Which means that the ERMP can be flown by young enlisted men, instead of by the ex-fighter pilots

Have they asked any of the 13 year olds who hang out at the display video game unit at my local CompUSA?

I swear, any one of those guys could take out an entire enemy division, no extra training necessary.

"Using a variety of sounds from human voice to music to sound effects (screams, shouts, gunfire, sirens, and the like)..."

MUAD'DIB!

Sigh. I've got to get you off the Defense Tech bandwagon one of these days, Ace.

Or is bandwagon a football term?

FWIW, the in-vogue terminology is shooting down archers versus shooting down arrows. Obviously, the first is preferrable, but involves very different requirements than the latter (good intelligence to find the launchers, pre-positioning to be in place during a crisis, ability to hit the target either on the ground before it launches or in boost-phase-- the easiest point to take out a missile and warhead in flight).

BTW, that last bit is funny for any number of reasons, but I'll just pick one that tickles my fancy: Schactman's thinly-veiled insinuation that Ellison's educational background doesn't give him intellectual standing to argue the merits of missile defense.

If Noah really believes he's scoring a point here, I'll be waiting for his snarky attitude to hit up Global Security.org's John Pike, who he lovingly quotes all the time. Pike has plenty of opinions on missile defense, and he doesn't even have an undergraduate degree.

I guess to Noah being largely or wholly "self-taught" in this field only matters if you reach the opinions he already holds.

Cheers,
Dave at Garfield Ridge

I'm not sure it's Schactman. It's posted by "RC."

Oh. Must've missed that. Never mind.

Actually, I know Noah. Well, sorta, wink-wink. Good guy, iffy politics, and his site often reflects that. Hence my natural leap to confusion above.

Sorry for being that prick, Noah. Much love and kisses.

Then again, in the end, I'm just jealous that I never get to talk in detail about why he's wrong when he's wrong.

Damn this whole "government" thing sometimes.

Cheers,
Dave at Garfield Ridge

RC was snarky about the athlete but Jeff in the comment section made him swallow some of that snark.

I saw LRAD's in the gulf. Basically we hooked them to an iPod or similar mp3 player and sent out warnings in arabic. Pretty slick. About the size of a stop sign, but only 6".

Definitely don't want to try hand-holding it though. One little sneeze and your buddy could be deaf.

Must be something in that Bay Area water.

http://www.vh1.com/artists/news/1450113/10172001/steely_dan.jhtml

As a member of the Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan, and as a session guitarist for Carly Simon, Bryan Adams, Ringo Starr and many others, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter has been a clandestine rock and roll hero since the '70s. Now, as a specialist in terrorism, missile defense and chemical and biological warfare, he's also a covert hero for the U.S. military.