The Army has let slip one of the worst-kept secrets in the world — that Israel has the bomb.

Officially, the United States has a policy of “ambiguity” regarding Israel’s nuclear capability. Essentially, it has played a game by which it neither acknowledges nor denies that Israel is a nuclear power.

But a Defense Department study completed last year offers what may be the first time in a unclassified report that Israel is a nuclear power. On page 37 of the U.S. Joint Forces Command report, the Army includes Israel within “a growing arc of nuclear powers running from Israel in the west through an emerging Iran to Pakistan, India, and on to China, North Korea, and Russia in the east.”

The single reference is far more than the U.S. usually would state publicly about Israel, even though the world knew Israel to be a nuclear power years before former nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu went public with facts on its weapons program in 1986.

Several years later investigative reporter Seymour Hersh published “The Samson Option,” detailing IsraelÂ’s strategy of massive nuclear retaliation against Arab states in the event it felt its very existence was threatened. IsraelÂ’s nuclear arsenal has been estimated to range from 200 to 400 warheads.

Yet Israel has refused to confirm or deny itÂ’s nuclear capabilities, and the U.S. has gone along with the charade.

As recently as Feb. 9 President Barack Obama ducked the question when asked pointedly by White House correspondent Helen Thomas whether he knew of any country in the Middle East that has nuclear weapons. Keeping the blinders on is necessary politically in order to avoid a policy confrontation with Israel.

By law, the U.S. would have to cease providing billions of dollars in foreign aid to Israel if it determined the country had a nuclear weapons program. ThatÂ’s because the so-called Symington Amendment, passed in 1976, bars assistance to countries developing technology for nuclear weapons proliferation.

Given the U.S.Â’s long history of selective blindness when it comes to Israeli nukes, itÂ’s unlikely that the Joint Operating Environment 2008 report compiled by the Army amount to much more than a minor faux pas.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz, in a March 8 article on the report, observed: “It is virtually unheard of for a senior military commander, while in office, to refer to IsraelÂ’s nuclear status. In December 2006, during his confirmation hearings as Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates referred to Israel as one of the powers seen by Iran as surrounding it with nuclear weapons. But once in office, Gates refused to repeat this allusion to Israel, noting that when he used it he was ‘a private citizen.’”

– Bryant Jordan

[From US Army Confirms Israeli Nukes; Israeli Aid At Stake]

Wired reports:

Huge news for real-life ray guns: Electric lasers have hit battlefield strength for the first time — paving the way for energy weapons to go to war.

In recent test-blasts, Pentagon-researchers at Northrop Grumman managed to get its 105 kilowatts of power out of their laser — past the “100kW threshold [that] has been viewed traditionally as a proof of principle for ‘weapons grade’ power levels for high-energy lasers,” Northrop’s vice president of directed energy systems, Dan Wildt, said in a statement….

The battlefield-strength breakthrough is just one part in a larger military push to finally make laser weapons a reality, after decades of unfulfilled promises. The Army recently gave Boeing a $36 million contract to build a laser-equipped truck. Raytheon is set to start test-firing a mortar-zapper of its own. Darpa is funding a 150 kilowatt laser project that is meant to be fitted onto “tactical aircraft.”

Hmph. Call me old fashioned, but I still believe in lethality via high-velocity iron. Lasers sound cool enough, but furiously pushing to deploy them on the battlefield gives me this “someone watched too much Star Trek” vibe — like there’s a secret cabal of Pentagon geeks out there trying to make the Star Fleet a reality.

So the benefits are… what? Ammunition becomes obsolete, logistics simplify. IEDs will be safer to clear and incoming mortars easier to pluck from the skies. And no doubt the nifty -however pricey- airborne laser would be formidable, if it works as advertised.

But even Boeing, one of the technology’s most vociferous advocates, seems a bit dubious on the awesome factor for battlefield energy weapons, bragging: “…the system also took a step toward demonstrating a counter-unmanned aerial vehicle capability by destroying two small unmanned aerial vehicles that were stationary on the ground.“

Two parked UAVs eh? Suppose the broad-side of a barn was unavailable for targeting.

So color me skeptical. No doubt there’s some practical warfighting application here, but when I picture Star Wars-esque blaster fights, I can’t help but to picture smirking insurgents holding up their bathrooms mirrors as body armor. Though as a matter of record, I will gladly eat my words if Boeing discovers a way to fix these things to a shark’s head.

–John Noonan

[From Battlefield May Soon See Frickin' Lasers]

I came across this great little blog showing actual real life experiences dealing with ridiculous customers.  Here is an example:

I always love these little things where they take your site stats and put a value on it.  Considering I pulled up Raphaels domain, and it was twice the value I am a bit skeptical, I would think his to be at least 10x more.

Turn your mind away from things which are not permanent. – Buddha

It’s been a long road. 3 months ago I left my job and the beautiful mountains of North Carolina and headed west to the City of Angels. It was this weekend that the wedding was planned. But plans don’t always go as planned. I spent almost two and a half months looking for work, found 1 temp job and a little bit of side work doing networking and web design. After 2 months the budget ran thin, and I found myself staying in a motel while continuing to look for work.

I had a financial milestone set that if I reached was considered as the point of no return. It was either stick out my last resources and tempt another month or head east. The destination was NY, as I had a fail safe to drive limo till I found something better. Along the way I would stop in Denver, visit my sister and check out what possibilities Denver had. Within less than 2 weeks I had 2 job offers on the table. One working night shift at a hospital as a security guard in the ER, and the second as a counselor working with in-crisis teens.

Security guard would have been interesting but I think in the long haul it I would have found it boring, and it was a Thurs – Mon on the third shift. I would have spent my time working with the patients in ER, which would have been rewarding enough. I ended up opting for counselor at the Shiloh House. It will be much like my work at Eckerd Youth Alternatives, minus the outdoor work as well as the 24 hr shifts for 5 to 20 days.

So NY is on hold, as I see where this brings me. Denver is a good city, lots of opportunities, and is still growing. I have family here, there’s the mountains, the city, the snow, and rocking thunderstorms.

Thanks to everyone who has been out there building up contacts and forwarding around my resumes.

Next step the apartment, hmmmmm… or maybe a cabin.

Like Rome, Byzantium, Russia the US will have it’s day. Much like those countries and empires the US is focused on Power and Money, and it forgets about the needs of it’s people. You are all probably wondering what brought this up. Well as many of you know I have been on the job hunt for quite a while when I was out in Los Angeles. I was suppose to get a job at Herbalife, which would have brought me a very nice paycheck, somewhere in the 60,000 to 80,000 area.

Due to circumstances I have left LA and am now in Denver and have been looking at counseling opportunities, much like what I did at Eckerd Youth Alternatives. Not to my surprise they are offering $8.75 – $9.54 /hr at Outward Bound. Clearly people don’t do this for the money. When I worked at Eckerd we were paid for each day that we worked, which was a 24/hr day, and we would work anywhere from 5 days to 21 days straight. There was a lot of personal investment put in, and understandably < 10% of counselors would actually complete their 2 year contract. When we figured out the hourly it came out to be less than $3/hr for a new counselor, as a Senior Counselor you made less than $4/hr.

Where the hell are our priorities when we focus more on things like programming, diets, oil, gaming, Internet, TV, Clothing, etc and just toss our youth aside. I think it’s time we re-evaluate our priorities.

The candidate that can do that will get my vote.

On Fri. July 11th, I will officially be leaving Los Angeles and heading to New York. I will temporarily be staying out on the Island over at my dads. I have already started my job search, and have contacted many of my old acquaintances there. I will be stopping in Denver along the way to visit my sister, her husband and the kids. The trip will take approximately 4 days or so, so I should be arriving in NY on the 15. Based on my budget and time I may swerve North and stop by Raphael’s place up in Buffalo, as of right now will be playing that leg by ear.

If by any chance anyone has any leads in the NY or even Boston area I am all ears. See you all in a few days. Posting will be sparse here to NY. snic snic’.