Wright Brothers Test “Aeroplane”

Two brothers who purport to operate a "bicycle shop" are claiming that they have been able to lift a man into the air and "fly" using a jumble of wood and fabric and some sort of engine.

"It flew," said test witness Riki Ellison, president of the private Aeroplane Advocacy Alliance, a group funded in part by "Bicycle shop" owners. "It was a success."……

……."Once again, there were no passengers or crew used, making this test one of the simplest, easiest, flights they've ever tried," said Philip Coyle, the War Department's chief weapons tester under former President William McKinley.

Sound stupid? Well, no, it isn't:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. interceptor missile on Friday shot down a dummy warhead replicating an incoming North Korean missile in the seventh successful test of Boeing Co's long-range missile shield, the Pentagon said.

The Missile Defense Agency said in a statement it completed a test "involving a successful intercept by a ground-based interceptor missile designed to protect the United States against a limited long-range ballistic missile attack."

The interceptor missile was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on California's central coast, and its target was fired from Alaska's Kodiak Island.

Raytheon Co said a radar it developed, which was located at Beale Air Force Base in California, tracked the target for about 15 minutes during its flight to the intercept point several hundred miles west of California.

"We got it," said test witness Riki Ellison, president of the private Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, a group funded in part by missile shield contractors. "It was a success."

Development takes time and practice. Period. Engineering is not magic, it is try and try and try again until you get it right. Is there really a problem in some people's minds that it would be a good thing to stop hostile missiles from landing in the US? Well, yes there is:

"Once again, there were no countermeasures or decoys used, making this test one of the simplest, easiest, flight intercept tests they've ever tried," Philip Coyle, the Pentagon's chief weapons tester under former President Bill Clinton, said in a statement e-mailed to Reuters.

One wonders how Coyle would feel if he happened to be at ground zero.

Ruthlessness

In a very unfortunate object lesson, the Associated Press is reporting that popular uprisings against thuggish regimes can be effectively put down by ruthless action of the thug government. The military junta that has ruled Burma since 1962 appears to have taken the upper hand and crushed the uprising against it. Again. The only way a dictatorial government has ever held on in the face of popular sentiment against it is by ruthlessly suppressing dissent. Burma's thugs appear to have learned that lesson.

On the third day of a harsh government crackdown, the streets were empty of the mass gatherings that had peacefully challenged the regime daily for nearly two weeks, leaving only small groups of activists to be chased around by security forces.

"Bloodbath again! Bloodbath again!" a Yangon resident yelled while watching soldiers break up one march by shooting into air, firing tear gas and beating people with clubs.

Thousands of monks had provided the backbone of the protests, but they were besieged in their monasteries, penned in by locked gates and barbed wire surrounding the compounds in the two biggest cities, Yangon and Mandalay. Troops stood guard outside and blocked nearby roads to keep the clergymen isolated.

Many Yangon residents seemed pessimistic over the crackdown, fearing it fatally weakened a movement that began nearly six weeks ago as small protests over fuel price hikes and grew into demonstrations by tens of thousands demanding an end to 45 years of military rule.

The corralling of monks was a serious blow. They carry high moral authority in this predominantly Buddhist nation of 54 million people and the protests had mushroomed when the clergymen joined in.

"The monks are the ones who give us courage. I don't think that we have any more hope to win," said a young woman who had taken part in a huge demonstration Thursday that broke up when troops shot protesters. She said she had not seen her boyfriend and feared he was arrested.

Anger over the junta's assaults on democracy activists seethed around the globe. Protesters denounced the generals at gatherings across the United States, Europe and Asia.

The White House urged "all civilized nations" to pressure Myanmar's leaders to end the crackdown. "They don't want the world to see what is going on there," White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said.

But analysts said it was unlikely that countries with major investments in Myanmar, such as China and India, would agree to take any punitive measures. The experts also noted that the junta has long ignored criticism of its tough handling of dissidents.

Russia is also refusing to act against the junta. I'm really disappointed in India right now. They gained their independence from British rule by peaceful means - and because the Brits refused to be ruthless. I expected a bit more from them in this. But then, the western left has also been largely silent about this. So much for their commitment to freedom.

Refusing Debate

Bonner R. Cohen, senior fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research, has an op-ed up over at TCS Daily wondering why Al Gore will not debate his global warming beliefs with actual experts. Not just one or to times, but every, single time debate is offered.

Czech President Vaclav Klaus, who addressed the General Assembly on climate change September 24, is but the latest global warming skeptic to receive the cold shoulder from Gore. In ads appearing in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Times, Klaus has called on Gore to face him in a one-on-one debate on the proposition: "Global Warming Is Not a Crisis." Earlier in the year, similar challenges to Gore were issued by Dennis Avery, director of the Center for Global Food Issues and senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, and Lord Monckton of Brenchley, a former adviser to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. All calls on the former vice president to face his critics have fallen on deaf ears.

The Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based free-market think tank, launched the debate campaign in April, using ads, press releases, and other tactics to prod Gore into confronting those who reject his alarmist views on global warming.

For his part, President Klaus has not minced words on what he sees as the real agenda of those promoting climate hysteria. In an op-ed in the Financial Times (June 13, pointedly titled "Freedom, Not Climate, is at Risk," Klaus said: "Let us not scare ourselves with catastrophic forecasts, or use them to defend and promote irrational interventions in human lives." Arguing that the issue of global warming "is more about social than about natural sciences and more about man and his freedom than about tenths of a degree Celsius changes in average global temperature," Klaus rejected the notion of a "scientific consensus" on climate change as an effort by a "loud minority" to impose its will on a "silent majority."

Al Gore, who has a substantial financial stake in promoting global warming, since he will get very rich of his investments if the world embraces his theory, is taking a pass on talking to anyone who does not fawn over his pronouncements. And really, that should not be a surprise. Gore promotes alternative fuels - which not only do not work - but actually make things worse. In fact, Jane Goodall just publicly denounced the biofuel craze as bad for the planet. But his sycophants keep pushing Gore's agenda. One which has nothing - whatsoever - with actually saving the planet. His refusal to debate proves that.  

Rushing Into Madness

I have waited to offer any comments about the latest ruckus being promoted over Rush Limbaugh's remarks. Partly, I wanted to wait until the dust settled a little, mostly I figured Rush - who I do not listen to - could handle himself. But I think Callimachus called it correctly last night.

From there, the next dot connected was active-duty soldiers who have written and spoken eloquently in their criticism or condemnation of the reasons and tactics of the U.S. effort in Iraq.

But it is not at all clear to me from that jumbled conversation that Limbaugh didn't mean proven "phony soldiers" who have been embraced and touted by the anti-war movement, like Jesse Macbeth. Whatever he meant (we'll never know) in that moment, Limbaugh at least has that cover to shelter behind.

Limbaugh has released the entire clip of what was said including the follow on to the "phony soldiers" remark (cut completely by Media Matters) that proves he was, indeed, talking about the Jesse Macbeths that the left puts forth and genuflects to - until they are exposed as frauds. Whereupon the left changes the subject and never acknowledges that they pimped for a liar.

Personally, I'm inclined to believe that this is yet another action by the man behind the curtain. The Anchoress sums it up best:

It can’t feel good to realize you have been played by George Soros and pals, and while you were being played, you weakened your president, lost a good deal of power in Congress (not that your party was using it, but still…) and drew inflexible battle lines flanked by impossible demands and pipe dreams, while - in the end - nothing actually changed. Played by a master, your party became divided, some of you literally became one-issue haters of everything and everyone who did not join in your daily chant; “illegal is illegal.” And in being played, you’ve managed to make a fast-growing segment of the voting populace suspicious of conservatives on the eve of an election wherein literally every vote and every voter is going to count. And where fraud may well be rampant.

I have been loath to write about the ‘08 election because the campaigns began too soon. But it is not too early to say that I cannot recall a more urgent or important election in my lifetime. The ‘08 election is going to be the one that determines whether the America you love will be recognizable in twenty years. I know I’m not alone in thinking so.

Once upon a time you could say, “who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes,” with a wry smirk and appreciate the irony. It’s not so ironic, anymore. Now we are in the third act of Hamlet, the King - his conscience pricked - is crying out and the castle is in uproar and Hamlet declares, “believe none of this,” which is good advice. Maybe all of history has been a staged production, but I don’t believe that. Sadly in American politics, circa 2007, very little is real, very few are motivated by selfless love of country, and illusionists are everywhere.

A lot of people are falling into the trap right about now. Some are not. The MoveOn smear of Petraeus damaged that organization in the minds of average voters - not the true believers, but average Americans. This is a payback. An attempt to play gotcha in a one up way. We all - every one of us - needs to be careful not to allow ourselves to be suckered into playing a game we cannot win. I think they fooled a lot of people with this. Both on the left and on the right.

Hillary Offers To Buy Votes Outright

This is the worst thing I think I have ever heard a candidate offer as a reason to elect that politician. Hillary Clinton:

"I like the idea of giving every baby born in America a $5,000 account that will grow over time, so that when that young person turns 18 if they have finished high school they will be able to access it to go to college or maybe they will be able to make that downpayment on their first home," she said.

The New York senator did not offer any estimate of the total cost of such a program or how she would pay for it. Approximately 4 million babies are born each year in the United States.

Well, this is easy, isn't it? The magic number is 20. As in $20,000,000,000. Twenty billion dollars. If she wins and enacts this, that would be 80 billion in one term. If she plays a bit of smoke and mirrors and issues a "baby bond" that earns compound interest at only 5% annually - to be paid out in 18 years, the $5,000 becomes just under $11,500. That would pass an unfunded liability to the next generation of almost $46 billion for the first year or $183 billion for a full four year term.

Buying votes with populist insanity - and total fiscal stupidity - will bankrupt this country.

UPDATE: Wow. I had completely forgotten this debacle from 1972:

George McGovern, who was crushed by Richard Nixon in a landslide in 1972, has gone down in history as one of our most feckless Presidential candidates. McGovern ran on a far-left platform that included a proposal that at the time was deemed risible–the "demogrant." The demogrant program was simple: the federal government would write a check for $1,000 to every American. In 1972, that idea was so widely ridiculed as over-the-top pandering, as well as economically pointless–even Hubert Humphrey savaged it–that McGovern quietly abandoned the idea.

The Powerline guys calculated the inflation out - and the "Demogrant" of $1,000 in 1972 dollars becomes almost exactly the "Hillarygrant" of $5,000 in 2007 dollars. Everything old is new again. Bad ideas never die, they just get a coat of new paint every now and then.

Burma Update

The latest report from the Associated Press about the situation in Burma is bleak. The military junta has been aggressively attacking and demonstrations they find on the streets. They are also raiding the Buddhist monasteries and arresting the monks to keep them off the streets.

YANGON, Myanmar - Soldiers clubbed and dragged away activists while firing tear gas and warning shots to break up demonstrations Friday before they could grow, and the government cut Internet access, raising fears that a deadly crackdown was set to intensify.

Troops also occupied Buddhist monasteries in a bid to clear the streets of Myanmar's revered monks, who have spearheaded the demonstrations.

The government said 10 people have been killed since the violence began earlier this week, but British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he believed the loss of life in Myanmar was "far greater" than is being reported. Dissident groups have put the number as high as 200, although that number could not be verified.

Witnesses said security forces aggressively broke up a rally of about 2,000 people near the Sule Pagoda in the largest city, Yangon. About 20 trucks packed with soldiers arrived and announced over loudspeakers, "We give you 10 minutes to move out from the road. Otherwise we will fire."

A group of about 10 people broke away from the main crowd and rushed toward a line of soldiers, who were dressed in green uniforms with red bandanas around their necks, holding shields and automatic weapons. The people were beaten up, and five were seen being hauled away in a truck.

Soldiers dispersed the other protesters, beating them with clubs and firing shots in the air.

"People in this country are gentle and calm. (But) people are very angry now and they dare to do anything," said a shopkeeper, who witnessed the clash and did not want to be named for fear of reprisal.

Elsewhere, riot police played cat-and-mouse with smaller groups of die-hard activists, sometimes shooting into the air.

Agam, blogging from Thailand, reports that internet communications appear to be completely out now but has a fascinating item from Indian media:

The India-based news service also has some intriguing military news today. Sources have told Mizzima that troops from central Burma, belonging to Central Command and South East Command, are presently moving toward Rangoon. It is not known whether these are reinforcements, or whether it may indicate a split in the military. A further report states that military aircraft from Matehtilar base have been scrambled and are now airborne. A "commotion" is reported in Light Infantry Divisions 33 and 99 of the Burma Army, with no further details.

This would be the perfect time to launch an internal coup, wouldn't it? Or, if this indicates that the military is fragmenting, it might be good news for the people of Burma.

The Invisible Frogs Are Coming!

Researchers in Japan have taken the first steps toward producing an invisible frog. So far, they have achieved a see-through frog, but it's only a matter of time.

TOKYO (AFP) - Japanese researchers have succeeded in producing see-through frogs, letting them observe organs, blood vessels and eggs under the skin without performing dissections.

"You can see through the skin how organs grow, how cancer starts and develops," said the lead researcher Masayuki Sumida, professor at the Institute for Amphibian Biology of state-run Hiroshima University.

"You can watch organs of the same frog over its entire life as you don't have to dissect it. The researcher can also observe how toxins affect bones, livers and other organs at lower costs," he told AFP…..

…….Sumida said his team, which announced the research last week at an academic conference, had created the first transparent four-legged creature, although some small fish are also see-through.

The researchers produced the creature from rare mutants of the Japanese brown frog, or Rena japonica, whose backs are usually ochre or brown.

Two kinds of recessive genes have been known to cause the frog to be pale.

Sumida's team crossed two frogs with recessive genes through artificial insemination and the offspring looked normal due to the presence of more powerful genes. But crossing the offspring led to a frog whose skin is transparent from the tadpole stage.

This will give the Animal Uprising™ a huge edge in surveillance abilities. Hordes of invisible frogs will soon be everywhere. Heck, there's no telling how many invisible beavers they already have! Worse yet: what if they start using invisible toilet frogs?

Monkeys Behaving Badly

The police in Cambodia have placed a bounty on the heads of gangster monkeys that are terrorizing tourists at the Wat Phnom pagoda. The marauding macaques have been biting the tourists and stealing the laundry of local residents as well.

At least three of the large macaques, which have been biting tourists at the famed Wat Phnom pagoda and also tearing up Internet lines, are being targeted, deputy district governor Pich Socheata told AFP.

"There are more than 200 monkeys there, but only three monkeys that behave badly… they behave like gang leaders," she said.

"The other monkeys are afraid of people. But these monkeys are not — they are scaring tourists visiting Wat Phnom."

Authorities tried several times to get the unruly monkeys to eat eggs laced with sleeping pills, but had always been outsmarted, she said, hence the bounty.

Word is that American production companies are in negotiations with the gang leaders to film a reality television series about the monkeys behaving badly. They figure that if people will watch Dancing With the Washed Up Has-Beens, they'll watch Monkeys Gone Wild.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Charles Krauthammer notes the huge change in French foreign policy toward both the United States and Iran. He also notes the change in Congress, which is even more important. The recognition that Iran is acting against the US in Iraq is a huge first step in actually confronting Tehran.

WASHINGTON — Ahmadinejad at Columbia provided the entertainment, but Sarkozy at the U.N. provided the substance. On the largest possible stage — the U.N. General Assembly — President Nicolas Sarkozy put Iran on notice. His predecessor, Jacques Chirac, had said that France could live with an Iranian nuclear bomb. Sarkozy said that France cannot. He declared Iran's nuclear ambitions "an unacceptable risk to stability in the region and in the world."

His foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, had earlier said that the world faces two choices — successful diplomacy to stop Iran's nuclear program or war. And Sarkozy himself has no great hopes for the Security Council, where China and Russia are blocking any effective action against Iran. He does hope to get the European Union to join the U.S. in imposing serious sanctions.

"Weakness and renunciation do not lead to peace," he warned. "They lead to war." This warning about appeasement was intended particularly for Germany, which for commercial reasons has been resisting U.S. pressure to support effective sanctions…….

……..The French flip is only one part of the changing landscape that has given new life to Bush's Iran and Iraq policies in the waning months of his administration. The mood in Congress also has significantly shifted.

Just this week, the House overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling for very strong sanctions on Iran and urging the administration to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guards a terrorist entity. A similar measure passed the Senate Wednesday by 76-22, declaring that it is "a critical national interest of the United States" to prevent Iran from using Shiite militias inside Iraq to subvert the U.S.-backed government in Baghdad.

A few months ago, the question was: Will the Democratic Congress force a withdrawal from Iraq? Today the question in Congress is: What can be done to achieve success in Iraq — most specifically, by countering Iran, which is intent on seeing us fail?

This change in mood and subject is entirely the result of changes on the ground. It takes time for reality to seep into a Washington debate. But after the Petraeus-Crocker testimony, the reality of the relative success of our new counterinsurgency strategy — and the renewed possibility of ultimate success in Iraq — became no longer deniable.

It is completely obvious that the United Nations is unable to do anything about thuggish regimes - whether they want to build nuclear weapons or not. Russia and China are blocking any increased sanctions against Iran. The only way pressure can be brought to bear is if France and the US can get Europe on board. Sarkozy sees the reality, "Weakness and renunciation do not lead to peace. They lead to war." (Something I have been saying for a long time now.) It appears that Congress sees the same thing.

Nobody wants a war with Iran. But if real pressure is not brought down on Tehran soon, that war is inevitable. With the UN useless, the only way to accomplish that pressure is for the US and Europe to act unilaterally. I, for one, hope they can do it quickly.

The International Green Light For Thugs

Vaclav Havel, a man who knows a bit about having the boot of the state on his neck, points out the disastrous effect on human rights the ineffectual United Nations is having around the world, but especially in Burma.

I fear that, with only a few exceptions, most countries have been surprised and caught off guard - once again - by the rapid course that events have taken in Burma. So they seem to be completely unprepared for the crisis and thus at a loss as to what to do.

How many times and in how many places has this now happened? Worse, however, is the number of countries that find it convenient to avert their eyes and ears from the deathly silence with which this Asian country chooses to present itself to the outside world…….

…….On a daily basis, at a great many international and scholarly conferences all over the world, we can hear learned debates about human rights and emotional proclamations in their defense. So how is it possible that the international community remains incapable of responding effectively to dissuade Burma's military rulers from escalating the force that they have begun to unleash in Rangoon and its Buddhist temples?

For dozens of years, the international community has been arguing over how it should reform the United Nations so that it can better secure civic and human dignity in the face of conflicts such as those now taking place in Burma or Darfur, Sudan. It is not the innocent victims of repression who are losing their dignity, but rather the international community, whose failure to act means watching helplessly as the victims are consigned to their fate.

The people of Burma and especially the monks who are leading the protests are in serious trouble. The governments of the world and the UN are milling about doing nothing. It is a green light for the thugs who run that benighted country. Other thuggish regimes see just how effective the United Nations is in dealing with anti-democratic, brutal regimes and learn the lesson well. Burma is only the latest. Darfur, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Afghanistan, Kosovo. All are, or have recently been, the victims of the ineffectual "international community." The lesson to the thugs of the world is very, very clear.

Burma Junta Cuts Off Internet Access

Well, the media made much of the fact that things had changed in Burma since the last bloody crackdown in 1990. Now the internet connected Burma to the world they said. Which just gave the military junta a clue on what to get rid of before the next round of violence. They have cut off the internet saying a cable got damaged. Gee, sorry.

As I noted the other day, Burmese bloggers have been crucial whistleblowers and eyewitnesses to history–supplying the world with round-the-clock coverage and photos of their oppressive regime’s crackdown. Now, just as the Western press is lauding their role, the military junta has reportedly cut off Internet access:

Myanmar’s government appeared to have cut public Internet access and troops occupied key Buddhist monasteries on Friday, witnesses and diplomats said, in an effort to end demonstrations against the ruling junta.

The moves raised concerns that the military government may be preparing to intensify a crackdown on civilians that has killed at least 10 people in the past two days. The Internet in particular has played a crucial role in getting news and images of the pro-democracy protests to the outside world.

According to AFP, government officials are blaming a “damaged underwater cable.”

As noted yesterday, the dictatorships that have fallen to popular pressure have done so by failing to ruthlessly put down protests. I was afraid then that the junta would grasp that lesson. The news today makes me pretty sure they have.