Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

The latest – fortunately failed – attempt to bring down an airliner has been on top of the news for about a week now.

We do know that a Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who has joined al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, has tried to detonate an explosive charge, hidden in his underwear.

We also know that a quick reaction by a passenger and by the cabin crew prevented the creep from successfully completing his mission.

There have been all kinds of talk about deploying more body scanners at the airports. There is no doubt that these expensive and at least partly effective devices might help to a degree, but it this the Holy Grail as far as security is concerned?

If the U.S. authorities have connected the warning that the terrorist’s own father has voiced, to the fact that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had multiple U.S. entry visas, the little creep should have never even been on a flight bound for the United States.

At the same time, we had the opportunity to fly between two U.S. cities, both before and after the thwarted terrorist event.

The strange thing is that on the flight before Christmas and before the burning of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s crotch, the airport security appeared to be stricter than after his cojones got singed.

As a matter of fact, on the way back, I realized after checking in my bag that I have forgotten to pack away my old, but perfectly serviceable brass Zippo lighter. Not wanting to lose the item, to which I am quite attached and not really having another alternative, since my suitcase has long disappeared into the baggage system – and I assure you that I had no evil intentions whatsoever – I simply packed it the best way I could think of into my camera bag. The Zippo got nestled next to the battery charger and put through the x-ray machine, emerging from the other end with no problems.

The bag also contained a perfectly harmless, stainless steel pill container, the size and shape of an average rifle cartridge…

As most of you know, lighters are not allowed in the cabins of airliners, after Richard Reid has failed to light his fuse/shoe laces with matches in 2001.

We do hope that our airline security administration people are reading this; simply as proof that pre-flight passenger screening needs to be done more carefully. Once again, I would like to emphasize that I obviously had no evil, or terrorist intentions, but that there seem to be numerous holes in our security arrangements, which are in need of improvement.

Although the full-body scanner machines might help, there is no substitute for human intelligence, known in the business as HUMINT. Let’s just hope that the terrorists will not force us to fly butt-naked and with no carry-on baggage whatsoever. Wait! Come to think of it, such nudist camps in the sky might be kind of fun 

Technorati Tags: air travel, security, Terrorism

An almost coordinated series of winter storms has wreaked havoc on most of the U.S. East Coast, in many European countries as well as in China. It is not hard to imagine the glee of the global warming deniers, who appear to think that because it does get colder somewhere for a few days, or if more than the average amount of snow falls, their beliefs that global warming, or climate change is a hoax are proven and confirmed.

Our advice would be for the deniers to come back when they actually manage to learn the difference between climate and weather.

It should be noted that increased temperatures and increased aberrant weather patterns are not mutually exclusive.

One of the most noticeable effects of global warming is extreme weather. In 2007 we had the California wildfires, the worst flooding in England since the 18th century, severe water shortage in the southern U.S. Now, at the end of 2009 we have unseasonably cold temperatures and record, or nearly record snowfalls on several continents. One can only guess what climate and weather changes 2010 will bring.

So, for those affected by the wintery weather, dress warm, shovel your driveways with a smile, since it might be years, or even decades, before you will be seeing the beautiful white stuff again in such quantities.

Technorati Tags: change, china, Climate, cold, europe, Globa warming, snow, US, Weather

It isn’t hard to question the judgment, motives, and sanity of Joe Lieberman, the so-called independent senator from Connecticut, who has almost single-handedly derailed any meaningful health care reform legislation.

The strange thing is that for years Lieberman has been a strong advocate of universal health care. Campaigning for vice-president in 2000, he first proposed resolving the plight of the uninsured by allowing them to buy into Medicare and Medicaid – a plan he endorsed even in September 2009 in an interview with a Connecticut newspaper.

Yet when that very same plan was added to Senate health care legislation, Lieberman told Majority Leader Harry Reid that he could not support it. He also threatened to invoke the power of a one-man filibuster to prevent the legislation from even coming to a vote on the Senate floor.

It could in part be simple revenge. Ever since being rejected by the Connecticut Democrats in the 2006 primary, and somehow getting re-elected as an Independent, Lieberman’s been itching for payback. He endorsed John McCain for president, campaigned for him practically full-time and even spoke at the Republican National Convention, declaring Barack Obama as unqualified to be president.

For such a petty man and such a big ego, what better way there is to get even than to derail the president’s number one legislative priority, even if it means leaving 47 million Americans without health insurance?

As we always said, there’s no substitute for backbone, decency, honesty and intelligence.

And in closing, a very telling cartoon, by Bob Rogers from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

Thanks to Cher from AskCherlock for pointing it out to us.

Technorati Tags: backbone, democrats, Health Care reform, Independent, Lieberman, mccain, obama, senate

We finally have the first, concrete step in the direction of closing the now infamous Guantanamo Bay prison.

The news reports say, “President Barack Obama has ordered the federal government to acquire an underused state prison”, the Thomson Correctional Center in rural Illinois.

According to the Illinois Department of Corrections’ website, Thomson is not so much “underused”, as empty.

According to a letter to Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Attorney General Eric Holder and Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair Thomson will be upgraded and transformed into a facility that exceeds “supermax standards.”

The real question is whether the Guantanamo inmates will actually be charged with crimes and whether they will be properly tried, according to our law, or will Thomson simply become an extension of Gitmo, this time on U.S. territory?

U.S. officials said military tribunals for potential detainees would be held at Thomson. They also said that the facility could house detainees whom the president determines must be held indefinitely but can’t be tried.

Thomson will not solve all the administration’s Guantanamo-related problems. There still will be dozens of detainees not relocated to Thomson, myriad legal issues and potential resistance from Congress.

Technorati Tags: congress, guantanamo, military tribunals, obama, Prison, Thompson

Having heard that Accenture – formerly hugely disgraced Anderson Consulting – has decided to terminate the sponsorship of Tiger Woods, due to his peccadilloes, we have decided to re-post this piece, originally published on February 27, 2009.

We also wonder if Accenture being directly linked to Arthur Andersen and its connections with Enron could possibly be considered any better that Tiger’s infidelity, screwing around and so forth. That in fact seems like a no-brainer. Enron has hurt not only the economy, but also thousands, upon thousands of people, maybe even millions.

Tiger in turn, has seemed to hurt Elin, but probably mostly himself…

We haven’t checked all of Tiger’s sponsors. We do know for a fact that Nike, has been widely criticized for the use of child slave labor. We also wonder if Blackwater, er… Xe is among his sponsors. How about Altria, formerly Philip Morris, or Exxon, so very famous for not paying up for the damages of the Exxon Valdez disaster?

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There’s been an avalanche of company name changes in the past few years. In some cases this was done in order to make the name more marketable, or maybe easier on the eyes, or hopefully easier to remember. More often rebranding came about in the wake of some unsavory event, practice, or even a conviction.

Many people don’t even realize that so very often the very same and often unchanged company lurks under a completely new name. That of course is often the whole idea behind the change and rebranding has become a big business in its own right.

Andersen Consulting, linked to Arthur Andersen and its conviction for that super shady Enron outfit is now called Accenture. The Tiger Woods ads have been pretty effective and hardly anyone even thinks of Accenture as anything but a successful, modern consulting firm…now registered in Hamilton, Bermuda.

Exxon’s switch from Esso came about because of myriad legal challenges between different spin-offs of the Standard Oil Company and Humble oil. It did take us all a while to figure out how to pronounce this weird combination of letters. Now, of course it is called ExxonMobil and as far as we know, neither the old, nor the new entity has paid for the damages caused by the drunken captain of the Exxon Valdez and the huge oil spill in Alaska.

The infamous mercenary company Blackwater has re branded itself as Xe – supposedly pronounced as “zee”. A Pretty innocuous name it would seem for a company, whose employees have shot a whole bunch of unarmed civilians in Iraq. The problem is that there is already a company named Xe…

Who hasn’t heard about Phillip Morris, the class action suits, the chemicals, including extra nicotine added to their cigarettes and all the other machinations?

As it turns out, Phillip Morris is called Altria now. Almost sounds like one of those drugs, which we keep seeing advertised during the evening network news. Maybe like something to shrink an enlarged prostate, or to help you fall asleep?

How about the Value Jet Airlines? After the infamous crash in the Everglades with the loss of 108 people, it has come to life again under the name of Air Tran.

Technorati Tags: accenture, Adultery, andersen consulting, blackwater, esso, exxon, Rebranding, sponsorship, tiger woods, Value Jet Air Tran, xe