Related Reading: Frey Frey’s Maritime Monday 98 and Eagle1’s Sunday Ship History: Special Monday President’s Day Edition.

BT

He wasn’t on the battlefield, in his utilities doing construction under fire. He was on TWA Flight 847 on June 14th, 1985, enroute the States from Nea Makri, Greece. He, for no other reason than he had chosen to serve his nation, was picked out to be murdered.

SW2(DV) Robert Dean Stethem, USN, Underwater Construction Battalion ONE He was born in 1961. His father and brothers were SEALs. I’d say salt water ran in his veins. A tribute to Robert is posted here. A shipmate has his remarks posted there, about the day Robbie died. More detailed info is found at Black Five’s site about the circumstances aboard 847. The killer? His justice came a few days ago, but not in time to have saved the lives of many others in the years in between.SW2 Stethem is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

A ship, full of fight and the sensors and weapons to back it up, sails the oceans bearing the name “STETHEM” in steel letters on the transom. Commissioned Oct 21st, 1995, the USS STETHEM (DDG-63) is an ARLEIGH BURKE Class Guided Missile Destroyer.Assigned to the Pacific Fleet, STETHEM has been an intergral part in the GWoT. A fairly detailed account of the STETHEM’s operations, from commissioning to 2003 are listed on her Wikipedia page.

“Steadfast and Courageous” a fitting motto for a vessel.

It seems there is and organized effort from China to infect computer systems via consumer devices. Wow…our friends would do that? Like our friends the Saudis?

Anyhow, from the San Francisco Chronicle – “Virus from China the gift that keeps on giving:”

Deborah Gage, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, February 15, 2008
An insidious computer virus recently discovered on digital photo frames has been identified as a powerful new Trojan Horse from China that collects passwords for online games – and its designers might have larger targets in mind.

“It is a nasty worm that has a great deal of intelligence,” said Brian Grayek, who heads product development at Computer Associates, a security vendor that analyzed the Trojan Horse.

The virus, which Computer Associates calls Mocmex, recognizes and blocks antivirus protection from more than 100 security vendors, as well as the security and firewall built into Microsoft Windows. It downloads files from remote locations and hides files, which it names randomly, on any PC it infects, making itself very difficult to remove. It spreads by hiding itself on photo frames and any other portable storage device that happens to be plugged into an infected PC.

The authors of the new Trojan Horse are well-funded professionals whose malware has “specific designs to capture something and not leave traces,” Grayek said. “This would be a nuclear bomb” of malware.

By studying how the code is constructed and how it’s propagated, Computer Associates has traced the Trojan to a specific group in China, Grayek said. He would not name the group.
[…]

Read it all. And, BTW, you have been warned!

More details: over 67K variations of the malware have been detected, and in checking some of the picture frames, other, older trojans were found.

Target was selling a model that has beeen pulled. I wonder why?

Let’s be careful out there…

Tracked back @ Cao’s Blog Down in the Valley dvdrip

Hot Shots! film

It seems there way too much going on at a much higher level, as we, collectively, suffer from the early onset of Presidential politics.Thanks to the new feature that Charles installed at Little Green Footballs called the “Link Viewer,” I have been collecting links to, hopefully, sort in a logic order and then make some points.Personally, I used to see the “news” a day or two ahead of the MSM at LGF. Kinda fun, actually, seeing the MSM getting scooped by thousands of “intelligence collection agents” (all working for free, mind you). Now, with the volume of links there, I find some very interesting reading, yet it seems even the LGF “cycle” is not as speedy as I once thought. On the other hand, the pages are crowded with great tidbits, and larger stories from all points of the globe.

My collection effort began with a section: “The Coming Tsunami.” Relates to the sweeping tide of Islamist culture, driven hard into use using explosive techniques. I have subfolders for “Head in the sand” and “Destroy the ability to fight.” The latter mentioned is getting lots of interest, as those who we pay to represent us are on holiday, leaving their in baskets full of the people’s business, and it’s not because they are overworked, but more invested in making politic points for their own gain..all the while, spending my and your money. I have also included a “Push back” folder, which, thankfully, is showing some activity.

When will it all come together? Not sure. But, like others who have been involved in having to look at piles of hard copy inputs, then make a reasonable assessment of it all, while being paid, I’m finding it is still something I’m drawn to do.

Now, for my friends in Congress, who would allow trial lawyers to earn more multi millions, if not billions, while exposing the very foundations of our economy and therefore society to destruction while out shaking hands and kissing the very babies they care not if they are killed at the mall, here is my completely unconflicted message to you:

Bonus found via the referenced Link Viewer): “The Liberal Mind” by Dr. Lyle H. Rossiter, Jr. He says they are just like angry little children. Gee, who woulda thunk it?

On a big working pickup truck:

“Fear the government that fears your gun”

TRON 2.0 trailer

Open trackbacks here.

Sea story? I’m going “green” and recycling this post It was part I of a many part serial posting titled “The Value of the Military Skill Set.” I wrote it while trying to encapsulate what it was I, and others working around me, had learned in the service of the country and how that might translate into useful knowledge for a job in the civilian world. Take any shots you want at the writing. Make it better.

Thanks for the inputs in advance.

Update: Link to the Feb 2005 post is fixed….Friday the 13th hd

Dr. Daniel Griffith (”anything can point to Mecca, because the earth is round“) is still trying to convince the press that the Flight 93 crescent does not point to Mecca. In an email to the Park Service and the press this week, he tried to make it sound as if Alec Rawls is calculating the orientation of the crescent by using techniques that can be manipulated to achieve any desired result:

Based on Alec’s arguments, one could claim that the memorial is oriented toward the Vatican.

The Flight 93 crescent can indeed be seen as pointing to the Vatican, for the simple reason that the Vatican sits on the great circle line between the crash site and Mecca.

This is what Griffith represents as some concocted method for calculating the orientation of the crescent: the great circle method!

This “shortest distance” or “straight line” direction to Mecca (curving only in the over the horizon direction) is the relevant direction because this is the way that Muslims calculate the direction to Mecca. (There was a debate about it in the 1980’s and 90’s, largely settled by this nondescript looking analysis.)

Here is the great circle line from the Flight 93 crash-site to Mecca:

(Click-pic for larger image. Great circle calculator here.)

Here is the great circle line from the crash-site to the Vatican:

This calculator rounds to the nearest degree, so Mecca and the Vatican both are presented as lying on the great circle line that, from the crash site, proceeds 55° clockwise from north.

Of course a person who faces Mecca is also facing everything else that happens to lie in the direction of Mecca. When Griffith acknowledges that the crescent points to the Vatican, he is not debunking of the Mecca-orientation of the Flight 93 crescent, but confirming it.

Reductio ad Hitlerum

Griffith pulled the same trick last July, telling reporter Kirk Swauger of the Johnstown Tribune Democrat that the crescent can be seen as pointing to a Nazi concentration camp if you want:

Griffith said Rawls suggested memorial organizers would be outraged if the crescent pointed to a Nazi concentration camp instead, the professor said it actually could be done.

Of course Rawls never suggested that anyone should care if the crescent pointed at a concentration camp. Is there a worldwide religion of facing Nazi concentration camps for prayer? Was Flight 93 hijacked by people who face Nazi concentration camps for prayer?

An unpublished report that Griffith wrote for the Pittsburgh Tribune Review in 2006 clarifies his concentration camp reference. It notes that there was a Nazi concentration camp (Drancy) located just outside of Paris, which as you can see on the maps above is also (like the Vatican) on the great circle line between the Flight 93 crash-site and Mecca. In his 2006 report, Griffith acknowledges that the crescent points to the Drancy camp, yet is still unwilling to acknowledge that it points to Mecca. Somehow, the crescent points to everything on the line to Mecca except Mecca.

When Griffith told Swauger that you can see the crescent as pointing to a Nazi concentration camp if you want, he was clearly trying to mislead Swauger into thinking that you can see the crescent as pointing wherever you want. This dishonest intention was made clear by another statement that Griffith made to Swauger (not reported by Swauger, but related by Swauger to Alec Rawls at the time). Griffith told Swauger that: “You can face anywhere to face Mecca.”

He is doing the same thing when he tells the Park Service now that the crescent can be seen as pointing to the Vatican, without being clear that this is because the Vatican sits on great circle line to Mecca.

Pecksniff

In his email, Griffith complains that Rawls has been trying to bully him into changing his analysis. Nobody is trying to bully Griffith into changing anything. We are trying to expose him as a fraud.

Griffith is practically in tears about being called a Pecksniff (a character from Martin Chuzzlewit “who lies and cants whether he is drunk or sober”). It is the perfect epithet. Look in the dictionary under Pecksniff and you will see Daniel Griffith’s picture.

Not that anyone should bother to read Griffith’s email, but if anyone wants to, it puts front and center another astounding example of Griffith’s free-form dishonesty.

Griffith quotes Rawls’s January 2006 report to the Memorial Project as saying that:

…the orientation to Mecca “take[s] a short cut over the North Pole … even though Mecca is south of Shanksville.”

From this supposed quote, Griffith goes on to construct an elaborate fantasy about how, since the great circle line between the crash-site and Mecca does not actually go over the North Pole, it was really Rawls, not he, who started this idea that you can face different directions to face Mecca.

But Rawls’s report to the Memorial Project did not say that a person facing the north pole from the crash site is facing Mecca. Rather, it includes an aside explaining why the shortest-distance line to Mecca “points in a northeasterly direction” (not due north), even though Mecca is south of Shanksville. The reason is because both are in the northern hemisphere. To illustrate, the report includes the simplest possible example: “The shortest distance between points on the opposite sides of the northern hemisphere will take a short cut over the North Pole.”

Griffith quotes only the second half of this sentence, omitting the part about connecting points “on the opposite sides of the northern hemisphere.” That allows him to pretend that the points referred to are the crash-site and Mecca. Of course Shanksville and Mecca are not on opposite sides of the hemisphere. Mecca is about 2/3rds of the way around the hemisphere from the crash-site.

Having Misrepresented Rawls as saying, not just that a person facing into the giant crescent is facing Mecca, but also that a person facing due north from the crash site is facing Mecca, Griffith then writes:

I fail to be convinced that only 2, rather than the infinity of possible, arcs are acceptable to Muslims.

Bwahahahaha! Griffith just finished saying how wrong it is to think that a person facing north from Shanksville is facing Mecca. Then he turns around and uses this face-north-to-face-Mecca claim (misattributed to Rawls) as justification for saying that a person facing any direction is facing Mecca. Just how much peck has this idiot been sniffing?

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Where is the lizard army? (push it A Plumm Summer movie download )

A plea from Tom Burnett Sr. (push it)

The fraudulent Park Service investigation of the Flight 93 memorial (push it)

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Quack! Quack! Quack!

On one hand, good news: CDR Hesham Islam, USN (Ret) will leave the Government Civil Service after all the scrutiny brought in his direction after talking Gordon England into consorting with Islamic groups with tags as “unindigted co-conspirators” in Federal trials, and getting the contract for a know expert on radical Islamic elements, MAJ Stephen Coughlin, USAR, dropped as a “Christian zealot with a pen.”

Now, consider the issue at hand. CDR Islam grew up in Egypt, came to the US, became a naturalized citizen, rose to the paygrade of O-5 in the Navy, then retired and became a trusted advisor to a top level DoD office.

In reading the linked article, it seems Hesham England’s resume didn’t “add up.” I take that as parts of it were false. Bad idea for applying for any job, but in this case, it also seemed that he left out some “contacts” he had made, with some who are cozy with our enemies.

[…]
But as a result of the ensuing firestorm that played out in the conservative press – led by Washington Times Pentagon reporter Bill Gertz – Islam was put under a microscope, and questions were raised regarding his background.

For example, Claudia Rosett of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies wrote a column challenging key claims in Islam’s official biography. Within days, a Defense Department profile of Islam was removed from the department’s website.

A Pentagon spokesman said it was “taken down in an attempt to reduce the rhetoric and the emotion surrounding this issue while we try to determine the facts.”

A senior U.S. official says the life story Islam presented now appears sketchy.

“His resume didn’t add up, and he knows it,” the official said. “He’s voluntarily leaving the government in March.”
[…]

But: The scary part:

[…]
At the same time, a report by terror expert Steven Emerson revealed that Islam, as special assistant to the deputy secretary of defense, has scheduled at least two meetings in the Pentagon with Syrian-tied radicals – including a leading member of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood – in direct violation of U.S. policy.

As WND previously reported, FBI officials believe Islam is involved with the U.S. branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and is helping its front groups run “influence operations” against the U.S. government.

“He’s a Muslim brother,” an FBI official told WND. “He’s a bad actor, and he’s made other unreported nefarious contacts.”

Islam has worked closely in the Pentagon with Muslim chaplain Abuhena M. Saifulislam, who as WND also previously reported, received his training at a radical Islamic school in Northern Virginia that was raided by federal authorities after 9/11.
[…]

There you have it. Sad, but it fits the stereotype of one who came to this country and showed the patience to work his way into positions of access and authority, and along the way would be given an exceptional education in the operations at sea of the most advanced navy in the world. Trust me, as ship driver, you have to learn a lot of things, not just how to get around the oceans safely. I’d love to see his list of duty assignments, which wold alow me to futher analyze what CDR Islam was taught and trained for.

Then it gets more interesting: His son is currently a serving Navy Officer aboard ships, with a TS/SCI clearance. Long hand: “Tops Secret/Special Compartmented Information.” TS is one thing and seriously high enough. SCI is very specific information, but confined to functional “need to know” special topic areas.

The rest of the story:

[…]
The Pentagon had no comment. And Islam, who has not been accused of any crimes, has refused interviews.

Emerson says Islam prescribed a steady diet of Muslim Brotherhood-connected outreach for his unwitting boss, deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England….
[…]

Whispering in the ear of some of our highest DoD officials “there’s nothing to fear here…just move along.” Great.

The comments by the Congressional rep who had the cojones to stand up and ask hard questions: Rep Sue Myrick (R-NC) says this:

[…]
Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., who co-chairs the House Anti-Terrorism Caucus, has been fighting to keep Coughlin in the Pentagon, where she says his blunt analysis of the Islamic enemy is sorely needed….

“I know that some people will refuse to admit there is a subversive movement going on here, but let me remind you that we have underestimated the will and capability of our enemy for more than 30 years,” she added. “They are patient and determined to achieve their radical agenda.”

It looks like, before the fact, that a mole has been uncovered. Not reporting contacts with know groups sworn to our defeat. Directly violating State Dept regulations on meetings with specific countries. Your “resume” of where you grew up and what happened “don’t add up.” Oh, yeah, and what about his Islamic brothers-in-arms now in the service, who come from a background of anti-American training?

So he resigns from his civil service position. Where does he go next? That’s the really bad news. Between damage control training, ship engineering training, weapons systems training, small boat defense, internal security teams set up and operations, and detailed knowledge of command and control systems and their inner workings. I’m sure there’s a big paycheck out there waiting for him and it’s not with a US contractor. Armed with this type of insight, those not praying for the success and well being of our sailors, would have the increased opportunity to go for the weak points.

I guess, as one commenter likes to indicate, that we have no problems internally. This must have just have been an aberration and there’s nothing to it. I hope the FBI is burning the midnight oil to vett his entire background and all his recent activities. On the other hand, they missed the 9/11 hijackers, too, when they even had one in their hands.

There is a bright light here: Another victory for the power of the blogosphere to move important data to the right places and get the right people into action.

Update 2/12/2008: Just know, this type of tactic isn’t most likely anything new… Too Late the Hero trailer

Update 2/13/2008: Claudia Rosett of NRO has ferreted out some interesting info by fact checking Hesham’s own story… Big details don’t hold up to even a moderate level of scrutiny, and then it turns out he married a pen pal from the US, sight unseen. It gets more interesting with each scraping of the top coat.

Related reading: Sunday Ship History: U.S. Navy in Africa and Fred Fry’s Maritime Monday 97.
————————————–

CDR David Connole, USNCommander Connole made his mark on US Naval history as a submariner and the skipper of USS TRIGGER (SS-237) in WWII. As with many heroes of the submarine force, CDR David Connole and his crew were lost at sea due to enemy action on March 26th, 1945. It was the TRIGGER’s 12th and last war patrol. A more detailed story of the TRIGGER’s war record is found in Submarine!” by Edward Beach. CDR Connole was awarded two Silver Stars for his wartime record.Who was David Connole? Here is what I could find:

The Connole family name is Irish with David Connole’s grandfather, Anthony, immigrating from County Clare, Ireland in the mid-1800’s LO Carroilton, Illinois. David R. Connole was born on September 8, 1912 in Madison, ILas the first son of Henry Connole and Mary Rickart Connole. He did well in school and also became an Eagle Scout. After attending llinois College for two years, he gained entrance to the U.S. Naval Academy in 1932 and graduated in 1936. For the next three years, he served aboard the cruiser USS Boise then entered Submarine School.

From December 1939 to August 1943, Commander Connole served aboard the submarine USS Pompano which was involved in numerous war patrols in the Pacific. He then became executive officer of the USS Cuttlefish. In 1944, he took command of the USS Sennet and in 1945, he became the commanding officer of the USS Trigger. The U.S.S. Trigger was lost in battle off the coast of Japan in March, 1945.

Commander Connole was awarded two Silver Star medals, the Bronze Star medal and the U.S.S. Trigger earned the Presidential Unit Citation for three war patrols.

Vida Wimbrow was born on June 8, 1917 and raised in Annapolis, Maryland. She and David met in 1935 and were married in 1938. This young Navy couple lived in New London, Connecticut, San Francisco, California and Honolulu, Hawaii. During the war years, Vida lived in Annapolis. Their only son, Rickart Alan Connole, was born in September, 1944. David last saw his son at Rick’s christening in November, 1944.

In 1949, Vida married Captain Roy S. Benson who, by coincidence, commanded the U.S.S. Trigger in 1942 and was an instructor of navigation to David Connole at the Naval Academy.

Commissioned on August 30th, 1969, the USS CONNOLE (DE-1056) (Later FF-1056) was the ship that honors the memory of CDR Connole. The CONNOLE served in the Atlantic Fleet, and was decommissioned on August 30th, 1992 and transferred to the Greek Navy as the HHMS Ipiros (F-456), being decommissioned in that navy in 2003.A cruise book for the 1981 Med cruise was found here. Photos of the commanding officers from 1969 to 1992 were located here.

Street Fighter IV psp

Young Guns II ipod

Found while “surfing,” but it rings so true for me:

From the USS KIRK (FF-1087) website:

Bangkok Dangerous dvdrip

* I liked standing on the bridge wing at sunrise with salt spray in my face and clean ocean winds whipping in from the four quarters of the globe – the destroyer beneath me feeling like a living thing as her engines drove her swiftly through the sea.

* I liked the sounds of the Navy – the piercing trill of the boatswains pipe, the syncopated clangor of the ship’s bell on the quarterdeck, the harsh squawk of the 1MC, and the strong language and laughter of sailors at work.

* I liked Navy vessels – nervous darting destroyers, plodding fleet auxiliaries and amphibs, sleek submarines and steady solid aircraft carriers.

* I liked the proud names of Navy ships: Midway, Lexington, Saratoga, Coral Sea, Antietam, Valley Forge – memorials of great battles won and tribulations overcome.

* I liked the lean angular names of Navy “tin-cans” and escorts – Barney, Dahlgren, Mullinix, McCloy, Damato, Leftwich, Mills – mementos of heroes who went before us. And the others – San Jose, San Diego, Los Angeles, St. Paul, Chicago – named for our cities.

* I liked the tempo of a Navy band blaring through the topside speakers as we pulled away from the oiler after refueling at sea.

* I liked liberty call and the spicy scent of a foreign port.

* I even liked the never ending paperwork and all hands working parties as my ship filled herself with the multitude of supplies, both mundane and to cut ties to the land and carry out her mission anywhere on the globe where there was water to float her.

* I liked sailors, officers and enlisted men from all parts of the land, farms of the Midwest, small towns of New England, from the cities, the mountains and the prairies, from all walks of life. I trusted and depended on them as they trusted and depended on me – for professional competence, for comradeship, for strength and courage. In a word, they were “shipmates”; then and forever.

* I liked the surge of adventure in my heart, when the word was passed: “Now set the special sea and anchor detail – all hands to quarters for leaving port,” and I liked the infectious thrill of sighting home again, with the waving hands of welcome from family and friends waiting pier side.

* The work was hard and dangerous; the going rough at times; the parting from loved ones painful, but the companionship of robust Navy laughter, the “all for one and one for all” philosophy of the sea was ever present.

* I liked the serenity of the sea after a day of hard ship’s work, as flying fish flitted across the wave tops and sunset gave way to night.

* I liked the feel of the Navy in darkness – the masthead and range lights, the red and green navigation lights and stern light, the pulsating phosphorescence of radar repeaters – they cut through the dusk and joined with the mirror of stars overhead. And I liked drifting off to sleep lulled by the myriad noises large and small that told me that my ship was alive and well, and that my shipmates on watch would keep me safe.

* I liked quiet midwatches with the aroma of strong coffee – the lifeblood of the Navy permeating everywhere.

* And I liked hectic watches when the exacting minuet of haze-gray shapes racing at flank speed kept all hands on a razor edge of alertness.

* I liked the sudden electricity of “General quarters, general quarters, all hands man your battle stations,” followed by the hurried clamor of running feet on ladders and the resounding thump of watertight doors as the ship transformed herself in a few brief seconds from a peaceful workplace to a weapon of war – ready for anything.

* And I liked the sight of space-age equipment manned by youngsters clad in dungarees and sound-powered phones that their grandfathers would still recognize.

* I liked the traditions of the Navy and the men and women who made them. I liked the proud names of Navy heroes: Halsey, Nimitz, Perry, Farragut, John Paul Jones, and Burke. A sailor could find much in the Navy: comrades-in-arms, pride in self and country, mastery of the seaman’s trade. An adolescent could find adulthood.

* In years to come, when sailors are home from the sea, they will still remember with fondness and respect the ocean in all its moods – the impossible shimmering mirror calm and the storm-tossed green water surging over the bow. And then there will come again a faint whiff of stack gas, a faint echo of engine and rudder orders, a vision of the bright bunting of signal flags snapping at the yardarm, a refrain of hearty laughter in the wardroom and chief’s quarters and mess decks.

* Gone ashore for good they will grow wistful about their Navy days, when the seas belonged to them and a new port of call was ever over the horizon.

* Remembering this, they will stand taller and say, “I WAS A SAILOR ONCE.”

Author Unknown

Well done, Unknown.

Tracked back @ Cao’s Blog