Evenin' everyone! I'm back for another ONT so get yer drink and get comfortable. It's time for the ONT.

During the qualification process for Mission Commander, many scenarios are covered to gauge your knowledge of the airplane, weapon systems, tactics, intelligence, etc to see how you would think and respond in different situations. I remember some scenarios asking me what do you do if you are out of weapons but you have a friendly unit in danger and the only means you have of protecting that unit is your unarmed plane. I remember thinking that if we are at that point, we're losing the friggin' war if I have to seriously ram my plane into the enemy. This story of LT Heather "Lucky" Penny brings home the point that sometimes, you just might have to pull a kamikaze.

Late in the morning of the Tuesday that changed everything, Lt. Heather “Lucky” Penney was on a runway at Andrews Air Force Base and ready to fly. She had her hand on the throttle of an F-16 and she had her orders: Bring down United Airlines Flight 93. The day’s fourth hijacked airliner seemed to be hurtling toward Washington. Penney, one of the first two combat pilots in the air that morning, was told to stop it.

The one thing she didnÂ’t have as she roared into the crystalline sky was live ammunition. Or missiles. Or anything at all to throw at a hostile aircraft.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:38 PM | Comments (829)
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Anyone got anything?

Regarding tomorrow, if you have a 9/11 themed post, or want to post anything tomorrow, please put it into draft. 9/11 is such an important subject that those posts all have to be read and approved. And as for other topics-- I have to make sure they're appropriate, too. Can't have a silly sex post on 9/11. Just doesn't seem right.

Posted by: Ace at 02:28 PM | Comments (326)
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Is this something?

I think it's something.

A big part of a consumer's decision-making in buying a car is what that vehicle says and stands for, what it says about him. Sure, the practical needs are paramount, but for any list of practical needs there are a handful of models satisfying that list; choosing between them comes down to intangible factors.

Ford thinks that the company standing on its own will appeal to consumers. Especially, I guess, in the truck market, where you'd imagine standing on your own two feet would be a particularly relevant brand identity. more...

Posted by: Ace at 01:46 PM | Comments (168)
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Interesting thoughts at the Conservative Commune.

When independent conservative-leaning websites cover this problem we can start to sound petulant, but it’s actually important, so lets state it with a minimum of whining: the left appreciates the sinistrosphere, but the right treats the dextrosphere as if it were a friend-with-privileges one marks time with until one’s “real boyfriend,” the Legacy Media, shows up. But the real boyfriend in this case should be charged with domestic violence.

For Joe Fein, the last straw was the grotesque spectacle of seeing MSNBC, of all networks, handling the Republican debate this past Wednesday night in Simi Valley. Naturally, the questions focused on how ooky-spooky the GOP is, as moderators tried to create negative sound bites that their own team, the Democrats, could use later on to embarrass our nominee. And the economy—unemployment in particular—got very short shrift. Because that hardly plays to the Democrats’ advantage, does it?

...

[...]MSNBC is much further to the left than Fox is to the right, and to give it special privileges, such as moderating a debate, is foolish in the extreme. Meanwhile, our foundations are too hung up on credentialism to make full use of bloggers.

The Reagan Library debate should have gone to Pajamas Media, or to Fox.

Meanwhile, major presidential candidates routinely show up to court the left's various online get-togethers.

This is a very weird thing which a lot of us expected to go away at some point but it hasn't. I've heard explanations -- the GOP tends to be older-school, and likes the idea of older-school information vehicles, like a magazine, or a think-tank, and just does't really understand new media, or at least doesn't respect it.

Every cycle we think "Maybe this is the year they get it," and then they don't.

It's difficult to buy the "they just haven't gotten it yet" reasoning, because it's been quite a while, hasn't it?

It has to be that they just don't trust us, and expect us to embarrass them. On that count, the left seems to have no problem risking a little embarrassment by indulging Markos "Screw them, I feel nothing" Kozantiopolous. (Note: that's not really his last name. I haven't bothered to learn it for the past ten years and I'm not starting now.)

Or it could be that the establishment already has its alt-media. The liberals have the regular media, and then the blogosphere as an alternative; the right has the regular media again as its major media, and then the conservative press (Weekly Standard, NR, etc.) as its alt-media, and doesn't feel the need for an alternative to an alternative.

I suppose that might be right, but it really wasn't the respectable right alt-media that, say, drove the Weiner story, and set the stage for what could very well be a remarkable changing of the guard in New York 9, was it?

Posted by: Ace at 10:59 AM | Comments (614)
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Oops. Scheduling SNAFU here at the HQ. Dave had to work today and we didn't have a backup QB on the roster.

Rough start to the season. Rough.

ASU beat Mizzou 37-30 in overtime last night. Today's schedule looks your typical early-season slate of warmup games unless you're my beloved Dawgs and get to see if your iffy-at-best chances at winning the SEC get squashed early by the 'Cocks again (4:30 Eastern on ESPN). Other highlights are 'Bama at Penn State (3:30 Eastern on ABC) and Notre Dame at Michigan (8:00 Eastern on ESPN).

Here's the complete schedule.
more...

Posted by: andy at 10:15 AM | Comments (198)
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It's almost as if they have a rooting interest.

Actually, Huckabee's error was noted by one Jay Carney. That must explain it, then: The only guy in the media capable of doing a quick Wikipedia search is now in the Obama Administration, so lucky him.

PBS goes the rest of the media one better -- they actually delete Obama's error from the "transcript" of the speech entirely.

It's pretty easy to appear to be a good student when a doting teacher corrects your errors for you, and gives you nothing but gold stars.

Did Lincoln Sort of Found the GOP? Check out Tom Maguire's update, noting Lincoln's co-founding of the Illinois GOP party.

Of course, if he can be said to have founded the party, Time Magazine owes Mike Huckabee a very belated apology.

Posted by: Ace at 09:28 AM | Comments (342)
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On September 14th Al Gore and the Climate Reality Project will reveal the complete truth about the climate crisis and they want your help to do it! All they need is access to your soul Twitter or Facebook account.

Starting a day before the event you grant us permission to post on your behalf. We will only post content relevant to 24 Hours of Reality and climate change, and we won't post more than a few times an hour. You'll still be able to tweet and use Facebook normally, and you can revoke our access anytime through your Facebook and Twitter settings. After September 15 we will stop posting any content on your Facebook or Twitter feed and you can revoke our access.

What Could Possibly Go Wrong? I mean, if you can't trust Nobel Laureate Al Gore to spam spread the truth about Climate Change to your friends using your identity who can you trust?

I emit the occasional tweet but I'm not gonna tell you my account - you have to find it! [unclear on the concept --Editor]

Posted by: Open Blogger at 06:03 AM | Comments (377)
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Did we pass the bill yet?

Posted by: andy at 04:36 AM | Comments (195)
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Well CDR M is off having a life and none of the usual suspects heeded my call for volunteers so that means tonight you get all the dross that was unfit for decent days of the week.

Five Bits of Advice That Don''t Make Sense Until later

Okay it's Cracked and all but I still think every 16 year old ought to get a copy of this essay. I wish I had and I still managed to turn out mostly okay. Mostly.

Sure most wouldn't get it, but hopefully it would sink in just enough to keep tickling at their amygdala and hopefully steer them away subconsciously from some of the more regretful life decisions.

On why writing well matters:

Today, you can't function without a PC and every job makes you write.

If you're working in the warehouse at Cockrings International, odds are that every day, you have to send out at least one email -- maybe you have to file some kind of report, or send a request for forklift repairs, or maybe you'll be in charge of ordering, whatever. And I don't care how uneducated the guys in the buttplug department may be, if your messages are full of typos and jumbled words, they are going to make assumptions about your intelligence.

...In an online world, your writing is going to form a shell around you, and most of the people who interact with you will only see the shell.

On depression and mental issues:

But understand this (and if you're in the age group I'm talking about, I hope to God that I'm wrong about you not getting this for years): You have more people who care about you than you think. Back when I was fighting that demon (I like to picture myself using a giant anime sword that's on fire), I swore on my soul that not a single person in the world gave a shit whether I lived or died. As I got older and that smothering black veil lifted, I realized how incredibly wrong I was. There were dozens of people who would have been negatively affected by my early check-out.

You'll find the same. Even if it turns out that number is two, that should mean something to you because it translates to this: Those two people live in a better world simply because you draw breath.

And then there's a whole section on this:

Butterflies in the Stomach is Not Love

Posted by: Maetenloch at 06:26 PM | Comments (589)
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We've heard this before-- but we do know terrorists have always wanted to do such a thing. Only a lack of nuclear material keeps them from doing so, and who knows if they still lack it.

Our friends in Pakistan might have had an oopsie moment.

So not to panic anyone, but it is in the news.

Just two days before the 10th anniversary, New York City is on high alert.

Federal and local authorities have beefed up security after receiving intelligence about a credible threat. The alleged plot by al Qaeda involves detonating car bombs on bridges and in tunnels in New York and Washington D.C. to coincide with the anniversary.

Chopper 2 HD got a look at the NYPD in action on Friday — police cruisers and orange cones marked one checkpoint on the George Washington Bridge. On the West Side Highway, at one of many other checkpoints, police were stopping and searching drivers, specifically vans and trucks. There is also a threat to bridges and tunnels.

Security was equally tight at Penn Station, where armed guards were keeping watch over travelers as Transportation Security Administration agents performed random bag checks, swiping packs for gunpowder.

...

But thatÂ’s only half of the problem. Officials are worried that this time it could be a dirty bomb.

“We have to think about a dirty bomb, where you take radiological material and mix it with conventional explosives,” NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said.

Of course, as our very good Neo-Bircher friends will be glad to tell you, this is all just made up, a conspiracy of the authoritarians in government to take your rights and take your guns. Don't be afraid of The Truth, and vote Ron Paul (RON PAUL!!).

Posted by: Ace at 02:23 PM | Comments (704)
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