The Secret Plans For Kashmir

Here's an interesting report from NPR.

Its worth the listen even if its just for the entertainment value of the subject. Who knows how much of it is true, but apparently the Indians and the Pakistanis had a back channel negotiation going on before the Mumbai bombing last year. The political decline of fmr. Pres. Musharraf and the bombing (obviously) killed any progress that was made (or wasn't made).

This is a great illustration of the difficulties involved in fighting the War on Terror. To say that politics makes strange bedfellows is an understatement. While helping us in our battles with the Taliban, according to the report, they were providing material and intelligence support to other jihadis fighting against Indian targets in the disputed Kashmir region. In all fairness it seems it was mostly sympathetic elements of the Pakistani Army that were the main culprits, but a politically strong Pres. Musharraf could have done more to reign in some of the rogue elements.

Let me know what you think....

Circuit City's Demise

Here's the story

For the life of me, I don't know how Circuit City stayed afloat for as long as it did. Anyone who has shopped there in the last 10-15 years knows what I'm talking about.

They've always been one step up from Radio Shack, although they don't have the transistors and generic parts in the back. They've always sold the same stuff as Best Buy, but at a higher price and with more of a used car sales feel to it. When COMP USA just about went totally out of business they picked up the retail PC parts market; things like video cards, motherboards, and cd drives.

However, the geniuses at Circuit City completely ignored the fact that COMP USA went out of business because 99% of the country chooses to buy that stuff over the internet at an increasingly discounted price and without "Gil the Used Car Salesman" from the Simpsons, hovering over their shoulders.

USS PORT ROYAL (CG-73) Runs Aground

Here's the story...

They say in life there are two things that are absolutely certain...death and taxes. Well in the United States Navy there are also two things that are certain; ships will either crash or run aground and the Commanding Officer (The Captain) will get relieved. Its almost comical that in this day and age this extremely preventable incidents still happen. According to the media, should this cruiser have to be rebuilt, it would cost the taxpayers roughly 1 billion usd. That's right, I said 1 billion United States Dollars.

Ok, ok, most of the sailors that are reading this blog know by now that I'm leading the non-naval-ly enhanced, land-lubbers down the road of "ask me how this can happen", so without further adue here it goes.

First off, if you're not up on your missions of Navy ships, a cruiser is an instrument of air warfare. Its mission is to take down threats that are flying overhead....whether they be ballistic missiles, aircraft, or even the errant satellite we all saw last year. This is an extremely complicated mission that requires unique expertise. Captains of most small ships, Frigates and Destroyers are usually Navy Commanders..O-5s. The Commanding Officer of a Cruiser is a Navy Captain...O-6. The COs of Nimitz Class aircraft carriers are all O-6s as well; this mission is that important.

Some of the newest technology in the world goes into making these missile shooters great...as well as some of the oldest. In addition to relying on technicians and tactical action officers trained in advanced math and sciences, the crew of any US Navy ship is still manned with the most basic seaman: Quartermasters. They use a commercial surface scanning radar and nautical charts to navigate through narrow channels and open oceans. So in a sense, a billion dollars in naval technology is being held together by paper charts and the expertise of the crew who knows how to use them.

That being said, a typical evolution of heading out to sea is done flawlessly everyday by the US Navy, 99.9 percent of the time, if not more so. So what happened here? Well, although this isn't a trend and this isn't something that's becoming more common, we've seen this before. High level visitors visit the ship for a meeting or an exercise. Since everything looks exactly alike at sea, everyone that's important wants to head to the bridge to see the last view of land.

The pilothouse (bridge) is a chaotic place anyway with officers and enlisted yelling orders to one another; the quartermasters or QMs as they are referred, are sitting with their pencil, ruler and protractor plotting their course. Double or triple the amount of people in this room....BAM, something happens. Normally, the crew does a pretty good job at keeping the extra people off the bridge, but how are you going to ask the Admiral and his staff to take a hike? You don't....and you hope to God nothing happens.

So, as per US naval tradition, in any incident involving the crash, collision, or running aground of a naval vessel, the Captain is relieved. Reason: Loss of confidence in the ability to lead. I would bet money that this had just as little to do with the Captain as it did with President Obama... neither of whom chose the crew of the ship, but this is the way it is.

When the report comes out, look for it to say something concerning the lack of training of the crew with respect to the Captain not training his people. Happens every time.

Lets get this started...

What an exciting trip this may turn out to be! Hi there. For those of you who don't know me and are reading my blog for the first time, my name is Rich Strand and I'm originally from the Great State of New York. As anyone who's gotten to know me over the last few years can tell you, I have a very unique sense of humor and I always have an interesting take on the events that make up our everyday lives. The articles that you will see in the coming days represent facts and opinions from the media, from Republicans and Democrats, Fiscal Conservatives and Liberals, Social Independents and Moderates. In short, the sum of the information that we see in our everyday lives. Please feel free to comment on whatever you feel just as I do. Just keep it clean and keep it respectful. Happy blogging!