Target Centermass

Author: Gunner

  • Downed U.S. Helicopter in Iraq Hit Bad Weather

    Though not conclusively declaring causation, the U.S. has stated that yesterday’s tragic helicopter crash in Iraq occurred in heavy weather.

    A U.S. military helicopter which came down in northern Iraq on Sunday killing all 12 aboard had been flying in bad weather, but the cause of the crash was still under investigation, the U.S. military said on Monday.

    It was one of the deadliest air crashes in Iraq since the start of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

    U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Barry Johnson said all 12 aboard the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter were U.S. citizens. In a separate statement the military said the 12 included eight service personnel and four civilians.

    “The cause of the crash is still under investigation, but we know the weather was severe at the time,” Johnson told Reuters.

    The helicopter went down in a sparsely populated area 7.5 miles east of the town of Tal Afar shortly before midnight on Saturday. It had been flying between bases in northern Iraq when communications were lost.

    That the flight was in the area of Tal Afar, which has recently been the scene of hostile action, leaves open the possibility of other causes. However, weather is the likely culprit, as it can wreak havoc on military aviation on or away from the battlefield … even here at home in Texas.

    My best wishes for the families involved in yesterday’s loss.

  • H-Town No Longer U.S. Fattest City

    Maybe it was the post-World Series celebrations, but Chicago has topped Houston once again. And Houston has no problem with it.

    Houston has been downsized from No. 1 to No. 5 on Men’s Fitness magazine’s annual list of the fattest U.S. cities.

    Houston traded its dubious 2005 distinction with Chicago, which was No. 5 last year.

    Men’s Fitness placed Las Vegas an inch behind Chicago, followed by Los Angeles and Dallas.

    “I’m proud of you guys,” said editor Neal Boulton. “You’re down to five … It takes an enormous effort to go down that much from that height.”

    […]

    Houston has the most fast-food restaurants per capita, earning the title of Junk Food Capital.

    “Houston has 70 percent more fast-food places than the average city in our survey,” Boulton said.

    Mayor Bill White said the fitness magazine’s methodology is flawed.

    “They count Subway as a fast-food establishment,” he said, “even though, in a city like New York, the neighborhood deli wouldn’t be counted as fast food. We ought to be on the fittest cities list, not the fattest.”

    White was named one of the three fittest mayors in America by the magazine’s editors.

    “His involvement is something we gave Houston points for,” Boulton said. “Mayor Bill White initiated Get Moving Houston, aimed at getting Houston off the list of the fattest cities. Well, Houston, you’re moving.”

    The city acquired its pudgy label in 2001. It stuck like doughnuts until 2004, when Detroit surged to No. 1.

    That didn’t last.

    Houston took the title back a year later.

    That year, White launched his Get Moving Houston campaign, which sponsored nutrition, running, walking and bicycling events.

    Good for the city. This was an embarrassing title, and now Houston doesn’t even have to bear the mantle of fattest in Texas.

  • Quiz: Which OS Are You?

    Nothing tonight really. I spent the weekend with the fiancee trying to make progress on registration, wedding and honeymoon plans. We’d stalled a bit through the holidays and now, I fear, she’s hoping to drive me like a workhorse. Except for a few areas, I still hope to stand by my “yes-dear, I-only-want-veto-power” plan.

    Anyway, nothing else tonight but a silly quiz, with hat tip to TexasBestGrok.

    You are Red Hat Linux. You're tops among your peers, but still get no respect from them. It's all right with you. You have your sights set higher.
    Which OS are You?

  • Quote of the Week, 8 JAN 06

    The Russians can give you arms, but only the United States can give you a selection.

    —Anwar Sadat

  • Japan Alters Course in Quest for UNSC Seat

    Japan has split from its long-time allies in the campaign for expansion of the United Nations Security Council, deciding to direct efforts more toward its own case for a permanent seat.

    Japan has tactically split from its joint effort with India, Germany and Brazil to win a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, diplomats confirmed yesterday.

    Although Japan says it will continue to work closely with the three countries, in an alliance known as the G4, it decided not to join them in a new UN General Assembly resolution filed on Thursday.

    The three allies have reiterated their call for the 15-member Security Council to be expanded to 25, with six new permanent seats but no new vetoes yet. But Japan says it wants to pursue negotiations with the US first and has also initiated talks with its regional rival China.

    The US supports only two “or so” new permanent members, including Japan, the UN’s second largest financial contributor. Japanese diplomats also fear tabling another General Assembly resolution would further alienate African Union countries, who have tabled a separate proposal.

    The 53-member AU proposal is unlikely to succeed, but any final deal will need African support to win the necessary two-thirds ap-proval in the 191-member General Assembly.

    While this may scuttle current expansion plans and certainly will undermine them, I believe this increases the likelihood of some sort of expansion actually being enacted. Such expansion, however, will probably not be to the extent that had previously been proposed.

    Previous blogging on the expansion efforts:

  • A Million Congratulations

    … to the denizens of Argghhh!!!, one of the best milblogs out there, on passing the one-million-visitor mark on their Site Meter.

    Hooah!

  • ‘Bout Fracking Time

    SciFi Channel’s Battlestar Galactica is starting back up in about thirty minutes, finally bringing an end to a mid-season hiatus for the best show on television. See y’all later.

  • Homeland Security Tweaks Local Grants

    It seems that Department of Homeland Security has finally decided to narrow the field in its financial gifts to local governments, cutting down the list of recipients to larger urban areas and key targets vital to actual security.

    In Washington, D.C., Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff outlined revisions to distributing $765 million this year under the Urban Area Security initiative, which funneled $855 million to 50 communities nationwide in 2005.

    […]

    Some congressional critics have complained that in the past, the program has given too much money to communities that seem to face smaller risks of attacks. Chertoff acknowledged that history.

    “The fact of the matter is, our security is much too important to be determined with funding decisions that are driven by arbitrary formulas or political formulas or a desire to give everybody a little bit of something,” he said.

    The program, he said, is “not a popularity contest, not party favors to be distributed as widely as possible, but a funding program that is dedicated to a risk-based set of priorities, where we’re going to focus on your ability to show highest risk and your ability to show you can put the money to good use.”

    […]

    Chertoff’s announcement reflected his efforts to give his department an all-hazards mission, even though it was created as a direct result of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The revisions, outlined in documents sent to state and local officials, would address the kind of destruction and lack of preparedness seen with Hurricane Katrina.

    I expect a degree of localized hey-what-about-us opposition to this long-overdue narrowing of focus, but a single paragraph in the pending State of the Union address by President Bush could effectively nullify opposition to the policy change — not that I expect such a maneuver to occur. I’m just saying that it should, as the federal homeland security payouts to date have been awash with tales of silliness.

    While I honestly feel that the Islamist bastards will someday bring the war to our suburban malls (and I’ve repeatedly stated that I’m surprised they haven’t already), we must sincerely look at the fact that they still seem to still be focused on making the Big Headlines and prepare accordingly … though not exclusively.

  • Notes Left by Miners: We Didn’t Suffer

    Tragic footnotes to a tragic story, left by those trapped in a mine to their loved ones now trapped in dealing with loss and the aftermath.

    Some of the 12 coal miners who died following an explosion left notes behind assuring family members that their final hours trapped underground were not spent in agony, a relative said Thursday.

    “The notes said they weren’t suffering, they were just going to sleep,” said Peggy Cohen, who had been called to a makeshift morgue at a school to identify the body of her father, 59-year-old mining machine operator Fred Ware Jr.

    Cohen said a note was not left with Ware’s body, but that she planned to retrieve his personal belongings later Thursday to see if he left one in his lunch box. But she said the medical examiner told her notes left with several of the bodies all carried a similar message: “Your dad didn’t suffer.”

    Ware was among a dozen miners who were found after 41 hours inside the mine. They were found at the deepest point of the Sago Mine, about 2 1/2 miles from the entrance, behind a fibrous plastic cloth stretched across an area about 20 feet wide to keep out deadly carbon monoxide gas.

    Cohen said her father had the peaceful look of someone who died from carbon monoxide, and the only mark on his body was a bruise on his chest. “It comforts me to know he didn’t suffer and he wasn’t bruised or crushed. I didn’t need a note. I think I needed to visualize and see him.”

    The sole survivor, 26-year-old Randal McCloy, remained in critical condition in a coma in a Morgantown hospital Thursday with a collapsed lung, dehydration and other problems.

    My best wishes to all of the involved families.

  • Lynn Swann Enters Pa. Governor’s Race as Republican

    It’s time for another iteration of the celebrity-for-governor election story.

    Lynn Swann, whose acrobatic receptions took him to four Super Bowls and the Pro Football Hall of Fame, made another leap last night as he formally launched his campaign for the Republican nomination for governor.

    Before a cheering crowd of about 500 at the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center, the former Steelers receiver promised to bring leadership and change to his adopted state.

    “I was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1974, and tonight, I’m drafted by Pennsylvania to be governor,” Mr Swann said, shortly after making his entrance to the strains of Van Halen’s “Right Now.”

    Speaking for 25 minutes without text or notes, a relaxed and engaging candidate pledged an administration that would deliver lower taxes in general and a reformed property tax system in particular. As in earlier appearances in his campaign, however, Mr. Swann offered few specific details of his polices amid the broad, thematic promises.

    “I want to cut taxes in a responsible way and I’d like to reform property taxes … getting rid of the millage system and giving us real property tax reform,” he said. “If you want change, I’m your guy.”

    In an interview before his appearance, Mr. Swann dismissed suggestions that he had been any less forthcoming than his Republican rivals in fleshing out his policy vision.

    As the Legislature struggled without apparent progress to craft some solution to the controversial property tax issue, Mr. Swann said, “I’m competitive. So even if I had that play today, if I laid it out for you today, don’t you think that my opponents and other people would then say, ‘We can adapt that plan, too’?

    “I don’t think this is the time to roll out the details,” he added while saying that he would provide more policy specifics as the campaign moves forward.

    Swann’s grace has been on display for years on the gridiron and behind the microphone, but certainly the political realm is a different playing field. It certainly seems that the media is already looking for shortcomings and missteps.

    At least in the case of Swann, as opposed to other recent celebrity candidates, the interest in politics doesn’t seem to be overnight or whimsical.

    This is Mr. Swann’s first run for public office, although he has been active in Republican politics, campaigning extensively for President Bush in the 2004 election.

    While he seeks to follow in the path of political outsiders who have won statehouses such as Jesse Ventura in Minnesota and Arnold Schwarzenegger in California, Mr. Swann’s candidacy boasts the support of many members of the state’s GOP hierarchy, such as Mark Holman, who was former Gov. Tom Ridge’s chief of staff, and former state chairman Alan Novak.

    Mr. Swann, born in Tennessee in 1952, was raised in California, and earned a degree in public relations and a place on the All-American football squad while attending the University of Southern California. He appeared last night with his wife, Charene, and their sons, Braxton and Shaffer. His parents, Willie and Mildred Swann, sat beaming in the first row as Mr. Swann spoke in a makeshift theater in the round amid the center’s artifacts of Pennsylvania history.

    In an interview, Mr. Swann said that when he first registered to vote, it was as a Democrat, as his parents still are. He said he switched his registration to Republican after he moved to Pittsburgh, where he was active in civic affairs, including serving on the board of the Pittsburgh Ballet and as a spokesman for Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America.

    Okay, now there will be some reason for this sports fan to have a little interest in the Keystone State’s voting this year, though I would need some more specifics from Swann for that interest to actually change into support. I’m sure that’s a common thought in Pennsylvania right now.