“I was awoken at about seven o’clock by my two-year-old son calling to me from his room: ‘Daddy, Daddy, come Daddy!’ It’s nicer than an alarm clock, but there is no snooze button.”
Print This Post
In the aftermath of 9/11 one step toward increased security seemed a no-brainer: more money and manpower for the Federal Air Marshal Service. And sure enough, the United States has dramatically expanded its force of marshals and increased the air-marshal budget more than a hundredfold, from $4.4 million in 2001 to $545 million in 2003. How much safer this makes you feel probably depends on whether you’ve leafed through a recent report from the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security, which evaluated recent air-marshal hiring practices and conduct records. The report examined a review of 504 job applicants, all of whom had been approved and were scheduled to receive an offer of employment, and found that 161 had incidents in their records that should have raised a red flag (including misuse of government resources, and allegations of domestic abuse, drunk driving, or sexual harassment). With this in mind, it’s hardly surprising to learn that from February of 2002 to October of 2003 there were 753 documented reports of misconduct by air marshals on duty. Among the improprieties: falling asleep, testing positive for drugs or alcohol, and having a weapon lost or stolen.
“Evaluation of the Federal Air Marshal Service,” Office of Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security
As reported by The Atlantic’s Primary Sources for December 2004
The Washington Post has a quick look at the federal appropriations recently passed. Of particular interest to NewMexiKen:
Congress gave the Interior Department a nominal increase, upping its budget to $9.88 billion. The National Park Service was one of the agency’s big winners. Lawmakers increased its funding by $90 million — slightly less than what Bush had proposed — to $2.35 billion. The Bureau of Indian Affairs was another winner, receiving about $2.33 billion, a $29 million increase and $76 million more than what Bush had requested. The Bureau of Land Management received the brunt of the agency’s cuts — its funding was cut by $137 million — coming in with $1.77 billion.
The bill also includes legislative language allowing the government to continue charging various fees at some national parks, to permit the slaughter of some wild horses roaming the West and to continue to allow snowmobiles at Yellowstone National Park.
High Country News takes a look at the large issues facing the west.
The beginning of a presidential term presents Westerners with an opportunity to identify the problems that most threaten the future of our region, and to begin talking about how we might take them on. In this edition of High Country News, we focus on 10 issues in desperate need of action. These are challenges that we believe are nonpartisan, and that will remain significant far beyond the next four years. They can — and should — unite the West.
In this, the Jewish Year 5765, Chanukkah begins at sunset December 7, and continues until nightfall December 15. That is, the first candle is lit tonight and the last candle on the night of December 14.
According to Judaism 101:
Chanukkah, the Jewish festival of rededication, also known as the festival of lights, is an eight day festival beginning on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev.
Chanukkah is probably one of the best known Jewish holidays, not because of any great religious significance, but because of its proximity to Christmas. Many non-Jews (and even many assimilated Jews!) think of this holiday as the Jewish Christmas, adopting many of the Christmas customs, such as elaborate gift-giving and decoration. It is bitterly ironic that this holiday, which has its roots in a revolution against assimilation and the suppression of Jewish religion, has become the most assimilated, secular holiday on our calendar.
Judaism 101 provides historical background, Chanukkah traditions, music and a recipe for latkes.
… of Eli Wallach. Tuco is 89. “Hey Blondie, do you know what you are? You’re a stinking son of a….” [Theme starts.]
… of Ellen Burstyn. Alice is 72. Ms. Burstyn has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress five times, winning for Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore in 1975. She was also nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for The Last Picture Show.
… of Johnny Bench. The Hall of Fame catcher is 57.
… of Larry Bird. The Basketball Hall of Famer is 48.
FunctionalAmbivalent explains the group behind 98-99 percent of the complaints to the FCC.
While the PTC is ostensibly non-partisan, Bozell is decidedly not. He was head of fundraising for Pat Buchanan’s 1992 Presidential campaign and President of the National Conservative Political Action Committee (NCPAC), which funneled millions of dollars to Republican candidates and nothing to Democrats.
Among his allies in his campaign to dictate what other people should not be able to watch on TV is a celebrity advisory board that reads like a nightmarish dinner theater cast: Tim Conway, Pat Boone, Dean Jones and Billy Ray Cyrus, along with moral exemplar/recovering gambling addict William Bennett and former pro football player Jim “Is He Still Alive?” Otto.
Read Tom’s report, but see the background at MediaWeek.com as well.
Paul Krugman explains the Social Security “crisis.”
The grain of truth in claims of a Social Security crisis is that this tax increase wasn’t quite big enough. Projections in a recent report by the Congressional Budget Office (which are probably more realistic than the very cautious projections of the Social Security Administration) say that the trust fund will run out in 2052. The system won’t become “bankrupt” at that point; even after the trust fund is gone, Social Security revenues will cover 81 percent of the promised benefits. Still, there is a long-run financing problem.
But it’s a problem of modest size. The report finds that extending the life of the trust fund into the 22nd century, with no change in benefits, would require additional revenues equal to only 0.54 percent of G.D.P. That’s less than 3 percent of federal spending - less than we’re currently spending in Iraq.
Michael Paulus seems to like drawing skeletons — of cartoon characters. Each drawing can be enlarged.
Note that this site is very popular on the internets at the moment. It may crash again today.
From The Writer’s Almanac
In 1941 on this day, the Japanese attacked the American navel base at Pearl Harbor. Early in the morning 183 Japanese fighter planes took off from aircraft carriers in the Pacific Ocean. They used broadcasts from Honolulu radio stations to help them navigate. The planes arrived off the coast of the island of Oahu, Hawaii, shortly before 8:00 in the morning. Radar at Pearl Harbor had picked up the fleet, but the Americans assumed the planes were B-17 bombers coming from California. Bombs began to drop over the docks at Pearl Harbor along “battleship row.” Approximately an hour later 168 more planes appeared dropping more bombs. Eight ships were sunk or severely damaged and 347 U.S. military airplanes were destroyed. The battleship Arizona exploded, killing nearly all of the crew on board, accounting for 1,177 of the total of 2,300 American deaths at Pearl Harbor. The ship burned for days after the attack due to the fuel on board.
Up until that point President Roosevelt had refused to join in the Second World War going on overseas. After the attack the president announced in a short radio broadcast to the country that lasted less than 10 minutes, that December 7th was a date that would “live in infamy.” Congress declared war on Japan the following morning.
U.S. Navy cable at time of attack — THIS IS NOT DRILL.
And see NewMexiKen’s slideshow of the Arizona Memorial [1.2MB Windows Media file].
“The First State,” ratified the Constitution on this date in 1787.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Powered by WordPress.
1 Comment