RWC Unfiltered 12-26-11

• Candy Cane Case Heads for SCOTUS
  

  Occupy Me!

• Occupy Gangsters Headed To Rose Parade
• Beijing Bluster Misfires
• Schwarzenegger Slithered Back Into California To Kissi Brown’s Butt On Climate.
• Chinese Cyber Crooks at It Again
• WDC Wastebook List Billions in Boondoggles
• Saudi’s Top Weapons Buyers
• China Surging :U. S. Cowed

90% of Americans celebrated Christmas in their family. Of those adults, 74% celebrated Christmas as a religious holiday while 22 observed it as a secular one.

The infamous Texas candy cane case is headed for the supreme court, In 2003 an 8-year old at a Plano, Texas school give fellow students candy canes with Bible verses on their wrappers and the school’s bigwigs threw a conniption fit ordering them to stop. The incident attracted the attention of the Liberty Institute that claimed the school had abridged their first amendment rights to exercise their freedom of religion and its been plodding through courts ever since..

The hottest temperature recorded on earth is El Azizia Libya at 136 F, the coldest was -134 degrees fahrenheit in Vostok Antarctica. The hottest average temp is in western Australia, it is 96 degrees year round on average.

Pasadena police and Tournament of Roses officials have been negotiating with Occupy forces for several weeks on a plan that they hope will prevent any disruptions to the parade. Pasadena officials are allowing the Occupy group to march the route at the end of the parade, after all the floats have passed.

And Occupy is planning quite a show.

Protesters intend to march with large banners that decry wealth inequality in the United States and to unveil a few colorful “floats” of their own, including a giant people-powered octopus, said Pete Thottam, an Occupy spokesman. The octopus will be made out of recycled bags, stretching 40 feet from tentacle to tentacle, and is designed to represent the stranglehold that Wall Street has on the political process, he said.

If the economy does not improve in a way to bouy Obama’s reelection thinkers predict he will contrive an international crisis- such as attacking Iran to show himself as a fierce warrior-in-chief and attract the Jewish vote. Some say he’ll dump Biden in favor of Hillary. Fact is Obama will do anything to stay in the Oval Office

Beijing miscalculated the impact generated by recent comments from President Hu Jintao that China’s navy should prepare for war.

On Dec. 9, the official Communist newspaper People’s Daily identified Dec. 9 two lines that Hu made in a speech to the all-powerful Central Military Commission that caught the attention of foreign media: “China must accelerate the transformation of its navy” and “make extended preparations for military combat.”

“The instructions Hu gave to the navy are hardly different to what any country’s leader or commander-in-chief may give to his military,” the newspaper said. “That is the routine requirement for any military force, especially those of a developing country.”

U.S. analysts said the speech was initially reported in state-run media as consisting of prosaic, boilerplate comments.

But after U.S. and foreign wire services reported Hu’s comments as sounding like he was giving orders to the PLA navy to begin shooting, Beijing sought to spin the remarks.

Pro-China acolytes in academia and the media attacked those who viewed the remarks as belligerent.

However, in response to the foreign media reports, hardline Chinese media jumped on the remarks to rally nationalist sentiment against the United States.

By Dec. 8, “all the Chicom hardline outlets, especially the Global Times, began to make Hu’s speech sound like he was actually giving an order to the plan to shoot,” said one analyst.

“So even though the speech was not a military order per se, those who are gung ho to kill Americans took it that way.”

Donald Trump has renounced his Republican party registration and is now officially an “Independent” signaling he is at least tpying with a run for president ala Ross Perot who cost HW Bush that election and Ralph Nader whose campaign lead to Al Gore’s defeat.

Like Jack the Ripper returning the scene of a crime, disgraced ex-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger returned to California for a “climate change” speech. He’s appeared before the the Governor’s Conference on Extreme Climate Risks and California’s Future, hosted by his successor, Gov. Jerry Brown, in San Francisco.

According to the Brown promo, “The Governor’s Conference will focus on the threats of unpredictable and extreme weather events on the state’s economy, business sectors, public health and natural resources. Attendees will discuss the best ways to prepare and protect our state and adapt to these growing risks.”

It should focus on the economy being destroyed by the Arnold-Jerry anti-jobs, anti-business polices, especially: AB 32, Arnold’s beloved Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. And, this year, Brown’s SBX1 2, which mandates 33 percent of California electricity must come from expensive, unreliable “renewables” by 2020.

Meanwhile, under Arnold and Jerry, California’s middle class has been assaulted and is shrinking. A PPIC study showed that the Arnold-Jerry policies have smashed the size of the middle class from 60 percent in 1980 to just 48 percent today.

California now is a severely class-ridden society. At the top are Jerry, Arnold, rich environmentalist Hollywood stars, government workers with generous pay and pensions, Silicon Valley billionaires and drug dealers.

At the bottom - the rest of us - are the slaves/taxpayers who pay for everything and are crushed by massive taxes and regulations, and more business will flee the state.

The nonpartisan website PolitiFact.com has awarded Nancy Pelosi the crown of biggest liar of the year for her claim that Republicans voted to end Medicare. She made the claim publically. A well known TV ad showed Congressman Paul Ryan pushing an elderly woman in a wheel chair off a cliff.

Chinese cyber attackers broke into the U, S. Chamber of Commerce gaining access to data on its 3 million members. Predictably China denies any involvement. China and Russia pay reqards for cyber hacking successes such as stealing detailed plans of the F-22 Stealth fighter. Their own fifth generation ifhgt looks eerily similar except their pilots sit side-by-side where as the U. S. warplance pilot and weapons pofficers sit in tandem.

The National Association of Realtors make a mistake in reporting home sales obver stating sales by some 3,000,000 maning the housing bust was in fact much wore than previously believed. The median home price fell to $168,000 at the top of the bubble that price exceeded $300,000.

White Castle hamburgers is adding wine and beer to its menu for 2012. Before McDonalds it was the top burger champion selling 10 mini hamburgers for one dollar at mostly midwestern locations. When McDonalds founder Ray Kroc decided to take on the king most folks thought him foolish. Ray and wife moved to the Santa Ynez Valley buying a ranch/.  After his death  she tried to donate their ranch to children stricken with cancer but, the Santa Barbara County planning department blocked that. She left for La Jolla giving hundreds of millions to charity there

The legendary Christmas pudding is actually an off shoot of the Celtic dish frumenty. The strangeness of the pudding is inspired by the myth that surrounds it. Supposedly people believed it was unlucky to cut a Christmas cake before Christmas Eve. But, the pudding wasn’t the only thing that was guarded by a long-standing myth. Mince pie was said to be unlucky if cut with a knife, additionally it was considered to encourage bad luck when eaten outside of the period between Christmas Eve and Twelfth Night. The great thing about Mince pie however, is that it somehow had the magical power to give you good luck if you ate one every day for the twelve days of Christmas.

My Irish grandmother left Christmas cakes (cookie) for elves on her back porch every Christmas eve

Senator Tom Coburn released his annual “Wastebook” profiling 100 “unnecessary, duplicative, or just plain stupid projects spread throughout the federal government.” The total cost of these programs is $6.9 billion.  Cutting these programs would only account for roughly 40 hours of our debt, but why spend a penny on this stuff?

Here are some of the greatest hits:

• $120 million in retirement and disability benefits to federal employees who have died
• $30 million to help Pakistani Mango farmers
• $550,000 for a documentary about how rock music contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union
• $10 million for a remake of “Sesame Street” for Pakistan
• $764,825 to examine how college students use mobile devices for social networking.
• $113,227 for a video game preservation center in New York
• $765,828 to subsidize a “pancakes for yuppies” program in Washington, D.C.
• $100,000 for a celebrity chef show in Indonesia
• $175,587 for a study on the link between cocaine and the mating habits of quail
• $606,000 for a study about online dating
• $17.80 Million in Foreign Aid to… China - (Department of State & U.S. Agency for International Development)
• The Super-Bridge to Nowhere - (Alaska) $15.3 Million

Yes, this is mere pocket change; we will not balance the budget by eliminating these preposterous projects.  Nevertheless, they reveal just how apathetic our lawmakers are in handling public funds.  They are also emblematic of the ridiculous budget process that has been in place in recent years.  If we are going to pass 1200-page bills that fund the entire government with such short notice, we will invariably continue to fund these projects.

Different countries have celebrated the beginning of the year on different days ranging from March 25 to Sept. 1 to Dec. 25. The French observed Easter as the start of the year for centuries. They introduced Jan. 1 as New Year’s Day in 1564, ahead of many European countries.

Within Italy, different cities started the year on conflicting days. Venice celebrated on March 1 until 1797, when it was conquered by the French Emperor Napoleon. Florence began the year on March 25 … as did England and the American Colonies until the end of 1751.

Until 1911, the Catholic Church started its ecclesiastical year on Dec. 25 at Christmas. And the traditional Asian calendar begins the Chinese New Year sometime between mid-January and late-February, depending on the year.

So, as you can see, the issue of when to start the year has been anything but clear throughout much of history.

Saudi Arabia has again topped a list of the world’s leading defense clients over the last decade.

The Congressional Research Service asserted that the Gulf Cooperation
Council kingdom was the top weapons procurer in 2010. In a report by Richard
Grimmett, CRS said Saudi Arabia received $1.2 billion worth of weapons from
Western and other foreign suppliers last year.

In this Jan. 25, 2009 file photo, F-15 warplanes of the Saudi Air Force fly over Riyadh during a graduation ceremony at King Faisal Air Force University. /AP/Hassan Ammar

“The data are official, unclassified, United States Defense Department figures compiled by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, unless otherwise indicated,” the report, titled “U.S. Arms Sales: Agreements with and Deliveries to Major Clients, 2003-2010,” said.

CRS said Saudi Arabia also signed the largest amount of weapons deals from 2007 through 2010, with $13.8 billion in orders. Following Riyad, was the United Arab Emirates, with $10.4 billion, and Egypt, with $7.8 billion.

Egypt also came in second in worldwide deliveries in 2010, with $830 million. Egypt’s neighbor, Israel, was No. 5 on the list, with $640 million. Both countries have been the leading recipients of U.S. military aid.

The report, dated Dec. 16, was prepared for members and committees of Congress. CRS said Saudi Arabia intensified weapons orders in 2007 after coming in second to Egypt, with $4.5 billion, from 2003 through 2006. In 2010, Egypt signed $1.8 billion worth of defense accords.

“The data have been restructured for this report by DSCA from a fiscal year format to a calendar year format,” the report said. “Thus a year in this report covers the period from January 1 to December 31, and not the fiscal year period from October 1 to September 30.”

The month of January is named after the double-faced Roman God Janus, who looks back to the old year and forward to the new one.

The free Chinese on Taiwan are improving its command, control, intelligence and surveillance capabilities.

A report in the Asia-Pacific Defense Magazine said Taiwan is equipping military vehicles with new antennas and outfitting small trucks with communications equipment.

The components are part of a major upgrade to the military’s C4ISR capabilities - command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance - the essential capability for modern warfare.

The monthly journal said Taiwan’s National Defense Report called for strengthening communications and information electronic warfare capabilities in the face of growing Chinese capabilities.

The center of Taiwan’s command and control is the advanced Po Sheng or “Broad Victory” system purchased some 10 years ago from the Pentagon. It is a sophisticated command, control and communications network produced by Lockheed Martin.

“The execution of the Po Sheng Plan has now reached the grassroots units, and the relevant communications, information, and electronics equipment that has been allocated to the grassroots units is undergoing testing, so that is why it is seen on the roads again and again,” the report said.

In addition to advanced communications gear, the Taiwanese military is set to deploy electronic warfare equipment, including space countermeasure systems, GPS receiver countermeasure systems, land-based jamming/reconnaissance systems, automatic mixed electronic detection systems, military spectrum management systems, confrontation frequency-jumping communications and electronic warfare systems, high frequency and VHF tactical communications jammers, vehicle-borne high powered global position jamming systems, individual soldier portable global position jamming systems, and other systems, the report said.

“Auld Lang Syne” is an old Scottish song that was first published by the Scottish poet Robert Burns in the 1796 edition of the book, Scots Musical Museum. Burns transcribed it (and made some refinements to the lyrics) after he heard it sung by an old man from the Ayrshire area of Scotland, Burns’s homeland.it literally translates as “old long since” and means “times gone by.” The song dates back to around 1711.

New studies show that ridership on the voter approved California bullet train hjave been greatly exaggerated predicting more riders that the entire national AMTRAC system. The cost of the monstrosity is approaching $100 billion, and new estimates forecast a $100 per rider taxpayer subsidy.

Taxpayers approved selling just $9 billion in bonds or a tenth of the projected costs adding $750 million to the bankrupt stat’s generatl funds annual costs.

A majority of California taxpayers have now changed their minds and say the boondoogle should be stopped and now.

Perhaps the most photographed  cosmological feature is the Crab Nebula that was produced by a supernova explosion in 1054 A.D. The Chinese and Arab astronomers at the time noted that the explosion was so bright, that it was visible during the day, and lit up the night sky for months.

Chinese military groups and universities have been linked to pervasive Chinese cyber espionage and technology acquisition efforts, according to U.S. intelligence officials.

The Obama administration is preparing to confront China more directly on the cyber attacks, the Wall Street Journal reported Dec. 13.

Two weeks ago, U.S. officials warned their counterparts in China about the diplomatic consequences of economic spying, according to a person familiar with the meeting.

U.S. intelligence has linked Chinese cyber spying campaigns to a dozen groups linked to the People’s Liberation Army and half-dozen nonmilitary groups connected to organizations such as universities.

The U.S. National Security Agency has determined the identities of individuals working in these groups.

“It’s actually a small number of groups that do most of the PLA’s dirty work,” said James Lewis, a cyber-security specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies who frequently advises the Obama administration.

“NSA is pretty confident of their ability to attribute [cyber espionage] to this set of actors.”

According to the newspaper report, about 20 groups with different attack styles are behind most of the cyber theft of U.S. secrets.

The groups were identified by a variety of indicators, including the type of cyber-attack software used, different Internet addresses used to steal data and how the attacks were carried out against different targets.

The number of cyber warfare forces numbers in the hundreds, the report said.

Atoms are 99.9999999999999 per cent empty space. If uou make a fist, and if your fist is as big as the nucleus of an atom, then the atom is as big as St Paul’s Cathedral, and if it happens to be a hydrogen atom, then it has a single electron flitting about like a moth in an empty cathedral, now by the dome, now by the altar.”

The future of the post-Kim Jong-Il North Korea lies in the hands of the military, the only force capable of shoring up stability in the abjectly poor Stalinist regime. And it is a testimony of the sagacity of the Chinese Communist Party administration’s Korean specialists that Beijing started boosting ties with DPRK generals since news first emerged about the poor health of the “Dear Leader” in 2008.

While Pyongyang’s National Defense Commission and other military units immediately proclaimed their loyalty to the “Great Successor,” Kim Jong-Un, it is no secret that the 28-year-old “boy emperor” could only be a transitional, puppet-like figure.

Beijing’s strategy has been to firm up the “lips-and-teeth” relationship between the People’s Liberation Army and the DPRK forces. Only this will ensure the pro-China tilt of the new regime and prevent the uncontrollable influx of refugees into northeastern China that will result from the break-up of the Hermit Kingdom.

It is understood that after the period of mourning is over, Beijing will swiftly send a Politburo-level official to Pyongyang to reassure the Kim Jong-Un regime of continued - and possibly augmented - economic, fuel and other kinds of support. Beijing will continue to look the other way as far as observation of UN-imposed sanctions on the DPRK is concerned.

So far, several members of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee, led by President Hu Jintao, have visited the North Korean Embassy in Beijing and signed the book of condolences.

One of the last foreign dignitaries that Kim met was General Li Jinai. Li, director of the PLA’s General Political Department, led a high-level military delegation to Pyongyang last month.

During the past two years, more than a dozen military delegations from both countries have exchanged visits. Last year, Gen. Zhang Youxia, commander of the Shenyang Military Region - which is in charge of the defenses of China’s three northeastern provinces - toured Pyongyang. This was remarkable because these three industrialized provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang were responsible for the bulk of Chinese trade with and investment in the DPRK.

Beijing’s best-case scenario is to convince the DPRK’s top brass that it is in Pyongyang’s best interest to postpone its nuclear-weapons program indefinitely. In return, the PLA is willing to guarantee North Korea protection from possible attacks from the U.S. and its allies. Moreover, Chinese state companies, including those with close military ties, are gearing up for more investments in mines and other sectors in the reclusive country.

Diplomatic analysts in Beijing said, however, that Beijing will have a hard time convincing Pyongyang to abandon its dream of wielding weapons of mass destruction. This is because Kim Jong-Un and his generals believe that joining the nuclear club is the best way to maintain regime legitimacy.

This perhaps explains China’s cautious reaction to the unexpected demise of the Dear Leader. Most Chinese media cleaved to the line, as spelled out in the official Global Times on Tuesday that Beijing would continue to be a “powerful and secure backer for a smooth transition of power in North Korea.”

The People’s Daily quoted Tsinghua University international relations expert Liu Jiangyong as saying that the relationship between China and its ally had “enjoyed new improvements and developments” in recent years. Liu expressed optimism that “China and North Korean will maintain their traditionally good relationship after the death of Kim Jong-Il.”

Given that Beijing has staked its reputation on the good behavior of the Kim Jong-Un administration, its room to maneuver is not as big as its status as the rogue state’s sole benefactor might suggest.

China’s Defense Ministry has confirmed that the PLA Navy plans to use a military base on the Seychelles, further highlighting Beijing’s “string of pearls” strategy of bases and alliances along sea routes from the Middle East to China.The Seychelles is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some 1,500 kilometres (932 mi) east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar.

China sees weakness in Obama and is working hard to expand its reach and power across the entire region.

The U.S. defense authorization bill for fiscal year 2012 includes several provisions designed to prompt Washington to deal with emerging threats from China.

Provisions related to China in the $669.5-billion spending bill are aimed at ensuring “that the United States is fully prepared to defend our vital interests against an emerging competitor,” the House Armed Services said in a statement.

The bill, which is expected to be signed into law by President Obama, requires the secretary of defense to conduct an assessment of the risk to U.S. national security of China’s vast holdings of U.S. debt.

China currently holds $1.1-trillion in U.S. debt, and Chinese military officials in the past have urged Beijing to call in the debt to punish the United States for arms sales to Taiwan.

The defense bill also requires Pentagon’s annual report on China’s military power to add “an extensive analysis of a potential cyber threat,” the committee statement said.

Additionally, the bill will withhold funds from the joint Chinese, Department of Defense, and Department of Energy Center of Excellence for Nuclear Security until the secretary of defense assures Congress that the center will curb China’s proliferation of nuclear technology and is consistent with U.S. national security interests.

“This includes a specific prohibition against construction of any facility in China until the requirements of the provision are met,” the statement said.

China sees Obama as impotent and indecisive, and that the U. S. is leaersless so 9it having its way.

A week ago U.S. Undersecretary of Defense Michele Flournoy sought to mollify Chinese military officials during a meeting of the Defense Consultative Talks in Beijing by avoiding all mention of the Pentagon’s new battle plan and sought to assure Chinese military hardliners that the U.S. didn’t view Beijing as a threat.

Laughably Obama stationed 250 Marines in Australia to deter China. As a friend points out “I hope they also send body bags.”

China has initiated a plan to expand military cooperation with Sudan.

Officials said representatives of the two countries have been meeting to discuss options for military cooperation starting in 2012. They said the options included arms sales by Beijing as well as joint exercises and training.

“Bilateral relations have developed to a new level, and we hope to expand pragmatic military-to-military cooperation,” said Chinese Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Xu Caihou.

During a visit to Sudan in mid-December, Xu met the Sudanese military leadership, including Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Mohammed Hussein. Xu said Sudan has agreed to expand defense and military ties.

Sudan, an energy supplier to China, has been deemed a leading defense client of Beijing’s. Beijing has supplied weapons, munitions and training for Sudan’s military and security forces.

Officials said China would also seek to develop ties with the new Republic of South Sudan, which seceded from Khartoum in July.

Alaska is the most Northern, Eastern, AND Western state in all of America. It is the only state that enters the “Eastern Hemisphere” making it also the most eastern lying and western lying state.

Complaints by the Council on American Islamic Relations,(CAIR)  to the Defense Department reportedly influenced its decisiond it will now allow Muslim students participating in the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps to wear headscarves and turbans while in uniform.

The decision marks the latest influence by controversial Islamic groups on military affairs.

World News Daily previously broke the story that an Islamic group that has been closely tied to the Muslim Brotherhood and was named by the Justice Department as an unindicted co-conspirator in a scheme to raise money for Hamas is the official endorsing agency for the U.S. Armed Forces Muslim chaplain program.

The Army’s Muslim chaplain program was founded by a terror-supporting convict while the Army’s first Islamic chaplain, who is still serving, has been associated with a charity widely accused of serving as an al-Qaida front.

On Thursday, CAIR announced its activism was responsible for the decision to allow Muslim garb in the JROTC.

There is spreading concern that radical Muslim groups are working to infiltrate the U. S. military not unlike the Major Hasan who murdered troops at Fort Hood.