Category: Uncategorized

When over a year ago, when Jon Stewart and Company on the Daily show did a “Satirical Rift” about Xmas, no one said a word, until last week. The big zinger came when one of the collegues of the show filed a report that basically said the government recognizes Xmas and shuts down, but if you’re not a celebrator of said holiday, you should sit home and reflect on the true meaning of Xmas.

(By the way, I’m using Xmas, since it pisses off the ignorant, look up the origin if your curious)

Well, it seems that FOX news has little news to report and has resorted to taken on people who wish you Happy Holidays rather than Merry Xmas, and Bill O Reilly plans to release Horror upon those who are trying to take Xmas away.

Believe me, probably over 90% of American’s celebrate Xmas in one fashion or another. Many of them celebrate it in a Secular way, and could care less about the religious aspect of it. Some American’s who are Eastern Orthodox don’t even celebrate Christmas in December. The Jews celebrate Hanukkah on a different date in December each year (it based on a different calendar). There is also New Years Day, and various other Saint days and holy days.

So happy Holidays is aptly appropriate, and if someone wants to say Holidays GET OVER IT!

Get the full report

We know that Schmidt didn’t mean to assassinate the character of the honorable congressman from Pennsylvania, it was her alter-ego, split personality, the wicked witch of the west.

Well, I hope that all veteran’s can see that regardless of your opinion of the war, that trashing the character a decorated war veteran on the house floor, and not engaging in the debate of the day is simply a despicable and evil thing to do.

Schmidt knows NOTHING about Honor, Courage, and commitment.

She doesn’t need a pie in her face, but a bucket of COLD water!!

I heard on the John Waters on Bill Maher show say that the 700 Club is just rounded up from 666. Does Pat Robertson’s recent speeches cross the line of free speech? Check out http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20050826.html and decide for yourself.

Personally, I would call for the FCC to revoke the operating license of the 700 Club, or some action that would involve a multi-million dollar fine.

Well, on to other great stuff

I watched some of the Sunday morning Political shows with great interest. I thought that Mehlman seemed like an unpolished college debate team geek who was only able to repeat the same stale talking points that floated across his memory.

Yet Dean didn’t seems to hit any balls out of the park either. When pressed about a vision for the Democratic Party, he was quiet, and suggested that without any control, there could be no vision. It isn’t enough to have your opponents down in the polls, you have to provide a clear and alternate direction. Of course there is Harry Reid, and interesting Senator, with clearly nothing to lose and all to gain as minority LEADER.

McCain was also on the talkshows. I’m always impressed with McCain, because he seems the most in touch with America of the many politicians that are out there. While he totes the party line when considering intelligence and the war, he clearly is the real Majority leader of the entire Senate. I can’t think of one person who has the charisma to work towards passing so many bipartisan proposals. It is unfathomable that the President would VETO McCain’s anti-torture legislation.

Robert Scheer, a columnist for the LA Times was fired this week… it is rumored that he was too liberal for the new editor. Not to worry, you can read his column at The Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-scheer/

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-bombings14nov14,0,3857749.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Hey a woman tried to be the 4th suicide bomber in Jordan. What gives? Well, maybe they can get something out of her. Is the penalty for attempted suicide bombing… death? Unfortunately this Jordanian 9/11 won’t be a real wakeup call for the people in Jordan. As long as they blame and hate America, there will be a breeding ground for these terrorist types. I feared that the day would come when the women had as little regard for their life as they do for their Fathers and children.

It’s been a little while since I updated a post here on my blog, and while I’ve been deficient here, my webpage has been updated with my activities. I recently took a trip to Hawaii. Although I had been there with the Navy, it was nice to see it from the eyes of a tourist. My photos are at juddspitzer.com

So hurricane season seems to be winding down, and life is getting into the pre-holiday mindset. An abundance of Halloween candy riddles the office like gremlins saturated with water. Yet political debate and banter doesn’t rest for a moment.

Plamegate, Meirs Nomination, Indictments, FEMA, the Global War on Terrorism, and on and on…

I could sit here and write about each of these things, but there are plenty of places for good coverage of it else where.

I think that it is much better to address the notion that people will hold on to a particular belief no matter what. You can tell someone based on facts presented that something is one way, but to convince someone to change their belief means that they have to be open minded. That doesn’t mean that someone should automatically be convinced to believe anything… but it does mean that if you are presented with the facts, you will at least give those facts the benefit of review.

Take the case of creationism now morphed into intelligent design… The people behind these ideas want their philosophy to be taught as science. See http://www.actionbioscience.org/evolution/nhmag.html for some good debate with both pros and cons. There are people who fear that the Creator is being erased by science that they will push a non-scientific view of the universe because it is contrary to their religious beliefs, and of course everyone should be forced to acknowledge that belief among the “scientific” possibilities.

Intelligent Design says, you must believe in a creator.

It is that single ideology that many people can have issue with, because people have different opinions about creation. I no quicker expect to change the minds of people who spend their life proselytizing about religion than I can of people who spend their life in denial about the science of Fung Shui.

If you live in the southeast of the United States, you may have some different perceptions of what it is like to live in the stomping grounds of hurricanes. As a Floridian, I know that every year we have the potential to have a visitor of the windy kind. With that in mind, we prepare as individuals and families for the upcoming hurricane season with water and supplies. These supplies are generally enough for a few days, and with any luck, that is all we hope to need before essential services are provided.

2004 brought numerous hurricanes to Florida, and I was without power for about 5 days or so on two separate occasions. The use of portable generators was helpful in keeping our refrigerator going and running some basic appliances, however, this had its own set of problems, such as noise and the need to find gas to keep the generator running.

Many people in Florida lost homes or even roofs. Yet with all the damage of the hurricanes of 2004, it doesn’t cumulatively compare to the damage of Katrina and how it affected the people of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

When you see the destruction, you wonder if there really is much you can do to prepare for something as catastrophic as a CAT 5 hurricane. Your supplies, your generator, and your home could very well be obliterated. From the coverage that I’ve seen, many of the homes that were destroyed were wood framed. While Concrete Block homes tend to survive better in hurricanes, there are no guarantees. This lends itself to ask the question on what can we do to be able to survive long term?

Evacuate

Floridians probably would have been in a more precarious situation than other places, having experienced a total of 4 major hurricanes and coming through with few deaths, low lying flooding, and mostly roof damage. Apathy for evacuation orders sets in when the News sensationalizes the situation and seems to be like the boy who cried wolf. We’ve been here before and nothing happened, so why should I go now? I think that many more people would have stayed in Florida for a CAT 5 to their utter demise. Up until Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, even I would have considered staying.

I did evacuate for one hurricane last year, and spent the time in Savannah, GA. It was a good trip, but all and all, I stayed in an expensive motel 6 (they take pets), and waited out for the storm to pass so I could rush home and see what happened. Other than the loss of power, I was lucky, no damage at all to my home. It’s time to make a better plan.

As far as the local government, I don’t think they did as much as they could have done. While there as “mandatory” evacuations for the barrier islands, there were plenty of people who stayed at their condos on the beach. Some even went surfing. I’m not sure how much the local government can really do.

One recommendation would be extensive use of the reverse 911 system to order people to evacuate.

Response and Blame

Hurricanes are much more different than other natural disasters in that there is warning. A hurricane doesn’t just happen one morning on your drive into work. It is a week away, it is just like the scene in Austin Powers where the man gets ran-over by the slow moving steamroller. There is plenty of time to get out of the way.

Personally, I was glad to see that the Mayor of New Orleans dispensed with “nice-ities” to use the vernacular of the common man, and spew a few profanities out there to let people know how pissed off his really is. If you’re city was destroyed, you too would be cursing mad. I think that people overestimate the power of the Mayor of New Orleans in some attempt to equate it with the likes of New York City. No doubt N.O. is a world class city, with everything that people expect from living in a city, however it is small at 400K people compared to the population of New York City or Los Angeles.

Where are the Parishes (Counties) in all of this? They also bear some of the responsibility for emergency response. Then of course there is the state. I believe that no one has ever thought that a city could be destroyed in modern times. It is just not credible to believe that the ocean would some day swallow a city. There are plenty of other cities that should be concerned, such as Miami or Fort Lauderdale,.

Then there is the Federal Response. Honestly, the jury is still out on how the Federal Government’s response went. Yet perception goes a long way, and the perception as of this date is that the government was slow and unorganized.

When you think about Hurricane’s Hugo or Andrew, both of which was more than 10 years ago, in fact they predated the mass use of the Internet. They claim that the response to this hurricane was faster than that of Hugo or Andrew, however, computers and the internet have made the ability of agencies to be faster and more integrated than ever both cheap and easy.

Responding like the military. I’ve heard it said that we can deploy a ship within 24 hours notice, but we couldn’t get anything docked for more than 3+ days after the storm went through. I agree, this is a problem. Knowing that the hurricane is out there, the Navy and other military personnel should be ready to respond. It could even be necessary to bring in troops from other state’s national guard if that is permissible.

So who from the Federal Government do you blame if you’re not satisfied? Well, I say we leave it up to the people who are most affected. They understand their local politics better than we could ever hope to. They will elect the people they believe in. I do blame the State and Federal government for not ensuring that fuel producers and sellers weren’t engaging in price gouging, fixing, or other illegal attempts to fix and set fuel prices in a crisis higher than what the market should be paying.

I have a problem as well with watching my Taxes increase to pay for the problems that could have been prevented if congress and the senate wouldn’t have removed it from the federal budget, but at the same time funded a second bridge in Alaska for less than 50 people to travel on. Priorities are out of whack. “the government was spending so much on a second Alaska bridge that connected to an island of 50 people that it could just as well buy all the residents Lear Jets. -USA Today”

I recently saw the classic movie, “The Great Dictator” and found it pretty outstanding. At the end, Charlie Chaplin, who also wrote and directed the movie, gives a great speech and thought it would be great reading here. Well worth putting on your Netflix list. The following is quoted/copied from wikiquote.org.

In which Chaplin plays the dual roles of the dictator “Adenoid Hynkel” (a direct parody of Adolf Hitler) and “The Jewish Barber” .
At the end of the movie, the barber is mistaken for the dictator and asked to give a speech on the occasion of the invasion of a neighboring country. The speech, in its entirety, is what follows:
“I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone – if possible – Jew, Gentile – black man – white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness – not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost….
“The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men – cries out for universal brotherhood – for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world – millions of despairing men, women, and little children – victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me, I say – do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed – the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. …..
“Soldiers! don’t give yourselves to brutes – men who despise you – enslave you – who regiment your lives – tell you what to do – what to think and what to feel! Who drill you – diet you – treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men – machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don’t hate! Only the unloved hate – the unloved and the unnatural! Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In the 17th Chapter of St Luke it is written: “the Kingdom of God is within man” – not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people have the power – the power to create machines. The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then – in the name of democracy – let us use that power – let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world – a decent world that will give men a chance to work – that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfil that promise. They never will! Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people! Now let us fight to fulfil that promise! Let us fight to free the world – to do away with national barriers – to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness. Soldiers! in the name of democracy, let us all unite!”

In the world of BRAC and saving money for the DoD and Navy, one has to question the purpose of building the new DD(X). Submariners have joked for decades that there only two types of ships… Submarines and Targets. Truly, no one expects to see great sea battles of WWII, and rarely has there been a need for large combatant escorts on the ocean. A modern Navy needs to reinvent itself.

Our Navy needs to concentrate on a three facetted supremacy, shore, airspace and waterspace. How can we accomplish this? First, Shore-based supremacy is accomplished by our Navy-Marine Corps Team. The use of Landing Crafts and other ships needed to transport Marines and Sea Bees to distant shores should be an acquisition priority. These ships should also be re-invented to provide ample self protection. There is no reason that they should need to be escorted by other warships. They are by definition, a warship.

Airspace supremacy is and has been accomplished by a very able Aircraft Carrier group. Maintaining the Carriers is a vital to establishing a forward deployed presence anytime anywhere. Carriers need to be reinvented to be multi-mission capable. Carriers need to carry their own set of deployable boats for littoral protection. Carriers should be virtually impenetrable fortresses from any surface or air strikes.

Finally, waterspace supremacy is virtually the domain of the Submarine. Any navy that does not have a submarine might as well not even attempt to conduct any sea-based operations. The US Submarine force has continued to evolve over the past 100 years, unlike any other part of the Navy. From diesel power to nuclear power, fast attack to being the last surviving leg of our nation’s nuclear triad, the submarine force is the “Tip of the Sword” for the US Navy. Using submarines to provide ship escort services, anti-submarine operations, special operations, forward deployed conventional missile batteries and on and on continues to prove that this where we get the most bang for our buck.

If the Navy really wants to save money, they need to get rid of these ridiculous surface ships that serve no real purpose, and concentrate on the three pronged approach to deploying forces. While I have not addressed non-combatant oriented ships, such as supply ships and mine sweepers, as long as their mission is unique, it should stand up to similar tests of need. The days of the “Great White Fleet” are over. Ships such as the Stark and Cole prove that deploying these types of vessels just do not make as much sense anymore, when a message to a submarine can mean the utter doom of shipping or war making capability of just about any country.

As we watch countries such as China and India invest more and more into submarines, we can be sure that the best defense is a more capable submarine platform. It is hard to imagine that there are better platforms that perform the missions as capable with less personnel than a U.S. Submarine. They are more capable, more survivable, and more threatening than any warship. The pittance that politicians are throwing at the Submarine Force to keep it afloat is a travesty to our Nation’s defensive posture. Without an effective and highly trained submarine force, our nation could essentially be considered defenseless.

The controversial, lauded, and trashed Cindy Sheehan seems to be the hot press item these days since she’s decided to camp out at the President’s vacation spot in Crawford, TX.

I sympathize with her on the loss of her son in war. It is a tragedgy beyond tragedy for any parent to have to bury a child. At 18-ish years old, he had his whole life ahead of him. As a person who has been in harms way to support this nation, albeit, not with bullets flying across my head, but none the less in harms way, I can understand how HE must have felt. Military folk face the possibility of death every day, but they just don’t think about it. If they did, they would have a difficult time doing their job.

But I digress… My real distaste for Ms. Sheehan is her citing of her son dying for Israel. Her simplistic and erroneous view of history makes you question her ideology. Especially with friends like David Duke coming to her side/defense. If you want to be a peace activist, great. I think everyone would love their loved one’s to come home soon. We’d all love peace. Trust me, military people don’t live for the next good war. They hope that there will not be another war.

It’s just hard to read a message of peace with a message of hate! Cindy’s claim that America is fighting Israel’s war is insane. Blaming Israel for the violence because they occupy areas such as the West Bank are also crazy if you read and understood the history of why the region is in the situation that it is in. A quick recap. 6-day war, Yom Kippur War… Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt get their asses kicked and Israel occupies those sovereign nation’s land to protect it’s (Israel’s) borders. Those lands have become the Palestinian disputed lands.

The Israel’s have been marked by the Arab community for extinction from before the days of an Israeli State. Until the Palestinians recognize that killing civilians is a moral and ethical wronging, and the authorities change the mental attitudes about suicide bombings, these problems will continue. They won’t be happy until Israel is no more. Is that Sheehan’s desire?

Let’s face it, there are lots of dynamics that play here, weapons, water, strategic locations and religion. This is no bandaid fix like Sheehan would suggest.

So, like I say, Sheehan, leave Israel out of your message and stick to your no war message and be heard my others.

Recently I read an article that questioned whether or not the US needed to drop nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It made some claim that the US didn’t realize how close Japan was from surrendering. So I thought that it was interesting that 60 years later we are talking about this in a sort of Wednesday morning quarterback type of situation. I mean let’s face it, Monday and Tuesday have passed, and we are well into the week after the game has been played out.

Anyways, I do believe that there is a flaw in this idea that we should become self-loathing American’s for being the only country in the world to use Nuclear Weapons. While we can agree that it is regrettable that they were used in warfare we still have to look at a much smarter view of World War II. The fact is that we firebombed plenty of German and Japanese cities, laying 100’s of Tons of ordnance. Germany developed Blitzkreig, and was ruthless in treating Millions of people.

There are lots of commentary that give the following reasons supporting the Bomb:

• It was developed at great cost to the US and need to be proven.
• We wanted to show the Russian’s that we had the upperhand, and it would give us a better negotiation hand.
• We wanted revenge for Pearl Harbor.
• Dropping the Bomb would save American Lives.
• Dropping the Bomb would end the war sooner.

There may be other reasons as well, but this was the basic thoughts that I have read that is out there. I believe that the last two were accomplished by dropping the Bomb.

When you consider that communications to the Empire of Japan was slow. Their treatment of American’s as POWs was aweful (see Baatan Deathmarch). And the population was dedicated to the Emperor, no matter what. If people did not come to know that this weapon was so aweful, they would have scoffed and continued to fight in disbelief of the US capability.

Nuclear weapons serve their purpose, in the past and in the present. We can regret that they needed to be used, but we can acknowledge that is was necessary. 60 years ago, the earth stood still. Let’s hope that deterrence can now work.

Turned 21 for the 15th time… Today!