Category: Current Events & Politics

The F-22A Fighter: A 24-Year Procurement Travesty

As reported in Defense Aerospace, the U.S. Air Force recently announced: “The 1st Fighter Wing held a ceremony here today to celebrate the F-22A Raptor’s initial operational capability. The IOC declaration proves the F-22A is mission ready. The base now has 19 Raptors…” Strike up the band! The F-22 is finally operational. First, some background; I’m very familiar with the history of this procurement. Back in July of 1987, I visited Wright-Patterson AFB to interview Colonel Fain, the System Program Office manager for what was then dubbed the “Advanced Tactical Fighter.” This interview was for a feature article in Defense …


Letter Re: Afghanistan’s Deteriorating Security Situation and Request for Advice on Retreat Buying

Mr. Rawles, I wanted to run a few observations of mine by you and then pose a question. I am working in Afghanistan as a security contractor. I don’t have a normal security contractor job (i.e. doing PSD work for dignitaries), and I get to see a lot more of the country, frequently by myself. I see things turning in the wrong direction here, and while we could take the upper hand again, I don’t think the powers that be will make the right decisions. The U.S. will be turning over control of the violent south and east to ISAF …


Moves by China and Iran May Trigger a Dollar Crisis

Two recent developments overseas may not bode well for the dollar. This first is that Iran has announced that in March (of ’06) it will open a new international oil bourse that will have all transactions denominated in Euros. (See: http://www.energybulletin.net/7707.html  )  The second is that China has announced that it intends to shift its currency reserves away from the U.S. dollar for “a more balanced portfolio.” (Read: Anything but dollars!)  See: http://news.ft.com/cms/s/f39fa8e4-7e25-11da-8ef9-0000779e2340.htm


Letter from Re: National Animal Identification System (NAIS)

The following tongue-in-cheek letter was posted on The Claire Files, in response to The Memsahib’s recent letter on the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) Dear Sir/Ma’am, I wish to report the demise of 43 (forty three) animals at position xxp2l. The conditions are as follows: 13 eggs (scrambled) 4 turkeys (1 stuffed and baked, 2 jerky, 1 frozen) 6 ducks (2 pressed with orange sauce, 4 processed for canning) 20 chickens (2 squashed by car, 18 processed for fried chicken/canning) The requisite forms are being forwarded in triplicate as required and 41 [bio]chips will follow. The last chip is presumed …


Letter from J.M in Wisconsin Re: National Animal Identification System (NAIS)

Memsahib: Just a little correction to R.J.’s note regarding animal I.D. in Wisconsin. As of January 1 every livestock owner was subject to mandatory premises registration and this includes horse owners. Even if you only keep one animal you are suppose to register.  I found out that our very crooked legislature was trying to rush this through late in 2004 and tried to organize some opposition among fellow horse owners but you know how hard it is to wake up the sheeple. Thanks for trying to keep this from going national! – J.M.


The Memsahib on the National Animal Identification System (NAIS)

The USDA and the Agrobiz giants have been crafting a national animal identification scheme that threatens the traditional freedom of self sufficiency, the privacy of Americans, and the livelihood of organic farmers, and family farms. The National Animal Identification System (NAIS) is the creation of the Agrobiz giants Monsanto, Cargill Meat, National Pork Producers, and others to monopolize American food production using fear tactics to advance their agenda. The NAIS scheme was not created by any act of congress. Rather, it is merely a presumptuous bureaucratic dictate. The NAIS plan requires two types of mandatory registration for everyone who owns …


Two Letters Re: National Animal Identification System (NAIS)

Memsahib: There was a good article and a great editorial in the December issue of “Acres USA” (Best farm magazine in America:  http://www.acresusa.com/magazines/magazine.htm ) on NAIS. I know one employee of the Idaho Dept. of Agriculture who is very skeptical about NAIS. I found the Acres article, “Tagging Terrorist Chickens” at: http://www.freetennessee.org/NAIS_proposal_overview.html. I still recommend reading the editorial in the magazine. Also, see Mary Zanoni’s writing: http://www.warmwell.com/05sept30regsoppose.html The NAIS has been discussed on Timebomb 2K over the past year but not in much depth. There is now a Stop Animal ID Message Board: http://stopanimalid.org/forum/index.php I hope this helps some. Regards, …


Rourke’s Reply (to JWR’s Original Comments)

You are going for an entire community then, in which case I would recommend you actually form a Village and have self-government. (City is too complex). Now Disney in Florida even made its own county, but I doubt that will happen again. Still, a Village can be very powerful if you can do all the development up front. Set up police, fire, even schools, and public buildings and systems with survival in mind. What an opportunity. However, as it grows, the survival mindset of those started it is likely to be diluted, and that will show up in elections over …


Zimbabwe’s Slow Slide Continues

Mismanaged for many years by a horrendously corrupt and inept communist government, Zimbabwe’s economy is sliding into deeper Schumer. SurvivalBlog reader Lyn recommended this article: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/printpage/0,5942,17457835,00.html The Australian newspaper reports that the mass inflation continues: “A US dollar now costs $Z61,000 at official rates and $Z85,000 on the black market.” The economy continues to decline, along with farm production. Now starvation is a real threat in a country that once fed much of sub-Saharan Africa. To make matters worse, the infrastructure is crumbling–including sewage treatment plants. The Australian reports that there is the risk of disease–with cholera and amoebic dysentery …


Meanwhile, in Liberia…

For some tragicomic relief, SurvivalBlog reader M.Z. recommended this pictorial article: http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=414704&page=1 showing the civil war in Liberia. I surmise that a few squads of soldiers that was trained to aim and use fire discipline could clear the city of this riffraff in short order.


Letter Re: Former FEMA Director Michael Brown is Now Consulting

Mr. Rawles: Here is a link to the jaw-droppingly absurd, but true. CNN ran a story about Michael Brown getting fired from FEMA only to go into the Emergency Planning “consulting” business. See: http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/24/brown.consultant.ap/index.html We can all sleep better now knowing that America is once again safe. Regards, -B. Adams


The Great Debate–Puru Saxena Explains the Fed’s Interest Rate Hikes

Don’t miss the article titled The Great Debate by Puru Saxena which recently ran in The Daily Reckoning. In it, Saxena refutes the widespread belief is that the Federal Reserve is currently increasing interest-rates to “control” inflation. Here is an excerpt from his excellent article: “The grim reality is that the modern day central banking IS inflation…and the quicker we get used to this idea, the better. The deflation scare is nothing more than a decoy, which the central banks use in order to continue with their money-printing (inflationary) program. Still not convinced? Then, consider the greatest fabrication, the Japanese …


Letter Re: South African 155mm Shells in Iraq–The Gerald Bull Connection

Jim: The South African arms industry was supplied shells and technology to produce the advanced 155mm during the Angolan Wars, by Space Research Corporation (SRC) of Canada/USA. This landed Gerald Bull in prison for illegal export.(The PBS Frontline episode on same, or less-so the “Doomsday Gun” has some pretty general information on the subject.  See:  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/programs/transcripts/911.html They got technology to produce Bull’s more up-to-date gun too (and produced two types: one a 155mm, the other a 210mm). It wasn’t necessary to have to use Bull’s 155mm base-bleed shells in his GC-45 as they could also be used to great effect …


Letter Re: America at the Crossroads

Perhaps it was the camping and outdoor adventures of my youth that led to a desire to be self-sufficient and ultimately to my own “survivalist” attitude, but it’s been more a change in society that has formed the current “survivalist” movement than any of our own individual experiences. Modern society has reached it’s pinnacle, and we are now in a very awkward period when society as we know it will spit and sputter and flare up before it burns out entirely, at least society as we know it. The time of great  achievement has passed and society is now working …


The French Intifada–“Brûlure de bébé, de brûlure!”

In 1965 in Watts, they shouted “Burn baby, burn!” In France, I suppose that the North African teenagers are shouting “Brûlure de bébé, de brûlure!” (Pardon my French.) More than 1,400 cars burned on Sunday night alone. The rioting has spread to 300 cities, and now there are concerns that the rioting could spread to Germany and other countries with large Arab immigrant populations. It remains to be seen if the motivation for this French Intifada is purely economic, or if radical Islam is partly to blame. See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4414684.stm and: http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/11/07/D8DNMVOO3.html France went through the traumatic civil war in Algeria …