Friday Morning News and Views

New England Fall Foliage

Good Morning Conflucians!!! How is everyone this morning? We had some really cold and damp weather here in New England for a couple of weeks, but over the last few days we have finally had some typical New England fall weather. It has been delightful, with temperatures rising to the 60s, gentle breezes, and lots of sun.

I’m starting to understand why Riverdaughter enjoys listening to books on tape. I checked out the audiobook of Karen Armstrong’s The Case for God from the library last weekend, and I have been listening to it in the car while driving to work and back. I’m enjoying it so much! I find myself sitting in the car listening instead of going into my house when I get home! I would take the book in with me, but I’m afraid I’d be too caught up in it to get anything done.

Karen Armstrong

Armstrong writes about the history of religious ideas from the Paleolithic to the present, explains why “modern” ideas about religion and God are completely misguided. Particularly in the West, many people have come to think of God as a separate being with personal characteristics. Armstrong has written before about wrongheadedness and dangers of fundamentalism in the modern era. Now she argues that by looking at the ideas that ancient peoples had about God we can reclaim a sense of the mystery of our existence and our connection to all that is. Terry Gross recently interviewed Armstrong on Fresh Air. If you are interested, you can listen to the podcast here.

This book sounds interesting too: Jonathan Kirsch on “The Woman Who Named God.”

Here and there on the front lines of the clash of civilizations, we can glimpse a few pockets of compassion. One example is the revisionist reading of a neglected passage of Genesis that depicts the tragic fate of an Egyptian slave named Hagar, the mother of Abraham’s first son and, by tradition, the matriarch of the Arab nation. Modern commentators have rescued Hagar from obscurity and reinvented her as a feminist icon and a symbol of reconciliation among the three religions that claim Abraham as a founder.

Democrats: Finding New and Ingenious Ways to Defeat True Health Care Reform

Back in the 21st Century, the craziness continues. Democrats are working hard to find ways to prevent real health care reform. Even though the public wants it, they seem to think it would be bad for us to have something approaching coverage for all through a government program. Republican Olympia Snow of Maine is now in control of the process, threatening to join a filibuster if the remaining shreds of the “public option” are not completely neutered.

Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME)

“A public option at the forefront really does put the government in a disproportionate position with respect to the industry,” Snowe, the only Republican to vote for a health plan so far, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital With Al Hunt,” airing this weekend.

Snowe’s stance is crucial because Democrats such as Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson say a bill has to have Republican support to win his vote. She might also bring along more Republicans, such as fellow Maine Senator Susan Collins.

The New York Times explains why Harry Reid is taking a huge risk in pushing a neutered public option (the optional option?).

Mr. Reid met with President Obama at the White House Thursday to inform him of his inclination to add the public option to the bill, but did not specifically ask the president to endorse that approach, a Democratic aide said. Mr. Obama asked questions, but did not express a preference at the meeting, a White House official said.

Of course the President didn’t express a preference! That would be wrong and might derail Obama’s precious goal of bipartisanship. He’s got one Republican who *might* vote for the bill *if* there is no chance in hell that the American people will actually get better health care. And Reid can’t ask Obama to support a public option, because Reid already knows that Obama doesn’t want a public option. If he pretended to support it, it might actually have a possibility of passing, and then some of those nasty liberals might try to turn it into actual health reform. We can’t have that now, can we?

Mr. Reid’s outlook was shaped, in part, by opinion polls showing public support for a government insurance plan, which would compete with private insurers. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said again Thursday that the House would definitely include a public option in its version of the legislation.

LOL! Reid was finally forced to acknowledge that the American people want real reform. He’s in danger of losing his Senate seat, so for the time being he has to pretend to listen to his constituents.

Bla, bla, bla…I’m so sick and tired of these fake Democrats. They don’t deserve to use the name of the party of FDR, JFK, LBJ, RFK, WJC, and HRC.

{{Sigh…}}

The Economy

ABC News POLL: Recovery? What Recovery?

The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll put it this way: “Many economists say that using the standards they apply, the recession probably is over. Thinking about your own experience of economic conditions, would you say that from your point of view the recession is over, or not over?”

Result: Not over, 82 percent.

Click here for PDF with charts and questionnaire.

That marks more than the disconnect between definitions of recession; it also points to the land mines that pockmark the political landscape, threatening potential woe to President Obama in particular and incumbent office-holders in general. Claims of a recovery that few people feel are fraught with the taint of disconnect.

Duh! Are you paying attention, Mr. President?

Obama’s Pay Czar Slashes Executive Compensation

“I’ve tried to balance both sides, listening carefully to what is said in the way of citizen anger and also the statute, which requires that these companies stay in business and thrive so we get repayment,” the pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg, said in an interview with ABC News.

Seven companies receiving “exceptional” amounts of taxpayer aid will slash the annual salaries of their 25 top executives by an average of 90 percent from 2008 levels.

Feinberg, who was appointed at the Department of the Treasury to manage compensation issues for companies receiving federal bailout money, said he hoped other companies will follow in the same footsteps but that it’s not the government’s place to impose any laws on executive compensation.

“I’m hoping that, using these seven companies as a template or as a model, that other companies will voluntarily see the wisdom of the way we’ve structured compensation — less cash, more long-term stock tied to the financial future of these seven companies. Hopefully others will see the wisdom of this and follow suit voluntarily,” Feinberg said.

Frankly, I doubt that anyone on Wall Street is going to see the wisdom of that; but we’ll just have to wait and see.

The Vitally Important Concerns of the Villagers

Never mind health care for the sweaty, struggling masses, what’s really important is college football. Republican Senator Oren Hatch wants President Obama to investigate the college bowl system. Now this is significant stuff! So significant that Hatch has sent Obama a ten-page letter making the “legal case” against BCS. Hatch is angered because the University of Utah and Boise State have been excluded from BCS bowls even though they have recently had undefeated seasons.

I can see why this would be so much more important than passing real health care reform or finding ways to create jobs so that the American middle class doesn’t flatline and have to be taken off life support. Good work, Senator Hatch! And since President Obama has repeated discussed the need for a change in the BCS system, I’m sure he, too, will set aside less vital concerns to respond to yours.

Actually Obama might soon have to worry about his own job future. According to the conservative UK Telegraph,

The decline in Barack Obama’s popularity since July has been the steepest of any president at the same stage of his first term for more than 50 years.

Barack Obama’s popularity has fallen steeply since being elected last year Photo: AFP
Gallup recorded an average daily approval rating of 53 per cent for Mr Obama for the third quarter of the year, a sharp drop from the 62 per cent he recorded from April.

His current approval rating – hovering just above the level that would make re-election an uphill struggle – is close to the bottom for newly-elected president. Mr Obama entered the White House with a soaring 78 per cent approval rating.

The bad polling news came as Mr Obama returned to the campaign trail to prevent his Democratic party losing two governorships next month in states in which he defeated Senator John McCain in last November’s election.

I don’t know if Obama needs to start worrying about his re-election chances just yet, but he is starting to look more like Jimmy Carter every day.

Just One More Reason Why I Will Never Fly in an Airplane Again

Plane crazy: NWA flight misses MSP by 150 miles

Brent Bjorlin and his fellow airline passengers didn’t have a clue something had gone wrong at 37,000 feet until federal officials with badges and guns boarded the Northwest plane after it landed in the Twin Cities on Wednesday night.

[....]

It wasn’t until the next day that he and the others found out that Northwest Flight 188 from San Diego had overshot Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport by 150 miles, winding up in Wisconsin before turning around to land safely at MSP. Federal officials say the pilots apparently became distracted. Military jets had been on standby to track down the jet after it dropped out of radio communication for about 75 minutes.

“When you hear that fighter jets were ready to scramble, that just gets you really mad,” said passenger Scott Kennedy.

Wandering Flight Spurs Nap Probe

Federal officials are working to sort out whether pilots of a Northwest Airlines flight dozed off or were simply distracted Wednesday night when they fell out of contact with air-traffic controllers for more than an hour and overshot their destination by 150 miles.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating, among other things, whether the two pilots fell asleep at the controls. The pair told law-enforcement officials who interviewed them upon landing in Minneapolis — and apparently told fellow pilots later — that they had been engaged in a “heated discussion over airline policy and they lost situational awareness,” according to the NTSB.

Whatever the reason, the plane may have flown out of range of one air-traffic-control center and failed to take steps to get back on course and resume radio contact with controllers, according to industry and government officials close to the situation.

During the 78-minute radio silence, controllers became so concerned about the fate of the 149 people aboard that they asked pilots of other aircraft in the vicinity to see if they could rouse the Northwest crew, according to industry and government officials. When that failed, the Federal Aviation Administration and military official began to consider having fighter jets scrambled to intercept the twin-jet Airbus A320, these officials said.

According to the BBC, the pilots “lost situational awareness” because they were arguing with each other about “airline policy.”

“They were in a heated discussion over airline policy and they lost situational awareness,” the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) explained.

When the pilots got their “situational awareness” back they turned the Airbus A320 around and landed it safely on Wednesday evening, apparently without any of the 144 passengers realising they had taken a roundabout route.

I’d rather drive my car everywhere. At least that way I have some kind of sense of control.

Amelia Earhart

I have to admit, though, that I’ve always been fascinated by the story of Amelia Earhart. The Chicago Sun-Times has a nice story about Earhart’s high school days.

In a yearbook essay in which the graduating seniors are cast as the crew and passengers aboard a ship embarking on life’s grand voyage, Earhart is mentioned — almost in passing — as one of three waitresses, wearing “dainty caps and aprons to serve the meal.”

Earhart — whose story is told in the movie “Amelia,” opening today, with Hilary Swank in the title role — spent just that one year in Chicago. And, according to several biographers, she was miserable here.

“She acted very unusually,” said Susan Butler, an adviser to the new Earhart film and author of East to the Dawn: The Life of Amelia Earhart. “She never made the slightest effort to fit in with her high school class.”

She sounds like someone I would have liked–another outsider.

At the Indianapolis Star, Purdue University President France A. Cordova writes:

Amelia Earhart has long inspired young women to pursue their dreams, even if they face obstacles to their goals and especially if those dreams will take them beyond traditional careers.
Interest around the world in the aviatrix is sure to be renewed with the opening of the film “Amelia” this weekend. And another generation of girls, through the legacy of Amelia Earhart’s story, will get a lesson in believing in themselves and in what they accomplish.

Before she left on her second and ill-fated attempt at a world flight in 1937, Earhart spent two years on Purdue’s West Lafayette campus as a career counselor to hundreds of students, mostly women. A few of those young women were motivated to pursue flight, but she encouraged even more to consider a wide range of then nontraditional careers, especially in science and engineering.
As a female scientist, I know how important it can be to have a role model to follow. Earhart was one of mine, long before I arrived on the Purdue campus as president.

When I was a high school student in the 1960s, I loved science. But it wasn’t a “woman’s career,” so my parents and teachers advised me not to study science as a college undergrad. Then Purdue alumnus Neil Armstrong landed Apollo 11 on the moon. That historic moment — and the inspiration of Amelia Earhart — refocused my career aspirations on the stars. I eventually earned a doctorate in astrophysics.

“Amelia” opens in theaters today, with Hillary Swank in the starring role. Here is the trailer:

I hope it’s a good movie. I was planning to see “An Education” tonight, but I’m tempted to see “Amelia.” instead.

Polanski News

U.S. formally asks for Polanski extradition

The U.S. Embassy in Berne submitted the formal extradition request to Switzerland’s Federal Office of Justice on Thursday night, Swiss justice officials said.

Swiss justice officials said they will now forward the extradition request to the Canton of Zurich, where Polanski is being held, so an extradition hearing can be held.

If a decision is made for Polanski to be extradited, the director may appeal to the Federal Criminal Court, justice officials said.

Lawyer Hints Roman Polanski May Return to U.S. to Face Justice

“An extradition procedure could take months,” attorney Georges Kiejman told Europe 1 in a radio interview. “It could lead towards extradition if the Swiss judiciary doesn’t hold with the arguments put before it. If that procedure drags on forever, it’s possible Roman Polanski will finally choose to go to explain himself in the United States … where arguments in his favor exist.”

Roman Polanski raped and sodomized a 13-year-old child.

Baseball

Us Yankee haters can rejoice for one more day

Angels Answer Yankees Rally, Send ACLS Back to NY

With stunned fans halfheartedly singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” Torii Hunter chucked his glove at the dugout wall after the Angels turned a four-run lead into a two-run hole. Down the hall and around the corner, clubhouse attendants began icing crates of champagne and beer for the New York Yankees.
Both the center fielder and the clubbies were a bit premature. Didn’t they realize this wacky AL championship series is usually just warming up during the seventh-inning stretch?

With one more rally and one improbable save in a 7-6 victory Thursday night, the Los Angeles Angels earned at least a two-day extension on their championship dreams — and Hunter got to pack that glove for New York.

Vladimir Guerrero tied it and Kendry Morales put Los Angeles ahead with run-scoring singles for the Angels, who responded to the Yankees’ six-run comeback with a three-run rally of their own. It all happened during a jaw-dropping, 45-minute, 63-pitch seventh inning that trimmed the Yankees’ ALCS lead to 3-2.

Derek Jeter in agony

I’d love to see the Angels wipe that smirk off Derek Jeter’s face.

Science and Technology

Utah docs say climate change is No. 1 health threat

A group of doctors called Thursday for Utahns and their leaders to take dramatic and immediate steps to address climate change, calling it “the greatest public health threat of the 21st century.”

The Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment unveiled an ambitious campaign to tackle the issue just as the Utah Farm Bureau Federation announced its own participation in a campaign to put the brakes on congressional efforts to address climate policy with what opponents denounce as an energy tax.

“This focuses on what the bills [before Congress] would do to American agriculture,” said Farm Bureau CEO Randy Parker, describing his group’s effort to defeat climate-change legislation.

In an auditorium at the University of Utah School of Medicine, the eight doctors and two climate experts described the threats they see at hand and their prescription for dealing with it.

“Those who urge or insist on waiting ‘until all the science is in,’ or call this a hoax,” said Brian Moench, a Salt Lake City doctor and president of the doctors’ group, “do so in defiance of overwhelming scientific evidence reminiscent of the tobacco industry’s decades-long campaign to cast doubt on the adverse health effects of cigarettes.”

Good luck convincing Utah Senator Orin Hatch. He’s busy trying to change the College Football bowl system.

Declining majority in US believe climate change is real

The number of Americans who believe that climate change is real has declined in the last year, but a majority do see convincing evidence of global warming, according to a new poll.
The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found 57 percent of Americans see “solid evidence of warming,” compared to 71 percent in April 2008, and 77 percent in August 2007.

The poll, which surveyed 1,500 people between September 30 and October 4, also found a decline in the number of Americans who think global warming is a very serious problem.

Just 35 percent describe the issue that way today, compared to 44 percent in April 2008 and 45 percent in 2007.

Since 2008, the proportion of Americans who describe global warming as the result of human activity, such as the burning of fossil fuels, has also sharply dropped from 47 percent to 36 percent, the survey found.

The increase in the number of Americans with doubts about climate change came across the political spectrum, though it was particularly pronounced among independents.

Just 53 percent of independents said they see solid evidence of global warming, compared to 75 percent who said they did in April 2008.

At least a majority of Americans still have their wits about them on this issue.

Selling Windows 7: The Good, the Bad and the Tragically Hip

A decade ago, the arrival of a new version of Windows was a bona fide event, not just in the tech world but for business overall. For Windows 7, though, its marketing blitz seems to consists of ads, an odd “Family Guy” tie-in, and an even odder concept for consumers to throw their own launch parties. Can Microsoft still get anyone excited about buying a new computer OS?

No. And the funny thing is, I’m quite happy with Vista. I haven’t had any real problems.

FCC to draft net neutrality rules, taking step toward Web regulation

The Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously Thursday to begin crafting rules to prevent Internet providers from acting as gatekeepers over which services and content are delivered to their customers, the agency’s surest step yet toward regulating the rules of the road online.

The federal government previously had taken a largely hands-off approach to Web regulation but decided to act as concerns grew that telecommunications giants such as Comcast, AT&T and Verizon could begin to favor their products and services over others.

“It’s hard to imagine anything more important to the future of the success of our economy than a healthy and vibrant Internet, and there is no question that the openness of the Internet is the secret sauce to its success,” FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in an interview after the agency meeting.

McCain Bill Would Ban FCC Internet Regulations

Just when it seemed like net neutrality stakeholders had reached a cautious consensus on Thursday’s proposed Federal Communications Commission rules, our favorite maverick stepped in with an idea of his own.

Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, introduced a bill Thursday that would prohibit the FCC from enacting rules that would regulate the Internet. The FCC “shall not propose, promulgate, or issue any regulations regarding the Internet or IP-enabled services,” according to the bill text.

I guess that’s why they call him McStupid or McShame, or something like that…

Amazon Lowers Kindle Price to Match Nook

Amazon stops selling Sprint-powered Kindle

Just weeks after announcing a new $279 international version of its Kindle e-book reader, Amazon has chopped $20 off its price and made that model its only Kindle offering for both the domestic U.S. and international markets. In the process, the company has eliminated the U.S. version of the device, which used Sprint as the carrier for the Kindle’s built-in wireless capabilities. Now, for better or worse, new Kindles will tap into AT&T’s data network, which will also be the wireless provider behind Barnes & Noble’s upcoming Nook e-book reader.

For those who bought the international version in recent weeks, Amazon is crediting buyers with a $20 refund.

Confession time: I broke down and ordered a Kindle yesterday. The Nook is cooler, but I’m gambling that Amazon will be able to keep undercutting Barnes & Noble’s prices the way they already do with physical books. I get mine tomorrow, and I can’t wait!

HAVE A FABULOUS FRIDAY, EVERYONE!!!!!

digg!!! tweet!!! share!!!

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Furl | Newsvine