Militarize the Twin Otter with huge lasers!

A contribution to the F35 debate

"First, the system sliced through a 15mm- (~0.6 inches) thick steel girder from a kilometer away. Then, from a distance of two kilometers, it shot down a handful of drones as they nose-dived toward the surface at 50 meters per second. The laser’s radar, a widely used system called Skyguard, was capable of tracking the drones through their descent up to three kilometers away."

Singularity Hub

OK, I know "militarize" isn't really a verb, and who knows if this laser thing will actually work, but planning to put one on a Twin Otter "weapons platform" is no more insane than the entire F35 boondoggle.  Doing anything military with the beautiful Twin Otter is a desecration, but a lot of jobs would stay in Canada, and we could use the planes for useful purposes later on.

So really, I don't think we can do better than listen to Jim Gavin on military solutions to political problems:

"But the abandonment of foreign policy initiative to the War Department at the time of Berlin, and afterward, is profound in its implications. There have been outstanding State Department people who have opposed such policies, such as George Ball and Averell Harriman, among others. And there have been State Department junior officers who have given up their careers because they believed that they could not continue to serve with the policies of the Department. This has resulted in considerable paralysis and ineffectiveness that has troubled every President in recent years. President John F. Kennedy was very much concerned about this, and in my last conversation with him on October 21, 1963, when we were discussing a forthcoming visit of General de Gaulle, he tilted his head toward the State Department and said to me, "But first I must straighten out that State Department." Earlier, in the summer of 1961, President Kennedy is reported to have remarked to High Sidey of Time, "The State Department is a bowl of jelly." The condition of the Department, whether it began with World War II, or much earlier, as believed by many, is one that must be corrected as a matter of highest priority."

James M. Gavin
On to Berlin
"A fighting general's true story of airborne combat in World War II"
Viking Press, 1978, pg. 355-357

Hope on Facebook

Crime and Not Punishment

Lance Armstrong has only himself to blame that he never incorporated as a bank. nytimes.com/2013/01/05/spo…#HSBC

— U.S. Dept. of Fear (@FearDept) January 5, 2013

Pentagon Unchained

The Cliffs of Insanity

So the Americans have/have not gone over a fiscal cliff/shallow depression/speed bump/fantasy and the world will/won't know/care/freak out.

Also, the National Hockey League is approaching its immutable/arbitrary/fictional deadline that will mean the cancellation/resuscitation/transmogrification of the (now) 201X-2013 season that will/won't result in a playoff for the Stanley Cup - in reality the Dominion Challenge Cup - that will/won't be a travesty/reincarnation/desecration of Lord Stanley's intentions/will/whimsical thoughts.

Meanwhile, Canada's cross-country ski team goes from strength to strength without drama/cliffs/professional megabucks. As Lyndon Johnson allegedly said: "I do know the difference between chicken shit and chicken salad."

Who said he was dead?

John Vann in Afghanistan

"The cause of securing our country is not complete. But tonight, we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our mind to. That is the story of our history, whether it’s the pursuit of prosperity for our people, or the struggle for equality for all our citizens; our commitment to stand up for our values abroad, and our sacrifices to make the world a safer place.

"Let us remember that we can do these things not just because of wealth or power, but because of who we are: one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

"Thank you. May God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America."

Barack Obama
announcing the death of Osama bin Laden
May 2, 2011

"Word War 2 had been such a tremendous success story for this country that the political and military leadership of the country began to assume they would prevail, simply because of who they were…those generals thought they were going to win simply because they were American generals...."

“Some of it has sunk in, yes. Some of it's sunk in by the sheer force of what happened, because of course Vietnam has changed this country utterly. We will never be the same again. That is within the foreseeable future I think, because of Vietnam. And you do see some of that, yes. First of all, the President's limited now. No President can commit American soldiers and Marines and the Air Force etc., the American armed forces, with the freedom Johnson and Kennedy could, because the credibility of the President to do that has been damaged. It's been changed. People don't believe that he's got that ultimate wisdom any more.

“Secondly, I think the military leadership has a sense of its limitations. Excuse me, some of them of a sense of the limits of military force, that force is not always a solution to a foreign policy problem. When you see the papers of the military leaders of the 1960's, they're always telling the President force is the solution. Send the Army! Send the Marines! Send the Air Force! That'll solve your problem. Now you've got military leaders saying, look, wait, look before you intervene. All of these things, yes, again, some of it has sunk in. I don't think it's fully sunk in yet, no.”

Neil Sheehan
author of A Bright Shining Lie:John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam
Conversations with History
Remembering the Vietnam War
Interview with Harry Kreisler
November 14, 1988

Cape Leeuwin

Mental health warning: mute ads.
Day 49 highlights - Friday, December 28, 2012 by VendeeGlobeTV