Airlines Cutting Corners

According to a report I heard on the radio today, Northwest Airlines is laying off 900 of its mechanics to cut costs. The airline is outsourcing its maintenance to Asia, as it can obtain cheaper labor overseas. Now, I haven't verified any of this, but this is what I heard from a mechanic for Northwest. There is no oversight by the the airline of the labor that is performed overseas, and it is performed by undocumented workers. When the repaired aircraft is returned to the airline, a representative signs off on the work and the plane is put into service.

Any work performed in the United States is done by mechanics who are trained and licensed by the United States government. Background checks are done on these individuals and random drug testing is performed. The workers are also employees of the airline and have a personal stake in the work being performed. They treat an aircraft better than their own car.

By sending an aircraft overseas, who is to say that the work is done properly? What stake do the workers have in doing a job well? What is to stop an individual from getting a job at one of the overseas companies and planting a device in a plane? This certainly doesn't make me feel more comfortable about flying. We are reducing air safety at the same time as we are cutting jobs by hard working well trained Americans.

Boo Frickin Hoo

Awww, poor Barry Bonds is tired. I guess it is just so hard playing a game and getting paid millions. To quote JT, cry me a river.

U2 Hall of Fame Induction

(David Atlas/RS)

U2 were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last weekend, but I just got a chance to see it on VH1 today. Bruce Springsteen made the induction speech, and did a wonderful job. Read it here. The band then made their acceptance speeches before hitting the stage to play "Until the End of the World", "Pride", "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" (with Bruce sharing vocals), and "Vertigo". "I'm just not sure I'm ready to accept institutionalisation," Mullen said after the ceremony. "If I'm to be really honest I would have liked this 10 years down the line."

World Bank, Wolfowitz, and The Fly?

Recently the LA Times' Editorial page had an piece stating the case for Bono as the next head of the World Bank. For those of you unfamiliar with the World Bank, here is their mission statement from their website;

The World Bank Group’s mission is to fight poverty and improve the living standards of people in the developing world. It is a development Bank which provides loans, policy advice, technical assistance and knowledge sharing services to low and middle income countries to reduce poverty. The Bank promotes growth to create jobs and to empower poor people to take advantage of these opportunities.

There is a current agreement that the United States appoints the head of the World Bank and that Europe appoints the head of its sister institution, the International Monetary Fund. Thus it seemed fairly unlikely that Bono would be nominated of accept the position, especially with his current day job as lead singer with a certain rock band that I enjoy.

The individual who was nominated for the position is the controversial Paul Wolfowitz. Here is what the President had to say about the nomination. "I'd say he's a man with good experiences. He's helped manage a large organization. The World Bank's a large organization." Wow, I've watched a documentary on Fiji, maybe the President will appoint me as the next Ambassador to Fiji. The Daily Show had a great bit on it, which can be viewed here. Why Wolfowitz was appointed by the President is a little uncertain, but it probably just has to do with the President placing an big neo-conservative in a prominent position.

Now if you don't know who Wolfowitz is, he is one of the Hawks in Washington who had been trying to get the US to invade Iraq since the first Gulf War and was the largest proponent of the current war. I have attached an article from Reuters discussing Wolfowitz attempt to secure the backing of Bono. Who would have thought of that 20 years ago? Obtaining the backing of a mega rock star. But I guess there is only one Bono (who I am sure will be diplomatic when asked about Wolfowitz to help get aid, trade, and debt releif for Africa).

Wolfowitz Discusses World Bank Mission with Bono
Reuters 18th March 2005

Paul Wolfowitz, whose nomination as World Bank president has stirred controversy, discussed poverty and development issues with Irish rock star Bono in two phone conversations on Thursday, an adviser said.

Wolfowitz adviser Kevin Kellems told Reuters the deputy U.S. defense secretary initiated the lengthy conversations with the lead singer of the rock group U2, whose name had been bandied about for the World Bank presidency.

President Bush on Wednesday named Wolfowitz, a key architect of the Iraq war, to be the next World Bank president, but the choice has been controversial, especially in Europe.

An endorsement by Bono, who campaigns extensively for African aid and debt relief, could defuse some of the criticism of Wolfowitz.

Kellems said the discussions "were incredibly substantive about reducing poverty, about development, about the opportunity to help people that the World Bank presidency provides and about charitable giving and social progress around the globe.

"They clicked. They were very enthusiastic, detailed and lengthy conversations," Kellems said.

Tom Hart, government relations director for DATA -- Debt, AIDS, Trade and Africa -- the lobby group co-founded by Bono, said the rock star believed it was important to share his views on Africa and poverty with Wolfowitz.

"Bono thought it was important that he put forward the issues that are critical to the World Bank, like debt cancellation, aid effectiveness and a real focus on poverty reduction," Hart said.

Wolfowitz first telephoned Bono on Wednesday to schedule the conversations. In the past 24 hours, Wolfowitz had spoken with a broad range of foreign leaders, bank officials and advocates for poverty reduction and international development, aides said.

Mucho March Madness

West Virginia Takes Down Wake
Originally uploaded by Niall Stewart.

I think this might be the craziest first two rounds of the NCAA tournament that I have ever seen, and there is still a day of games left to be played. Every year, it amazes me how good and competitive the games end up, and this year has been great. In my brackets, I am pretty much screwed, with the exception of one, in which I still have 3 of my final four teams left. So here is the breakdown of my final fours for the brackets that I have going;
(Updated on 3/20/05)

Boulder County Day - OSU, UK, UConn*, Gonzaga*
Work - Illinois, UNC, Wake*, Syracuse*
Friends - Arizona, Wake*, KU*, Syracuse*
ESPN - Arizona, UNC, Wake*, Syracuse*


* out of the tournament

Congress, MLB, and Da Juice

Random Thoughts on the Steroids Issue

- Why is Congress investigating Major League Baseball for steroids when there are so many other important issues that they should be dealing with right now. I will give them a suggestion...how about finding out what happened to the $9 billion in Iraq funds that is somehow unaccounted for.

- By not talking about the past, Mark McGwire's image is tarnished (first ballot Hall of Famer?) and now it is assumed that he was on the juice too.

- Tom Osbourne was questioning players? Maybe Congress should hold an investigation into his Nebraska Cornhusker teams of the 80s and 90s and performance enhancing drugs (or other illegal issues)?

-Which statement of Curt Schillings is true? That steroids is rampant in baseball or that the issue was greatly overstated? He has said both. So what is it Curt?

- Did McGwire really break down in tears?

- MLB needs a new commish. Selig is a joke. He still thinks like an owner and has the owner's, not the game's, best interest at heart.

- A lot of the information in Canseco's book is about his time with the Rangers, when Bush was the owner. There are loads of stories about Bush liking to hang out with the players in the locker room and be "one of the guys". Just how much did he know about it then? (Although, that is assuming that what Canseco wrote is true. Still, just look at Palmeiro's numbers before and after Canseco was added to the team, and you have to be suspicious.)

- In a slightly unrelated note, did I really hear that Congress subpeoned Terri Schiavo to testify regarding her right to die case? That's just wrong.

March Madness

The 64 teams have been set and it is now time to make your picks for your NCAA bracket. Office pools are going on across the country and countless hours are spent obsessing over what picks to make. Which 12-5 game is going to be an upset? Who is this year's Cinderella story? What traditional powerhouse stumbles early? And who is going to win it all? It is hard to name a sporting event that is as exciting and fun as March Madness.

Happy Birthday!

Today is my beautiful wife's birthday. Happy Birthday babe.

Bloggin

So you start one of these blogs and put down thoughts and ideas on the internets, without really knowing who is going to read it. Some friends have told me hat they do, and I do get the occassional comment on a post. My mother is likely my biggest fan, but isnn't that what Mom's are supposed to be? But I am beginning to wonder who reads this. Specifically, if my wife does. She never comments on it, so I don't know if she either dislikes all my posts or just doesn't read it. We will see if she says something about this over the next few days.

Confessions of a U2 Junkie

On March 28th, U2 will kick off their world tour in San Diego, and I can't wait. Like a syringe to a heroine addict, a twinkie to an overeater, or Mad Dog 20/20 to a drunk, a U2 concert is the ticket (?) to my addiction. I have been an addict ever since I first saw them live in '92 for the Zoo TV tour, and have been fortunate enough to see them many times since. Many think that I am obsessive, but I must say that it is healthier than many other addictions, and despite the escalating ticket prices, probably cheaper too. U2 announced the 3rd led of the Vertigo tour yesterday, and they are coming back to North America. I am having a difficult time fighting the urge to buy more tickets. (OK, I succumbed and purchased 2 for the closer in Portland). After the fan club fiasco with the tickets for the first leg went on sale, U2 vowed to try to fix things. They did, and it was so smooth and easy this time around. I had the coveted GA floor tickets purchased in less than a minute. It is good to see them taking care of their long time fans/addicts.

Privatization

So here is my take on the whole Social Security Issue.

Social security was brought about to raise the elderly out of poverty. Prior to the enactment of Social Security, almost 50% of seniors lived in poverty. Even today, it helps lift the elderly out of poverty. Leaving aside Social Security income, nearly one of every two elderly people — 46.8 percent — has income below the poverty line. Once Social Security benefits are taken into account, just one in twelve — 8.7 percent — is poor. [1].

The purpose of Social Security is to provide supplemental income to retirees. It is a security blanket. It is not a retirement plan, but a form of insurance that provides income to help sustain a comfortable living after retirement or disability. If you are in an accident and unable to work, you can still draw Social Security. A congressman (I think Earl Pomeroy) from North Dakota told an interesting story today. His father was killed in an accident when he and his brother were young. Their mother was a stay-at-home mom and didn't have any income. The family recieved Social Security benefits after their father's death. The congressman said that without that money, he and his brother would never have been able to attend college and he would have never become a congressman.

The Congressional Budget Office "projects that under current law Social Security outlays will first exceed revenues from payroll taxes and taxation of benefits in 2020 and that the program will exhaust the trust funds in 2052. After the trust funds are exhausted, Social Security spending cannot exceed annual revenues. As a consequence, because dedicated revenues are projected to equal 78 percent of scheduled outlays in 2053, CBO projects that the benefits paid will be 22 percent lower than the scheduled benefits. After 2053, the imbalance will widen, CBO projects."

President Bush is pushing a plan to privatize social security. Instead of paying in to the social security system as you do now, you would put money into an account. That money would then be invested in the stock market to hopefully appreciate. If a person did not wish to participate in investing the money, they would end up recieving 40% less than the benefits currently given by Social Security.

The latest polls have about a 35% approval rating of this plan, so the President is on a $100 million plus campaign to get us to change our minds. He is flying around the country trying to change opinions on the plan, advertising on TV, Newspaper, and online, and sending out others from his cabinet such as Treasury Secretary Snow and VP Cheney to promote the idea.

In Britain, they have a pension system which includes private investments. Unfortunately, for the citizens of Britain, the plan is largely regarded as a failure. In fact, members of the British Parliament are looking at the current US Social Security system as an example of a a good system. David Willetts, a Conservative member of Parliament whose intellectual acumen has earned him the nickname "Two Brains," is one admirer of the American system. "I like the way they distinguish between Social Security and means-tested welfare," he says. "They have higher Social Security benefits to keep elderly people off welfare."

The cost to overhaul the system and create private accounts is going to cost a staggering $2 trillion over the next ten years alone. The current US deficit is somewhere around a record $7 trillion. And judging from Bush's past economic blunders, privatization will likely cost much more than current estimates. This money will likely be borrowed from foreign countries, and we are going to be stuck with paying off that debt.

So who does like the idea? Well, Wall Street is absolutely salivating with the prospect of private accounts. They would make a killing off of fees associated with private accounts. To quote Paul Krugman, a professor at Yale, MIT, Stanford, and now Princeton, "There are two problems with that. First, the fees charged on private accounts will be a significant drain on returns. In a typical portfolio, we're probably looking at a return of four percent. But fees are likely to take at least one percent, like they do in Britain. So now we're down to a return of three percent or less on private accounts. And since Bush wants to borrow $2 trillion to pay for the transition, we're talking about borrowing at interest rates of three percent to establish private accounts that will yield three percent -- with a lot of additional risk. So it's a lose-lose proposition, except for the mutual-fund industry." Hmmm...I wonder how much money Wall Street gave to Bush's campaign and other Republicans?

So, Social Security is going to need some adjustments to keep it going. Many economists and politicians believe that the current system can be fixed without drastically overhauling it, and it has been strengthened in the past. I don't believe it is worth the risk of the privatization program that W is proposing. If you like the investment idea, then I encourage you to start up (or continue) a 401k plan like I have. Social Security has been one of the most popular and successful government programs in history. Let's not let him screw it up.

Sick College Hoops Weekend

I was unable to watch any of the games this weekend, but I did catch Sportscenter last night to see the highlights of one of the best weekends of college backetball in recent memory. Here is a recap of the top ten;

(1) Illinois ended its streak of perfection and lost on the road to Ohio State in a nail-biter (65-64).
(2) UNC barely slipped by a shorthanded (6) Duke at home (75-73). I love to see Duke lose.
(3) Kentucky lost at Florida (53-52), as Florida ended an 8 game losing streak to UK.
(4) Wake Forest scraped out a win over NC State (55-53) thanks to a bucket at the buzzer.
(5)Boston College won easily against Rutgers
(6) Duke see above
(7) Kansas lost to Missouri (72-68) and lost Kieth Langford to an injury and lost the outright Big 12 Title.
(8) Oklahoma State lost 74-73 to Texas.
(9)Louisville beat Depaul (66-62).
(10)Washington lost to Stanford (77-67).

You are normally lucky to get a few close games, but this weekend there were also a load of upsets. And for you golf fans out there, the Tiger/Phil shootout this weekend was classic.

Yea! Aunt Martha's Free

United States of ...Torture?

On 26 June 2003, President George W. Bush proclaimed to the world that "the United States is committed to the worldwide elimination of torture and we are leading this fight by example".

Yet the Washington Post reports;

In November 2002, a newly minted CIA case officer in charge of a secret prison just north of Kabul allegedly ordered guards to strip naked an uncooperative young Afghan detainee, chain him to the concrete floor and leave him there overnight without blankets, according to four U.S. government officials aware of the case.

The Afghan guards -- paid by the CIA and working under CIA supervision in an abandoned warehouse code-named the Salt Pit -- dragged their captive around on the concrete floor, bruising and scraping his skin, before putting him in his cell, two of the officials said.

As night fell, so, predictably, did the temperature. By morning, the Afghan man had frozen to death.

After a quick autopsy by a CIA medic -- "hypothermia" was listed as the cause of death -- the guards buried the Afghan, who was in his twenties, in an unmarked, unacknowledged cemetery used by Afghan forces, officials said. The captive's family has never been notified; his remains have never been returned for burial. He is on no one's registry of captives, not even as a "ghost detainee," the term for CIA captives held in military prisons but not registered on the books, they said.

"He just disappeared from the face of the earth," said one U.S. government official with knowledge of the case. The CIA case officer, meanwhile, has been promoted, two of the officials said.


That is just one of many stories about the torture that has arisen since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq began. The US has used many techniques which are considered to be torture. One interrogation technique is called "water-boarding". It involves the submersion of a detainees head in water to the point of perceived drowning. I think that constitutes torture. And in cases where we don't want to get our hands too dirty, we send the detainee to a secret prison in another country and let them do the torturing for us.

Alberto Gonzales was recently sworn in as the Attorney General for the United States. Prior to this, he served as counsel to the White House and reportedly advised the White House on how US interrogators could escape criminal liability for torture, on how to narrow the definition of torture, on how officials could get away with using cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment that purportedly fell short of torture, and on how the President could override international or national prohibitions on torture. For more info on Gonzales, click here.

Also, remember the detainees from the Afghanistan war held down in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba? Well, they are still there. They have been held for four years now. Amnesty International has a full report on the situation. Also, don't forget about Abu Ghraib.

Torture often provides inaccurate and untrue testimonies. Statements coerced by torture are typically false, as the prisoner is willing to say anything to make the pain stop. The United States of America should be the shining example to the rest of the world on human rights. lf we torture others, what is to stop others from torturing US soldiers held captive.

The Junktown

I grew up in Grand Junction, Colorado, which has a real crappy newspaper. However, they do have some interesting news to report over there. Here is an article my Ma sent me about a recent event in GJ;

Female Transient Allegedly Wrestles Naked With Dog

By EMILY MORRIS The Daily Sentinel
Thursday, March 03, 2005

A female transient was arrested Tuesday for wrestling naked with a Grand Junction resident’s dog.

Katherine Earle, 40, jumped over an acquaintance’s four-foot fence at 603 N. Sixth St. just before midnight Tuesday and took off her clothes to start wrestling with the male dog, according to the arrest affidavit.

Earle woke up the occupants of the home, who called the police, according to the affidavit.

When the police arrived, Earle told them she was having sex with the dog and that she does it all the time, according to the affidavit.

The affidavit said Earle was very intoxicated.

Earle had a warrant for her arrest and was booked into the Mesa County Jail to serve a 25-day sentence, according to the affidavit.

Six Starr, the dog’s owner, said she has known Earle for two years, but in the past six months Earle has started acting strangely. Starr said Earle is friendly with the dog, but this is the first time she has been caught wrestling naked with it.

“What took place last night, I don’t even want to guess,” Starr said.

The dog, named Blue, a Labrador retriever and blue heeler mix, appeared undisturbed by the events. During the interview, he was chewing on Earle’s sock, a souvenir from the tryst.

Lobster

So you might have heard the story of Bubba the lobster on the news recently. For those of you who haven't, Bubba was a 30-50 year old, 22 pound lobster who was caught off the coast of Massachussets and shipped to an eatery in Pittsburgh. Some animal lovers caught word of the lobster and decided to save Bubba. The People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) was contacted and protests were held. Folks offered to buy the lobster and release him in the wild. All this news gave Bubba a stay of execution, and it was decided to send him to an aquarium in Pittsburgh. Well, the trip and change of locations proved to be too much for poor Bubba, and he passed away shortly after arriving at the aquarium. It is unbelievable how much attention this lobster received, but the part of the story that amused me the most was that the People for Eating Tasty Animals, also known as PETA, put in a bid to buy Bubba for supper. PETA vs. PETA. I am an animal lover, but I also love to eat steak, chicken, the other white meat, and seafood. Maybe it is hypocritical, but it doesn't really bother me too much. I figure that Bubba's time had come, and whether he ended up being dipped in butter or floating belly up in a zoo, it really didn't make much of a difference in the long run.