Category Archives: War

More Wednesday’s Words

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It seems my shot at the US Postal Service the other day hit home. They’ve just announced they are ending Saturday mail pickup and delivery—other than at the Post Offices. If they weren’t authorized in the Constitution, Article I, Section 8, they would have long been bankrupt.

This announcement is just another example of the USPS’ stagger towards irrelevancy and extinction. If they truly wanted to save the Service, they’d end union domination and outsource most of the operation. But, that will never happen and UPS, FedEx and other commercial package and delivery services will continue to grow while the demand for the USPS diminishes.

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This is an interesting item.  The unions want to become drug dealers…specifically dealing marijuana.

Together, the dispensaries are a symbol of the growing bond between the nascent medical marijuana industry and struggling labor unions.

During the last few years, unions, led by the UFCW, have played an increasingly significant role in campaigns to allow medical marijuana, now legal in California, 17 other states and Washington, D.C.

In the November elections, UFCW operatives also helped get-out-the-vote efforts in Colorado, where voters approved a measure that made possession of one ounce (28.3 grams) or less of the drug legal for anyone 21 and older. Washington state approved a similar measure and both states require regulation of marijuana growers, processors and retailers. — Reuters.

At least the unions are limiting themselves to a quasi-legal area. If they expand beyond medical marijuana, they’d find themselves in competition with the Mexican Cartels and their US allies, M13 and others. The difference between unions and the gangs is blurry enough without making the distinction worse.

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The tensions in WesPac between China, Japan and the other western pacific nations is heating up. A ChiCom warship engaged missile radar lock on a Japanese warship. Many nations consider this an act of war. At one time, the US Navy considered such an act as an attack worthy of immediate response, i.e., an anti-radar missile fired back along that radar path.

“The incident is a dangerous conduct that could have led to an unforeseeable situation. It is extremely regrettable that China carried out such a one-sided, provocative act when signs are emerging for dialogue,” Abe told parliament.

“I ask the Chinese side to return to the spirit of mutually beneficial, strategic relations and prevent the recurrence of an incident like this. I strongly ask them for restraints so that the situation will not escalate further.”

Fire control radar is used to pinpoint the location of a target for missiles or shells. Directing the radar at a target can be considered a step away from actual firing.

The radar incident, which Japan said took place in the East China Sea on Jan. 30, came days after Chinese Communist Party chief Xi Jinping told Abe’s envoy that he was committed to developing bilateral ties. — Dawn.Com.

The territorial disputes arise from the claims of a number of nations to the oil and gas fields in the South China Sea and the Spratly Islands. China has laid claim to the entire area and has threatened to close it to shipping of other nations.  In response the US sent a carrier battlegroup through the South China Sea to show support for open navigation.

SpratlyScarboroughShoalMapThere have been unverified reports that China may seed the disputed area with mines in an attempt to deny access to other nations. In January 2013, China announced naval exercises in the South China Sea in another attempt to intimidate Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippine Islands—all parties with interests and claim to that area.

China to conduct naval drills in Pacific amid tension

updated 1/30/2013 3:20:08 AM ET

BEIJING (Reuters) – Three advanced Chinese warships left port on Wednesday for naval drills and war games in the Western Pacific, and the fleet will likely pass through disputed waters in the East and South China Sea, state media said.

The official Xinhua news agency described the maneuvers as routine, but they come as China is engaged in an increasingly bitter, high stakes dispute over maritime territory with Japan and with several Southeast Asia nations.

“The fleet will carry out more than 20 types of exercises including naval confrontation, battle drills far out at sea, the protection of maritime rights and command and control,” Xinhua cited the Defence Ministry as saying in a statement.

“These exercises on the high seas will take in the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, the South China Sea, the Miyako Strait, the Bashi Channel and the seas to the east of Taiwan.”

In the US, everyone’s attention is on the Mideast with Iran’s announcement they are now nuclear, and by inference, have a nuke. However, if WW3 erupts, it’s more likely to occur in the Pacific.  China is a nuclear power. Taiwan is one of several nations, like Israel, South Korea, who have quietly developed nukes or could develop nukes quickly.

Note, too, that Japan has nuclear technology. They have the knowledge to make nukes whenever they want. However, they also have a cultural prohibition. I would expect that prohibition to go out the window if China ever threatened Japan with a nuke.  Japan also has missile technology that could be easily converted to ICBMs.

If large scale war erupts in the Pacific with an exchange of nukes, strategic or tactical, I expect Iran to “accidentally” go poof.

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Followup of Previous Posts

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Why does time fly faster with the intensity of events? Yesterday I wrote about the similarities of current events to those preceding World War I. I mentioned the increasing tensions between China (PRC), Japan, the Philippine Islands and the US. This morning I saw two new items that give more credence to another coming conflict in the Pacific.

 

Chinese General: Prepare for Combat

Top Chinese general in unusual move tells troops to ready for combat with Japan

BY:

China’s most powerful military leader, in an unusual public statement, last week ordered military forces to prepare for combat, as Chinese warships deployed to waters near disputed islands and anti-Japan protests throughout the country turned violent.

Protests against the Japanese government’s purchase of three privately held islands in the Senkakus chain led to mass street protests, the burning of Japanese flags, and attacks on Japanese businesses and cars in several cities. Some carried signs that read “Kill all Japanese,” and “Fight to the Death” over disputed islands. One sign urged China to threaten a nuclear strike against Japan.

Below is another news item that hints of Chinese violence being directed towards the US.

Beijing demonstrators damage US ambassador’s car

By DIDI TANG | Associated Press – 12 hrs ago

BEIJING (AP) — A car carrying the U.S. ambassador to China was mildly damaged after becoming the target of boisterous anti-Japan demonstrators who were expressing outrage over a territorial dispute and marking the 81st anniversary of Japan’s invasion of China.

The State Department said in a statement Wednesday that Ambassador Gary Locke was unhurt in Tuesday’s incident, and that diplomats have expressed concerns to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The statement said around 50 protesters surrounded Locke’s car as he tried to enter the embassy and were eventually removed by Chinese security personnel.

Over the years, I’ve worked with a number of Chinese. Most came here to the US to attend our universities. Most return to China. Some don’t. One of the things they taught me is nothing happens spontaneously in China without the government, I mean the Party’s approval—and active assistance. When you read a news item such as the one above, be aware it is not an expression of popular sentiment. It is a planned government act.

America’s weakness—and it is weak after four years of Obama’s administration and the crumbling of our military due to neglect, entices our enemies to take advantage of our weakness, real or not.

Add to all this is China’s deployment of nuclear-tipped, ballistic anti-ship missiles, missiles purposely designed to attacK our carrier fleets, it becomes apparent our military may no longer be a deterrent to war.

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This afternoon the Cass County Commission will hold a public meeting to discuss the outside auditor’s report on the County’s management for 2010. There is only one commissioner who is still in office from that period but he declined to run for re-election. The media will have a very strong presence, print and TV, at the meeting from what I’ve been told.

I’ll be there too with my little notebook and a voice recorder. The release of the outside report has been picked up by the local media and while the report was balanced, it was not kind to the Cass County Commission.

There has been more document drops since that auditor’s report. One is particularly interesting. The former Presiding Commission endorsed in writing a company that had existed less than a year, had no track record, no customer base and no product! The letter appeared to be given as a reference for the company to acquire public grants from the Mid-America Regional Council.

As more documents are released to the public, the county government is looking worse and worse. It makes one wonder what other activities will be exposed. Many of the ones now could lead to criminal charges.

 

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Mushrooms

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I think all of you have heard the definition of mushrooms—kept in the dark and fed BS. I can safely say that all of us, from time to time, has been a mushroom.  When I was an engineer, planning projects, making cost estimates, various people and organizations tried to make me a mushroom.  It rarely worked. But “rarely” isn’t never.  Yes, there were times when I was a mushroom.  I knew it but could do little about it.

But there are other kinds of mushrooms, mushrooms that creates light and feeds on itself.  There is a possibility those mushrooms may appear.  In the Mideast.

JERUSALEM | Wed Nov 2, 2011 11:00am EDT

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel test-fired a missile from a military base on Wednesday, two days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of the “direct and heavy threat” posed by Iran’s nuclear program.

The missile test was to prove that Iran was within reach of Israel.  The test was a response to the news that China was supplying missiles to Iran and that an IAEA report next week would be “a game changer” according to the UK Guardian.

China is continuing to provide advanced missiles and  other conventional arms to Iran and may be doing so in violation of other U.N. sanctions against the Tehran regime, according to a draft report by the congressional U.S.-China Commission. 
“China continues to provide Iran with what could be considered advanced conventional weapons,” the report of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission says.
According to the report, which will be made public Nov. 16, China sold $312 million worth of arms to Iran, second only to Russia, after Congress passed the Iran Freedom Support Act in 2006 that allows the U.S. government to sanction foreign companies that provide advanced arms to Iran.
…
Most of the weapons transfers involved sales of Chinese anti-ship cruise missiles, including C-802 missiles that China promised the United States in 1997 would not be exported to Iran.
The missiles exported by China are mostly short ranged. However, Iran already possesses longer ranged missile supplied by North Korea and Russia. 
Iran would cause serious damage to the United States and Israel should Jewish state strike the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, Iran’s top military official said on Wednesday.
The “Zionist regime’s military attack against Iran would lead to heavy damages to the US as well as [to the] Zionist regime,” Iran’s Chief of Staff Maj.-Gen. Hassan Fayrouz Abadi said.
Iran would attack Israel in a “surprising” way, he was quoted by Army Radio as saying.
Israel, however, takes the threats from Iran seriously.  When/if Iran acquires nuclear weapons, no one doubts the mullahs in Iran would not hesitate to use them.

The UK, in fact, is developing contingency plans if a heightened threat of regional nuclear war does continue to grow in the Mideast.
Britain’s armed forces are stepping up their contingency planning for potential military action against Iran amid mounting concern about Tehran’s nuclear enrichment programme, the Guardian has learned.
The Ministry of Defence believes the US may decide to fast-forward plans for targeted missile strikes at some key Iranian facilities. British officials say that if Washington presses ahead it will seek, and receive, UK military help for any mission, despite some deep reservations within the coalition government.
The flaw in the British plans is that they assume Obama would not stand by and allow the Mideast to burn.  Most likely, Obama, as is his habit, would dither until it was too late to take effective action. And, while dithering, the missiles would fly.
Would Israel use her nukes?  That is the pivotal question.  No one in the West doubts that Israel has nukes.  Some estimates run as high as 100 to 300 warheads.  Israel has never responded to questions whether they have nukes.  The silence and non-denials is a very good answer to that question.
In the Second Gulf War, Israel did not respond when Iraqi missiles were fired on Israel.  The Patriot missiles furnished to Israel destroyed some, shoved off course others, and the ones that did get through contained only high-explosives, not chemical weapons that were a possibility.  Israel restrained their response on the assurances and aid from the US.  Those assurances are not forthcoming this time around.  Israel stands alone.
Is it likely mushrooms will grow in the Mideast?  No one knows, especially me.  The possibility, maybe probability, continues to grow.  If they do, the US will be involved in one form or another.                         

Have the unions really thought this out?

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Jimmy Hoffa, Jr., declared, on Labor Day, war on the GOP.  “Take them out!” he declared.  Union goons have already attacked Tea Party participants.  In St. Louis it was SEIU goons.  Hoffa was giving orders to the Teamsters.  In full disclosure, I was once a Teamster member.  I lasted about two months before being fed up and getting out.

But times have changed.  This isn’t the ’50s, ’60s, nor even the ’70s and ’80s.  This is the 21st Century.  In the last century, government kept people defenseless.  That’s not true today.  There is only one state that keeps it’s subjects disarmed—Illinois.  There is a large movement, through the courts and the legislature, to remove that restriction.

People now can legally arm themselves. Most states now have some form of legal concealed carry. That means people can defend themselves from attack by criminals…or union goons.

If the libs and unions attempt to carry out their threats, they just might be surprised.  I’ve been to a number of Tea Party rallies.  I know what to look for.  At one large KC rally, I stopped counting after fifty of the number of armed attendees.

Glenn McCoy has an appropriate cartoon up today.  I would strongly suggest the unions do not go there.  The times have changed.

War?

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On one of the e-mail lists that I am a member, there has been a running discussion, argument really, about thedefinition of “Declaration of War.” What is it, what is needed for a legal declaration, who can initiate war. There are a number who are quite vocal saying that 1941 was the last time war was declared, that all subsequent military actions from Korea to Afghanistan were conducted without a formal declaration.

The legal definition according to Lectlaw library is:

DECLARATION OF WAR

An act of the national legislature, in which a state of war is declared to exist between the United States and some other nation. This power is vested in Congress by the Constitution, Art. I. There is no form or ceremony necessary, except the passage of the act.

The public proclamation of the government of a state, by which it declares itself to be at war with a foreign power, and which forbids all and every one to aid or assist the common enemy. A manifesto stating the causes of the war is usually published, but war exists as soon as the act takes effect.

It was formerly usual to precede hostilities by a public declaration communicated to the enemy, and to send a herald to demand satisfaction, but that is not the practice of modern times. In some countries, e.g., England, the power of declaring war is vested in the king, but he has no power to raise men or money to carry it on, which renders the right almost nugatory.

Others on the mail list, including myself, argument that Bush’s request to congress for authority to conduct military action against the Taliban in Afghanistan and later against Suddam Hussein in Iraq were declarations of war. Those two requests and the formal subsequent acts passed congress fulfilled all the legal qualifications of a formal act of war as defined by the US Constitution.

Some argue that the conventions of the Hague Convention of 1907 must be followed for a legal declaration of war. The problem with the Hague Convention is that Germany broke it at the beginning of WW1 and that convention has been effectively null ever since.

Getting to the Bush declarations of 2001 and 2003, I revert to the adage, “If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and waddles like a duck, it must be duck!” The United States is currently in a state of war and has been since 2001.

Did Obama follow these rules? Did his unilateral order to attack Libya follow the constitution? The War Powers Resolution of 1975 and later codified into law states:

“…that the President’s powers as Commander in Chief are exercised only pursuant to a declaration of war, specific statutory authorization from Congress, or a national emergency created by an attack upon the United States (50 USC Sec. 1541).”

I doubt we will declare war at some future time, it was not authorized by Congress, and there was no national emergency created by an attack upon the United States (nor our Armed Forces.) It’s hard to see how Obama’s actions are compliant with this act. Neither has Obama stated nor shown proof that the action against Libya is a continuation of the earlier declarations on 2001 and 2003.

Obama has so outraged both parties that even his uber-liberal supporters are calling for his impeachment. Won’t happen, but this is just another example of our amateur president whose incompetency is more blatant every day.

All that said, I leave you with this from Glenn McCoy.

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