Secret Police In The Heart Of Europe

Here's the latest report from Hungary. On the theory that if something walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck, this sounds like a dictatorship under construction.

Can Europe stand up to Hungary? The world wonders.

Ladies And Gentlemen: Cast Your Ballots!

The 2012 election is underway in Pamlico County. Tuesday this week, the county board of elections held its first weekly absentee meeting of the primary and validated four absentee ballots cast by mail. These ballots are safeguarded and will not be counted until May 8.

In the meantime, "one-stop" voting started today at the board of elections office in Bayboro. These votes also will not be counted until May 8.

Many Pamlico County residents have found that one stop voting is more convenient than waiting until election day. In fact, at the 2008 general election, about two-thirds of the votes were cast at one-stop.

The election has begun.

April 18, 1942 Western Pacific

April 18, 1942 – Task Force 16 consisting of USS Enterprise (VADM William F. Halsey, Commander Carriers Pacific embarked), USS Hornet (carrying 16 US Army B-25's under command of Lcol James Doolittle) and cruisers Northampton, Salt Lake City, Vincennes and Nashville, heading 265, speed 20 knots, bound for Tokyo, distance about 700 miles.

Early morning, unexpected events began to pop. In the words of the participants:

Commanding Officer, USS Enterprise:

“On april 18, the day it was planned to reach the 500 mile circle from Tokyo at about 1600, ENTERPRISE launched the usual dawn search flight and combat patrol. These were maintained continuously throughout the day. The contacts and action, indicated on the track chart by capital letters, were reported by pilots of these flights. Times indicated in connection with contacts and action, April 18, are Zone minus 10.

• “At 0310 radar disclosed two enemy surface craft bearing 255°T., distance 21,000 yards, and at 0312 a light was seen approximately on that bearing. Ship went to General Quarters, set Material Condition Afirm and energized the degaussing gear. Course of the Force was changed to 350°T., and at 0341 the two enemy vessels went off the screen bearing 201°T., distance 27,000 yards. Our presence was apparently unnoticed by the enemy and a westerly course was resumed at 0415.

• “At 0508 fighter patrol and search flight were launched. At 0715 one search plane returned and, by message drop, reported sighting an enemy patrol vessel in Latitude 36° 04' North and Longitude 153° 10' East at 0558 and that he believed he had been seen. Later developments indicate that this vessel made the original contact report.

• “At 0744 an enemy patrol vessel was sighted bearing 221°T., distance approximately 10,000 yards. There was no doubt now that our force had been detected and almost certainly had been reported. NASHVILLE was ordered to sunk the patrol vessel by gunfire as the carriers turned into the wind (320°T., 26 knots); HORNET to launch Army B-25's for attack and ENTERPRISE to relieve patrol.s The first Army bomber was launched at 0820 approximately 650 miles from Tokyo, and the last one was off at 0921. At 0927 the Force commenced retirement on course 090°T., speed 25 knots.

• “At 1214 radar reported enemy patrol plane bearing 020°T., distance 70,000 yards. This plane came within 64,000 yards of our force but passed off the screen at 1228 bearing 314°T., distance 83,000 yards.

• “At 1400 two enemy patrol vessels were sighted and attacked by ENTERPRISE planes returning from search. One was sunk and the other damaged. By 1413 the enemy ship still afloat was in sight of our surface forces and NASHVILLE was ordered to attack and sink her. A white flag was broken in the enemy ship and after taking 5 prisoners, NASHVILLE sank her by gunfire. Apparently these two vessels were the same ones reported by radar at 0310.

“Our force had been detected and almost certainly been reported...” sounds like speculation. But in a secure communications space in Enterprise, navy Communications Technician Ray Rundle was monitoring Japanese communications. He intercepted a warning message from a nearby patrol boat. Rundle's report caused Halsey to act.

Halsey had half of the US Navy's Pacific Fleet Carrier Force within range of Japanese shore-based bombers. As of mid-April, Yamamoto had 11 aircraft carriers at his disposal compared to Halsey's 4. USS Yorktown was operating in the Coral Sea area, and USS Lexington was in the shipyard at Pearl Harbor having her original 8-inch guns removed and replaced with modern antiaircraft weapons. The fifth Pacific Fleet carrier, USS Saratoga, was in drydock in Bremerton, having her hull repaired from a Japanese torpedo. The other aircraft carriers, the much smaller Ranger and Wasp, were in the Atlantic.

USS Essex was under construction at Newport News, and wouldn't be launched for three more months.

So Halsey had to weigh any risk of losing a carrier very carefully. Here is Halsey's account:

“The necessity for launching the Army planes at 0820 on the 18th about 650 miles east of Tokyo was regrettable. The plan was to close to the 500 mile circle and there launch one plane to attack at dusk and this provide a target for the remaining planes which would strike about two hours later. This plan was evolved by Lieutenant Colonel Doolittle, in command of the Army flight, and was designed to inflict the greatest damage with the least risk. The remote location of the desired terminus for the flight was also a factor influencing the selection of this plan of attack. However, contacts with enemy surface vessels early in the morning compromised the secrecy of the operation, and after the third contact, at 0744, the decision was made to launch. Japanese radio traffic was intercepted indicating that the presence of the raiding force was reported. The prime consideration then was the launching of the Army planes before the arrival of Japanese bombers.
“The successful launching of the 16 Army bombers from the HORNET in unfavorable wind and sea conditions reflected great credit on the Army pilots and on the Commanding Officer of the HORNET.”
Here is the track of Task Force 16 to and from the launch point:









Sixteen planes, each with a five-man crew, took off that day. They reached their targets in the Tokyo area about six hours after launch, flying without an autopilot, using celestial navigation over water and visual navigation over land, then flew seven more hours to the vicinity of landing fields in China. They ran out of fuel before reaching the fields in unoccupied China, were flying after dark, and the fields were not transmitting homing signals. They had to ditch or bail out. All of the planes were lost, including one interned by the Soviet Union. Of the eighty crew members, 77 survived the raid, but Japanese executed three prisoners and one died of malnutrition and mistreatment.

I first learned of the raid by watching the movie, "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo," starring Spencer Tracy and Van Johnson, at the Will Rogers Theater in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1945.

It's still a great movie.

The raid took place four months and 11 days after Pearl Harbor.

Doolittle Raid April 17, 1942 - 1,000 Miles From Tokyo

On schedule on April 17, TF16 refueled the two aircraft carriers and four cruisers. The Captain of USS Enterprise after action report (April 23):

1. "Fueling of the heavy vessels was undertaken April 17 when about 1000 miles east of Tokyo and was barely completed when the wind increased to gale force (wind south, 35 knots; sea rough, visibility 1 - 2 miles). At 1439 (L) the 2 CV, 3 CA and 1 CL proceeded independent of accompanying DD's [destroyers] and AO#s [fleet oilers] on a westerly course, averaging approximately 20 knots."

Public Piety

Yet again in a nearby county a group of citizens who proclaim themselves to be Christians are protesting to be allowed to pray at government meetings, invoking the name of Jesus.

Perhaps they have not heard, read or understood the words of Jesus himself concerning acts of public piety, as recorded in the synoptic gospels. Here, from the gospel according to Matthew chapter 6, verses 1 to 34:

[New International Version 1984]

---

Giving to the Needy

1“Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

2“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 

Prayer

5“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

9“This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

10your kingdom come,

your will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

11Give us today our daily bread.

12Forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.^a’
 

14For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. 

Fasting

16“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 17But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 

Treasures in Heaven

19“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

22“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

24“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. 

Do Not Worry

25“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life^b?

28“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

---

April 16, 1942 - Task Force 16 At Sea

Task Force 16, USS Enterprise (CV-6), USS Hornet (CV-8), four cruisers, eight destroyers and the fleet oilers Sabine and Cimarron: west of the international dateline. Course 265, speed 16 knots, Tokyo bound.

"Except when bad weather prevented, continuous inner and intermediate air patrols were maintained during daylight and dawn and dusk search flights were conducted daily to 200 miles, 60° on each bow." - VADM W.F. Halsey action report dated 23 April, 1942.

A speed of 16 knots left little extra for the oilers, whose maximum speed was 18 knots. (Personal note - both oilers were still in service in the late 1960's; I refueled from Cimarron many times).

The plan was to refuel the carriers and cruisers on April 17 and detach them for a quick dash to arrive at the launch point at about 1600 (4:00 pm).

The carriers search radars and the aircraft searches weren't the only detection measures. In a hideaway aboard USS Enterprise, Communications Technicians with special radio receivers searched for Japanese radio communications.

European Economy Update

I haven't written lately about Europe. The news isn't good. While the European Central Bank has recently taken useful measures to ease the crisis, the political leadership is doing the opposite - seeking more austerity.

Are there no wise leaders in Europe? Apparently not.

If debt is the problem, it doesn't help people repay that debt when unemployment rises. In Spain, unemployment is close to 25% - for young people, it is 50%. By the way, before the economic crisis, Spain's budget surplus was greater than Germany's. The problem has been private, not public debt.

The whole problem in Europe, it has become clear, is caused by fixed exchange rate (inherent consequence of the Euro) and intellectual rigidity. The continent could easily descend into a new recession/depression. Economist Nouriel Roubini explains:

"The trouble is that the eurozone has an austerity strategy but no growth strategy. And, without that, all it has is a recession strategy that makes austerity and reform self-defeating, because, if output continues to contract, deficit and debt ratios will continue to rise to unsustainable levels. Moreover, the social and political backlash eventually will become overwhelming."

The US could easily avoid a similar fate by a robust fiscal stimulus, except one of our major political parties has effectively halted any effort by the administration to improve the economy. The only thing we have going for us is the Fed and its monetary measures, including quantitative easing. So far it seems to be working, but much too slowly.

Greg Mankiw Endorses Democratic Policies (Maybe)

Economist Brad DeLong provides the following quote from economist Greg Mankiw:

Greg Mankiw: Economic View: If the government’s job is merely to provide services, like roads, schools and courts, competition among governmental producers may be… good…. But if government’s job is also to remedy many of life’s inequities, you may want a stronger centralized government, unchecked by competition. These are two fundamentally different visions. The next election, and to some degree every election, is about which one voters find more compelling.

A long discussion ensues on DeLong's blog. One of the most pointed comments:

Derelict said...

It's pretty clear that conservatives view government's essential role as collecting taxes from the middle and lower classes and funneling those proceeds into the pockets of the wealthy. As the record of the last 30-odd years amply demonstrates, providing for the commonweal in terms of infrastructure, social services, or even actual functioning military hardware and support is NOT part of the equation.

When Reagan said "government IS the problem," most of the people in today's GOP were impressionable youngsters who took that quite literally. Today, their motivating philosophy is to destroy the government of the United States. We used to call people like that the enemy; today, they're just Republicans.

 April 15, 2012 at 06:41 AM