Transcending the Pettiness

Obama tried to kill two birds with one stone today. He has been accused of not listening to the GOP's ideas, so he had a meeting with their leadership today. He's also been accused of not meeting the White House press corpse of late, so he met them to discuss meeting the GOP. His theme--"transcending petty politics".

Good deal. Maybe he's starting to listen to Rahmbo. Tacking right could inject some stability into the business climate and allow expansion. Coupled with some targeted tax cuts it might save our investments, the economy, and his presidency to boot.

But if he's really serious about transcending petty politics why send Gibbs out to mock Palin at the outset? If the purpose is important shouldn't Gibbs be spending more time with the family soon?

As to the actual presser, they showed they weren't missed. Not one question about terrorism, this after his deputy NSA all but called GOP'ers treasonous for complaining about Abdulmichelob. Or did it chill the air? Here's Brennan:

Politically motivated criticism and unfounded fear-mongering only serve the goals of al-Qaeda. Terrorists are not 100-feet tall. Nor do they deserve the abject fear they seek to instill. They will, however, be dismantled and destroyed, by our military, our intelligence services and our law enforcement community. And the notion that America's counterterrorism professionals and America's system of justice are unable to handle these murderous miscreants is absurd.

Nice strawman; nobody is saying we shouldn't use all our tools, just that the administration was all over the map and lied, and it still took about a month to get anything, and they might have made a plea deal.

That's why it would have been nice had somebody asked Obama to explain the reason he's trying the Cole bombers in a commission if Article III courts are so wonderful. Or how KSM can get a fair trial after the POTUS and his subordinates have already proclaimed him guilty in the press and sentenced him to meet judgment with Allah soon.

Obama even played with them at the end, asking for one more, which was again about health care, so he broke down and took one more, which was on jobs. All pretty much softballs with typical filibluster answers. It was so tame he ended with:

All right? Thank you, guys. That was pretty good, thanks.

A solid B+, maybe? Did that also include Gibbs' opening act hand puppet?

Aviation Update

Lebanese divers have recovered the Flight Data Recorder from Ethiopian 409 and have handed it over to French authorities. At left is a picture released by the Lebanese government; the box looks to be in excellent shape. The voice recorder has yet to be retrieved. Here's an explanation and some pictures of typical black boxes.

The FDR is going to French investigators for 'decoding'. Whether that means they don't trust Americans (NTSB) is not clear but the article is mildly amusing as to that point:

France and Canada have been best known for the decoding of flight data and cockpit data recorders. The French are known to have pioneered the introduction of the flight data recorders in air accident investigations.

In reality there will probably be NTSB experts in Paris when the boxes get there.

The French now have their hands full--they've yet to find the black boxes for their own Air France 447 crash over the Atlantic and the black boxes found from Yemenia 626 that crashed in the Indian Ocean off the Comoros Islands were 'damaged'. But there was a miracle survivor, a 14 year old girl. Surely they've asked her if she heard or saw anything before impact. If so, they aren't saying.

The voice recorder from Ethiopian 409, when found, will be helpful in putting to rest the allegations that the crew ignored ATC instructions. However, investigators may be able to uncover a cause with the FDR alone, especially if it's mechanical or weather-related. Interestingly, speculation is now including a mechanical possibility after the initial speculation about 'stormy weather' or lightning, etc. The only thing definitively ruled out at this point, from the very first minute the story broke, has been terrorism. That they could determine such a thing so early, without any forensic evidence, can only suggest they have a strong suspicion of the likely cause.

Surprise, Surprise

Mother Gaia threw us a curve ball this morning..it's snowing like crazy.



The sign says stop. The TDOT 'Smart map' says stop, too. Decision--delay commute for now..(pending boss approval).



BTW, Albert the Action Figure is getting himself a cup of Joe and has not headed out for an observation yet (he's not a morning person).

Update..
He's on it.. just under 3 inches so far. He'll stand post as long as needed..

Update..

1 PM report just telexed in..



Looks like it has turned to rain (seriously--it has, and streets are now pretty good around the area).

Still Crazy After All These Years..

The Super Bowl dominated weekend headlines but a few other things were going on. In Persia, Iranian presidictator Mahmoud A'jad took in a showing of "Avatar"


Actually, he announced more enrichment, which is another dare to Israel. Hillary recently said they already had nukes then corrected herself to say they were working towards them, and Gates backed her up over the weekend. Something has to give soon.

Super Sunday

For what's it's worth my pick is for the Saints--on a lark. Manning should find some receivers but I'll foolishly go with the intangible destiny thing. No, I have no money on it. And yes, Obama seems to be in agreement but don't make anything of it. Surely if the Saints lose he'll send Gibbs out on Monday to declare his 'outrage' at Bush's dereliction of duty for ruining New Orleans.

VARIOUS and SUNDRY

And no LA, I will not pay you licensing fees for using the term.. In other news, the scientist in the middle of climategate scandal is feeling sorry for himself, comparing himself to WMD scientist Dr. David Kelly who allegedly committed suicide over Britain's involvement in Iraq. Not surprising at all. He's probably still well behind Sarah Palin in death threats and nastygrams (and she also got her emails hacked).

Remember Pfc Bowie Bergdahl, the soldier captured by the Taliban last June? They are now saying they'll kill him unless we swap them Aafia Siddique, the mad American-trained Pakistani bio-scientist recently convicted in a New York federal court (ht Debbie). Which of course means these guys are paying close attention to the 'echo chamber' over here. Obama must be pissed.

Today we discover that Sarah Palin writes notes on her palm and that Rush Limbaugh is defending the use of 'retard', while the IPCC refuses to apologize for lying and the president blames his ineffectiveness on bloggers and Bush. Thanks guys, I know I've never really grown up but I don't feel so childish anymore.

POST GAME 2/7/10

Yeah, should of had some money on it. Good game overall, commercials were decent, the Who was decent considering the two front men must be 70 years old. And the Tebow commercial was hilarious--because of what it wasn't.

ONE MORE TIME 2/7/10

What happened to TV networks providing public service messages gratis? The Census ad pretty much sucked (did Ed Begley, Jr. and the other actors get paid for that?) and not even sure it will be viewed much on the Tubes either, which might have been the underlying point. The 133 million given to the ad buys seems more like a network/media stimulus program but of course the Democrats have high hopes for their return on investment.

Side Tracks

Golden Earring unplugged, more or less..



Now, here's the opening act of the Super Bowl, little Stevie Winwood..



He's a bit older now but I don't think he's lost anything yet (this was from last summer).

Odds n Ends

A few things on my mind, so here goes..

BURY ME IN MY OBAMA TEE

This is a very sad story, one that shouldn't get wrapped up in the echo chamber of political back-forth. But since it most definitely will anyway here's a few thoughts.

She did have insurance, albeit a pretty poor plan. Not sure it's very nice to make light of this but in another way it's part of the political strategy where anyone who does question it will be called names by the echo chamber. Surely a public option may have helped her yet we just heard they wanted to limit mammograms to those 50 and older, and she died at 41. Palin was overdramatizing with the 'death panels' but surely fiscal cutbacks will be necessary in any govt-funded/managed system, including limiting mammograms and research.

SNOW IN DC

This headline is humorous:

Snow piles up, paralyzing nation's capital

As if it wasn't paralyzed already. The new phrases are creative, though. BTW, is it proper to call it 'the nation's capital' or 'Capitol'?

Anyway, prepare for the "more extreme weather--a sure sign of global warming" from the left, who have also been known to lecture everyone that "weather is not climate". To be fair and balanced, get ready for the "what global warming?" cry from the right, which is equally nonsense because as we know, weather is not climate.

PREVIOUS POST

Some may think me a crazy person for continuing to harp on weirdities like Saddam/Baathist-terrorist connections and unexplained aviation incidents and the like. Maybe I should get a life. But unexplained things in the wide open have always been frustrating, which is why I can't figure out how the UPI could run a story in mid-January about high level negotiations between ex-patriot Iraqi Baathists and the current Shia-led Iraqi government, all brokered by the CIA, and including former Saddam right hand man Izzat al-Duri as one of the parties, with a mention of him operating in the AQ hotbed of Yemen. Why isn't that news?

Here's a screenshot from a search done this morning on the Washington Post. I also tried the "Duri" spelling and got nothing. Even if he's hiding somewhere in their database the mainstream press at large has not made this a big headline. Why? Is it because al-Douri was a right-hand man of Saddam and is now working closely with AQ, relationships he began cultivating well before the invasion? Surely they are not afraid it might make Bush's legacy look better since he never played up this angle either. So I remain confused.

UPHOLDING OUR VALUES

Sweetness and Light found this Obama interview on 60 Minutes from March 2009 where he laid out his views (and sneered at Cheney's) on captured terrorist processing. Even then he was laying the groundwork for the "we captured and killed more terrorists than Bush, na na na na na na" strawman but he also said:

I fundamentally disagree with that. Now– do these folks deserve Miranda rights? Do they deserve to be treated like a shoplifter– down the block? Of course not…

CBS, or at least Steve Kroft, surely remembers. But will they remember to remember?

SHAMELESS

Yes, we're scraping the bottom now. The Aussies recently said they were going to ban A cup women from porn (it's for the children) so I got to wondering how that bureaucracy might work. Would they have middle aged govt inspectors present at the seedy motels when filming starts with measuring tape in hand? Would women demand equal treatment for the men in other areas? And what would they call that govt department? The Bureau of Porn Control? How about the "Bureau Of Overseeing Breast Sizes"?

BUSINESS

Not gonna let boobs be the last story here. Just as sexy, super billionaire Warren Buffet has purchased the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railroad. This is venerable old Santa Fe (folks around these parts know the time of day) and the Burlington Route (don't know their song). Railroad activity has long been known as a barometer of the economic engine of America and Buffet's purchase seems to be a sign he's optimistic about future freight markets. Either that, or he sees a lot of real estate potential when Obama's High Speed Rail surveyors come to town.

the end