Posted By RichC on August 13, 2005
A friend of mine pointed me to a great site from a journalist pertaining to all things automotive. Frank Giovinazzi is the publisher of Car Buyer’s Notebook and a companion Podcast site. He is easy to listen to in his short daily podcasts and works hard to write intriguing articles. His podcasts on biodiesel caught my immediate interest, but I found many of his topics of interest … you might too.
Posted By RichC on August 10, 2005
With oil prices on the rise again what can we surmise? A couple of days ago, U.S. light, sweet crude for September delivery rose to a record of $64 a barrel. What is interesting is to dig into the ‘crack spread’ between the different grades of refined light oils.
Those in the energy business observe ‘crack spreads’ and how dramatically they affect industries that are fuel intensive, such as shipping and aviation.
Jet fuel for example has had a much wider gap than in 2002. The spread was less than $3.00 per barrel then and is $11 per barrel today. This is extremely painful to airlines who are already cash strapped and suffering from high fuel prices. Fuel cost is only second to labor in the airline industry; they are all struggling to find ways to compete with such large price changes.
Gasoline has also seen changes in the ‘crack spread.’ The difference is $7.75 from a 2002 spread of $4.14 per barrel. That’s a double in spread compared to a quadruple that jet fuel has had. Motorist are feeling that at the pump this summer.
According to the Wall Street Journal, crude oil adjusted for inflation is the highest since November 1982. It still remains below its inflation-adjusted peak price of $94.77 set in April 1980, though. Many traders believe conditions are right for that number to eventually fall, but just as many believe that supply is really not that short and that significant gains are being made to put more crude oil into the system. I don’t believe anyone really knows?
What’s causing the Jet Fuel ‘crack spread’ change, Diesel Cars?
Well if you can believe staff reporter Melanie Trottman, who writes in the WSJ “Heard on the Street Column,” she is places the blame on diesel cars in part. She states, “Jet fuel and diesel fuel have similar components, and soaring demand for diesel-powered vehicles, particularly in Europe, is pushing up prices for both fuels. Greater industrial demand for diesel in China also has played a role. Airline executives complain that refiners, which in the past decade came off a long period of weak profit margins, have been slow to add new refining capacity, which is contributing to the high prices.”
Hmm … what’s going to happen when the ULSD hits the US next year and diesel cars sales, which are already seeing growth, are way up? VW and Mercedes are the lone diesel ‘car’ sellers today, but many European diesel manufactures are ramping up to export more diesel to the US.
Afterthought: According to their forecast, hybrids that currently account for 0.5 percent of the U.S. market are expected to conquer 3.5 percent of the American market by 2012. Diesels – a category of vehicles the USA has still not taken to – will grow from 3 per cent to 7.5 per cent. (JD Power)
Posted By RichC on August 6, 2005
Wow … what an Airventure. According to EAA records, about 700,000 people made their way to the Greatest Aviation Celebration in Oshkosh, Wisconsin this year. That number is well above 2004 and is also reflected in the participants as well. More than 10,000 aircraft visited the Oshkosh area including showplanes over the seven-day convention of 2,927. Of those aircraft, a record 1,267 homebuilts; 924 vintage aircraft; 386 warbirds; 196 ultralights; 130 seaplanes; and 24 rotorcraft were at Wittman Regional Airport.
My son Taylor and I were fortunate to be able to be there for a breakfast and visit on Saturday, July 30th, as were several from our EAA chapter. Although I didn’t see everyone, Eric Pfaltzer, Bob Luken, Brett and Debbie Hunter (and kids), Gordon and Laurie Penner. Also neighboring EAA 610’s president Don Gum and Frank Affinger of IAC 34 were spotted.
Saturday was a fantastic weather day for attending the show, although it also guarenteed a large crowd. While I was at the breakfast, Taylor took the opportunity to sneak into the exhibits early and had an opportunity to talk with Mike Melville of the Scaled Composites X-Prize fame.
Later in the day we were treated with an unplanned final public flight from White Knight and Spaceship One before permanent retirement at the Air and Space Museum in Washington DC. Burt Rutan commented on the flight characteristics and the loose knit group of ‘geeks’ that built and flew this design into space; he is such a character. He commented that the reason White Knight has afterburners is that “rocket guys like noise” and that he “found them cheap on Ebay.” I will say that watching the flyby was the icing on the cake for this years visit to Oshkosh.
Besides the duty of carrying Spaceship One, White Knight after its delivery of Spaceship One to Washingon DC, will be on loan to Boeing. I’m not sure exactly what they are testing? (stay tuned or let me know if you have information) Scaled Composites was also behind the round the world Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer flight. We had an second ‘first’ when it took to the air and left for its homebase in Kansas City. We were so close, and it was so wide, that we literally had to duck to let the ultra wide wingspanned plane made its way to the runway. It was great to see these two projects considering the success they had this past year.
There were plenty of aviation celebrities at Airventure this year. Patty Wagstaff was signing poster and doing her aerobatics.
Warplanes were probably the next big attraction, as usual. This year there were some 386 warbirds on display and flying. Taylor and I counted over 50 in the sky at one point during the show. It was impressive. From the awesome P38 Lightening (below) to the six B17s that were at the show.
A polished B25 was in the air as well, along with too many others for me to mention or include.
Besides the bombers, there were many more WWII fighters flying. P51 Mustangs and Navy Corsairs made their roar through the sky overhead. Fighter formations and high speed passes with the help of pyrotechnic special effect from crews on the ground, in combination with the medium and heavy bombers, were able to stun the crowd with noise, fire and smoke. It was an outstanding sychronized performance.
Besides the WWI (no photos) and WWII warplanes there were several vintage fighter jets flying and the ususual static displays of present day military planes. I found it head jerking when the jets were introduced behind the prop planes and can only imagine what it was like pitted against one during wartime. My father-in-law remembers clearly while navigating a B26 Martin Marauder in 1944 seeing German jets scream by. It was enough to put some real fear into these heroic airmen. Thankfully fuel, planes and pilots were a scarce commodity by the arrival of the first generation German jets.
Of course their were historic aircraft from the peacetime era as well. I remember planes like the Ford Tri-motors being used to service the Lake Erie Islands for many years when I was younger. There were several of these as well as a couple amphibious airplanes. I particularly enjoyed SC Johnson Carnauba as I have enjoyed reading about the expeditions.
I briefly enjoyed (ran out of time) looking at the many new Sport Pilot Aircraft as well as the many new planes and kit aircraft. I’ll include just one photo of the many beautifully built and maintained airplanes; heres a great looking Pitts Model 11 Superstinker.
I did get chance to walk over to the Sonex display (my project) and talk with several of the guys in the builders tent. Unfortunately the display was closed up but I did take a couple photos of parts I’m contemplating. (lights on the wingtips, landing lights and fiberglass stab tips)
Now that the show is over and we are back home preparing for our own local FlyIn, I realize how much I enjoy being a member of this great organization. I hope my small participation and enthusiasm will keep the EAA alive for many years to come. From a small grass strip like ours focused on flying and maintaining antique aircraft to the edge of space and back, I’m proud to be part of the EAA
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Posted By RichC on August 2, 2005
I had planned on updating our trip to the Canadian Rockies daily, but as with most vacations, the time went by way too fast, besides that, the days were long and tiring. My son and I flew into Calgary, Alberta the last week in July and were picked up by Jeff, a long time friend in Canmore. Thankfully he monitored our flight delay that connected in Chicago and didn’t have too long to wait. The Calgary International Airport is extraordinarily nice and wouldn’t be a bad place to sit and wait … although we didn’t.
The terminal is an internet ‘wifi hotspot‘ and has multiple leather lounging chairs scattered throughout. The customs area is well organized and expedited our entry into Canada and obviously it has undergone an efficient 9/11 security update.
Our drive toward Canmore and the Canadian Rockies was warm and sunny. We had just missed a few days of cooler weather and rain, up to 4 inches. Canmore is an old mining town that is surrounded by provincial parks which has created a building boom and land shortage as development has increased. The property value has increased quickly as interest in a vacation homes or the early retirement mentality has taken hold. Interestingly, Robin Williams was in town the week we were there and a property up the street was sold to another Hollywood celebrity. Our focus was on the hiking and mountain biking and enjoying the beauty of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, although my friend Jeff did take us to Murrieta’s Westcoast Grill for a classy meal. We unpacked and settled into a fantastic home, owned by Jeff’s brother Conrad, with wonderful views of the mountains. (the Three Sisters are prominate peaks from a deck on the main floor)
Our first day was a tourist day and we loaded up the Toyota Landcruiser and heading for Lake Louise. The place was inundated by people from all around the world, especially Japan. There were a group of German students staying at the Chateau Lake Louise that we noticed in the airport upon arrival, but thankfully they looked to have been recovering from a long flight.
Thankfully our start was relatively and we headed toward Mirror Lake, the Teahouse, Lake Agnes and the beehive. (this was a trail I hiked in 1976 and 1989 so I enjoyed the memories) It continues to be a popular day hike and offer outstanding views of the lake below and a ‘spot of tea’ for those interested. About half the way up to the teahouse, there is a resting point at Mirror Lake where several trails including horse trails, meet. From this point there is an outstanding view of the beehive of which the backside has switchback trails that can be hiked by those with strong legs and good balance.
Once to Lake Agnes, the teahouse offers an outstanding view of Lake Louise, the glacier and Chateau below. College age students spend their summers working and sleeping in the teahouse and return to the Chateau once or twice a week to shower. (they bunk in the loft) What a great hike. If you only have a short time to spent in the area, this one is a great hike.
Another area that we wanted to see was Kananaskis Country One of the great hikes in this area is from the lakes to the top of Mt. Indefatigable. The first part is entirely woodlands and is ideal bear country ( make some noise) and the second segment is rocky and very steep leading to a summit at over 7000 feet. We had great views of the lakes below and even though there is sun, the winds can get be a bit chilly.
I photographed flora and fauna most of the trip. I stopped at about every different flower along the trail, and there were many. I still have to catalog them, but that’s for another time. We didn’t see any bears although there have been several attacks this summer. There were also several recent articles and postings around the area cautioning hikers and backpackers to be on their guard. Elk, deer and goats were everywhere but we only saw one moose.
The final day in Canada was a mountian bike ride from the higher country in Kananaskis to the town of Baniff, famous for the Banff Springs Hotel (photo below). The trail was called Goat Creek and followed the mountain lake to its meeting with the Bow River. What a terrific ride as at least the elevation change was ‘down.’ (thankfully) There were some challenging grades, but we did finally make it for a late lunch at a great spot in Banff called Brunos. Barbequed buffalo burgers were the fair of choice … I’m not sure if it was the riding or the tasty burger? Nevertheless we had a great ride.
All in all, it was a memerable trip. Tons of photos, funny generational buzzwords and laughter. I had fun improperly using words like “shredding and cheddaring” as we worked our way down the mountains. Of course I also did the annoying “TDI, TDI, TDI” as we crossed a VW diesel; I think I was skating on thin ice with both my son and Jeff. 🙂 It sure was nice to be able to enjoy the company of your son and best friend … I only hope it continues for many years. (ahh … but the trip is not over. I hope to detail Airventure 2005 as we detoured to Oshkosh on our trip back to Cincinnati … AND it was the best yet!)
Posted By RichC on July 24, 2005
I continually am grateful for those voluteering to fight terrorism abroad, assisting people trapped under brutal murdering dictators or extremist fanatics and exemplifying the decency Americans stand for. There isn’t much doubt that serving our country in the armed forces is a high risk business. One such capture enemy video clip opens ones eyes to exactly how intimate and dangeous serving in Iraq can be. This is made clear when watching a capture enemy video tape of a sniper taking a shot at one of our medics: download the 2 meg WMV Mediaplayer clip. (Reposting from Jack Army’s Blogspot)
Comments from Jack Army:
The video footage recovered from the snipers van showed this team was likely involved in at least two sniping incidents during the course of the day. The team appears excitable during the first attempt which failed to hit their indented mark. The second detailed attempt depicts the successful engagement of the medic. In this engagement the sniper takes his time even as his spotter cries out for him to shoot more quickly. The snipers disciplined shot scored on the SAPI plate of the Medics IBA inside the 10 ring.
The van which the AIF sniper team used was modified to conceal the shooters presence and to make it easier to evade capture. With the absence of the rear window and the attachment of the window screen the cameraman/spotter and sniper were able to conduct surveillance of potential targets without discovery. AIF cut a small 1-2 inch square hole in the top portion of the screen for these observation purposes.
The van was patterned after the Washington D.C. snipers.
After viewing the video you realized what a close call PFC Stephen “Doc” Tschiderer had. Thanks to our excellent equipment and training, this medics life was spared, although only barely.
From: Steve Tschiderer [edited]
Date: July 3, 2005 3:31:23 PM EDT
Subject: Thank you for saving my life
Dear Point Blank,
First let me say thank you for saving my life!! I am forever grateful!!!! My name is PFC Stephen Tschiderer, and I am currently deployed to Bagdhad, Iraq. Yesterday July 2 2005, I was on patrol and while proving security around my Humvee, I was shot by a sniper. This sniper was useing a Draganov sniper rifle with AP rounds. The round struck me at an angle and did not come through the SAPI plate. enclosed are some pics of the plate and what the round did to me, which thanks to you guys is only a small mark. My family and everyone that knows me sends our thanks and keep up the GREAT work.
THANK YOU AGAIN!!!
PFC Stephen “Doc” Tschiderer
E Troop 101 CAV 256BCT
Bagdhad, Iraq
Posted By RichC on July 22, 2005
I’m probably not the only one, but I’m addicted to tech ‘gadgets,’ no … let me correct that … any ‘gadget.’ I have this insane weakness for interesting new toys. They are most definitely ‘wants,’ but not necessarily ‘needs;’ a lecture my kids hear far too often. Is it a ‘need’ or a ‘want?’ The latest ‘gadget’ is called the Slingbox from Slingmedia.
After seeing an article by Walt Mossberg in the WSJ, I just had to have this little gadget. Basically it connect your home tv/tivo/dvd/dvr signal to your broadband (cable/dsl) router and sends the signal to a registered device over your network, including out over the internet. (my interest in being able to connect when away from home) BTW … here is an MP3 audio interview (rightclick/saveas- 1 meg) with Walt Mossberg talking about the Slingbox.
The release date of the product was early July, it was postponed twice and sort of frustrating as each ship date grew close; it shipped on July 20th. In keeping with “Finagle’s Law” (aka: Murphy’s Law), my Slingbox arrived while I was out of town. Anyway, today I set up the box which is pretty straight forward for those familiar with connecting the plugs on the back of TVs. You first connect the signal you wish to work with to the box, then the network connections. There are multiple options for the variety of hookups, but I found that starting simple is perhaps the wisest. The next step in my case was a bit tricky, but as long as you have DHCP enabled on your router things should work fine. (if you have multiple routers, be sure the Slingbox is on #1)
Next, install the software onto the computer you wish to use the Slingbox on. Its a self installer the has an updater and yes there is already and update and glitch with certain serial numbered boxes. (the price you pay when you must have a new gadget!) The installation ‘could’ go well, depending on your hardware situation as the auto config installer tries to make it easy. In my case I needed to ‘manually’ configure my router to work. That said it worked well on my home network and streams a signal through its proprietary software and viewer called “SlingPlayer.” (screenshot from my notebook below)
I was impressed with the better than average quality of the small images that one usually sees with video streams, but its still not ready for full screen viewing IMHO, so don’t toss your TV just yet.
Next was a run to my local Panera Bread WiFi spot. (using it requires a broadband connection) It must have been set up correctly because I was instantly connected to the channel I had running at home. There is a latency though when it comes to changing channels, etc. Such is the nature of using the internet as your remote control I suppose. (maybe 2-3 seconds?) They do include a feature that devotes more bandwidth to the control and stutters the video/audio, but its still not instant. (kind of like satellite TV latency) Nevertheless the signal was fairly good and I did not experience a signal drop in the stream for the 30 minutes I watched. I captured a blerp of MP3 sound test from my morning coffee shop visit today. I’ll send out a plea for help here … any really good ‘shareware’ program available that will capture the video and audio stream? (I might play with HiDownload Pro when I have time)
As for price, I paid a little over $200 on a preorder from BestBuy.com. So far so good, we’ll see just how much I used it when traveling. I’ll give it a good test next week while in the Canadian Rockies doing some hiking and fishing. (I am suppose to have broadband where I’ll be stating in Canmore! 🙂
Posted By RichC on July 20, 2005
David Pimentel, professor of ecology and agriculture at Cornell University claims there is no energy benefit to using plant biomass for liquid fuel.
“The United States desperately needs a liquid fuel replacement for oil in the near future but producing ethanol or biodiesel from plant biomass is going down the wrong road, because you use more energy to produce these fuels than you get out from the combustion of these products,” he said.
Point:
Pimentel and Tad W. Patzek, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Berkeley, conducted a study of the energy input-yield ratios of producing ethanol from corn, switch grass and wood biomass as well as for producing biodiesel from soybean and sunflower plants. They assessed inputs such as energy used in production of pesticides and fertilisers, running farm machinery and irrigating, grinding and transporting the crop, and in fermenting/distilling the ethanol from the water mix.
Their study found that, for ethanol production, corn needed 29% more fossil energy than the fuel produced, that switch grass needed 45% more and that wood biomass required 57% more than it produced. For biodiesel production they found that soybean plants needed 27% more energy than it produced and that sunflower plants needed 118% more.
Counterpoint:
The Cornell study actually has 1-1/2 pages that details how it arrived at its opinion on ‘soy’ based biodiesel’s efficiency and the media articles even less; the study used data from 1990 agricultural information and completely ignored the value of the soymeal, glycerin, etc. (BTW: note that Dr. Pimentel and Patzek head the UC Oil Consortium at Berkeley)
On the other hand, The US Department of Energy’s study, using recent agricultural data from the US Department of Agriculture (2002) concludes something far different from the heavily publicized Cornell story. Their report concluded that for every one unit of fossil energy used in this entire production cycle, 3.2 unit of energy are gained when the fuel is burned, or a positive energy balance of 320%. This study started with bare soil and took into account all the energy inputs associated with growing and harvesting soybeans: transporting and processing the soybeans into oil and meal, transportation and production of the soybean oil into biodiesel, and transportation of the biodiesel to the end user.
This 286 page PDF study can be found at National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
It is disappointing that the Pimentel study gets so much press when a far more detailed report, using more recent data, is available to the media. Just like the NYTimes writer interviewing select hybrid owners and using only comments that supported the story’s objective, I believe that most of the 200+ recent releases of the Cornell study have mislead their viewers and readers too.
Posted By RichC on July 11, 2005
EAA Chapter 284 had another great meeting on Sunday afternoon. The weather was warm and atomsphere at Red Stewart field enjoyable. As always, I enjoy the feeling of stepping back in time surrounded by flying antique aircraft and the the rustic grass field (40I) that many taildraggers call home. Long live Red Stewart Field. 🙂
After our cookout of burger, brats and a variety of side items we enjoyed an informative talk and question/answer conversation with Frank Black on ‘rotorcrafts. He explained the many advantages of his unique designs and was pretty convincing that the ‘rotorfan’ jet aircraft will eventually be used in place of traditional blades found on helicopters, etc in improving vertical flight. The model Modus Verticraft was shown (see photo) to demostrate the Jet Limousine possiblity of this design. The high lift rotorfan concept allows the blades to be retracted for horizonal high speed flight and extended slightly for low speed vertical flight and manuvering. Theoretically the Verticraft could exceed all helicopter designs todate and cruise in excess of 600 knots at altitudes up to 35,000 ft. For those of us in attendance, it was a real treat as the concept is something seriously in our future.
Our thanks to Frank for giving us a great survey from his many years of study into ‘better’ rotorcrafts. His building, flying experience and research was quite impressive, in fact impressive enough for him to have received a couple patents and the ear of the United States military.
He is a longtime member of the Cincinnati Rotorcraft club that meets east of the city and has had membership struggles just like most aviation clubs. New, ambious ‘younger’ members are not always easy to find … don’t we know it.
Before leaving the airfield, we also had the chance to take a look at a recently aquired Pitts project down a couple doors from our chapter hanger. It was a great find on ‘Trade-a-Plane” and looks to be in excellent shape. From what we could tell, the workmanship was excellent.
I did have an opportunity to take a few photos of Pat Letarte as he fly home; I forwarded the full sized photos to him, but will include a couple here since flying always tops off a chapter meeting. Great meeting, great food, great people.
Posted By RichC on July 8, 2005
* Year to Date figures for VW in the Americas
Painfully for VW, its a continual release of news from reporters covering the VW scandel and lousy business performance. Just today another article was in published in (July 8, 2005) Wallstreet Journal.
In summary (and opinion) of the many articles I’ve read over the last several days, I’ve concluded that VW has an long uphill climb, not easily recognized from a US perspective. As Stephen Power, a WSJ reporter, indicates, “much of Germany is riveted by an investigation in to bribery allegations at VWAG” and the internal shake up happening “behind the scenes at Europe’s largest car maker in terms of sales.”
Much of Germany’s debate is whether to keep Gerhard Schroder as chancellor … but to many, attempting to figure out how to keep VW from losing money is even more critical. The problem stems from “poor product quality, underutilized plants and German auto-manufacturing wages – the highest in the world.” One major problem is that the US division of VW accounts for 60% of unit sales and had a shocking 52 million dollar lost last year … in part due to Dave’s slumping stellar sales. I added that last bit to see who is still reading. 🙂 Most likely the real impact is slumping US auto sales and the difficulty in selling a retooled VW lineup against the heavily discounted ’employee pricing’ marketed brands. The US sales problem for VW is that their sales have fallen 24% in the last year … over what was not necessarily a stellar previous year.
Volkswagen AG has hired a American educated DaimlerChrysler AG guy, Wolfgang Bernhard, and charge him with the turning VW around in both quality and profitablity. At the Chysler Group he did this with slashing costs in production development. Little is being said publicly about his ideas, but concerns between labor in Germany with a 11.6% unemployment rate and high Eurodollar-to-other currency exchange rates will make moving more jobs overseas (ie. Mexico, etc) a necessity although complicated task when dealing with German labor. This problem has been faced by US automakers, but is particularly a problem in Europe in that the largest shareholder is the German state of Lower Saxony … which in keeping with German law require half the seats on the company board to be worker representatives. (again … at a time of 11.6% German unemployment.)
Obviously the bribery scandel is adding fuel to the fire. The allegations are that top Volkswagen officials paid bribes to the company’s top labor leaders as a way to secure cooperation in contract negotiations. Their is also allegations the these Volkswagen officials themselves accepted bribes from parts suppliers. What a mess. The scandel and poor performance is bound to have an effect on management and we are already beginning to see the rats jumping ship. Klaus Volkert, head of the works council, unexpectedly resigned but has denied any criminal wrongdoing.
The industry analysis have pretty much concluded that success at VW will depend on the willingness to cut jobs as capacity is only at 81% which is far below their competitors. (93 and 95% for Toyota and RenaultSA) According to Stephen Cheetham an analysis with Sanford Bernstein, any decisions to cut jobs “has implications for the whole of Germany and German employment.”
VW has made a decided push to improve quality, it has yet to have been seen, but is part of Bernhard’s focus. Seemingly his goal is to raise quality and reduce complexity in Volkswagen cars. The move toward a ‘premium brand’ has not worked well and sales of the popular Golf have fallen as well. He has told his engineers not to worry about keeping up with brands like Mercedes-Benz and focus on competing on value with Toyotas that have been gobbling up European marketshare. (Reminds me of US automakers?) Mr. Bernhard has told his engineers to review their new models and find way to eliminate needless frills. According to the Volkswagen spokesman, Mr. Grosse-Leege, Berharhard says to the staff, “we have to cut this amount of cost from the car or we’re are not going to build the car” He goes on to indicate that “the Japanese are attacking Europe … and that we are going to have to fight them.”
A continual message is “quality,” and Bernhard delivered a “blunt message to VW workers” that they need to raise quality. A bonus structure is being offered to managers that is tied to quality improvements.
There is no question that VW as a whole is in an uphill climb. There quality is lagging, sales are down, desired models unavailable and inefficient German labor connections already experiencing high unemployment dragging on a turnaround. Add to this the allegations of bribes that go both ways along with a management shake up and making VW profitable again becomes even more of a challenge.
Posted By RichC on July 7, 2005
The comment from a shaky Abigail Milner (15 meters from a London blast) asked the question poised by many: “Why?”
It is difficult to understand the desire terrorist choosing to kill civilians in exposing their hate for our way of life. It only proves to continually show their cold blooded murdering ways throughout the world. At some point those building democratic governments with assistance of coalitions actions, will value freedom for their children and be the biggest help in this war. Stay the course as it is one that will eventually be the way to defeat worldwide terror.
For those of ‘ours’ on the front lines combating terror … please keep the pressure on those committing these atrocities and stamp out those spreading their idiologies. If you needed a shot in the arm to continuing your mission, these kinds of heartless actions by our enemies should help your resolve that your battle is honorable.
The fight is not only against the insurgents in Iraq and Afganistan (or the special forces missions), but a fight to eliminate the training of terrorist and their leaders from preventing these kinds of attacks. (including those in a defensive posture here at home) Passivism that believes these horrific terrorist actions will stop if we backdown and disengage from the places terrorists are most active, IMHO would only give a free pass for growing and continuing even bigger and more damaging attacks. Let’s use these cowardly acts to step up the fight, build an even more agressive coalition of those respecting human life to eliminate those chosing violence against civilians. As Britian’s Prime Minister stated this morning, “We shall prevail, and they shall not.”