I am not sure whether Chris Dodd’s official announcement of his support for marriage equality is being driven by a legitimate change in view, a recognition that the public is moving in this direction at a blindingly fast pace, or desperation over his otherwise low poll numbers in Connecticut following the entire business with his mortgage.
I really don’t care why he is doing this as much as I care that it is the right thing.
It was my just-turned-12-year-old daughter’s turn to choose a movie, and she chose Twilight.
Kristen Stewart … Bella Swan
Robert Pattinson … Edward Cullen
Billy Burke … Charlie Swan
Ashley Greene … Alice Cullen
Nikki Reed … Rosalie Hale
Jackson Rathbone … Jasper Hale
Kellan Lutz … Emmett Cullen
Peter Facinelli … Dr. Carlisle Cullen
Cam Gigandet … James
Taylor Lautner … Jacob Black
Anna Kendrick … Jessica Stanley
Michael Welch … Mike Newton
Christian Serratos … Angela Weber
Gil Birmingham … Billy Black
Elizabeth Reaser … Esme Cullen
It’s a Vampire film, based on the book, which Natalie read, and enjoyed immensely, and it’s very much geared towards tween girls, and so she loved the book, and so chose the movie.
I really tried to talk her out of it, but she was having none of that, and it is a kind of a reward for her reading, so what can a parent do..
The plot is straight forward, Vampire meets girl, they fall in love, damsel in distress ensues.
For what it was, and I would not see this sort of film except under familial duress, it’s of fairly high quality, well shot, and well acted.
I think that the combat sequences could have been a bit better, but I’m a big fan of Kurasawa’s filming of combat in The Seven Samurai and The Hidden Fortress, which has a level of realism that would not match the target audience (12 year old girls).
It is what it is, and if you like what that is, and I really don’t, you’ll enjoy it.
The only surprises were that there were some legitimately funny bits to it, and I felt no need to claw my eyes out.
I think that it’s important, and it’s something of direct interest to me, I get my insurance, and pay a lot for it, through MHIP, but I simply do not believe that a meaningful plan is on the way, and so I find it to depressing to write about.
Between the belief that the plan needs some Republican votes, even though meaningful healthcare reform will cut their own throats politically, and the power of the insurance, the AMA, and medical lobbies, I just don’t see anything meaningful happening.
So, I read, and I get depressed, and how often can I call someone like Bayh, or Baucus, or Conrad pig felching rat bastards?
It adds very little to the understanding of the situation.
This is across the pond, where the there has been a £1.15 billion default on bonds for 9 office buildings in downtown London.
The value of the properties has declined 50% from peak.
We will see a lot more of this in commercial real estate, particularly since most of the loans are relatively short term, typically about 5 years, and the note will come due, and there will be no opportunity to refinance, because the value of the property has fallen.
H/t Calculated Risk
Using a utility called Twitterfeed, which allows RSS feeds to be fed into twitter.
You can see the feed here, and it’s called “40_Years”.
I’ve also put the link into the Feeds/RSS box on the upper right.
This post will remain on the top for a few days.
My mom was killed by a drunk driver when I was 14, so we’ve always made a bigger deal over “Mutha’s Day,” since he raised me from that point on.
I always call him on Mother’s, and it’s usually an overseas call, as he typically hits Europe that time of year.
I’ve been doing that for years.
We actually got together for a cookout today, though his and my step-mom’s being here was about their annual trip out east for a conference in DC and not Father’s day.
Neither of us remembered until my daughter, Natalie, made mention of it.
I did up lamb chops for everyone but Charlie, my son, who is not a big fan of meat, so I did a Cornish game hen for him.
Of course, I used my Indian spice rub and plum barbecue sauce.
We hung out, shot the breeze, he gave lots of advice (he is my dad, after all), and a good time was had by all.
My wife and kids are going out for ice cream in a bit.
This is not a development, as Russia, or more exactly the USSR, is the only nation to have fielded a combat fighter in squadron service with a phased array radar, the MiG-31 Foxhound.
It appears that much of this development is being driven by the Indian medium fighter competition.
The installation appears to be a bit tight (top pic) in the demonstration, though there may be more changes to shrink the “back end” of the radar and increase the aperture size in the production model.
The ground mapping imagery (bottom pic) does appear to indicate a very significant improvement in air to surface capabilities.
Specifically, the idea that a relatively low performance airframe can serve better in the counter-insurgency (COIN) or the close air support role than something like the F-15, F-16, F-22, or F-35 JSF.
Not only would lower performance aircraft tend to have better short and rough field capabilities, just as the A-10 Warthog currently does, but they would be able to loiter over the battlefield for a much longer time, as they are designed for this regime, unlike aircraft designed to operate above 30,000 feet and to reach supersonic speeds.
Case in point, the Combat Air Tractor, an aircraft based on Air Tractor’s crop dusting aircraft.
It can take off and land off of rough airfields in less than 100m, and can loiter over the battle field for over 10 hours.(click slide show [top] for pictures of aircraft and weapons load outs)
The CAT also costs somewhere between $4 and $10 million dollars, as opposed to the $80-$200 million of a JSF, and it has been used in combat situations, spraying herbicide on coca fields and the like, and the aircraft is on the tarmac at the Paris air show.
While it would be an unlikely choice, there are also rumblings that the USAF is considering modifying their T-6 trainer for a similar role (bottom pic)
Personally, I’d favor something turbofan powered, because it could be designed with narrow-band stealth against radar guided AAA, but anything is better than the current plan, which is JSF’s for everything.
2 video clips, lots of laughs.
2 of 2
Israel’s early order of the JSF has provided a lot of credibility to the program, but concerns about the escalating costs, and the inflexibility, the plane is a closed platform to which the Israelis cannot add their own systems,is causing some cold feet inside the IDF/AF.
By way of hand holding, Lockheed has proposed to offered to do final assembly in Israel.
While there has been a lot of effort to portray this aircraft as a colossus striding across the world military jet fighter market, it’s position actually seems precarious.
And why this can be a good thing sometimes.
My wife is driving a rental car, because an adjuster is looking at her car, a 2008 Dodge Avenger.
While loading the trunk I noticed the emergency release handle on the latch (see crappy cell phone pic)
It’s there to deal with the problem of small children locking themselves in the trunk ans suffocating.
In condicting human factors resarch on how to make the use of the device as easy and intuitive as possible, at one point, researchers locked children in trunks of cars, and observed their progress on infra red cameras.
It’s kind of neat.
Posted via mobile.
With the Pentagon gunning for the GE-Rolls Royce alternate engine, because they want their pig, the F-35 JSF, to fly as soon as possible, and the Pratt & Whitney’s F135 is already paid for, the alternative engine is behind the 8-ball, even if all indications are that it will provide superior performance, and that the competition between the two engines is likely to provide significant cost savings over time.
The F100/F110 competition between P&W and GE saved about 20%, but the basic F-110 was already flying as the F-101 on the B-1 bomber before it challenged the F-100.
The problem is that the services, particularly the Air Force and the Marines, want the JSF right now even more than they want the JSF get it right, and the money spent developing the F136 engine could be used to accelerate keep the schedule from slipping quite so much.
I think that it’s penny wise and pound foolish, but things being what they are, the Pentagon, and Lockheed are right about the fact that once the aircraft enters squadron service, it will be much harder to cancel.
Well, the F-136 team just had a cunning plan.
In fact, it’s so cunning, if you put a tail on it, you could call it a weasel: They are looking at making a firm, fixed-price contract proposal (paid subscription required) for the engine, which would make it a “known known”, as opposed to a “known unknown” (or maybe an “unknown unknown”, I gotta stop trying Rumsfeld-Speak, my head hurts).
In any case, the F136 does have friends on the House Armed Services Committee, who just added money for it back into the budget.
Because turncoat State Senator Sen. Pedro Espada, he’s the one who runs the phony charity that he pays himself from while he breaks campaign finance laws, not the one who slashed his girl friend’s face, is now claiming that he actually gets two votes in the State Senate, because when the Republicans elected him president pro tempore of the Senate it gave him the “duties of the Lieutenant Governor” when there is no Lieutenant Governor.
I seriously think that this won’t end until some Senator goes Preston Brooks on another Senator on the floor.
The blockbuster here appears to be that another Senator, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, was present at at least some of the discussions on this matter between Ensign and his former staffer, though it also appears that there is the suggestion that Ensign was stalking Ms. Hampton after the relationship ended.
Well, it appears that Senator Ensign was slowly backing away from the allegations of extortion over the past few days, and law enforcement has said that there have been no allegations of such.
What is interesting is that Doug Hampton, the cuckolded husband seems to have felt threatened about something, because he sent a letter to Fox News about claiming that he was threatened about 5 days before Ensign went public, and while Fox denies having tipped him off, they now admit having received the letter.
It appears that someone there tipped off the Senator to this, and now that the contents of the letter have been leaked, we’re hearing rumblings of potential extortion again, only Ensign’s office is suggesting that it was his council, who they have not named.
So, murmurings of extortion, but no names, for now, I am betting that this is Bullsh&%.
My guess is that the sequence of events is as follows:
Pass the popcorn
Text of Doug Hampton’s letter to Fox News:
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Fox News- Corporate Office
1211 Avenue of the America’s (sic)
New York, New York 10036Megyn Kelly,
More than any time in my life I understand why people take matters into their own hands. I am disheartened! I have sought wise counsel, tried to do the right thing and continue to run into road blocks (sic) in dealing with a very terrible circumstance and injustice that lives in my life. I am hoping you and Fox News can help.
My name is Doug Hampton. I am a former employee of US (sic) Senator John Ensign. I worked for Senator Ensign in his official government office on Capitol Hill from November 2006 to April 2008. My responsibilities were the oversight of his personnel in Washington as well as the state of Nevada. Duties included budgets, policy and public speaking on behalf of the Senator and his initiatives.
Here is my story. In December of 2007 in the midst of some very difficult personal issues that deeply impacted my family and marriage, Senator Ensign pursued and engaged in a relationship with my wife. Our families were lifelong friends, our children attend school together to this day, and our homes are in neighborhoods across from each other. My wife was the Senator’s campaign treasurer.
There is a tremendous amount (sic) of details and critical facts associated with this story and their relationship that will not be addressed in this letter but are very important and need to be further explored if you choose to meet with me. The purpose of this letter is to establish the framework for discussion and provide enough information to warrant a meeting with you and Fox News. This is the only letter of its kind and no other news stations have been contacted with this information. I have great respect and affection for Fox News and many of your collages (sic). I’m sending this to you because you have a legal back ground (sic) and this story has several legal elements.
The unethical behavior and immoral choice of Senator Ensign has been confronted by me and others on a number of occasions over this past year. In fact one of the confrontations took place in February 2008 at his home in Washington DC (sic) with a group of his peers. One of the attendee’s (sic) was Senator Tom Coburn from Oklahoma as well as several other men who are close to the Senator. Senator Ensign’s conduct and relentless pursuit of my wife led to our dismissal in April of 2008. I would like to say he stopped his heinous conduct and pursuit upon our leaving, but that was not the case and his actions did not subside until August of 2008.
The actions of Senator Ensign have ruined our lives and careers and left my family in shambles. We have lost significant income, suffered indescribable pain and emotional suffering. We find ourselves today with an overwhelming loss of relationships, career opportunities and hope for recovery. Our pursuit of justice continues to place me and my family in harm’s way as we fear for our well being (sic).
Today, Senator Ensign’s responsibility and stature have increased within the US (sic) Senate. His is currently the head of “Policy” for the Republican Party, the number four position within the Parties (sic) leadership team. We on the other hand are completely ruined and left to deal with the aftermath of very evil and completely unjustifiable acts by one of our countries (sic) top leaders.
It appears there may be nothing the law can do to correct and bring justice and restitution to (sic) this terrible wrong that has been done to us. I have sought a number of lawyers who are having difficulty finding charges that may hold up in court. There are either technicalities that exist due to the time period in which I have sought help, or other nuances that quite frankly make no sense to me given the egregious acts and blatant abuse of power by Senator Ensign. From my perspective this whole nightmare is terribly wrong and completely unacceptable and should not be tolerated.
I clearly understand this story is difficult to believe for anyone reading (sic) for the first time. I too would have difficulty believing it, if someone brought me this story. However I assure you it is true and there are facts, a paper trail, phone records and personal witnesses to testify to its truth. It is my belief we are dealing with a very powerful person and an institution in the US (sic) Senate that only the media can pierce to expose the wrong and bring light and focus to what needs to be done? (sic)
Please help me! This should not be how the leadership of our country should be allowed to behave. I need justice, help and restitution for what Senator Ensign has done to me and my family. Regardless of technicalities, regardless of position, regardless of power this cannot and should not be tolerated in our country from our trusted leaders. Will you help? Will you consider a meeting with me to further discuss this story and what can be done to bring justice and correction to this situation?
I love this country and considered it a great privilege to work in the US (sic) Senate. I am bringing this to you and Fox News to address this professionally and correctly. I could have sought the most liberal, Republican hating media to expose this story, but there are people’s lives at stake and justice is about proper process as well as outcome. Senator Ensign has no business serving in the US (sic) Senate anymore! I will send you and (sic) email as well as leave you and your staff messages in an attempt to meet you and your team as soon as possible. I live and work in Nevada but can be in New York within hours, I look forward to your help.
Sincerely,
Doug Hampton
And yes, I am feeling a bit of Schadenfreude about this, pass the popcorn.
It turns out that the place hit worst by H1N1 right now is the good old USA.
Why? Because of our antediluvian workplace and worker protections.
We are the only industrial nation that does not require paid sick and vacation time, so, “infections among healthcare workers suggest that people are showing up at work sick — meaning that workplace policies may be contributing to its spread.”
You think that the American workplace, with its inducements to come in sick might contribute to the spread of disease?
Who would have thunk it?
