Times Square Attack - Two down and the big one to come?

We have now had two failed attacks in a row, this one and the Underwear Bomber on NW253 that failed. The scary part is that they failed not because of what we did, but because the attackers were, to a degree, incompetent.

Depending upon the stupidity of your enemy is not an acceptable defense.

We can cheer the great police work.

But the intelligence work failed. Again. Just as it did with the NW253 attack and just as it did on 9/11. Remember. The CIA knew an attack was coming, but it didn't know where, when or how. Bush's NSA advised all the agencies on 7/5.

"At the special meeting on July 5 were the FBI, Secret Service, FAA, Customs, Coast Guard, and Immigration. We told them that we thought a spectacular al Qaeda terrorist attack was coming in the near future." That had been had been George Tenet's language. "We asked that they take special measures to increase security and surveillance. Thus, the White House did ensure that domestic law enforcement including the FAA knew that the CSG believed that a major al Qaeda attack was coming, and it could be in the U.S., and did ask that special measures be taken."

Link

Yet almost 9 years later very little has changed on the prevention side. All we know is that an attack is coming.

Maybe its time to quit congratulating ourselves and start figuring out how to prevent them.

The scary part is that with the election of Obama we have returned to the failed "this is a criminal justice matter."

No. It is not. This is a national defense matter and Obama's lack of effort in this will, sooner or later, enable a terrorist who is not incompetent and he kill thousands of Americans.

Parts of this was posted in TalkLeft.
On Twitter I am Lesabre1

Flood cleanup and illegal aliens

Maybe if we had a moat and filled it with these.


After watching the high winds take down trees and rip off limbs last weekend this weekend only had rain and flash floods.

Last weekend we lost a lot of tree limbs large as my leg. That means a chain saw to cut them into manageable size and lots of bending over exercises picking up the cut up limbs and the smaller stuff The tree we lost was a dead hickory and when it came down it wiped out another oak and severely damaged another.

Sad to admit I been promising myself that I would take down the dead tree. I could have laid it down right where it would caused no damage and then cut up the wood for anyone who wanted it. All you have to do is put a sign and it will be gone.

Woods lot management. Thinning the herd. Call it what you like but our fore fathers understood that dead trees cause problems. I've got three more large ones that I will now take down having been sharply reminded that you cannot cheat nature.

The 14" chain saw works fine for the trim and small stuff but for the big trees you need a 20". Maybe bigger. But if the 20" is too small I bring in some people who know how to not kill themselves. Besides, a 20" is all I can handle comfortably.

So it rained all weekend and thundered and threatened but no wind here. The contour banks I have put around and up front worked perfectly and all the water was kicked around and down through the acres of green belt into the creek. We have neighbors with foundation damage because of rapid water flow, others have lost their gardens and some trees.

The Internet was mostly down over the weekend so it was watching movies and reading for the most part. LeCarre's "The Honourable Schoolboy" fit my need perfectly.

Today was survey and look around. The garden survived well and I am sure the squirrels and rabbits appreciate that. The 20" chain saw hadn't been started in two years, a stupid lack of action on my part so I spent most of the day taking it apart and putting it back together. Long about 6:00 I gave the starter cord a yank and was rewarded with a satisfying put put put which can be translated into, "You don't need to spend a $100 with the repair guy." I shall reward myself with a special glass or two of Cabernet at dinner later this week.

So my blogging was limited today. Did a bit of arguing with some Left Wingers over the AZ immigration law and discovered that outside the fact that the law and everyone in AZ is racist the average Left Winger doesn't know what's in the law and doesn't care.

What I found interesting was that my solution is first close the borders. Then issue green cards to those already here who can pass a simple background check for no criminal activity. And then we can decide who and how many we want into the country.

What a unique solution. How radical. I mean I bet it hasn't been presented more than a million times.

What a racist fascist evil mean person I am.

Yet no one had a solution beyond better enforcement of existing laws. And when I noted that was a de facto open border policy.... wow.

And yeah, I would like to kick out the ones here and start over. But that is not going to happen and politics is the art of the possible.



On Twitter I am Lesabre1

Why was Obama so slow to act?

This is criminal.

If U.S. officials had followed up on a 1994 response plan for a major Gulf oil spill, it is possible that the spill could have been kept under control and far from land.

The problem: The federal government did not have a single fire boom on hand.

View full size(AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard, Petty Officer 1st Class Justin Sawyer)This April 28, 2010 image made from video released by the Deepwater Horizon Response Unified Command, shows an in situ burn in the Gulf of Mexico, in response to the oil spill after the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon. The "In-Situ Burn" plan produced by federal agencies in 1994 calls for responding to a major oil spill in the Gulf with the immediate use of fire booms.

But in order to conduct a successful test burn eight days after the Deepwater Horizon well began releasing massive amounts of oil into the Gulf, officials had to purchase one from a company in Illinois.

When federal officials called, Elastec/American Marine, shipped the only boom it had in stock, Jeff Bohleber, chief financial officer for Elastec, said today.

At federal officials' behest, the company began calling customers in other countries and asking if the U.S. government could borrow their fire booms for a few days, he said.


A single fire boom being towed by two boats can burn up to 1,800 barrels of oil an hour, Bohleber said. That translates to 75,000 gallons an hour, raising the possibility that the spill could have been contained at the accident scene 100 miles from shore.

"They said this was the tool of last resort. No, this is absolutely the asset of first use. Get in there and start burning oil before the spill gets out of hand," Bohleber said. "If they had six or seven of these systems in place when this happened and got out there and started burning, it would have significantly lessened the amount of oil that got loose."

In the days after the rig sank, U.S Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry said the government had all the assets it needed. She did not discuss why officials waited more than a week to conduct a test burn. (Watch video footage of the test burn.)

But instead of sending equipment and engineers, Obama dispatched lawyers.

Look, Mr. President, this aint no renters strike we're dealing with here. Fannie and Freddie won't help you and the CRA doesn't exist out their in the water and oil.

How disgusting. How inept.

And now we can watch his Grace's worshipers scramble to cover for him.

We use to have a media. But now we have lap dogs.


On Twitter I am Lesabre1

About the Gulf Oil Spill

My Mother had a saying that covered the current oil spill in the Gulf.

"When in trouble, fear or doubt.
Fools run in circles
Scream and shout."

ScienceDaily (Jan. 27, 2000) — Twice an Exxon Valdez spill worth of oil seeps into the Gulf of Mexico every year, according to a new study that will be presented January 27 at the Ocean Sciences Meeting in San Antonio, Texas.

Snip

Say we have 5,000 bbls a day spread along 100 miles of coast. That is 50 bbls per mile. Every day. At 42 gallons per bbl that is 2,000 gallons per mile or about .4 gallon per foot. Not too bad for one day. If it goes on for a couple of months not good immediately. A lot of wild life will be killed. And then as time goes on bacteria will start eating the oil and the food chain will blossom.

If the oil spreads more – that is good. If a lot evaporates – good. If a lot can be captured before it reaches the coast – good.

Of course if more drilling and mining of oil was allowed on land the chances of an accident at sea would be reduced relatively if not absolutely (oil consumption is still rising).

The good folk over at Power and Control also has a wise saying.

The desire of the ultra greens for a risk free civilization is increasing the risk that we will wind up with no civilization. Fools.

On Twitter I am Lesabre1

Ray Price and "Crazy Arms"

My grandson asked who Ray Price was and while I was explaining that he was probably the equal to Hank Williams... I realized that I credited Price with Williams' classic in my previous post..... gasp and gadzooks and all that. Well, I've fixed that and just to make up for it:

Here's "You Win Again."

And we can't forget:

Ray Price's "Crazy Arms.

Once upon a time a Buddy and I, after flight ops were over would go over to the club drop some coins in the jukebox and split a pitcher or two of Black Label. He's gone now, been gone for 48 years, but I still remember how we would solve the problems of the world after a few. I guess that was low tech blogging.

If these two songs don't make you want to pop a top on a PBR and just kick back then you can't be helped!

Here, educate yourself. Betcha you didn't know all those super stars started out with Price!
On Twitter I am Lesabre1

The news is out, all over town, that you've been seen out running 'round.... with apologies to Hank Williams

UPDATED: Reports out of Washington, DC: PRESIDENT OBAMA in a shocking cheating scandal after being caught in a Washington, D.C. Hotel with a former campaign aide.

A confidential investigation has learned that Obama first became close to gorgeous 35 year-old VERA BAKER in 2004 when she worked tirelessly to get him elected to the US Senate, raising millions in campaign contributions.

Now, the investigators are searching for a hotel surveillance videotape.

While Baker has insisted in the past that "nothing happened" between them, reports reveal that top anti-Obama operatives are offering more than $1 million to witnesses to reveal what they know about the alleged hush-hush affair.

Among those being offered money is a limo driver who says in 2004 that he took Vera to a secret hotel rendezvous in a Washington hotel where Obama was staying.

An ENQUIRER reporter has confirmed the limo driver's account of the secret 2004 rendezvous and has also learned that on-site hotel surveillance video camera footage could provide indisputable evidence to the investigation.

You know, I almost feel sorry for him.
On Twitter I am Lesabre1

Poker Player raises chickens

Reporter: Well Poker Player, I thought I would check back with you and see how your plan for stamping out AIDS through insect control using Skinks is coming.

Poker Player: Well, it’s a little slow. I thought I had all those forms the Feds want filled out right, but no matter what I did it was always wrong.

Reporter: Wrong?

Poker Player: Yeah. No matter what I tried it just didn’t work. So I called the White House…

Reporter: White House?

Poker Player: Yep. No need to goof around is the way I saw it.

Reporter: How’d that work out?

Poker Player: No problem. They gave me the name of this Consultant in Getting Money From The Feds. In Chicago.

Reporter: Chicago?

Poker Player: Yep. He’s on the South Side, can’t remember the neighborhood…

Reporter: So he got everything fixed?

Poker Player: Uh, he told me not to use that word.

Reporter: Fixed?

Poker Player: Yeah. He said it might give people the wrong idea.

Reporter: I see.

Poker Player: And he was real disappointed when I told him I didn’t have any front money.

Reporter: Front money?

Poker Player: That’s what he called it. But he said that wouldn’t stop us. He said if I cut him on this thing for 90% everything would be slick as snot on a door knob.

Reporter: 90% He wants 90%?

Poker Player: Well he said he’d need to make some contributions to the right people.... That kinda put me off for a bit, but then I decided that 10% of $50 million is better than 100% of nothing..

Reporter: So when’s the check gonna get here?

Poker Player: That's another story.

Reporter: So you are stymied in your efforts…

Poker Player: Well, I had another idea.

Reporter: And?

Poker Player: Chickens.

Reporter: Chickens?

Poker Player: Yep. They eat plenty of bugs and things, not as efficient as Skinks, but your average chicken is hell on June bugs….

Reporter: How many do you have?

Poker Player: None.

Reporter: None?

Poker Player: Well, you see I went over to the CO-OP and bought me a hundred and brought'em home and put’em in these special cages.

Reporter: Cages?

Poker Player: Well yeah. You see these chicks don’t have no Momma hen for them to cuddle to before they start getting regular feathers. So you use these cages with 90 watt light bulbs in them to keep’em all warm and happy.

Reporter: So what disease killed them?

Poker Player: Wasn’t a disease.

Reporter: No?

Poker Player: Nope, one of those guys from the Government who had came out to check on my stump and brush pile potential for Skink raising saw what was going on and pitched a fit.

Reporter: Huh?

Poker Player: Yeah. Said that the chickens were obviously an ancillary to the skinks which made them part of a Federal Project.

Reporter: So?

Poker Player: He said that the 90 watt bulbs was contributing to man made global warming and that they had to be replaced with CFL’s.

Reporter: CFL’s?

Poker Player: Compact Fluorescence Lighting. Why he said we could save the environment and save a ton of money because the CFL’s would produce 90 watts of light but use only 15 watts of power.....

Reporter: So you replaced the 90 watt bulbs with CFL’s that gave off 90 watts of light but only used 15 watts of power… Sounds great to me.

Poker Player: Sounds good but it didn’t work out.

Reporter: Huh?

Poker Player: Yeah. Everything was fine during the day… But that night the temperature dropped to about 35 and all those chicks died..

Reporter: How terrible.

Poker Player: Yeah. They needed the 90 watts of heat and the CFL’s just put out 15 watts.

Reporter: Have you spoken with your Consultant in Chicago?

Poker Player: Yeah. He said it was just an unintended consequence.

Reporter: I guess getting rid of 100 dead chicks was bad.

Poker Player: Yeah, but the real problem was the CFL’s.

Reporter: What?

Poker Player: Yeah, come to find out they have mercury in them and someone ratted me out to the EPA for dumping them in the land fill.

Reporter: I see.

Poker Player: Could be worse. I called my good buddy in Chicago and he said for the remaining 10% he would make sure I didn’t go to jail…..



On Twitter I am Lesabre1