Author: Kev

Retired infantry officer. Conservative by nature and politics; Happily married and father and grandfather of eight. Loves V8 powered Range Rovers, Golden Retrievers, good books and technology and think there should be open season on Greenies. Born in the mid forties and overdue for servicing but most parts still work.

Israel masses troops on Lebanon border

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ISRAEL massed thousands more reservists on the Lebanese border on Saturday to mount incursions aimed at destroying Hezbollah positions, warning it would not rule out a full-scale invasion despite increasing calls for a ceasefire.

As Israel’s air campaign entered its 11th day, the New York Times reported the United States is rushing precision-guided bombs to Israel, citing unnamed officials.

Good!

The Jewish state’s blitz on its northern neighbour has now killed more than 340 people, mostly civilians.
Bad! But then if Hezbollah didn’t use the tactic of locating their headquarters, troops, missiles and supply bases in civilian houses then the figure would be less. It’s a clever tactic as the west leap over themselves to take piccies of dead and wounded civilians to show how heartless the Israelis are. The Israelis are left between a rock and a hard place as to stop their country and people being rocketed they have to strike at Hezbollah’s sites. Someone needs to bite the bullett here and close the cycle. It goes like this – Terrorists attack Israel siting their weapon systems and HQs in civilian enclaves…..after awhile Israel responds and kills some civilians while trying to stop the terrorists killing Israelis. The terrorists appeal to the world to get Israel to stop ‘murdering’ inncocent civilians…the world weeps over the ‘murdered children’ and force Israel to a ceasefire….during the ceasefire the terrorists rearm from the general Arab population and local collections of tribes posing as countries and then attack Israel siting their weapon systems……. you get the idea. I feel sorry for all the innocent civilians caught up in the war but until the world start accusing Terrorist organizations of being explicit in the ‘murdering’ of civilians then the beat goes on..and on…. And on! Cross the border Israel and pursue the bastards until they have no ability to wage war.  Try and not kill innocent civilians but I know hard that is. If you are a civilian in Lebanon then walk away from the Hezbollah, they are using you as a weapon of war and the more of you killed, the better for them.
War on Terror

Kovco’s magic pistol

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From this report on the the Kovco Inquiry comes this strange statement. At least it appears strange to this old infantryman and one-time captain of the Battalion Pistol Shooting team (undefeated Lavarack Barracks 1982)
The board had previously heard that Kovco’s gun had passed a series of tests proving it was unlikely to fire accidentally. The fact that the bullet’s cartridge case was trapped in the gun’s mechanism also suggested it had been fired by Kovco himself, the board was told, as his subsequently slack grip on the weapon would have obstructed its normal operation.
The normal operation of a weapon, in this case it’s reload mechanism, is initiated by the firing of the round producing gases and pressure that unlock and drive the bolt rearward from whence it rebounds and picks up another round from the in-handle grip magazine, loads it in the breech and locks for another shot. This process is extremely fast and is not dependant on the firer having a firm grip. Once a round is fired it just happens and in Kovco’s case the pistol would have reloaded before it fell from his hand unless there were other factors involved. Where was it trapped in the pistol’s mechanism? In the breech or had it only half ejected? Maybe I’m being a bit technical but statements like that would have me asking questions. Maybe the journalist just reports what he thinks is relevant and missed out on telling us relevant facts that would explain; but as given, I don’t accept that part of the evidence as reliable. Any RAEME armourers care to comment?
Defence

New Honda

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2007 Honda Goldwing Starting in spring 2006, Honda’s flagship motorcycle will be available with the world’s first motorcycle airbag, able to inflate in 0.06 second and fully absorb the rider’s forward energy in 0.15 second (less time than it takes to blink an eye). This innovation represents a major advance in motorcycle safety. I suppose it could help if the prang was strictly in-line with the bike and no forces whatsoever impacted on the trajectory of the rider otherwise he slides and hurts like every other rider. I remember when the Goldwing first came out a writer in Sydney commented “God help you if you put it down in a slide because he’s the only one capable of getting it back on it’s wheels again!” *No matter how hard I look, I can’t see the ashtray! *from the old saying… as useless as an ashtray on a motorbike..or a hip pocket in a singlet…or…nevermind, you get my drift.
General Musings

This beats my $150 speeding fine

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Don’t get caught in speeding in Jeddah
JEDDAH, 20 July 2006 — At the police station they registered my name and time of entry. It was 5.10 p.m. I was searched and deprived of my cigarettes, then escorted to a jail cell. This would be my home for the next 24 hours. My charge? Driving 160 kilometers per hour down Jeddah’s Madinah Road. 
The law says you spend at least 24 hours in a jail cell and your car gets impounded for getting caught exceeding the speed limit. If you can’t pay the fine — SR500 (AUD 177)for speeding — then you get the pleasure of an additional 48 hours in the cage. (You also pay SR150 later to get your car out of impound.) Wonder what happens when you rack up 12 points?
General Musings

From the War Front

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Major ‘Y’, an F-16 pilot in the Israeli Air Force, writes about his unusual experiences of the past several days. I like his closing paragraph;
1800 I join up with a few friends on Tel Aviv beach. We’re having some beers, enjoying the breeze and watching the sunset. After a while I say something about how bizarre the situation is – we’re here having fun, while whole towns in the north are being bombarded. Wait a minute – they ask me, haven’t you been called up? Sure, I reply. Just this morning I dropped two tons of explosives on Lebanon.
I have little sympathy for any country that supports terrorist groups and can only hope that Israel keeps pushing until Hezbollah hand over the IDF soldiers they kidnapped and withdraws and Lebanon undertakes not to allow them to operate within their borders anymore. Simple really.
War on Terror

Breaking News

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At this very moment, 14:00 EST, a RAAF F111 is attempting to land at RAAF Amberly without the advantage of wheels. It has just aborted one attempt and is currently circling for another approach.

I can only wish the pilots a steady hand and sharp eye.

Hope the pilot doesn’t scratch the plane – we need them

UPDATE:

BuckshotColt2 has just executed a perfect belly landing. I suspect the pilot arrived on the tarmac with only a few litres of fuel on board as he was circling for sometime burning it off. Channel Nine had a chopper and live video feed from 15 Km out to avoid restricted airspace and showed the F111 only taking about a hundred yards of tarmac before coming to an undignified halt. There was some spark and flame from friction and other factors but the flames died as quickly as the two crew evacuated the aircraft – about 2 seconds.

Look for the film on CH 9 news tonight. They will play it for all it’s worth and wait for Beasley et al to blame it on Howard. By 7:00pm the ABC will have had plenty of time to arrange comment, maybe ABC reporter and Senator Bob Brown could get another gig. He’d be happy to put an anti government spin on some poor jet jockey’s bad afternoon.

Either way, it is a good end for a potential disaster; the F111 doesn’t even look dented but of course there will be damage and I would imagine it will have to be virtually rebuilt before flying again.

UPDATE: Reader Kaos leaves a link to the video in comments. I have moved it here to avoid a three-monitor wide link.

Defence

Israel lashes out at Hezbollah

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George Bush gets caught out adlibbing (or does he?) about this weeks Middle East drama and says to Blair;
What they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit and it’s over.
That about says it all. Over at Tim Dunlops ‘Road to Surfdom‘ my favourite delussional zealot Aussie Bob attacks the government in Tim’s daily ‘Howard Lied’ post.
25,000 Australian citizens trapped there – let’s say it’s just 10% of those who want to get out, that’s still 2,500 – and our government is thinking of hiring three buses? … while at the same time they’re egging Israel on?
The government actually sent the three buses to accomodate the Sydney Armenian Dance company specifically and in last nights news Downer was talking about a ship for any others but don’t let the facts ruin a good rant Bob.
As Israel intensified its military onslaught with a cross-border ground attack in southern Lebanon, 86 members of the Western Sydney Armenian dance ensemble were taken in three buses to a northern border crossing, escorted by the Australian Federal Police’s liaison officer, Richard Stanford.
Australian officials estimated yesterday that at least 25,000 Australian citizens were in the country, of which 23,000 hold Lebanese citizenship. Many of the dual citizens are staying in the north, which has been relatively unaffected by the six-day conflict. What’s going on here? All of these people call Australia home, don’t they? They all came to Australia, worked hard over their lives and paid taxes, didn’t they? They are all now enjoying the fruit of their labours on a holiday, aren’t they? They didn’t come to Australia, sign up for the dole and then went back home laughing at us, did they? I’m pretty sure I got that right. Did I?
War on Terror

First the Dems, now the Greens

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After last weeks revelation that the South Australian drug promoter Democrat supported ecstacy we find the Victorian Greens are advocating further use of herion; free for the addict, of course.
FACTORY-produced heroin will be imported into Australia and prescribed for long-term addicts under the Victorian Greens’ drugs policy.
Greens Victorian upper house candidate Colleen Hartland said the proposals would reduce harm and save lives. Not to mention it would also increase the crime rate, the prison population, the incidences of granny bashing to supplement a fix when the free stuff runs out and ruin the lives of those associated with the addicts. Good call Greens.
The Greens heroin trial proposal mirrors equivalent moves in Europe and Vancouver, Canada, where prescription heroin is given to addicts who have become resistant to methadone.
Oh well! If they are doing it in Europe and Canada then it must be OK…. I think not . I’m never impressed with the ‘they do it in Europe therefore we should‘ arguement. With few exceptions we need to lead, not follow. To me, supporting substance abuse is admitting defeat on the eve of the battle..I’m for always trying to help the adicts kick their particular habit . If some fall through the cracks then so be it but I can’t see punters being happy about giving addicts free fixes. I know I’m not. UPDATE: Naturaly enough the Australian agrees with me, albeit a day later. Scroll down to High times in Victoria; Another reason to keep the Greens in the wilderness
General Musings

It’s all about communication

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UNIVERSITY graduates from non-English speaking backgrounds who emigrate to Australia are far less likely to land jobs in their field of expertise than native English speakers. I wonder if Bob Birrell, the director of the Centre for Population and Urban Research at Monash University received any money for this motherhood statement. The situation exists because we let them in without insisting on them being profficient in english. How can they communicate or even submit a resume if they can’t speak our language? All we are doing here is importing social security applicants. We’re not talking displaced refugees here who have a case to come into Australia without english, we’re talking professionals.
“Professional bodies should be setting higher standards based on actual evidence of what is required to operate as a professional in the Australian market. Some applicants are getting visas based on an assessment that they are capable of working in their profession when in fact some of them can’t even get jobs.”
Why do we let them in?
General Musings
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