Wednesday, October 4, 2006

Some good news among all the gloom...

... would be a nice thing to see would it not!

Well I just read a bit of good news. It appears that the condition of one of the New York State Troopers, who is believed to have been shot by then escaped prisoner Ralph 'Bucky' Phillips during the manhunt for Phillips, is now improving. The trooper was wounded when shot on August 31 this year; another trooper died of his wounds; this after they were allegedly ambushed by Phillips as they searched for him. Phillips who had spent about half his life in jail, had escaped in April 2006, allegedly shot and killed a NYS Trooper in June 2006, and was being sought by these other two troopers when he is suspected of having shot them. The following is from the 1010 WINS radio station web site at:
http://1010wins.com/pages/96949.php?contentType=4&contentId=217632

"Trooper Donald Baker Jr., 38, and Trooper Joseph Longobardo, 32, were ambushed Aug. 31 by a sniper hiding in the woods outside the home of Phillips' former girlfriend. Longobardo died from his injuries Sept. 3.

Baker, who was shot in the back, remained in serious but stable condition this week at Hamot Medical Center in Erie, Pa., said State Police Superintendent Wayne Bennett in a written statement released Wednesday.

``Yesterday, for the first time, he went on a short walk in the hospital,'' Bennett said. ``He is more alert and communicating with his friends, family and doctors. He has been participating in rehabilitative physical therapy.''"


Hopefully Trooper Baker will make a full recovery, and he will play an important part in the trial and hoped for conviction of Phillips. My thoughts and prayers go out to him, to the fallen troopers, and to their families and loved ones.

All the best,
Glenn B

So North Korea says it is about to...

...test a nuclear weapon; and the United States has sternly told North Korean officials that the USA will not live in a world with a nuclear capable N. Korea. Oh dear!

If you don't believe me, read it for yourself at FoxNews.com in the article:

Chief U.S. Envoy: 'We Are Not Going to Live With a Nuclear North Korea' at:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,217882,00.html

"The United States passed a warning to North Korea not to conduct a nuclear test, the chief U.S. envoy to stalled disarmament talks with the communist country said Wednesday. "We are not going to live with a nuclear North Korea," he said."

Now I have to wonder, does N. Korea actually have a bomb to test. maybe and maybe not. My guess is they are probably getting close, but heck I really don't know. I imagine no one really knows except for them, but we will find out if they do in fact test it. Then what are we going to do now that we have told them we won't live with them?

Will we declare war against them? Will we send in invading fleets of ships, waves of planes ,and multitudes of troops; or will we just start tossing nukes at them. Or will we do what we have done in the past and posture, and hem, and haw, and squawk, and maybe even effect sanctions or a naval blockade. My guess is we would do one of the silliest with the least negative outcome, but one that still shows we are the mighty power that we are. So I am guessing that a naval blockade would be in order. Of course I mean in order as per politicians, not as per me.

You see a naval blockade would not accomplish all that much except to maybe cut back on how far out N. Koreans could fish, and to make it look like we mean business. All of their trade would just get routed to them through China. Hell where have they gotten all that nuke technology from anyhow - whoops that right they did not get it all from China, Bill Clinton gave them the know how on the nuke power plants, didn't he?

As for our saber rattling, it will not accomplish much since N. Korean leader Kim Jong is a whacko. If they do test a nuke, and if it is successful, we need to remember they have some medium and possibly long range missiles that could carry nukes. Japan is worried. You can bet India and Pakistan are worried. Maybe even China and Russia. So should we be; and we should be so much more worried if they actually test a nuke. If they have them, well my idea is that their whackadoo leader, barring assassination or convenient accidental death, will use them before he passes onto the great beyond. If he gets them, he will want allies. Who might he pick. Let's see Pakistan is a maybe, Iran almost for sure, Venezuela likewise, China - what the heck, and who knows whom else. If he starts throwing those things toward us, you could almost bet an alliance of small piss-ant countries might try to topple us, especially if they get help from an opportunist nation like China.

I am of the opinion, that is we truly believe they are about to unleash a real nuke test, we ought to get ready to do a surgical series of air strikes to disembowel their capabilities. You may think this is just the ranting of a scared middle aged white guy, but I would not want to be around five or ten years after they test their first nuke. By then, they will have shot one or more of them off, and I hope not to be at ground zero or within 60 miles of it when it happens. Of course, it could all be saber rattling on their part; but if they do test one, then we will know for sure. In that case there is no doubt in my mind, we had best hit em hard and hit em fast.

All the best,
Glenn B