Friday, August 15, 2003

Everybody Farts. I am sure there will be a Japanese kids book about this shortly, if there isn't one already!  Yes, the very first Whale Fart has been capture on film.  Brave researchers were suprised by this one.  Perhaps they will be less brave next time. I predict a renewed upswing of interest in underwater farting photography. 12:28:58 PM    comment []

Our Chickenshit President. Well, maybe that's going a little far, but here's the thing: Every time El Busho goes anyplace, his security boys go wild.  In particular, the new thing they love to do is declare a massive temporary flight restriction around any place they predict Bush will be.  There are a whole series of these roving 60 mile-diameter zones that have occurred all over the country.  In some cases they have given pilots in the area less than 12 hours notice!  Keep in mind that the penalty for violating one of these things is often the loss of your pilot's license. There is an official mechanism for learning about these things: They're called NOTAMs (Notice to AirMen).  Before each flight you're supposed to find out the latest ones.  The catch -- NOTAMs are written in obscure language; they're hard to figure out.  Various services provide graphical views of NOTAMs, which makes it relatively easy to figure out where they are and where they're popping up. If you don't have access to that kind of service (like, say, when you're in the middle of a flight), you will often call up Flight Services and request a briefing over the phone.  This is another official path for NOTAM information.  So what happens when the briefer doesn't tell you that there's a Chickshit President TFR somewhere along your flight path?  The answer is -- you lose your pilot's license.  It matters not that you had no way of knowing that it was there.  It was, you violated it, and you lose your license.  Now that's a bit extreme -- it's true that the FAA might look at the facts in this case and give you a break, but the starting position is loss of license. The bottom line is that there are substantial economic effects (closing of hundreds of airports, job losses, other economic losses) that are associated with this Presidential TFR activity.  No other President has done this.  It is not justified.  There are no overriding security concerns.  It is simply CYA over-reaction on the part of security folks.  At some point it has to stop. Bush has the power to stop it, but chooses not to.  Maybe he likes it when mechanics lose their jobs, and flight instructors can't buy their kids a birthday present because TFRs stopped Daddy from working.  I think he just plain doesn't give a shit.  I think that is quite representative of his personality in general. 11:45:12 AM    comment []