACU AFU?

Well, though it is better than the NWU, when it comes to combat, the world ain't made of cinderblock.

Congress is about to order new combat uniforms for troops in Afghanistan after hearing complaints that camouflage that was fine in Iraq doesn’t work so well in a mountainous and often muddy environment.

“Soldiers deployed to Afghanistan have serious concerns about the current combat uniform which they indicated provides ineffective camouflage given the environment in Afghanistan,” lawmakers say in the report accompanying HR 2346, the 2009 supplemental appropriations act.

The bill passed the House of Representatives on Tuesday, 226-202. It heads to the Senate for approval.

The Phibian's answer remains the same; multi-cam. At least the ACU is good for one thing.

There - solution for both the USA and USN .... and the USN could replace 3 uniforms (BDU, DCU, NWU) with one. Easy, low cost, quick, simple ... therefor won't happen.

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As a side note; the only service that has it right is the USMC. With both a woodland and desert pattern, they avoid some of the multi-cam compromises, and with their IBA and other "bling" now coming in the coyote color only, they can be used for both without too much loss of utility.

No people, no problem

What could go wrong?

An Air Force study, released without much fanfare on Wednesday, suggests that tomorrow’s dogfighers might not have pilots in the cockpit. The Unmanned Aircraft System Flight Plan. which sketches out possible drone development through the year 2047, comes with plenty of qualifiers. But it envisions a radical future. In an acronym-dense 82 pages, the Air Force explains how ever-larger and more sophisticated flying robots could eventually replace every type of manned aircraft in its inventory — everything from speedy, air-to-air fighters to lumbering bombers and tankers.

No man in the loop. Sigh - come on David - you reported this too straight.

Rely on the electromagnetic spectrum and satellites as your single point of failure - and you will be defeated on the battlefield.

Too easy.

Walk

It has to be Rubio

Who here thinks we have enough Republican squishes in the Senate already?

Gov. Crist (R-FL) on the unstimulus, AKA steal from out children plan.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) said that the stimulus was working in his home state, bucking other national Republicans who have sharply criticized the measure. Crist, however, said that he did not anticipate the need for a second stimulus bill.

"It's pretty incredible that 26,000 teachers will continue to work for Florida's children because of these additional monies…And that's really the point. This is to help people, Crist told the Miami Herald, referring to thousands of teachers' jobs saved by federal stimulus funds.

I guess he decided to double down on his early support of the plan. He doesn't have any children, so perhaps he looks at it differently than I do.

Crist on Diversity.

A seat on the 5th District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach has been vacant since September. On Nov. 6, the commission sent the governor a list of six names, the legal limit.

But Gov. Crist kept rejecting the list, claiming that he wanted more "diversity" on the court. None of the nine judges is African-American, and none of the finalists is African-American. The nominating commission refused to change the list, and the retiring judge finally sued the governor.

Which resulted in the following spanking by the FL Supreme Court.

A BENCH SPANKING: Charlie Crist got a well-deserved smackdown from the Florida Supreme Court, which ruled unanimously that the governor must make his judges’ selections from the list recommended by the Judicial Nominating Commission.

Politically correct as always, Crist tried to second-guess the commission when the panel’s six recommendations to fill a 5th District Court of Appeal vacancy failed to include a minority candidate. He argued that the nominee list should reflect the ethnic diversity of the court district headquartered in Daytona Beach.

But the high court rebuffed Crist, upholding the commission’s colorblind vetting process. Notably, the black and Hispanic Supreme Court justices appointed previously by Crist signed onto the decision.

“The People’s Governor” may continue to pander in his latest campaign for U.S. Senate, but at least the Supreme Court stopped him from playing rank ethnic politics with the law.

Rubio has my support (and Byron's, so he has that going for him); but he has also picked up the nod from the best name in politics, former Rep. Dick Armey, former Presidential candidate Huckabee, Sen. DeMint, and others Rubio needs more financial support,

Crist raised dramatically outraised Rubio in the second quarter $3 million to $340,000. Rubio raised over $140,000 in small online contributions.

Why do I think Crist isn't doing all that well with small contributions?

Don't get me wrong, Gov. Crist has done some good things (such as making the right people angry with his Supreme Court noms), and I would support him in the general election against the horror show that is the Dem candidates so far - but his squish factor just makes me think of the already squishy Republican Senators already there - we have enough.

Rubio is right on the issues. He is young, aggressive and driven - and anyone who becomes the Speaker of the FL House in his 30s has the political moxy to go get 'em.