Cheney To Visit MacDill Friday (September 14)

[seafan]

Cheney To Visit MacDill Friday

Posted Sep 12, 2007
by William March

Vice President Dick Cheney will make a stop at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa Friday, making a speech to members of the bases’ military components.

The event is not open to the public, but will be attended by members of Central Command, Special Operations Command and the 6th Air Mobility Wing.

Coupled with this:

ACC orders commandwide standdown Friday

By Bruce Rolfsen - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Sep 10, 2007 17:38:42 EDT

On Sept. 14, flight lines will be very quiet at Air Combat Command bases.

The entire command — about 100,000 active-duty airmen — is standing down training flights and many other operations as part of a command-wide safety day.

Command boss Gen. Ronald Keys ordered the Sept. 14 safety standdown in the wake of the Aug. 30 nuclear incident at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., in which six cruise missiles armed with nuclear warheads were loaded onto a B-52H and then flown to Barksdale Air Force Base, La., without anyone on the ground or bomber realizing the nuclear weapons were on the plane. It was not until the B-52H was parked at Barksdale that ground crews discovered the cruise missiles were carrying real warheads.

Command spokesman Maj. Tom Crosson said wing commanders would determine how their units review operations and safety procedures and checklists.

Just how serious Keys takes the lapse of regulations at Minot is reflected in the fact that the safety stand-down is the first commandwide safety day in recent memory. In the past, the command has singled out specific types of aircraft for safety days and in 1997 the Department of Defense held a departmentwide safety review day.

And this:

Financial News: Mystery Trader Bets Market Will Crash By A Third

By Renee Schultes
August 16, 2007 9:27 AM

An anonymous investor has placed a bet on an index of Europe's top 50 stocks falling by a third by the end of September, as world equity markets plunged for a third day and volatility hit a three-year high.

The mystery investor has bought put option contracts on the DJ Eurostoxx 50 index that will result in a profit if it plunges to 2,800 or below by the end of September. Based on the 2,800 strike price, the position covers a notional EUR6.9 billion, and potentially even more using a market price of about 4,100 when the trades were done on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The identity of the investor is unknown but market sources speculated it was either a large hedge fund hedging itself against deepening losses, or a long-only fund manager pressing the panic button to protect its gains.

The investor has bought a total of 245,000 put options on the index. The September put option with a 2,800 strike was the most popular DJ Eurostoxx 50 contract yesterday, according to data from Bloomberg.

Volatility in European equity markets has risen sharply this week as investors cut back on the amount of risk they are taking. The VSTOXX index, which measures the volatility of the DJ Eurostoxx 50 index, hit 34 this morning, which is more than double its three-year average.

Similarly the volatility of the U.S. stock market was trading at almost three times its three-year average, hitting 30 yesterday.

.....

And this:


Local Troops Deploy To Nation's Capital (1st Battalion 265 Air Defense Artillery, Daytona Beach, FL)

POSTED: 12:20 pm EDT August 22, 2007

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Members of the 1st Battalion 265 Air Defense Artillery have mobilized and are on a plane headed first to Ft. Bliss, then for federal active duty in the capital region.

The troops will be deployed for a year.

"It's going to be all right It's OK if he helps people and everything, and it's his job. He’s got to do it. He just got to do it," Jessica Ward said, whose father is being deployed.

Jessica speaks for many when she talks about her father's deployment.

Michael Ward and company are leaving for a year, and that weighs heavy on families.

The 265th is part of Operation Noble Eagle.

They are ordered by the president to the nation's capital, where they will operate high-tech weapons systems against any potential air threat.

.....

Families may get one or two opportunities to see loved ones during this year-long deployment, but it’s not encouraged. Though the solders are staying in the states, they are on serious business.

.....

What in the hell is going on??

[snappyturtle]

1. ???????????? wish I knew. Sorry. nt

[bdamomma]

2. what is this connect the dots time?

one thing wherever or whatever Cheney does is usually not good.

[Virginia Dare]

3. All roads lead back to Florida...

:scared: :hide:

[TwilightGardener]

4. Somebody's earning "Employee of the Month" in the Paranoia Department today.

I don't see any connection among these topics. However, it could be that Cheee-ney is going to CentCom to discuss Iran plans with CentCom commanders--I wouldn't put that past him.