From what I know of computers, I gotta figure that they are somewhere out there, and U.S. Magistrate Judge John Facciola’s order to determine whether or not the emails are on backup should reveal some interesting data.
There is dirt there, though with the fetish for secrecy, I’m not sure how much of it is that and how much is covering one or more criminal conspiracies.
It appears that everyone is telling Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.) not to run for reelection.
They are afraid that he would turn the district blue.
I don’t know why…Hip deep in Abramhoff, at least one aide already sentenced for corruption, and…oh yeah…that bit where he’s paying his wife large sums of money to fund raise for him.
Even if the last one is not illegal, it won’t play well in November.
Run Johnny, run!!
The USAF has been trying any means possible to keep the F-22 production line open.
This time, it is using the structural problems of the F-15 to do so.
Let’s be clear, this is a serious issue, but the USAF permanently grounding 180 aircraft is unnecessary.
It appears that the problem is the result of two things, the age of the airframe, and the fact that some of the longerons are defective.
That being said, the USAF personnel running around crying that the sky is falling, and so you get quotes like this:
“Do you try to patch a 25-year-old airplane that has been patched and patched and patched?” another senior Air Force official asked. “After the repairs, it will not be the same aircraft it was before.”
The answer, of course, is that it will be the same aircraft as before. The repairs are not cheap, my guess would be on the order of $200,000 to $300,000 per aircraft, and with a weight hit of somewhere between 50 and 100 kg.
Compared to something north of $150,000,000 for an F-22, it is an inexpensive solution.
One of the things that USAF is studiously quiet about is the fact that the F-15 is a superior platform for the interception of cruise missiles, because it has a larger antenna for its radar (Physics is a bitch, ain’t it).
I’m sure that this will anger some Ron Paul supporters, but let’s be fair: this is not making fun of Ron Paul. It’s making fun of Ron Paul supporters.
Seriously, a blimp????
……………
Courtesy of xkcd – A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language – By Randall Munroe, who is a bloody genius.
Rich Toscano has a post on December home prices in the San Diego Area, and if this does not scare you, are dead:
For the month of December, the size-adjusted median price was down 4.6% for single family homes, 5.8% for condos and 5.0% overall. That’s right, for the month. The graph below shows the declines from the peak.
FWIW, the housing market is collapsing from the bottom up, so the houses not selling are cheaper, and the already bad figures become even worse when corrected for square footage.
And I’m pulling down the polling spreadsheet, you can find it here.
McCain beats Romney. I figured that it would be closer.
Clinton beats Obama. This one shocked me.
And yes, my prediction that Huckabee would break 17% was wrong.
If I continue to get my predictions this wrong, I expect a job offer from the Bush White House.
My analysis: First, I wish that Paul had out polled Giuliani. Just because Mr. 911 deserves to be humiliated, like he did to his last wife by announcing the divorce on Mother’s day at a press conference. The man is a human stain, and the only candidate out there worse than the Avignon President, and his VP, the human snarl.
The American public supported Rudy because they did not know him, but over the past 2-4 months, they have who he is, and they would sooner French kiss a cow than vote for him.
As to McCain, it must be great for the press corps to have a “man crush” on you. He’s too damn old, and he’s hated by the Evangelicals and by the Wall Street Republicans…He won’t win.
Huckabee did OK, and will crush the opposition in South Carolina, notwithstanding Freddie Thompson’s clown show line in the sand down there. He may not have the nomination locked up, but he if he does not get the nomination, he comes in 2nd.
Clinton-Obama, I don’t know where it’s going. According to exit poll reports, the older voters were what put her over the top, and so I would give her a slight edge.
I don’t know the effect of her being misty-eyed at that rally. I just saw it as her being tired and a bit overwhelmed, and so I did not comment on it, but perhaps people wanted to see her in a slightly less reserved mode.
It certainly didn’t hurt.
An interesting phenomenon can be on the front page of Josh Marshall’s TPM there were a lot of people who do not care for Clinton who were incensed at the way the press went after her. It’s only 2-3 letters but I assume that it represents at least a segment of the population.
I can’t see Edwards getting any traction unless either Obama or Clinton crash and burn, which depresses me.
With Obama, you have a content free campaign (and dog whistle gay baiting), and with Clinton you have potentially disasterous dynastic issues. We’ve already had 20 straight years of presidents Bush and Clinton, which is too damn much.
I’m in Maryland, so if my vote counts, I’ll be amazed, but I’m pulling the lever for Edwards.
Bush and His Evil Minions™ wanted to stack the Civil Rights commission. The problem? The law forbade any more than 4 of the 8members being of one party.
Bush’s solution was to have two of the Republicansregister as independent, and then appoint two more Republicans.
Well, now the non-partisan Congressional Research Service has reviewed the 1957 Civil Rights Act that established the commission, along with the 1983 changes designed to forstall Ronald “What me, Racist” Reagan doing what Bush just did.
In sum, the situation that precipitated Congress’ 1983 revision of the Civil Rights Commission – the presidential firing of five of the then six sitting commissioners – is arguably indistinguishable from the changes in party registrations that has effectively allowed the President to establish a majority of his political in control of the Commission. The intent of the 1983 restructuring, as confirmed by the Wilson decision, was to preclude similar juggling of the of the Commission’s statutory appointments process. In light of that history, together with the recognition of the Wilson court of the central importance of independence of the central importance of independence to the accomplishment of the Commission’s mission, it is likely that a reviewing court would find the OLC opinion unpersuasive and the recent appointments violative of the political balance requirements of the statute.
In English, it’s pretty clear that they just ignored the law because they felt like it.
Well, a corrupt politician in Louisiana, who would have thunk it.
The way it looks right now, it’s something like 2 to something like 133 by party, with all the Dem’s cases being in Louisiana.
This one appears to be a bit more prosaic though, no money in the freezer, just earmarks for contributions.
Personally, I would not miss her in the Senate one bit. She is a DINO, and a much too consistent vote for the Republican agenda.
At some point, party discipline must be enforced, or you stand for nothing.
Merrill Lynch saying that a recession in the US “has arrived”, to which I say, “what took you so long”?
Countrywide Financialis hit by rumors of bankruptcy, and they have admitted that they fabricated documents in a foreclosure suit., so their stock is tanking.
Morgan Stanley has downgraded Ambac Financial and MBIA, two of the largest bond insurers because of concerns about mounting losses.
New home contracts fall, the National Association of Realtors’ has upped their estimate for year over year losses, and KB Home’s losses shoot skyward.
Just lovely.
I guess that it might interfere with Dick Cheney’s deferred compensation package from Halliburton.
A study has just been completed on Autism rates following the removal Thimerosal from vaccines in 2001, and the numbers are stark, removing Thimerosol made no change in the incidence of Autism spectrum disorders. (LA Times Link)
Autism cases continued to increase in California after the mercury-containing preservative thimerosal was eliminated from most childhood vaccines, according to a new report.This suggests that exposure to thimerosal is not a primary cause of autism.
Speaking as a parent of a child on the spectrum, Charlie is a very high functioning Aspergers kid, let me state that the people arguing for this are wrong.
Every peer reviewed study has shown no correlation, and while correlation may not prove causation, a lack of correlation does prove a lack of causation.
Inoculations work. Inoculations don’t give your kid an Autism Spectrum disorder.
Get your kids vaccinated, for their good, and for the good of their classmates.
The City of Baltimore is suing Wells Fargo, claiming that, “contending that its lending practices discriminated against black borrowers and led to a wave of foreclosures that has reduced city tax revenues and increased its costs.”
I expect this to be the first of many such suits from local governments taking it on the chin from foreclosures.
Damn. Joe Gibbs Resigns as Redskins Head Coach.
Would someone please convince the CIA to take Dan Snyder to Gitmo?
It appears that some Edwards supporters at a Clinton rally refused to shake her hand.
That’s just being a jerk.
I have had a handshake refused, some Orthodox Jewish women don’t shake hands because they consider it “immodest”, and I wasn’t offended, and the refusal to me was not intended to be offensive.
This was intended to be offensive, and the unnamed Edwards supporter was a turd.
Jimmy Cayne is to resign.
Bear Stearns is circling the drain, and I stand by my prediction, buyout or closure by August 2008.
You know, one of the things I prefer about the British is their culture of heckling.
Not only is heckling expected, but politicians are expected to be able to deal with it.
I think that it would result in more substantive campaigns, because the average voter/heckler has the ability to drive the focus, and politicians have to be quick on their feet.
I think it makes it harder for someone to become president just because they are the idiot son of a previous president.
That being said, if America were to adopt this model, we would need remedial education for hecklers, because lordy, this is lame:
Two men were just removed from a high school auditorium where Sen. Hillary Clinton is speaking, after they stood up during her speech, lifted signs and chanted “iron my shirt.”
Seriously, if you are going to do this, spend some time coming up with something that makes her look bad, not something that makes you look bad.
This is just so “high school”.
This report sounds very familiar, a bunch of small boats, “threatening” US naval vessels.
While I have no doubt that the Iranians have detailed plans for an assault of US Naval forces, this is not how they would do it.
On Black Monday in 1987, the US and Iranians engaged in the largest surface engagement since the battle of Leyte Gulf, which resulted in the destruction of half the Iranian surface fleet.
It didn’t get much coverage because of the stock market crash that day.
The Iranians have a very good idea of how much they are over matched, even in littoral waters like the Persian Gulf.
They won’t be broadcasting threats on the radio and broadcasting, “Your ships will explode in a couple of minutes”.
Any attack will be conducted in small boats, launched from a number of different locations, and it will be conducted in radio silence.
There was no attack, or any provocation, just some testosterone laden maneuvering.
Good. High turnout is something that benefits the society, because it gives more people a vested interest in the results, and hence a reason to be informed.
Not surprisingly, the turnout has increased the most on the Democratic side of the primary, undeclared voter can declare when they go into vote, and it looks like there may be shortages of ballots.
I think that this means a long night before all returns are in, but they will probably have a winner declared by 9:00pm on both sides.
Whatever side you are on in Minnesota, it’s clear that you will lose, because with the amount of money raised, Franken raised $1.9 million in the last quarter, and Coleman raised $1.7 million, you are going to be getting wall to wall ads.
Once you get wall to wall ads, they go negative, because otherwise they become background noise.
I’m wondering how long before Franken is accused of being a “Thespian”.
Coleman is ahead in cash on hand, about $6m to about $3.1m, and it’s likely that even with Franken out raising his next nearest primary opponent by a significant amount, he will have a serious primary campaign.
Of course, this election is all about him, Al Franken. (Old SNL reference)
It appears Xerox® has unveiled a new logo, thus they are doomed.
For people, there are 5 stages of grief, particularly when one is told that they have a terminal disease:
(taken verbatim from the Wiki)
Businesses that are are terminal go through similar stages, though there are some differences.
Specifically, there is a “their logo, or their name, or both” stage.