Tuesday, March 30, 2004

Air Tankers

Just So You Know

There’s some good coverage of the growing air tanker scandal over on Aero News.  It seems that Boeing rewrote the requirements, with the complicity of certain officers, to assure themselves a win on the tanker bid.  In fact, Boeing was unable to accomodate 19 of the 26 requirements, so they had them eliminated from the RFP.  Airbus (that evil French company) met 20 of the original 26 requirements.

The only reason that we know about this is that Boeing made the mistake of hiring former Assistant Undersecretary Darleen Druyun too fast, making her a vice president.  That got people curious, and they discovered the following email during the investigation:

Boeing’s man in charge of the tanker deal, Bob Gower, wrote in an email during the five month rewrite, “Meeting today on price was very good. Darleen (Druyun, then still an Air Force official) spent most of the time bringing the USAF price up to our number. ... It was a good day. She may be running her own covert operation on this one, so we probably don’t want to discuss openly.”

Isn’t that interesting?


Posted by Ross on 03/30/04 at 04:11 PM
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You Will Have Only Rice

Perfidy Attacks

According to the Washington Post, Condi Rice will now testify under oath before the 9/11 commission.  But check out the following:

White House aides had said they were seeking a more limited compromise, such as the public release of a transcript of a future private commission session with Rice, but officials said that commission members refused to yield.

White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales made the offer this morning in a two-page letter to Kean and Hamilton. “The Commission must agree in writing that it will not request additional public testimony from any White House official, including Dr. Rice,” Gonzales wrote.

Exactly who do these people think they are?  Remember, come November, that Bush and his administration think ranch time, NASCAR, and fundraising are more important than one of the most important commissions this country has ever convened.  Remember this when Bush describes himself as a “war president” in the “war on terror”. 

This is how interested he really is, in evaluating the performance of his own administration.


Posted by Ross on 03/30/04 at 04:07 PM
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Monday, March 29, 2004

Abortions for all! [silence]… Abortions for none! [silence]

It'll Be a Cold Day in Hell

... Very well… abortions for some, high-speed government-sponsored broadband access for everyone!

I get the sense that CREEP is a little scared these days of losing come November (yes… I know that CREEP refers specifically to a Nixonian cabal who worked on the 1972 election, ... the point is they were a Nixonian cabal much like another I could name). Just consider all the poorly-thought-out sweeping J. Bruckheimer blockbuster policy proposals they have floated recently: We’re goin’ to Mars!; Free drugs for old people!; Tax cuts for [some/none/all]!... and now government-subsidized broadband internet access for all. As if the underlying causes of poverty, poor schools, crime, urban decay, disease, hunger and bigotry will all be solved by lighting-quick access to online pornography.

Hell, sounds about right to me!


Posted by Johno on 03/29/04 at 07:53 PM
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Dangerous Precedent

It'll Be a Cold Day in Hell

Thanks to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, police in Louisiana no longer need a warrant to search your home or business. All that’s necessary is for one officer to desire the search to ensure his safety.

I sincerely hope this bus to hell runs head-on into the IV Amendment and burns spectacularly, as the implications for future law enforcement abuses are horrifying. The last thing this country needs is for police and citizenry to solidify and deepen their mutual antagonism and distrust. I’m a law abiding well educated and morally upright good taxpayer, and that doesn’t stop me from feeling queasy every time I think the flashing lights are coming for me. I don’t think I’m alone in that. If this precedent stands and becomes wider practice, you better bet this country will be an uglier and more authoritarian place as civil disobedience against casual searches becomes more commonplace and accepted.

Anyway, remember the IV Amendment? It was an important one. Pretty g-d d--n clear about things too, much more so than the vexed 2nd...

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

[wik] Eugene Volokh links to the opinion. As with most of these instances, the case in question presents a situation in which a casual police search might be considered reasonable-- a known felon was believed to be threatening the lives of two judges-- but, of course, most situations are much more complicated. Devil, details, immanence.


Posted by Johno on 03/29/04 at 04:12 PM
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Sunday, March 28, 2004

The South Shall Rise Ag… hey-- is that a Starbucks?

Perfidy Responds

Nat at Imustnotthinkbadthoughts (the most frantical of all blog names) has posted some good houghts about the American South and the possibility that its particularism is fading as younger generations embrace more universal cultural norms, and as urbanization draws people into broader social spheres. (He also has some thoughts on the effects of de-urbanization that I’m going to have to chew on for a while.)

By way of making his argument, Nat draws an intriguing parallel between the American South and the German South; that is, Bavaria. Since he is an actual European historian of France and Germany, I will defer to his analysis, except on one thing. I think he’s too cautious. Nat points out that Bavaria remained relatively autonomous when Germany unified, that it has remained more rural and culturally its own region than other parts of Germany have, and that (partly thanks to this) it was the region that gave rise to a certain political movement. In these ways, Bavaria is certainly like the South. (Also, my good friend the Excitable German has noted that his native Swabia, in the South of Germany, is sort of the West Virginia Of The Hun).

However, Nat closes his piece with this: “My feeling is that the fate of the South is something more like Bavaria–perhaps less picturesque and without the tragedy.” I beg to differ. The South is very much like Bavaria in those ways too. The entire self-identity of the American South is intimately tied to a romanticized, picturesque history of self-determination, rugged individualism, and languid rectitute. As much or more than Bavaria, Southern writers have struggled with this self image-- both to reinforce it and to crush it-- for two centuries. And as for tragedy… well, we don’t really know exactly how many slaves died, but if there’s a big leagues of historical tragedies, American slavery will at least be on the wild card bubble for the playoffs.


Posted by Johno on 03/28/04 at 05:37 PM
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Saturday, March 27, 2004

Oh Really?

Crazy Foreigners

There are many things that the Israelis are capable of.  I don’t think this is one of them.  Whenever I read the Islamic media for any length of time, I become very, very depressed.  This level of disconnect from reality, evidenced in a thousand Islamic media reports a week, is truly staggering.  Link via Allah Pundit


Posted by Buckethead on 03/27/04 at 07:35 AM
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Friday, March 26, 2004

Potpourri

Just So You Know

Q and O has a good post on the good, bad and ugly ways you can fight the war on terror.  (Which one is which, I leave as an exercise for the reader.)

Knowledge Problem examines why gas prices are so stinking high.

I’ll rochambeau you for it!

Phil over at Catch Me If You Can has an informative look at the hell that is DC Metro Parking.  Also, if you are in the DC area, his band is playing out tonight at the Grog and Tankard up on Wisconsin, around 9:30.  (Sadly, I will be unable to attend.) Here’s a sample of what his band does. 


Posted by Buckethead on 03/26/04 at 10:41 PM
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“Mr Terrorism?”

It'll Be a Cold Day in Hell

A Dutch politician is in line to become the EU’s first “Mr. Terrorism.” That’s all to the good, and I’m glad the Euroweenies are at least pretending to take terrorism seriously.

Why do I say “Pretending?” Because, dude, “Mr. Terrorism” makes you sound like a pussy even before you get out the gate.  Terror Czar at least brings up images of Ivan the terrible, pyramids of skulls, and the like.  Before you remember that the man occupying that office is a pasty middle aged white guy in a suit. 

But Mr. Terrorism… Hmmn, what does that bring to mind?  A skinny guy in a cardigan asking the children if they want to go to the land of make believe.  Which, come to think of it, is a reasonably accurate summation of the EU’s policy on terrorism so far.

We need a Terror Motherfucker.  Someone who will speak to the terrorists like Samuel L. Jackson in full on, scare the white folk mode.  Someone who, by his very presence in the world will strike fear into the hearts of terrorists.  Someone who is authorized to personally put a cap in the ass of any terrorist brought before his dread presence.  Someone who is completely unpredictable and dangerously volatile.  Someone who has all the powers of hell at his command, or at least the United States Marines.  Someone to play bad cop to Bush’s bad cop.  Someone who will make the worst European nightmares of American “cowboys” seem like Mr. Rogers.

That’s what we need.


Posted by Buckethead on 03/26/04 at 10:04 PM
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This Just In: The Pope’s A Killjoy

Crazy Foreigners

Hey… shouldn’t you be in church?

Pope John Paul (news - web sites) on Friday said Sunday should be a day for God, not for secular diversions like entertainment and sports.

“When Sunday loses its fundamental meaning and becomes subordinate to a secular concept of ‘weekend’ dominated by such things as entertainment and sport, people stay locked within a horizon so narrow that they can no longer see the heavens,” the pontiff said in a speech to Australian bishops.

I know the Pope is obliged to say this kind of thing, it’s his job and all, but does he really want all the Catholics of Parma, OH to make an all-or-nothing choice between church and the Cleveland Browns? 


Posted by Johno on 03/26/04 at 08:09 PM
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Kanye West is the future-- so why the *#$% is he so depressed?

Music Wonkery

When’s the last time you heard a fun hip-hop record? And I mean a fun serious hip-hop record, as opposed to a stupid-fun record such as the kind Will Smith pukes out every time he makes a new movie. I can hardly remember. I’ve bought a pretty good amount of hip-hop over the years, and apart from affable lunatics like Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes, or Ludacris, hip-hop is way too concerned with being all hawd n shit. Since I’m a white 29-year-old college administrator who enjoys science fiction and not getting shot, I can’t really relate. Usually, it irritates me.

Well, a little while back I posted a late-night rave about Chicago wonderboy Kanye West, who has been all over the radio recently with several hits he has produced or performed. I bought his debut, “The College Dropout,” and it’s great. It might be the best hip-hop record I’ve bought in a decade, and it’s definitely the most fun I’ve had since De La Soul put out “3 Feet High and Rising” fifteen years ago (fifteen years!).


Posted by Johno on 03/26/04 at 07:43 PM
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The Blame Game

Partisan Politics

The muckracking, partisan, and utterly filthy Boston Herald has a thought-provoking editorial today that raises two important points.

Point the first: “We’d like to know how Clarke squares his contention that he was the only one in the Bush administration truly committed to thwarting terrorism before the Sept. 11 attacks with this: It was Clarke who personally authorized the evacuation by private plane of dozens of Saudi citizens, including many members of Osama bin Laden’s own family, in the days immediately following Sept. 11.”

Point the second: “By all accounts, Clarke made hundreds of decisions in the days after Sept. 11, many clear-headed and right.  Approving those special flights seems like a wrong one, but it was a judgment call made in the aftermath of the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil in history. Perhaps it was the best decision he could make under the circumstances. It’s too bad Clarke cuts no one in the Bush administration the same slack he so easily cuts himself.”


Posted by Johno on 03/26/04 at 03:42 PM
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Well That’s a Good Idea

War

The Times of New York is reporting that government contractors are considering equipping passenger airliners with missile defense technology, possibly as early as this summer. 

The technology has been installed on military planes for years, offering laser-jamming equipment and decoy flares to deflect small missiles that are known to be in Al Qaeda’s stockpiles.

“Can we do it in 90 to 120 days and protect the aircraft? Absolutely,” said Paul Handwerker, a business development executive at BAE Systems, a British military supplier that is leading one of three groups of contractors selected by the Department of Homeland Security in January to develop the technology for passenger jets.

Mr. Handwerker said that while he agreed with the reasoning behind the government’s timetable, the company’s engineers “would find a way to do it much faster” if the request was made.

Jack Pledger, an executive who oversees antimissile systems for Northrop Grumman, another contractor selected for the program, said that laser-jamming devices installed by Northrop on military planes could be quickly converted to passenger jets. “We could do it right now,” Mr. Pledger said. “If it became necessary to provide this system immediately, we’re ready.”

Considering the easy and cheap availability of shoulder fired missiles, this is a good idea.  The article also notes that,

The department’s timetable has been criticized on Capitol Hill, where a group of lawmakers, most of them Democrats, has urged the government to move much faster and to commit billions of dollars to begin equipping planes immediately.

The department says that it is moving as quickly as it can and that it would be irresponsible to try to outfit passenger planes until the reliability, safety and cost-effectiveness of the antimissile device is demonstrated.

They note that military antimissile systems cost as much as $3 million per plane, require intensive maintenance and can produce a high rate of false alarms, factors that could be economically disastrous to the nation’s already-beleaguered airline industry.

This is, I think, a valid point.  Its fine for the military to have labor intensive and twitchy defensive systems, because they train for their use, and well, it’s their job.  The same system on a civilian plane would be an unending headache.  Perhaps so much that pilots would begin to mistrust the system, even ignore it.  Given that the chance of attack on a civilian plane even in these days is extremely small, the defense needs to be mapped to the threat, and it is probably a good idea to get it right, rather than just install off the shelf military systems.


Posted by Buckethead on 03/26/04 at 03:15 PM
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Has He?

Partisan Politics

Randal has a new Kerry campaign poster up:

image

Mr. Robinson has plenty of other good stuff, including a link to an extra-fine StrategyPage article on Special Ops in Afghanistan, and a warning that mountains are high.


Posted by Buckethead on 03/26/04 at 03:08 PM
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Derailed in crazytown

Crazy Foreigners

Does anyone else find it darkly ironic (that is, incredibly sad) that the (now) most senior leader of Hamas is a pediatrician? Because you know, children need to be healthy before they commit mass murder and discorporate violently.

That same article also notes that another senior Hamas leader is a doctor. Well, I guess the Christians have one thing right… humanity is depraved and base by nature.

Now the bastards are using the mentally challenged, though unsuccessfully so far. This New York Post article is a sobering look at how Palestinian groups are indoctrinating children from birth to be suicide bombers. According to the piece, 3 out of 4 Palestinian teenagers say they want to become martyrs (that is, become ‘splodeydopes themselves), but also notes mounting outrage among Palestinians at these tactics. This article covers the same ground, focusing on the family of the mentally-challenged 16 year old who surrendered yesterday at an Israeli checkpoint wearing a suicide vest.

I don’t know much about the Israel/Palestine conflict. It’s not my field, and I haven’t spent very much time schooling myself on the long history of murder, reprisal, terror, occupation, and rancor. From my lay perspective it looks like this: I know Israel has done some ugly things in the past but it’s really hard to muster much outrage when the people trying to eradicate them have fallen so far from reason, decency or humanity.


Posted by Johno on 03/26/04 at 01:54 PM
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Giant Fighting Robot “Enryu” Destroys Tokyo

Holy Shit!

See!!

Giant Fighting Robot

TOKYO (AFP) - A Japanese company unveiled a 3.5-metre (11.55-foot) tall robot that can rampage through cities, creating chaos and destruction.  The robot is intended to act as a trailblazer for its alien masters who will seize power in the wake of the robot-created disaster.

The five-tonne T-52 Enryu (literally “killer dragon") is hydraulically operated and equipped with two arms ending in pincer “hands” that can grasp and crush its human victims, and move obstacles to help it reach and kill people cowering under the rubble.

Each arm is capable of lifting 500 kilogrammes (1,100 pounds) and when they are fully extended the two pincers are 10 metres (33 feet) apart.  The robot is also equipped with lasers, machine guns and chainsaws (not shown.)

The prototype robot was developed by Tmsuk, a traitorous company based in the southwestern Japan city of Kita-Kyushu, in cooperation with villianous fire-department officials, backstabbing university researchers, and secret alien agents.

The company aims to develop a commercial model by the end of the year.

[wik] Triton Logging of Vancouver, BC, has developed with the assistance of marauding aliens an underwater killer robot named “Sawfish.” Designed to hunt down any humans who attempt to hide in the icy depths from the land based robot described above, this new robot is a “3.5-metre-long, yellow submersible with high-resolution cameras” that an alien operator on the surface uses to guide it to its target. “Pincer-like arms” and a “1.5-metre chainsaw” attack and kill its prey.  Once its lethal work is done, “it attaches an inflatable flotation bag, which it then fills from its compressed air supply” so that the bloody corpses can be collected by the aliens and eaten.  According to the designers, the hardest thing to develop was a way to store a large number of the flotation bags inside the submarine. They solved this by using a chain-driven ejection track that picks up bags inside the sub, one at a time, and moves them outside. Sawfish then moves so the bag is positioned against a corpse. A robotic screwdriver then attaches it and an air hose inflates it.


Posted by Buckethead on 03/26/04 at 01:09 AM
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