New World Record Muskie

Just in case the world doesn't end tomorrow with the sequester, I have been planning some fishing trips for the year and this article caught my eye. A new world record muskie was landed in Michigan. This beast was 58" long and weighed in at 58 pounds. The angler who caught it was using 8# line and fishing for smallmouth when it hit, which makes this an amazing catch. I doubt I will catch anything even close this year, but it certainly gets the juices flowing!

www.in-fisherman.com/2013/02/20/new-world-record-muskie/?utm_source=ENL
http://www.in-fisherman.com/2013/02/20/new-world-record-muskie/?utm_source=ENL-IF&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily+Newsletters&utm_term=02-28-13

The End of the World Doesn't Have to be a Drag!

That's right - we take our job seriously as your all purpose information blog and in that vein we have a great theme party suggestion for you! As we all know, the civilized world ends tomorrow for the U.S. when the sequester kicks in so how about an End of the World Sequester Party! You can have fallen souffles to celebrate the crashing economy, wear helmets to protect yourself agains the jolt, black armbands to memorialize what is irretrievably broken and don't forget to bring your pistols and plenty of ammunition to deal with the post-apocalyptic future! Enjoy, but check your six! It's been real. 

Cue the Jaws' Music

Here is what all the fuss is about. The top line is Federal spending without the big scary sequester. The bottom line is Federal spending after the sequester. BOOGA BOOGA! Are you scared yet? Is the sky falling? Oh for heaven's sake, let the cuts begin. 

Dumb and Dumber

The Global Hawk has been our premier strategic intelligence drone. It has been widely used all over the world to conduct long range strategic and tactical missions and it has done it well. Now budget woes and the Air Force not being particularly interested in supporting the Army are apparently combining to de-fund the most recent variant.

As Aviation Week notes, after 9/11 the Air Force belatedly realized that it needed recon capability of all kinds and liberally requested RFPs and demos. Northrop Grumman responded and the Global Hawk was pressed into service. Typically a successful program in the military soon experiences mission creep and the particular service begins piling on all kinds of wish lists for the technology which, BTW, they want yesterday. Usually this can be done but at a cost, as the vendor is essentially delivering custom applications rather than a standardized product and the price goes up. Enter cost overruns. Thus it was with the Global Hawk. There is also the Army.

The Air Force doesn't like to support the grunts mucking about down below. It much prefers to fly sleek jets fast and high overhead. The A-10 Thunderbolt (aka "Warthog") is a classic case in point. Designed after the Vietnam War, it was meant to fulfill the critical task of killing enemy tanks and providing close-air support to ground troops and it performed magnificently in Gulf War I and in Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite this, the Air Force has tried to kill the airplane several times because it is ugly and slow. The Army offered to take over responsibility for close-air support and fly the Hogs, but the thought of the Army having its own air wing was a bridge too far for the boys in blue. Now the same scenario is occurring again with the Global Hawk. 

Of course the Obama Administration just wants to get rid of the armed forces pretty much altogether and has neither the knowledge, foresight, or interest to think ahead strategically to U.S. defense needs in the next 10-20 years, so it will not get involved in refereeing this dispute.  Hence, its back to the  future with our eyes firmly closed and letting our military capability rot away. I'm sure that when China sees this it will do the same. 

www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/AW_02_25_2013_p22-550617.xml

Thanks Joe!

You can always count on Joe Biden for sage advice. Take his recommendation that a woman doesn't need a lousy "assault rifle" to handle a bad guy - just take a double barrel shotgun and fire a few blasts into the air. No, I mean take it! You have got to watch this video.

weaselzippers.us/2013/02/25/video-women-take-joe-bidens-shotgun-advice-hilarity-ensues/

(Tip o' the hat to Al and Nate Lyons for this one)

Another Day Older and Deeper in Debt

Feel like you have been working hard and getting nowhere? There's a reason for that -

"According to Pew Research, if you’re an American 35 or older, your assets have plummeted 22 percent since 2007.

In 2007, assets for those 35 and older were estimated at an average of $293,968, but by 2010 that number had dropped to $230,018. That decrease in value is attributed to consistently high unemployment, the drop in the housing market, and Barack Obama’s inability to fix the American economy. The 1.22 debt-to-income ratio of those 35 and older is now higher than it has been for thirty years."

www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/02/24/Americans-35-Have-Lost-22-Percent-Of-Their-Assets

Something Worth Recording

The History Channel is starting a new 10-part series on the Bible on March 3 which is getting excellent advance write-ups. Award-winning producer Mark Burnett, who has produced numerous television shows, is co-producing the series with his wife, Roma (Touched by an Angel) Downey. This one may be worth setting the DVR to record. 

www.history.com/shows/the-bible/videos/the-bible#the-bible