Monthly Archives: August 2009

A Strange Tale of Buying Aircraft in Russia for the CIA

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I enjoyed this news story about a private U.S. contractor buying two helicopters in Siberia for CIA operations in Afghanistan not long after 9/11.

The story is truly strange, especially the Army officer involved and the owner of the contract company ended up in prison in no small measure because the judge wouldn’t allow the defendants to mention that they bought the helicopters for the CIA to conduct earlier missions in Afghanistan post 9/11.

It should be noted that these guys were able to buy the two helicopters quickly and get them to the CIA, while, according to Wired, “ARINC, a major U.S. defense contractor, was paid $322 million dollars to buy 22 Russian helicopters under a U.S. foreign military sales contract.

Guess how many helicopters ARINC has delivered to Iraq after 18 months? Zero.”

Hero in the Shadows by David Gemmell: Grade B

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Fullscreen capture 832009 114714 PMDavid Gemmell is the most underappreciated fantasy novelist I know of. I’ve only read four of his books, but I have enjoyed them all. Hero in the Shadows was no exception. I really enjoyed the opening and the main character, Waylander. Who doesn’t enjoy a story of an ex-assassin-turned benevolent leader who can’t keep from killing the bad guys.

As I like to say about books like this, it isn’t literature, but it’s a fun read.     

The U.S. Will Finance Oil Drilling Off Brazil, but It Won’t Allow New Drilling Off the U.S. Coast?

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This is truly amazing. The Obama Administration is prepared to provide up to $10 billion in loans to finance energy development off the coast of Brazil, but it won’t allow additional drilling in America’s waters—drilling that would create American jobs and bring in additional tax revenue? 

Obama could allow more energy off the U.S. coast, but so far, his Administration has been committed to reducing domestic energy production.  He revoked oil and gas leases in Utah, delayed taking action to open up additional areas for offshore energy development, and halted a program to allow commercial oil shale leasing. All of these programs would have created American jobs without imposing additional costs on taxpayers.

Why is the Obama Administration working to create job opportunities for Brazilians, but not jobs and additional tax revenue for the United States?

Will high speed rail ever be built in California?

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Last fall, California voters approved Proposition 1A, authorizing $10 billion in bonds to start building high speed rail between San Francisco and Los Angeles. But you have to wonder if this project will ever be built because many Californians will balk at having high speed trains near their houses and open spaces.

The city council of Palo Alto just approved a plan to hire engineering consultants to look out for the city’s best interest. The Mercury News explains that “Many in Palo Alto and neighboring cities are pushing for the trains to run underground while fearing that the rail authority will instead run them above-ground to save money.”

Yeah, no kidding? Of course they want to run high speed trains above ground. It get really expensive, really quick to build large tunnels. For example, the 31 mile tunnel between France and the U.K. cost over $16 billion in 2009 dollars (UK£ 4650 in 1985 prices–$7,871 billion with today’s exchange rate).

Putting high speed rail underground in the San Francisco area will make it prohibitively expensive and you could see the people of Palo Alto and similar areas revolting against above ground rail.

Apparently Obama really does want to eliminate private insurance

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The White House has responded to the video which shows Obama and his allies stating they want single-payer health care. If Obama were truly committed to keeping private insurance you would think the White House would do a better job than this at explaining his “real” position. Has he changed his mind or what? The White House doesn’t explain. Instead, they offer up this video:

“Hi. I’m Linda Douglass. I’m the communications director for the White House Office of Health Reform, and one of my jobs is to keep track of all the disinformation that’s out there about health-insurance reform. And there are a lot of very deceiving headlines out there right now, such as this one — take a look at this one. This one says, ‘Uncovered Video: Obama Explains How His Health Care Plan Will Eliminate PRIVATE Insurance.’

“Well, nothing can be farther from the truth. You know the people who always try to SCARE people whenever you try to bring them health-insurance reform are at it again. And they’re taking sentences and phrases out of context, and they’re cobbling them together to leave a VERY false impression. The truth is that the president has been talking to the American people a LOT about health-insurance reform and what is at stake for them.

“So what happens is that because he’s talking to the American people so much, there are people out there with a computer and a lot of free time, and they take a phrase here and there — they simply cherry-pick and put it together, and make it sound like he’s saying something that he didn’t really say.”

Note that she doesn’t refute Obama and his allies previous statements. She didn’t refute the fact that Obama said that he wants “a single payer health care plan, a universal health car plan.” Here’s more from Obama:

I happen to be a proponent of a single payer universal health care program. I see no reason why the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, spending 14 percent of its Gross National Product on health care cannot provide basic health insurance to everybody. And that’s what Jim is talking about when he says everybody in, nobody out. A single payer health care plan, a universal health care plan. And that’s what I’d like to see. But as all of you know, we may not get there immediately. Because first we have to take back the White House, we have to take back the Senate, and we have to take back the House.

So what is it? Has Obama changed his mind?