What is the deal: Aren’t “conservatives” viscerally pro-Defense (to a fault) anymore? (Think Reagan.) If, as you suggest, the fact that Obama wants to cut the heart out of some of the healthiest parts of our economy during a time of economic downturn is egregiously pernicious, then how much devilishly worse is his intention to do it when: a) our troops are actively engaged in “overseas contingency operations” against planners of “man-caused disasters;” (b) several “loose cannons” (e.g., Ahmadenijad, H. Chavez, Kim Jong Il) seem hell-bent on pushing the world towards serious conflict; and last, but certainly not least, (c) China is simultaneously EXPANDING its increasingly super-power-like military with budget allocations that INCREASE at a rate of approximately 20% annually!

I agree completely. Air supremacy makes everything else work well. Or vice-versa. If the Devastators had air cover at Midway instead of mostly attacking alone the outcome would not have been nearly as grave. Of course the Wildcat was outmatched early on, as were our pilots, so it still would have been brutal. Not until the Hellcat and Corsair, after killing all the best Japanese pilots, did USN aviation start taking names in WWII.

maverick muse on April 28, 2009 at 2:17 PM

Torpedo Eight was totally KIA at Midway but for Ensign Gay. But they brought down the Zeroes which opened it up for the bombers which sank the four carriers. My dad was Torpedo Five.

Torpedo Eight was the first US carrier squadron to find the enemy fleet. Approaching low and from the northeast, the fifteen Devastators came upon Nagumo’s force at 0920, immediately after the last plane from the morning strike against Midway had landed. Nagumo had abruptly changed course, from southeast towards Midway, almost due north, to evade further strikes from Midway and to close the American ships. Expecting neither fighter support, nor coordination with Hornet’s bombers, Torpedo Eight attacked immediately. At first, Waldron divided his squadron to pin his target – likely Akagi – between two groups of planes, but as Zeroes swarmed over then, VT-8 formed up again on Waldron’s TBD. Grinding along at perhaps 100 knots, the Devastators began to fall to the Zeroes. Several were splashed almost immediately. Waldron’s wing tank was hit; just before the plane slammed into the water, he was seen climbing from the cockpit to escape the flames. The remaining planes pressed on, now targeting Soryu in the center of the Japanese formation, but their determination wasn’t enough. Of the fifteen planes, only one – Ensign George Gay’s – dropped its torpedo: a miss. Of the thirty men, only one – Ensign George Gay – survived the mission, crashing shortly after his attack, to become a front row spectator for the events that followed.

sonofdy on April 28, 2009 at 3:26 PM

Absolutely, but everyone captured with him and he survived the war. About half of the POWs in Japan died in captivity. He termed himself ‘lucky’ and he did appreciate the irony. Nearly everyone else he knew in naval aviation died in combat or POW camp. Dad had a lot of survivor’s guilt and bad memories which he worked through with golf therapy.

This is his plane btw. So he really was lucky to be captured by the Japanese, because:

The only way you could be called “lucky” to be captured by the Japanese is if the alternative is death.

IMHO.

Those guys were beyond brutal.

Yes. I’ve also noted with fear the geo-political alignment India has been making with its neighbors.

Culturally, Indians assimilate beautifully in America. Obama, no fried to liberty or intelligence anywhere, is in strong political alignment with Islam. That hurts non-Muslims. Having survived to date and among the world’s most intelligent people, the educated Indians will not play Obama’s tool. Their peaceful independence was permanently sabotaged by the British who dissected Pakistan from India’s territory [not that there wasn't a conflict to "solve"]. They are stuck between a rock and a hard spot, and are doing a much better job negotiating terms and arrangements to meet their needs with Russia and China than we are.

I have enjoyed friendships with each of my Indian clients from various sects. Given their ample legal immigration into the USA, it would be disappointing should their government actually take long term political stances against Americans while Putin’s Russia sends Obama through the garbage disposal.

Psychologically, I just have a hard time thinking that India would choose communism vs. the democracy of their own functioning government.

Hats off to your dad and his fellows from the Battle of Midway.

Thanks to American signals intelligence, judicious aircraft carrier tactics, and more than a little luck, the U.S. Navy had inflicted a smashing defeat on the Japanese Navy. Although the performance of the three American carrier air groups would later be considered uneven, their pilots and crew had won the day through courage, determination, and heroic sacrifice. The Japanese lost the four large carriers that had attacked Pearl Harbor, while the Americans only lost one carrier. More importantly, the Japanese lost over one hundred trained pilots, who could not be replaced. Recognizing this defeat for what it was, Admiral Nagumo’s Chief of Staff later wrote: “I felt bitter… I felt like swearing.” In a larger strategic sense, the Japanese offensive in the Pacific was derailed and their plans to advance on New Caledonia, Fiji, and Samoa postponed. The balance of sea power in the Pacific shifted from the Japan to an equity between America and Japan. Soon after the Battle of Midway the U.S. and their allies would take the offensive in the Pacific.

The virus is a bio-lab concoction.
It’s Mexican initial appearance is the most fatal.
The viral passage from human to human may not be so potent.
Spreading this generation of the virus will amplify its next round.
Which bio-weapon lab manufactured it is for speculation.
The intended target:
Constitutional Government and Western Free Trade
Obama’s visit timed perfectly to deflect blame from his owners, the ones MOST empowered to exploit the swine/avian/human flu in every way, beyond imaginable.

$.02
Morons need not defend the deceit of Mr. Malleable.

maverick muse on April 28, 2009 at 1:50 PM

Yes, they have been for the previous eight years. Right now, India is moving away, albeit slowly, from that stance. This Administrations treatment of India, and on issues India believes are vital, is forcing them to look more toward Russia, among others, as they view preservation of their nation, their economy, and their people as more important than following dictats and demarches and pipedreams of the Obama Administation.

Most of my father’s friends died at Midway in crappy Douglas Devastators so I can’t tell you enough how much I think air superiority is important.
Beagle on April 28, 2009 at 1:21 PM

With good enough air superiority fighters, second-rate bombers – or tanks, or helicopters, etc… can all get the job done. But if the other side has air superiority, the best fighting machines ever made might as well be so many clay pigeons.

If the Allies hadn’t had complete air supremacy for the Normandy beach landings, they could have turned out just as disastrously as the Midway torpedo attacks did.

coldwarrior on April 28, 2009 at 1:40 PM

India seems a least appreciated American ally.

maverick muse on April 28, 2009 at 1:43 PM

Approaching May 1914…and fast.

Just a few months away from 28 June and the cataclysmic aftermath.

If I were a pessimist realist.

Has globalisation made us more catastrophe-prone?
By Andrew Marshall, The Independent, UK
Mon, 27 Apr 09

As the world grapples with the worst economic downturn in decades and the possibility of a flu pandemic, a growing body of research suggests the complexity of the modern global economy may make us more vulnerable than ever to catastrophe.

The financial crisis began as turmoil in one small segment of the US mortgage market. Within months it had morphed into a global meltdown affecting almost everyone on earth.

The complexity that makes financial shocks more potentially dangerous also means that pandemics can wreak greater havoc.

And just as with financial crisis, herd behaviour, panic and the spread of inaccurate or incomplete information could provide negative feedback loops, making the catastrophe even worse. “Economic disruptions on the supply side would come directly from high absenteeism… There may also be disruptions to transportation, trade, payment systems and major utilities,” the IMF said in a 2006 report on the impact of a global flu pandemic. And beyond the immediate catastrophe, an overriding risk from both the financial crisis and any pandemic is that it causes a worldwide retreat from globalisation, with profound long-term consequences for the world economy.

In its 2007 report on global risks, the World Economic Forum imagined the consequences of a simultaneous pandemic and global liquidity crisis – a scenario that was purely speculative then but which now seems eerily prescient.

The result, it said, would be “a backlash against globalisation, which in turn compounds the hit on global demand”. Across the world, it said, increased militarism and authoritarian tendencies would reshape global geopolitics.

The events of the next few months may show just how accurate such a scenario could be.

Beagle on April 28, 2009 at 1:37 PM

Indians…despite Joe Biden’s take…are not just found in Kwiki-Marts anymore. A half-dozen on your six at 20,000 feet can be a wake-up call.

Today, no example of the Devastator survives in any museum or collection.

That’s because they suffered 80%+ losses at Midway and were taken out of service and scrapped.

coldwarrior:

Funny you mention India.

COPE India

The whole world knows that if you mess with U.S. Air Force pilots, you’re going down. Hard.

Except, someone forgot to send the memo to India, apparently. Because, in recent exercises, Indian flyboys in low-tech Russian and French jets defeated American F-15C pilots more than 90 percent of the time.

Now, granted, the Indians had the Americans outnumbered: usually 10 or 12 to 4, during the Cope India air combat exercise held last February around the Gwalior Air Force Station. But American officials also credited Indian pilots with being “very proficient in [their] aircraft[s] and smart on tactics. That combination was tough for us to overcome,” USAF Col. Greg Neubeck told Inside the Air Force. (The article is off-limits to those who don’t subscribe. But The Times of India is running major excerpts.)

INdia and Ruyssia just signed a 15-year deal

And I cannot type worth a damn this morning, either.

Beagle on April 28, 2009 at 1:21 PM

INdia and Ruyssia just signed a 15-year deal to build Russia’s fifth-generation combat aircraft together.

Have heard a few recently tell me that India is no threat. And Russia isn’t either.

Maybe not today.

But, India is on par with the US in avionics technologies and micro-electornics, something Russia does not have.

Russia can build strong airframes…the Indians can easily and readily tweek out the combat systems.

Not only China…

Brazil has given hints they may go the same route, if there is incentive to do so. Never underestimate the little guy, standing off in the wings.

It’s not money. The cost is lives.

Exactly, The lives of Servicemen several orders of magnitude better than Fauxbama and the rest of the Demoncrats.

In a DC spending spree, the parsimonious treatment of Defense seems very odd indeed.

A bizarre statement, given who’s running DC right now.

They’re donks, for crying out loud: they only see the military as a fun-n-games social experimentation playground and as a piggy-bank to bust open in favor of entitlements, racial and sex-based preference programs.

Did anyone expect anything different? You didn’t need radar to see this coming from over the horizon.

Welcome to the rabbit-hole.

The scarey one I remember was that the US and Russia would join together to fight China.

oldgoat on April 28, 2009 at 1:04 PM

Huh. That sure as hell is nothing but a dream.
If anything-I’m thinking Russia will team up with them. Like before.

In a DC spending spree, the parsimonious treatment of Defense seems very odd indeed.

Not odd at all, really. Not when you consider who is setting the priorities these days.