Ballistic Missile Cones Look Like Batteries?

Maybe it's not completely the White House's fault for military failures in Iraq and Afghanistan. If you are making these mistakes, then what other blunders are you doing?

(Chicago Tribune)At a news conference, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne said Tuesday that the misshipped items were four nose cone assemblies for ballistic missiles. He also said it was sent instead of helicopter batteries that had been ordered by Taiwan, he said.

Either this is a big mistake, or a way to cover up the arming of Taiwan. You deicide.

Can I Get Some Dumplings With Extra Insecticide?

MMMM!!! And I was wondering what to have for Super Bowl snacks.....not anymore!

Bad Day For Democrcy In Pakistan

Not only was Benazir Bhutto assassinated, but earlier in the day, three were killed and several wounded at former Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif's rally. While W has been dealing with oil rich nations, I mean terrorist states, Pakistan keeps slipping further and further away from democracy. I wonder what India is thinking right now?

In The, "You can't Make This Up" Category

I don't know even where to begin here. Let us start with this.

(Boston Globe) China's suspect agricultural practices could soon affect American consumers. Federal authorities are working on a proposal to allow chickens raised, slaughtered, and cooked in China to be sold here, and under current regulations, store labels do not have to indicate the meat's origin.

Between the recent contamination of food for household pets, hogs, chickens and now fish, how can we even begin to consider importing chicken from China? Plus ,there is this thing in Asia called the bird flu. One way to open America up to the bird flu is to start importing chickens from the part of the world that has had outbreaks. And what will this do to American farmers who raise chickens?

Soon we will be the United States of China if we don't slow down what we have them do for us.

Thailand Bans YouTube

After Google refused to remove a video that "insulted" the Thai King, the military-appointed(coup in some parts of the world) has blocked YouTube and other websites from the Thai people.

(IHT) The clip, crude and amateurish and lasting less than a minute, depicts the king with a pair of feet being placed over his head, a highly insulting gesture in Thailand.

Insulting King Bhumibol Adulyadej is a serious criminal offense. Last week a Swiss man convicted of vandalizing images of the king and Queen Sirikit was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

I'd be the first to take shots at President Bush and our government officials, and as bad as some things have become in the U.S., it could always be worse.

U.S. And Ex-Taliban Working Together. Excellent!

Together they are waging a war of terror on Iran.

(The Blotter) A Pakistani tribal militant group responsible for a series of deadly guerrilla raids inside Iran has been secretly encouraged and advised by American officials since 2005, U.S. and Pakistani intelligence sources tell ABC News.

But you said Taliban. I don't see anything about the Taliban.

The leader, Regi, claims to have personally executed some of the Iranians.

"He used to fight with the Taliban. He's part drug smuggler, part Taliban, part Sunni activist," said Alexis Debat, a senior fellow on counterterrorism at the Nixon Center and an ABC News consultant who recently met with Pakistani officials and tribal members.

This isn't being done by some low level official either. This is being done by the highest levels of governmental officials.

Pakistani government sources say the secret campaign against Iran by Jundullah was on the agenda when Vice President Dick Cheney met with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in February.

A senior U.S. government official said groups such as Jundullah have been helpful in tracking al Qaeda figures and that it was appropriate for the U.S. to deal with such groups in that context.

Context? What context would allow us to work with those who were as responsible for 9/11 as al Qaida, yet attack Iraq which had nothing to do with 9/11 or al Qaida until we invaded it?

In China, Fraud Will Get You Death

Make sure you know fair market value of that ant farm you sell, or else you will be sentenced to death. Even Texas wouldn't do that, I think.

82nd Not Ready To Deploy

The Army says that the First Brigade of the 82nd Airborne is no longer able to respond within 18 hours to a war zone. In fact, the 82nd had to cancel the annual Memorial Day parade because the majority of their 17,000 troops were overseas.

Here is the part that should make some nervous, well unless you are an enemy of the U.S.

(NY Times) Pentagon officials worry that among the just over 20 Army brigades left in the United States or at Army bases in Europe and Asia, none has enough equipment and manpower to be sent quickly into combat, except for an armored unit stationed permanently in South Korea, several senior Army officers said.

“We are fully committed right now,” said Col. Charles Hardy of the Forces Command, which oversees Army training and equipping of troops to be sent overseas. “If we had a fully trained-up brigade, hell, it’d be the next one to deploy.”

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Following the example set by President Bush and A.G. Gonzales, Pakistan's President Musharraf has suspended a judge for not going along with the status quo, like rights abuses and things like that.

How Good Is The Intelligence?

The more and more that comes out about what we know and what we are just guessing at when it comes to Iran and North Korea is somewhat alarming. We've heard in the past that Iran and North Korea are close to having a nuclear weapon, yet when top officials were asked about this, their response was anything but coherent.

(IHT) In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee this week, Mike McConnell, the new director of national intelligence, said that it was possible that Iran could produce a nuclear weapon by the beginning of the next decade, but that it was also possible that Iran would not develop a weapon until 2015.

At the same hearing, another top official acknowledged publicly that U.S. intelligence agencies were less certain today than they were five years ago about whether North Korea was pursuing a clandestine uranium enrichment program.

Before we invade more countries or accuse others of things, shouldn't we be a little more sure of the intelligence? After all, it's not like the pre-war intelligence for Iraq was that accurate.

C'mon, Kites?

This might sound bad, but why can't that part of the World just hold an event without people getting maimed or killed?

(AP/CBS) At least 11 people died and more than 100 people were injured at an annual spring festival in eastern Pakistan celebrated with the flying of thousands of colorful kites, officials said Monday.

The deaths and injuries were caused by stray bullets, sharpened kite-strings, electrocution and people falling off rooftops

The kite strings are covered in ground up glass to cut the strings of other kite flyers. Really? Glass covered strings? And it's not just one or two people doing all this.

Police arrested more than 700 people for using sharpened kite strings or firing guns, and seized 282 illegally held weapons during this year's festival, said Aftab Cheema, a senior Lahore police officer.

It's a different way of life for sure.

More Thoughts On The New Dollar Coin

You would think that U.S. currency would be made in the U.S. by U.S. companies, right? Well they are made in the U.S., but one of the two companies is Korean owned, funded by the Korean government and has long ties with a certain American political family.

(The Politico) When Poongsan, already among the world's leading coin metal and ammunition suppliers, wanted to crack the Mint market late in the 1980s, the company established a stateside subsidiary. In 1992, PMX opened a $300 million plant in Cedar Rapids with a ribbon-cutting and tree-planting ceremony attended by then-first lady Barbara Bush, whose family is friendly with the Ryu family that founded Poongsan. About a year after opening, PMX got its first contract from the Mint.

Also, PMX received more money than the American company. Granted, $40 million isn't that much when you consider the contract for the new dollar coin was around $1.5 billion($756 million/$715 million).

The Ryu family has also raised about $1million for the George Bush Presidential Library.

Software Piracy Out Of Control In China

We've all heard that the Chinese have often infringed on intellectual property rights, but even I was taken back by the amount of piracy in China.

(SF Gate) Sales lost due to software piracy in China were about $3.9 billion in 2005, according to the Business Software Alliance, an industry group that tracks the illegal software trade.
…
Last year, an estimated 86 percent of software installed on computers in China was pirated, according to the Business Software Alliance. Though staggering, that number is better than the 92 percent tallied in 2003, said Victor Zhang, director of the alliance's Beijing office.

The latest bit of piracy had Microsoft's Vista on the streets of China for $2-$4 a week before it's release date.

Seoul Denies Kim Jong-IL Under Arrest

A Japanese news report stating that North Korea's leader was under house arrest seems to be not so credible. The report also says that there is infighting among the North's top leaders. However, several South Korean officials have denied anything of the sort going on. Oh if this were only true.

China Boisterously Joins Militarization Of Space

While some say it was done to provoke, others say it was a wake up call. Up until now, our government hasn't made many concessions when it comes to militarizing space. Maybe it was because we thought no one else had the technology or the money to make it happen, and if we could do it first, what a military advantage for us it would be. Well, with a single missile China announced it's presence.

(NYT) “It could be a shot across the bow,” said Theresa Hitchens, director of the Center for Defense Information, a private group in Washington that tracks military programs. “For several years, the Russians and Chinese have been trying to push a treaty to ban space weapons. The concept of exhibiting a hard-power capability to bring somebody to the negotiating table is a classic cold war technique.”

Is this M.A.D., the space version?

Progress On North Korean Front?

While no details are being announced, North Korea is saying that it has reached an agreement with the U.S. on it's nuclear program. It appears from the statements that what was agreed on is an outline for progress.

(AP/ABC) Hill said the talks laid the foundation for progress when six-nation nuclear negotiations resume and that he had agreed with his North Korean counterpart "on a number of issues." He also declined to elaborate.

I'll believe it when the people involved are of a little more importance than these guys.

How Many People Has He Fed?

Probably not many in Kenilworth, Beverly Hills or The Hamptons, but Momofuku Ando and his noodles fed many in college and those who didn't have fat pockets.

(BBC) It was the masterstroke of providing a waterproof polystyrene container for the noodles that made his Cup Noodle an instant success in 1971.

Nissin has led the global instant noodle industry since then, selling 85.7 billion servings every year, according to Agence France Presse.

Now that's a lot of noodles!

Vietnam Is The Latest Bird Flu Victim

The people of the Mekong Delta in Vietnam are facing "an extremely high risk" of the bird spreading.

(BBC) In the latest cases, all the poultry found dead were hatched illegally in the provinces of Ca Mau and Bac Lieu, health officials said.

"The risk of bird flu widely spreading in the Mekong delta is extremely high because farmers have thrown dead poultry into water channels for a long time," the Animal Health Department said in a report.

When your choices are dying from being broke and starvation, do you really care about the bird flu?

Chinese Got Wood!

You can now add lumber to the growing list of cheap products that come out of China.

(Chi Trib)It will be your hardwood floor and your coffee table, your bedroom dresser and your plywood -- all stamped with the most successful label of our time: Made in China.

In less than a decade, China has transformed the global timber trade, importing more wood each year than any country in history and quadrupling the amount of wood products it ships around the globe.

And no one is consuming more of it than Americans. U.S. shoppers have become the world's best customers of low-cost Chinese flooring, furniture and plywood, buying 10 times as much as a decade ago.

Look out Home Depot, here comes Wal-Mart's lumber department!

"Female" Indian Athlete Fails Gender Test

After winning "best athlete" at an Indian championship, Santhi Soundararajan, I think, was stripped of her/his award after failing a gender test, which is not mandatory.

The test was done soon after Soundararajan came second in the women's 800m race on 9 December.

Reports say the athlete cleared the gender test at the Asian track and field championship in South Korea last year where she won the silver medal in the 800m.

It is not clear how she failed the test at the Asian Games in Doha.

This would be the third time an Indian athlete has failed a gender test. I wonder how long it will take before this becomes a movie?