Thursday, September 26, 2013

America's Cup Idiot Rules

YOU CHEATED MORE THAN A YEAR AGO IN A DIFFERENT REGATTA, SO YOU ARE PENALIZED 2 RACES IN THIS REGATTA.


  You wonder why most American's eyes glaze over when they hear about rule violations in the America's Cup circus?  You wonder why megabucks are spent on legal fees?
  Let  your Ostrich Killer explain the latest idiocy to come from the rules committee.
  Some years ago, it was decided that this latest America's Cup would be held in San Francisco Bay with high-speed 72-foot catamarans.  But no one knew for sure how to build them to go real fast, sail them competitively, and survive them.
  So it was decided to build scale model versions of the actual boats to be used, and race these boats in a series of events and in many places around the world, and thereby learn to race them and also learn about design tweaks that would help the larger, America'sCup 72-footers to be used in San Francisco Bay.  These were 45-footers that weighed about 4,000 pounds.  To help defray the costs of this venture, this series of racing regattas was called the America's Cup World Series, and spectators and advertisers would pay to watch or have their product logos on those boats.
  In other words, there were to be two SEPARATE major events:  the America's Cup World Series using the 45-foot sub-scale boats to help train crews and serve as technology refinement and springboards and a means to reduce net costs, and the America's Cup itself to be held at a later date in San Francisco Bay, using 72-foot full scale boats.
  One of the rules was that all the 45-foot boats were to be identical except for paint jobs and advertising logos, etc.  Every potential America's Cup contender built and raced at least one of these 45-foot catamarans in the America's Cup World Series.
  There came a time when an American crew member decided that his 45-foot boat needed a near microscopic tweak to go faster.  So this crew member put a 3-kilogram (7 pound) bag of lead shot in the bow of his 4,000 pound boat.  To put this in perspective, that 7-pound bag of shot weighed the same as 9 cans of Bud Light.
  The judges found that bag of shot, notified the rules committee, and the rules committee ruled that the 45-foot boat had to forfeit all its races and, subsequently, an international jury ruled just days before the beginning of the America's Cup races that the team's 72-foot America's Cup boat would have to suffer a 2-race penalty.


  Oracle USA would have to win 2 races in order to have won zero races, in an event where the first boat to win 9 races would be the winner.
  A different boat in a different race regatta to be held a year after the infractions must suffer the death penalty for 9 cans of Bud Light in the earlier race regatta.  Huh?
  Well, we all know how it turned out.  The penalized America's Cup boat and crew - Oracle USA - won anyway.  And rightfully so.
Why the severe penalty, you ask?  What's the big deal about 9 cans of Bud Light?  
  Only the Rules Committee and the international jury knows for sure.  Your Ostrich Killer suspects that there was more than a little Ellison hatred lurking in the backs of the minds of some of those folks.  
  Your Ostrich Killer also suspects that the only reason that Oracle USA wasn't completely disqualified is that they were the defender of the cup, and without them there would be no America's Cup event.  That would mean, of course, the loss of about a billion dollars, all for finding the equivalent of 9 cans of Bud Light on a boat that was NOT GOING TO RACE IN THE AMERICA'S CUP REGATTA!
  Are your eyes glazed over now?  Mine too.  Another cup of coffee will help that, but there is no understanding of the thinking of that jury.

Obviously hindsight tells us that crew member should have brought along a 12-pack of Amstel Light (a Netherland beer) or Foster's (Australian) or Steinlager (New Zealand), placed it strategically, and if asked about it declare that it's for on-the-water celebration purposes after a hard race.  
  One has to wonder what the rules committee would have done with that.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

40 Clowns in a Clown Car

And A Lot of Horn Honking

That's the Obama White House and the State Department.

The problem is, Americans aren't the only ones noticing that.

Putin is laughing so hard that he's squirting tears.

Assad is also.

What's so funny, you ask?  

Here's where we're headed:  Putin will broker a deal whereby a UN team is charged with accounting for, collecting and safeguarding all of Syria's chemical weapons.  Assad will say "Of Course!  Come on in!"  The UN will put together a detail to go to Syria and accomplish that.  

Guess who will be on that detail?  Do you think there will be any Russians?  Chinese?  When has the UN EVER sent anyone but Americans to do anything really serious?  So, you see, we will be sending American troops.  Tens of thousands of them.

The rebels want those chemicals.  They know where they are.  They will fight to keep them available for capture.

The UN force will have to fight the rebels for those weapons. Assad's forces will help.  The UN force - mostly Americans - will be, in effect, part of Assad's army, navy, and air force.  Killing rebels and getting killed.

Putin will be helplessly rolling on his Kremlin floor, laughing so hard that he can't even talk.

Are Putin, Assad, and your Ostrich Killer the only ones who can see this coming?  Aside from my regular readers, I mean. 

Brain dead, the entire lot of them clowns.

Any service members reading this and considering re-upping soon, my advice is get the hell out now while you're still alive.  The clown show is going to kill a lot of your buddies.

Monday, September 09, 2013

Breathtaking Arrogance and Ingenuousness!

Assad Promises Asymmetrical Responses

Kerry promises an "unbelievably small" strike.  Assad warns us to "expect anything" if we do strike.

I don't think Assad has in mind a military-style response.  My experience and observation is that when a dictator has his back to the wall - which Assad does, with just the rebels - he uses other ways to strike his enemies, ways that go by the general name of asymmetric warfare.  Watching the interview he gave, it's clear to me that he was saying exactly that.

No one in official position has told this to the press, or if they have the press hasn't covered it.  But you know your Ostrich Killer will, so here's a list of asymmetric possibilities:

Kidnappings of families of diplomats, government employees, and service members world-wide, probably topped off by HD video beheadings, to be broadcast on CBS and Al Jazeera.  Iran-proxy army hezbollah striking Israeli cities with chemicals, which Assad will supply if hezbollah doesn't already have them.  The Arab middle east uniting behind anyone striking Israel ("My family and I against our neighbors, my neighbors and I against strangers,") which means an Iran-Syria led general war of extinction with Israel.  Israel has nukes.  Do you think Israel will go quietly into the night?  Do you think they will spare any arab target?  

And that's just for openers.  Ask yourself what the sponsors of those countries will do to assist them.

Asymmetric warfare can quickly explode globally, warfare fueled emotionally by videos of panicked and crying blond-haired children begging for their mommas while hooded arabs saw off their heads.

That's one type of asymmetric warfare.  Use your imagination to come up with others.  Wives and daughters kidnapped and used to produce prime-time rape-and-snuff videos?  Sure.  Mall massacres?  Expect them.  Same for schools and churches.  Anything you can imagine is either being considered or is already planned. 

The Obama regime thinks they can conduct a strike and suffer - or trigger - no consequences, not even asymmetric ones.

These people are worse than dreamers, they are arrogant and stupid and believe in their own invulnerability, and are going to get a lot of people killed. And for what?  To keep our enemies from killing each other? 

Brain dead, the entire lot of them.

That's not news to you, of course, my gentle readers.