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Just came across a fascinating website called Information is Beautiful.

One of the articles that caught my eye was one about military spending & size when taking wealth and population into account.

It doesn’t seem fair to not factor in the wealth of a country when assessing its military budget.

So, if you take military budgets as a proportion of each country’s GDP, a very different picture emerges.

The US is knocked down into 8th place by such nations as Jordan, Burundi and Georgia. The UK plunges to 29th.

Valerie Plame Wilson must be involved in what I dub the “Unicorn Express,” borrowing from other sources.  A seemingly mystical and illogical quest for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons.  I first caught a glimpse of her on CNN.com and thought, “Was that Valerie Plame?”  Indeed.  Skip to 0:35 for her sound byte.

Then check out TED’s website about the session she opened where her name links to this group’s website.

I think my thoughts are pretty much in line with Bill Kristol’s back after Obama’s speech in Prague.

From Bill Kristol’s “A World Without Nukes — Just Like 1939″ April 7, 2009 Article  —-

Of course, we had a world without nuclear weapons not so long ago — say, in 1939. The war that began in that nuclear-free world led to a crash project to develop nuclear weapons. It ended with America’s use of them…

Yet to justify a world without nuclear weapons, what Obama would really have to envision is a world without war, or without threats of war.

As soon as we get rid of nuclear weapons though, we ought to get rid of unicorns.  They have a pointy horn.

A new organization started by Liz Cheney, someone I love seeing debate democrats on foreign policy and national defense.

Their “Rhetoric vs. Reality” video is excellent.

While news of this report circulated, many on the right were flabbergasted that this administration’s Department of Homeland Security would release such a report. There seemed to be an overall knee jerk reaction to it from many republicans.  However, I think that when one considers it as a report dealing primarily with white supremacist groups and the like, it seems plausible, but still in line with the juvenile mistakes Obama’s administration has been making since day one.  Some of the language is ambiguous at best, identifying extremists as advocating fundamental conservative issues such as states rights and abortion.

Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.

Can you imagine a report during Bush’s administration that said to “be on the lookout for left wing extremists that advocate an anti-war opinion and favor impeachment of the President?” And on top of that, states for all to see that there is no evidence of anything bad being planned.

Overall, the report lacks a solid foundation when it comes to details and facts.  Jonah Goldberg seems to capture my feelings in his article at the National Review.

The problem with it is that it makes little effort to document or demonstrate its contention that “extremist” groups are resurgent, that they are right-wing, or that they may be formed from the ranks of “disgruntled military veterans.” Worse, it’s very sloppy about what qualifies someone as “extremist” in the first place. Basically, it’s fancy bureaucratese for: We’re guessing bad people will do bad things because the economy is bad and the president is black. But we have no real evidence.

I find the current situation off the coast of Somalia surprising.  It seems a lot of people are discussing how the US Navy is not going to be able to manage patrolling an area that large.  I don’t see how massing uber-powerful warships will do much more than simply provide a mechanism of response, as the recent episode with the Maersk’s captain shows.  To me, the simplest solution seems to be to put several well trained and heavily armed professionals on these cargo vessels.  Some indicate this would only escalate the level of violence and weapons the pirates would employ.  So match them.  At some point, the extensive wealth and power of industrialized nations needs to show that it is futile for puny thieves to take people hostage.

Instead of spending however much money to patrol with however many warships, use those resources to simply blunt any sort of attack right there on the ship.  If a few determined merchant sailors can disrupt a pirate attack, imagine what a dozen urban trained soldiers with firepower can do.

In the scheme of things, it seems like this pirate thing is like gnats and we’re a human.  Instead of trying to swat at them with our giant hands when they bother us, lets just put some insect repellent on and see how they like it.

Charles Krauthammer has some choice words for Obama’s recent statements about nuclear weapons.

Again, Hat tip: Greg Hengler at Townhall.com’s blog