This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Author: Sporkmaster

  • BAE’s past

    Seems that the BAE has some previous issues in the past besides the current fiasco with Dakota Meyer. Thanks to DC for the link.

    I really like the Defense Articles and Services Brokering Violations to start off with and this was this year too.

    BAE Systems plc and its business units and subsidiaries – except its U.S. subsidiary, BAE Systems, Inc. – entered into a civil settlement with the U.S. Department of State for alleged violations of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). The State Department alleged BAE committed 2,591 violations of the ITAR in connection with unauthorized brokering of U.S. defense articles and services, and that the violations were “systemic, wide-spread, and sustained for more than ten years.”

    Or how about Foreign Corruption Global Settlement?

    In June 2007, the U.S. Department of Justice launched a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) investigation into allegations that BAE Systems, using American banks, made up to $2 billion in secret payments to the former Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, in the years after securing a multi-billion dollar arms deal with Saudi Arabia (the al-Yamamah deal). In February 2010, BAE entered into a settlement with the Department of Justice and the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which launched an investigation in 2004 of alleged bribery by BAE in Saudi Arabia and other countries.

    Yea lots of fun stuff. So the claim that they want to sell gear to Pakistan seems to have some substance.
    Oh I wonder if the contract for the scopes fell out due to projected budget cuts that they would go looking for another bidder. Here is a screen cap that talk about what I think are the optics in question.

  • Reality gives idealism the finger yet again.

    I am sure that you have seen videos on your local TV stations that call for donations to help stop the famine in Somalia? That brought in celebrity speakers to endorse the program. There was even a catchy abbreviation too. But looks like that this will be futile since the militant groups are preventing aid and aide groups from working.

    MOGADISHU, Somalia — The Somali militant group al-Shabab on Monday banned 16 aid groups — including a half dozen U.N. agencies — from central and southern Somalia, a decision likely to harm Somalis already suffering from drought and famine.

    The banning of the aid groups falls in line with the group’s skeptical view of the outside world, but will worsen the suffering of the hundreds of thousands of Somalis who have come to depend on aid in the Horn of Africa country’s worst famine since 1991-92.

    Oh don’t worry since talking to the leaders of these groups will sort this out wiht a heart to heart discussion. Then know what the true priorities are during this crisis are right?

    Al-Shabab accused the 16 aid groups of disseminating information on the activities of Muslims and militant fighters, financing, aiding and abetting “subversive” groups seeking to destroy the basic tenants of the Islamic penal system, and of “persistently galvanizing the local population” against the full establishment of Shariah law, a harsh and punitive interpretation of Islam.

    Al-Shabab carries out amputations, stonings and beheadings as punishment. The group also frequently recruits child fighters.

    Because of its policies limiting the work of aid groups in its territory — especially the work of the World Food Program — areas under its control were declared famine zones by the U.N. in July. Some of those famine declarations have since been downgraded, but the U.N. says 250,000 still face the immediate risk of starvation.

    Yea, so send in that money because it is getting better and better.

  • This post started with a photo.

    I remember the original video from the Victory at Sea series. I remember the reckless disregard that the ground crew Officer went to retrieve the pilot. Originally I was not able to find that video but I found this video. Also the song that is selected for the video is interesting to note. It goes by the name “A prayer for the Fleet”. I cannot find the lyrics for it on the net. What I have found out is that it is done by the US Navy Sea Chanter Chorus. But one thing that got me thinking because of the song is the part that starts at :37 and goes to 1:12.

    The last crash landing is post World War Two. I knew that carrier crashes can and do happen but, you do not think of them being to that extent. The video at 2:15 is a violent reminder to the contrary. This leads me to my next topic. The disaster on the USS Forrestal.

    The video and link cover most of the basic information of the fire so I will just skip to my thoughts. The first one is that it seems that in the process of trying to save money that it ended up costing them much more in lives, manpower and material. Something that sometimes gets forgotten in and out of the military community. Also I wonder what our resident Navy guy, Zero Ponsdorf thoughts are on the USS Forrestal and how it changed the Navy.

    But the last part is the actions of Gerald Farrier who tried to prevent the bombs from exploding. He recklessly tried to protect his fellow shipmates without regards to his own safety. His actions reminded me of the actions of the original photo.

    As I was writing this post, I was able to find the video related to the above photo. It starts at 5:36 if you want to skip the other videos.

    It is amazing where a photo can take you.

  • This is not news. (Updated)

    Ok, for the past few years there have been people calling for President Bush to be tried for war crimes. I ignore most of these links because it is the same thing over and over again. But this one is different because there seems to be a court in Malaysia. I have never even heard of this group before.

    A tribunal in Malaysia, spearheaded by that nation’s former Prime Minister, yesterday found George Bush and Tony Blair guilty of “crimes against peace” and other war crimes for their 2003 aggressive attack on Iraq, as well as fabricating pretexts used to justify the attack. The seven-member Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal — which featured an American law professor as one of its chief prosecutors — has no formal enforcement power, but was modeled after a 1967 tribunal in Sweden and Denmark that found the U.S. guilty of a war of aggression in Vietnam, and, even more so, after the U.S.-led Nuremberg Tribunal held after World War II. Just as the U.S. steadfastly ignored the 1967 tribunal on Vietnam, Bush and Blair both ignored the summons sent to them and thus were tried in absentee.

    But it seems that this is going around the internet as if this were real news. The court is not legit and now power to do anything so what they say does not really mean anything. But despite that people seem to believe otherwise in the comments on youtube.

    Oh and they are going to ask the International Criminal Court co-sign the verdict.

    The tribunal ruled that Bush and Blair’s name should be entered in a register of war criminals, urged that they be recognized as such under the Rome Statute, and will also petition the International Criminal Court to proceed with binding charges. Such efforts are likely to be futile, but one Malaysian lawyer explained the motives of the tribunal to The Associated Press: “For these people who have been immune from prosecution, we want to put them on trial in this forum to prove that they committed war crimes.” In other words, because their own nations refuse to hold them accountable and can use their power to prevent international bodies from doing so, the tribunal wanted at least formal legal recognition of these war crimes to be recorded and the evidence of their guilt assembled. That’s the same reason a separate panel of this tribunal will hold hearings later this year on charges of torture against Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and others.

    Your not a formal organization to begin with much less anything that you come up with. This is a joke and a bad one at that. But expect to see this on your Facebook feed soon if not already.

    UPDATE:     Seems that people are claiming that Former President Bush has canceled his trip to Switzerland because he is afraid that he will be arrested for war crimes. This bad joke is getting worse.

  • More martyrs for the cause

    So this link has been came up on my Facebook feed. Seems that the Occupy are willing to martyr anybody if it will bring publicity to the Occupy Movement. The newest one involves a nineteen year oldprotester that lost her baby during a protest.

    “I was standing in the middle of the crowd when the police started moving in,” she says. “I was screaming, ‘I am pregnant, I am pregnant. Let me through. I am trying to get out.’” At that point, Fox continues, a Seattle police officer lifted his foot and it hit her in the stomach, and another officer pushed his bicycle into the crowd, again hitting Fox in the stomach. “Right before I turned, both cops lifted their pepper spray and sprayed me. My eyes puffed up and my eyes swelled shut,” she says.

    Oh sounds very odd to begin with but continuing into her statements.

    When she arrived at Harborview at 11:00 a.m., she says, a doctor told her that “there was no heartbeat” from the baby. “They diagnosed that I was having a miscarriage. They said the damage was from the kick and that the pepper spray got to it [the fetus], too.”

    Now it is getting weird. I get that a kick to the abdomen can terminate a pregnancy. But the Pepper Spray having that much of a effect in a pregnancy? Something seems off. I am not the only one to thing so.

    Fox has declined to provide medical records supporting her claim that she had a miscarriage five days after being hit, and her family has cast doubt on the claim.

    But Seattle police have launched an internal investigation because of the “seriousness of her allegations,” spokesman Mark Jamieson said.

    “Their goal is to find any — any — info that supports her claims,” he said. “You have to take her word.”

    In an interview Tuesday at the Occupy Seattle encampment on Capitol Hill, Fox said she had three ultrasound pictures of her fetus in her tent, but declined to show them to reporters.

    She also said she did not plan to pick up medical records at Harborview Medical Center that could document the miscarriage until after a planned memorial service Saturday, and she declined to sign a waiver allowing reporters to obtain the documents independently. She said the baby was a girl, to be named Miracle.

    Also I this little quote caught my attention.

    Fox has conducted several interviews with local and national media, and said she plans to consult an attorney.

    She said she learned the sex of her fetus about 10 weeks into her pregnancy via an ultrasound test, although gender typically is not detected via ultrasound until the 16th week of pregnancy, according to a medical journal. Fox said the baby’s father is in jail.

    Kinda puts more questions into this. Also there are claims that she is the same person that we talked about here. Stay tuned, this one is just getting started.

    UPDATE: Here is a police report that was made in September that shows that she was three months along at the time.

  • “Army Wives of Alaska,” (UPDATED)

    Despite the contrary view that this is a lead up to a bad amateur porn video, it is not. It is something worse, far worse. Reality Television and it is invading Fort Richardson.

    A Los Angeles-based production company is looking for military family members to cast in a new show about military spouses in Alaska.

    The company is developing what it describes as a documentary series for television broadcast.

    The show, with the working title is “Army Wives of Alaska,” will focus on the real-world lives, struggles and sacrifices of military spouses stationed in the 49th state.

    I get it, the idea sounds nice but considering the end results of most reality shows like this end badly.

    Eventually, the Army’s Office of the Chief of Public Affairs granted approval for 44 Blue to cast volunteers for the show.

    “This program will help to raise the awareness of the national community of the sense of duty that the family has as well as the soldiers in uniform,” said Army Lt. Col. John Clearwater, film and television liaison for the Army’s Office of the Chief of Public Affairs in Los Angeles.

    The show is the first of its kind to be approved for production on a military installation, according to Clearwater.

    Again there is a reason why. Because of the small community and how gossip/drama can spread quickly. So add a Reality TV show were any issues are put out in public for all to see. What makes it worse is that people will now know you throughout the entire post and all your personal issues. I would be just like this only a Military Version.

    So with that being said anyone still thinks this is a good idea?

    Oh and if you require something to make you forget watching that previous video I present this.



    UPDATE:     This is the two facebook pages that have right now, Army Wives of Alaska Casting and Married to the Army: Alaska.

  • More fun from Occupy Wall Street.

    Lets see, it seems that the OWS managed to to get a retired police chief to decry the New York Police department. The same person that was arrested at a Occupy protest in New York. Oh and if you have to ask he was from Philadelphia. I figure that he is part of the police equivalent of the IVAW.

    I think that these people need to be reminded about Appeal to Authority fallacy.

  • Domestic Terrorist arrested in NYC.

    The New York Police have announced the arrest of a Jose Pimentel, who had intended on bombing various targets to include Government buildings and personnel.

    Bloomberg announced at a news conference the Saturday arrest of 27-year-old Jose Pimentel of Manhattan, a U.S. citizen originally from the Dominican Republic.

    The mayor said Pimentel was “plotting to bomb police patrol cars and also postal facilities as well as targeted members of our armed services returning from abroad.” But authorities have no evidence that Pimentel was working with anyone else, the mayor said.

    I doubt that he was working alone, but I am glad that he is off the streets.