No Runny Eggs

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. military mistakenly shipped four fuses for nuclear missiles to Taiwan in 2006 and never caught the error, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, acknowledging an incident likely to rile China.The military was supposed to ship helicopter batteries to Taiwan, but instead sent fuses used as part of the trigger mechanism on Minuteman missiles. Taiwan returned the parts to U.S. custody last week.

I’ve got so many questions on this…

Do you think Taiwan had to call ahead to get a return authorization request for the fuses?

2 years. Do they still get a refund? Did they still have the receipt?

Based on the information now known, the four fuses, which do not resemble helicopter batteries,

Really? They don’t look alike? Who’d a thunk?

How long did they tried to install the the part labeled “battery” before they realized it didn’t look like the one they took out?

I’ve gotten plenty of stuff made in Taiwan that had instructions that, well…. let’s just say I can see how they could have confused a fuse for a battery.

Do you think the US military stores nuclear missile fuses in the same warehouse as helicopter batteries? I suppose it’s that whole hazardous waste thing.

The fuses, which send an electronic signal to the device that starts the nuclear weapon’s trigger process, are among a class of sensitive equipment that must be accounted for on a quarterly basis.

Walmart has figured out how to do their inventory accounting more frequently than once a quarter. Can someone send the area code for Bentonville, Arkansas to the Pentagon?

When Taiwan realized it had received the incorrect shipment, it notified the U.S. military. …But U.S. military officials did not understand the nature of the problem until last week.

What part of “Wrong part” do you think they were having trouble understanding?

Henry said there was no indication Taiwan tampered with the fuses before returning them.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!   Has anyone checked Ebay to see if the schematics are available yet?

Since John Hawkins asked nicely, I may as well share my “must reads, even if hung over, sicker than a dog, and have but 5 minutes to catch up on the reading” blogs, in no particular order. For those I don’t list; don’t fret. I usually am not hung over, sicker than a dog, or short of time, so I’m reading all of those blogs that are on my bloated roll to your right:

Boots and Sabers – Owen is one of the elders of the Cheddarsphere. He and Jed have one of the most-active comment sections around; in fact, that’s where I really got introduced to the blogosphere.

DUmmie FUnnies – Let me put it this way; PJ-Comix and sometime contributor and parody writer extraordinaire Charles Henrickson got robbed in last year’s Weblog Awards. I usually catch this over on Free Republic, where most of the follow-on comments happen.

Mary Katharine Ham at TownHall – What can I say? HamNations, insightful commentary; in short, everything a blogger can aspire for. The bonus; she is as nice as can be.

RealDebateWisconsin – Fred has become a good friend. The establishment in Racine fears him.

Hot Air – If you need first-rate sarcasm (as opposed to the bulk-rate my best is), Allahpundit is your man. He delivers it all, including video everybody else misses (I’ve called him the blogosphere’s DVR more than once). Throw in Ed Morrissey, a few appearances here and there by the boss (Michelle Malkin), and the three-person site is better than most overloaded staffs around.

Sykes Writes – Charlie Sykes is the Blogfather of the Cheddarsphere. It helps he has a 50,000-watt microphone.

Sister Toldjah – Take out the video, add in love of the NFL, and see the summary for MKH.

Badger Blogger – Patrick is a relentless news hound whose header tag (“Covering Wisconsin the way the media won’t. Covering the media, the way they fear!”) rings true.

Ace of Spades HQ – I said it before, I’ll probably say it again; we morons are legion. Besides, what’s a run through the blogosphere without a few expletives?

The Campaign Spot – Jim Geraghty is a one-man political blogging machine. ‘Nuff said.

Blackfive – Even if it were just Uncle Jimbo there, I would be reading it every day. Matt (Blackfive Actual), Deebow, Laughing Wolf, and the rest just make it that much more compelling.

Michelle Malkin – There is a reason why she is a “who’s who”. She’s THAT GOOD.

Tom McMahon and 4-Block World – If you’re looking for it, Tom probably has it.

The American Mind – Sean Hackbarth is one of the originals, going all the way back to 1999.

The Asian Badger – Pilot, venture capitalist, man of adventure; men want to be him, women want to be with him.

TheWisconsinSportsBar – Yes, I’m a contributor to The Bar, but I don’t quite consider it self-promotion because I’m far from the best writer there, even on my supposed sport of expertise (NFL football). There are some serious baseball sharks there, and Badger hockey gets some well-deserved love.

It’s not quite John’s 40, but like I said, I’m usually not reduced to 5 minutes of reading while sick and hung over, so I’m reading a lot more than just this.

It seems Rule #2 of my Rules for Hiring Hookers is worthy of being in the running for last week’s MRQ of the Week. So, go over to Fred’s site and vote for “If you’re stupid enough to ignore rule #1, always pay cash.” If you don’t, I’ll find out who you are, and tell Knock-Knees Tony you are me.

“Don’t tell me words don’t matter. ‘I have a dream’ — just words. ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal’ — just words. ‘We have nothing to fear but fear itself’ – just words. Just speeches.”

…Barack Obama

In a well publicized speech, Barack Obama tries to dodge the accusation that he is an empty suit with flowery language and nothing else.   He tries to equate his words to those of words that have formed the history of the United States.  

While Obama makes a valid point showing that well crafted words can encourage, challenge and motivate us, he misses a more important point that if all we had were these words, without the action that followed them, none of these words would be remembered.

And so it is now with Obama.   For the past ten days he has been using words to attempt to explain his affiliation with Jeremiah Wright and to distance himself from Wright’s hateful language.

Words like:  

"I reject them completely "” they are not ones that reflect my values or my ideals or Michelle’s."

or

"If I thought that was the repeated tenor of the church then I wouldn’t feel comfortable, but frankly that has not been my experience at Trinity United Church of Christ.”

Now it is found that Jeremiah Wright used his column in the chuch newsletter to reprint a Hamas hate manifesto, Obama uses these words:

“I have already condemned my former pastor’s views on Israel in the strongest possible terms, and I certainly wasn’t in church when that outrageously wrong Los Angeles Times piece was re-printed in the bulletin,”

Hey Barack, there is a point where words without actions mean nothing.   You have reached that point.   No one should believe another word about your alledged disgust with the positions of Jeremiah Wright until you not only talk about it, but denouce your affiliation with the church that has been the host of his hate messages for these past 20 years.  

If you don’t follow your words with actions, we can only assume that in fact, they are JUST WORDS!  

Luke 24:1-12 (NIV):

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!” Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.'” Then they remembered his words.

When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

(H/T – Ed Driscoll)

I know The Hammer doesn’t read this blog, so if she finds out what James Lileks has done to a few peeps, it won’t be from me. If, however, you don’t mind explosives, go ahead to Page 2 for some Egg-approved male snow-crazy explosive fun.

Matthew 27:45-54 (NIV):

At the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” — which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”

Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God.”

Thank you, Savior.