Stalins Organ
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Posts posted by Stalins Organ
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In short, they demand to continue to be overpaid.
Seems they'd rather take a chance with the unemployment line. Not very smart, if you ask me. Heck, by the time that date came around, the UAW (and the economy) could probably have been in a better position to demand concessions.
Isn't that the capitalist system tho - you're entitled to make be as thick as you like about the options you chose? Look at the banks recently....it's not like it's limited to blue collars.....
Or is someone (not necessarily Lars....) suggesting that the Govt should regulate conditions of employment??
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Yeah yeah - we're getting your picture all right - the UAW is responsible for everything bad in the auto industry, and unions in general are the antithesis of everything that is good about the capitalist system - it's only the rich that should be allowed to organise their resources, etc., etc......
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Perhaps that's a little over-simplifying things. Of significant effect was the maturation of Victorian 'volunteerism', which by this stage had seen talentless amatuers like Buller rise to a high level of responsibility. Relatedly was the hubris that had come from winning a series of smaller-scale conflicts over the past 50 years and the almost obessional idea that 'British pluck' would win out over anything, leading to a gneral malaise in doctrinal development. The ultimate fruit of this same phenomenon was also displayed in the early years of WW1.
what nonsense.
the British did a lot of doctrinal work prior to 1914, and it showed in the performance of the BEF.
They even continued it in the early years of the war - looking for answers to the defensive trench & MG combo.
Sadly for 20,000 men on 1 July 1916 they had got it wrong - but that was the kind of error that pretty much every army was making at the time - not getting the right answer to the defensive.
It was the German and French offensive doctrines in 1914 were truely abysmal and cost 10's of thousands of lives - teh Schiefflen plan was great as a strategy - but then it was carried out by troops who sometimes attacked in close columns within range of breach-loading-magazine rifles........ as did French infantry in the Battle of the Frontiers.
And while French & Haig are often despised for the casualties they lost they weer at least trying to make honest attempts to break the deadlock, nd hte result was that after 4 years of hard knocks the British army probably "had it" in terms of it's chosen path of heavy artillery & Aerial observation.
WW1 British forces certainly did inheret something from "Victorian volunteerism" - a realisation that it wasn't good enough and decade of trying to fix it.
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Hummers for the Infantry brigade.....
Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Target Acquisition Squadron- Headquarters and Headquarters Troop
- Mounted Reconnaissance Troop with HMMWVs (x 2)
- Dismounted Reconnaissance Troop
- Surveillance Troop
Bradleys & armoured Hummers for het Heavy:
Armed Reconnaissance Squadron- Headquarters and Headquarters Troop
- Armed Reconnaissance Troop (x 3)
- Armed Reconnaissance Platoon (x 2)
- M3 Bradley Cavalry Fighting Vehicle (x 3)
- M1114 Up-Armored HMMWV w/ Long-Range Advanced Scout Surveillance System (LRAS3) (x 5)
[*]120mm Mortar Section
- M3 Bradley Cavalry Fighting Vehicle (x 3)
- Armed Reconnaissance Platoon (x 2)
Strykers in the Stryker Brigade (well it figures really....)
Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Target Acquisition Squadron- Headquarters and Headquarters Troop
- Mounted Reconnaissance Troop (Stryker) (x 3)
- Surveillance Troop
- Headquarters and Headquarters Troop
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I'm as pissed as.......
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The UAW doesn't feel it needs to agree to anything. All they have to do is keep the Big Three (mostly GM) going until Obama takes office and the new congress is sworn in and they can get whatever they want. Now it's a matter of whether the Republicans will blink first - they don't want to upset all those Michigan voters either now that this whole thing has become a political circus act (McConnell has a stake in it too). If the Republicans can somehow get GM to file for Chapter 11 without giving the democrats an opening to pin it on them then we might see Chapter 11. If the Republicans will be painted as 'letting GM fail' and for causing fire and brimstone falling from the sky, dogs and cats living in sin, etc etc, then the Republicans will blink and you may even see some money coming from the 700 billion that was passed for the financial markets. The dems know they only have to get GM through to February - after that it's all gravy.
It's nice of the Republicans to make it easy for them
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There would have ben no 2nd attempt - Sealion was goign to use somethign like 10% of all of Europes barges, and 50% of it's (remaining) coastal shipping, plus all of the Kriegsmarine - about 25 or so (IIRC) Destroyers and Torpedo boats (the small destroyer type - not MTB types such as E-boats and S-boats), a handful of cruisers - likely most of that would have been lost.
plus all it's training U-boats were going to be diverted into operational service - again probably with heavy losses and commensurate loss of training abillity, prestige, etc.
At this stage of the war heavy units diverted to eth Med would have been the "headline" measure of force.
The Destroyers had already been signed for on Sept 2, so that was a done deal.
IMO a likely scenario is that an invasion attempt, even if defeated, would have alarmed the USA even more - they weer in no position to know the true ability of the Reich to launch another one, and an initial defeat might be seen as a prelude to a better organised attempt.
You are correct that Mussolini may have seen it differently of course - anything is possible - but I think a more likely scenario for him proceeding would be "let's show that German whippersnapper that we can do better than him"......
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German Ammunition Consumption during the Polish Campaign - lists Waffen und Geheimewaffen des deutschen Heeres 1933-1945 as it's source for a figure of 395 million 7.92mm rounds.
ammo on hand on 1 Sept was 7.3 BILLION such rounds........
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Yep - well the managers of the country can screw up just as much as the managers of a company and that particular bit of legislation seems pretty dodgy.
We also have voluntary unionism here - an employer is not allowed to stop employees joining unions - but there's nothing weird like having to make a choice under scrutiny - if you want to join a union you ring them up and tell them - I've joined, left and rejoined my union a couple of times in the last 6-7 years depending on how good or bad I thought their performace at the time.
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I don't see that. Italy would probably have gone ahead anyway since Mussolini was dancing to his own tune...or at least thought he was.
Maybe - but with a solid check to Germany, and Britain "triumphant" in Sealion leading to the complete destruction of the Kriegsmarine at the time there's room for a considerable boost to RN forces in "Mare Nostrum" and a perception that the UK would stand with Greece.
It is a possibility - nothing more.
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The losss of 250,000 men in England would have had massive political repercussions to - the Balkans might not have joined the Axis for example, Italy might not have been quite so eager to invade Greece.
Lots of "might have been"s to ponder!
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A map of the Stalingrad Airlift is available here - the distances are quite a bit further than the shortest distances from France to England, but comparable to those from the Netherlands, Western German & Brest
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You could use training aircraft in a transport role for that.
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Why do you have to lead them?
And why would you want to?
Give them the resources to kill each other ad infinitum - as soon as someone looks like getting on top switch to the under-dog......
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You need a decent field to take the weight of the loaded a/c when it lands or the tyres will sink into the earth and the plane will flip over - it doesnt' have to be tarmac, but it does have to be properly prepared.
Hence they didn't operate to and from any old flattened field at Stalingrad either.
Biggen hill was (and still is....) a couple of dozen miles inland - it's currently within the boundaries of greater London, as is the nearby Kenley - there were no major FC airfields in SE England.
I don't know what the timetable for advancing after Sealion was, but if they were relying upon Ju52's for resup, and they had to captuer suitable airfirelds to operate them from then it would seem a pretty dodgy proposition.
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What's this discussion about again?
Fascinating stuff....but is there a point??
SO......who barely passed marksmanship at 100m.......
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And what airstrips woudl be used in the UK?
Fighter Command's coastal ones were not much more than paddocks used for emergency landings. Tangmere and a couple of satellites would have been suitable, but they weer way down by Portsmouth, which wasn't a target for the initial invasion.
Dunno where bomber & coastal command ones were located.
and how many Ju-52's were available? None of the LuftFlottes used in BoB had any in their OOB's but they were around somewhere in transport and training units.....
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Vark wrote:
Keegan's book on war is very interesting, in that the majority of soldiers seem to replicate the ancient battles, where the aim was to intimidate your opponent not kill them.Which has always been my take on why berserkers and other "nutters" have been feared, and also those steely eyed veterans of Caesar's Xth Legion adn teh Old Guard - it's generally considered (by me at least) that the sooner the other guy runs away the safer you are.
If the other guy isn't going to run away......no matter how intimidating you look.....and you don't feel like running away either...then there's a serious psychological barrier created that has to be crossed - you actually have to kill or be killed.
this presupposes that you're not going to run away of course - knowing the other guy isn't going to run away may be just the ticket to persuade you that you should do so yourself!
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Libertarian or leftist narratives around these issues are so confusing, how could you "legalize" prostitution as many feminists and some others see it as a form of slavery?
Yes some still harp on along those lines. Most of the actual prostitutes see it as work.
there was an article here recently expressing pretty much that pov from some conservative women's group .......along with decrying the fact that there are still under-age prostitutes and saying that proves that legalisation has not worked.
Of course sex with under-age people is still illegal (for both genders) from other law and has got nothing at all to do with legalising the rest!
Moral relativism isn't necessarily the brightest thing ever imagined by man, that includes the postmodernists and feminists too.I have no idea what that means:confused:
Then again, you could criminalize soliciting paid sex like they did in Sweden, and put only men behind bars.Or you could make it legal and put no-one behind bars at all.
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The best thing to do in Afghanistan has always been to give money to whatever party is opposing those you don't like.
And don't be squeamish about changing support when it suits you.
Forget nation building - it's in a permanent state of civil war and the locals seem to like it like that so let them have at it and make sure no-one ever wins!
Look what happened when Persia stopped supporting both sides in Greece......
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WE have legalised prostitution here - brothels have to comply with local council land use guidelines (they are classed as a place of work), OSH requirements, pay income taxes, etc.
It hasn't stopped all the problems, but it's a bloody good start!
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If GM is paying pensions, it is no myth that the dollars are going out the door. This buzz I hear about '$70 being a big lie' is just another example of union spin. If a guy works for 30 years and takes a pension for another 20, it seems reasonable to work that into the accounting regarding hourly compensation.
Accounting for it is fine and it is definitely a real expense....but they are not getting paid it as any common person (as opposed to an accountant or tax lawyer) would understand it.
blaming it all on the unions is drivel - the unions get nothing that management doesn't agree to, and the USA has been collectively happy with the current arrangements (more or less) for the last 50-60 years by virtue of prefering the product.
Everyone who has ever bought a "big 3" car is as much to blame as the unions.
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Plagiarism is rife
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given the old saying that professionals talk logistics, perhaps the ol' taliban & AQ are getting a bit more profesional in their approach??!
and of course the flip side is that ISAF must be pretty thick not to have noticed a glaring weak spot like all their transport concentrated in lightly guarded compounds.....:eek:
What happens when the big 3 are gone?
in General Discussion Forum
Posted
The bit where you think I have some pathological need to disagree with some of it.