Dear Health Insurance Companies

Given that my insurance has gone up 40% over the last two years, now making it the single highest bill that I pay each month, I have just one thing to say to you guys:

I hope you all die of a loathsome disease and that you die soon, painfully, and often.

And this goes tenfold for your overpaid executives. But first, may your feet rot off.

EBM out.

Missile Defense Agency Sabotages Strategic Defense System?

Two serious technical flaws have been identified in the ground-launched anti-missile interceptors that the United States would rely on to defend against a nuclear attack by North Korea, including those based in Alaska.

Pentagon officials were informed of the problems as recently as last summer but decided to postpone corrective action. They told federal auditors that acting immediately to fix the defects would interfere with the production of new interceptors and slow a planned expansion of the nation's homeland missile defense system, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office.

As a result, all 33 interceptors deployed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County, Calif., and Fort Greely, Alaska, have one of the defects. Ten of those interceptors -- plus eight being prepared for delivery this year -- have both.

Summing up the effect on missile-defense readiness, the GAO report said that "the fielded interceptors are susceptible to experiencing ... failure modes," resulting in "an interceptor fleet that may not work as intended."

So, rather than stop delivery and fix known problems, the MDA opted to not fix the problems and accept delivery of missile intercepts that have a fair chance of not working. A supplier used the wrong type of solder to make up wiring harnesses in the interceptors. The solder that they used is susceptible to corrosion.

So the interceptors have thrusters that might not aim them properly and then bad wiring that might cause them to miss the incoming missiles. The MDA apparently tried to paper over the problem and hope that nobody would notice. Because what counted to the MDA was meeting their numbers in the number of interceptors deployed, not whether or not the damned things would even work.

Stalin would have had the managers shot.

There should be no surprise that Donald Rumsfeld's partially to blame for this clustefuck, as he exempted the MDA from rules on procurement and testing. At this point, it is worthwhile considering whether Rummy was really an enemy agent.

Your Sunday Morning Jet Noise

Citation X, not exactly a "Slowtation":

Might want to skip to about 3:00.

Bangity

My club had its first Bullseye match of the year. I shot 801-15x. That's on par with what I did on the last match of last year.

On one of the timed-fire stages, I lost track and almost ended up with an unfired round. When I realized that the bolt hadn't locked back, I snapped a shot off, which cost me a couple of points. Still, timed-fire is my best phase of the match. I can shoot that into the low-mid 90s per each run.

The club matches are not really hard-core. Which is fine, this is for fun.

One of the other shooters had Bushnell Sentry spotting scope. I could see the holes in the black of his target at 50 yards with it, so I probably ought to think about getting one.

Memorial Day

From the Revolutionary War:

To our current wars:

Today has been the day that we traditionally remembered those who died during wartime.*

2015 marks the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War, the 100th anniversary of the first full year of World War One, the 75th anniversary of the first full year of World War Two, the 50th anniversary of the initial escalation of American involvement in the Vietnam War and the 25th anniversary of Operation Desert Shield.** It has indeed been a good year for the war buffs.
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* Until Nixon and the Congress fucked it up by making Memorial Day into a shopping extravaganza.
** Desert Shield marked the official beginning of the Era of Constant Wartime, which we find ourselves in now.

Caturday the Sad

The story of this kitten is a sad one. If you don't want a downer story on this day, then read no further.

You Hurt My Mule's Feelings.

"Good Morning. I'm Running for the Republican Presidential Nomination."

George Pataki. Frothy. Miss Lindsey. The Donald. So many are running, now, that future announcements are going to covered in the "news in brief" column of the papers.

They're going to have to trade the GOP Klown Kar in for a short bus.

The funny thing is that Frothy thinks that his campaign was a success in 2012. Which is bullshit, of course. There aren't second-place winners in elections*. What "success" Frothy had in 2012 was because Willard Romney was such a tool that even a few million GOP voters couldn't stomach him. Rmoney still won the nomination, which meant, of course, that Frothy lost.
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* Or gunfights.

Because It's Friday

A steam-powered pump.

People Were Crazy During the Cold War

"I need five volunteers to go stand at Ground Zero while we detonate a nuke overhead: You, you, you, you and you. And you, go film it."

Probably just like this: