From Danger Room…..

Soon after radar-guided anti-aircraft missiles became a threat, planners realized that the simplest way to stop them was to take out the radar. These radars make an easy target; in radio terms, they are equivalent to lighthouses, radiating brightly. So in 1958 the U.S. introduced the Shrike, an “Anti-Radiation Missile” that homed in on enemy radar and proved invaluable in the Vietnam War. The modern successor is the AGM-88 HARM High Speed Antiradiation missile, which has longer range and a speed of over mach 2. “No U.S. aircraft has ever been lost to surface-to-air missiles when HARM has been flying cover,” Mike Vigue, HARM Growth Manager at Raytheon, told me.

When ever you read articles like this, people act like it is a great weakness that HARM missiles can’t hit a radar set that has been turned off. But a radar set that has been turned off is not a threat. It is a lot cheaper to pay few planes armed with HARM missiles to fly cover then it is to make sure all of your planes are stealthy.

In a world of unlimited resources, naturally one would want all your planes to be stealthy. But in the real world, their are lot more pressing concerns.

From The Sentinel…..

Frustration over lingering power outages is turning to outrage in some New Hampshire communities, and police say they are concerned for the safety of line crews.

Unitil officials say that in some cases, residents have parked cars in front of utility trucks to keep them from leaving neighborhoods.

I find it hard to believe that there are enough residents of New Hampshire who can plausibly threaten the safety of an average line crew to be worth worrying about. I think the real police concern is that they not have to arrest a line crew for beating the snot out of somebody who deserves it.

I feel for the foremen though. Trying to keep the hot heads on your crew in line has to be a problem that they don’t need right about now. They are already working 16 hours or more a day from what I hear.

From the Telegraph….

The Government may increase the powers of debt collectors despite concerns that the industry is poorly controlled.

The new rules, allowable under legislation already passed by Parliament but not yet enacted, would give bailiffs the right to restrain or pin down householders.

Bailiffs are expecting a big increase in business over the next year as tens of thousands of Britons experience financial problems during the forthcoming recession.

From later on in the story….

The Government insists that any new powers would be overseen by an industry watchdog. Bailiffs would also be barred from searching people’s pockets or forcibly removing jewellery.

I find it ironic that a nation that has practically criminalize self defense will now allow private sector debt collectors to use force to seize collateral.

From the Belmont Club….

Beta News reports that 3 undersea cables carrying a huge amount of Internet traffic for the Middle East and South Asia were cut within 40 minutes of each other, resulting in large outages in several countries. The outage underscores the immense strategic value of fiber optic cables in the information age. It incidentally highlights the degree to which the economic system of the world is dependent on a hegemon simply for existence.

If this is just an accident, then the Middle East’s cables are awful accident prone. These lines were cut not to long ago with similar results.

From the AP on Paterson’s Budget Proposal….

His play book is a proposed 2009-10 budget of $121.1 billion, which includes layoffs, a cut in school aid, 88 new or higher fees, and the early release of 1,600 inmates.

I can see the layoffs. I can see the cut in school aid. I can even sort of see the higher fees. But releasing inmates to save money strikes me as the last thing the state should be doing.

When you start quoting the Daily Kos, you have to look deep within your soul and start considering the dark path you are on. Nonetheless, this seems well sourced and it makes me madder then a wet hen.

For today the state of Wisconsin at the behest of the USDA drags an Amish farmer named Emmanuel Miller to court for obeying his religious principles.

Perhaps this moment will begin to intimate how the USDA has been operating and why the head of the USDA has become not a political choice but actually life and death for American farmers.

Mr. Miller is due in court today, this Wed. Dec. 17th, at 3:00 pm, at the Clark County Court House, 517 Court St. Neillsville, WI, for his initial court appearance
Family Farm Defenders is encouraging food sovereignty advocates to appear in court in Neillsville to express their solidarity with the Amish farmer being targeted by the State of Wisconsin in its first effort to enforce mandatory premises registration, stage one of the controversial National Animal Identification System (NAIS).

This is a similar case from Michigan.

From the Associated Press….

Daniel Borntreger’s home looks like hundreds of other Wisconsin farmhouses: two-story A-frame, porch, clothes on the line.

But his home could cost him thousands of dollars in fines. Borntreger, an Amish farmer, built the house himself according to Amish tradition — but without a building permit.

His case is among at least 18 legal actions brought against Amish residents in Wisconsin and New York in the past year and a half for building without proper permits, according to court records, attorneys and advocates for the Amish.

Reading between the lines, it seems that the code authorities are out of their minds with stupidity. Pennsylvania has made things work, and there have been no safety issues. Moreover it does not seem that the Amish have any problem paying for the permits. Their problem is stupid regulations that try to force them to have electrical outlets or forbid them from cutting their own lumber.

More to the point, have you ever looked at the price of property in Lancaster PA? It is out of this world. So many yuppies want to live next to the cool Amish that new Amish families can’t afford to live there anymore. On top of that, tourists come from all over to spend money in Lancaster because of the Amish.

Now all over the country property prices are falling and people are losing their jobs. And some idiotic town inspectors are going to try to drive out a group of people who are better then any stimulus package?

On top of that, anyone who would prefer a house built to “code” over one built by the Amish is out of their mind. You can add what the Amish don’t easier then you can make up for the lack of craftsmanship in a typical house.

From Danger Room….

Now, it’s confirmed. The Air Force has indeed blown a third test of its nuclear handling capabilities, as Danger Room first reported over the weekend. In a memo, the Air Force confirmed that the 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren Air Force Base “rated unsatisfactory” on its nuclear surety inspection. Testers found fault with the missile unit’s “management and administration,” as well as “tools, tests, tie-down and handling equipment.”

Its not that they have been good for many years and know they are slipping. Its that they have been bad for many years and now they are finally being held to account.