Ramblin Thoughts

I am working Mid watches right now so my schedule is completely screwed. I don’t mind the hours, the benefit being that you don’t have to put up with the day-walkers/regular staff and all the games to be played.
But, it makes family life a bit more challenging added to trying to get a decent 6-8 hrs of sleep while the rest of the world is busy scurrying around doing it’s thing.

Looks like the Israel’s have purchased a couple of boats from Germany. You can read the articlehere I may have actually scooped Bubblehead on some submarine news!
What is fun about this article is that the clueless writing on the difference between nuclear power and nuclear armed. “Planes are vulnerable, unlike nuclear (armed) submarines that can operate for an almost unlimited amount of time without being struck”. Hmm I always thought a diesel boat had to go home from time to time to refuel. The sentence is true in respect to the time relative to the mission time of an aircraft.
The last time I looked the Dolphin class has only Torpedo tubes, so that limit is to a cruise missile for a delivery system.
A bit late night skullduggery in Washington DC, “An unidentified senator placed a "secret hold" on legislation introduced by Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., that would create a searchable database of government contracts, grants, insurance, loans and financial assistance, worth $2.5 trillion last year. The database would bring transparency to federal spending and be as simple to use as conducting a Google search.”
Funny, our elected leaders will spend thousands of dollars to fly to the location of a natural disaster, economic depression, or otherwise adversely afflicted regions to mug for the cameras and blow hot air about the wonderful way our country will take care of it all. Then, when there is something that will actually give Americans the tool to see where the checking account is really at and where the money is going- Suddenly a change of intestinal fortitude, They have to sneak in and place a Secret Hold. If your going to be a leader, then By God, Lead.. Make a decision, a vote or a call and stand behind it and In The OPEN . We all know that our congress and executive branch are spending like drunken sailors with only the oversight of themselves. In this day and age where even the frigging toaster has a microchip, we should be able to do a searchable database on where the money is going, to whom and how much. Yes, I know that there are some items we don’t want other ‘friendly” Nations veiwing, However, Most of our budget is public and should be able to be monitored by said public. This might help some the more interesting spending bills that seem to slip through with the critical needed budget itmes to be flagged earlier by watch dog agencies or citizens before they become an after the fact news event. Yeah, they are all over it, Nice bridge to nowhere, it’s here, money wasted, Noted..
Here are some articles here, here, and here.
And finally an op-ed piece in the Honolulu Advertiser in favor of some good old Nuclear Power for the Island of Oahu. Actually I think that we should have one of these powering every metropolitan and ‘burg that has no access to either Coal or Hydroelectric. The further we as a country can free ourselves from the Hydrocarbon addiction, the sooner those nasty bastards in the middle east will suffer an economic crisis of their own attitude and making. Of course the idea probably will make all the soccer mom suburban tree hugging NIMBY’s choke on their overpriced coffee and biscotti. But If they would wise up and understand the Waste product to energy generation ratio this source of power provides in relation to oil or coal, this should be on the forefront on our efforts to reduce our reliance on Other Peoples Oil. Plus, this really should be an strategic plan on the “Long war” because the sooner we start to starve the source of cash, the sooner they will lose the resources to purchase and plan. The article is here.