Musical Wanderer

As you read this at your computer, millions of people are at their computers, posting on facebook pictures of their cat sleeping on a couch, dog staring at the camera, child playing with a toy, drunk friend wearing a Halloween costume. Millions of people are watching a video on youtube or a porn site on their computer. Millions more at their computers are buying a book, sweater, ipod, or plane ticket online.  At the same time, a few young guys are sitting down, with their coffee in air-conditioned buildings on bland military bases , at their computers with video screens above, about to kill people on the other side of the world. They will find people on the screens and, with the approval of guys a little older drinking their coffee, push a button to launch a missile that will blow up everything they see on the screen. Last year, two young men who happened to be muslim set off bombs in Boston that killed three people who happened to be Ame ricans. The same day, a guy who happened to

The Defense budget of the United States is 664 billion dollars.  The Chief of Staff for the US Army, General Raymond Odierno, of hair-cutting fame , has stated that the Army has two brigades ready for battle, because of sequestration.  A brigade is a army force of about 3,000 to 4,000 men.  With 10 divisions, each consisting of 4 brigades, plus a few independent brigades, the Army has over 44 brigades.  Of the entire defense budget, the Army's portion is 245 billion dollars.  That's a lot of money to have two brigades, about 6,000 men, out of 44 brigades ready for battle. When pressed, he acknowledged that did not include one brigade in South Korea, and one Airborne brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg that is always ready for service.  Nor was he including forces in Afghanistan, about 8 brigades serving in both combat and advisory roles.  So he's saying actually a dozen are in harm's way or ready for service, or about 40 to 50 thousand troops.  But

People wonder about how someone like Ted Cruz grew so significant in such a short time.  It isn't really his positions on issues or his work as a lawyer, though he was on the legal team that put George W. Bush in the White House in 2000.  His only run for political office was for the US Senate from Texas.  Not bad for a first try. Politicians in general need some talent for the theater.  To get in front of people to ask for their votes or for money to support their election campaign requires some flair for performance.  Once they are elected, theatrical skills are less important to politicians than those mastering new information quickly and negotiating with colleagues.  Cruz still displays a fondness for the stage Politicians that have served in office for a long time generally develop knowledge about the issues before them in committees and congress in general and on how to work with colleagues, principally with members of their own party, though more the masterful can work a

The United States will start withholding military aid to Egypt , three months after the military replaced the democratically elected government.  On one hand, I understand the importance of keeping Egypt stable and the place our aid plays in it. And I also acknowledge the US has provided aid to governments of greater tyranny over the past 65 years than what is evident in Egypt.  But it is about time the aid was turned off if aid is now contingent upon maintaining some form of democracy. Also, Egypt is not likely be invaded in near future.  The billion dollars of aid it would have received this year will not make much a difference to a military which has received, since 1978, almost 60 billion dollars in military aid. The army has over 3000 American made tanks and 1000 Russian made tanks (The United States has a little over 8,000 tanks).  The only nation that has more current M1 Abrams tanks than Egypt (over 1000, of which 700 were produced in the US) is the United States.  The only n

As you read about the government shutdown, you see much written about the 30 or so congressmen that are holding the rest of the Republican Party, House of Representatives, United States Government hostage due to their ideology.  Well like everything, ideology needs money to stay alive, and I wondered who benefits by the government shutdown. So I decided to research the campaign contributions for these folks. There is a very good website that tracks contributions to congressmen of both parties called www.opensecrets.org .  A little digging and Excel play found some fun numbers. First some information about the 32 congressmen.  As one of my favorite magazines is Harper's , I present the information in the form of Harper's Index.   Some fun facts about the 32 congressmen: Number of women:  3 Number of men: 29 Number of white people: Oh, come on... Number representing districts which were formerly a part of the Confederate States of America: 20 Number with phot

As can be seen by previous posts about toy soldiers and other toy vehicles, both  plastic and metal , I have become a bit of a collector of old army toys.  Not crazed such that I have glass cases of my prized collection.  All of them easily fit into a copier paper box.  But I have developed a couple interests.   I live near the Marine Barracks in DC, so I've accumulated some two inch toy soldiers of Marine and Army Bands in DC , below.  I've also started collecting Airfix HO scale toy soldiers. I played with Airfix HO soldiers when I was a kid. They came in sets of about 3 to 4 dozen one-inch figures.  A few years ago I was cleaning out my parents' closets when I found some boxes of these old soldiers.  I started to sell some on ebay, but then realized I wanted to keep them, and replace those that had disappeared over the years. I gradually started to buy some that I didn't have as a kid. When I was a kid, Airfix was it for plastic soldiers other than green arm

A few months ago, I wrote about the most important unspoken baseball statistic, money.  Here we are at the end of the regular MLB season.  The division winners and wild card teams are listed below. Boston Red Sox (3) Detroit Tigers (13) Oakland Athletics (28) Atlanta Braves (15) St. Louis Cardinals (10) Los Angeles Dodgers (2) Tampa Bay Rays (30) Cleveland Indians (23) Pittsburgh Pirates (27) Cincinnati Reds (24) I was sorta sneaky.  I put numbers beside each team without telling the reader what they represent.  In the table below, I ranked teams by their value as estimated by Forbes Magazine at the beginning of the season.  The numbers above are the teams' rank in terms of team value, a combination of the team revenue, home city and market size , stadium , and management of its brand. A couple fun things to note, from above and below. Of the 10 teams above, THREE of them are among the TOP TEN most valuable teams. Of the 10 teams above,  FIVE of them are amon

The House of Representatives, having their bluff called on shutting down the government, scrambled today to fund some Federal programs .  Funds were voted for Veterans Affairs, National Parks, and Washington, DC.  Media outlets commented on the rationale, as these are very visible symbols of programs most people like.  And who could fault them for trying to help the parks, the vets, and the capitol?  A sure way to embarrass Democrats who refuse to fund them. But there was more to it.  First consider the National Parks.  You will find few folk who are greater fans of our National Parks than me and my wife.  I've spent time in over 20 National Parks and hope to visit most of them before I die.  But consider where many are, particularly those which produce much income for their surrounding areas.  Grand Canyon NP?  Arizona.  Yellowstone NP?  Wyoming.  Zion, Bryce, Canyonlands NP?  Utah.  Glacier NP?  Montana. Yosemite NP?  Rural California.  Smokey Mountains NP?  Tennessee.  These a