| Saturday,
September 11, 2004 Subject: Bad news for
brains in Britain
They had a story on NPR (Morning Edition I think) this
AM about English Universities having to close their Chemistry departments
due to a lack on interest. I've looked, but I can't find a link to the
story. Perhaps someone else can.
English industry is very worried. One company
interviewed said they can't find English employees.
The most galling part was that Psychology Degree
enrollments were up 5-fold while Chem enrollment was down a similar amount.
The explanation of it was, "more people oriented, more timely and safer."
John
-- John Harlow, President BravePoint
Not to mention that psychology has no real subject
matter or content, so it's pretty easy compared to physiology or physics or
chemistry. But all subject matters are equal aren't they? Including
humbugology.
Subject: Dinosaur Farm
"NASA needs a Dinosaur Farm. I suggest Senegal,
although Michoud would work if the EPA would forbid sunscreen and bug
repellent."
Kwajalein Island- "If you don't bring it with you, you
won't find it here". Well, not actually "south" South Pacific, the Marshall
Islands are more near-equator, half-way between Hawaii and Borneo, both in
their geographic location, and in their geo-political mindset.
http://www.escapeartist.com/efam4/Kwajalein.html
You might even be able to sell it to them.
Mike Z
I was never on Kwaj, but I did spend several days
on Wake Island. Perhaps we can start an observation place there.
Subject: Profiling
From <
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion
/oped/articles/2004/09/09/where_is_the_muslim_outrage/ >
"...One in particular stands out: an extraordinary
column in the pan-Arabic daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat by Abdel Rahman al-Rashed,
the manager of the Al-Arabiya news channel.
"It is a certain fact that not all Muslims are
terrorists," he begins, "but it is equally certain, and exceptionally
painful, that almost all terrorists are Muslims.""
Gene Horr
==========================
Subject: Samuelson on outsourcing, and a thought on
Frum
Dear Dr. Pournelle,
It occurred to me that you might be interested in
looking at this piece by Paul Samuelson <
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/09/business/worldbusiness/09outsource.html?pagewanted=1
> regarding outsourcing and the questionable benefits of same. It struck a
connection -- perhaps merely a short circuit -- with your discussions of
revenue tariffs and keeping jobs here that average and below average folks
can perform with skill, satisfaction, dignity and pride.
There seems to be no human calculus yet that will show
the relationship between the extra $20 you spend on electronic goodies, and
the replaceable money and irreplaceable time we spend worrying about what
all those unemployed folks are doing. Hopefully they're not doing to you.
Any status on Jannisarries? I am looking forward to
how Rick and Tylara get out of this one. As I recall, Roland Green
co-authored Clan and Crown(Vol2), and y'all turned out one of my favorite
works.
Just a thought in passing. You often refer to the
egregious Frum reading out out of the conservative movement. Isn't that like
a Mormon reading you out of the Catholic Church? This is an interesting time
for philosophy if we can keep out heads out of our navels while we study it.
Thank you for wonderful books, thought-provoking
columns, winning the Cold War, and helping keep the dream of space alive. I
shall repay forward as best I can.
Warm Regards to you and Mrs. Pournellle,
Mason Shaar
Thanks for the kind words. I recall many years ago
being at dinner with Paul Samuelson. After it was over Peter de Lucca said
something about "who was that chap," and I told him. "You mean 'we owe it to
ourselves?' Samuelson?"
"Yes."
"But he's a civilizational monster! And I didn't
know it."
Of course that may have been the father of the
present author. Charming man. As to owing it to ourselves, I have always
pointed out that borrowing to buy tools and education makes sense; I
borrowed the money for Zeke, my first computer. But borrowing to go on
vacation or otherwise consume might not be so wise. As Colonel Crawley found
in Vanity Fair...
SPACE INVADERS Where No Webcam Has Gone Before For
astronomy buffs, taking pictures of planets, nebulae, and other deep-sky
objects can be expensive. Astronomy cameras start at $1,500 and can reach
$5,000. But there's a cheaper way to wish upon a star: tinkering with
Webcams. Following instructions freely available on the Internet,
enthusiasts have modified common $99 Webcams made by Logitech International
(LOGI ) and Philips (PHG ) to capture surprisingly impressive images of
planets and stars. Here's how it's done. Using Webcams with "charge-coupled
device" (CCD) chips, which are especially sensitive to light, stargazers can
simply remove the lens to shoot bright subjects such as the moon and nearby
planets. More distant nebulae and galaxies require longer exposure times,
and more fiddling. Do-it-yourselfers manually solder tiny circuits in the
Webcam to block the signal that ends the exposure. Then they clean up the
image with special software. Too much grunt work? Companies such as
Melbourne (Fla.)-based SAC Imaging Systems and Portugal's Perseu sell
already-modified Webcams to those less eager to do the handiwork themselves.
SAC President William Snyder expects sales of his cameras, which sell for
around $250 on average, to double this year to $500,000. Perseu reports
similar numbers. Bigger players are catching on, too. Venerable Meade
Instruments (MEAD ), a maker of high-end astronomy gear, will roll out a
$299 CCD-based camera by October. "[It was] an untapped market," says Ken
Baun, Meade's vice-president for engineering. Not quite the Hubble Space
Telescope, but, at a couple billion dollars cheaper, it's quite a bargain.
By Susan Zegel
-- Richard F. Doherty, Research Director The
Envisioneering Group
========
Dear Dr. Pournelle,
You've probably heard from a lot of folks by now
concerning AT&T billing.
They've started billing for NOT using their long
distance service. They hit me for about $8 for a couple of months before I
found out what was going on and cancelled any connection I have with them.
Regards,
Jim Young
That seems to be the case. $6 for NOT using their
"service" and another $2 for "statement fees" for sending me the bill. I
shall cancel Monday morning. Ye gods.
Years ago when AT&T tried to market PC's I said
that if they bought Colonel Sanders they'd advertise hot dead chicken. I was
wrong. It would have been "warm, dead, chicken."
============
You commented:
We are probably headed for a Dark Age: in a Dark Age,
people forget that they ever knew things. We will forget that we ever could
have solved the energy problem with fission plants fueled with the peace
dividend of all that refined Uranium from superfluous atom bombs.
My pre-bedtime reading for the last couple of weeks
has been Barzun's 'From Dawn To Decadence: 1500 to the Present'. Worth
reading even though you're looking at 1,000+ very dense pages, and a coming
upheaval is this central thesis of the book.
--dean
Dean Riddlebarger The Other One Consulting rdr@otherone.com
That was my book of the Month and of the Year when
it came out
============
Subject: An Age of Marvels....
I realize, Jerry, that for a number of people in your
generation, that much mockery ensued in the impressionable days of their
undergraduate engineering classes when they left their sliderules back at
home.
And now, with the aid of a cheap computer, wireless
access in campus halls, and a worldwide internet connection, no one need
ever suffer the scorn of their engineering professors again!
http://www.cee.hw.ac.uk/~greg/calculators/sliderule/javasliderule.html
Truly, we live in an age of marvels!
Ken Burnside Ad Astra Games
I LOVE IT! Thank you!
==
Subject: Tulia.
http://cbs11tv.com/localnews/topstoriestv_story_243145511.html
-- Roland Dobbins
After all that. Well, a day...
==================
Stuck here in Oregon; would rather be off playing in
the wreckage in Florida, where FEMA is now paying $18.88 for temporary
'community relations officers', plus food, lodging and air tickets in and
out. Anyway, since I'm on line, I can answer your telecom question about the
$8 ATT nothing charge.
ATT is 'PIC'-ed to those lines as the default Long
Distance carrier, I will wager. ATT this year instituted a $8/month minimum
on their default LD plan.
To stop this, tell SBC you want to change to another
carrier, or none at all. If you pick another, you are subject to their terms
and conditions and resulting billings. The best website I've seen for
comparing LD carriers and all their flea-flickin' fees is
http://www.abtolls.com
There's one LD carrier for interstate LD, and another
for intrastate LD. You might even have a third, for intra-LATA toll calls,
but I don't think LA has this special feature.
Or, you can have SBC select no carrier at all. Then,
SBC charges you (less) for the privilege of having no other company bill you
for long distance service connectivity. That's what we do at our home, and
if we need LD, we either use the cellphones which have free US LD, or use
the Vonage line which has free US/Canada calling.
After making your choice, I'd suggest "PIC-locking"
your lines, so you can't be assigned to another carrier without verifying
the change with you first. This prevents 'slamming', which ATT and other
carriers have done, whereby the LD carrier lies to your LEC and puts you on
their service, then bills you.
I'd like to be a yellow-dog Libertarian, really, I
would. But, without regulation, the corporate shysters nibble us to death
with fine print and service fees.
VONAGE
http://www.vonage.com
At $30/mo for unlimited US/Canada calling out, Vonage
can be a good deal, since you've already got broadband. Their feature set is
very nice; they offer features which it doesn't cost them to add (or the
ILEC, incumbent local exchange carrier, i.e., SBC) because the switch can do
them all, anyway (and the software's written decades ago), things SBC will
gleefully overcharge you (with profit margins exceeding 29,000%, in the case
of voice mail), and things your LEC can't do at all.
If the network goes down, Vonage will redirect your
inbound calls to any number you wish. They include E911 capability (so the
911 operator knows where you are) in the standard service (dependent on
technical compatibility of their phone switch, somewhere in Jersey, with
your E911 center).
I could blather on about the feature set, but I'd just
suggest you look them over. I'm sure you'd find things you'd like which
Vonage offers free or very inexpensively.
Vonage even have a $15/mo plan which gives 500
minutes/mo of free US/Canada calling. With Vonage and other VOIP (Packet8 is
another good one) carriers, every outgoing call is metered on the el cheapo
plan, so that 500 minutes include local calls we place. But, for $15/mo,
it's still a deal. Inbound calls are not metered by any VOIP provider AFAIK,
unless you pay for an INWATS (800, 866, 877, 888) toll-free inbound number.
The downside of VOIP is if the LAN or your broadband
fails, you have no dial tone. However, as long as you have one wireline
number in the house attached to your LEC, you still have a phone even if the
Internet crashes, so I'd suggest keeping one, count it, one, line.
USENET's comp.dcom.telecom is a good place for more
info on this, should you wish to learn more. The moderator there, Pat
Townson, gets a month free on every referral to Vonage made, and since he's
semi-retired and keeps comp.dcom.telecom a useful newsgroup by his
moderation efforts, I'd hope if you choose Vonage that you'd let him
officially refer you.
--
Oh, and here's more IE vulnerabilities:
Several vulnerabilities in IE (VU#526089, VU#490708,
VU#413886) can be combined to download arbitrary code to vulnerable Windows
systems. These vulnerabilities are publicly referred to as "hijackclick,"
"drag and drop," and "'whatadrag" and are exploited to install malicious
code known as "Akak." When exploiting the "drag and drop" vulnerabilities, a
malicious website entices the user to drag the scroll bar. During the "drag
and drop," an image element is dragged to a window that references the
Windows startup folder (shell:startup). The image element actually
references an executable file that is copied to the startup folder. This
file will be executed the next time that the user logs in. Public reports
indicate that Akak functions as a proxy, installs a backdoor, and contacts a
master server. It is important to note that any arbitrary executable file
could be installed using this "drag and drop" technique. Sites that attempt
to install Akak also exploit two previously patched IE vulnerabilities
(VU#713878, VU#323070). The following documents describe these
vulnerabilities in more detail:
VU#526089 <https://www.kb.cert.org/vulcatalog/id/526089>
- Internet Explorer treats arbitrary files as images
VU#490708 <https://www.kb.cert.org/vulcatalog/id/490708>
- Microsoft Internet Explorer window.createPopup() function fails to
restrict chromeless windows
VU#413886 <https://www.kb.cert.org/vulcatalog/id/413886>
- Microsoft Internet Explorer allows mouse events to manipulate window
objects (HijackclickV3, WinXP SP2 not affected)
VU#713878 <https://www.kb.cert.org/vulcatalog/id/713878>
- Microsoft Internet Explorer does not properly validate source of
redirected frame (patched by MS04-025)
VU#323070 <https://www.kb.cert.org/vulcatalog/id/323070>
- Outlook Express MHTML protocol handler does not properly validate location
of alternate data (patched by MS04-013)
-- John Bartley, K7AAY, tel. admin, PDX, views mine.
http://celdata.cjb.net Handheld Cellular Data FAQ rm -rf /bin/laden && newfs
-m 99 /dev/iraq
====================
The last part of this letter brought joy to my heart!
It is from the web site
http://messopotamian.blogspot.com/ With much love. Al hamudlillah.
David Couvillon
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Hi,
Today the Interim National Assembly held its first
meeting. Several mortars fell near the place where the proceedings were
taking place, some shaking the walls of the building. These explosions did
not seem to bother those present in the slightest. For those who doubt the
bravery and determination of the Iraqi people, just imagine this happening
anywhere else. Would any other assembly in any other place just continue its
work with such absolute calm and normalcy under similar circumstances?
Every Iraqi reporting to work every morning in broad
daylight is challenging the vile criminals who are targeting the very daily
life of ordinary citizen. Only in the last couple of days, a lady professor
was assassinated in Mosul and the Dean of Anbar University Dr. Abdul Hadi
Al-Heeti kidnapped from the front of his house as he was about to leave for
work. The scum, who are perpetrating such a campaign of murder and terror
against good people for no other reason than these latter wanting to go on
with their daily lives, are being hailed by other scum abroad, especially
from among the Arabs, as being “legitimate resistance fighters”.
The majority of the Iraqi people are being targeted as
a punishment for their acceptance and support for this new project of
freedom and liberation. There are reports, though, especially from some
provinces in the South ( Diwaniya, Kut and Samawa for example) that the
ordinary people are starting to strike back and that in some areas the
criminals are being hounded and are cowering and begging for mercy and even
returning some of the loot which they have previously stolen.
Sooner or later it will be the Iraqi people themselves
who are going to cleanup their house.
Salaam
=====================
Subject: Intelligence
I've been at a workshop on neural computation and
psychology in Plymouth. There was a paper of particular interest by Jonathan
Evans on thinking and reasoning. He discussed recent evidence for a dual
process theory of reasoning, where symbolic rule-based reasoning reflects
operation of a slow, serial, analytic system, and associative and highly
contextualized reasoning processes are associated with a distinct, fast,
highly parallel, and evolutionarily prior heuristic system. Heuristic
reasoning appears to the primary mode, and only individuals of high
cognitive ability have much facility with the analytical system.
General intelligence seems to be a measure of the
performance of the analytic system, not the heuristic system.
-- Harry Erwin, PhD, Senior Lecturer of Computing,
University of Sunderland. Computational neuroscientist modeling bat
bioacoustics and behavior. http://osiris.sunderland.ac.uk/~cs0her
Well we know that "g" exists as well as a number of
special factors. But it is not PC to study this.
====================
Dr Pournelle,
On airport security.
I’ve just returned for a week-long aerial journey
around much of north-western Europe, and have been reminded once more of
what I had never really forgotten.
Along with every other European I have ever discussed
this with, I considered the so-called airport security that operated in the
United States before 9/11 to have been weak and ineffective to the point of
pointlessness. Please understand, I am not talking here with the benefit of
hindsight. This had been a common source of wonderment , head-shaking and
discussion among European travellers in America long before 9/11; certainly
at least one decade before 9/11 the topic came up regularly, because in
Europe (with certain weak exceptions such as Greece) the matter was taken
seriously while it was clear from simple observation that it was not in the
US.
Immediately following 9/11, the general response among
us Europeans who had travelled in the States was, firstly, considering the
pathetic apology for security at airports there, 9/11 or something like it
was a disaster that could almost have been predicted. Secondly, the
universal assumption was that American airports are going to have to take
security seriously, at last.
Well, of course they have, in the shape of the TSA.
But now they seem to have gone about as far too far the other way. Instead
of effectively no security at US airports, now you can hardly move for it.
Meanwhile, Europe has of course tightened up since 9/11. Even Greece has
been brought in line, thanks in good part to the Olympic Games I suppose.
But even at the busiest European airports, such as Heathrow, Frankfurt or
Charles de Gaulle, which have as many passengers as the busiest US airports,
passengers are not faced with the interminable delays and intrusive
questioning (unless justified) that you, and I, and others, experience now
in the home of the brave and the land of the free.
Well, Now you’ve had your national over-reaction in
terms of airport security to 9/11, don’t you think the long term answer is
to devise a middle way?
Jim Mangles
If the goal is to prevent airplanes from being
taken over and used as cruise missiles, what we had before 9/11 was
perfectly adequate. You can't take over a plane with a box cutter unless the
passengers allow it, and while you can murder a few people you won't survive
unless the passengers have been told they will be jailed if they resist the
takeover. Change the rules of engagement and get rid of TSA.
If the goal to to prevent suicide bombers from
bringing down an airplane, neither we nor Europe has the answer. Anyone
determined to do it can manage it. I won't supply details.
A middle way? We sort of had it before 9/11, and
creating government jobs for people who can't manage a MacDonalds isn't an
improvement.
==============
Subj: Kwajalein inappropriate for NASA Dinosaur Farm?
Ye wouldna desecrate the Reagan Test Site, would ye,
laddie? 8-(
http://www.smdc.army.mil/RTS.html Reagan Test Site
Tho' 'tis true the Gipper would nae begrudge the
sacrifice, if there's nae other way.
Rod Montgomery==monty@sprintmail.com
====================
By Col. William Campenni The Washington Times | August 25, 2004
George Bush and I were lieutenants and pilots in the 111th Fighter
Interceptor Squadron (FIS), Texas Air National Guard (ANG) from 1970 to
1971. We had the same flight and squadron commanders (Maj. William Harris
and Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, both now deceased). While we were not part of
the same social circle outside the base, we were in the same fraternity of
fighter pilots, and proudly wore the same squadron patch.
It is quite frustrating to hear the daily cacophony from the left and
Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, et al., about Lt. Bush escaping his
military responsibilities by hiding in the Texas ANG. In the Air Guard
during the Vietnam War, you were always subject to call-up, as many Air
National Guardsmen are finding out today. If the 111th FIS and Lt. Bush did
not go to Vietnam, blame President Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert
S. McNamara, not lowly Lt. Bush. They deliberately avoided use of the Guard
and Reserves for domestic political calculations, knowing that a draftee
only stirred up the concerns of one family, while a call-up got a whole
community's attention.
The mission of the 147th Fighter Group and its subordinate 111th FIS,
Texas ANG, and the airplane it possessed, the F-102, was air defense. It was
focused on defending the continental United States from Soviet nuclear
bombers. The F-102 could not drop bombs and would have been useless in
Vietnam. A pilot program using ANG volunteer pilots in F-102s (called Palace
Alert) was scrapped quickly after the airplane proved to be unsuitable to
the war effort. Ironically, Lt. Bush did inquire about this program but was
advised by an ANG supervisor (Maj. Maurice Udell, retired) that he did not
have the desired experience (500 hours) at the time and that the program was
winding down and not accepting more volunteers.
If you check the 111th FIS records of 1970-72 and any other ANG squadron,
you will find other pilots excused for career obligations and conflicts. The
Bush excusal in 1972 was further facilitated by a change in the unit's
mission, from an operational fighter squadron to a training squadron with a
new airplane, the F-101, which required that more pilots be available for
full-time instructor duty rather than part-time traditional reservists with
outside employment.
The winding down of the Vietnam War in 1971 provided a flood of exiting
active-duty pilots for these instructor jobs, making part-timers like Lt.
Bush and me somewhat superfluous. There was a huge glut of pilots in the Air
Force in 1972, and with no cockpits available to put them in, many were
shoved into nonflying desk jobs. Any pilot could have left the Air Force or
the Air Guard with ease after 1972 before his commitment was up because
there just wasn't room for all of them anymore.
Sadly, few of today's partisan pundits know anything about the
environment of service in the Reserves in the 1970s. The image of a
reservist at that time is of one who joined, went off for six months' basic
training, then came back and drilled weekly or monthly at home, with two
weeks of "summer camp." With the knowledge that Mr. Johnson and Mr. McNamara
were not going to call out the Reserves, it did become a place of refuge for
many wanting to avoid Vietnam.
There was one big exception to this abusive use of the Guard to avoid the
draft, and that was for those who wanted to fly, as pilots or crew members.
Because of the training required, signing up for this duty meant up to 2½
years of active duty for training alone, plus a high probability of
mobilization. A fighter-pilot candidate selected by the Guard (such as Lt.
Bush and me) would be spending the next two years on active duty going
through basic training (six weeks), flight training (one year), survival
training (two weeks) and combat crew training for his aircraft (six to nine
months), followed by local checkout (up to three more months) before he was
even deemed combat-ready. Because the draft was just two years, you sure
weren't getting out of duty being an Air Guard pilot. If the unit to which
you were going back was an F-100, you were mobilized for Vietnam. Avoiding
service? Yeah, tell that to those guys.
The Bush critics do not comprehend the dangers of fighter aviation at any
time or place, in Vietnam or at home, when they say other such pilots were
risking their lives or even dying while Lt. Bush was in Texas. Our Texas ANG
unit lost several planes right there in Houston during Lt. Bush's tenure,
with fatalities. Just strapping on one of those obsolescing F-102s was
risking one's life.
Critics such as Mr. Kerry (who served in Vietnam, you know), Terry
McAuliffe and Michael Moore (neither of whom served anywhere) say Lt. Bush
abandoned his assignment as a jet fighter pilot without explanation or
authorization and was AWOL from the Alabama Air Guard.
Well, as for abandoning his assignment, this is untrue. Lt. Bush was
excused for a period to take employment in Florida for a congressman and
later in Alabama for a Senate campaign.
Excusals for employment were common then and are now in the Air Guard, as
pilots frequently are in career transitions, and most commanders (as I later
was) are flexible in letting their charges take care of career affairs until
they return or transfer to another unit near their new employment. Sometimes
they will transfer temporarily to another unit to keep them on the active
list until they can return home. The receiving unit often has little use for
a transitory member, especially in a high-skills category like a pilot,
because those slots usually are filled and, if not filled, would require
extensive conversion training of up to six months, an unlikely option for a
temporary hire.
As a commander, I would put such "visitors" in some minor administrative
post until they went back home. There even were a few instances when I was
unaware that they were on my roster because the paperwork often lagged.
Today, I can't even recall their names. If a Lt. Bush came into my unit to
"pull drills" for a couple of months, I wouldn't be too involved with him
because I would have a lot more important things on my table keeping the
unit combat ready.
Another frequent charge is that, as a member of the Texas ANG, Lt. Bush
twice ignored or disobeyed lawful orders, first by refusing to report for a
required physical in the year when drug testing first became part of the
exam, and second by failing to report for duty at the disciplinary unit in
Colorado to which he had been ordered. Well, here are the facts:
First, there is no instance of Lt. Bush disobeying lawful orders in
reporting for a physical, as none would be given. Pilots are scheduled for
their annual flight physicals in their birth month during that month's
weekend drill assembly — the only time the clinic is open. In the Reserves,
it is not uncommon to miss this deadline by a month or so for a variety of
reasons: The clinic is closed that month for special training; the
individual is out of town on civilian business; etc.
If so, the pilot is grounded temporarily until he completes the physical.
Also, the formal drug testing program was not instituted by the Air Force
until the 1980s and is done randomly by lot, not as a special part of a
flight physical, when one easily could abstain from drug use because of its
date certain. Blood work is done, but to ensure a healthy pilot, not
confront a drug user.
Second, there was no such thing as a "disciplinary unit in Colorado" to
which Lt. Bush had been ordered. The Air Reserve Personnel Center in Denver
is a repository of the paperwork for those no longer assigned to a specific
unit, such as retirees and transferees. Mine is there now, so I guess I'm
"being disciplined." These "disciplinary units" just don't exist. Any
discipline, if required, is handled within the local squadron, group or
wing, administratively or judicially. Had there been such an infraction or
court-martial action, there would be a record and a reflection in Lt. Bush's
performance review and personnel folder. None exists, as was confirmed in
The Washington Post in 2000.
Finally, the Kerrys, Moores and McAuliffes are casting a terrible slander
on those who served in the Guard, then and now. My Guard career parallels
Lt. Bush's, except that I stayed on for 33 years. As a guardsman, I even got
to serve in two campaigns. In the Cold War, the air defense of the United
States was borne primarily by the Air National Guard, by such people as Lt.
Bush and me and a lot of others. Six of those with whom I served in those
years never made their 30th birthdays because they died in crashes flying
air-defense missions.
While most of America was sleeping and Mr. Kerry was playing antiwar
games with Hanoi Jane Fonda, we were answering 3 a.m. scrambles for who
knows what inbound threat over the Canadian subarctic, the cold North
Atlantic and the shark-filled Gulf of Mexico. We were the pathfinders in
showing that the Guard and Reserves could become reliable members of the
first team in the total force, so proudly evidenced today in Afghanistan and
Iraq.
It didn't happen by accident. It happened because back at the nadir of
Guard fortunes in the early '70s, a lot of volunteer guardsman showed they
were ready and able to accept the responsibilities of soldier and citizen —
then and now. Lt. Bush was a kid whose congressman father encouraged him to
serve in the Air National Guard. We served proudly in the Guard. Would that
Mr. Kerry encourage his children and the children of his colleague senators
and congressmen to serve now in the Guard.
In the fighter-pilot world, we have a phrase we use when things are
starting to get out of hand and it's time to stop and reset before disaster
strikes. We say, "Knock it off." So, Mr. Kerry and your friends who want to
slander the Guard: Knock it off.
COL. WILLIAM CAMPENNI (retired)
U.S. Air Force/Air National Guard Herndon, Va.5
================= Wm E Haynes Aerospace Systems Analyst
I don't find the military service of either
candidate very relevant, but Bill Clinton made no secret of working his
ticket, and was considered fit to be President.
===========
I do not dare comment on this next one:
Subject: NIMH Lobbying Effort-
I have to say, funding research that looks at what
college students hang on their dorm walls seems a little off-the-wall to me,
and a waste of money.
This announcement came to an adolescent medicine list
I am on.
Sue
The House of Representatives began debate on
Wednesday morning (September 8) on H.R. 5006, the FY 2005 Labor/HHS/Education
Appropriations bill. The House is scheduled to complete work on Thursday.
There are several amendments of concern that may be offered. These include:
Two possible NIH amendments by Rep. Randy
Neugebauer (R-TX) - that are summarized below:
1) Prohibits the National Institute of Mental
Health at NIH from further funding a grant studying "what makes a meaningful
day?" for college students. The amendment would not cut any funding to NIMH;
it would simply prevent the Institute from funding this grant and free up
any funds that would otherwise go to this grant for other mental health
grants.
RATIONALE FOR URGING CONGRESS TO VOTE NO: -
Research Relevance: The proposed study of the importance of daily goals in
life incorporates journal writing as a way to examine the role of
autobiographical memory, personality, and well-being.
The proposed study has relevance to the
prevention of mental disorders as writing about stressful events or
traumatic experiences may improve mental health and well-being and may
prevent the onset of depression.
Understanding the use of goal setting as a
treatment for those with mental or emotional disorders, combined with the
importance of highlighting positive memories in cognitive behavioral
therapy, is important to furthering treatment development.
2) Prohibits the National Institute of Mental
Health at NIH from further funding a grant studying dorm room wall
decorations and college students' Web pages. The amendment would not cut any
funding to NIMH; it would simply prevent the Institute from funding this
grant and free up any funds that would otherwise go to this grant for other
mental health grants.
RATIONALE FOR URGING CONGRESS TO VOTE NO:
Research Relevance - Assessing the physical and virtual environments that
individuals choose for themselves may convey whether that individual is
suffering from depression or other psychological disorders. Information
could assist in developing effective suicide prevention programs.
The environments that children and young adults
surround themselves with can tell us a lot about their mental state and if
they are suffering from or are more vulnerable to emotional disturbance or
mental disorders;
NIMH has concluded its support for this
one-year basic research project.
A possible amendment by Representative Melissa
Hart (R-PA): Rep. Hart may offer an amendment to block access to emergency
contraception (birth control pills) at school-based health centers. In 2001
Rep. Hart offered a similar amendment.
RATIONALE FOR URGING CONGRESS TO VOTE NO: If
offered, this amendment would restrict access to an FDA-approved method of
pregnancy prevention. It is contrary to efforts to reducing rates of teen
pregnancy and abortion, would jeopardize the health of low-income teens, and
overrides the FDA's determination that emergency contraception is a safe and
effective method of pregnancy prevention.
CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE AT THE CAPITOL
SWITCHBOARD 202/224-3121 (If you are not sure who your Representative is go
to - www.house.gov ) URGE THEM TO VOTE NO ON THESE AND OTHER UNFRIENDLY
AMENDMENTS TO CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS.
But if I were to comment it would be that perhaps
we ought to abolish the NIMH entirely.
==========
To: Jerry Pournelle Subject: in the interest of truth
I liked this...a bunch
http://www.rowboatvets.com/intro.htm
Mark Huth
Doc, you have a weird sense of humor...
But maybe not as weird as this:
Jerry
Don't miss this one:
http://www.strategypage.com/humor/articles/military_jokes_20049823.asp
Poncho-man! As the website says, with soldiers like
this, we can't lose.
Ed
=============
Feeling safer already?
EAA URGES MEMBERS TO OPPOSE OUTRAGEOUS HOUSE BILL THAT WOULD SEVERELY
RESTRICT GENERAL AVIATION
***********************************************************
The Experimental Aircraft Association is urging its members and all
aviation enthusiasts to contact their Congressional representatives and
strongly oppose a newly introduced bill by Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.)
This bill (H.R. 5035) would require the Department of Homeland Security
to create a method of screening all passengers and property on each flight
of all passenger aircraft in the U.S., including general aviation aircraft
of all types. It would also prohibit non-airline aircraft from flying within
1,500 feet of any structure or building, and prohibit non-airline aircraft
from flying over any U.S. city with a population of 1 million or more. It
would further require that pilots of all aircraft in U.S. airspace remain in
contact with the Federal Aviation Administration, presumably by radio,
regardless of altitude or location.
"The extreme shortsightedness of this bill speaks for itself and
completely counters the government's own security experts, who have
continually stated that general aviation does not pose a significant
security threat to the U.S.," said Doug Macnair, EAA's Vice President of
Government Relations. "It's sad that the solemn anniversary of 9/11
terrorist attacks is being used to introduce this bill, which does nothing
to enhance security and smacks of election-year grandstanding."
With 17,000 landing facilities and nearly 200,000 aircraft in the United
States, EAA maintains that it is inconceivable that the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) and FAA could ever fund and administer such a plan.
DHS and the Transportation Security Administration have repeatedly indicated
that general aviation does not warrant such levels of security when compared
to other transportation modes and threats.
"We as a nation need to focus our limited resources on the most serious
vulnerabilities and threats to our security," Macnair added. "TSA has made
extensive studies of those threats and nowhere has that agency ever
suggested such draconian measures as those proposed in this bill."
EAA members and others can express their opposition to this bill to their
congressional representatives by finding their contact information at
http://www.house.gov. EAA immediately contacted members of the House
Aviation Subcommittee to state its extreme opposition to this legislation.
For additional information please go to the EAA website at
http://www.eaa.org .
========================
Jerry
The Chinese are aiming at replicating success:
http://www.strategypage.com//fyeo/howtomakewar/default.asp?target=htworld.htm
(2004-09-10)
Ed
Anyone who believes the Chinese are stupid, or are
not a formidable threat, should retire to a monastery.
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