James R. Rummel

I am a self defense instructor who lives in Columbus, Ohio.

A Blast From The Past

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Back in the bad old days of the Cold War, a lot of successful espionage projects run by the Soviets hinged on a certain type of snobbery.

You can see it most clearly when reading about the Cambridge Five, a spy ring consisting of several British high-bred good-old-boys. Recruited while attending a snooty college, they betrayed their country with elan and enthusiasm. The reason why they managed to get access to sensitive material was because they came from good families, and could use the connections formed during their school days to get jobs in government. Jobs that dealt with intelligence and secret information.

They had sources of sensitive info other than the documents they read while at the office. Other people in the spy game would let their guard down during casual conversation, and let slip some secrets. After all, this was their buddy from their university days! If you can’t trust someone who wears the same school tie, then the world makes no sense at all!

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Drawing From The Well A Few Times Too Often

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I thought everyone here would like to have a little glimpse into the French national pension system.

The news item linked to above is both short and written in English. Click the link and read the sidebar for a few thumbnail facts concerning who gets a pension, and what kind of money they can expect. A comparison to Social Security in the United States is not a futile exercise.

What I found interesting is how French workers with private sector jobs have to make do with 50% of their pay, and the base figure is found by averaging the 25 top earning years during their career.

Public sector employees, by contrast, receive 75% of their pay, and the base figure is found by averaging the last six months of their career.

It seems that this is inviting fraud, as I would certainly try my best to work as much overtime as possible during that last six months. Inflate the pay and get a better pension than I deserve.

Those who avoid sucking at the government teat are shafted in a lot of other ways as well. Private sector employees have to give up over 10% of their pay in order to fund the pensions, while government workers are only taxed less than 8%. Pretty good work if you can get it.

Read the whole thing. Like I said, it is short and to the point.

When Congresscritters Attack

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Holy Crap!

Follow the link to see an unprovoked assault on some college student when he asks a member of Congress a simple question.

Dan weighs in with some thoughts about self defense. I would much prefer it if people could carry pepper spray on the streets of Washington without first being required to register with the police. A little spritz in the eyes would not only have ended the attack toot sweet, but it would also produce a sight that I have become convinced is impossible.

A Democrat would cry real tears.

Nutty Nanny State

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I was born in 1964. The world seemed to be soaked in peanuts while I was growing up.

Peanut butter was considered to be the perfect health food for children, as well as pregnant women who wanted to only eat wholesome foods while carrying their child. It was free from animal products, you see.

A common snack were crackers slathered with the stuff. Desserts were sprinkled with crushed peanuts. Dry roasted peanuts were eaten at movie theaters. Peanuts roasted in the shell were passed out in order to keep the kids quiet, as most children would become fascinated by removing the husk in order to get at the nut inside. And, of course, peanut butter sandwiches were a quick, easy, and cheap lunch staple for just about every child growing up in the United States.

Were allergies to peanuts to be found in the general population back then? I’m certain that you could scare up a few people that suffered from it in those dark long ago days, but it wasn’t as if there were a lot of children dying from eating an ice cream sundae with peanuts on it.

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Amazing Coincidence

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Anyone remember the Russian submarine Kursk (K-141)? In the year 2000, it was severely damaged by an on board explosion and sank in relatively shallow water. All hands were lost.

(And yes, I know that Wikipedia is unreliable and should not be used as a reference. But it is the best brief encapsulation of the facts that I have found on this subject.)

Within days of the disaster, both the British and Norwegian military had offered the use of their underwater rescue teams. The Russians flatly refused, even though both of the foreign teams were probably the best trained and equipped in the world for retrieving crew from a stricken submarine. This proved to be a terrible mistake on the part of Russia, as budget woes since the fall of the USSR had caused maintenance to be cut back to the point that their own specialized rescue submersibles were no longer able to do the job.

What is more, then President Vladimir Putin found himself at the center of a great deal of negative PR. On vacation when informed of the disaster, he made the decision to continue relaxing while the rescue efforts started. It wasn’t until five days after the explosion that he made a public statement about the incident, lending to the impression that he was unconcerned about the lives of fellow Russians.

The humiliation of the Russian government was complete when it came to light that they didn’t even have the means to raise the wreckage from the sea floor! Two private Dutch companies had to do the work, making the initial refusal of help all the more poignant for the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives in the disaster.

I’m bringing up this bit of ancient history because I see some amazing parallels between the Kursk disaster, and the current problems with oil gushing from a damaged offshore well.

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