But no fatalities, due to the efforts of Martin Baker Aircraft Company Ltd:
Author: Matthew G. Saroff
The Taiwanese Assesment of Sarah Palin
I’m not sure if it’s the same folks as “Apple Daily,” who did those animations of a prominent golfer who is on my list of They Who Must Not Be Named which Olberman featured prominently, but the style, as well as the cultural sensibilities, seem to be very similar.
I’m not sure if this means that they Don’t understand the United States, or if it means that they Do understand the United States.
If the producers of this video do actually understand us, we are in for a world of hurt as a nation.
VIDEO: Silent Eagle Bay Watch
Click for full size
Top Bay Only in Prototype, Production will Have Bottom Bay as Well
Boeing has now successfully flown a demonstrator for its slelent eagle, the F-15E1 demonstrator.
It has both extended and retracted a missile, and made a successful launch of the AIM-120 AMRAAM.
While these are significant, it should be noted that the system is nowhere near combat ready, with the time for opening the door and extending the missile being at least 10 times what you would want in real air to air combat.
Still, the aerodynamics involved, at least when flying straight and level at around 15,000 feet.
More significant might the fact that Boeing has secured an export license of the aircraft to South Korea.
It’s a low cost solution compared to either the F-35 or F-22, which is more of an indicator of just how the costs of combat aircraft have gotten completely out of control, rather than an indication of how inexpensive the F-15 is as platform.
The Last of Murrow’s Boys Dies
He was a hell of a reporter, and I always envied the fact that he made Nixon’s enemies list.
Eric Idle Responds
It’s all very good, but the best bit is at 2:25.
It’s Bank Failure Friday!!!!
And here they are, ordered, and numbered for the year so far.
- Sterling Bank, Lantana, FL
- Crescent Bank and Trust Company, Jasper, GA
- Williamsburg First National Bank, Kingstree, SC
- Thunder Bank, Sylvan Grove, KS
- Community Security Bank, New Prague, MN
- SouthwestUSA Bank, Las Vegas, NV
- Home Valley Bank, Cave Junction, OR
Another 6 A 7 bank closing week, and we’ve broken 100 banks, and it is not yet August. we are certainly going to beat the tally of 140 for 2009. (Yes, I posted to soon, and needed to update)
So, here is the graph pr0n with trendline (FDIC only):
I would note that are now at the point where the utility of the least squares trendline is diminishing, but I’m keeping it here for historical purposes.
Putting Descartes Before the Horse
Not entirely safe for work
It’s not entirely safe fow work, but it is very, very funny.
Me, my philosophy is driven by Marxism, not Karl, but rather the Marx brothers, most notably the brother who never appeared before the camera, though he was on stage, Gummo.
Why do I follow Gummo Marx?
Because if I didn’t who else would.
I will note that I have an affection for Zeppo as well, since he was actually involved in engineering and manufacture, bring the man behind the Marman Clamp, so he is a fellow engineer, after a fashion.
H/t The Big Picture.
The Best Condom Commercial Ever
It would be great even without the school girl uniform.
I don’t speak Spanish, but you don’t need to speak the language to enjoy this.
Euro Banks Pass Phony Stress Tests, Just Like Our Banks Did
Just 7 banks out of 91 failed the Euro Zone stress tests, with only one German bank, which was nationalized a year ago for insolvency, and one Greek bank were deemed insufficiently capitalized.
Once again, like Geithner’s banking theater, we see a phony stress test, with the results tailored to protect the banks, not inspect the banks.
Credit Ratings Freak Out
One of the tidbits in the financial reform bill was a provision making the ratings agencies liable for the quality of their reports, which is a good thing, since they are nominally experts, and expert opinions of this sort are generally subject to lawsuits for fraud and incompetence.
Their protection from lawsuits had a direct correlation with the crap that Moody’s Fitch’s, and S&P pumped out their door over the past few years.
The thing is, however, that the ratings agencies are completely freaking out over this, and are now demanding that their ratings not be included in bond sales prospectuses:
Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings are all refusing to allow their ratings to be used in documentation for new bond sales, each said in statements in recent days. Each says it fears being exposed to new legal liability created by the landmark Dodd-Frank financial reform law. The new law will make ratings firms liable for the quality of their ratings decisions, effective immediately. The companies say that, until they get a better understanding of their legal exposure, they are refusing to let bond issuers use their ratings.
What they are saying here is that they are unwilling to actually rate bond issues if there is the slightest chance that their own incompetence or corruption might get them successfully sued.
Well, for most of the rest of us, if we screw up a home repair, leave a cell phone in a patient during an operation, or leave an oil plug off of a car, we are liable, and the world works.
The ratings agencies have no special right to be unaccountable.
MSNBC Last Night
We have two videos here, the first is Olbermann’s special comment, which is good, but, as I said last night, not as good as he has been, and then we have Maddow’s clear and convincing demonstration about how the right wing media in general, and Fox in particular, play the game of, “find the big scary black man,” for political advantage.
I prefer Rachel’s approach and delivery.
That being said, they are both good segments, and well worth spending the 10-15 minutes each segment runs.
Dems Cave on Anthropogenic Climate Change Bill
I guess that is no surprise that John Kerry and Harry Reid have given up on climate change legislation.
The only bright side is that it was a pretty sucky bill which would have handed the Vampire Squid* and Their Evil Minions™ a new market mechanism to rape.
If Obama has any balls, and he doesn’t, he will get moving to have the EPA draw up regulations, ones with real teeth make the coal, oil, and gas state Congressmen sweat.
In order to capture legislators hearts and minds on this issue, you need to get them by the balls first.
*Alas, I cannot claim credit for the bon mot describing Goldman Sachs as a, “great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.” This was coined by the great Matt Taibbi, in his article on the massive criminal conspiracy investment firm, The Great American Bubble Machine.
What Digby Said
I’m jealous. Yet another better writer than me.
As a blogger Palin/Gingrich is nirvana. As an American it’s the 7th circle of hell.
–Digby on the possibility of a Palin/Gingrich presidential ticket in 2012
Ethics Committee Finds Rangel Violated Ethics Rules
It’s not surprising. From all that I had read, it appeared to be a slam dunk case, though Rangel is requesting a formal hearing to challenge their findings.
On the bright side, his district is safe Democratic regardless, though Adam Clayton Powell IV may defeat him in the primary in September.
Ironically, Rangel originally entered Congress by defeating Powell’s dad in the primary.
Economics Update
It’s jobless Thursday initial claims rose by 37,000 to a 464,000 (seasonally adjusted), worse than forecast, with the less noisy 4 week moving average rising by 1,250 to 456,000, though continuing claims fell by 223,000 to 4.49 million.
In real estate, the inventory of homes for sales has risen year over year, and existing home sales fell in June.
They will fall in July as well, since we are still seeing the tailing off of closings from contracts that were signed before the tax credit expired.
About the only thing that shows any hope in the housing market is that mortgage rates continue to fall, though they really running up against the zero bound.
How a Sewing Machine Works
I had to figure out how exactly this worked in 1982, when I borrowed my roomate’s sewing maschine, which he used primarily as a coffee table, and had to thread it and get it to work so that I could make medieval garb for an SCA event.
I thought that it was neat at the time, but I had since forgotten it.
I still think tht it is neat.
Click the pic for a slightly larger image.
[on edit]
H/t Roger Ebert.
World Court Rules Kosovo Independence Not Illegal
Serbia brought the case to them, arguing that the Kosavar declaration of independence was an infringement on the sovereignty of their country, and the court rules that such a secession is not against international law:
Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008 did not break international law, top UN judges have ruled in a non-binding decision.
The International Court of Justice rejected Serbian claims that the move had violated its territorial integrity.
Kosovo officials said all doubt about its status had now been removed, but Serbia’s president insisted Belgrade would never recognise the secession.
Kosovo has been defacto independent for almost 2 decades, so this won’t make much of a difference, but I rather imagine that ¾ or the rulers of African nations are sh$#@ing bullets right now, because the boundaries of those countries are arbitrary artifacts of a horrific colonial past, and it will likely encourage more moves toward redrawing those boundaries.
In the long run, such a move will be good for the people of Africa, but to the corrupt elites who rule most of these nations,* because stoking ethnic divisions in order to create power with a divide and conquer strategy is how many of these corrupt bastards stay in power.†
A change to better drawn boundaries makes this more difficult, and thus would reduce their ability to rob their countrymen blind.‡
*Hell, the corrupt elites rule most of the nations in the world, including ours. See our own White House and Congress.
†Again, true of most nations out there too, including ours, see the Teabagger caucus in Congress.
‡Yes, us too, OK!
Hungary Passes The Bank Tax
Hungarian parliament has passed a law assessing a ½% levy on banks assets.
Needless to say, the banks are having a conniption over this:
Domestic and foreign banks doing business in Hungary have complained about the tax as well. Erste and Raiffeisen, two banks based in Vienna that have branches in Hungary, estimate they would have to pay €40 million and €35 million, or $52 million and $45 million, respectively.
“This tax is a quick-win measure, and only that,” said Juraj Kotian from Erste Group Bank in Vienna. “It does not provide any sustainable support for budget consolidation.”
The European Banking Federation called for a “profound modification” of the tax, saying it was a discriminative levy that would cause losses at some lenders and hamper economic growth.
This tax, which includes a levy on insurance companies as well is raising hackles for the same reason that Malaysia’s imposition of capital controls was vociferously attacked during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, because the market participants are terrified at the thought that this might work.
After all, Hungary is a very small fish in the overall EU economy, so if this tax fails, the impact is minimal, but if it is successful, then you can see an explosion in such taxes, just as you saw nations ignoring the IMF and imposing their own capital controls following Malaysia’s relatively mild recession and quick recovery.
If this becomes a more general practice, then it starts eating into 7 figure banker bonuses, which is not what the bankers want.
My prediction is that this will shrink the finance industry significantly in Hungary, and with the generally bloated and parasitic industry cut down to size, the Magyar republic will outperform its neighbors.
My earlier post on the attempts by the EU and IMF to browbeat the Hungarians into being the bank’s bitches is here, and my advice to them remains the same: back away from joining the Euro and set about leaving the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.
This is a Stupid Idea
Boeing is proposing a C-17 variant with a 4 foot narrower fuselage, the theory being that if it is too expensive to operate, this model will be a bit cheaper, though it won’t be able to carry (1) Abrams tank or (2) Bradley IFVs, though it could carry Stryker class vehicles.
Unless this is some sort of idea to get some more pork through the US Congress, this is a stupid idea.
While the reduction in takeoff weight, as well as an increase in installed thrust, it will still be outperformed by modern turboprops, and in terms of economy per ton mile, low wing commercial freighters will be cheaper to operate, as well as being about 50kts faster.
It just doesn’t make sense.
What BTD Says
There seems to be a push by the blue dogs and DINOS to try to make some portion of the disastrous Bush tax cut permanent.
Of course, most the Republicans won’t vote for it unless it keeps tax cuts for millionaires, and so it needs liberal Democratic votes to pass.
Well, the the blogger formerly known as Armando has this right, the best course of action absent some major concessions from the Blue Dog types is to do nothing, and let taxes go up, particularly the inheritance tax, which will pay for the loss of revenues this year in about 18 months if it returns to its old levels:
But it is not for progressive Dems. In short, to hell with Baucus and Reid on this issue, Progressives can get what they want by simply making sure nothing happens. They have the bargaining power now. Time to use it.
All that needs to happen for the taxes to be repealed is to do nothing.
Doubtless, the Obama administration will twist arms over this, since he promised people making less than $¼ million a year that he would not raise taxes, but he also promised to support a public option, to get us out of Iraq, repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and have a serious look at torture and other war crimes by Bush and His Evil Minions™.
I don’t see any reason for liberals in Congress to go out of their way to support Obama on bad policy promises if he won’t fight on good policy promises.