nsplayr

Clearly I gave my own opinion. After reading the SECDEF's opinion, I'll maybe rethink the implications of the changes to the plan, but I haven't changed my mind that the original aims of the plan were a move to contain Russia. If you don't like my opinion maybe you should drink more beer and/or let it go...no one ever claimed any expertise here whatsoever.

Um...I think joe was being sarcastic?

And when someone points out that it's unnecessary I'll usually back down and take it easy. It's so easy to get mad online when in real life we'd all probably be a lot more civil with each other. Long range missiles form where? Iran doesn't have them, the Russians have enough to completely overwhelm the stations, and if we're in a long-range missile war with Russia we're all f*ed anyways. So for all the cost and controversy of these stations, what exactly are we gaining? To me it makes better sense to attempt to improve our relations with Russia and get them on board with more sanctions/pressure on Iran than to piss off the Russians for no gain in terms of Iran. Pressure on Iran will not work if the Russians aren't on board, so why not give that a try rather than just putting on a war face to everyone who poses even a potential threat to us? Edit to add: Here's Gates on the change in plans Link

International Talk Like A Pirate Day Started by two guys 7 years ago apparently, mentioned in a Dave Barry column, now it's a thing.

slacker, I thought he was talking more generally about Obama's Ramadan message and by calling him "great leader," it was an obvious reference. I got the vibe of "Obama is pandering to Muslims..." so it was an easy kill to actually post the Rosh Hashanah video. If the reference was only to the policy memo at the Deid then I stand corrected, but I don't think it was; feel free to correct pitt. Anwyays, back to your regularly scheduled Deid bashing and I'll un-twist my panties...

Arr mayte! 'Tis a shame thee Captain of Captains has not acknowledged the most swashbuckling of all holidays, ITLAP Day! Shiver me timbers and etc... Too bad, I would give any President that send out a message for ITLAP Day one thumb and one hook up!

Lighten up Francis! How can I state this better...IMHO. If you don't like my analysis of the situation then present a counter-analysis. Seriously, this is not my primary area of interest or knowledge, so feel free to educate but save the condescending tone. This article I think presents a good look at how complicated the situation between Russia/Iran/US is and it among other things inform my view of this issue. To sum up, IN MY VIEW, the Eastern European missiles were a bargaining chip/reminder towards Russia and were not meant primarily to defend US interests against Iran...they would more likely mine the straights of Hormuz or lob missiles at Israel and/or US forces on either of their borders. Feel free to disagree but let's not get into a pissing contest over where we work and what everyone's qualifications are that allow them to speak on an internet message board. If you only want to talk to experts attend a panel meeting at a think tank or something like that.

Does every thread have to be an Obama-bash? Here's your fucking video idiot. This president, like those in the past, generally sends out message celebrating every holiday imaginable. Grow up. On topic...glad to hear some people have enough sense to make a mockery of reflective belts

It becomes an either/or when it comes to cost versus capability. What are we getting from these sites in Europe and is it worth the costs both monetarily and politically? It doesn't make sense to me how these sites protect us or Europe from hypothetical Iranian missiles but it does make sense that we put them in place as a reminder to Russia what we've got our eyes on them. For that purpose, I think the cost is too high and am fine with spending that money to build a system that actually is capable of defending our forward bases from Iranian missiles. The locations aren't about Iranian sites since they are WELL outside the threat rings of current or near-future Iranian missiles. If Iran rolls up with nuclear-tipped ICMBs, then yes, the sites might be able to defense some areas of US interest, but Russia already has these capabilities and we've successfully deterred them through MADD and IMHO the sites were put in place just to piss off Russia and to play hardball with them re: other priorities. The much more likely scenario is Iran would hit Israel and/or our troops in the Gulf/Iraq/Afghanistan, in which case these missile sites will accomplish exactly jack squat.

Folding wing wouldn't fit in with the point of light-attack...i.e. using them for a time, training up partner nation to use them, leaving them with the plane to fight their own internal conflicts so we can rehack and do it again somewhere else. This plane needs to be as uncomplicated as possible IMHO and the ass pain of ferrying them to overseas locations (can we say 10-day tour across the world?) is less then the ass pain of teaching a foreign mechanic how to service a crazy folding-wing contraption. Like the idea of having a airborne carrier that launches fighters...that would rule.

Did you read your own article? And then... This whole controversy is about Russia, not so much Iran. The previous administration said the stations were to defend against Iran, which to me is BS because of where they are located (i.e. far from Iran and close to Russia). To me it was always an excuse to place missile defenses in order to curb future Russian threats and we just used Iran as a cover story. Iranian missiles are important but defending against them from Poland makes no sense when there's so many juicy American/Israeli targets that Iran would likely strike first before they started hitting northern Europe...

That is outstanding!

Aaaaand...time for bed

lolz. Kanye is a douche but I like his first 3 albums (i.e. not counting 808s & Heartbreaks); don't lie, if you like rap you generally like those albums. Props to Beyonce for making the tittie-shake a legit dance move again. Props to Taylor for being overall nice, sweet, talented, smoking hot, and for being a pretty good rapper. And a big to old crow for the almost-nip picture. I know you're not supposed to test God, but Lord, if somehow you can allow a picture of her nipples to get leaked out, I promise I will go to church every day and twice on Sundays!

Unfortunately yes. I was a junior in high school and sitting in a boring business management class. A teacher who was friends with mine came into our class and told her to turn on the TV. At that point the attack had already been going on for a little while, so we all saw the initial coverage of both towers burning and were wondering WTF had happened b/c it was the first news we had heard and thought maybe both towers got hit at once. Once we heard that the Pentagon got hit as well there was an announcement that all teachers were to turn off all TVs in the building because a ton of students had parents who worked at the Pentagon. I remember several people just up and leaving because they knew their moms or dads had been in the building at the time and they wanted to rush home and try to call them. Meanwhile the rest of us who stayed in school missed the live coverage all day until school got out. One of my best friends' father had his office completely destroyed and he most likely would have died had he been at work. Luckily he was on terminal leave before retiring from the Marine Corps a few weeks later and was at home smoking a cigar and reading the newspaper. to those guys who were jumping in jets on that fateful day while I was still a kid in school

Dude, this was the craziest thing I've ever seen in a lifetime of watching tennis. Serena is usually cool on the court but she completely flipped her sh*t on that linesman. I would probably crap my pants if she was coming after me like that b/c she's built like a freaking amazon warrior crossed with a sequoia tree.

Not a new story...it's either a good or bad move depending on whether or not you believe some people fighting against us are either persuadable/misguided/non-true believers or not. I'd hesitate to call the program successful so far though...it's a fine line between actual rehabilitation and letting people off easy.

This thing looks ridiculous and very prototype-y. Good luck bringing it to market anytime soon...it's cool on paper though.

I think that would be a nice little advantage of a camo two-piece flight suit. Wearing a two-piece in say multicam would A) not be as hot and B) help you hide if you got shot down.* Not that I plan on getting shot down but I don't think anyone plans on that... * Don't get me wrong, I love my pajamas and the 1-piece is comfortable as hell and obviously necessary for ejector types

Looks like he is trying to become a Senator from Texas...yea, good luck with that Campaign Website p.s. - He was born in Brooklyn...reminds me of that Pace salsa commercial; "New York City?!?" Get a rope!

Redheads need love too. She used to be so hot before she did all that coke...

You're welcome and "12" on your hotness gyros being out to lunch. Redheads can be smokin' and if you haven't met a good one you should make that a priority in life.

Sh*t happens I guess. It's a big country and they haven't exactly maintained their technology to the utmost in recent years. Plus there are still a lot of areas that would love to break away from Moscow.

Quick question, are contacts a go for deployed locations? I don't know why they wouldn't be but since I'm a rookie I didn't know for sure. Only flew with my actual glasses once and it was my civilian-looking ones issued by the AF. I'm guessing those would meet the requirements of the reg w/o looking ridiculous since they were provided directly by the military eye doc.

Kinda veering off course here but I couldn't resist... WOW being in ACC must be something else. All that sounds like fun but honestly I don't think it's gonna help out the snacko on question. Here's a snapshot of how all that would go down in my squadron: Roll Call: Ineffective because 1/2 the squadron is deployed at any given time and there are dudes that have been in the squadron over a year and don't know each other because of opposite rotations. Conformity Check: Well we don't have friday shirts and most dudes don't have callsigns, so that's not really gonna work Hail & Farewell: Hails would overwhelm the meeting and take 69 minutes to process all the new dudes that are getting crammed down the pipeline right now (sts) Anyways, my point in all of this is that the snacko in question seems to have a squadron more like mine than like yours. Good on the dudes who can hold regular roll calls like the one described, but for dudes in squadrons where this type of thing isn't possible, I think the suggestions about Friday lunch preparation are a winner. I also liked when we sold bottled from a single barrel (apparently thing thing can be ordered special for your squadron...idk details b/c I'm not the snacko). We don't sell them for profit really but you could and the popularity would probably still be high (b/c who doesn't like "special" booze?)