Sunday, February 12, 2012

Steering trouble for Qantas A380 as Heathrow take-offs aborted

Steering trouble for Qantas A380 as Heathrow take-offs aborted The Australian
A QANTAS jet carrying 435 passengers has veered off course along a runway at London's Heathrow airport during two aborted take-off attempts because of a steering fault.
The superjumbo A380 pilots twice abandoned the take-off due to the steering problems with the plane.
The Singapore-bound flight was scheduled to leave Heathrow at 9.30pm local time on Saturday (8.30am AEDT on Sunday) but never left the runway.
A Qantas spokeswoman said the plane had returned to the terminal building and was being examined by engineers.
She said the plane was returned to service and took off without incident at 1.59am local time after engineers had conducted "multiple checks" on the aircraft.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Ill. man gets 3 years in erectile pump case

Ill. man gets 3 years in erectile pump case - Boston.com
An Illinois man was sentenced Friday by a federal judge in Rhode Island to more than three years in prison for shipping unwanted penis enlargers to diabetes patients

Robert Kagan on Why the World Needs America

Robert Kagan on Why the World Needs America - WSJ.com
Foreign-policy pundits increasingly argue that democracy and free markets could thrive without U.S. predominance.
If this sounds too good to be true, writes Robert Kagan, that's because it is.

Minneapolis adopts Sharia law to help Muslim businesses

Minneapolis adopts Sharia law to help Muslim businesses « Creeping Sharia
Since December 2006, the city of Minneapolis, in partnership with the African Development Center, has given out 54 loans in a way that is compliant with Islamic law by using a fixed rate in place of a variable interest rate, which some considered sinful.

Oikophobia

Oikophobia - WSJ.com
If you think it's offensive for a Muslim group to exploit the 9/11 atrocity, you're an anti-Muslim bigot and un-American to boot.
It is a claim so bizarre, so twisted, so utterly at odds with common sense that it's hard to believe anyone would assert it except as some sort of dark joke.
Yet for the past few weeks, it has been put forward, apparently in all seriousness, by those who fancy themselves America's best and brightest, from the mayor of New York all the way down to Peter Beinart.

U.S. extends travel warning to Mexico over violence

U.S. extends travel warning to Mexico over violence Reuters
Spreading drug violence, kidnappings and carjackings in Mexico have led the State Department to increase the number of places it says Americans should avoid for safety reasons for the second time in less than a year.

Go-ahead for world's first mobile euthanasia unit that will allow patients to die at home

Go-ahead for world's first mobile euthanasia unit that will allow patients to die at home Mail Online

Elderly told: go back to work and downsize

Elderly told: go back to work and downsize - Telegraph
Elderly people should be encouraged to go back to work and move into smaller homes, one of David Cameron’s key advisers said last night.

US tribe sues breweries over alcoholism

US tribe sues breweries over alcoholism
The Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota said it is demanding $500 million in damages for the cost of health care, social services and child rehabilitation caused by chronic alcoholism on the reservation, which encompasses some of the nation's most impoverished counties

Maths 'too hard for students and dons': Universities drop subject from science courses

Maths 'too hard for students and dons': Universities drop subject from science courses Mail Online
Universities are dropping maths from degree courses because students – and their lecturers – cannot cope with it, a report warns today.
Decades of substandard maths education in schools has led to a ‘crisis’ in England’s number skills, threatening the future of the economy, it says.
Universities are being forced to dumb down degree courses requiring the use of maths, including sciences, economics, psychology and social sciences.

Disgusting: Planned Parenthood Executive Supports Gender Based Abortions

Disgusting: Planned Parenthood Executive Supports Gender Based Abortions - Katie Pavlich
“I wrestle with gender-based abortion more than any other reason [for having an abortion]...
From a macro perspective, I don’t think it is a good idea for us to be eliminating women.
But if you look at it at the individual level, which is what we do, I don’t have any right to say that one person’s reason is better or worse than another’s.”

If You Adopt Your Girlfriend, Is Having Sex with Her Now Incest?

The Volokh Conspiracy » If You Adopt Your Girlfriend, Is Having Sex with Her Now Incest?
The article’s abstract reports that, “For some time now adults — both heterosexual and homosexual — have been adopting their lovers and spouses all over the country for various reasons: to better guarantee the adoptee’s right to inherit directly from the adoptor; to keep collateral relatives from having standing to contest the adoptor’s estate plan; or to add a loved one to a class of trust beneficiaries (allowing the adoptee to inherit “through” the adoptor).”
And the article reports that about half the states “are subject to statutory or common laws that include the adopted parent/adult child relationship within the definition of incest.”

Muskegon County Public Works Board spends slightly more to go local

Muskegon County Public Works Board spends slightly more to go local MLive.com
The board purchased a minivan from Preferred Chrysler of Norton Shores for $22,128, $565 more than a Grand Rapids dealer’s bid, on a 4-3 vote. Commissioners Scott Plummer, Ben Cross, Rillastine Wilkins and Fisher voted in favor of it, while Commissioners Jim Derezinski, Alan Jager and Marvin Engle voted against it.
The board also bought a three-quarter-ton four-wheel-drive truck with a plow from Great Lakes Ford in Muskegon Township for $26,970, $117 more than a bid form a dealer in Owosso. Plummer, Cross, Wilkins, Fisher and Engle supported that purchase, while Derezinski and Jager voted against it.
All, but Jager, voted to buy the crossover vehicle from K&M Dodge in Grand Rapids for $21,835, the low bid.

No sweat, it's other people's money!

Report: MI students' proficiency down

Report: MI students' proficiency down WOOD TV8
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Gov. Rick Sndyer's budget, presented Thursday, set more money aside for schools.
And a recent study indicated that if students' demonstration of proficiency is any evidence, the money may be needed.

That is the lesson kids.
If you fail, we get more money.
Got it?

Thursday, February 09, 2012

Muslim Brotherhood Demands Military Cede Power

Muslim Brotherhood Demands Military Cede Power - NYTimes.com
CAIRO — The Muslim Brotherhood demanded Thursday that Egypt’s military rulers cede control of the government, stepping closer to a long-anticipated confrontation between the ruling generals and the Islamist-dominated Parliament.

Muskegon summer festival assured for 2012 as event promoter steps forward

Muskegon summer festival assured for 2012 as event promoter steps forward MLive.com

Clean green fraud

EDITORIAL: Clean green fraud - Washington Times
Last week, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, Michigan Republican, and Energy and Power Subcommittee Chairman Ed Whitfield, Kentucky Republican, opened their own investigation into the fraudulent outfits that sell tradeable biodiesel fuel credits to legitimate companies that need to meet the arbitrary mandates established by the EPA and Congress.

Articles: First Global Warming - Now Global Sweetening!

Articles: First Global Warming - Now Global Sweetening!
Yes, my friends, President Obama's fellow travelers within the progressive movement have decided that they have to find a new excuse for imposing government controls since climate change (née global warming) failed to achieve their overarching goal of controlling the car you drive; the fuel you're allowed to use; the type of light bulb you are allowed to use; and, after they get the "smart grid" in place, how warm you'll be allowed to keep your home.
Apparently, three researchers from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) have decided that sugar must be regulated in the same way in which tobacco and alcohol are regulated.

Greek death spiral accelerates

Greek death spiral accelerates – Telegraph Blogs
Another normal day at the Hellenic Statistical Authority.
We learn that:
Greece's manufacturing output contracted by 15.5pc in December from a year earlier.
Industrial output fell 11.3pc, compared to minus 7.8pc in November.
Unemployment jumped to 20.9pc in November, up from 18.2pc a month earlier.

I have little further to add.
This is what a death spiral looks like.

America’s youth has lowest employment rate in 60 years

America’s youth has lowest employment rate in 60 years Washington Free Beacon
Just 54 percent of Americans ages 18 to 24 currently have jobs, according to a study released Thursday by the Pew Research Center.

White firefighters are awarded $2.7 million in bias case

White firefighters are awarded $2.7 million in bias case - City of Buffalo - The Buffalo News
Twelve white Buffalo firefighters will get an average of $230,430 each in back pay, pension benefits and damages -- a total of almost $2.77 million -- for emotional distress because the City of Buffalo illegally passed them over for promotions, a state judge has ruled.
The 12 men sued the city in 2007, contending that the city illegally allowed two promotional lists to expire because minority firefighters had fared poorly on civil service exams.

Green Economy Sputtering

Green Economy Sputtering Washington Free Beacon
The Chronicle reports:
The green economy that California officials hoped would add jobs during the depths of the recent recession actually lost positions instead, according to a new report. …

Solyndra fire sale

Solyndra fire sale Washington Free Beacon
The Washington Times reports that Solyndra, the failed solar panel company on the receiving end of a $535 million taxpayer-guaranteed loan, made a series of suspicious inventory sales just month before filing for bankruptcy, in an effort to stay afloat:

The ‘People’s’ Convention?

The ‘People’s’ Convention? Washington Free Beacon
DNC in Charlotte to Feature Million-dollar tickets, luxury suites, concierge services for the 1 Percent

Freeze forces Germany to restart nuclear reactors

Freeze forces Germany to restart nuclear reactors: Report - The Times of India
BERLIN: The cold snap gripping Europe has forced Germany, which last year decided to abandon nuclear power, to restart several reactors taken off line, the daily Handelsblatt reports in its Thursday issue.

Hoyer: ‘The Fact Is You Don’t Need a Budget’

Hoyer: ‘The Fact Is You Don’t Need a Budget’ CNSnews.com
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said that Congress does not need an official federal budget because it can just adopt appropriations bills and authorization policies as needed to keep operating.

» Immigration and Customs Enforcement Hires Officer to Chat With Detainees

Immigration and Customs Enforcement Hires Officer to Chat With Detainees - Big Government
In a time when America’s immigration system is swamped – when illegal immigrants are routinely caught and released, many of whom are dangerous – it seems that one of ICE’s top priorities is public relations with illegal immigration advocates.
Yesterday, Andrew Lorenzen-Strait announced via the Department of Homeland Security website that he had been named ICE’s “first-ever public advocate.”
Lorenzen-Strait
His job will be to “serve as a point of contact for individuals, including those in immigration proceedings, NGOs, and other community and advocacy groups, who have concerns, questions, recommendations or important issues they would like to raise.”

Navy SEAL chief Bill McRaven warned to keep operations secret

Navy SEAL chief Bill McRaven warned to keep operations secret Mail Online
The commander of the Navy SEALs raids which killed Osama bin Laden and rescued hostage Jessica Buchanan has been berated by a retired Lt General for publicising such operations - and putting future deployments at risk.
Admiral Bill McRaven, who led the bin Laden raid and heads the U.S. Special Operations Command, was told by retired Army Lieutenant General James Vaught to 'get the hell out of the media' to safeguard the secrets and security of special operations.
According to ABC News, Vaught told McRaven: 'Since the time when your wonderful team went and drug bin Laden out and got rid of him, and more recently when you went down and rescued the group in Somalia, or wherever the hell they were, they’ve been splashing all of this all over the media.
'I flat don’t understand that.'

Halftime in America: Remy Chrysler Ad Parody

A National Scandal

A National Scandal - 620 WTMJ
White House spokesman Jay Carney said Wednesday that President Obama has no opinion on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s assessment that not having a budget creates uncertainty and could damage the economy.