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 Greetings! You are reading an article from The Mudville Gazette. To reach the front page, with all the latest news and views, click the logo above or "main" below. Thanks for stopping by! October 1, 2006 Fire Photon TorpedoesBy Greyhawk...or something else. The NY Times reports that the "$436.6 billion military spending bill passed Friday". "Spending bill" is a media description, not the actual name of the bill, but it is descriptive. Americans will be shocked, shocked I tell you, to discover that "Lawmakers... found room in the bill to pay for thousands of requests never sought by the Defense Department." The total cost of earmarks is subject to debate. The House Appropriations Committee said the value of the “member projects” in the spending bill this time was $6.7 billion, down from $7.7 billion in the bill approved last year. The Congressional Research Service estimated the total cost of earmarks in last year’s bill at more than $9 billion. Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan group, has identified well over 2,000 earmarks in this year’s bill, roughly on par with last year’s.Read/search the bill online here. Given the recently passed earmark transparency bill (actual name: "Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act") we may see some interesting media or blog coverage of these items. Ironically, the first spending bill passed after the heralded and praised earmark transparency bill doesn't have a single lawmaker owning up to an earmark. All of the bill's $433.6 billion in spending has sailed through the new rule's wide-open loopholes. The only acknowledgement of the change is a small mention at the end of the conference report stating that no provisions meet the earmark criteria. Even the bill writers didn't say the bill didn't contain earmarks, just that none meet the definition outlined in the rule change.So there. But whatever follows, I hope no one goes after this project: Among the earmarks identified by Taxpayers for Common Sense were $1.7 million for photon research in upstate New York, care of Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles E. Schumer...Because we need the photon torpedoes first, damn it. Posted by Greyhawk / October 1, 2006 4:52 PM | Permalink 11 Comments |
March 19, 2010Dawn Patrol 03/19/2003 [Greyhawk]
"Welcome to the Dawn Patrol, our daily roundup of information on the War on Terror and other topics - from the MilBlogs and various sources around the world." Mudville was founded in March, 2003. Our efforts to bring the thoughts, words, and deeds of milbloggers to a wider world evolved to become The Dawn Patrol in March, 2005. With today's entry we're going to reset the clock - but not re-write the history - and recreate the world as it was - on a day the world changed...
Updating... more to follow.... MILBOGSAndrew Olmsted, 19 Mar 2003, Stateside: It would appear that the liberation of Iraq has begun. Greyhawk, 18 Mar 2003, Germany: A united world could have, just maybe, brought down Saddam without firing a shot. We will never know. 19 Mar: We'll never know what a united world could have achieved... the UN could not agree on anything, the situation degenerated, and here we are. Status quo was not working. The French were too desperate for oil and trade at any cost. Well-intentioned Americans were led into the streets by Communists (and others) with an agenda. The media distorted the split. Many in America and abroad thought they could manipulate the situation to their personal gain. They miscalculated. The fire is lit. Pontifx ex Machina, 18 Mar, undisclosed location: Rolling out the gate, the guard gets a quick "hook-em, horns" sign as we weave through the barricades. Then we're off, cruising through the desert in a battered-up SUV. On the eve of war, only one thing passes through our minds: is there going to be any appropriate music on the radio? Lt Smash, 19 Mar, undisclosed location: Read the President's speech today. The clock is ticking. Chief Wiggles, 22 Mar, Kuwait: The war started Wednesday morning for us right after the president gave a speech to the American people that lasted about 4 minutes. We were all very anxious for this whole thing to be either over or get it on its way. Will, 22 Mar, en route: I am going to Baghdad to personally shoot that paper hanging son of a bitch! Lt Smash 20 Mar, undisclosed location: Sgt Stryker, 20 Mar, Stateside: Iraq to File U.N. Complaint About Attack Primary Main Objective, 30 Mar, undisclosed location I Dare Kofi to Come Get Me.
BruceR, Flit, 19 Mar, Canada: AND SO IT BEGINS. Godspeed, Yanks. Come home safe and soon. Andrew Olmsted, 20 Mar 2003, Stateside: The most important thing to remember over the next few days is this: the first reports are almost always inaccurate. First reports are generally submitted in the heat of battle before any real analysis can take place. Therefore, they're highly subjective, based on limited information, and rarely hit the mark. So as the first reports of 'surgical strikes' on Iraqi forces come in, it's best to take those reports with a grain of salt... Iraqi BlogsSalam Pax, Baghdad: The bombing aould come and go in waves, nothing too heavy and not yet comparable to what was going on in 91. all radio and TV stations are still on and while the air raid began the Iraqi TV was showing patriotic songs and didn't even bother to inform viewers that we are under attack. at the moment they are re-airing yesterday's interview with the minister of interior affairs. THe sounds of the anti-aircarft artillery is still louder than the booms and bangs which means that they are still far from where we live, but the images we saw on Al Arabia news channel showed a building burning near one of my aunts house... Other BlogsAndrew Sullivan, The Daily Dish: How much more morally indefensible is appeasement when we also have complete international authority to do what must be done? I think we will look back in the future and not ask, as so many now are, how it was that diplomacy didn't get unanimity on this matter. We will look back and see the moral obtuseness of Chirac and Putin and Schroder and Carter and feel nothing but contempt for them, and their preference for state terror over the responsibilities of the free world. That's why I felt enormous pride tonight in the stand being taken by Blair and Bush. The president's speech was measured, firm, just. Blair's political risks - in order to do what he believes is plainly right - will confirm him in history as a great prime minister, the conscience of his party, and the leader of his country. I say that before this war begins, because the cause is just whatever vicissitudes of conflict await us... Glenn Reynolds has a ton of links. Newpapers
Updating... more to follow.... |
The Mudville Gazette is the on-line voice of an American warrior and his wife who stands by him. They prefer to see peaceful change render force of arms unnecessary. Until that day they stand fast with those who struggle for freedom, strike for reason, and pray for a better tomorrow.
 
 
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Does it mention anti-matter production and containment research? Because thats kind of necessary for photon torpedos.
Oh and funding for moving the research labs to somewhere safe like, say, the Oort Cloud.
Rather have Predator drones with frickin' lasers on them. Would be cheaper. ;-)
I excerpted and linked at Old War Dogs >> Bill's Bites -- 2006.10.01. Still can't leave you trackbacks.
They can do all the photon research they want but what are the chances of Clinton or Schumer ever seeing the light?
If we have Photon torpedos, then we can re-deploy our troops to Alpha Centurie (sp?)
Marvin ... if the Senators from New York got this research funded, how about the funding for the next-generation Iludyian Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator?
I think that you, of all people, would be in a position to know ...
Nope, they have to protect the B1RD and GU11 funding.
Not to mention, the Iludyian lobby has another political liability ... any day now, the Senate may pass a bill defining the rehydration of Martians as "torture" a la waterboarding ...
... and PETA's going to be up in arms about dressing up dogs in Roman leather and sneakers.
Rigel Kentaurus A (Alpha Centauri)
HEEEEEEYYYYY! I am a rocket scientist. I think photon research is valuable. How else will we find out how photons mate and reproduce and then be able to control their minds to do our bidding. Imagine billions and billions of photons working together shoulder to shoulder to develop the Iludyian Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator?
And we'll straighten out all of those bad directions people get (No more wrong left turns at Albuquerque). I'd support this with all of $50 just for the laughs.
Seriously, I am sure there are any number of useful research projects into photons which could be funded. I don't know whether this one is valid or not, but I think we might be jumping to conclusions as to whether or not these are justified. I'd like a little more information before saying it is a waste.
Subsunk
Imagine billions and billions of photons working together shoulder to shoulder to develop the Iludyian Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator?
Are we talkin' about frickin' la-zer's here, Subsunk? Throw me a bone!
Next thing you know, you'll want to mount them frickin' la-zers on the heads of frickin' sharks ... either the kind PETA loves, or the steel-skinned/nuclear-powered/XXXL kind within whose taut bellies you used to reside.
We would be wise to take your advice, and check this out before passing judgment ...
... we just react this way to the initial reports because, unlike Dr. Evil's organization, Congress does tolerate "fail-ure" ... for even "fail-ures" can be the catalyst for the converting of our tax dollars by Congress' fast-breeder political reactors (like the two Senators mentioned) into prodigious amounts of pork, which brings further fuel to the process.
(and, didya' notice, since the advent of GPS, the reports of rabbits making wrong turns at Albequerque have dropped sharply. Wonder if Warner Bros. bought their star a TomTom?)
Rich,
I've been traveling. Sorry to get back to you so late.
You're correct. In this day and age, no rabbits need ever make wrong turns anymore. I wonder whether it was a breeding program or whether GPS receivers are all so cheap that even poor rabbits can afford them now? See, who knows? Those photons might become so cheap through this research that producing them may one day become as common as flipping on a light switch!
That being said, is there a breeding program for more curvaceous female humans and where do I sign up??? --- to judge their breeding, obviously. After all, the Submarine Force IS an all volunteer force and I certainly want to do my share to help out my country in the improved female department. (Is that a non sequitur? They obviously are as close to perfect as anything I've ever come across.)
Subsunk
PS,
Almost missed the Taut Dog reference, Rich. You've been researching so well, haven't you? We used to dream of the Laser Persicope one day in the future. Flip up the guard over the button, push it and bore a 6 foot hole into the side of the Kara class cruiser screaming across the ocean to get to us. Bye Kara!
Yes, indeed, I was a Taut Dog once upon a time. Before that I was just a Dog at Texas A&M. And a repository for every Aggie joke ever written.
My, times have changed. Now, I'm just stupid, fat, senile, old and my nuts seem to have developed some kind of rash, according to certain folks around here. Maybe there's a treatment for that.
I know, it's called humor.
Have a nice day, Rich.
Subsunk out.