We now have a report that there was an on board fire at the time of the crash.
Author: Matthew G. Saroff
Welfare for American Arms Manufacturer
The US Army is now planning to replace the Iraqi Army’s AK-47s M-16s, claiming, among other things, that the M-16 is more reliable.
Yeah, right.
While the M-16 is unquestionably more accurate, reliability and cost are on the AK’s side. Additionally, this will require significant retraining.
This is just a way to get the M-16 into service so that Colt (or maybe FN, when I last checked they made weapons in South Carolina under license) make lots of money.
EC Increases Microsoft Fine to $1.35B
I guess that they got a bit upset about Microsoft ignoring their directive to open up their APIs.
Microflaccid is lucky that I’m not on the board. I’d strip copyright protections from all but the most recent versions of their software for this sort of crap.
Imaging what would happen if Office 2003 and Windows XP were available legally for free in Urop.
The NASA Clown Show
Well, it’s beginning to look like NASA is mismanaging the Orion CEV as badly as it did the space shuttle.
It appears that the whiz kids at NASA are going back to the drawing board on requirements.
At the rate this is going, the US will be out of the manned space business for a very long time.
Iraqi Withdrawal Back on Table in Senate
All I think needs to be said is that if the Republicans want to filibuster this, make them talk.
None of this courtesy stuff. They use it as an excuse to kill everything. Cut the funding on the war and the escalation.
Mark Begich to Run Against Ted Stevens
He is currently mayor of Anchorage, and my dad knew his dad from when he worked in the governor’s office in the 1960s.
Dem Wins State Senate Special Election in New York
Darrel Aubertine beat Will Barclay, taking the state senate to 32 Republicans and 31 Democrats in a special election.
FWIW, the last time that a Dem won this district was in the 1800s, so this does not bode well for the Republicans.
If one Republican switches sides, control of the state senate changes hands.
After that, the first order of business should be redistricting, at least on the state level.
In a state where registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans by something like 4:1, it’s clear that some serious gerrymandering is going on and needs to be fixed.
Schadenfreude: Now I Have to Clean My Screen
Posted without comment:
Attention, Parents: Larry Craig is Seeking Interns – The Sleuth
(go to the link and read the reader comments though)
YES WE CAN HAS
Obama Lolcats. Funny, and not offensive regardless of who you support.
Unless you hate cats, and if you hate cats, you have my condolences.
Bush and His Evil Minions™ Choose Fat Cat Bankers Over Home Owners
The ‘Phants in the Senate are threatening a filibuster, and the white house is threatening a veto over the Senate’s bill modifying bankruptcy laws to allow a judge to modify the terms of a loan on a primary residence.
Today, you can do this on your yacht, or your vacation home, or your rental property, but not on your loan.
Allowing so-called “cram downs” will not fix the problem, but it will make it better, and it will land squarely on the shoulders of the lenders who were the worst actors in this debacle.
Siegelman Update
On the Speaker’s blog, Chairman Conyers Releases Jill Simpson Transcript on the Prosecution of former Alabama Governor Siegelman.
You may recall that she has made some highly credible claims that Rove targeted Don Siegelman for prosecution. Additionally, Larisa Alexandrovna, details the total freakout mode that the Alabama GOP has gone into over this.
Check them both out.
Renzi Will Not Resign
Yep, after a 35 count indictment on dodgy real estate deals, he won’t resign.
Pass the popcorn.
In fairness to Republicans*, I imagine they feel the same way about Rep. William Jefferson.
*Woah…did I actually say that? I can’t believe that I said that.
Moussaoui Looks to Appeal His Guilty Conviction
He is now claiming that he did not have effective counsel, because his lawyers could not fully brief him on the case, because of secrecy rules.
I don’t think that Mossaoui was the “20th Hijacker”. I think that he was a terrorist wannabee, and I think that he should be locked up for some time, though I’m not sure if that’s in a prison or a high security mental ward, but the fact that Bush and His Evil Minions™ screwed up this case just stuns me.
These guys could not organize themselves out of a wet paper bag.
Naomi Kline Nails It
She has an article in the nation, Disowned by the Ownership Society, or as I like to refer to it, the Pwn3rsh1p society.
Go read it.
Here is a sample:
In November Nasdaq joined forces with several private banks, including Goldman Sachs, to form Portal Alliance, a private equity stock market open only to investors with assets upward of $100 million. In short order yesterday’s ownership society has morphed into today’s members-only society.
BTW, this private market will crash and burn, because there is no small investor left to hold the bag when the bubble bursts.
Dollar Falls Breaks $1.50:€1.00
I predicted it by the end of 2007, and (yet again) I was wrong, but only by 8½ weeks. The Dollar fell to a record low, closing at $1.4981:€1.000 after a brief blip where it weakened above $1.50.
Economics Update
The Consumer confidence index has dropped to 75, the lowest number since 2003, the expectations Index, which is on hop people see the future declined to 57.9, the lowest number since 1991.
In real estate, January foreclosures are up 57% from one year ago, the fall in house prices is accelerating, with the Case-Shiller home price index falling 9.1% year over year.
It appears that home improvement is stalling, with Home Depot having its first drop in sales ever. People don’t want to improve a depreciating asset.
Inflation (stagflation) is rearing its ugly head too, with Wholesale prices rising 1% for the month of January, and 7.4% in 2007.
In insurance, MBIA will stop writing policies for asset based securities for at least the next 6 months. Additionally, it is looking at spinning off its municipal bond business, and announced that it had eliminate its quarterly dividend.
In general investment news it appears that yet another complex obscure financial instrument will give the world heartburn, something called a “variable interest entity” (VIE). It appears to be another asset structured to keep sh&^ty investments off the balance sheets.
Sikorsky’s REveals Successor to It’s ABC Concept
In the 1980s, Sikorsky had a test aircraft that they called the ABC (Advancing Blade Concept) helicopter. It used a coaxial rotor, and offloaded the retreating blades to eliminate retreating blade stall (as a helicopter goes faster, the blade going backwards goes more slowly relative to the air stream).
Sikorsky unveiled its successor, the X2 test aircraft at Heli-Expo:
It’s certainly a lot cleaner and more developed than its predecessor.
It also promises performance close to that of a tilt-rotor with the low speed handling and auto rotation of a helicopter.
William J. Haynes is Out at White House
He is the defense department general council who said that we “had to” get convictions, and he authorized torture.
He is “returning to private life”, which is nicer than Bush’s desire to make him an appellate court federal judge.
A Report that Musharraf is not Long to His Post
They are talking about his leaving in the next few days.
I doubt it, but his exit would be good for America. Musharraf has never been serious about pursuing terrorism, and his presence is making Pakistan less stable.
Sat Shoot-Down Logo Revealed!
H/t Danger Room from Wired.com
Hu’s on first.