UPDATED 9/17- Democrats Honor Veterans And Military at Charlotte Convention With Russian Warships, Turkish Air Force Jets in Backdrop

May or may not be the actual backdrop image used at the DNC 2012 convention in Charlotte

The Democrat Party's national convention in Charlotte, NC has been over for more than a week, but the gathering still made headlines when four massive warships used prominently as a background image as a retired US Navy Admiral addressed the delegates in a speech paying tribute to veterans were in fact Russian.

Having grown up in a dark blue state, I can clearly hear the inevitable scorn and incredulity in the voice of your garden-variety Democrat and Obama supporter- sneering 'Jeez Fenway- what batshit insane right-wing fringe blog did you hear that from?'

Try The Navy Times

On the last night of the Democratic National Convention, a retired Navy four-star took the stage to pay tribute to veterans. Behind him, on a giant screen, the image of four hulking warships reinforced his patriotic message.

But there was a big mistake in the stirring backdrop: those are Russian warships.

While retired Adm. John Nathman, a former commander of Fleet Forces Command, honored vets as America’s best, the ships from the Russian Federation Navy were arrayed like sentinels on the big screen above.

These were the very Soviet-era combatants that Nathman and Cold Warriors like him had once squared off against.

“The ships are definitely Russian,” said noted naval author Norman Polmar after reviewing hi-resolution photos from the event. “There’s no question of that in my mind.”

Naval experts concluded the background was a photo composite of Russian ships that were overflown by what appear to be U.S. trainer jets. It remains unclear how or why the Democratic Party used what’s believed to be images of the Russian Black Sea Fleet at their convention.

The veteran who spotted the error and notified Navy Times said he was immediately taken aback.

“I was kind of in shock,” said Rob Barker, 38, a former electronics warfare technician who left the Navy in 2006. Having learned to visually identify foreign ships by their radars, Barker recognized the closest ship as the Kara-class cruiser Kerch.

The background — featured in the carefully choreographed hour leading up to the president’s Sept. 6 speech accepting the Democratic Party’s nomination — showed four ships with radar designs not used in the U.S. fleet.

For example, the ship in the foreground, on the far right, has a square radar antenna at the top of its masthead. That is the MR-700 Podberezovik 3-D early warning radar, commonly identified as “Flat Screen” for its appearance, a three-dimensional early warning radar mounted on the Kerch, said Eric Wertheim, editor of “Combat Fleets of the World.”

Similarly, the third ship has a MR-310 “Head Net” air search radar, shaped like two off-set bananas, at its masthead and is mostly likely the guided missile destroyer Smetlivyy. The first two ships seem to be Krivak-class frigates, but it’s hard to discern from the silhouette, experts said.

But the fact they are Russian ships is not in doubt. In addition to the ship’s radar arrays and hulls, which are dissimilar from U.S. warships, the photo features one more give-away: a large white flag with a blue ‘X’ at the ships’ sterns.

The blue cross on white background has been part of the Russian Navy's insignia since czarist times. The vessels in the photos have been identified by experts as belonging to Russia's Black Sea Fleet.

DNC officials apologized for the error, blaming 'vendor error' in failing to catch the oversight [Democrats blaming others for their mistakes? I know- toally shocking, isn't it?- NANESB!]. The nationality of the ships also hearkened back to a March conversation between President Obama and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev that was caught on an open microphone where Obama promised the Kremlin 'more flexibility' on a missile defense treaty after the 2012 Presidential election.

UPDATE- 9/17 - It gets even better, though. Apparently the Democrats thought that Turkey's military should be represented at the 2012 convention.

According to an Austrian editor of a military aircraft journal, the planes depicted flying in formation above the Russian Black Sea Fleet are F-5s from the Turkish Air Force.

Martin Rosenkranz, a military aircraft expert and editor-in-chief of a military aviation journal in Austria, revealed the fighter jets’ origin to The Daily Caller.

“The aircraft in this image displayed are not U.S. [operated] aircraft,” he told TheDC.

“The jets are most likely from the Turkish air force [because] the formation and the type (F-5) flown is very typical of the seven-ship formation flown by the Turkish Air Force Display Team known as the ‘Turkish Stars,’” said Rosenkranz.

“There is no other display team worldwide” that uses a similar seven-aircraft formation.

Rosenkranz’s argument is bolstered by two other factors.

The aircraft shown at the Democrats’ convention are old F-5 aircraft. They were were designed in the United States and sold to many countries, including Turkey — whose display team uses that same model.

Also, the planes depicted in the Democrats’ Sept. 6 photo montage display an unusual red and white striped pattern painted on the underside of their fuselages — most visible on the lowest and best-lit of the F-5s in the image.

The Russian Ships and Turkish jets as backdrop fiasco was reminiscent of another election year debacle where the Democrat party accompanied an article about US combat veterans on their website with an image of a Canadian soldier in 2006.

Ides of March Sports Chowdah- Manning Bolts Colts; Thomas Holds off Leafs Late; Turco-ish Delight Coming to Boston? 76ers Halt C's 2nd Half Win Streak

BOSTON BRUINS- It was no doubt a weekend to forget for the defending Stanley Cup champion Bruins. Not only did the B's drop Saturday's home game against the Islanders and Sunday's nationally televised game against the NY Rangers, Boston is expected to be without the services of goalie Tukka Rask after he was injured in Saturday's game. The B's announced on Monday that they expected Rask to miss anywhere from 4-6 weeks with a lower-abdomen/groin strain.

So with the goaltending depth chart for Boston beginning and ending with Tim Thomas, the Bruins headed to Tornto on Turesday night hoping to break their 2-game skid. For the Leafs, this would be the first home game under new head coach Randy Carlile.

Although the Leafs would get out to an early 1-0 lead thanks to a Carl Gunnarson goal, the Bruins were able to tie it up at 1-1 with a tally from Jordan Caron.

Toronto would briefly re-take the lead on a power play goal from John-Michael Liles early in the 2nd before Tyler Seguin and Chris Kelly would score about 40 sconds apart to give Boston their first lead of the evening. However, about midway through the 2nd the Leafs tied the contest up at 3-3 thanks to another power play tally- this time from former Bruin Phil Kessel.

But in the closing minutes of the 2nd, the Bruins would break the deadlock with another goal from Caron followed by Tyler Seguin's second goal of the evening to make it 5-3.

The Leafs would shave the Boston lead to just one goal late in the 3rd thanks to a Mikhail Grabovski goal, but the Bruins would hold off the Leafs for the 5-4 win and a 5-0 lead of the season series.

Tim Thomas stopped 25 of 29 shots faced while Jonas Gustavsson allowed in 5 of the 33 shots he faced on Tuesday night. Toronto had four power play opportunities and converted on two of them while Boston went 0 for 2 with the man advantage.

The Bruins next game will be on Thursday night against a suddenly very relevant Buffalo Sabres, who are tied with the Washington Capitals for the 9th spot in the Eastern conference and just two points behind Winnipeg for the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern conference [still trying to wrap my noggin around the fact that Winnipeg is back, but in the EASTERN conference- NANESB!].

Thursday night's game at the TD Banknorth Gargen gets underway at 7:00 ET and will be televised on NESN and MSG networks.

OTHER BRUINS NEWS- Veteran goalie Marty Turco has cleared NHL waivers and will join the Boston Bruins to releive Tim Thomas in the final month of the regular season.

The option of calling up Anton Kudhobin from Providence wasn't a viable one since he's still nursing a wrist injury. With the trade deadline having passed last week, the Bruins were left having to resort to scouring the waiver wire.

Turco's most recent NHL experience came during the 2010-2011 season with the Chicago Blackhawks where he appeared in net for 29 games with a 3.02 GAA. After a stint as an in studio analyst for the NHL Network, Turco signed a short term contract with Red Bull Salzburg of the Erste Bank Hockey League in Austria in December 2011.

Because Turco was signed by Boston after the trade deadline, he will not be eligible to join the Bruins postseason roster.



NFL- After 14 seasons, including two Super Bowl appearences, QB Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts have parted ways. At a press conference alongside Colts owner Jim Irsay, an emotional Manning bid the organization farewell as speculations already ramped up about a possible destination for the veteran free agent QB.

Manning was due a $28 million bonus this week if he was to remain with the Colts. While Indianapolis was reluctant to stake their franchise on the well-being of Manning's neck, Washington, Tennessee, Miami, Seattle, the Jets and Arizona are all reportedly interested in Peyton's services and are well aware of the risk a big money contract with him entails.

Manning was drafted out of the University of Tennessee as the first overall draft pick by the Colts in the 1998 NFL draft. This season, the Colts have a 2-14 record, once again giving them the first overall draft pick in the upcoming 2012 NFL draft.

PITTSBURGH STEELERS- The Pittsburgh Steelers released veteran WR Hines Ward after 14 seasons, it was announced last week. In a statement, Ward said he was disappointed that he could not remain with Pittsburgh but repeated that he was determined to play in the NFL in the upcoming 2012 season.

Ward was a 3rd round draft pick out of Georgia in 1998 and the Steelers all-time leader in receptions and recieving yards. Both Ward and Jerry Rice are the only NFL wide recievers with at least 1000 career receptions and 2 Super Bowl victories.

RED SOX- Non-roster invitee Justin Germano pitched a pair of shutout innings in Boston's 3-3 tie with Toronto. The game was halted after 9 innings because the split-squad Blue Jays had run out of players by then.

The Red Sox will next travel to Jupiter, FL to take on the defending World Series Champion St Louis Cardinals. Josh Beckett is scheduled to get the start against the Card's Jamie Garcia.

CELTICS- While the second hald of this abbreviated NBA season seemed to be getting off to a much better start for the Celtics than the first half, Boston had a chance to take sole posession of 1st place in the Atlantic Division with Wednesday night's head-to-head matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers at Philly.

76ers guard Evan Turner had a career night, with 26 points for Philly in a 103-71 rout of the Celtics. This is the C's first loss since the All Star weekend, but it still cost them a shot a first place. They'll return to the Garden on Friday night to take on the Portland Trailblazers on Friday night- tipoff is at 7:30 and the game will be televised on Comcast Sports New England.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NBA- As bad as Wednesday night's thumping from Philly was, one could always feel better knowing that the vaunted LA Lakers pissed away a 21 point lead to the lowly Washington Wizards to lose by a final of 101-106 on Wednesday night.

73 Years Ago Tonight- Kristallnacht And Some Eerie Similarities to the #Occupy Movement

The overnight hours of November 9-10 1938 were marked by coordinated attacks against Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues throughout Germany and Austria in what was to be known as Kristallnacht- or 'Night of the Broken Glass'. The 1938 pogrom considerably ratcheted up persecution of Jews in Germany and Austria (which had been annexed earlier in 1938) by the ruling nazi party.

"It marked a dramatic escalation of the persecution of Jews in Germany," said retired professor Gerhard Weinberg.

The personal accounts gave a firsthand look at that night.

"They ripped up the belongings, the books, knocked over furniture, shouted obscenities," Harris said.

"Houses of worship burned down, vandalized, in every community in the country where people either participate or watch," Gerhard said.

They served a reminder of what happened and what was to come.

"People were coming in and destroying their family heirlooms, that kind of shock just shook their entire world and then the catastrophe of holocaust and its aftermath," said Thomas Louchheim, the co-chair of the Yom Ha Shoah Memorial Service.

And they served as a warning of what can happen in the future.

"Horrible things can happen when people don't care, or are silent," Harris said.

When Hitler assumed power in 1934, Jewish-owned shops were frequently attacked and vandalized by the paramilitary arm of the nazi party while they called for boycotts of Jewish run businesses. The following year, the Nuremberg laws were passed, which virtually eliminated the right of Jews in Germany to work, travel or vote.

Kristalnacht itself was reportedly sparked by the November 1938 shooting of a German diplomat in Paris by a Polish Jew who had been expelled from his Hannover home [although after the war it was apparent that the nazi regime was searching for any pretext to begin a widespread expulsion, imprisonment or extermination of Germany's Jewish population while destroying or seizing their property in the process- NANESB!]. Encouraged by the nazi SA stormtroopers, German civilians also took part in the lootings, assault and arson that fateful autumn night.

Now I guess this is the part where I heave a sigh of relief and say to myself 'I for one am glad that I don't live in a country that has roaming gangs of thugs indiscriminately attacking & intimidating people, vandalizing businesses and torching structures with tacit government approval'.

But hold the phones- what's this?

Keep in mind that that above image is not Bonn circa 1938, but rather Oakland, CA circa November 2011. The happy little hooded window-smashers depicted above are anarchists who have embedded themselves with the #OccupyOakland movement (although numerous #Occupy supporters insist that they're actually provocateurs sent by Homeland Security or the Oakland Police- y'know, because nothing is EVER their own fault). And while invoking Godwin's Law is the oldest trick on the internet, the whole #Occupy movement doesn't seem to be the least bit disturbed by their movement calling for a totalitarian ideology while their members blame a historic scapegoat for this nation's problems:

After skirmishes with police last week in which an ex-Marine was injured, #OccupyOakland called for a general strike and shut down the port while marchers and anarchists began smashing windows in storefronts, grocery stores and banks- even businesses that had expressed support for the #Occupy protests.

Meanwhile, in the nation's capital, Washington D.C. police chief Cathy Lanier said that the #OccupyDC protests were becoming increasingly aggressive and confrontational after demonstrators surrounded the Washington D.C. convention center during an Americans for Prosperity summit and started blocking public roads.

The apparent target of #OccupyDC's actions at the Convention Center (including using children as human shields) was the politically active billionaire Koch Brothers. That right there should be a dead giveaway that the entire #Occupy movement is nothing more than contrived leftist astroturf seeing as how they're remarkably quiet about President Obama's cozy relationship with wealthy bundlers like John Corzine or George Kaiser.

And lest you think I'm being too hyperbolic with the #Occupy/nazi comparison, the #Occupy movement has been endorsed by the American nazi party, complete with AR-15 toting neo-nazis showing up at #OccupyPhoenix.

For those of you who think the comparison to the nazi SA storm troopers is over-the-top and uncalled for, I give you the teachings of the Reverend Jim Jones and the People's Temple:

So tell me, how out of place would such a sermon be at one of the #Occupy demonstrations and sit-ins?

ExxonMobil Announces Significant Oil Find in Gulf of Mexico After Chaotic OPEC Meeting in Vienna

Oil giant ExxonMobil [NYSE- XOM] announced on Wednesday a major discovery in the Gulf of Mexico that could yield as much as 700 million barrels of oil.

Exxon began exploratory drilling at the Hadrian prospect in 2009. The company had finished two wells at the site, located about 250 miles off the Louisiana coast in 7,000 feet of water, and had a rig on location and an approved permit to drill a new well when operations were halted due to the temporary moratorium after the BP oil spill last year.

In March, federal regulators signed off on Exxon's revised permit to drill the new well in the Keathley Canyon area of the Gulf, the company's first approved under the new regulatory regime put in place after last year's spill. The new well extends about 23,000 feet below the sea surface, and the rig is continuing to drill deeper, said company spokesman Patrick McGinn.

"We estimate a recoverable resource of more than 700 million barrels of oil equivalent combined in our Keathley Canyon blocks," Steve Greenlee, president of ExxonMobil Exploration Company, said in a statement. "This is one of the largest discoveries in the Gulf of Mexico in the last decade. More than 85 percent of the resource is oil with additional upside potential."

The announcement came on the same day as a surprise announcement from the OPEC meetings in Vienna that the member states would leave production levels unchanged, causing a jump in oil prices.

OPEC officials said that because of a policy deadlock, the group will maintain present output ceilings with the option of meeting within the next three months to consider a hike.

"We are unable to reach consensus to ... raise our production," OPEC Secretary General Abdullah Al-Badri told reporters, in comments reflecting unusual tensions in the 12-nation Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Saudi oil minister Ali Naimi called it "one of the worst meetings, we've ever had," while analysts covering OPEC for more than 20 years said they could not remember any other time that the normally closed group had admitted to such divisions in its ranks.

Some even saw the abortive meeting as a harbinger of demise for the organization, which produces more than a third of the world's petroleum.

"OPEC is ... on the point of break-up," said Marc Ostwald of Monument Securities. "A broader perspective is that the post World War II world order is fracturing in a spectacular fashion, be it the EU/Eurozone, the World Bank/IMF, (or) OPEC."

Other experts were less outspoken but agreed Wednesday's outcome would weaken the image of OPEC as a major regulator of oil markets.

The news caught markets by surprise, sending oil prices sharply higher. Benchmark crude for July delivery was up $1.25 to $100.34 per barrel in morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after trading lower ahead of the OPEC meeting.

Saudi Arabia and other influential Gulf nations had pushed to increase production ceilings to calm markets and ease concerns that crude was overpriced for consumer nations struggling with their economies. Those opposed were led by Iran, the second-strongest producer within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Oil minister Rafael Ramirez of Venezuela- like Iran, a price hawk - said there was a "very tight" discussion in OPEC, in comments to his nation's state media. Any production increase "could cause a collapse of our price," he added.

While the Saudis and the Iranians are frequently at loggerheads over pricing, past meetings normally fell in behind Saudi Arabia, which produces the lion's share of OPEC output. But this time, the Saudi-Iranian rivalry combined with major political and economic uncertainties to lead to deadlock.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Algeria and Qatar were reportedly in favor of production increases while Iran, Venezuela, Angola, Ecuador and Iraq were opposed.

Scam Within a Scam- Hackers Hit EU Carbon Credit Exchange, Steal €30 Million in Carbon Credits

Trading on the European Union Carbon Exchange was halted after hackers made off with an estimated €30 million in carbon emission allowances from five European countries in late January.

The Czech Registry for Emissions Trading was one of the worst affected by the hack, losing 7 million euros worth of the pollution permits, known as EU Allowances (EUAs).

Some 2 million EUAs were stolen by hackers from Austria, the Czech Republic, Greece, Estonia and Poland within a few days. Each credit allows the bearer one ton of emissions and is worth 14 euros.

EU authorities say they suspect a phishing scam enabled hackers to log into unsuspecting companies' carbon credit accounts and transfer the allowances to themselves, allowing them to be sold on.

The credits are normally traded between companies that have a shortage of or excess emissions allowances for their current operations, and involve instant payment, meaning hackers can create accounts and then delete them as soon as they are paid.

Investigators in Greece have traced the thefts to at least 8 internet protocol addresses in Romania. Registry officials in Estonia and Germany say they have located some 610,000 allowances stolen from the Czech registry, but the theft not only highlights a lack of security on the international exchanges, but also raises concerns that credits purchased in good faith on the open market could turn out to be stolen from the registries.

Some of the markets reopened with limited activity on Feb 3rd after giving "reasonable reassurances that the minimum security requirements are in place".

It is not the first time the ETS has suffered a security breach. The system was hit by a phishing scam last year that saw 13 European markets shut down, while a cross-border fraud scam in 2008 and 2009 netted criminals 5 million euros, according to Agence France-Presse.

I could go on about how such 'cap and trade' or climate or carbon Exchanges are pretty much worse than useless, but they do a bang up job of explaining that all by themselves- however unintentionally. Hell, Chicago's much-ballyhooed Climate Exchange shut down at the end of 2010.

Leaving aside the fact that such a system would arbitrarily place limits on output from manufacturing, transportation, utilities and energy exploration, how exactly would these trading mechanisms be enforced? It would require a massive bureaucracy and even more red tape- think along the lines of 0bamacare's 1099 mandate, only for air instead of healthcare.

All while obstructing further exploration and drilling for oil in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico, coal in West Virginia or natural gas in the Marcellus shale. This in turn has already driven up energy costs and will only further America's dependence on energy imported from unstable or belligerent nations.

And if anybody think the above problems will magically go away thanks to some sort arbitrary imposition of cap and trade of carbon exchange scheme, I have a bridge in Brooklyn couple of EU carbon credits to sell you.