Dog Blogging Moment

A Picture of My dog Tova as she leaps for a red squirrel. Carnival of the Cat bloggers take that@ 

South Korea's Leader Gets It

Following the beheading of Kim Sun-il, an innocent South Korean civilian in Iraq by Islamist terrorists, South Korea's President Roh Moo-hyun vowed to "deal sternly" with terrorism and push ahead with a large troop expansion as reported in the AP via the Detroit News.

While some South Koreans protested with placardsreading "Bush and Roh killed Kim Sun-il" and "We don't want to die. Korean troops get out." Placing the blame away from the terorrists and being as eager as the Spanish and French to capitulate, the average South Korean is made of sterner stuff.

I Have friends who served in Vietnam who either worked with or were near South Korean units and held the ROK units in high regard and respect. From their stories and from reading about the history of the ROK participation in Vietnam, it is a well known fact, and the terrorists should have known this, that messing with South Koreans is a very bad idea.

Hopefully the President Roh Moo-hyun will send not just the Engineers and Medics but combat troops to guard them and give the Islamist cowards a demonstration of exactly why its a very Bad Idea to kill innocent South Koreans.

He's right not to buckle to teerorrism, and his promised of sending even more troops is exactly the right response. It not only does not comply with the Islamists demands but does the opposite showing the guts and resolve of SOuth Korea in the face of these threats. I daresay the Islamists are going to be in for a rude awakening if they mess with South Koreans again.

Iran will release detained British Sailors

Iran has announced it will release the 8 detained British sailors it seized after they allegedly entered 1000 meters into Iranian territorial waters.

However, the Iranians publicly displayed the sailors on Arab television:

the sailors, who were shown on Iranian television blindfolded and seated cross-legged on the ground.

and

On Tuesday, two sailors were shown on television apologizing for mistakenly entering Iran’s territorial waters. They read from a "prepared script".

No word yet on whether Iran will release the boats they seized.

Iran did the smart thing in immediately releasing the sailors rather than putting them on trial as they had previously threatened.

Airshow Photos

Pictures from the 2004 Grosse Ile Airshow


F117 Stealth Flyby

A T6 Texan WWII Trainer

Five T6 Texans Flying in formation with smoke on

A Texan II, The Air Force's Latest Training Aircraft

An F4U Corsair

A p51 Mustang

With the exception of the Texan 2 and the F117, all of the aircraft depicted are privately own and flown.

Iranian Boat Grab Update

This update is from the UK Ministry of Defence:

The Ministry of Defence can confirm that eight Royal navy personnel from the Royal Navy training team based in southern Iraq have been detained by the Iranian authorities while delivering a boat from Umm Qasr to Basrah. The team members were travelling in three boats (two Boston Whalers and one British Army Combat Support Boat) along the Shatt al Arab waterway on 21 June. The boats were unarmed but the crews were carrying their personal weapons.

The Foreign & Commonwealth Office is liaising with the Iranian Government to resolve the situation.

Iranians Grab British Patrol boats

Three British Patrol Boats with 8 crewman on board have been seized by the Iranians.

Apparently these boats regularly patrol the Iraq/Iran maritime border in the Shatt-al-Arab waterway.

Iran’s state-run, Arabic language Al-Alam television station reported that the three British ships entered Iranian territorial waters not far from the Iran-Iraq border.

“Iranian forces confiscated the ships and eight military personnel on board,” the report said.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Hamid Reza Asefi, confirmed the report, according to Iran’s main Persian-language TV channel.

“Interrogation of those detained will continue until the matter is clarified,” Asefi was quoted as saying.

The Iranian TV report said British crewmembers were carrying maps and weapons. It also said the ships were seized about 11 a.m. between the Bahmanshir and Arvand rivers, which would put them in the Shatt-al-Arab waterway east of the Iraqi city of Faw.

The ministry said there were no British warships operating in the Shatt-al-Arab waterway but some smaller vessels were there.

“We are assisting the Iraqi water police there so it may be one of those vessels,” a spokesman said on condition of anonymity.

The Foreign Office said British diplomats in Tehran had been in contact with the Iranian government but it was still unclear what had happened.

From the Toronto Star

It certainly looks like Iran is trying to act tough in the face of continuing evidence that its "peaceful" nuclear program is being used for weapons development. Additionally if this seizure causes problems and prevents Britisah patrolling of the waterway, thereby enhancing the chances of Iran to smuggle weapons and people into Iraq, I'm sure the Iranians won't mind that either.

Father's Day Airshow Report

For my first Father's Day as a new Father I was taken out to the 2004 Grosse Isle Airshow and had a great time.

Pictures and possibly a video clip to follow shortly.

Venona - Soviet espionage against America in the 40s and 50s

Venona was the name of the US program that decrypted and read Soviet spies' messages on their activities in the United States.

The Soviet espionage activities in the 40's and 50's were quite pervasive. Among those mentioned in the cables are the Rosenbergs, Alger Hiss, and Klaus Fuchs. The Soviet's espionage against the atomic bomb project is prominent in these messages with many referrals to the Manhattan project.

It certainly leads one to believe that McCarthy should be faulted not for his HUAC activities, but for merely scratching the surface and not probing deeper into the Soviet's and US Communist party's activities than he did. It certainly seems that there was in fact wide-spread communist infiltration of the US Government and other American institutions.

To see some of the now declasified Venona documents click:

The NSA's Venona site

The PBS Link

For an excellent overview of Venona check out the CIA's own website on the subject

Mayor of Detroit Suffers Outbreak of Foot-In-Mouth Disease

As noted in the Detroit News, Mayor Kilpatrick, made some embarrasing, if not downright stupid gaffes at the Detroit Regional Chanmber's policy conference.

Kilpatrick blurted out, “What is it with you white people? You love your drug wars.”

The racist remark was part of a larger and more bizarre diatribe by the mayor in which he blamed the media for Detroit’s poor image. Kilpatrick contends that Detroit doesn’t have a problem with crime, despite the cold, hard numbers from the FBI; it has a problem with the way the media report on crime.

Just imagine the protests, if not an outright riot, that would have occurred had it been a white politician saying “What is it with you black people? You love your drugs.”

Pathetic, racist and absolutely unnacceptable either way.

Hopefully the Mayor has the good sense to apologise, or that the media keep on this.

As a Mayor of a city that is now predominantly black, that is seeking the predominantly white suburbs to kick in money to keep the city afloat, one would think the Mayor would show both more class and more tact.

Imam Calls for Justice

But you know there's a catch.

Special to the Detroit News, Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi, head of the Islamic House of Worship in Dearborn Heights declares that Faith and values demand justice for Palestinians.


His editorial is a classic seethe. While he calls for "justice" and castigates the US and Israel, he can't seem to demand that his co-religionists that are terrorists should be brought to justice.

Of course he brings up Abu Ghraib:
The disgraceful scenes of brutality and humiliation in Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison have made a powerful explosive weapon of mass destruction whose main victim was the image of our country around the world.

Her then brings up the standard canard that Arrogant acts mixed with strategic mistakes resulted in losing the hearts and minds of the Iraqis. Last May the president declared the end of the war, and this May he declared the beginning of the war without predicting its end. For some reason, the president has decided to put the Israeli agenda above American security.

The Imam doesn't seem to connect the dots as to how the President not "predicting an end to the war in Iraq" is somehow putting the Israeli agenda above American security. Of course for Moonbats, including Fritz Hollings and Jim Moran, this is apparently understood.

He then plays the standard massacre card concerning the battle in Rafah

He then tops it off with his statement that I am not anti-Jewish; I am anti-injustice. I joined the interfaith “Walk as One” parade in Detroit to be one nation under one Lord. I wish I heard more courageous voices from the faithful within the Jewish community condemning the atrocities of the Israeli soldiers in Gaza.

Yep, some of his best friends are Jewish no doubt. Of course in his entire editorial he can't seem able to condemn a single act of Arab/Palestinian terrorism.

It's a classic one-sided seethe complete with references to Amnesty international and the UN as moral agents condemning evil Israeli actions like the building of a security fence to stop terorist infiltrations and interdicting tunnels used to smuggle weapons to kills Jews.

After all it just wouldn't meet his concept of justice to prevent terrorists from killing more Jews.

Little Green Footballs - the Drinking Game

In honor of the many drinking threads on Little Green Footballs, as a regular reader and occasional poster, I present the LGF Drinking Game.

The Rules

A Drink can be a beer, a glass of wine or a shot of liquor…your choice.

You must take a drink when:

1. Anytime someone posts “FIRST!”

2. Anytime Bigel posts that we should nuke Mecca and Medina
You can

a) take a drink in disgust
b) down a drink in agreement
c) contemplatively sip your drink while thinking…that might not be a bad idea as a deterrent to threaten the Islamists that if there is another attack on US soil we’ll atomically reconfigure their religion.

3. Anytime Aisha sings the praises of wearing a burka or a hijab

4. Anytime someone says “Gordon is a troll but even like a broken clock he’s sometimes right”

5. Anytime someone (((hugs))) someone else.

6. Anytime a Troll declares that LGF is a racist cesspool for its reporting on Islamist threats, Islamist statements in the media or mosque, Islamist activities and seethings.

7. Anytime someone GAZEs at a Troll.

8. Anytime someone tells a Troll to appropriately FOAD.

9. Anytime someone asks for a hat tip.

10. Anytime a post or commentator states that "Islam is a Religion of Peace" (ROP or ROPMA also qualifies).

11. Anytime someone brings up the grand Lizardroid conspiracy.

12. Anytime Charles posts in the comments on a thread. Please drink while standing at a position of attention with your glass raised to your Lizardroid Master.

13. If you’re not drunk yet by the time you read this rule, you’re obviously not reading LGF, get reading and start over!

Enrollment Decline at U of M Women and Minorities hardest hit.

Its interesting to see the different spins being spun on the enrollment drop at U of M.

The Detroit Free Press In its editorial notes that
applications among African Americans and Hispanics dropped 25 percent and 13 percent respectively But it then goes on to state that there was a a similar, 20-percent decline in white student applications.

On the other hand, The Detroit News in its editorial only remarks that U-M’s minority applications are down 21 percent from last fall; applications dropped 25 percent for African-Americans and 22 percent fewer African-Americans were accepted., with no mention of the corresponding 20% decline in white student applications.

Perhaps it did not mention this numerically similar decline in order to take a swipe at the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative's attempt to place on the ballot a referendum prohibiting affirmative action, noting it was a possible reason for the decline in minority students declining applications, and that it merely being in contention is enought for the damage may have already been done.

So the Detroit News is assuming minority students would not even apply to U of M because of a possible refferendum, which has not even taken place, and is the subject of court action, that would only prohibit affirmative action? If the Detroit News truly thinks that minority students are that dumb as to be influenced by such an event to not even apply, then no wonder that the Detroit News is in favor of affirmative action plans. But this reflects far more on the mindset of the Detroit News editorial writer than on the ability of any minority student.

Meanwhile, the Freep does not even mention the MCRI initiative as possible reason for the decline.

On the Eurofighter

Instapundit links to an article on the scotsman.com That the UK may sell some of its Eurofighters before they are even put into service with the RAF.

The Eurofighter, which was to be the Euro consortium's answer to the F-22 and other latest generation fighter planbes seems to have its share of problems:

Beset by problems with design, hideous delays and enormous cost overruns, the fighter is already four years behind schedule.


but most significantly, for an all-weather, air superiority fighter and fighter bomber is this little drawback:

a procurement process that has been dogged by farcical hurdles, including the latest official warning that its pilots should not fly in cloud

I do hope the Europeans only fight their air battles on clear days.