PrairiePundit

Image via Wikipedia Strategy Page: For years, American troops have been complaining about the inadequate sight on the Mk 19 40mm automatic grenade launcher. The brass finally paid attention, and then some. Last year, a new, and very effective mechanical sight was introduced. But the army call for a new Mk19 sight also attracted some even more ambitious efforts. And one of them has resulted in a remarkable electronic sight. Combining a GPS, laser rangefinder and computer, the new Mk19 FCS (Fire Control System) enables gunners to put the first round on the target, at extreme ranges (over 2,000 meters). The FCS can also fire an accurate pattern of 40mm grenades at those same ranges. Moreover, the GPS enables a FCS equipped Mk19 to accurately fire on a target the gunner can't see. The FCS also has a camera, which can mark targets, out to 5,000 meters, on a photo, which can be then transmitted to other troops or headquarters. The FCS is also very easy to use for anyone with Mk19 expe...

Image via Wikipedia Ken Cohen, Exxon-Mobile: The Department of Interior’s so-called “use it or lose it” report was delivered to the White House yesterday. Rather than being an unbiased analysis of the status of oil and natural gas leases in the United States, the report sadly perpetuates the misguided charge that the oil and gas industry is not developing its existing leases. For the record, ExxonMobil is actively producing or working 93 percent of its federal leases. Of the remaining 7 percent that are currently inactive, the majority of those leases expires this year and will be returned to the U.S. government. Back to the report. It claims that “more than two-thirds of offshore leases in the Gulf of Mexico and more than half of onshore leases on federal lands remain “idle.” A sensational charge – until you read the fine print. To support the claim that the leases are “idle,” the DOI defies common sense to define “inactive leases” as follows: “Inactive leases,” or leased a...

Image by secretlondon123 via Flickr Melanie Phillips: One can only gape in stunned amazement at the extent of the idiocy being displayed by the leaders of America, Britain and Europe over the ‘Arab Spring’ – which should surely be renamed ‘the Arab Boomerang’. First of all, their declared policy is utterly incoherent. They claim that their aim in Libya is not regime change. Yet bombing Gaddafy’s compound hardly signals their desire that he should stay alive, let alone in power. Yesterday Obama said Gaddafy should leave power. Today he said overthrowing Gaddafy by force would be a mistake. In similar vein, Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague says the UK wants Gaddafy to leave power -- but that’s not regime change, because apparently it’s up to him to decide to do so. Presumably, for both Hague and Obama, if Gaddafy did decide to give up power this would have nothing whatever to do with the fact that they are bombing Libyan forces fighting for him to retain power. And they wou...

Image via Wikipedia Thomas Sowell: ... It is the old liberal illusion that you can measure out force with a teaspoon, not only in military operations micro-managed by civilians in Washington, like the Vietnam war, but also in domestic confrontations when the police are trying to control a rioting mob, and are being restrained by politicians, while the mob is restrained by nobody. ... They always try to trim too close when in warfare it is much more humane to quickly overwhelm your enemies. Related articles When You Strike At A King, You Must Kill Him (economicnoise.com)

Image via Wikipedia Rasmussen Reports: ... A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that just 15% of American Adults favor a mileage tax, while 72% are opposed. Another 13% are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.) These findings are little changed from February 2009, when 73% opposed a mileage tax. Americans currently pay 18.4 cents in federal taxes on a gallon of gas, and some members of Congress have suggested raising the gas tax to pay for transportation projects. Just 17% of Americans support that idea. Seventy-four percent (74%) oppose raising the gas tax to help meet new transportation needs. ... I think most people think driving is expensive enough already. I oppose both of these tax ideas, but I think it is OK to tax electric vehicles through higher charges for charging their batteries. Admittedly, I have no plans to own such a vehicle. They are just not practical for someone who lives 20 miles from the nearest Super Wal-Mart. R...

Image by nasa hq photo via Flickr NY Times: The White House is collecting options for a clean energy standard from outside groups, sharpening the president's effort to make low-carbon electricity a key piece of his re-election campaign, if not a passable piece of legislation in the current Congress. The meetings have solicited input on some of the thorniest elements of President Obama's goal to impose national fuel requirements on electricity providers. Top among them is the policy's potential impact on different regions, some of which have fewer energy resources like wind or nuclear to comply with a national standard. The administration has heard alternatives. One environmental group is encouraging the White House to consider using energy goals that vary by region. When combined, they would achieve Obama's target of providing 80 percent of the nation's electricity from lower emitting sources by 2035. Big-shouldered areas would carry more of the load. With...

Image by שאול חנוכה Shaul Hanuka via Flickr Politico: House Republicans have been trying to pin the blame for the budget negotiations stalemate on Senate Democrats, and on Friday they’ll attempt to pass a bill that puts the onus on the Senate to make the next move. The bill, which Republicans calls the “Government Shutdown Prevention Act,” says that if the Senate can’t pass a bill to fund the government before April 6, the original seven-month continuing resolution that the House passed in February will become law. The bill will also say that if the government shuts down for more than 24 hours — or the debt limit is reached — members of Congress and President Barack Obama will not be paid. ... The bill is basically a tool for putting the blame for any shutdown on the Democrats and a way of reminding voters that Republicans are the only ones who have passed a budget in the last year. I think the Republicans are doing a better job of framing the issues on the budget than the De...

Image via Wikipedia Jonah Goldberg: Feminism as a "movement" in America is largely played out. The work here is mostly done. The good news for those who want to continue the fight for women is that there is plenty of work left to do -- abroad. The plight of women in other countries is not only dire, it's central to global poverty and the War on Terror. Jihadism is largely a male problem -- no surprise, given that jihadis commit mass murder in pursuit of a virgin bonus in the afterlife. Islamist extremism and oppression of women go hand in hand. While the correlation between poverty and terrorism is often overstated, the correlation between prosperity and women's liberation is profound. Female education is tightly linked with GDP growth, lower birthrates and even higher agricultural yields. It's also tightly linked with human freedom and decency, which is why no Islamic "spring" is possible without a feminist revolution. Countless Islamist count...

Image via Wikipedia Washington Times: Libyan rebels say condoms and Viagra found on soldiers loyal to Col. Moammar Gadhafi are proof of a campaign of rape waged by the Libyan dictator to terrorize male and female opponents. Hospitals are dealing with an increase in the number of cases of sexual assault, said rebels and doctors interviewed by The Washington Times since the start of the uprising last month. A doctor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of concern for his safety, said Viagra and condoms had been found in the clothes of pro-Gadhafi soldiers killed in battle and those captured alive. Almost all of the victims of sexual assault have told doctors that they were attacked by the regime’s soldiers. A resident of Benghazi, who is close to the rebels, said Viagra and condoms were found on each of the soldiers captured last week when Gadhafi loyalists advanced to the outskirts of the rebel stronghold in the east. Before they were seized, the soldiers taunted re...

Image via Wikipedia NY Times: In his first address to the nation after bloody protests and calls for reform, President Basher al-Assad on Wednesday blamed a broad conspiracy from beyond his borders for Syria’s turmoil and offered no concessions to ease his authoritarian regime’s grip on public life. To apparently choreographed cries of support and applause Mr. Assad appeared before Syria’s Parliament for what had been billed as a major speech that would define his response to the biggest challenge facing the government’s authority in decades. The speech had been highly anticipated inside and outside Syria for signs that Mr. Assad would lift or ease the state of emergency that has underpinned his Baath Party ’s hold on power since it was declared in 1963. But he made no reference to any such action and the speech seemed likely to dismay protesters who have been demanding reform. Mr. Assad’s relatively brief appearance had been depicted in advance as an attempt to calm tensions ...

Image via Wikipedia Randy Stilley , President Seahawk Drilling: Last month, Seahawk Drilling declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced the sale of its assets to shallow-water driller Hercules Offshore. This devastating decision was the culmination of a long period in which we found our customers unable to secure permits for work in the Gulf of Mexico despite the fact that both our industry and our company have excellent safety records. In the 11 months after the Deepwater Horizon accident, it became clear that Seahawk's greatest rival was no longer an industry competitor but the U.S. government. The government's drastic slowdown in the issuance of permits for shallow-water drilling operations — in which companies work in familiar geological formations, typically in less than 500 feet of water, mostly seeking to produce natural gas — has all but crippled the industry. The survivors (for now) like Hercules are staying afloat largely thanks to revenue from operations outsid...

Image via Wikipedia Houston Chronicle: House Republicans on Tuesday unveiled a suite of bills that aim to expand offshore drilling by forcing the Obama administration to vet proposed exploration quickly and sell more oil and gas leases along the East Coast. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., led the move, which seizes on worries that spiking oil prices could constrain the U.S. economic recovery and taps into drilling advocates' frustration with the pace of the government's approval of offshore projects in the wake of last year's deadly oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. "The majority of Americans support offshore energy production, and these bills will allow it to move forward in a safe, responsible and efficient manner," Hastings said. "With thousands un- employed in the Gulf region and gasoline prices nearing $4 per gallon, swift action must be taken." As head of the House Natural Resources Committee, Hastings is positioned to leverage the legislation t...

Image by Getty Images via @daylife Red States: Having failed to protect their place at the government teat by bravely running away during the legislative session, Wisconsin liberals have apparently decided to win the fight by trying to remove conservatives from the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which will presumably soon decide on whether the law stripping the public unions of collective bargaining power was properly passed. In the crosshairs right now is purportedly conservative Justice David Prosser . Now, Prosser has already been the subject of shenanigans from the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s liberal members - background on that is here. The gist of that particular case is that one of the Court’s liberal members accidentally-on-purpose leaked to the media that Prosser called one of the Court’s liberal Justices a “total b*tch” in a closed-door session about an ethics complaint concerning one of the Court’s other Justices. Now, having lost at the polls, and lost in the halls of the legi...

Image via Wikipedia Ryan Mauro: The West is rightly fretting over where the Arab revolutions will bring us, but there’s one we can be thankful for in Syria. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates had it right when he said that the Syrian military should follow the example of Egypt’s that “empowered a revolution.” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had it wrong — amazingly wrong — when she said that members of “both parties who have gone to Syria in recent months have said that they believe he [Bashar Assad] is a reformer.” Bashar Assad’s regime is anti-American to the core and is tied at the hip to Iran. It has supported elements of al-Qaeda ; preaches radical Islam despite its secular governance; is a major backer of Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad; and has the blood of countless U.S. soldiers and Iraqis on its hands. The Iraqi government even tried to build support for a UN tribunal to prosecute Syrian officials for destabilizing Iraq in 2009. You’d be hard-pressed to f...

Image by Getty Images via @daylife Houston Chronicle: After spending nearly three years and more than $80 million of his own money to tout his energy plan, T. Boone Pickens says he's finally about to have something to show for his efforts. Next week, a natural gas bill he has strongly backed is expected to be introduced again in Congress. And this time, the billionaire Texas oilman said, it has the votes the pass. "I think we got the deal done," Pickens told reporters after a luncheon speech Tuesday at the Petroleum Club of Houston, hosted by the Society of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers and Society of Independent Professional Earth Scientists. "I think we'll get it through the House before the summer recess." The measure, called the NAT GAS Act, aims to boost use of natural gas as a fuel in the transportation sector. Lasting five years, it would provide vehicle tax credits to buyers of vehicles powered by natural gas, giving automakers greater inc...

Image via Wikipedia AP/Arab News: A senior Indonesian Al-Qaeda operative wanted in the 2002 Bali bombings has been arrested in Pakistan, a rare high-profile capture that could provide valuable intelligence about the organization and possible future plots. Umar Patek , a suspected member of the Al-Qaeda-linked militant group Jemaah Islamiyah , was arrested earlier this year in Pakistan, foreign intelligence sources said Tuesday. It is not clear if Pakistan stumbled on Patek or his capture was the result of an intelligence tip. Details about what he was doing in Pakistan also remain murky, raising questions about whether he was there to plan an attack with Al-Qaeda’s top operational leaders as the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 200l looms over the US ... It is unclear where he is being held. My guess is that the US has him at Bagram in Afghanistan or he may have been transferred to Gitmo. Related articles Suspect in 2002 Bali bombings captured in Pakistan (theglobeandmai...

Image via Wikipedia Reuters/Arab News: A Kuwaiti criminal court has sentenced three people to death for being part of an alleged Iranian spy ring in the Gulf Arab state, Dubai-based Al Arabiya television said on Tuesday. The station did not give further details on a case that has strained relations between Kuwait and Tehran. Kuwait, which banned media coverage of the case, has said only that several people were detained in an unspecified security probe. Kuwaiti media said in May 2010 authorities had detained a number of people — Kuwaitis and foreigners — suspected of spying for Iran. The independent Al-Qabas daily said they were accused of gathering information on Kuwaiti and US military sites for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. ... My guess is they were working on Iran operations in Iraq and trying to get info on how the US forces operated in supplying its forces in Iraq. The Kuwaitis certainly treated the matter as grave and serious. Related articles Iraq-Kuwait Committee ap...

Image via Wikipedia Independent: China told the United Nations to stay out of its affairs yesterday amid criticism of one of the biggest roundups of dissidents for years, prompted by fears that protests sweeping the Arab world could inspire a similar uprising against the authoritarian regime. Australia called for authorities to reveal the whereabouts of a political blogger who has not been seen since the weekend, the latest suspected detainee from a big crackdown on political expression that is unprecedented in modern times. The Sydney-based spy novelist Yang Hengjun made a brief phone call to his sister to give a pre-arranged signal that he had been taken by secret police after complaining of being followed, according to a friend. Catherine Baber, Amnesty International's deputy director for the Asia-Pacific region, said: "Yang Hengjun's disappearance is extremely worrying, especially as it comes during one of the biggest round-ups of activists and critics for years...

Image via Wikipedia Telegraph: Admiral James Stavridis, Nato's Supreme Allied Commander, Europe , said that American intelligence had picked up "flickers" of terrorist activity among the rebel groups. Senior British government figures described the comment as "very alarming". The admission came as the American, Qatari and British Governments indicated that they were considering arming rebel groups, who yesterday suffered a series of setbacks in their advance along the Libyan coast towards Tripoli. The plan is likely to spark further splits in the international coalition, with Nato and Italian sources indicating the move would require another United Nations resolution. ... These guys are too hung up on process to get much done. If they want to go back to the UN, the mission is doomed. Some of those who abstained in the earlier vote are already demanding a cease fire. One can only wonder what they would want to approve a new mission to arm the oppositio...