Spaceship Harvey

Rommel's Little Feller's

2009-10-31T23:44:00.000-07:00

During the 1941-1942 tug of war for North Africa, the British benefited from radio-intercept-derived Ultra information. Despite that Allied advantage, however, for six months and 11 days the Germans enjoyed an even speedier, more across-the-board intelligence source. It was what Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the legendary Desert Fox, called die gute Quelle (the good source). It also was known as ‘the little fellows’ or ‘the little fellers,’ a play on the name of its unwitting provider, Brevet Colonel Bonner Frank Fellers. Fellers, a 1918 West Point graduate who previously had served in America’s embassy in Madrid, Spain, was the U.S. military attaché in the Egyptian capital of Cairo.

North Africa Campaign

2009-10-31T23:40:00.000-07:00

The battle for North Africa was a struggle for control of the Suez Canal and access to oil from the Middle East and raw materials from Asia. Oil in particular had become a critical strategic commodity due to the increased mechanization of modern armies. Britain, which was the first major nation to field a completely mechanized army, was particularly dependent on the Middle Eastern oil. The Suez Canal also provided Britain with a valuable link to her overseas dominions–part of a lifeline that ran through the Mediterranean Sea. Thus, the North African campaign and the naval campaign for the Mediterranean were extensions of each other in a very real sense.

Battling Rommel's Panzers in Normandy's Hedgerows

2009-10-31T23:38:00.000-07:00

Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was facing one of his greatest battlefield challenges during the first week of July 1944. In spite of a large concentration of German tanks opposite Caen, the Allies continued to expand their Normandy lodgment. Several armored counterattacks against the British Second Army had failed. Worse, the decision to conduct a protracted defense south of Cherbourg also led to defeat. When the full force of the American VII Corps struck the Cotentin Peninsula in mid-June, the Germans were compelled to rapidly retreat and give up the important port city, which surrendered on June 25.

Operation Bragation

2009-10-31T23:37:00.001-07:00

Geographically, it dwarfed the campaign for Normandy. In four weeks, it inflicted greater losses on the German army than the Wehrmacht had suffered in five months at Stalingrad. With more than 2.3 million men, six times the artillery and twice the number of tanks that launched the Battle of the Bulge, it was the largest Allied operation of World War II. It demolished three Axis armies and tore open the Eastern Front. Operation Bagration, the Red Army’s spring 1944 blitzkrieg, was designed to support Allied operations in France, liberate Russian territory and break the back of the Wehrmacht once and for all.

Rommel's Defense of Normandy

2009-10-31T23:35:00.001-07:00

When World War II ended in Europe in May 1945, most Western military leaders and analysts regarded Erwin Rommel as the war’s greatest German general. But that was not how most German military leaders felt. Instead, in their memoirs they argued that Rommel was at best an adequate tactician and not a bad leader of small units, that he had been an adequate division commander, but his command of corps, army and army groups was often flawed. Rommel, they asserted, had involved himself too much in the day-to-day details of the tactical fight and not enough in the operational and strategic issues that must concern those at the highest levels of command, and he paid too little attention to matters of intelligence and the enemy’s order of battle. Thus, his German critics allege, as the commander of the Afrika Korps, ‘the Desert Fox’ had won some spectacular victories but willfully ignored problems of logistics.

Battle to control Carentan

2009-10-31T23:33:00.001-07:00

General Omar Bradley knew he had to have Carentan. The crossroads town of some 4,000 people sat astride the N-13 highway as well as the Cherbourg–Paris railroad, which meant that in June 1944 it was also positioned between the American landing beaches at Utah and Omaha. Taking it, though, would be no simple affair.

Battle of Saipan

2009-10-31T23:30:00.000-07:00

In the early morning hours of July 7, 1944, Lieutenant Colonel William J. O’Brien, commander of the 1st Battalion, 105th Infantry Regiment, 27th Infantry Division, was killed in action at Saipan during a massive Japanese suicide attack. His last words were: ‘Don’t give them a damned inch! It was a gyokusai attack–a suicidal assault ordered by Imperial General Headquarters in which each Japanese soldier on the island was meant to die for the emperor and, in dying, was supposed to kill seven Americans. The Japanese were ordered to take no prisoners.

The gyokusai attack on the Tanapag plain has been described by many historians of World War II as the most devastating attack by the Japanese during the war. For his heroic conduct during that battle, Colonel O’Brien was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously. One of his soldiers, Sergeant Thomas A. Baker, who was also killed in the battle, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, as well.

U.S. Army 42nd Infantry Div. in Op. Nordwin

2009-10-31T23:27:00.000-07:00

It was bitter cold with a foot of snow on the ground and no moonlight the night of January 24, 1945, as the green GIs of the 42nd ‘Rainbow Division’s 222nd Infantry Regiment strained to see the enemy. But a low ground fog covering the firebreak between their positions in the Ohlungen Forest and the Haguenau Forest before them made this an almost useless exercise. More chillingly, they could hear sounds from the woods beyond, sounds of tramping feet and loud talking. Water turned to ice in the bottoms of their foxholes. Anxiety built as they waited for the unseen enemy to come swarming out of the woods.

By January 1945, Adolf Hitler’s Ardennes offensive was faltering, and in a last-ditch effort to break through Allied lines, the Führer scraped together what forces he could to launch an offensive into Alsace. Earlier German attacks in the area had created two small salients above and below Strasbourg and had forced the U.S. Seventh Army back on an arm that pivoted on Bischwiller, not far from the Rhine River, and extended northwest along the Moder River.

Raid on Rommel's RR in Tunisia

2009-10-31T23:25:00.001-07:00

At exactly 2230 hours on Christmas Eve 1942, two Douglas C-47s loaded with paratroopers took off from Thelepte airfield outside Algiers. Suspended under the belly of each was a drop container holding 200 pounds of explosives. On board were 32 Americans from the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion and two French paratroopers who had been ordered to destroy the vital railroad bridge at El Djem, Tunisia.

Once an insignificant spot on the rail line from Tunis to Gabes, it now linked the brilliant German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel — battling British General Bernard L. Montgomery’s Eighth Army in the south — to vital supplies being sent by rail from northern Tunisia. During the initial stages of the North Africa campaign, the fighting had taken place primarily in Egypt and Libya, far to the east of the El Djem bridge. Since Montgomery’s autumn offensive had forced Axis armies to retreat westward from the Egyptian frontier toward Tunisia, however, the bridge at El Djem had become an important link between supply depots and Axis front lines.

Charles de Gaulle

2009-10-31T23:23:00.001-07:00

The turmoil of World War II made heroes and household names of many in the military, most of whom were already in positions of military power and whose decisions and actions shaped their countries’ military policies and directions. Charles de Gaulle, however, held a position of relative obscurity within his military. That is, until the Germans invaded his homeland in May of 1940.

In his youth, de Gaulle was interested, above all else, in the fate of France, whether as a subject of history or as it affected his stake in public life. Born in Lille in 1890 and growing up in Paris, he was the son of a traditionalist father and a mother who, in his memoirs, de Gaulle described as having ‘uncompromising passion for her country, equal to her religious piety.’ He joined the army in 1909 and, as then required, served in the ranks for one year. In 1910 he entered the military academy at Saint-Cyr. His first assignment to the 33rd Infantry Regiment brought him in contact with a Colonel Henri Pétain. Pétain would later rise to the rank of marshal of the army and become the savior of France at Verdun during World War I. De Gaulle credited Pétain with teaching him the art of command. During World War I de Gaulle learned firsthand the harsh reality of combat. He was wounded three times and spent the last 32 months of the war as a prisoner.

Battle of Badoeng Strait

2009-10-31T23:19:00.001-07:00

The attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, signaled the beginning of a massive Japanese thrust into Southeast Asia, with the capture of the vast oil fields and refineries of the Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia) as its primary goal. This oil was vital to Japan to enable it to continue its war of conquest in China, which had been dragging on since 1931.

The primary Allied powers in the region formed a joint command to coordinate the defense of their respective territories and empires. The command, called ‘ABDA’ (for American, British, Dutch and Australian), was disjointed and poorly organized, as were the Allied defenses it was formed to coordinate.

German Counterattack at Debrecken

2009-10-31T23:16:00.000-07:00

Throughout the summer of 1944, the men of General der Artillerie Maximilian Fretter-Pico’s German Sixth Army were literally fighting for their very existence. The Red Army, pushing ever westward, was nearing the zenith of its strength. Although German soldiers were killing Russian soldiers at a rate of 4.5 to 1, conscripts from newly liberated Soviet territory made good the losses.

Tough, confident generals had long since replaced the inefficient Red Army commanders responsible for the disasters of 1941 and 1942. The commander of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, Marshal Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky, was one such general. Born near Odessa in 1898, he joined the Czarist army at age 15 and was wounded in World War I. In 1919, he became a machine-gun instructor in the Red Army.

William Bull Halsey

2009-10-31T23:11:00.000-07:00

William F. Halsey was a sailor born and bred. His heart was Navy blue and gold, and it pumped salt water each of his seventy-six years. As a first to last combatant of the Pacific War, he launched aircraft into the Sunday surprise on December 7, 1941, and forty-five months later stood witness to the end of Imperial Japan on the deck of the battleship Missouri. Along the way Halsey became America’s most acclaimed fighting admiral and his own worst enemy.

Battle of the Bismark Sea

2009-10-31T23:09:00.001-07:00

Last night I dreamed I saw a dragon rising out of the sea,” an unknown Japanese soldier wrote in his diary on February 24, 1943. He was sailing aboard Tosei Maru, a passenger-cargo ship traveling to Rabaul, on New Britain, to deliver soldiers and supplies for transport to New Guinea. The Japanese were preparing to launch a flotilla of eight transport ships and eight destroyers destined for Lae, on the eastern coast of New Guinea, to reinforce the garrisons tenuously defending Japan’s grip on the Southwest Pacific.

The Race to Malta

2009-10-31T23:07:00.000-07:00

By the summer of 1942, the small Mediterranean island of Malta had been under Axis siege for two years. That April and May, more bombs fell on Malta than fell on London during the Battle of Britain. Like ants, the Maltese moved by the thousands into man-made caves and tunnels in the island’s limestone, some remaining from the Great Siege in 1565, when the Ottoman Turks attacked the Knights of Malta—Muslims vs. Christians, an earlier round.

Herman Balk

2009-10-31T23:06:00.001-07:00

December 1942 was a time of crisis for the German army in Russia. The Sixth Army was encircled in Stalingrad. Gen. Erich von Manstein, the commander of Army Group Don, planned to break the siege with a dagger thrust to the Volga River from the southwest by the Fourth Panzer Army, supported by the XLVIII Panzer Corps to its immediate north attacking across the Don River. But before the two German units could link up, the Soviet Fifth Tank Army under the command of Gen. P. L. Romanenko crossed the Chir River, a tributary of the Don, and drove deep into German lines.

Lt. Commander Eugene Fluckey

2009-10-31T23:04:00.001-07:00

In May 1944, Lt. Comdr. Eugene Fluckey, seeking his own submarine command, promised the Pacific Fleet sub commander at Midway Island that he would sink five Japanese ships on his first patrol. It was a bold gamble; the ship Fluckey had been eyeing, the USS Barb, had sunk only a single ship in six patrols under its previous commander. But with Fluckey placed in temporary command, the Barb got five freighters and two trawlers with the Barb’s guns its next time out—and Fluckey got the Barb.

Omar Bradley

2009-10-31T22:52:00.001-07:00

Shortly before the American invasion force embarked for Normandy on June 6, 1944, Gen. Omar Bradley, assigned to command 12th Army Group, convened his corps and division commanders at Bristol for a final review. There, General Bradley, the “old schoolteacher” from West Point and the Infantry School, personally conducted the class of generals. D-Day was full of awful imponderables. Facing the unknown, Bradley fell back upon the familiar—the world of the classroom and of the Missouri schoolteacher father he idolized. One by one, he called each general up to a map of France, proffered a pointer, and asked each to describe in detail his outfit’s scheme of maneuver. Maxwell Taylor, one of the generals present that day, could not help but reflect on a similar scene that had unfolded very differently just a year earlier, when George S. Patton Jr. met with his commanders before the assault on Sicily. For Taylor, the contrast between the two men was stark. Patton had “turned on us with a roar and, waving a menacing swagger stick under our noses, concluded: ‘I never want to see you bastards again unless it’s at your post on the shores of Sicily.’” But when Bradley concluded his lesson, he “folded his hands behind his back, his eyes got a little moist, and in lieu of a speech, he simply said, ‘Good luck, men.’”

Mongolia 1939

2009-10-31T22:40:00.000-07:00

The Khalkha River winds from north to south near the tip of a flat, grassy salient of Mongolia that juts about 100 miles eastward into Manchuria. In the 1930s, Manchuria’s Japanese overlords regarded the river as an international boundary line: Manchuria to its east, and Outer Mongolia—then a protectorate of the Soviet Union known as the Mongolian People’s Republic—to the west. Those on the Mongolian side of the border claimed that line ran some 10 miles east of the river, near the tiny hamlet of Nomonhan. While the precise location of the border meant little to the nomadic Mongols who had followed their herds back and forth across the river for centuries, the Kwantung Army, the elite Japanese force that controlled Manchuria, took a different view.

Patton letter

2009-10-31T22:30:00.000-07:00

Dear George:
At 0700 this morning the BBC announced that the German Radio had just come out with an announcement of the landing of Allied Paratroops and of large numbers of assault craft near shore. So that is it.
This group of unconquerable heroes whom I command are not in yet but we will be soon—I wish I was there now as it is a lovely sunny day for a battle and I am fed up with just sitting.

I have no immediate idea of being killed but one can never tell and none of us can live for ever so if I should go dont worry but set your self to do better than I have.
All men are timid on entering any fight whether it is the first fight or the last fight all of us are timid. Cowards are those who let their timidity get the better of their manhood. You will never do that because of your blood lines on both sides. I think I have told you the story of Marshall Touraine who fought under Louis XIV. On the morning of one of his last battles—he had been fighting for forty years—he was mounting his horse when a young ADC [aide-de-camp] who had just come from the court and had never missed a meal or heard a hostile shot said: “M. de Touraine it amazes me that a man of your supposed courage should permit his knees to tremble as he walks out to mount.” Touraine replied “My lord duke I admit that my knees do tremble but should they know where I shall this day take them they would shake even more.” That is it. Your knees may shake but they will always take you towards the enemy. Well so much for that.

There are apparently two types of successful soldiers. Those who get on by being unobtrusive and those who get on by being obtrusive. I am of the latter type and seem to be rare and unpopular: but it is my method. One has to choose a system and stick to it people who are not themselves are nobody.

To be a successful soldier you must know history. Read it objectively–dates and even the minute details of tactics are useless. What you must know is how man reacts. Weapons change but man who uses them changes not at all. To win battles you do not beat weapons you beat the soul of man of the enemy man. To do that you have to destroy his weapons but that is only incidental. You must read biography and especially autobiography. If you will do it you will find that war is simple. Decide what will hurt the enemy most within the limits of your capabilities to harm him and then do it. Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash. My personal belief is that if you have a 50% chance take it because the superior fighting qualities of American soldiers lead by me will surely give you the extra 1% necessary.

In Sicily I decided as a result of my information, observations and a sixth sense that I have that the enemy did not have another large scale attack in his system. I bet my shirt on that and I was right. You cannot make war safely but no dead general has ever been criticised so you have that way out always.

I am sure that if every leader who goes into battle will promise him self that he will come out either a conquerer or a corpse he is sure to win. There is no doubt of that. Defeat is not due to losses but to the destruction of the soul of the leaders. The “Live to fight another day” doctrine.

The most vital quality a soldier can possess is self confidence utter complete and bumptious. You can have doubts about your good looks, about your intelligence, about your self control but to win in war you must have no doubts about your ability as a soldier.

What success I have had results from the fact that I have always been certain that my military reactions were correct. Many people do not agree with me; they are wrong. The unerring jury of history written long after both of us are dead will prove me correct.

Note that I speak of “Military reactions” no one is borne with them any more than any one is borne with muscles. You can be borne with the soul capable of correct military reactions or the body capable of having big muscles but both qualities must be developed by hard work.

The intensity of your desire to acquire any special ability depends on character, on ambition. I think that your decision to study this summer instead of enjoying your self shows that you have character and ambition—they are wonderful possessions.

Soldiers, all men in fact, are natural hero worshipers. Officers with a flare for command realise this and emphasize in their conduct, dress and deportment the qualities they seek to produce in their men. When I was a second lieutenant I had a captain who was very sloppy and usually late yet he got after the men for just those faults; he was a failure.

The troops I have commanded have always been well dressed, been smart saluters, been prompt and bold in action because I have personally set the example in these qualities. The influence one man can have on thousands is a neverending source of wonder to me. You are always on parade. Officers who through lazyness or a foolish desire to be popular fail to inforce discipline and the proper wearing of uniforms and equipment not in the presence of the enemy will also fail in battle and if they fail in battle they are potential murderers. There is no such thing as: “A good field soldier” you are either a good soldier or a bad soldier.

Well this has been quite a sermon but dont get the idea that it is my swan song because it is not I have not finished my job yet.

Your affectionate father

WWII Air War over Iraq

2009-10-31T22:21:00.000-07:00

At 2 a.m. on April 30, 1941, officials in the British Embassy in Baghdad were awakened by Iraqi military convoys rumbling out of the Rashid Barracks, across bridges and into the desert toward the Royal Air Force (RAF) training base near the Iraqi town of Habbaniya. They immediately sent wireless signals to the air base’s ranking commander, Air Vice Marshal Harry George Smart. With his base not set up or prepared for combat, Smart initially could think of little to do other than sound the general alarm — neglecting to announce the reason. The base speedily degenerated into a madhouse of scared, sleep-sodden, bewildered cadets, instructors and sundry other personnel.

Condor's Legion Tactical Air Power

2009-10-31T22:20:00.001-07:00

During the first week of July 1937, the German Condor Legion launched a spectacular coordinated attack on Spanish Republican forces at the Battle of Brunete, about 15 miles west of Madrid. Messerschmitt Bf-109B fighters flew top cover to maintain air superiority while Heinkel He-111 bombers attacked both strategic and tactical targets. At the same time, Heinkel He-51 biplanes barreled in below 500 feet, strafing and bombing troops and anti-aircraft batteries. The biplanes came in waves of nine-across formations, wingtip to wingtip, each carrying six 22-pound fragmentation bombs and dropping them simultaneously. The resulting carnage demolished the morale of the surviving troops. So effective was the onslaught that by the time the Heinkels completed their runs, the attacking Spanish Nationalist troops were within hand grenade range of the Republican defenders. That beautifully coordinated attack was just one example of the striking aerial combat techniques developed during the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War by the Condor Legion.

German Raid on Bari

2009-10-31T22:17:00.000-07:00

On the afternoon of December 2, 1943, 1st Lt. Werner Hahn piloted his Messerschmitt Me-210 reconnaissance plane over the port of Bari, in southeastern Italy. Cruising at 23,000 feet, his aircraft made a telltale contrail as he streaked across the sky, but Allied anti-aircraft crews took little notice. Still unmolested, the German pilot made a second pass over the city before turning north toward home. If Hahn’s report was promising, the Luftwaffe would launch a major airstrike against the port.

Operation Varsity

2009-10-31T22:15:00.000-07:00

When military strategists debate the outcomes of great battles, one of the toughest questions is whether the advantage gained by the victor was worth the cost. The high-level decisions that initiate battles are also under continuous debate. Airborne operations are frequently subjected to this type of analysis. Almost every Allied airborne assault of World War II has been examined and re-examined, and strong cases have been made against several of them. Should airborne troops have been used in Sicily given that they had to fly over friendly forces during hours of darkness? Was Operation Market Garden in Holland truly ‘a bridge too far,’ as Lieutenant General Frederick A.M. Browning called it?

Spitfire and Hurricane

2009-10-31T22:13:00.000-07:00

Which is better, the Supermarine Spitfire or the Hawker Hurricane? That question has been asked by pilots, historians and air enthusiasts since 1940. It does not have a definitive answer, however, each aircraft had its strong points and its disadvantages. Although both aircraft played a decisive role in the Battle of Britain they could not have been more different from one another. Each was created under a completely different set of circumstances and came from totally different backgrounds and antecedents. The Spitfire owed its famous graceful lines and speed to its early ancestors, evolving as a fighter from a series of extremely successful racing seaplanes that were designed in the 1920s–and 1930s. All of those racers were built by the firm of Supermarine Ltd. and were designed by one man–Reginald J. Mitchell. The innovative Mitchell has been called one of the most brilliant designers Britain has ever produced. His designs really were ahead of their time. In 1925, when he began building racing airplanes, streamlining was considered more a theoretical exercise than an engineering possibility. But Mitchell made engineering theories more than just possibilities; he turned them into brilliant successes.

General George C. Kenney

2009-10-31T22:11:00.000-07:00

Every major war produces leaders whose influence is long felt by succeeding military generations. General George Patton was such a man, General Douglas MacArthur another. One airman of World War II whose influence is still felt more than 50 years later was General George Churchill Kenney, Allied air commander in the Southwest Pacific.

China Air Task Force

2009-10-31T22:10:00.001-07:00

At midnight on July 4, 1942, the American Volunteer Group (AVG), better known as the Flying Tigers, ceased to exist. They were replaced by the China Air Task Force (CATF), a group that was, in the words of Tiger founder and leader Brigadier General Claire Lee Chennault, ‘patched together in the midst of combat from whatever happened to be available in China during the gloomy summer of 1942.’

Operation Matterhorn

2009-10-31T22:08:00.000-07:00

When the United States entered World War II on December 8, 1941, it possessed no aircraft capable of reaching the Japanese mainland from land bases. The nearest friendly territory (discounting Siberia, from which the Soviet Union had banned any flights) lay 1,600 miles away in central China, well beyond the operating radius of existing Boeing B-17s and Consolidated B-24s.

Eight Air Force Raid on Schwinfurt

2009-10-31T22:05:00.001-07:00

Schweinfurt translates as ‘pig ford’ or ‘pig crossing.’ But it is unlikely that many of the 3,000 airmen who clambered into their Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses during the cold, damp morning hours of October 14, 1943, gave much thought to the meaning of the word. For them, Schweinfurt meant only one thing: a killer town that was one of the most savagely defended targets along the aerial high road, above Hitler’s Third Reich.

101st AB Div. in Op. Overlord

2009-10-31T22:03:00.001-07:00

At approximately 1:30 a.m. on June 6, 1944, the commander of the 101st Airborne Division landed heavily in a French pasture near the village of Ste. Marie-du-Mont in Normandy. Major General Maxwell Taylor had no time to reflect on the fact that he was the first United States general ever to parachute into combat, as well as the first American general on enemy soil in Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of France.

Manipulating his shroud lines, Taylor narrowly avoided a tree. Next he struggled to extricate himself from his harness. From a nearby field came the sound of a German machine pistol like ‘a ripping seat of pants. After ten frustrating minutes of fighting buckles and snaps, Taylor used a knife to cut himself free. Pistol in one hand and an identifying metal cricket in the other, the general set out in the darkness in search of American soldiers.

B-29 Superfortress in the Korean War

2009-10-31T22:00:00.000-07:00

At 4 a.m. on June 25, 1950, North Korean troops poured across the 38th parallel into South Korea. The Soviet Union had supplied North Korea with large quantities of military equipment, including tanks, artillery, trucks, guns, ammunition, uniforms, rations and all the supporting elements necessary to field a modern military force. The North Korean air force was equipped with 62 Ilyushin-10 ground-attack aircraft, 70 Yakovlev Yak-3 and Yak-7B fighters, 22 Yak-16 transports and 8 Polikarpov Po-2 trainers. The force completely outclassed South Korea’s air force.

On June 27, 1950, the United Nations authorized the use of military force to stop North Korea’s attack. Eight hours after the authorization, the United States Far East Air Force (FEAF), the air element of the Far East Command (FEC), began flying the first combat air sorties over South Korea. President Harry S. Truman directed General Douglas MacArthur to supply South Korea’s military forces from U.S. quartermaster depots in Japan and to commit available U.S. forces to attack North Korean forces crossing the 38th parallel. American ground troops would be supported by land- and sea-based airstrikes. As the ground situation worsened for the retreating South Korean forces, Truman authorized MacArthur to expand airstrikes north of the 38th parallel against North Korean supply depots, railyards and supporting strategic targets.

U.S. 93rd Bombardment Group

2009-10-31T21:57:00.000-07:00

While the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses did their share in the air war against Germany, they were far from alone in their efforts. One-third of the U.S. Eighth Air Force’s total heavy-bomber strength was consolidated within the three combat bomb wings of the 2nd Air Division, the Consolidated B-24 Liberator division. Those three combat wings grew out of the 93rd Bombardment Group–the first B-24 group and the third U.S. Army Air Forces heavy-bomber group to see combat in the European Theater of Operations.

Operation Pointblank

2009-10-31T21:55:00.000-07:00

On October 14, 1943, the air war over Europe reached a critical turning point. On that Thursday, the United States Eighth Air Force mounted Mission No. 115 against the city of Schweinfurt, the center of the German ball bearing industry.

Sixteen bomber groups from the 1st and 3rd Air divisions would participate in the strike. In all, 291 Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses took off from bases in England and headed east toward the German border. As the bombers formed up over the Channel, short-range British Supermarine Spitfire fighters climbed to escort the heavies to the Continent. There, Republic P-47 Thunderbolts took over, escorting the flying armada to the German border. But insufficient range prevented the Thunderbolts from keeping the bombers company all the way to the target. Turning back somewhere around Aachen, just inside the German border, the P-47s left the unescorted bombers to a catastrophic fate.

Martin B-26B Marauder

2009-10-31T21:52:00.001-07:00

Employees of the Glenn L. Martin Company rolled the B-26B Marauder that would soon be dubbed Flak-Bait off the Baltimore production line on April 26, 1943. Identified as B-26B-25 MA Bureau No. 41-31173, the twin-engine medium bomber then took its place in a long line of identical aircraft on the Martin Company’s airfield awaiting transfer into the U.S. Army Air Forces.

Japanese Bomb U.S. West Coast

2009-10-31T21:48:00.000-07:00

Most Americans probably believe that continental United States has never been bombed. The relative isolation of America, plus the defensive strengths of its Air Force and Navy, have supposedly eliminated such a threat. But is that really true? The answer is no–America has been bombed from the air, not once but twice. These little-publicized events took place in September 1942, and the attacker was an aircraft launched from a submarine of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN).

Curtiss P-40 Warhawk

2009-10-31T21:46:00.001-07:00

If the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk was not the best fighter in the arsenal of the U.S. Army Air Corps (USAAC) when the United States entered the conflict, it was the most numerous type available. The Lockheed P-38 Lightning could outperform the P-40, especially at high altitude, but the P-40 was less expensive, easier to build and maintain, and — most important — it was in large-scale production at a critical period in the nation’s history when fighter planes were needed in large numbers.

A total of 11,998 P-40s were built before production was finally terminated in 1944. Warhawks constituted the principal armament of the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) fighter squadrons throughout 1942 and 1943. Even after the appearance of newer types of fighter aircraft in the USAAF rendered the P-40 obsolete, it continued to contribute to victory in a variety of Allied air forces.

The P-40 was the product of a long development process that began when the USAAC invited vari

Aerial Defense of Port Moresby

2009-10-31T21:44:00.000-07:00

For every thoroughbred World War II fighter that engendered fond memories for its fliers, there is another whose pilots may feel lucky just to have survived flying it. Among the latter was the Bell P-39 Airacobra, a promising high-performance design with the engine mounted behind the pilot and a 37mm cannon firing through the propeller shaft. By the time Bell had completed the P-39’s development to meet U.S. Army Air Corps requirements, however, the Airacobra had lost its turbosupercharger and was overweight. Its performance was inferior to that of most of the aircraft it would have to fight.

Eight Air Force Pilsen Mission

2009-10-31T21:41:00.000-07:00

By mid-April 1945 the war in Europe was rapidly winding down. The Soviets were fighting in the suburbs of Berlin and had occupied much of the eastern region of Germany to the north and south of the city. From the west, American and British forces were moving swiftly across central and southern Germany. Lieutenant General George S. Patton’s Third Army was closing on the Czechoslovakian border. It was obvious to all that the final collapse of German ground forces was only a matter of days away.

Still, the air war continued unabated. Bombing missions were being flown nearly every day, although substantive strategic targets were harder to find. While the Luftwaffe still had a large number of fighters, many of them Messerschmitt Me-262 jets, it lacked sufficient fuel and experienced pilots to seriously oppose the Allied bombers. Allied fighters controlled the skies over Europe, but German anti-aircraft defenses were still murderously effective. The U.S. Eighth Air Force was therefore faced with the problem of identifying targets of sufficient strategic importance to warrant risking airmen’s lives.

Grumman F4F Wildcat

2009-10-31T21:39:00.001-07:00

‘It was not as you remember it, Saburo. I don’t know how many Wildcats there were, but they seemed to come out of the sun in an endless stream. We never had a chance….Every time we went out we lost more and more planes. Guadalcanal was completely under the enemy’s control….Of all the men who returned with me, only Captain Aito, [Lt. Cmdr. Tadashi] Nakajima and less than six of the other pilots who were in our original group of 80 men survived.’

Aerial Destruction of Hamburgh

2009-10-31T21:36:00.000-07:00

The weather that July in Hamburg had been very hot, mostly dry. Two days before, a heavy thunderstorm had rumbled through, but the rain evaporated in the heat. On Saturday, July 24, 1943, the citizens of Hamburg were taking a rest from the heat and the backbreaking strain of World War II.

All across Germany’s leading seaport, Hamburg’s 1.75 million people enjoyed her cafes on the Alster and Elbe rivers, the huge zoo and the Ufa-Palast cinema, the Reich’s largest. Once again Hamburg was free of air raids. To the average citizen, it must have seemed unlikely that the city would ever be bombed.

But Hamburg was about to be destroyed.

Japan's Air Forces in WWII

2009-10-31T21:34:00.000-07:00

World War II in the Pacific was a fight to seize and defend airfields. The Japanese made gaining and maintaining control of the air as much a requirement in their basic war strategy as they did the destruction of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. But as Commander Masatake Okumiya charged, “The Pacific War was started by men who did not understand the sea, and fought by men who did not understand the air.” He might well have added that the war was planned by men who did not understand industry, manpower and logistics.

Polish Airmen in the Battle of Britain

2009-10-31T21:32:00.001-07:00

The Battle of Britain was still gaining momentum when a flight of young Royal Air Force pilots climbed into their Hawker Hurricanes on the morning of August 8, 1940. Bringing up the rear of the formation was a young Polish pilot, Witold Urbanowicz, who had escaped his country when the Germans and their Soviet allies overran it in September 1939. Assigned to the vulnerable “tail-end Charlie” position, he knew that if the enemy attacked he would probably be their first target, but he did not care. He was grateful beyond words for any opportunity to strike back at the Nazis.

The Leatherneck Resistance

2009-10-31T21:29:00.000-07:00

Dunham House loomed out of the English countryside that November evening in 1943, a dark shape in a dark setting. Marine Platoon Sergeant Jack Risler stepped up to the heavy front door, knocked and watched it swing open to reveal a colleague, Major Bruce Cheever, in Marine-issue trousers and shirt, a white silk scarf wrapped around his neck. Framed by a massive fireplace, Cheever pulled a cord dangling next to it, summoning an aide to take their drink orders. “Welcome, we’ve been expecting you,” he told the small group of men before him.

The air of mystery was fitting given the mission Risler was about to undertake, even if Cheever’s welcome seemed like something straight out of a B movie. Risler and seven other Marine paratroopers had arrived in England that night to report for duty with the Office of Strategic Services, the wartime precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency. The OSS was involved in a series of clandestine missions in support of resistance movements in occupied Europe, and Cheever had recruited the eight men to serve as instructors at a newly created British-American parachute school that was a key part of the effort.

40th Bomb Group

2009-10-31T21:27:00.001-07:00

They were formed as a combat unit in the spring of 1941. From all parts of the United States they came — young, fearless and thirsty for adventure. Well-trained and highly qualified, they fiew the powerful Boeing B-29 Superfortress, the biggest and deadliest bomber of World War II. With it, they bombed the Japanese from their base on Tinian Island in the Marianas. They were the crews of the 40th Bomb Group.

In the realm of World War II historical accounts, the 40th Bomb Group’s accomplishments might seem rather small, for they did not receive the headlines accorded to Paul Tibbet’s 509th Composite Group, which dropped the first atomic bomb. However, like many other groups that fiew out of the three Mariana bases on Tinian, Guam and Saipan in the months before the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bomb attacks, the 40th helped to lay the groundwork for ending the war.

Cutting Rommel's Aerial lifeline to North Africa

2009-10-31T21:24:00.000-07:00

Eleven Junkers Ju-52/3m transport planes skimmed the waves of the Mediterranean on December 12, 1941, their green-and-black camouflage contrasting sharply with the brilliantly blue water. They were heading for the coast of Libya in North Africa to bring desperately needed supplies to the famed German Afrika Korps, led by General Erwin Rommel.

Determined to deny the Germans those supplies were 16 Martin 167F Maryland bombers flying for the British Royal Air Force (RAF), crewed by men from South Africa. That day the South Africans were using the twin-engine bombers as improvised long-range fighters, and when they first swooped down on the Junkers Ju-52s about 50 miles from the coast, the Marylands had an easy time of it. Two of the transports were quickly set ablaze. Their crews leaped from the planes without parachutes before the burning aircraft plunged into the sea.

Fourth Crusade

2009-10-31T21:18:00.000-07:00

Early in October 1202, a fleet of 200 ships set sail from the lagoon of Venice. Banners whipped from every masthead, some bearing the lion of Venice, others charged with the coats of arms of the noblest houses of France.

Leading the fleet was the state galley of Doge Enrico Dandolo, the elected ‘duke of the Venetian Republic. He was more than 80 years old and nearly blind, but undimmed in vigor and ability. His galley was painted imperial vermilion, and a vermilion silk canopy covered the poop on which the doge sat in state. In front of him, four silver trumpets sounded, answered from the other ships by hundreds of trumpets, drums and tabors.

Caesar's triumph in Gaul

2009-10-31T21:15:00.000-07:00

At the start of 52 b.c., a rebellion that spread rapidly throughout much of Gaul surprised and wrong-footed Gaius Julius Caesar. Even though it was his seventh year in the region, he had completely misread the situation. His army was dispersed and vulnerable, and he himself was far away—south of the Alps—keeping an eye on the disturbed politics of Rome.

The Battle of Actium

2009-10-31T21:09:00.001-07:00

The sea at the mouth of the strait was filled with ships both large and small, vying with one another for room to fight. Flaming missiles shot between them, filling the sky with thick black smoke. Smaller vessels taunted the larger, heavier ships, their crewmen determined to attack despite the spears and arrows that showered down on their heads. Eventually, the fighting became so crowded that the ancient historian Plutarch said that it took on the character of a land battle.

The Roman Navy

2009-10-31T21:07:00.001-07:00

In 31 bc the last two great generals of the Roman civil wars faced each other at Actium off the coast of Greece in a naval battle that would settle the future of Rome. For months Mark Antony and Egyptian Queen Cleopatra had tried in vain to break Octavian’s land and naval blockade of their forces in Greece. By late summer Antony’s armies were low on supplies and ravaged by disease. On September 2 his fleet of more than 200 ships carrying 20,000 marines and 2,000 archers put to sea to challenge the blockade. They faced a fleet of some 400 ships carrying 16,000 marines and 3,000 archers under the command of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa.

Operation Catapult

2009-10-31T21:01:00.000-07:00

On July 3, 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had to make one of the most momentous decisions of his career. Early that morning, he ordered a British fleet to arrive off the naval base of Mers-el-Kebir in North Africa and demand the surrender of the French vessels there. The British were to offer the French admiral four alternatives intended to prevent the French fleet’s falling into the hands of the Germans. If the French commander refused the terms, his ships would be sunk by the British force. If the British were compelled to open fire, it would be the first time in 125 years that the two navies were arrayed against one another in hostility.

Market-Garden

2009-10-16T18:52:00.000-07:00

Recently we celebrated the sixty-fifth anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy. To many of us who were alive in 1944 it seems as if it were a short time-hack ago in history.

Broadfront Strategy

2009-10-16T18:50:00.000-07:00

It has been sixty-five years since Dwight Eisenhower articulated his broad front strategy for ending the war in Europe and the consequences of that decision still linger on to this day. At the time the Allied generals quarreled over Ike’s decision, and from the time the war ended historians have taken sides to praise or condemn it. Some of the war’s most contentious debates have sprung from this decision. For his part, Eisenhower stubbornly never wavered in his belief that he had chosen the correct strategy. This is what it was all about.

Allied Air Power

2009-10-16T18:47:00.000-07:00

Over the years there has been much controversy about the Allied air campaign and particularly Bomber Command’s role in the campaign. Many Bomber Command veterans and those who lost love ones have been made to feel a sense of shame in their role. I often wondered if my uncle, F/Sgt. John Kopchuk who was killed on June 22, 1943 as a navigator in 429 Squadron, Bomber Command had died in a vain attempt.

Barbary Wars

2009-10-12T10:17:00.000-07:00

From 1801 through 1805 the US engaged North African (Barbary; a general term which derived from Barbarossa - or red bearded - after the Ottoman regent of the Maghrib) pirates in what became the first undeclared wars outside our boundaries. The North African pirates had been engaged in piracy from the time of the Crusades were they raided commerce ships bound for Jerusalem. During the period that the US was a British colony the British navy protected American commerce ships from the raiders but that stopped when the Americans obtained their independence. Encouraged by British government the North African pirates began to raid American ships in the eastern Atlantic and in the Mediterranean, exacting tribute from a defenseless US. The US paid tribute until 1801 when the US refused to pay increasing tribute to the Pasha of Tripoli for safe American merchant traffic across Tripolitanian waters. This led to the Pasha declaring war on the US. Under the slogan 'Millions for Defense: Not one cent for Tribute' the US sent it's small navy to blockade North African ports, bombing several enemy harbors and engaging in naval battles with the Barbary pirates.

One of the battles was the famous raid to burn the captured American frigate USS Philadelphia in Tripoli harbor.

In this raid Botswains Mate Ruben James made his mark on the annals of US Navy history by bodily protecting the raids commander from attack. Later on in October 1941 the American destroyer USS Ruben James became the first American warship to be sunk by hostile action while escorting a convoy bound from Newfoundland to Iceland.

In 1805 several Marines (10) and about 500 Christian and Muslim mercenaries - led by William Eaton, Naval Agent to the Barbary Estates, led an overland mission begun from Alexandria to capture the Pasha of Tripoli. After an ardous journey of 45 days in which he had to contend with near mutinies from the Muslim mercenaries, fighting amongst the Muslim and Christian mercenaries, and almost running out of food and money, his group reached the stronghold port city of Derna. When his demand for the surrender of Derna was rejected the group maneuvered for two days before attacking, capturing the city by late afternoon for the first time in US history the flag was raised in foreign battlefield.

After defending the city off an attack by re-enforcements sent by the Pasha of Tripoli and some dubious but successful diplomatic machinations by other agents of the US government a peace treaty was signed with the Pasha of Tripoli on June 4, 1805.

It was the battle of Derna which gave the line ''to the shores of Tripoli" in the Marine Corps Hymn as well as the adoption of the Mamaluke sword by the Corps.

D-Day June 6, 1944 Normandy, France.

2009-10-07T05:24:00.000-07:00

D-Day, Operation Overlord, the Normandy landings. It is, IMO, the pivotal battle of the western campaign in WWII. The following material is taken from various books. It's stuff which I find interesting.

"A mass of men, vehicles and equipment piling up on the beaches, the strip of sand steadily narrowing as the tide came in; the beach exists blocked or inadequate: the leading troops pushing on, but the follow up formations delayed; the slowing down process inexorably transmitted to the giant organizational machine behind them, in England, inevitably affecting the tempo of the whole campaign." Caen: Anvil of Victory, pg 12.

This description of the beaches in the British sector on the morning of June 6 covers it all. From here you can understand and appreciate why most of the first day objectives were not reached.

"Above all, the university town of Caen and the dominating heights around it should have fallen quickly and easily to the British on D-Day. But because they advanced only six miles instead of ten that day, it was not to fall for another six weeks" ibid., page 13.

Caen was the most important objective for the British. This town is the nerve center in the British sector with roads radiating east, west, and south like spokes on a wheel. There's also the Orne river and the Caen Canal cutting the city in two. These two waterways can be used by barges to bring supplies to the area. There's also Carpiquet airfield and surrounding countryside which leads to Paris and is excellent tank country.

"the fate of the 'New Order' depended largely on some ten Panzer divisions, which the British and Canadians were to try to pin down at Caen, in order to allow their American allies to make the decisive breakthrough at the other end of the beachhead." ibid, page 16.

IMO, regardless of the propaganda pushed by Montgomery and his supporters this area was perfect for a breakout. That British and Canadian divisions could not do so can be attributed to both German defensive prowess and British/Canadian hesitancy. Monty tried, and very successfully thanks to a very efficient propaganda machine, to convince the public that it was always his intention to use the forces under his direct command (Monty was overall ground commander until Bradley became 12th AG commander) that is, the British sector of the Normandy campaign, to act as a magnet for German armor so as to permit the Americans under Bradley to breakout further west.

"The countryside in the British and Canadian sectors - a relatively open, flat, dry expanse stretching from Caen to Paris - was more favorable for offensive warfare. Paradoxically, those conditions made fighting there perhaps more difficult than in the American sector. The nature of the ground and the strategic importance of the area compelled the Germans to mass the bulk of their panzer units and their best troops in the path of Montgomery's forces. They turned the checkerboard of villages that dotted the region into an interlocking, mortar-and-concrete version of the bocage.
Montgomery's commanders appear to have been little more prepared than the Americans for the sort of resistance the Germans mounted. Poorly versed in combined arms tactics, they allowed their tanks to advance without the protection of accompanying infantry units. That approach gave German soldiers wielding highly effective Panzerfausts (the enemy version of the American bazooka) and teams firing formidable, high-velocity antitank cannons a relatively free hand in dealing with the advancing forces.
What Montgomery intended to do remains shrouded in controversy. Time and again he appeared to delay. The terrain and the heavy weight of the German defenses facing his forces were undoubtedly part of the reason. He may also all along have planned to allow the
offensive to develop in the direction that time and circumstance dictated, whether in the American sector or his own. In that sense, it is possible that he decided Bradley's front offered the most opportunities and that his own army should concentrate on holding the enemy in place to allow his ally the fullest latitude. Or he may have thought that Allied advances elsewhere would allow him to achieve his objectives without incurring the level of casualties that had consumed an entire generation of his countrymen during World War I. He had been warned of a shortage of infantry replacements well before D-Day. During July the British Adjutant General had underscored the point by personally traveling to Normandy to notify him that some British battalions had already been divided to fill gaps in the line and that divisions might be next. Whatever the reason, Montgomery's forces, commanded by Lt. Gen. Sir Miles Dempsey, took the town of Bayeux and moved several miles inland but - despite three full-scale attempts between 6 June and I July - failed to take Caen." Normandy U.S. Army Campaigns of WWII; see also CMH online.

New Focus of Spaceship Harvey

2009-10-06T20:09:00.000-07:00

Wow!! I can't believe it's been over a year and a half since I last blogged. Much has happened since then. For one I now am the grandfather of two, a girl and the most recent addition Sir William. I'm also going to focus on my collection of books and will quote certain items of interest to me from the following books for now. Most of my books relate to World War II.

Caen: Anvil of Victory by Alexander McKee (Anvil, haha.)
Eisenhower's Lieutenants by Russell F. Weigley
Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life by Carlo D'Este
The Second World War: Triumph and Tragedy by Winston S. Churchill
War As I Knew It by George S. Patton, Jr.

Red Baron Movie

2008-04-09T05:14:00.000-07:00

Is Germany finally waking up from it's effeminate slumber? This movie about the story of WW I flying ace Manfred von Richthofen might just be the testosterone shot German manhood has needed for over 50 years. The storyline is somewhat fictionalized by adding a lover that The Red Baron never had. Why! Is this necessary? When Pearl harbor was released I was highly disappointed because so much of the movie was the ridiculous love triangle. Well, I'll have to wait until the movie is released for American audiences to see if love ruins the movie.

(Don't) Curse You, Red Baron!

Friday, Apr. 04, 2008 By ANDREW PURVIS/BERLIN

German First World War air ace Manfred von Richthofen (1882 - 1918) known as the Red Baron, leader of the 11th Chasing Squadron, with a comrade in front of his famous red tri-plane.

Hulton / Getty

Snoopy dreamed about fighting him. The English revered his chivalry in combat. His red Fokker Triplane holds an iconic place in the history of aerial "dogfights." But in Germany, Manfred von Richthofen, the World War I flying ace who downed 80 Australian, British, French and Canadian planes before being shot down himself 90 years ago this month, barely rated a mention in the history books. Postwar Germany, after all, was leery of celebrating legendary warriors. But now, the star of the "Red Baron" may be rising again.

article continued here

Military History Fading From Campuses

2008-04-09T04:55:00.000-07:00

It appears that the teaching of military history in our college campuses is dying off. If this article is correct, and there's no reason to think that it's not, soon the only schools offering classes and degree in military history will be our military schools. I sensed this was happening back when I took some classes in history at the local university. The class was European History from 1914 to 1945. Perfect, I thought. A class that covers both world wars. To my chagrin the professor was more interested in teaching about the lost generation and the social impact of the wars than on the causes and the wars themselves.

Why Don't More Colleges Teach Military History?

Despite its enduring public appeal, and a country at war, the subject gets little respect on campus

By Justin Ewers

Posted April 3, 2008

Five years into the war in Iraq, military history seems to be experiencing a golden age. Hollywood has been cranking out war movies. Publishers have been lining bookstore shelves with new battle tomes, which consumers are eagerly lapping up. Even the critics have been enjoying themselves. Two of the last five Pulitzer Prizes in history were awarded to books about the American military. Four of the five Oscar nominees for best documentary this year were about warfare. Business, for military historians, is good.

article continued here

Laser Weapon System Near Deployment

2008-04-04T14:27:00.000-07:00

It was in the 1951 movie The Day the Earth Stood Still that Gort, the space alien robot, used his cyclops laser beam to melt tanks and guns. That was a great Sci-Fi story but it's no longer . Now it's real. A laser weapon system that can track and kill or disable multiple targets is now being tested at an AF base in New Mexico. If this weapon system is successful and feasible pinpoint accuracy spells the end of for anything from enemy tanks, bunkers, ammo dumps, and ugly mother f***ing Muslim jihadist. See Popular Science article below.

How It Works: The Flying Laser Cannon

Boeing's new laser cannon can melt a hole in a tank from five miles away and 10,000 feet up—and it’s ready to fly this year

By Eric Adams Posted 03.13.2008 at 4:48 pm 13 Comments

Inside the Advanced Tactical Laser : Photo by Bob Sauls (Illustration)

Creating a laser that can melt a soda can in a lab is a finicky enough task. Later this year, scientists will put a 40,000-pound chemical laser in the belly of a gunship flying at 300 mph and take aim at targets as far away as five miles. And we’re not talking aluminum cans. Boeing’s new Advanced Tactical Laser will cook trucks, tanks, radio stations—the kinds of things hit with missiles and rockets today. Whereas conventional projectiles can lose sight of their target and be shot down or deflected, the ATL moves at the speed of light and can strike several targets in rapid succession....continue here

Boston Hawk Beans Red Sox Fan

2008-04-03T15:48:00.000-07:00

Hawk nest removed from Fenway Park after school girl scratched on tour

Email|Print| Text size – + April 3, 2008 01:02 PM

(John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)

By John Tlumacki and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

A red-tailed hawk lost its choice seat behind home plate at Fenway Park today after the raptor scratched a middle school girl on a tour, drawing blood from her scalp.

The girl was in the upper deck behind home plate, some 40 feet from the hawk’s nest, where a single egg lay in an overhang near the press booth. The hawk had been perched on a railing and swooped at the girl with its talons extended. She was taken by ambulance to a local hospital.

"The girl is fine," said Red Sox spokeswoman Susan Goodenow, who said the team followed up with the girl’s group from Memorial Boulevard Middle School in Bristol, Conn.

"The nest and the egg were removed by the Boston Animal Rescue League at the direction of the director of Massachusetts Fish and Wildlife," Goodenow said.

It was the second incident with a hawk in the park in the last two days. It has been common for the birds to take up residence in the stadium rafters in the off-season, dining on rats and mice when the park is quiet.

"When the season starts and there is lots of noise, they usually find a new home," Goodenow said.

NEW CO2 REDUCING GADGET

2008-04-01T10:41:00.000-07:00

With the rapid deforestation of Amazonia and Indonesia trees are at a premium if mankind is to survive rapid global warming ...eeech, no I didn't say that!!!! Well, just for arguments sake let's say that the developed world needs to come up with a machine that filters CO2 from the atmosphere. Like what a tree does. It just so happens that scientist who want to make a buck out of the global warming crisis have come up with such a gadget.

Spongelike Air-Capture Gadget Scrubs Away Carbon Emissions

By Joanna Borns

Published on: March 28, 2008

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With the specter of global warming seared into our national consciousness, reducing carbon dioxide emissions has become a priority. Now, researchers have invented a phone-booth-size device that can take back those emissions we can’t prevent—the ones that have already reached the atmosphere. ..................continue here

SHOULD AL QAEDA IN IRAQ BE DEFEATED?

2008-04-01T10:12:00.000-07:00

That's basically the question asked by this report.

The Risks of Defeating Al Qaeda in Iraq

Experts warn that jihadist fighters could carry their fight to other nations

By Kevin Whitelaw

Posted March 28, 2008

President Bush claimed on Thursday that U.S. forces and Iraqi tribesman have "systematically dismantled" the terrorist group Al Qaeda in Iraq in the long-troubled Anbar Province. And indeed, while Al Qaeda in Iraq remains dangerous and active, particularly in parts of northern Iraq, the terrorist group is having increasing difficulty pulling off its signature type of attack, deadly car bombings...........continue with article.

US SUPREME COURT vs WORLD COURT

2008-04-01T08:13:00.000-07:00

SCOTUS Tells Foreign Court to Butt Out

by Ted Cruz

Over the past few years many Americans have become deeply concerned that judges have begun relying more and more on foreign law to decide questions of U.S. constitutional law. One doesn’t have to be a constitutional scholar to object to foreign laws and foreign courts -- laws that are not enacted by our democratic government and judges who are not selected as our Constitution provides -- ruling on Americans’ rights and the powers of American government. These concerns are largely well founded, and reflect the increasing degree to which modern constitutional adjudication has become altogether unmoored from the text and original understanding of the Framers........................................................continue here
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Three cheers for the conservative members of SCOTUS. What's amazing about this case is not that defendants can use the Vienna Convention on Consular Affairs to assist in their trials but that three of our justices - Breyer, Souter and Ginsburgh - would subordinate our legal system to that of a foreign courts. These three justices should be impeached, immediately!!!

GLOBAL WARMING AND WEALTH TRANSFER

2008-04-01T07:36:00.000-07:00

Can you envision industrialized nations (mainly Europe and the US) paying billions
of dollars to Indonesia and Brazil to make environmentalist feel good? Well, that's what's at stake in the next UN climate change (notice it's no longer global warming) summit at Bali.

The Secret Life of Trees

Friday, Dec. 14, 2007 By BRYAN WALSH/NUSA DUA

Think of carbon dioxide, the main gas that causes global warming, and you'll likely picture a polluting factory in China; neon lights in Tokyo, an SUV sitting in traffic on the freeways of Santa Monica..........................While there are already international carbon trading schemes that help rich countries pay for reductions in carbon emissions from power or industry in poorer nations, no such mechanism exists for avoided deforestation. That nations are not compensated for protecting their forests has been a huge gap in anti-climate change efforts, and one that has to be resolved if the world is ever to achieve the kind of large-scale reductions in carbon emissions needed to avert catastrophic climate change. "Forests are the elephant in the living room," says Andrew Mitchell, director of the Global Canopy Project and a forestry advocate. "Powerful — but unseen and unrecognized."

At the UN climate change summit in Bali — hosted by Indonesia, home to some of the world's most extensive tropical forests — that's begun to change. Though negotiators still need to work out the details, nations here agreed to put deforestation and forest degradation — the damage of woodlands, which can also release carbon — as a main element of the climate change deal that will eventually succeed the Kyoto Protocol. That will eventually open up a new market that could be worth billions, as industrialized nations that need to reduce carbon emissions could choose to pay tropical nations like Brazil and Indonesia to preserve their own forests. The private market — which has been the engine of forest destruction in the form of logging — could end up saving the trees. "We have to solve this market failure by turning to market measures," says Mitchell.
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THE BIOFUEL MYTH

2008-04-01T06:30:00.000-07:00

It's not easy for me to read TIME and actually nod my head in agreement with any of their articles. But this time I was nodding in almost every paragraph. Could it be that the MSM is finally getting it!! The TIME article which has given me hope is The Clean Energy Scam.

Encouragement begins with the title. It continues with the body of the article, even though the authors still cling to the global warming scam. The authors basically come to terms with the observation that even good intentions can go wrong. This blogger believes the same and adds that good intentions and high minded proposals are usually the refuge of scoundrels.

The Clean Energy Scam

Thursday, Mar. 27, 2008 By MICHAEL GRUNWALD

"But several new studies show the biofuel boom is doing exactly the opposite of what its proponents intended: it's dramatically accelerating global warming, imperiling the planet in the name of saving it. Corn ethanol, always environmentally suspect, turns out to be environmentally disastrous. Even cellulosic ethanol made from switchgrass, which has been promoted by eco-activists and eco-investors as well as by President Bush as the fuel of the future, looks less green than oil-derived gasoline.

Meanwhile, by diverting grain and oilseed crops from dinner plates to fuel tanks, biofuels are jacking up world food prices and endangering the hungry. The grain it takes to fill an SUV tank with ethanol could feed a person for a year. Harvests are being plucked to fuel our cars instead of ourselves. The U.N.'s World Food Program says it needs $500 million in additional funding and supplies, calling the rising costs for food nothing less than a global emergency. Soaring corn prices have sparked tortilla riots in Mexico City, and skyrocketing flour prices have destabilized Pakistan, which wasn't exactly tranquil when flour was affordable."

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Further reading see Technology Review: Biofuels

Uranium seized from FARC guerrilas

2008-03-27T14:34:00.000-07:00

More evidence that justifies Colombia's raid into FARC controlled area inside Ecuador was unearthed yesterday when Colombian police raided a FARC stronghold in the vicinity of Bogotá. 66 pounds of uranium was seized as a result of information obtained from a captured laptop computer:

"The government said information about the stash of uranium was found earlier this month in computer files left behind by top guerrilla leader Raul Reyes, who was killed in a Colombian bomb strike against a FARC camp in neighboring in Ecuador."

Besides information about the uranium stash links between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and FARC were also confirmed by incriminating evidence within the computer files. Now that FARC is dealing in uranium it's time that a more serious approach be taken by OAS member states in dealing with the Venezuelan leader.

WSJ Editorial: Islam and Free Speech

2008-03-26T16:00:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the Wall Street Journal and Mr. Peter Hoekstra for the wonderful editorial piece on Islam and free speech. Mr. Hoekstra has got it 100% correct by declaring that free speech has been bought with blood and it would be cowardly for any nation to cave in to threats. I'm afraid that's not the case in many countries were free speech is not the hallowed God given right which we in America think it is. It's a real shame that Europe appears to be caving in to Islamic threats of violence.

Here's a snipet of the the WSJ editorial:

Islam and Free Speech

By PETER HOEKSTRA
March 26, 2008; Page A15

The Netherlands is bracing for a new round of violence at home and against its embassies in the Middle East. The storm would be caused by "Fitna," a short film that is scheduled to be released this week. The film, which reportedly includes images of a Quran being burned, was produced by Geert Wilders, a member of the Dutch parliament and leader of the Freedom Party. Mr. Wilders has called for banning the Quran -- which he has compared to Hitler's "Mein Kampf" -- from the Netherlands.

After concern about the film led Mr. Wilders's Internet service provider to take down his Web site, Mr. Wilders issued a statement this week that he will personally distribute DVDs "On the Dam" if he has to. That may not be necessary, as the Czech National Party has reportedly agreed to host the video on its Web site.

Reasonable men in free societies regard Geert Wilders's anti-Muslim rhetoric, and films like "Fitna," as disrespectful of the religious sensitivities of members of the Islamic faith. But free societies also hold freedom of speech to be a fundamental human right. We don't silence, jail or kill people with whom we disagree just because their ideas are offensive or disturbing. We believe that when such ideas are openly debated, they sink of their own weight and attract few followers.

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Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a Somali born Dutch member of parliament. Read about her troubles in Slate.com.

"Entering politics to try to alert the European left to this danger, she was first elected as a deputy for the Labor Party, but after 9/11 she changed her allegiance to the Liberals. This, she explained, was because many Labor spokesmen preferred to think of immigrants as possessing "group rights." They had become so infatuated by their own "multi-culti" style that they had ignored the rights of individuals—especially women and girls—who were imprisoned within their own ghetto. (That, by the way, was precisely Spinoza's problem as well. The Dutch rabbis cursed him and condemned him in their own sectarian "court," of which the Christian authorities approved because it took care of dangerous secularism among Jews.)"

A Global Warming Skeptic

2008-03-24T11:02:00.000-07:00

This Global Warming weather phenomena has puzzled because I'm not inclined to dispute scientist whose expertise in this subject must be taken into consideration. So, why is it that I'm not yet convinced that it's mans fault? That man has been so reckless that we now face extinction! This may be an exaggeration but this is how I perceive what experts such as Al Gore and the international scientific community are telling me if man does not do something drastic, NOW!!

There's plenty of evidence indicating that our globe has warmed over the past oh...30 years. But there's also plenty of evidence that our globe has gone through periods of rapid warming and cooling over the past 100 years. If this is so then we are just passing through a natural warming cycle. Why is it that Algore and his minions are making such a big fuzz about this particular warming trend?

I remember not too long ago, about 23 years in fact, that weekly magazines such as TIME were running articles of the upcoming global cooling and of it's potential catastrophic effects on the worlds food supply. Well, that didn't happen. Now it's global warming and it's potential harmful effects to eh...I don't know, polar bears? It seems to me that too much attention is payed to doomsdayers.

The following list of links with a brief description to articles concerning global warming . Both sides of the arguments are presented.

Climate facts to warm to. The Australian An interview with Jennifer Marohasy, an expert ( or someone who knows an expert) on climate change, global warming, yada, yada..Pretty interesting stuff. Ms. Marohasy debunks the theory that the earth is still warming.

Is the earth still warming, asks the host.

"No, actually, there has been cooling, if you take 1998 as your point of reference. If you take 2002 as your point of reference, then temperatures have plateaued. This is certainly not what you'd expect if carbon dioxide is driving temperature because carbon dioxide levels have been increasing but temperatures have actually been coming down over the last 10 years."

The Australian. 22 March 2008
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ABC News interview with Fred Singer.

A hatchet job on the old fella. "Singer, an 84-year-old Princeton-trained physicist, is the grandfather of the global warming skeptics who dispute the established scientific consensus (emphasis mine) that global warming is real, that it is caused by the pollution humans are pumping into the atmosphere, and that it will be catastrophic if measures are not taken immediately."

The interviewer makes no attempt to bring out the facts which Mr. Singer bases his opinion.

Newsbusters.org article on ABC News interview with Fred Singer.

"Climate alarmism reached a new low Sunday as ABC's "World News" featured a hit piece on Dr. S. Fred Singer, the esteemed Professor Emeritus of environmental science at the University of Virginia."
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Delicate Partnership Between Coral and Algae Threatened By Global Warming

This article in Sciencedaily.com discusses the effects, well...the title says it all. The science end comes from the ARC Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS) and James Cook University in Australia. Not surprisingly the findings are that global warming could damage this coral and algae relationship with potential catastrophic effects upon mankind yada, yada...
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Black carbon adds the most to global warming

This report from SIFY.com blames China and India for melting the snow in the Himalayas. V. Ramanathan of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography admits that previous findings were wrong:
"In the paper, Ramanathan integrated data from satellites, aircraft and surface instruments about the warming effect of black carbon and found that its warming effect is about 0.9 watts per metre squared. That is far higher than estimates of between 0.2 watts per metre squared and 0.4 watts per metre squared that were agreed upon as a consensus estimate in a report released in 2007 by the R.K. Pachauri-headed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which won the Nobel last year."

Interesting finding considering that a consensus on previous findings had been reached.
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Israel and Gaza

2008-03-21T16:09:00.000-07:00

This Op Ed piece by Mortimer Zuckerman is right on the money. Throughout it's short history Israel has faced the prospect of violence from it's neighbors yet has tried repeatedly to use diplomacy to solve their differences.

A Moral Outrage

By Mortimer Zuckerman

Posted March 14, 2008

The world applauded when Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, forcibly removing Jewish settlers. At last, the Palestinians were free to show how they could build their own society.

But what did they do with their freedom? They elected the terrorist organization Hamas in 2006. First Fatah and now Hamas have rained 4,000 rockets on Israel, killed 24, and wounded 620—the equivalent of killing 1,200 Americans and wounding 31,000. The citizens of Sderot and Ashkelon have suffered a collective trauma; children fear that when parents leave for work, they will never see them again.

Forced labor = Slave labor

2008-03-21T15:56:00.001-07:00

It's sad to think that forced labor is a thing of the past, left behind with the defeat of Hitler and Tojo and the dissolution of empires such as British, French, Belgian and Italian but forced labor is still with us and it's pretty much widespread through out China, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and other parts of the developing world. Saudi Arabia is a country which is guilty of trafficking in slavery and yet the US does not seem to mind. What a shame. The UN is impotent too as sanctions are very limited in scope.

According to CIA Fact book; current situation: about 600,000 to 800,000 people, mostly women and children, are trafficked annually across national borders, not including millions trafficked within their own countries; at least 80% of the victims are female; 75% of all victims are trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation; roughly two-thirds of the global victims are trafficked intra-regionally within East Asia and the Pacific (260,000 to 280,000 people) and Europe and Eurasia (170,000 to 210,000 people)
Tier 2 Watch List: Argentina, Armenia, Belarus, Burundi, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Chad, China, Cyprus, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Fiji, The Gambia, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, India, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Libya, Macao, Mauritania, Mexico, Moldova, Mozambique, Papua New Guinea, Russia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates
Tier 3: Algeria, Bahrain, Burma, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Kuwait, Malaysia, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Uzbekistan, Venezuela.

The following article in Newsweek explains:

INTERNATIONAL

Bottom of the Barrel

Millions of Asian workers producing goods sold here are trapped in servitude.

Photos: Mark Ralston / AFP-Getty Images (left); Tengku Bahar / AFP-Getty Images

Some of the world's leading computer makers don't want you to know about Local Technic Industry. It's a typical Malaysian company, one of many small makers of the cast-aluminum bodies for hard-disk drives used in just about every name-brand machine on the market. But that's precisely the problem: it's a typical Malaysian company.

to continue reading article click here.

German Jewish leader criticizes Pope over prayer

2008-03-21T15:34:00.000-07:00

BERLIN (Reuters) - The leader of Germany's Jewish community said on Friday she was surprised Pope Benedict could have allowed a new version of a Good Friday prayer for the conversion of Jews.

Charlotte Knobloch, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, told Reuters Television she could not fathom Pope Benedict putting forward the new decree because he experienced discrimination against Jews in Germany as a young man.

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This article from time covers the same subject.

Bringing back an ancient rite risked reopening ancient wounds. And so after Pope Benedict XVI introduced wider use of the old Latin rite last year, top Vatican officials promised to adjust a Good Friday prayer from the ancient liturgy that had called for the conversion of the Jews. The text of the updated version — released this week in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano — deletes offensive language referring to Jews' "blindness" and the need to "remove the veil from their hearts." But the substance is left in place: "Let us pray for the Jews," the prayer says, according to an unofficial translation from Latin. "May the Lord our God illuminate their hearts so that they may recognize Jesus Christ savior of all men."

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I don't see any problem with the prayer the way it is now. It's clear that Catholics believe it's their duty as Christians to spread the word and pray for conversions. The prayer does mot call for another Inquisition nor does it attack Jews. This meddling into affairs not of their concern only serves to antagonize and makes me wonder if these Jews who protest such things are really interested in improving relations. I'm glad the Pope changed the old wording in the prayer which was offensive. Jews should not expect complete capitulation to their demands. If this happens then next would be demands for changes in the New testament. I wonder if these same Jews demand that Koranic verses be changed so as not to offend?

Bring Back the Iron Cross

2008-03-19T16:00:00.000-07:00

Iron Cross purposes

By Chris Schuler

As our Berlin correspondent, Tony Patterson, reported last week, Germany has been riven by controversy since the Defence Minister, Franz Josef Jung, announced plans for a medal, “similar in shape to the Iron Cross”, to be awarded to German troops risking their lives in Afghanistan. The proposal was greeted with fierce opposition from the Greens, Social Democrats, and Jewish groups, and within 24 hours, he had backed down, stating that any new medal would bear no resemblance to the Iron Cross.

"Given the legacy of Hitler and the Second World War,” said Rainer Arnold, a leading Social Democrat, “the medal is too burdened by the past to be reintroduced." Stephan Kramer, General Secretary of Central Council of Jews in Germany, was of the same opinion. The Iron Cross, he said, was "shamelessly abused" by the Nazis and had become synonymous with Hitlerism.

Yet the Iron Cross is not synonymous with Nazism, but was introduced by the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III during the Napoleonic Wars. And although it has not been used as a military decoration since the end of the Second World War, it is still the official emblem of the Bundeswehr, and has been displayed on its tanks and planes for 60 years without protest.

It is worth remembering that, before Hitler came to power, many holders of the medal were Jewish: the picture shows a detail from the grave of a Jewish serviceman in the former German city of Breslau (now Wroclaw in Poland). Of the 555,000 Jews living in the German empire in at the outbreak of the First World War, 100,000 served in all branches of the armed; 12,000 of them died in action; and many were awarded the Iron Cross.

This did not, of course save them from the concentration camps. Perhaps the award is irretrievably tainted – but then again, maybe it would be better to reclaim it, rather that give the Nazis credit for something that was not theirs in the first place?

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I lifted this article from the Independent Online Edition. I agree with Chris Schuler. The Bundeswehr (German Military Forces) adopted the Iron Cross as it's emblem in 1955. Jewish sensibility to a decoration awarded by Nazi Germany is understandable but this cross is without the swastika.

Hitler the cartoonist

2008-03-17T13:10:00.000-07:00

Anyone interested in WWII knows personal stuff about Hitler. He wanted to be an architect, was a landscape painter and tried his hand at selling hand painted postcards, not very successfully. Well, it turn out that Hitler was also a cartoonist.

Four of his cartoon drawings were found behind a Hitler Bavarian landscape painting up for auction in Germany. The cartoon drawings are of Disney Characters in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and of Pinocchio.

Correa to Bush: "Shut Up!!!!"

2008-03-14T15:44:00.000-07:00

Ecuadoran president Rafael Correa a.k.a "little Chavez" has just issued a mano - a - mano challenge to President Bush; either you send brave American troops to our border with the nasty Colombians or shut up. He followed the outburst by threatening to hold his breath until Bush gives him an answer.

"My boys can't fight" implied Correa. "Those nasty rebels don't fight fair. They use real bullets and could kill our soldiers if I try to protect Ecuadoran sovereignty." Correa was practically in tears as he lamented the fact his troops lacked cojones. In the background could be seen embattled Venezuelan president Hugo "Fidel, you had me at hola" Chavez throwing darts at a dart board with a head shot of President Bush.

Mr. Correa was also visibly mad at Spain "after Madrid newspaper El Pais printed allegations the Ecuadoran government was mixed up with FARC rebels." "Oye, gallegos" Correa shouted at no one in particular, "you guys are way over there in Europe. Send your troops here or mind your own business. I hate you..I hate you!!

As the news conference continued Mr. Correa got even more agitated. He now demanded that not only should the US and Spain send troops but that the UN also send multi-national troops to the Ecuadoran - Colombian border "or you shut up too.....you don't know how grateful we would be, how much trouble you'd save us."

Ecuadoran Defense Minister Wellington Sandoval also appeared to be mad and hurt by allegations that his country and the FARC rebels got along very well, "falsehoods", that's what's in El Pais. "I'm going to sue".

Call me a skeptic but I believe that Ecuador is harboring FARC rebels. Before Colombia sent in troops FARC was operating freely inside Ecuador. Correa's contention that Ecuador is powerless to intervene against FARC rebels rings hollow given that Ecuadoran troops were swiftly moved into the same region in a show of force designed to intimidate Uribe.

SNL not pro-Hillary: So says producer (wink, wink)

2008-03-14T04:43:00.000-07:00

Saturday Night Live (SNL) producer Lorne Michaels insists that SNL does not favor Hillary Clinton over Barack Hussein Obama despite sketches which casts Sen. Obama as an empty suit that gets favorable treatment from the general press.

“I’m sensitive to the suggestion that we’re in the service of Hillary Clinton this year,” he said. “That obviously is not the case.” He added, “We don’t lay down for anybody.”

Yeah, right. The timing of the sketches - and of guest host Tina Fey's unequivocal endorsement of Hillary - before crucial (for Hillary) primaries in Ohio and Texas definitely helped Clinton. Before SNL's sketches the perception was that Obama was receiving fluff treatment by this nations unbiased(wink, wink) media, like CNN, NBC, CBS, The Times, The Post, etc..etc. (the usual suspects). According to the same entities that gage public perception the situation changed after SNL's deliberate attempt to......excuse me, sorry, after SNL's innocent attempt at humor by casting Hillary in a favorable spotlight (and, hopefully, increasing viewers). You see it was all just political humor, something SNL used to be good at years ago.

In his defense Mr. Michaels points out that most of the cast and writers of the show are Obamatrons. Heck, even Jim Downey - creator of the most recent pro Hillary sketches - would "definitely" vote for Obama if he was the democratic nominee. Not a ringing endorsement in my book but an expected one considering that Mr. Downey is - surprise - a democrat.

Personally, I can't wait (not really) until this thing with the democrats is decided for I predict that Mr. Michaels, Mr.Downey and the rest of the SNL casts will just skewer Sen. McCain. All in the quest for political humor (and ratings), of course (wink, wink).

For the complete story see http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/arts/television/13snl.html?em&ex=1205553600&en=65004fe840701e31&ei=5070

Obama: Race not issue!!!

2008-03-13T13:30:00.000-07:00

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Hussein Obama announced that important issues, not race, are what determine how voters decide after receiving 90% of the Black vote in his most recent primary victory. And he said this with a straight face. Apparently, Sen. Obama believes that issues only count when Whites and Hispanics vote because it's clear that he's pocketed the Black vote.

A daily tracking poll just released by Rasmussen shows that race does play a significant role in determining who supports Sen. Obama. Blacks support Obama over Sen. Clinton by an overwhelming margin, 81% to 7% while White voters give Hillary a more balanced but still substantial edge of 50% to 39%.

Considering that both Obama and Clinton stance on the issues is virtually identical there's plenty of evidence to suggest that Black voters prefer Obama because he is ehhhh.... Black! But Obama doesn't think so, hmmmm... I wonder why? Maybe he hopes willing accomplices in the media will follow this line. I think Geraldine Ferraro was right! Obama is still a candidate because of overwhelming Black support for a fellow Black.

Good news on the Rasmussen poll. McCain leads both Clinton and Obama in a head to head race by 1-2%. This, in my opinion, is significant since Republicans usually trail by much larger margins in early polls.

Why I won't vote Democrat

2008-03-10T16:06:00.000-07:00

I'm not a politically involved person. Unless there's an issue of real importance to me - like pocketbook issues or presidential election- you'll rarely find me discussing politics with friends or co-workers. Rarely do I get up early on Sunday mornings to watch the talking heads and political pundits discussing what's going on nationally or internationally.

During the Reagan era I was more in tune politically because here was a man who would make Americans again proud of our country. Carter had made America suffer through four years mental depression. Watching him light candles while the Iranians held Americans hostage made my skin crawl. "Is that the only response from the worlds no. 1 superpower!", I thought. Here we were, being mocked by a two bit second rate country. How the mighty had fallen.

The Clinton era also kept me politically aware because the guy was such a clown that I couldn't wait to hear what Rush had to say about the First Family and the fellow Clintonistas. The guy had charisma, I have to admit. That charisma, and my disgust with Bushes backtracking on the no new taxes pledge, sold me the used car, the snake oil that Bubba peddled. I didn't make the same mistake in 96. Reagan inspired me Clinton amused me, both good reasons to keep my interest. I didn't get this from either of the two Bushes. Sure, I voted for both but not because they were my favorites. This year again I will vote for a candidate that does not inspire me to be politically motivated but I'll vote for him for the same reason both Bushes got my vote. I refuse to vote Democrat.

In my opinion, the Democratic party has - over the last 30 years or so- become the refuge of crypto socialist and neo-communist. It has become the party of self hatred, the party of big government, the party that our enemies love. It has become the party of those who are arrogant and condescending.

Hillary Clinton and Barack Hussein Obama bring nothing new to the table. Both resort to more government to fix crisis that don't exist. Both are anti-business and protectionist. Both cater to eco loonies and far left idealist. Neither care about protecting our borders. Both hide their contempt for free expression with politically correct jargon.

More of the same.