Blogging is light today. I’ve written an article that I hope will be published in a major on-line conservative magazine and I’m absolutely drained. Been working on it since I got up this morning at 3:30 AM and finished about 10 hours later. I guess I’m just a writing wimp.

Anyway, rather than waste any more cleverness on an article that may not see the light of day for a while, I thought I’d give some quick takes on interesting items I pulled off various sources on the internet today.

CHINESE THREAT (CONTINUED)

I’ve posted several times in the past few months about the growing threat from the Chinese military. And while most of the upgrades to the Chinese armed forces is apparently directed toward Taiwan, there are indications that China may also be ready to challenge American military hegemony in Asia:

The US intelligence community has reported that since 2001, the Chinese shipbuilding industry has produced 23 new amphibious assault ships and 13 conventional attack submarines.

The current top priority for the PLAN is the replacement of its fleet of outdated Soviet-era conventional and nuclear submarines with five new advanced models of domestically developed and imported Russian vessels…

The long-awaited Type 093 nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN) is also close to entering into service, with the lead vessel already undergoing sea trials and expected to be accepted by the navy this year. There are reports that three hulls of this new class have already been laid…

The Type 094 nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, said to be an elongated version of the Type 093 and equipped with JL-2 sea-launched intercontinental ballistic missiles, is reported to have been launched last July and could be operational within the next couple of years. This is well ahead of Pentagon forecasts, which had previously estimated that the Type 094 would not enter service until towards the end of this decade.

These improvements in the Chinese navy would not only allow for a massive amphibious assault on Taiwan, but the attack submarines would be used to threaten any fleet we send to their defense. Beijing has also converted two armored divisions into an amphibious corp to take advantage of their increased flexibility in the joint operations sphere.

What this adds up to, according to analysts, is that China is steadily increasing both its military spending and military capability to eventually challenge our interests – including Taiwan – in that part of the world. You can bet that Japan and South Korea are not only watching China very closely but gauging our response as well.

JUDGING THE JUDGES

Interesting hearing on Capitol Hill where Supreme Court justices responded directly to recent criticisms of the federal bench:

WASHINGTON - Supreme Court Justices Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas on Tuesday defended the independence of federal judges and suggested that criticism such as that directed at the federal bench recently by Republican leaders in Congress is simply part of the democratic process.

The justices’ comments came during a congressional hearing on the Supreme Court’s budget that turned into an unusually wide-ranging discussion of the role of judges. Thomas noted that federal judges are appointed for life, which means that although they might be criticized by politicians, the judges are insulated from real retribution.

Thomas is right. Which why all this handwringing from libertarian and liberal bloggers about conservatives wishing to overthrow the federal judiciary is ludicrous. Powerline makes a great point:

Glenn Reynolds on “mau-mauing” the judiciary. I believe in full-throated criticism of judges (individually and generally) where warranted, but I have to agree that talk about impeaching Justice Kennedy is over-the-top. For one thing, there are at least three Supreme Court Justices who are considerably less restrained than Kennedy. Not that they should be impeached either, not even Justice Ginsburg who is now on record to the effect that judges should look to foreign law in order to improve U.S. relations with the rest of the world. If her jurisprudence continues down that path one could make a case for impeachment. But wouldn’t the energy and political capital be better spent focusing on the confirmation of qualified conservative nominees, as opposed to engaging in a quixotic battle to remove sitting Justices?

Spot on. And frankly, I’m getting sick and tired of lawyers and other legal advocates telling me I’m an ignoramous, that I don’t understand “the law,” that we should leave this kind of criticism to the smart people because we’re just open mouthed red state hicks who don’t know diddly about squat…

BALDREDASH!

The American people who are outraged at the federal judiciary are exercising a constitutional right called free speech…and that’s a pretty easy one to understand. The fact that we don’t “understand” the law should make even those with their heads up their rear ends sit up and take notice. THE LAW IS NOT A PRIESTHOOD! There are no mystical chants, no communing with dead people, no garish rituals. The law is for the people. And when the people feel the law has betrayed their interests or their most sacred values then THE LAW HAS FAILED. In the case of Terri Schiavo, people believed strongly that judges themselves failed the people.

I too feel it over the top to talk about impeaching anyone. But Justice Thomas made a great point at the hearing today:

“I think the reason we have lifetime appointments is that we are supposed to be criticized,” Thomas said.

I hope all the lawbloggers out there read that and lay off the insults to those of us who may be ignorant of precedent and procedure, but smart enough to know what we think is right and what we believe to be wrong.

“BEYOND RUTHLESS”

Here’s the Iraqi insurgents worst nightmare:

MOSUL, Iraq—From inside a vacant building, Sgt. 1st Class Domingo Ruiz watched through a rifle scope as three cars stopped on the other side of the road. A man carrying a machine gun got out and began to transfer weapons into the trunk of one of the cars.

“Take him down,” Ruiz told a sniper.

The sniper fired his powerful M-14 rifle and the man’s head exploded, several American soldiers recalled. As he fell, more soldiers opened fire, killing at least one other insurgent.

The March 12 attack—swift and brutally violent—bore the hallmarks of operations that have made Ruiz, 39, a former Brooklyn gang member, renowned among U.S. troops in Mosul and, in many ways, a symbol of the optimism that has pervaded the military since Iraq’s Jan. 30 elections.

Sgt. Ruiz knows his job and does it extremely well. Read the entire article for an eye opening look at our guys and how they’ve got the bad guys on the run.

Damn proud of all of ‘em.

NEW NASA CHIEF A “CAN-DO” MAN

I wish all our bureacrats had this kind of attitude:

WASHINGTON – The Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee said today that he would push for swift confirmation of NASA Administrator nominee Mike Griffin with the intent of clearing him to report for duty Monday April 18.

Griffin said during his confirmation hearing before the Commerce Committee this morning that his two top priorities would be safe return to flight of the space shuttle fleet and eliminating the lengthy gap between retiring the shuttle fleet in 2010 and fielding a replacement vehicle, the Crew Exploration Vehicle now scheduled for its initial piloted launch in 2014.

With regard to the Crew Exploration Vehicle, Griffin noted that in the 1960s the Gemini program took only three years and the development of the Apollo capsule only about 6 years from contract award to flight He said NASA’s current plan to fly astronauts aboard the Crew Exploration Vehicle for the first time in 2014 “unacceptable”.

“The program that NASA has outlined so far features a new Crew Exploration Vehicle. – call it what you will—- that nominally comes on line in 2014. I think that is too far out,” Griffin told members of the Commerce Committee. “President Bush said not later than 2014. He didn’t say we couldn’t be smart and do it early. And that would be my goal.”

Griffin is also in favor of working in the on again off again Hubble repair mission that would keep the space telescope in orbit another 3 years at least.

Now if this guy can fight through the trauma caused by the Columbia explosion and reestablish some morale at the agency, he’d have my vote for “Bureacrat of the Year.”