Side Tracks

In the spirit of the week..

Lame Duck

Obama's Saturday address rather whimsically lays it out-- he's not gonna waver over tax cuts for the millionaires and billionaires but he wants to work with the new Congressional winners, which he identifies as Republicans, Democrats and Independents. The people have spoken, and the message they sent by electing a GOP House was to tell him that socialistic change had not come fast enough! Well, at least he's a glass-half-full kind of guy, even if a bit myopic.

But in strongly defending tax cuts for the 'middle class' he's kind of contradicting previous rhetoric..

He also talked about reversing Bush's tax cuts for the rich, to the delight of the crowd bringing about a large round of applause. He explained that many rich people are happy to reverse the tax cuts as long as they know that the money is going to a good cause.

Notice the parsing. Back then the tax rate was always described as "Bush's tax cuts for the rich", now suddenly, with middle class voters about to be shellacked, they are Bush's "tax cuts for the middle class". Such is the nature of change in DC.

Of course this rhetoric is simply to set up the mother of all lame duck battles between the Pelosi House and the incoming leadership. The Dems were smart by not showing their hands on this issue before the election as some wanted and now they hold a tremendous card going into 2011. If the GOP wants the current rate extended fairly and for everyone they'll have to cut a deal. But can they afford to be cutting deals before they even get the gavel? Any deals will be criticized not only by the Dem-media complex but by the Sarah Palin-Tea Party complex. In many ways this battle will set the tone for the 2011 Congress and how they are viewed. So strap in...

PS, the above-linked article from 2007 contains some real gems about Obama worth highlighting...

"It is irresponsible to be continually borrowing from the next generation. At some point something's got to give," he said.

Yes, but only in terms of tax cuts, not political payoffs and pet projects. And..

He also talked about creating a more efficient system by instituting 'PAYGO,' which would mean that if tax cuts were given, it would only be able to happen if there was a way of retrieving that loss.

"If you are going to cut taxes, you have got to find a way of paying for it," he said.

PAYGO is in effect yet he wants to extend the middle class cuts. Are they paid for? He's also ignoring revenues back to the Treasury when people have more money to spend. And..

Many people don't know who Obama is yet. According to Patrick, Obama is from Kenya and his name is Swahili. It is a good thing that one of the other issues that Obama wishes to address when he becomes president is the shameful mud slinging that goes on during an election, and he suggests that if the campaigning was paid for with public funds it would eliminate a lot of the sniping. He also suggested that TV stations cover the campaign for free with designated time slots.

From Kenya? Birther alert! Mud-slinging? Punish your enemies! As to the public money, apparently that was only for McCain. And finally..

Given that Obama rhymes with Osama and Barack sounds decidedly Muslim or Arabic, although he is reported to be a devout Christian, the media could be used as a tool to destroy his campaign purely based upon his name. So, reforming the election process and dragging political campaigning out of the gutter could pave the way for a more civilized election, in theory, but Obama will have to get in to the Whitehouse first.

Yes, but before reform to a more civilized election we first must get the car out of the ditch and make the opposition sit in the back of the bus and take away their Slurpees, all due to the irresponsible actions of the previous administration!

Aviation, Again

Here's a photo of the Qantas A380 that lost an engine on takeoff from Singapore. Passengers report hearing two loud 'bangs'..


Interestingly, Qantas just had an engine explosion on a 747 crossing the Pacific back in September:

Some of the 212 passengers, relieved to be safe after the mid-air emergency, have spoken of their shock immediately after the 747-400’s engine exploded above the Pacific Ocean late on Monday. Some panicked and cried, ”We’re going to go down, we’re going to go down”, but most handled the emergency calmly.

Here's the picture:


Was it a compressor stall? Here's one for comparison..



Such events are different from 'uncontained engine failures' as this picture indicates:


Finally, here's what an engine/wing hit by a missile looks like..


So from just a lay standpoint it would appear the Qantas event looks more like an uncontained engine failure. Of course to make things even more interesting today another Qantas flight leaving Singapore had to return due to an engine problem--this time a Boeing 747. Notice in all of the above examples the aircraft returned safely to the airport but with paranoia running rampant over the parcel bombs everything is being reported right now.

Everyone should be just as concerned about this.

MORE 11/5/10

AQAP is now tooting about how they were responsible for the package bombs and, oh by the way, the UPS 747 in Dubai. A couple of observations..

One, terrorist groups are long known for taking credit for all kinds of things after the fact. Only the evidence can be trusted, and if the authorities say there was no 'pressure wave' detectable on the black boxes then that seems to rule out a package bomb. Of course that doesn't rule out a dud bomb that simply lit the fire or some kind of incendiary device but my jury is definitely still out on this one. It would help if the UAE investigators would release the CVR/FDR tapes publicly as the NTSB is wont to do. This withholding of data has been common with several overseas crashes though, so no hopes there.

Two, the Saudis are saying the defector came to them in early October. The Dubai crash was early September. He would have known whether AQAP pulled it off and likely have told them. So if this guy is the real deal then someone already knows. Of course the Saudis were also told by an AQAP defector that Ethiopian 409 was taken down with an underwear bomb.

Onward to India!

Drudge has a headline up this morning about Obama taking 34 warships to India to protect the waters offshore during his visit:

He will also be protected by a fleet of 34 warships, including an aircraft carrier, which will patrol the sea lanes off the Mumbai coast during his two-day stay there beginning Saturday. The measure has been taken as Mumbai attack in 2008 took place from the sea.

Arrangements have been put in place for emergency evacuation, if needed.

Yes we already have a fleet in the region, they are simply moving them to the coast off Mumbai. Previous stories have mentioned 40 aircraft, a Batman-like Lincoln to carry the prez, renting the entire Taj Hotel and even flunkies being told to remove coconuts from the trees above his projected path so he doesn't get bonked on the head. All very secure at about 200 million per day.

But from whom is he securing himself? The Indians aren't enemies and after all, he's going in part to discuss lucrative trade agreements. India is certainly not Pakistan or Indonesia where AQ cells are more rampant...er wait, he IS going to Indonesia later in the trip (so we'll be able to compare the security in that Islamic country versus this Hindu nation). Or is any of this related to his decision not to visit the great Sikh temple?

Or more aptly, is it all just routine?

Very possibly just routine. The world is a place of many threats. AQ has shown over the past two years they are still determined to win. But wait, this is a man who repeatedly said..

"When George Bush steps down," Obama once declared, "the world is going to breathe a sigh of relief."

He was the one who said his own international background and new approach to handling our enemies would reduce their numbers. Not just him though, his Secretary of State said the following after the inauguration:

"There's a great exhalation of breath going on around the world as people express their appreciation for the new direction that's being set, and the team that's put together by the president to carry out our foreign policy goals," Clinton said after telephoning dozens of world leaders in her first five days on the job. "We have a lot of damage to repair."

Unfortunately Hillary could not be reached for comment.

One could take this publicity over massive security to mean they've been slacking off on the job or just garden variety idealist ignorance and arrogance from liberals coming in the door. Some may say they were just words. The trick is figuring out which words represent the truth, sometimes known as a Kinsley gaffe in Washington.

MORE 11/5/10

The left is now having some revenge fun over what appears to be a series of bogus sources fueling these reports about the India trip, well, aside from renting the entire Taj Hotel, which hasn't been refuted. But OK, guilty as charged, some of this is quite ludicrous on its face (like the 200 million a day stuff).

But why is someone leaking this? And who? Has this ever occurred in the past before a major presidential visit where sources in the visiting country tried to kneecap the trip before it started?

Meanwhile, on the Battlefield..

Rumors have been swirling since early fall that a very big al Qaeda honcho that very few know--Saif al-Adel--has been released from 'house arrest' in Iran and has returned to the battlefield in Waziristan:

Saif al-Adel enjoys a truly outstanding reputation among Islamic militants around the world. The Egyptian, whose nom-de-guerre means "sword of justice," is considered a seasoned operational planner and an experienced field commander. He is often mentioned together with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. Among other things, the United States accuses him of involvement in the bombing of two US embassies in Africa in 1998. The last position Saif al-Adel held within Osama bin Laden's terror network was that of a very senior al-Qaida military chief, a role which put al-Adel at the very pinnacle of international jihadist terrorism.

He's wanted for the African Embassy bombings and was a good friend of Abu Hafs, aka Mohammed Atef, who was killed by a CIA drone in late 2001. He was also involved with Zawahiri's "Vanguards of Conquest", aka Egyptian Islamic Jihad, before they rolled into al Qaeda in 2001. Recall that EIJ members were summoned to Baghdad for a confab before our tanks rolled in but of course Saddam would have never worked with religious fanatics, so never mind.

Al-Adel's Wiki site is mainly propaganda, as if written by either bin Laden or Adel himself, and includes this quote:

We say to those who want a quick victory, that this type of war waged by the Mujahideen employs a strategy of the long-breath and the attrition and terrorization of the enemy, and not the holding of territory.

In other words, he's not giving a timetable for departure.

Surely his release will cause about as much public commotion as the release of Yazid Sufaat, the Malaysian chemical engineer whose condo was used for the 'terrorist summit' in Kuala Lumpur in 2000. From Isikoff:

The 9/11 Commission report also details Sufaat's efforts to make weapons for Al Qaeda. The terror group's leaders sought Hambali's help in finding a scientist to "take over" Al Qaeda's biological-weapons program. Hambali introduced Sufaat to Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri. In 2001, the report says, Sufaat spent "several months attempting to cultivate anthrax for Al Qaeda in a laboratory" he helped set up near the Kandahar airport in Afghanistan.

And now he's free because the Malaysians say he's a new man, all reformed. Note also that around the same time the rumors began about al-Adel returning to Pakistan there was an uptick in terrorist warnings regards the German plot.

Yes, most Americans remain enthralled with politics or dancing with stars or football (don't mention the Titans picking up Randy Moss) but as we live our lives these nuts are still out there writing verse and planning our demise via terrible means. The package bombs were just calling cards.

Aftermath--Gibbs Was Right!

Not the steamroller some had predicted but mission accomplished--the Obama express has been partially derailed and there's a new sheriff in the house. It's a great thing to live in a country where the voters can go out, pull a lever, and change the future all by themselves (then again let's not get too carried away--Alvin Greene got almost a third of the vote in South Carolina and he made Christine O'Donnell look like Madame Curie by comparison).

Some observations. Fox News was the slowest internet site of the evening for me. Whether that means they have inadequate servers or were being overwhelmed by tea partiers who were most active in this cycle is mere speculation.

As to explanations, surely the mainstreamers will stumble out of their hangovers this morning and blame everyone but Obama--the economy (stupid), temper tantrums, Beck or whatever--but of course this was a referendum on el gaffe de presidente. The sheer amount of independents who voted GOP this time was a dead give-away.

So what happens in January? Actually, what happens in December and the lame-duck? Since the GOP didn't run the tables and both Reid and Pelosi survived in their seats it might set up a last ditch opening for some of the more radical to suggest a last gasp ramrod of more unpopular legislation via reconciliation. Would they dare? With these cats you never know, although such acts of gross arrogance and would set up the president as an even bigger villain since he'd have to sign anything. So they'll probably just pass the tax cut extensions.

When showtime comes the new GOP House will be full of bluster but won't be able to do much with a Dem Senate and prez--there will be no shutting down the government or witch hunts for impeachment or overturning Obamacare, just threats to such and partial gridlock. Obama may choose to play rope-a-dope and stall hoping the economy comes back on its own, since any meddling from the House on the economy means they can take partial credit. So maybe the Dems will become the new party of no (surely they will be painted as heroic for it).

Whatever, Robert Gibbs was right, and many are glad about it. Pelosi will have to hand over that ostentatiously enormous gavel next year and there is still poetic justice in the world when "patriots" such as Alan Grayson can be removed from office by the people, with prejudice. Otherwise, just glad it's over.

DOING NO HARM? 11/3/10

In the clip about Slurpees (we have "Icees" down here, btw) Obama said he wants to sit down with the current Congressional leadership and the leaders-to-be in 'the next few weeks' and discuss where they can move forward with no harm done. Since he mentioned the tax cuts maybe he was referring to them, but maybe he was referring to already enacted Dem legislation as well.

In other words, he might suggest giving them a FULL extension of the Bush tax cuts in exchange for their promise to leave the health care bill alone.

If the new GOP leaders balked at such a shakedown then the outgoing Congress could let the cuts lapse and blame it on a lack of bi-partisanship, tea party anger, etc. They know the Senate will remain in Dem hands making it difficult to gin up new tax cuts once the old ones expire (without the Dems wanting to tack on all kinds of riders) so it seems to this observer that the most significant legislation in the next two years might be decided in the next 2 months between the lame duck Dems and the GOP leaders who aren't leaders yet. Let's hope 'sanity' prevails.

WRAP 11/3/10



Good Lord, is it possible that our old friend Baghdad Bob actually resurfaced in America in 2006 disguised as "Nancy Pelosi" and has been fooling everyone since? "We are on pace to maintain our majority"? With a 60 seat shellacking in progress?

Notice carefully out the window--for all we know that man walking to his car and driving off might have actually been John Boehner leaving to accept congratulations.

The Sum of all Fear

I'm an enemy of the POTUS. Actually an enemy via extension--anyone who's an enemy of the Latino is an enemy worthy of punishment according to our leader, and he's urged them to take out their wrath against their enemies at the voting booth. Will it matter?

All the professional pollsters have long ago given the mid-terms to the GOP. It's a pre-landslide landslide. But wait--nothing is official until the Diebolds have been scanned. Are we sure the pollsters have accurately factored in the felons, illegals, dead people and double voters? What if they are wrong? What would punishment look like?

Will we be targeted with drones (we are, after all, the enemy) or just have the amnesty bill rubbed in our faces like playground bullies or sanctimonious UN bureaucrats? Or will seeing the smug faces of Keith Olbermann and Jon Sanity Stewart be enough punishment?

Mm. Try to imagine a Democrat victory. After all the hoopla it would be called the biggest surprise of the century--Truman beating Dewey again. All they need do is hold the House by a thread to qualify. The mainstreamers would be practically orgasmic for weeks or even months on end. Obama would be held up as the greatest president of all time, the man who pulled victory from the jaws of the evil Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. He may even have to cut short his Asian mystery tour to come back home and bask in some glow.

Meanwhile every pundit would immediately be predicting the GOP's demise using the following logic--"if they can't win this one, when can they ever win?" etc. It would be a bloodbath. The narrative would have every GOP candidate as diminished, even those who won.

Sure the pollsters' reputations would be part of that bloodbath but all would be forgotten soon--they are just pollsters. Sure, there would be challenges in races across the nation to save face or to actually combat fraud but those too would wind down as the holiday season approaches.

After all, if the Justice Dept won't prosecute New Black Panthers standing in front of voting stations holding billy clubs there's no reason to believe they'd pursue much in this scenario either. And there would be very little pressure on them from the ecstatic mainstream media. Fox News would try but they would be fighting irrelevancy as the invigorated media would be on a crusade to ostracize them into the dustbin of history via 'media reform'. Same with talk radio--the louder they cried foul the bigger target they would become.

Meanwhile Obama, with the new 'mandate' in his pocket, would be like Karl Marx on a shopping spree with confiscated money from the bourgeoisie. Imagine the change to come.

Granted, Halloween was yesterday. This horror story outcome for the right is not liable to occur with the mood of the country. But if you've actually read this far you might consider it a reminder to do your civic duty tomorrow. After all, as Yogi Berra once said, it ain't over til they get at least a 5 percent margin of victory.

SANITY RESTORED! 11/1/10

Well, no matter what happens tomorrow it's comforting to know that at least some sanity was restored in DC this past weekend...



Just couldn't pass up the embed (for easy reference in the future, if nothing else).