Thanks, Ziporah!

Thanks to reader Ziporah for suggesting that I try a translator site for those messages that I was receiving in Chinese. As you know ,I refused to post those items until I found out what they said. It turned out that they were written in Japanese and they were promoting sex sites. You will not see such promotional material here. Period.

New York, New York 2

Monday- PCU New York enters the harbor

Tuesday- World Series game at Yankee Stadium

Wednesday- New York Yankees defeat the Philadelphia Phillies by a score of 7-3 to win the 2009 World Series

Thursday- (sleep)

Friday- New York Yankees honored with a parade up Broadway, the so-called "Canyon of Heroes", and ceremonies at City Hall

Saturday- Commissioning ceremony of USS New York.


So how are things where you live?

New York, New York

I was on the Hudson River shore this past Monday to welcome what was called PCU New York , and is now USS New York.

Just before the ship arrived at the North Cove area just adjacent to the World Trade Center site a few showers passed through the area. Then the above.

Soon enough, New York appeared:




And there was a brief ceremony as the ship stopped to dip its colors and to fire a 21 gun in salute to the WTC dead.

Today, I attended the commissioning of this ship and I found it to be a very meaningful and emotional event. The remnants of the World Trade Center contained the essence of its inhabitants; their desires, their dreams , their hopes. It was so gratifying, so satisfying, to see the World Trade Center alive in some form. The USS New York is imbued with these spirits, as well as the determination, vigor, pride, and desire of New Yorkers in general. They call USS New York "America's ship". To be truthful, she is New York's ship. We are part of her and she is now part of us.

In her peaceful missions, may the USS New York be welcomed by all and may she serve as a source of aid and healing. When she is sent into harm's way, may our enemies tremble in fear at her presence.

Fair winds and following seas to USS New York and to all who sail on her.

Airlines- What a Joke

Let's talk about airlines. Frankly, I am quite tired of being abused by these consumer hostile entities. I frequently used Northwest and since the merger with Delta have been exposed more and more to the Big D. Northwest was a lot better than Delta! Northwest had better service, better club facilities, older airplanes. On Northwest I did not have to endure ATL torture. Northwest's Memphis hub was quite pleasant.

The World Keeps Turning

It's good to be back, friends!

Your friendly Radical Moderate needed to take some time off to allow his brain to decompress from the heavy political load during the last year and a half. I fail to see how so many pundits constantly vomit out such drivel on an almost daily basis. I can't do that. And since I have a regular job in addition to this blog, it just makes more sense to take a mini vacation, take the time to think about things, and then jump back into the fray.

First up.. FOOD! The Radical Moderate's spouse, Miss Oklahoma, has decided that she wants to expand her culinary repertoire, so your correspondent has been growing fat on delicious home made pizzas, Indian cuisine , and Moroccan chicken with olives, preserved lemon and pine nuts.

Radical Mod and Miss Oklahoma have taken several short trips, about which I will post more--and pictures-- in another entry.

One most important note-- The Radical Moderate has received two e-mails in CHINESE based on my postings concerning the desire of the government of PRC to use the so-called "Green Dam" to censor the internet to an even greater degree and to stifle internal and external communications between the people of China themsemselves and between the Chinese people and the rest of the world. As Chinese is a language I do not understand, I am waiting to get a translation before posting these comments.

TRM and Miss Oklahoma currently are on Georgia and headed back shortly.

More later!

Di Farra Pizza, Brooklyn, NY- Food Review

Pizziola Dominick DeMarco finishes a DiFarra Pizza

Di Farra pizza, Brooklyn, NY. Tried it today for the first time. Some people say it's the best in the city. It is excellent of its type. Zagat rates it a 27 of 30. Some of the pies came out of the oven nicely charred but mine wasn't . First rate ingredients were used and I loved the fresh basil, Parmesan cheese and olive oil that was added to the pizza after it was baked, making the hot pie exude a delicious aroma.

The sauce was excellent with chunks of plum tomato, excellent texture and a wonderful natural balance between tart and sweet. Far too many places use sauce that is overly sweet. Paper thin crust that could have used a few more minutes in the oven to obtain a nice char. As I said previously, some pies were nicely charred mine needed some extra time. Fine quality mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses, oilve oil, and that fresh basil, cut onto the pie with scissors, was excellent!

Di Farra is one of the few places that turns out excellent pizza by the pie or the slice. I'd give Di Farra a 24 out of 30 for food as the pie should have been baked a bit longer, 4 for decor-it's a great hole-in-the wall, and 4 for service. There is none! You come here for the pizza!!!!

To quote Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator : I'll be back!

Green Dam- DAMN!

The Chinese governments insistence that Western computer manufactures build in approved censorship software under the guise of protecting the populace from pornography is laughable on several accounts. First, the Chinese people themselves have an incredible history of erotica and to claim that they are trying to keep out immoral material is laughable. Second, everyone knows that it is an attempt but eh government o control everything that is communicated via the internet by and to Chinese citizens.

Totalitarian regimes are like that. Any thought that is contrary to those of the ruling powers is to be stamped out, crushed and eliminated. What is most disturbing is the number of companies that have, to date, been willing to roll over and play lapdog to this brutal regime. I suppose profits uber alles is a near universal concept. Whether it was American companies who did business with the NAZI government, a la IBM, for example among others, or GOOGLE, which currently assists the Chinese government in filtering websites available in that nation ( hey, Sergei, didn't your parents escape from a totalitarian regime?).

As events in Iran show, it may be possible to circumvent government restrictions on access, but only to a degree. What i find beneath contempt is the willing compliance of entities that need to fatten their bottom lines. It sort of reminds me of that line by Nikita Krushchev to the effect that the west will sell the Soviets the rope by which they hang us. I must note that there is some degree of push back by some western entities against supplying the Green Dam censorship software. Good Show!

Another good piece of news is the President's decision to create a Cyber Warfare command to monitor and counter the myriad probes and attacks that the US has been subjected to recently. Who is doing this "probing"? Well, it ain't space aliens looking for some Saturday night fun. Think Al Queada, various criminal elements in lawless regions, Russia, and especially China. We will have to decide whether and when to just monitor, counter probe, or take aggressive actions against those who are seeking out or weak points.

The Silence is Deafening

The silence is deafening from the American left regarding Iran. I suppose there is no fun for them if they can't parade behind a banner that says "U.S. OUT OF (fill in the blank)" and burn an American flag. Truly brutal totalitarian regimes seems not to bother them.

Bertrand Russel Is Your Waiter This Evening

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts."- Bertrand Russell

Your faithful correspondent is back after a brief respite. It's always a good idea to take some time out to observe before opening ones mouth. I've observed.

Cold Fusion:Power to the People or False Hope?

It's baaack! That dream of clean, cheap, nearly limitless power through the magic of cold fusion.

An engineer friend sent me this clip from a recent edition of the CBS program 60 Minutes that examined what it purported to be recent advances in the development of cold fusion, or, as it is currently being called, a "nuclear event" in a bottle.

I have reasons to call into question many of the elements used in this show. Reporter Scott Pelley says that the Fleischmann/Pons experiments were replicated in laboratories around the world. However, it is not sufficient to say that laboratories have obtained quirky and possibly interesting results from varied experiments. Replication, by definition, means that laboratories around the world have used the exact same apparatus and that they have obtained the exact same results. In the scientific research model, any other use of the term "replication" is not valid.

Furthermore, it is not up to 60 Minutes to give its imprimatur to "cold fusion" by shipping one scientist to a laboratory for two days to inspect their work. Scientific progress is achieved by a much slower and more deliberate process. A laboratory or a researcher publishes work that is subject to peer review. The work is then presented to allow other researchers, irrespective of their location, to use the same materials to arrive at the same, consistent results. Absent these conditions, there is no claim to scientific validity.

It could be, as one of the programs' participants stated, that variances in the quality of palladium used in the experiments varied widely and thus is responsible for the inconsistent results. That hypothesis can easily be tested by supplying researchers with the exact same materials with which to conduct their experiments.

While that work goes on behind laboratory doors, I would advise a lot of starry-eyed futurists whoa re ready to buy the cold-fusion theory to heed the words of the old Frank Sinatra song and "put your dreams away for another day."

Coming Attractions

OK. I have been away for a bit but it is time to start typing again. Here are some things to look for in the next few days:

FUSION : Is that back?

A SAUDI PRINCE TAP DANCES !

CYBERWAR! COMING TO A COMPUTER NEAR YOU!


And a big "Hello!" to all the intelligence agencies who follow this blog. Sorry to have left you hanging, boys and girls!

Chinese Cyber War

From The Times of London here:

A spy network believed to have been controlled from China has hacked into classified documents on government and private computers in 103 countries, according to internet researchers. The spy system, dubbed GhostNet, is alleged to have compromised 1,295 machines at Nato and foreign ministries, embassies, banks and news organisations across the world, as well as computers used by the Dalai Lama and Tibetan exiles.

The work of Information Warfare Monitor (IWM) investigators focused initially on allegations of Chinese cyber-espionage against the Tibetan exile community, but led to a much wider network of compromised machines. IWM said that, while China appeared to be the main source of the network, it had not been able conclusively to identify the hackers. The IWM is composed of researchers from an Ottawa-based think-tank, SecDev Group, and the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto.

They found that the foreign ministries of Iran, Bangladesh, Latvia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei, Barbados and Bhutan had been spied on remotely, and the embassies of India, South Korea, Indonesia, Romania, Cyprus, Malta, Thailand, Taiwan, Portugal, Germany and Pakistan hacked.

and this:

The IWM report said: “GhostNet represents a network of compromised computers in high-value political, economic and media locations in numerous countries worldwide. These organisations are almost certainly oblivious to the compromised situation in which they find themselves. The computers of diplomats, military attachés, private assistants, secretaries to prime ministers, journalists and others are under the concealed control of unknown assailant(s).

“In Dharamsala [the headquarters of the Tibetan government in exile] and elsewhere, we have witnessed machines being profiled and sensitive documents being removed. Almost certainly, documents are being removed without the targets’ knowledge, key-strokes logged, web cameras are being silently triggered and audio inputs surreptitiously activated.”

Chinese hackers are thought to have targeted Western networks repeatedly. Computers at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and other Whitehall departments were attacked from China in 2007. In the same year, Jonathan Evans, the MI5 Director-General, alerted 300 British businesses that they were under Chinese cyber-attack.

and this scary paragraph:

British intelligence chiefs have warned recently that China may have gained the capability effectively to shut down Britain by crippling its telecoms and utilities. Equipment installed by Huawei, the Chinese telecoms giant, in BT’s new communications network could be used to halt critical services such as power, food and water supplies, they said.

Of course, the Chinese take offense at being accused and try to deflect the blame back towards the accuser (a very old interrogation technique, guys!):

The Chinese Embassy in London said that there was no evidence to back up the claim that the Chinese Government was behind GhostNet and alleged that the report had been “commissioned by the Tibetan government in exile”.

Liu Weimin, a spokesman, said: “I will not be surprised if this report is just another case of their recent media and propaganda campaign. In China, it is against the law to hack into the computers of others, and we are victims of such cyber-attack. It is a global challenge that requires global cooperation. China is an active participant in such cooperation in the world.”

What is the proper assessment of these Chinese actions? Are they just performing normal intelligence gathering and probing for weak spots? Are they preparing to aid some entity in a manner which benefits their ultimate goals? Is a cyber cold war underway? What it is not, is an episode from "24".

We Were Soldiers Once...

I hope you use the link on the right side of this page to check out Joe Galloway's column in the McClatchy news organization. If you didn't catch this one, well, I'm posting it here. (As always, support your local newspapers: Take a subscription!)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By Joe Galloway | McClatchy Newspapers

FORT BENNING, Ga. — It was a great day for the infantry and for the U.S. Army, and it was one for the history books, as well.

On a bright, sunny spring day in Georgia, Fort Benning and the National Infantry Museum dedicated a new parade ground, and the first of what will be thousands of basic training companies broke it in by marching in review for their graduation.

Before the 125 newest soldiers in the Army set boots on that field, though, it was consecrated in a ceremony that saw veterans and descendants of veterans of eight of America's wars spread soil collected from their battlefields on the new parade ground.

Douglas Hamilton, a fifth generation descendant of Alexander Hamilton, sprinkled soil gathered from the decisive battlefield of Yorktown in the Revolutionary War.

Former Sen. Dirk Kempthorne, a great-grandson of Pvt. Charles Kempthorne of the Union Army's 3rd Wisconsin Infantry, and Henry B. Pease Jr., a descendant of Henry Lewis Benning, the Confederate commander at the Burnside Bridge, spread soil from the blood-soaked Civil War battlefield of Antietam, or Sharpsburg, as Gen. Benning probably called it.

Soil from World War I battlefields in France was spread on the parade ground by George York, son of the legendary Sgt. Alvin York, and Samuel Parker Moss, grandson of Samuel Parker of the 28th Infantry. Both York and Parker earned the Medal of Honor during World War I.

World War II was represented by soil collected from the beaches at Normandy and those of Corregidor and Guadalcanal in the Pacific. Theodore Roosevelt IV, grandson of Theodore Roosevelt Jr., who earned the Medal of Honor on D-Day at Normandy, and by Kirk Davis, son of Charles Davis, who earned the Medal of Honor at Guadalcanal, spread soil from those battlefields.

Two legendary warriors from the Korean War — Col. Ola Lee Mize, who held Outpost Harry against overwhelming odds and earned a Medal of Honor, and Gen. Sun Yup Paik, who at age 30 commanded both a division and a corps in the South Korean Army — sprinkled soil from their war's battlefields.

Then it was time to honor the infantrymen who fought in Vietnam, and two legendary old soldiers marched onto the field wearing their black cavalry Stetsons. Lt. Gen. (ret.) Hal Moore and Command Sergeant Major (ret.) Basil Plumley carried jars bearing soil collected at Landing Zone X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley and on other Vietnam battlefields.

In the stands, a dozen or more Ia Drang veterans and other 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) veterans, most wearing the same black hats, stood at attention as Moore, 87, and Plumley, 89, carried out their mission and then saluted them.

Command Sergeant Major Marvin Hill, the senior enlisted adviser to Gen. David Petraeus at the U.S. Central Command in Tampa, spread soil collected from battlefields in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan during Operation Desert Storm and Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.

Actor Sam Elliott, who portrayed Sgt. Maj. Plumley in the movie "We Were Soldiers," narrated the ceremony. (Full disclosure: The movie is based on a book that Gen. Moore and I wrote.)

The program began and ended with some spectacular flying demonstrations using helicopters of the Vietnam War era, and Fort Benning once more heard distant echoes of the blades of Hueys, OH-6s and Cobra gunships.

This week's ceremony marked a partial opening of the new $100 million National Infantry Museum that adjoins the parade ground. The grand opening of the entire facility is scheduled for June 19. Fort Benning's hometown, Columbus, Georgia, provided more than 200 acres of land at the gates of the fort for construction of the Infantry Museum, and Columbus citizens, foundations and companies donated almost half the money needed to build it.

The Infantry Museum Foundation is busy rounding up the last $10 million to complete work on the displays that will fill the museum's galleries on America's wars and the infantry battles that distinguished them.

The new soldiers graduating from basic training with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 50th Infantry marched past the stands, which were filled not only with their proud parents and siblings, but also with the assembled VIPs and such legendary infantrymen as Gen. (ret.) David Grange and Gen. (ret.) Ed Burba and Col. (ret.) Ralph Puckett.

In the infantry and in the Army, there are good days and bad days, and a few great days. This was one of the great days.

Cyber-War (continued)

Regular readers of this blog (Which I suspect includes members of various national intelligence services. Welcome, guys!) know that I write frequently about the dangers of the current and ongoing "cyberwar" being conducted by various governmental and non-governmental entities, such as China and Al Qeada, respectively.

Therefore, I am not shocked by this MSNBC story headline:

TORONTO - A cyber spy network based mainly in China has tapped into classified documents from government and private organizations in 103 countries, including the computers of Tibetan exiles, Canadian researchers said Saturday.

The work of the Information Warfare Monitor initially focused on allegations of Chinese cyber espionage against the Tibetan community in exile, and eventually led to a much wider network of compromised machines, the Internet-based research group said.

"We uncovered real-time evidence of malware that had penetrated Tibetan computer systems, extracting sensitive documents from the private office of the Dalai Lama," investigator Greg Walton said.

and this:

In an online abstract for "The Snooping Dragon: Social Malware Surveillance of the Tibetan Movement," Shishir Nagaraja and Ross Anderson write that while malware attacks are not new, these attacks should be noted for their ability to collect "actionable intelligence for use by the police and security services of a repressive state, with potentially fatal consequences for those exposed."

They say prevention against such attacks will be difficult since traditional defense against social malware in government agencies involves expensive and intrusive measures that range from mandatory access controls to tedious operational security procedures.

When you combine China's active cyber warfare efforts with the recent determinations by our government of Chinese military buildups here and here and the Secretary of Defense's Annual Report to Congress :Military Power of the People’s Republic of China here, one is forced to conclude that the Chinese government is in the midst of a long-term and well thought out campaign to construct a modern military force that includes air, naval, space and cyber capabilities with long range and international capabilities.

GarryOwen!

(Giving credit where credit is due: Here)

Just because I can!

AIG-RIP

Like a Mafia capo who just joined the federal witness protection program AIG is in the process of undergoing cosmetic surgery and disappearing from view.

This almost universally known t.v. scene-setter is no more.





As you can see in this story, AIG wants to undergo a metamorphosis into AIU Holdings Ltd. and disappear from the news.

I took this picture of the AIG/AIU building in Manhattan today and you can see that they have already stripped the American International logo from the awning.

Cramer vs. Stewart

First round knockout by Stewart. No doubt about it. Watch Wall Street shill Jim Cramer take it on the chin here.

Come to think of it, wouldn't Jon Stewart make a terrific senator?

Another Conversation with a Friend

Friend's e-mail-a vicious little piece filled with lies:

There was a Pied Piper who said We live in the greatest country in the world. Help me change it!

*And the people said, Change is good!

Then he said, We are going to tax the rich fat-cats,

*And the people said, “Sock it to them!”

and redistribute their wealth.

*And the people said, “Show me the money!”

And then he said, Redistribution of wealth is good for everybody

*And Joe the plumber said, “Are you kidding me?”

And Joe's personal records were hacked and publicized.

*And one lone reporter asked, “Isn't that Marxist policy?”

And she was banished from the kingdom!

Then someone asked, “With no foreign relations experience, how will you deal with radical terrorists?”

And the Pied Piper said, Simple. I?ll sit down and talk with them and show them how nice we really are and they?ll forget that they ever wanted to kill us all!

Then the Pied Piper said, I'll give 95% of you lower taxes.

*And one, lone voice said, “But 40% of us don't pay ANY taxes!”

So the Pied Piper said, Then I'll give you some of the taxes the fat-cats pay!

*And the people said, “Show me the money!”

Then the Pied Piper said, I'll tax your Capital Gains when you sell your homes!

*And the people yawned and the slumping housing market collapsed.

And he said, I'll mandate employer- funded health care for EVERY worker and raise the minimum wage.

*And the people said, “Gimme some of that!”

Then he said, I'll penalize employers who ship jobs overseas.

*And the people said, “Where's my rebate check?”

Then the Pied Piper actually said, I'll bankrupt the coal industry and electricity rates will skyrocket!

*And the people said, “Coal is dirty, coal is evil, no more coal! But we don't care for that part about higher electric rates.”

So the Pied Piper said, Not to worry. If your rebate isn't enough to cover your expenses, we'll bail you out. Just sign up with ACORN and your troubles are over! Then he said, illegal immigrants feel scorned and slighted. Let's grant them amnesty, Social Security, free education, free lunches, free medical care, bi-lingual signs and guaranteed housing

*And the people said, “Ole`! Bravo!” And they made him King!

And so it came to pass that employers, facing spiraling costs and ever-higher taxes, raised their prices and laid off workers. Others simply gave up and went out of business and the economy slowed even further. Then the Pied Piper said, I am the Messiah and I'm here to save you! We'll just print more money so everyone will have enough! But our foreign trading partners said, "Wait a minute. Your dollar isn't worth what it was. You'll have to pay more."
*And the people said, “Wait a minute. That's not fair!”

And the world said, "Neither are these other, idiotic programs you've embraced. You've become a Socialist state and a second-rate power. Now you'll play by our rules!"

*And the people said, “What have we done?”

But it was too late.
If you think this is a fairy tale, open your eyes and ears. Its happening RIGHT NOW!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TRM RESPONSE:


Well, let's look at reality. The Chinese OWN around ONE TRILLION DOLLARS worth of our debt, debt that was rung up during the BUSH PRESIDENCY. They could start dumping these notes and really screw us. The fact is, they own us. They have us by the short hairs and they are telling us what to do. And all this happened during the last eight years.

China Article

So stop living in your little fantasy and see that the Republicans are NOT your friends. You don't have millions of dollars. They have screwed you and destroyed our economy. Check the record. When Carter left office for Reagan , Carter turned over a surplus. 12 years later Bush 1 turned over a deficit to Clinton. Eight years later, Clinton turned over such a surplus to Bush 2 that the Treasury was considering no longer selling certain debt instruments BECAUSE WE DIDN'T NEED THE MONEY. Then Bush and the Republicans, who controlled the presidency and BOTH houses of congress got us into this mess by too many acts of greed and stupidity. The gutted the SEC and made it a useless agency, no longer able to properly supervise the markets. too many phony securities were created that no one understood.

So pull your head out of your ass and see the light.

Love,

TRM

Why I Hate "24"

Once it was a fun show,and it brought us a hero when we sorely were in need of one, but "24" has, as they say "jumped the shark." In no specific order, here is a list of why "24" is unwatchable:

1. Cell phones always work. Never a dropped call. Never a garbled transmission. Never, "Can you hear me now?" Never out of power.

2. Jack Bauer is released from a Chinese prison, obviously a victim of torture, unshaved, ragged. After a commercial break he is fit as a fiddle and rarin' to go. Damn, the man doesn't even get a debrief, or even a meal and a drink.

3. Come to think of it, Bauer never needs to eat, or drink, or sleep, or take a piss.

4. His teammates are always in contact and ready.

5. All computer equipment works first time, every time. No need to call India and speak with "Fred" for technical support. Come to think of it, maybe this show is really a long-running advertisement for HP and Dell and Microsoft (no Macs ever seen!)?

6. A nuclear weapon explodes in Los Angeles. Ho hum. Life goes on. Traffic moves on freeways. All stores are open. People stop at Starbucks for their lattes (well, it IS L.A.!)

7. Tony was brought back from the dead.

GOLLLLY! What a Surprise! Gates Says Obama More Analytical Than Bush

Did you catch this on Meet the Press this morning. MTP Host David Gregory asked Secretary of Defense Robert Gates about the differences between President Obama and "W":

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Follow this link to read the story on MSNBC.COM