TSA inspector breaks airplanes by climbing on them using instruments as handholds

A TSA inspector decided to get a closer look at some American Eagle jets at O’Hare, so he climbed up on them, using a fragile, vital instrument (the Total Air Temperature probes) as handholds. He damaged the craft so badly that the regular maintenance crew grounded them — and if they hadn’t noticed, the lives of everyone on-board could have been endangered. Remember, folks, the “S” in TSA stands for “Security.”

Citing sources within the aviation industry, ABC News reports an overzealous TSA employee attempted to gain access to the parked aircraft by climbing up the fuselage… reportedly using the Total Air Temperature (TAT) probes mounted to the planes’ noses as handholds.

“The brilliant employees used an instrument located just below the cockpit window that is critical to the operation of the onboard computers,” one pilot wrote on an American Eagle internet forum. “They decided this instrument, the TAT probe, would be adequate to use as a ladder.”

Commuter Flights Grounded Thanks To Bumbling TSA Inspector

(via MeFi)

(Via Boing Boing.)

 

New Republican slogan

 

Let Us Pray

 

Air Force defies Congress, spends anti-terrorism money on “comfort capsules” with “aesthetically pleasing wall treatments/coverings”

From the WashPo:

The Air Force’s top leadership sought for three years to spend counterterrorism funds on “comfort capsules” to be installed on military planes that ferry senior officers and civilian leaders around the world … Air Force documents spell out how each of the capsules is to be “aesthetically pleasing and furnished to reflect the rank of the senior leaders using the capsule,” with beds, a couch, a table, a 37-inch flat-screen monitor with stereo speakers, and a full-length mirror.’ Congress told the USAF twice that they could not spend the money on this frivolous project, but they did it anyway…

Changing the seat color and pockets alone was estimated in a March 12 internal document to cost at least $68,240… Air Force documents about the SLICC, dated June 8, 2006, emphasize the need to install “aesthetically pleasing wall treatments/coverings” — in addition to the monitor, footrests and a DVD player. The beds, according to one document, must be able to support a man with “no more than 50% compression of the mattress material.” The seats are to swivel such that “the longitudinal axis of the seat is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the aircraft” regardless of where the capsules are facing, the document specified…

The e-mails state that McMahon ordered that the seats be re-covered, and one e-mail complains that the contractor “would not swap out the brown seat belts for replacement blue seat belts.” The changes delayed the project by months and added to its cost.

Link

Source: Boing Boing - Air Force defies Congress, spends anti-terrorism money on “comfort capsules” with “aesthetically pleasing wall treatments/coverings”.

 

Yes we can…

 

Speak No Evil, Hear No Evil, See No Evil

 

Senate Approves Bill to Broaden Wiretap Powers

The Senate gave final approval on Wednesday to a major expansion of the government’s surveillance powers. The measure, approved by a vote of 69 to 28 gives Bush what he deemed essential: legal immunity for the phone companies that cooperated in the National Security Agency wiretapping program he approved after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Senator John McCain, the likely Republican presidential nominee, was campaigning in Ohio and did not vote, though he has consistently supported the immunity plan.

Support from key Democrats, including Senator Barack Obama, ensured passage of the measure.

NYTimes.com

 

A muskrat burrowed through the levee

The tragic Midwest Flooding has captured America’s attention (at least for now) largely because mainstream media has covered the story. The cable and broadcast networks have brought the flooding into our living rooms, while the print media have written a steady stream of articles about the cresting Mississippi River and the overtopping or failure of over 20 levees. For all the coverage, there has been scant rigorous analysis of how tens of thousands of Americans find themselves in the same boat as Hurricane Katrina victims.

Now we learn that the Army Corps has its own public relations firm to train the Generals and Colonels in how to lie to the American taxpayer. Corps press officer Kevin Quinn has boasted of the skillful message management of S&C Advertising & Public Relations.

Pierce O’Donnell Public Justice Blog

 

Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

 

What a waste

Happy 4th of July.

 

McCain debt and bankruptcy protections

Presidential candidate John McCain and his wife Cindy reported piling up debt on a charge card between $10,000 and $15,000. His wife’s solo charge card has between $100,000 and $250,000 in debt to American Express.

The Hill

Related:

John McCain opposed bankruptcy protections for families “who were only in bankruptcy because of medical expenses they couldn’t pay.”

PolitiFact.org

 

Man at homes laughs at TV show, ends up getting pepper sprayed by cops

Chris Cocker, 36-year-old man from Blackburn England, was watching a comedy show at home. He laughed so hard he fell off his sofa. His neighbor in the apartment below heard the thud and called the police. When the police came to Cocker’s door, he refused to let them in. Cocker tried to shut to door, but the officer stuck his foot in the door and pepper sprayed Cocker.

After being sprayed with pepper spray, Mr Cocker was put into a police van and taken to a police station where he said he was stripped naked and spent a night in the cells.

A spokesman for Lancashire Police said officers used a pepper spray as “reasonable force” for their own protection after they feared for their safety when he became aggressive.

The BBC has a video. Link (via Arbroath)

Source: Boing Boing - Man at homes laughs at TV show, ends up getting pepper sprayed by cops.

 

Clinton vs. the Truth-O-Meter

As the pundits and politicos dissect the campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who went from being untouchable front-runner to second-place finisher, there will be plenty of explanations.

She underestimated the fundraising prowess of Sen. Barack Obama, she bet too much on Clinton administration loyalties, and she failed to prepare for a long race.

But the arc of Clinton’s campaign can also be traced in her rise and fall on the simple scale of truthfulness.

Via PolitiFact.com

 

Some China firms outsourcing to USA to cut costs

An article in the LA Times this week on businesses from China bargain-hunting on operational costs by outsourcing to the USA:

Liu Keli couldn’t tell you much about South Carolina, not even where it is in the United States. It’s as obscure to him as his home region, Shanxi province, is to most Americans.

But Liu is investing $10 million in the Palmetto State, building a printing-plate factory that will open this fall and hire 120 workers. His main aim is to tap the large American market, but when his finance staff penciled out the costs, he was stunned to learn how they compared with those in China.

Liu spent about $500,000 for seven acres in Spartanburg — less than one-fourth what it would cost to buy the same amount of land in Dongguan, a city in southeast China where he runs three plants. U.S. electricity rates are about 75% lower, and in South Carolina, Liu doesn’t have to put up with frequent blackouts.

Link (via neatorama, thanks Tian)

Source: Boing Boing - Some China firms outsourcing to USA to cut costs.

 

Nelson Mandela and the ANC are on the US terrorist watchlist and need waivers to enter the country

Nelson Mandela and other members of the African National Congress are on the US terrorist watchlist. ANC members who wish to travel to the USA have to get waivers from the State Department. The former South African Ambassador to the USA was flagged and delayed when she attempted to visit a dying cousin — by the time the red-tape had been cut, her cousin was dead.

Source: Boing Boing - Nelson Mandela and the ANC are on the US terrorist watchlist and need waivers to enter the country.

 

Excuse me

 

Ill. Rep. Monique Davis: it’s dangerous for children to know atheists exist, orders atheist to stop testifying

Ill. Rep. Monique Davis (D-Chicago) faced off against Rob Sherman of Buffalo Grove, who objected to the state of Illinois giving $1 million to the Pilgrim Baptist Church, excoriating him for not believing in God and for having the temerity to say that the Church and State should be separate. She told him that she believed it was dangerous for children to know that atheism exists. She ordered him to stop testifying and insisted that in the Land of Lincoln, “people believe in God!”

Don’t miss the audio.

Davis: I don’t know what you have against God, but some of us don’t have much against him. We look forward to him and his blessings. And it’s really a tragedy — it’s tragic — when a person who is engaged in anything related to God, they want to fight. They want to fight prayer in school.

I don’t see you (Sherman) fighting guns in school. You know?

I’m trying to understand the philosophy that you want to spread in the state of Illinois. This is the Land of Lincoln. This is the Land of Lincoln where people believe in God, where people believe in protecting their children.… What you have to spew and spread is extremely dangerous, it’s dangerous–

Sherman: What’s dangerous, ma’am?

Davis: It’s dangerous to the progression of this state. And it’s dangerous for our children to even know that your philosophy exists! Now you will go to court to fight kids to have the opportunity to be quiet for a minute. But damn if you’ll go to [court] to fight for them to keep guns out of their hands. I am fed up! Get out of that seat!

Sherman: Thank you for sharing your perspective with me, and I’m sure that if this matter does go to court—

Davis: You have no right to be here! We believe in something. You believe in destroying! You believe in destroying what this state was built upon.

Link, MP3 Link to audio

(Thanks, Jessica!)

Source: Boing Boing - Ill. Rep. Monique Davis: it’s dangerous for children to know atheists exist, orders atheist to stop testifying.

 

Bush administration: Fourth Amendment doesn’t apply to domestic military operations

Danny sez, “Following on from the memo allowing torture overseas, Kurt Opsahl from EFF has spotted a footnoted reference to a memo from the Administration that says ‘our Office recently concluded that the Fourth Amendment had no application to domestic military operations.’

So, if you’re abroad and deemed an enemy combatant you can be tortured. If you’re in the US, and you’re caught up in a “military operation”, you lose the bill of rights. Where exactly is the constitution supposed to apply?”

Link

(Thanks, Danny!)

Source: Boing Boing - Bush administration: Fourth Amendment doesn’t apply to domestic military operations.

 

Barack Obama: “Iraq is costing each household about $100 a month.”

SUMMARY: Sen. Barack Obama says the war costs each household about $100 per month. We do the math and find he’s right.

Source: Politifact.com statements - Barack Obama: “Iraq is costing each household about $100 a month.”.

 

Homeland Security bans IBM indefinitely from US Federal Contracts

Dav says: “The Feds have just banned IBM as a vendor, across the board: ‘”IBM and its subsidiaries are barred from receiving any new government contracts, new orders under existing contracts or purchase card transactions, according to a March 28 e-mail the Homeland Security Department’s Office of Procurement Operations circulated to procurement officials.’”

The ban seems to stem from “improperly obtained information about a contract [IBM] was bidding on from EPA employees.”

Link

Source: Boing Boing - Homeland Security bans IBM indefinitely from US Federal Contracts.