The Kitty Hawk and the Chinese Song

Here's something from the all too real world for you to chew on:

The USS Kitty Hawk was out on exercises in the Pacific Ocean somewhere between Japan and Taiwan with an escort of a dozen other warships.

Although the Kitty Hawk is an old vessel launched in 1961, she is still a super-carrier, 300 yards long, 4500 crew and enough fire power to blow the shit out of almost any place in the world. Especially in a multinational exercise, we'd expect her to be protected by the most advanced electronic, radar and sonar techniques of her escorts as well as things we probably don't even know the names of...

Suddenly, in the middle of all this imperial firepower, a submarine surfaces without warning near the Kitty Hawk. Unfortunately it was not one of the American, Japanese or Australian ships taking part in the exercise which began October 17. It was a Chinese Song class submarine, a modern diesel electric vessel 50 yards in length. which, had it been armed with torpedoes, and/or missiles, could have taken the carrier out.

By the way, last year, another one of these Song class subs got within 5 miles of the Kitty Hawk before it was detected -- that's not as close as this year, when the Chinese revealed their presence by coming to the surface of their own free will near to the carrier. [the link just above is from where I sponged the pic of a Song]

In fact, what the Chinese accomplished was what Native Americans on the Great Plains called "counting a coup" -- getting close enough to strike your foe was a sign of cunning and brave daring. Whatever the Chinese crew call it, you can be sure they were giving each other the Chinese equivalent of high-fives.

But don't you worry! America is safe!

Because, back in the United Sate of Texas, the Codpiece in Chief, visited recuperating vets at a military rehab center. While he was there he, along with some vets who still had arms, went to virtual Baghdad via a computer game and shot up a whole bunch of "bad guys"!

It is wonderful to know that the Decider-in-Chief is the kind of guy you could drink a beer with, it is even more wonderful to know that he is ready to go to war in a computer game.

But the most wonderfulest of all is that in 14 months this klutz will be out of a job!