Not to bring a dark cloud to our generally cheerful and enlightened conversation, but I read some troubling news regarding potential developments at one of the largest General Aviation manufacturers this past week. The Machinist union leadership had discussions with HawkerBeech, and afterwards issued a rather alarming press release, to the effect that,"Union officials said Wednesday that HawkerBeechcraft is considering moving work out of Wichita that could shrink its hourly work force 50 to 75 percent over the next two years.".
Ouch. One wonders how that would affect overall production from HawkerBeechcraft. And perhaps on a slightly less dark note, one might also wonder how much of that might be posturing as a prelude to contract negotiations. Donno.
Molly McMillin had an article covering that announcement in the July 15, 2010 Wichita Eagle; Union: Hawker may make massive cuts.
I suppose HawkerBeechcraft was in the awkward position of having to decide who to give the bad news to first, the media or the employees. They did the right thing by discussing it with the union- I suppose the union was obligated to inform the public after it told it's members, and the company issued a public statement following that.
"The company issued a statement in response to Rooney's letter to union members:
"Last September the company initiated a series of meetings to update the union leadership about serious challenges it faces during these unprecedented economic times," the statement said. "These conversations have included a spectrum of possibilities for the company's future footprint and the likely impact on its workforce in all its locations..
(Hmm, a too-common example, Salina, Ks).
"The company values this partnership and believes that there is a great opportunity available to us to work together to influence a positive outcome".
(Ugh- that last line is a press release* reminiscent of the original Eclipse P.R.'s with Vernian subterfuge and spectacular disconsonance).
Alas, sadly "us" will shortly be 130 smaller.
(*S-a-y, didn't Andrew Broom leave Eclipse to go to HawkerBeech? Yup, but he's since continued to move on- and nicely up; Andrew Broom, AOPA vice president of communications).
The rather discouraging news from HawkerBeechcraft was preceded by a couple of weeks by some odd news from Spirit AeroSystems. (Perhaps a new name for some- it's basically what was the commercial side of Boeing-Wichita, plus what was NorthAmerican/Rockwell/McDonnell/Douglas/Boeing-Tulsa. (Maybe somebody can clarify the Tulsa operation; the Wichita operation for Spirit is about 80% of what used to be Boeing Wichita- Boeing still has a couple thousand employees doing Military work in Wichita- including potentially significant KC-X tanker work).
At the end of June, the IAM voted to ratify**- sort of- a 10-year contract with Spirit Aerosystems- Jennifer Michels' June 28 story in Aviation Week:
Spirit AeroSystems Machinists Ratify Pact.
(**Actually, the majority- 57% -voted to reject the contract, but it seems it was set up as a strike vote rather than a ratification vote, and two-thirds majority were needed to authorize a strike. Seems weird that it wasn't set up that way- I can think of numerous instances in other industries where work continued with the expired contract terms in place during continuing negotiations).
Not to be outdone in the cheery press release competition, afterwards the IAM declared:
"On June 24, the IAM referred to the new contract, which covers about 6,000 workers, as a historic accord, providing “unprecedented levels of job security” as well as pay increases linked to company performance and pension improvements. The new contract “stems the tide of outsourcing and job offshoring,” according to the Local 839 Bargaining Committee".
(Buzz is there was a 150 share signing bonus, currently $20/share).
More details from Molly McMillin's June 24 piece in the Wichita Eagle
Spirit offers Machinists 10-year contract.
Spirit Aerosystems management is surely pleased with the stability and price=planning possible with the long-term labor contract, and so was Wall Street.
Interestingly, the Canadian firm Onex owns HawkerBeechcraft (in partnership with Goldman-Sachs), and owns58% of Spirit Aerosystems , and " through its portfolio of companies, is the second largest employer in Canada, after the Federal Government, with 238,000 employees".
I keep thinking things have bottomed out, but it seems every couple months have to lower the elevation on the valley floor. Perhaps there is a bit of encouraging news though, the 2010Q1 GAMA statistics show that although units delivered are down compared to 2009Q1 (390 vs 459), billings are up over 2010 by 7 percent. Hopefully that is translating into jobs somewhere.
524 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 401 – 524 of 524Dear Squire Gadfly
OMG, I thought I would NEVER get those submarine sandwiches straight. I mean it is sooo complicated!!! First you have the bread and THEN there is something that goes in between, or stays the same with maybe a pickle! Boy this is really important stuff!!! I am elated to know the difference between a SUB and a Hogue seeing as us poor New Mexicans don't even HAVE a decent deli in the hood.
I cannot wait to learn MORE from such a brave soul who totally cuts the mustard (plus maybe some beans.)
You know I am thinking about taking some of YOUR very SPECIAL sandwiches on our Cessna Mustang jet. They will fuel us all and give us some very special if not oderferous landings. What a huge contribution you have made to aviation.
Thank you,
Mary Rose
FC . . . your use of "squire" for the "neuvo gadfly" was not missed.
Subtle but effective.
gadfly
(By the way, a true submarine sandwich consists of two slices of fresh baked bread, stuffed with a leftover "butterflied" fillet mignon steak, from lunch or supper, three or four yellow chili peppers, from a private stash, and washed down with some terrible coffee . . . during a northern Pacific typhoon. That's the real thing!)
The B-17 bomber has returned to Western North Carolina for the weekend, giving visitors an opportunity to take flight in the vintage “Flying Fortress.”
There will be 40-minute flights over Asheville today through Sunday for about $400 a ticket, plus ground tours at Asheville Regional Airport's Odyssey Aviation terminal.
Passengers can climb aboard and become a crew member of the 17-ton “Aluminum Overcast,” standing in the footsteps of a bombardier, navigator and waist gunner. From the nose turret, there is a spectacular bird's-eye view of the majestic Blue Ridge Mountains below.
The B-17 heavy bomber was vital in winning World War II. There were 12,731 built from 1939 to 1945. Of those, 4,754 were destroyed in combat.
Hendersonville resident Ted Logan was a B-17 pilot during World War II, when his bomber was shot down over enemy territory in March 1945.
Logan chronicled the story of his heroic adventure in his book, “Jump, Damn It, Jump!”
Heavy rounds from German artillery units on the ground ripped through the plane, leaving the aircraft severely damaged in the heart of the Third Reich.
“I had a love affair with that airplane,” Logan said.
Up periscope, sailor! There’s some hot-rocking on the horizon. Submarine Races are a threesome of arty rocker-types from Chicago, Illinois. Started in vain by guitarist/vocalist/explorist Ian Adams (Happy Supply, The Ponys), drummer/seaman Paul John Higgins, and bassist/best mate Steve Denekas (Entertainment, The Countdown), the ‘Races are off to a clean start. Borrowing freely from the entire Easybeats catalogue, commandeering the Modern Lovers’ understated efficiency, and all but sleeping with the entirety of mid-to-late 1980’s twee British guitar-pop bands, Submarine races have managed to make a signature sound that is both derivative and authentic at once! What with the current state of rock music being all apish bravado and emotionally-impaired dildoery, Submarine Races manage to remind us why you put the Pastels on mix tapes in the first place. They also happen to know what a good haircut can do for a young band’s confidence in “the game.” With a handful of jangled melodies, some polite lyrics, and an overabundance of charm, Submarine Races have set the coordinates for your stereo. Let’s just hope they don’t “deep-six” you after your hatch is cracked. Submarine Races debut album, The Submarine Races, was recorded in Chicago at El Goodo Audio and will be released on In The Red Records in June 2006. They even used the sonar recording technology found in the Soviet Alpha Class Diesel-Electric Attack Submarines! No joke. The band hope to sell an immeasurable amount of records, as long as piracy (both on the internet and at sea) is kept at bay. Nevertheless, Submarine Races’ popularity is surely surfacing - supporting top acts such as The Dirtbombs, Maximo Park, and the Sights in the first week of their existence. The ‘Races reputation for rocking and passionate live appearances has lead to consistent attendance at many
of their subsequent headlining shows. While they aren’t “jamming,” members of Submarine Races enjoy making out, necking, hanging out at sailor bars, and watching Steve’s VHS copy of Das Boot.
For years, as a hot blooded beach boy I tried and successfully took a number of dates to see the nighttime submarine races on a deserted portion of the beach. I'm sure I fooled no one, but I did get a few takers including my current and only long suffering wife. In the winter of 2001 I happened upon Dr Bobs web site and began a long series of e-mails that revealed many mutual interests. One was submarine races. Yes they do have submarine races. On alternating coasts, teams of high school, college, corporate, and individuals who have way too much time on their hands get together and race man and woman powered submarines against each other, themselves, the clock, and those unforeseen errors in engineering and judgement.
Wow, another fun activity thanks to Dr. Bob who at one time had the worlds record for a man powered sub in the non propeller division....I pulled up the web site for the races and discovered to my glee that my school...325 miles from the ocean had an entry and had won the year 2000 races.
My blood races, here is one athletic event that I could care about. I contacted them by e-mail and soon visited them on campus at Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg Va. My son Patrick, an EE Major at NC State and I drove up one weekend. He got to see my old campus and I got involved with a great bunch of kids. Here is Justin, the team captain, and Dr. Wayne Neu the team advisor. I was an instant submarine groupie.
A streamlined submersible powered by a young Canadian ocean engineer streaked into the underwater spotlight this week, setting new world speed records in the 5th International Submarine Races( and pushing back the frontiers of human-powered vehicle performance.
The one-person sub "OMER 3", piloted by Francois Maisonneuve from the University of Quebec's Ecole de Technologie Superieure in Montreal, achieved a speed of 6.97 knots (8 MPH) in a 10-meter measured course, shattering the previous mark of 6.69 knots set in 1996 by Californian William Nicoloff. The Canadian team swept the subrace prize categories, winning the $1,000 Overall Performance Award, the Absolute Speed Award, the Fastest Speed, Propeller, one- and two-person divisions, the Best Design Outline and the Spirit of the Races Award. The team's two-person sub, "OMER 2", won its class with a performance of 6.36 knots, followed by second place "Cape Fear", Cape Fear Community College, Wilmington, NC, at 5.13 knots. Third and fourth were the University of Miami at 3.15 knots and Texas A&M at 3.14.
The University of Michigan's "Sea Wolf" a 15-foot-long vehicle made almost entirely of oven-baked ABS plastic and liquid quick-cast aluminum, was awarded the special prize for Best Use of Composite Materials. The awards for Innovation went to Florida Institute of Technology's "Sub-Variable" for its unique "stair step" propulsion process. Also cited for innovation were Don Burton's "Silver Bucket," propelled by a venturi turbine, and Cape Fear Community College's "Fearless One" for its forward propeller and retractable fins.
Tennessee Technological University's "Torpedo IV", the University of Veracruz, Mexico's "Arcangello II" and "Fearless One" from Cape Fear Community College, Wilmington, NC, tried to offer competition to the Canadian team in the new one-person category, but fell short. "Torpedo IV's" best 10-meter speed was 5.88 knots, more than a knot off the pace. "Arcangello II" had a best time of 1.70 knots, and "Fearless One" was unable to finish the course when it struck the wall, breaking its prop, in the final hours of racing Friday.
In the 10 years since the concept of human-powered submarine racing, two-person teams have been the norm -- a strong athlete to deliver leg power through a bicycle-type gearbox and a pilot to guide the vessel through the water. However, three teams came to the 1997 races with brand new one-person designs in addition to their previously raced two-person subs. These second generation vehicles immediately captured the imagination of other participants, officials, technical observers and the public audience. "We are absolutely amazed at the speeds attained by these one-person subs," said ISR Race Director, Jerry Rovner. "They have exceeded a threshold that many engineers thought could never be achieved through human power."
The 1997 ISR saw a number of other important "firsts". A 17-year-old senior from Winston Churchill High School of Potomac, MD, Micah Thorner, became the world's youngest female submarine pilot, guiding her team's "Bull Dog" successfully through the 100-meter course despite being slowed by a damaged drive unit. The team made repairs and came back to set a new world speed record in the high school division at 2.92 knots.
The first all-female crew in the nine-year history of the ISR piloted and powered "Mermaid" from the Annapolis, MD, Human-Powered Sub Club. Pilot Heather Powell, 26, and propulsor Christine Bridgman, 22, were the first team of women ever to finish the regulation course . Another female team, ocean engineering seniors Dana Teasdale and Stephanie Lee from the Florida Institute of Technology, also made a run in "Sub-Variable" but did not complete the 100-meter course due to navigation problems.
This faux-Gadfly clearly has nothing better to do to occupy his sad waking hours...
...Has no one for companionship, not even the dog can stand his presence...
...Is a firm believer in posting cut-and-paste sections from other publications, and calling the work his own...
...And, knows well how to nurse a grudge well past the point when sane people stop caring.
That you, Zoom?
We got your "number" SIR Gadfly. And I hope you got mine.
No silly squirel - er, squire is gonna' scare me.
Dorothy is always ready with a bucket of water just in case...I just hate injusticies.
ASM:
Any interesting news from the Fish Wrapper?
FC
"ASM:
Any interesting news from the Fish Wrapper?"
Well, yes. Vought was bought by Boeing and is ramping up for the 787 production in Stuart just south of Piper. The hourly worker bees are leaving Piper in droves. Look for the engineering staff to follow
soon if not already. Embraer is accepting applications for the long-planned completion center to be built in Melbourne just north of Piper also. Look for more employee moves to Embraer. Between the lines I sense the good Sultan of Bruni would like to unload the turkey but there is no greater fool to sell it to.
This faux-Gadfly clearly has nothing better to do to occupy his sad waking hours...
...Has no one for companionship, not even the dog can stand his presence...
...Is a firm believer in posting cut-and-paste sections from other publications, and calling the work his own...
...And, knows well how to nurse a grudge well past the point when sane people stop caring.
That you, Zoom?
This faux-Gadfly clearly has nothing better to do to occupy his sad waking hours...
...Has no one for companionship, not even the dog can stand his presence...
...Is a firm believer in posting cut-and-paste sections from other publications, and calling the work his own...
...And, knows well how to nurse a grudge well past the point when sane people stop caring.
That you, Zoom?
This faux-Gadfly clearly has nothing better to do to occupy his sad waking hours...
...Has no one for companionship, not even the dog can stand his presence...
...Is a firm believer in posting cut-and-paste sections from other publications, and calling the work his own...
...And, knows well how to nurse a grudge well past the point when sane people stop caring.
That you, Zoom? This faux-Gadfly clearly has nothing better to do to occupy his sad waking hours...
...Has no one for companionship, not even the dog can stand his presence...
...Is a firm believer in posting cut-and-paste sections from other publications, and calling the work his own...
...And, knows well how to nurse a grudge well past the point when sane people stop caring.
That you, Zoom? This faux-Gadfly clearly has nothing better to do to occupy his sad waking hours...
...Has no one for companionship, not even the dog can stand his presence...
...Is a firm believer in posting cut-and-paste sections from other publications, and calling the work his own...
...And, knows well how to nurse a grudge well past the point when sane people stop caring.
That you, Zoom? This faux-Gadfly clearly has nothing better to do to occupy his sad waking hours...
...Has no one for companionship, not even the dog can stand his presence...
...Is a firm believer in posting cut-and-paste sections from other publications, and calling the work his own...
...And, knows well how to nurse a grudge well past the point when sane people stop caring.
That you, Zoom?
This faux-Gadfly clearly has nothing better to do to occupy his sad waking hours...
...Has no one for companionship, not even the dog can stand his presence...
...Is a firm believer in posting cut-and-paste sections from other publications, and calling the work his own...
...And, knows well how to nurse a grudge well past the point when sane people stop caring.
That you, Zoom? This faux-Gadfly clearly has nothing better to do to occupy his sad waking hours...
...Has no one for companionship, not even the dog can stand his presence...
...Is a firm believer in posting cut-and-paste sections from other publications, and calling the work his own...
...And, knows well how to nurse a grudge well past the point when sane people stop caring.
That you, Zoom? This faux-Gadfly clearly has nothing better to do to occupy his sad waking hours...
...Has no one for companionship, not even the dog can stand his presence...
...Is a firm believer in posting cut-and-paste sections from other publications, and calling the work his own...
...And, knows well how to nurse a grudge well past the point when sane people stop caring.
That you, Zoom?
This faux-Gadfly clearly has nothing better to do to occupy his sad waking hours...
...Has no one for companionship, not even the dog can stand his presence...
...Is a firm believer in posting cut-and-paste sections from other publications, and calling the work his own...
...And, knows well how to nurse a grudge well past the point when sane people stop caring.
That you, Zoom? This faux-Gadfly clearly has nothing better to do to occupy his sad waking hours...
...Has no one for companionship, not even the dog can stand his presence...
...Is a firm believer in posting cut-and-paste sections from other publications, and calling the work his own...
...And, knows well how to nurse a grudge well past the point when sane people stop caring.
That you, Zoom? This faux-Gadfly clearly has nothing better to do to occupy his sad waking hours...
...Has no one for companionship, not even the dog can stand his presence...
...Is a firm believer in posting cut-and-paste sections from other publications, and calling the work his own...
...And, knows well how to nurse a grudge well past the point when sane people stop caring.
That you, Zoom?
This faux-Gadfly clearly has nothing better to do to occupy his sad waking hours...
...Has no one for companionship, not even the dog can stand his presence...
...Is a firm believer in posting cut-and-paste sections from other publications, and calling the work his own...
...And, knows well how to nurse a grudge well past the point when sane people stop caring.
That you, Zoom? This faux-Gadfly clearly has nothing better to do to occupy his sad waking hours...
...Has no one for companionship, not even the dog can stand his presence...
...Is a firm believer in posting cut-and-paste sections from other publications, and calling the work his own...
...And, knows well how to nurse a grudge well past the point when sane people stop caring.
That you, Zoom? This faux-Gadfly clearly has nothing better to do to occupy his sad waking hours...
...Has no one for companionship, not even the dog can stand his presence...
...Is a firm believer in posting cut-and-paste sections from other publications, and calling the work his own...
...And, knows well how to nurse a grudge well past the point when sane people stop caring.
That you, Zoom?
ASM:
Sultan probably wishes he could swing from private to commercial jet....787 MUST succeed.
Sultans of swing
I am sure that is a popular CD in the carpools of former Piper employees headed to their new jobs in Stuart and Melbourne.
Honestly, I think the Sultan of Bruni is so stupid he would be living under an overpass (sans harem of course) if his country wasn't floating on a sea of oil.
Anyone would have to be certifiably insane to buy an airplane from Piper produced under the current "management" conditions there now. Is there a term for atrocious management, management so poor that no management at all would be a marked improvement? Vought and Embraer will do well with the former Piper worker-bees (and engineering-bees)!
Iran has freed an Iranian-American detained for more than two years, his lawyer said Saturday.
Reza Taghavi, a retired businessman from Orange County, California, was released at 4 p.m. (8:30 a.m. ET) on Saturday, after being held in Iran's notorious Evin prison since his arrest in May 2008 on suspicion of supporting an anti-regime group, the lawyer said.
Los Angeles-based attorney Pierre-Richard Prosper said Taghavi has been reunited with his family and is hoping to return to the United States next week.
"It's obviously a happy day, a great day for the Taghavi family," Prosper said by phone from Tehran.
Prosper has been negotiating Taghavi's release since September 2009.
Saturday's release was the product of three trips to Iran, meetings with Iranian officials in New York and Europe and close to 300 e-mails with Iranian officials, he said. On Saturday he held a final round of negotiations with Iranian authorities, who he said "persuaded the judge to release him today."
Taghavi, 71, traveled frequently to Iran to visit family and friends without incident, according to Prosper.
In April 2008, Taghavi went to Tehran with his wife. Before he left, he was asked by an acquaintance in Los Angeles named Imran Afar to take $200 for a friend in Tehran "who was down on his luck," Prosper said.
Los Angeles has a large Persian community.
Taghavi did not know the individual to whom he was asked to deliver the money, Prosper said. He handed it over and two weeks later was detained by Iranian authorities, after the recipient of the money was arrested on charges of association with an anti-regime group called Tondar.
Iran has freed an Iranian-American detained for more than two years, his lawyer said Saturday.
Reza Taghavi, a retired businessman from Orange County, California, was released at 4 p.m. (8:30 a.m. ET) on Saturday, after being held in Iran's notorious Evin prison since his arrest in May 2008 on suspicion of supporting an anti-regime group, the lawyer said.
Los Angeles-based attorney Pierre-Richard Prosper said Taghavi has been reunited with his family and is hoping to return to the United States next week.
"It's obviously a happy day, a great day for the Taghavi family," Prosper said by phone from Tehran.
Prosper has been negotiating Taghavi's release since September 2009.
Saturday's release was the product of three trips to Iran, meetings with Iranian officials in New York and Europe and close to 300 e-mails with Iranian officials, he said. On Saturday he held a final round of negotiations with Iranian authorities, who he said "persuaded the judge to release him today."
Taghavi, 71, traveled frequently to Iran to visit family and friends without incident, according to Prosper.
In April 2008, Taghavi went to Tehran with his wife. Before he left, he was asked by an acquaintance in Los Angeles named Imran Afar to take $200 for a friend in Tehran "who was down on his luck," Prosper said.
Los Angeles has a large Persian community.
Taghavi did not know the individual to whom he was asked to deliver the money, Prosper said. He handed it over and two weeks later was detained by Iranian authorities, after the recipient of the money was arrested on charges of association with an anti-regime group called Tondar.
Barbara Billingsley, who wore a classy pearl necklace and dispensed pearls of wisdom as America's quintessential mom on "Leave it to Beaver," has died at age 94, a family spokeswoman said Saturday.
The actress passed away at 2 a.m. (5 a.m. ET) Saturday at her home in Santa Monica, California, after a long illness, spokeswoman Judy Twersky said. A private memorial is being planned.
"She was as happy as a lark being recognized as America's mom," actor Tony Dow, who played Wally Cleaver, told CNN. "She had a terrific life and had a wonderful impact on everybody she knew, and even people she didn't know."
Actor Jerry Mathers, who played Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver, spoke of Billingsley's talent during a 2000 appearance on CNN's "Larry King Live."
"Barbara was always a true role model for me. She was a great actress," he said. "And in a lot of ways ... we kind of stifled her, because her true talent didn't really come out in 'Leave it Beaver.' She was like the straight man, but she has an awful lot of talent."
The actress won a new legion of fans in a brief, but memorable, scene in the 1980 send-up movie "Airplane."
"Oh, stewardess. I speak jive," Billingsley said in her role -- much different from her June Cleaver persona -- as an elderly passenger comforting an ill man on the flight. She, the sick man and his seat companion engaged in street-slang banter.
From the moment its catchy theme song sounded in black-and-white TV sets of the 1950s, "Leave it to Beaver" enthralled Americans during a time of relative prosperity and world peace. Its characters represented middle-class white America.
France entered a fifth day of nationwide strikes Saturday as tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets, rallying against a government proposal to raise the national retirement age to 62.
Protesters formed a line stretching two miles long near the historic Bastille Square in Paris, waving banners and shouting insults against the government of President Nicolas Sarkozy, CNN's Jim Bittermann reported.
France's Interior Ministry said some 825,000 protesters turned out nationwide, while labor unions -- who oppose upping the retirement age -- said 3.5 million protesters attended the more than 200 demonstrations across the country Saturday.
Emotions ran high in France as the pension debacle continued to pit the government against French unions. Analysts say pension reform will likely be a defining moment in Sarkozy's presidency.
Despite repeated national strikes over the controversial proposal, France's National Assembly on Wednesday approved Sarkozy's pension reform bill which would raise the national retirement age from 60 to 62.The proposal passed 329 to 233, but still must pass the Senate to become law.
Video: Protesters point blame
Video: Showdown in the streets
RELATED TOPICS
* Paris France
* Nicolas Sarkozy
* Protests and Demonstrations
The Senate is expected to vote October 31.
In the meantime, throngs lined up on Saturday outside gas stations amid fears of fuel shortages as 10 of 12 oil refineries participated in the strikes.
Only two of the refineries in France were in full production Saturday, according to the Union of French Petroleum Industries.
But French Finance Minister Christine Laguarde told RTL radio in an interview Saturday that the country has several weeks worth of fuel stocks, saying "the government confirms there is no shortage."
France entered a fifth day of nationwide strikes Saturday as tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets, rallying against a government proposal to raise the national retirement age to 62.
Protesters formed a line stretching two miles long near the historic Bastille Square in Paris, waving banners and shouting insults against the government of President Nicolas Sarkozy, CNN's Jim Bittermann reported.
France's Interior Ministry said some 825,000 protesters turned out nationwide, while labor unions -- who oppose upping the retirement age -- said 3.5 million protesters attended the more than 200 demonstrations across the country Saturday.
Emotions ran high in France as the pension debacle continued to pit the government against French unions. Analysts say pension reform will likely be a defining moment in Sarkozy's presidency.
Despite repeated national strikes over the controversial proposal, France's National Assembly on Wednesday approved Sarkozy's pension reform bill which would raise the national retirement age from 60 to 62.The proposal passed 329 to 233, but still must pass the Senate to become law.
Video: Protesters point blame
Video: Showdown in the streets
RELATED TOPICS
* Paris France
* Nicolas Sarkozy
* Protests and Demonstrations
The Senate is expected to vote October 31.
In the meantime, throngs lined up on Saturday outside gas stations amid fears of fuel shortages as 10 of 12 oil refineries participated in the strikes.
Only two of the refineries in France were in full production Saturday, according to the Union of French Petroleum Industries.
But French Finance Minister Christine Laguarde told RTL radio in an interview Saturday that the country has several weeks worth of fuel stocks, saying "the government confirms there is no shortage."
ASM:
Thanks for the fish wrapper update.
Glad to know worker bees have options. About time....
As for the rest, let the chips fall where they may.
FC
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is taking a hard line ahead of nuclear talks scheduled for next month with world powers skeptical of his government's intentions, local media reported Sunday.
Ahmadinejad said that Iran is ready to hold talks, but warned that his country won't yield any of its international rights to peaceful nuclear energy development, according to the reports.
"Holding talks with Iran is the best choice for you," Ahmadinejad was quoted by state-run Press TV as saying at a rally in Ardebil in northwestern Iran Sunday. "You have no other option. All the other ways are closed. You know the fact very well,"
The United States and other world powers fear Iran is developing a nuclear program for military purposes. Iran has denied those allegations.
"You should make it clear that what is your aim of negotiations, friendship or hostility? Do you want to follow logic or law or issue resolution and make threat?" the semi-official Iran Student's News Agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. He added that Western powers should also pressure Israel over its undeclared but widely-suspected nuclear capability, ISNA said.
Last month, Ahmadinejad said an Iranian representative would meet with the "P5 plus one" group. The group is made up of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council -- the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia -- along with Germany.
Nuclear talks between Iran and the six powers have been stalled since October 1, 2009, when the two groups last met in Geneva
The leaders of Awakening Councils in two Iraqi provinces Sunday denied a report that hundreds of council members have defected to al Qaeda.
"There is no way that my fighters would join al Qaeda, no matter what, because their principles and their goals are to hunt down al Qaeda members in Iraq," said Sheikh Hussam al-Majmaei, leader of the Awakening Council in Diyala province, who has more than 13,000 fighters under his command.
The New York Times reported Sunday that hundreds of fighters appear to have rejoined al Qaeda in recent months, many of them after gaining extensive knowledge of the U.S. military. The report cited unnamed Iraqi government officials, current and former Awakening Council members and insurgents.
Al-Majmaei said that in the past two months, 150 fighters from the Diyala Awakening Councils have left -- not because they wanted to join al Qaeda, but because they became targets for al Qaeda and other insurgent groups. "Those who left their jobs with the Awakening Council started working in different jobs and most of them became farmers," he said.
"All the fighters in Diyala province who are under my command are from well-known tribes and they are our sons and our people," al-Majmaei told CNN.
Awakening Councils, also known as the Sons of Iraq, are mainly comprised of Sunni Arab fighters who turned on al Qaeda in late 2006. The U.S.-backed movement is credited as being one of the main factors that contributed to a drop in violence across Iraq, but council members have become targets for remaining jihadists.
First-degree murder charges have been filed against a man who Baltimore, Maryland, police believe killed an off-duty detective by striking him in the head during a dispute over a parking space, authorities said Sunday.
Sian James, 25, is suspected in the death of Brian Stevenson, an 18-year police veteran, who was out celebrating his 38th birthday with a friend late Saturday night when an argument ensued over a parking spot outside a restaurant, police said.
According to witnesses, James picked up a piece of concrete and threw it at Stevenson, hitting him in the head.
The attack occurred around 10 p.m. Stevenson was rushed to Johns Hopkins hospital, where he died.
Police say James fled the scene and was apprehended later at a nearby night club.
"Dozens of officers, investigators and civilian personnel put their lives on hold and worked throughout the night to identify Mr. James as a suspect and bring him to Justice. I'm very proud and honored to lead such a dedicated group of public safety professionals," said Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld.
He described Stevenson as a "fantastic" detective.
"To lose his life in this manner is senseless," Bealefeld said at a press conference early Sunday morning.
"Detective Stevenson was a good man, a good investigator and a great public servant to the people of Baltimore," he said. "His death is an incredible tragedy to not only his family, but to the entire city and to every man and woman who wears the police uniform."
It was not immediately clear whether the attacker knew Stevenson was a police detective.
FC,
'veronews.com' has some good articles on the ongoing Piper train wreck. The articles are written a lot better than those on the 'TCPalm' website. Think about it, Piper is now headed by a brother of a Imprimis director while they do an 'executive search'. They scraped the bottom of the barrel with the recent VP of marketing hire. The Imprimis dude wouldn't know an airplane if one taxxied over him.
To bad Phill Bell is a no show. Somebody needs to tell the imposter to report to the clinic tomorrow; the doctors want to continue their experiments.
The Obama administration is putting the final touches on a security assistance package totaling as much as $2 billion over five years to help Pakistan fight extremists on its border with Afghanistan, senior U.S. officials and diplomatic sources tell CNN.
The aid is expected to be announced later this week when Pakistani officials are in Washington to hold high-level talks.
The package aims to address Pakistan's insistence it does not have the capability to go after terrorists and needs more support from the United States, the sources said. The aid will help the Pakistanis purchase helicopters, weapons systems and equipment to intercept communications.
It falls under the U.S.'s Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program, which provides grants and loans to countries to purchase weapons and defense equipment produced in the United States.
The $2 billion package is on top of billions of dollars the United States already gives Pakistan in military aid and a $7.5 billion aid package over five years in non-military counterterrorism assistance approved by Congress last year.
"They key is to beef up their ability to go after militants, it can't be diverted to other threats," one senior U.S. official said.
Pakistan has long claimed its military is geared toward defending itself against threats from countries like India and does not have the kind of equipment it needs to fight insurgents. U.S. officials said they recognize Pakistan's current military hardware is not perfectly suited toward such operations but made clear the new aid must be directed toward fighting extremists rather than India
You may have seen slightly less spam coming into your email inbox recently, but those messages were more likely than usual to contain a virus, according to a report by Google.
The amount of spam being transmitted dipped slightly in August and September, the study found. Spam in the third quarter of the year was down 24 percent compared to the same period last year, the report said.
In August viruses in emails processed by Google increased by 111 percent, compared to the same month last year, the company said in its statement. Google's system blocked a record-setting 188 million emails containing viruses in just one day.
This malware is increasingly being housed in messages purporting to break news about a celebrity's death. The virus can unleash itself when the recipient clicks on a file attached to an email.
For the study, Google analyzed more than 3 billion messages processed by its system each day during a three-month period.
Bank of America reviewed 102,000 foreclosures in the 23 states where a court must sign off on the proceedings, and it is now restarting the process on those cases, the company said Monday.
The company said the first of the new affidavits will be submitted by Oct. 25, and that it will continue its review in 27 other states.
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According to a spokeswoman for the bank, no errors were found during the review, and fewer than 30,000 foreclosure sales across all 50 states will be delayed as a result of the investigation.
The announcement comes one day before the bank's third quarter earnings report, and might ease investor concerns over the scale and timeframe of the bank's review process.
"This is an even better outcome than we previously thought," said Paul Miller, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets. "We thought January was a more likely time to restart the [foreclosure] process."
The news sent Bank of America shares up 36 cents to $12.34, or 3.01%.
The bank said in a statement that the review process "has been an important step to give customers confidence they are being treated fairly."
State attorneys general have stepped up pressure on banks in recent weeks after it was revealed that some bank employees had signed foreclosure affidavits without verifying that the documents were accurate, a process known as "robo-signing."
Foreclosures: Next to hit banks?
Bank of America launched its initial review on Oct.1, and said on Oct. 18 that it was expanding its document probe to all 50 states.
The company maintained that initial assessments in the remaining 27 states show the basis for foreclosure decisions were accurate.
At least five other major mortgage servicers have announced their own document reviews.
All told, 1.8 million loans are in foreclosure in the 23 so-called judicial states, while 1.3 million are pending elsewhere in the country, according to a Morgan Stanley analyst report
Apple's wildly popular gadget lineup propelled the company to a new all-time sales record of $20 billion, Apple said Monday as it announced its fourth-quarter results.
Calling himself "blown away" by the results, Apple CEO Steve Jobs promised more magic to come: "We still have a few surprises left for the remainder of this calendar year."
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The company sold 14.1 million iPhones in the quarter, which represents a 91% increase from this time last year and easily topped even the most bullish estimates from Wall Street analysts.
Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook told analysts on a conference call that the company would have sold even more had it been able to keep up with demand. Online, iPhone 4s have been on backorder since the device debuted in July. When pressed by an analyst about Apple's supply chain snags, Cook responded that the manufacturing issues have been mostly solved.
Apple sold 3.9 million Macintosh computers, which was up 27% over the previous quarter and also topped most estimates. The company also sold 250,000 Apple TV devices.
But Apple disappointed investors by selling just 4.2 million iPads in the quarter, up from 3.3 million tablets in the previous quarter. Apple said more than $2.7 billion of its sales, or 13% of its quarterly revenue, came from iPad sales -- a revenue stream that didn't exist just six months ago. But the sales came up short of the roughly 5 million that most analysts had anticipated.
Ouch - I guess this is still pretty much a mad house.
Oh well - just checking to see if the exterminator had arrived.
Carry On.
Me - I'm watching the HondaJet taxi tests.
I'll leave you all with this picture.
Ever wonder what a HondaJet would look like with the engines removed from the *top* of the wings?
ASM:
You have got to be kidding!!!
Veronews fish wrapper says:
"VERO BEACH -- Officials at Piper Jet told members of the aviation media Monday they have re-designed the fuselage of the PiperJet and expect to deliver the first reconfigured jet to buyers in 2014, a year later than current projections.
Piper has also scrapped the PiperJet name and will call its new, larger offering the Altaire. The newly designed aircraft is said to have a sleeker, more rounded fuselage and will be aimed at business owners as well as the owner-operator market."
PLUS with these additional alternative alterations it will increase its price! Is this pulling an "Eclipse" or what over the Sultan's eyes?!? Altaire? what kind of airplane name is that? Except maybe a joke.
FC
PS This blog would have thrived on this sort of stuff. HAS anybody reported the imbecile yet?
The government will provide $680 million in compensation to settle a class-action lawsuit by Native American farmers against the U.S. Department of Agriculture, according to a proposed agreement announced Tuesday.
Under the agreement, which requires federal court approval, Native Americans can file claims for discrimination involving farm loans that occurred in the period from 1981-1999, said statements by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Attorney General Eric Holder.
"Today's settlement can never undo wrongs that Native Americans may have experienced in past decades, but combined with the actions we at USDA are taking to address such wrongs, the settlement will provide some measure of relief to those alleging discrimination," Vilsack said in his statement.
The $680 million will compensate eligible members of the class-action suits with valid claims, the statements said. The agreement has two payment tracks -- one provides $50,000 to those who provide substantial evidence of discrimination to an impartial adjudicator, and the other pays up to $225,000 to those who can show economic losses caused by discrimination.
John Lennon’s widow says racism and sexism played a role in how she was blamed for the breakup of the Beatles decades ago.
“I was used as a scapegoat, a very easy scapegoat. You know, a Japanese woman and whatever,” Yoko Ono tells CNN’s Anderson Cooper in an interview set to air Tuesday on CNN’s AC360°.
“You think some of it was sexism, racism?” Cooper queried.
“Sexism, racism,” Ono replied. “But also just remember that the United States and Britain were fighting with Japan in World War II. It was just after that in a way so I can understand how they felt.”
But Ono also tells Cooper that the public hostility directed at her “was sort of like a distant thing in a way because John and I were so close. And we were just totally involved in each other and in our work.”
October 9 would have been Lennon’s 70th birthday. Ono built a special tribute to him in Iceland and talks with Cooper about the importance of remembering Lennon’s life and spirit. In the first of the three-part interview, Ono also talks about her memories of first meeting Lennon and how she coped with his murder 30 years ago.
The Pentagon has advised recruiting commands that they can accept openly gay and lesbian recruit candidates, given the recent federal court decision that bars the military from expelling openly gay service members, according to a Pentagon spokeswoman.
The guidance from the Personnel and Readiness office was sent to recruiting commands on Friday, according to spokeswoman Cynthia Smith.
The recruiters were told that if a candidate admits he or she is openly gay, and qualify under normal recruiting guidelines, their application can be processed. Recruiters are not allowed to ask candidates if they are gay as part of the application process.
The notice also reminded recruiters that they have to "manage expectations" of applicants by informing them that a reversal of the court decision might occur, whereby the "don't ask, don't tell" policy could be reinstated, Smith said.
Later Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Phillips in California denied the government's request for an emergency stay of her order barring the military from enforcing its ban on gay men and lesbians serving openly. The government is now expected to go to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
Video: Pentagon gives OK to gay recruits
Video: Gay combat vet: I want to serve again
RELATED TOPICS
* LGBT Issues
* Don't Ask, Don't Tell
* The Pentagon
* Military and Defense Policy
Groups representing gays and lesbians have warned against coming out to the military because the policy is still being appealed in courts.
One group, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, sent a statement out Tuesday reiterating the concern.
"During this interim period of uncertainty, service members must not come out and recruits should use caution if choosing to sign up," said SLDN Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis in the statement. "The bottom line: if you come out now, it can be used against you in the future by the Pentagon."
For the first time since the start of the war, an Iranian representative joined international talks on Afghanistan.
Iran's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Qanezadeh, attended the meeting Monday in Rome of the coordinating group of representatives for Afghanistan and Pakistan from more than 40 countries as well as the United Nations and European Union .
Mark Toner, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department, said Iran's presence at the meeting indicated that, as a neighbor of Afghanistan, Iran has "an interest in seeing a stable, prosperous, peaceful Afghanistan emerge."
"I'm not going to stand up here and say that it shows that they agree 100 percent with what we're doing in Afghanistan, what the international community is doing with Afghanistan," Toner said Tuesday. "But what I think it does point to is that there is a shared desire to see a stable Afghanistan in the future."
Qanezadeh, who is also the director of Asian affairs at Iran's foreign ministry, also attended a briefing by Gen. David Petraeus, commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, according to two senior U.S. officials. Petraeus delivered what one senior official called a "fairly frank and in-depth" PowerPoint briefing on NATO's aims and strategy for transferring control to Afghan forces.
The official said that Qanezadeh was paying close attention during the briefing and that some of his statements were "very positive." Media reports from the talks in Rome have said that Qanezadeh called for a "holistic approach" to Afghanistan, including military, political and diplomatic aspects.
The group of special representatives for the region has expanded into the International Contact Group on Afghanistan. The grouping has been used discretely. For example, Japan and the United Kingdom coordinated a trust fund for reintegration.
Both U.S. officials said now that the group has a more formal mechanism for meeting, it is in a better position to engage Iran in a discussion of political issues in the region.
FC said
PS This blog would have thrived on this sort of stuff.
----------------------
Piper dying is interesting, but it is a footnote in the US GA industry.
*NOW*
Textron is cratering today (on a huge up day for the stock market). Why?
Because Cessna is completely cratering.
********* Textron said revenue dropped $290 million year-over-year in its Cessna business, reflecting lower aircraft sales. ****************
That is the news. With Cessna cratering, HBC in trouble, Piper moribund, Mooney dead, etc...
The entire GA/Light Biz Av US industry is heading down with nothing, nothing at all, in the foreseeable future that will help them.
Embraer is stable overall and growing in light GA. Cirrus is at least trying. Diamond is in survival mode, but made product progress during the crisis.
Beech/Piper/Cessna/Mooney - the traditional heavy hitters are a sad, uncompetitive mess.
Cessna and Beech in particular, are in total denial that their very existence is being threatened.
Reminds me of GM in the late 2000s, Nokia in 2010, IBM in the late 80s, Nortel in 2005.
Question is, do they have the leadership, vision and energy to get back from the brink and lead?
I'm not sure.
baron95,
UT rep. Sikorsky, is interested in EAI....(see flight global 2010-10-20)!
And
"Once production does restart, Holland says Eclipse will look to expand the product line. "If we're going anywhere, we're going up in aircraft size," he says. "We're not going to remain a single-product company."
" - hey, they just have a TC, not PC and are talking about a bigger a/c (or other people's money)!
What are PWC's customers thinking about light jet made by UT resp. Sikorsky?
Julius
Tiffany Hartley, who reported that her husband was shot by gunmen in Mexico last month, is moving from Texas to Colorado without a trace of his body yet to be found.
"This is a very difficult day for her, this is her home," Harltey's mother, Cynthia Young said, as a moving van was being packed at the couple's Rio Grande Valley home.
The Hartleys had been planning to move back to their native Colorado before David Hartley was allegedly shot on Falcon Lake, which straddles the U.S.-Mexico border.
On September 30, the two decided to ride their personal watercraft to the Mexican side of the lake to see a historical church there, she said.
But she said the couple was confronted by three boats, and gunmen -- believed linked to a Mexican drug gang -- began firing shots at them when they tried to flee the area. She said she saw her husband shot and attempted to pull him on board her watercraft.
Video: Hartley: 'Want my husband back'
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* David Hartley
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David Hartley's body has not been found, despite extensive searches by both U.S. and Mexican authorities.
Most recently, Mexican authorities suspended their search after the head of the lead investigator in the case was found on the side of the road.
Young said the move to Colorado does not signal an end to their search for justice.
"We are not giving up. We will continue to call congressmen and lawmakers until they find David, and we will return immediately when they find his body," she said.
Tiffany Hartley agreed.
An American-born man accused of posting an online attack against the creators of the animated TV series "South Park" due to a depiction of the Prophet Mohammed agreed to plead guilty Wednesday to providing material support to terrorists and other charges.
Under the agreement announced in federal court, Zachary Chesser, 20, also pleaded guilty to charges of communicating threats and soliciting crimes of violence.
The three charges carry a total maximum prison sentence of 30 years, and U.S. District Judge Liam O'Grady told Wednesday's court hearing that Chesser's defense agreed to a sentence of at least 20 years for acts "intended to promote a federal crime of terrorism."
O'Grady accepted the plea agreement and declared Chesser guilty as charged, setting the sentencing for February 25, 2011.
Chesser, dressed in a green prison jumpsuit with the word "prisoner" stenciled on the back, answered questions from the judge but made no statement. His once-long hair had been cut short.
Michael Nachmanoff, Chesser's federal public defender, said the case was different from other recent terrorism cases.
"Mr. Chesser has renounced violent jihad," Nachmanoff said. "He has accepted responsibility and is deeply remorseful. He's a young man who's taken some steps to put his life together like what you saw today."
As part of the plea agreement, federal authorities agreed not to seek charges of aiding and abetting against Chesser's wife - Proscovia Kampire Nzabanita. She already is charged with making a false statement, which carries a sentence of up to five years in prison upon conviction. The couple has an infant son.
Anita Hill accused Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment.
Anita Hill accused Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* Hill's testimony in 1991 almost sank Clarence Thomas' Supreme Court nomination
* Ginni Thomas says she reached out to Hill to extend "an olive branch"
* Hill says she won't apologize
Boston, Massachusetts (CNN) -- Anita Hill, whose accusations of sexual harassment almost derailed Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' high court nomination, has no plans to apologize for the charges she made nearly two decades ago.
The response from Hill, now a law professor at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, comes following a voice-mail message left for her by Thomas' wife, Virginia, over the weekend, requesting an apology.
Charles Radin, the Brandeis director of news and communications, said Hill received the voice mail and turned it over to the campus Department of Public Safety, which then turned it over to the FBI.
Special Agent Jason Pack, an FBI spokesman in Washington, declined to comment late Tuesday.
"I certainly thought the call was inappropriate," Hill said in a statement to CNN issued by Brandeis. "I have no intention of apologizing because I testified truthfully about my experience and I stand by that testimony."
Video: Thomas' wife wants apology
Video: 1991: Revisiting Hill-Thomas case
Video: 2007: Anita Hill looks back
RELATED TOPICS
* Clarence Thomas
* Anita Hill
In a statement to CNN, Virginia "Ginni" Thomas said: "I did place a call to Ms. Hill at her office extending an olive branch to her after all these years, in hopes that we could ultimately get passed what happened so long ago. That offer still stands, I would be very happy to meet and talk with her if she would be willing to do the same. Certainly no offense was ever intended."
According to a source at Brandeis, who spoke on condition of not being identified, the message left over the weekend said:
"Good morning, Anita Hill, it's Ginni Thomas. I just wanted to reach across the airwaves and the years and ask you to consider something. I would love you to consider an apology some time and some full explanation of why you did what you did with my husband. So give it some thought and certainly pray about this and come to understand why you did what you did. OK, have a good day."
he Obama administration has notified Congress of plans for a multiyear, multibillion-dollar weapons deal with Saudi Arabia, a State Department official said Wednesday.
The sale is meant to further align the Saudi military relationship with the United States and enhance the ability of the kingdom to defer and defend threats to it and its oil structure, which "is critical to our economic interests," said Andrew Shapiro, assistant secretary for political and military affairs, at a State Department news conference.
The deal, worth up to $60 billion over 20 years, will include the sale of 84 F-15 aircraft, the upgrade of 70 older-model F-15 aircraft and almost 200 helicopters.
Congress has 30 days to raise any objections to the deal.
Who is Anita Hill and what does Justice Clarence Thomas' wife want her to apologize for?
Before Thomas became a federal judge, he worked in the Department of Education and later was chairman of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from 1982 to 1990.
After President George H.W. Bush nominated Thomas to replace Justice Thurgood Marshall on the Supreme Court, Thomas underwent nomination hearings in the U.S. Senate and a vote was scheduled.
Two days before the scheduled vote, Hill, a law professor at the University of Oklahoma, told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Thomas had sexually harassed her when he was her boss at the Education Department and the EEOC.
Army investigators said Wednesdaythat Maj. Nidal Hasan had 177 rounds on him when he was shot by police last November.
Hasan is charged with killing 13 people and wounding dozens of others in a rampage last November at Fort Hood.
A police officer, Maj. Mark Todd, testified at a military hearing Wednesday that he found extra magazines and a second handgun, a revolver, after Hasan was shot four times.
In testimony Wednesday, Todd and his fellow civilian police officer, Sgt. Kim Munley, described the gunfight outside the building where the final stand-off occurred.
"I challenged him, 'Halt, military police, drop your weapon,'" Todd said. "He raised his weapon and fired."
Munley, who was widely praised for her role in ending the shooting, admitted that she did not know how many times she had hit the gunman.
"I did not see him fall from my shots. No," Munley said.
During her testimony, prosecutors showed a video automatically recorded by a camera mounted on the dashboard in her police car as she raced toward the shooting. In addition to the sound of sirens wailing and fast driving on the way to the scene, the video shows Munley dashing out of her vehicle and bystanders pointing to where the shooter was.
Munley is then seen racing off camera. Moments later the tape provides clear audio of repeated gunfire.
A separate police car "dash-cam" was introduced during Todd's testimony, but because of a technical glitch there was no audio. Neither police camera recorded the video of the final confrontation.
Munley said she exchanged fire with the gunman and was injured herself. She told of the difficulty of getting off an accurate shot at the start of the confrontation because of people in the background.
FC,
Altair (without the e) was an excretable commuter airline out of Philadelphia that finally dried up and blew away like a dead bug. Not a good harbinger for Piper. Not only is the fuselage being redesigned, it appears to have a new wing as well.
The "old" design was for 1 pilot and 6/7 passengers or an 800 pound useful load with full fuel with a max range of 1,300 miles. The "new" Altaire has 1 pilot and six passengers or an 800 pound useful load with full fuel with a max range of 1,200 miles (?).
Piper is also "going" to pour millions into building a production line. Excuse me, but four years into the project they are now "going" to build a production line?
I think the whole thing is a ruse to find a greater fool to sell the company too. But there isn't one out there.
Piper's ripped a page from Vern's playbook. The one that says it's always better to grab more money from your past and future (ill-informed) investors, than it is to come close to delivering an actual, finished aircraft.
For Eclipse, it was the smoke-and-mirrors 400, offered to stave off disgruntled 500 depositors.
With the Altaire, Piper gains over a year of additional breathing room, while also promising a NEW! SUBSTANTIALLY IMPROVED! version of a plane that never existed beyond POC form in the first place.
Anyone think they'll ever deliver an Altaire?
P.S. This goes out to our resident troll: Hi Zoom! So, did you lose any more employees to the Georgia breeze at this year's NBAA, like you did in 2007?
ASM:
Or buy them (the self serving management) time until the whole thing folds.
Altaire.... hmmm
Taire in french = to silence, to hush-up
B95:
The state of GA and the world not so great right now I know. I wish no company to fail.
Julius:
It would be cool if the new Eclipse did somehow make it through in the end. They are certainly laying low enough.
And Sir Gadfly:
Are we sure the imposter Gadfly is not some sort of weird robotics virus? Have you tried to report it/him/thing to google?
FC
Well, lets see what happens with the Altaire. At least, they are abandoning the ridiculous Malibu fuselage, which had no chance of being pumped to 35,000 ft with an 8,000 ft cabin.
They also smarted up and gave up on the parts bin derived wing. Now moving to a new wing with larger chord.
So the design looks more feasible. Now will they actually produce the thing? Who knows - if the Sultan has enough of a hard on to produce a jet, it can be done.
Will it be successful at $2.6M? It will depend on the final specs, insurance rates, etc, and somethings they can't control. a) Fuel Prices; b) The evolution of the competition.
Four years is a long time. This thing will compete with the Mustang II or the Phenom 100+ or the Djet.
Long gestation projects are problematic for this reason.
The market moves on relentlessly.
We'll see.
I forgot to mention that the biggest thing is getting the stupid spar out of the cabin and making a proper fuselage over wing plane.
Now - this is a completely new design. They basically wasted 4 years on the old junk.
The proof of design airplane has a slight problem: The design was never validated. The pitch changes with power application resulting from the engine being mounted high in the vertical stabilizer were first going to be controled by a computer repositioning the horizontal stab, then by deflecting the exhaust gases, then no band-aids were required at all (according to the marketing dude).
Did you notice on the Altaire mockup the engine has been lowered about a foot or two? I would bet you anything Imprimis has only one goal: Unload this turkey!
Baron,
I think a lot of wealthy airplane owners who can afford to move up look at how Beech, Cessna, and Piper treat their employees and say "They treat their employees like that, including people I have worked with for years, and then put the strong arm on their communities, how are they going to treat me? To hell with it, what's Embraer's phone number?"
Cessna doesn't even let their employees assemble the Chinese Junk after it has been shipped to Kansas.
Authorities have shut down a Texas food processing plant, saying it was contaminated by bacteria linked to the deaths of four people, state health officials said.
The Texas Department of State Health Services on Wednesday ordered Sangar Produce and Processing to immediately stop processing food and recall all products shipped from its San Antonio plant since January. This comes after state laboratory results showed Listeria monocytogenes, a bacteria that can cause severe illness, in chopped celery at the plant.
Four people died after contracting listeriosis after consuming celery that had been processed at the Sangar plant, said Carrie Williams, a department spokeswoman. State health authorities came to this determination while investigating 10 cases in which people with serious underlying health problems contracted listeriosis over an 8-month period.
Six of those cases -- in Bexar, Travis and Hidalgo counties -- were linked to chopped celery processed at the SanGar plant, the state health services department said. Four of those people died, as did one other person who authorities believe got listeriosis from another source not connected with Sangar products.
Food Poisoning 101
Food safety tips
RELATED TOPICS
* Bacteria
* Product Recalls
* Consumer Protection
Sangar, however, sharply questioned the state's findings and strongly denied wrongdoing, saying it has had "an excellent record of safety and health" over the past three years. Its president said outside tests "directly contradict" the state's conclusion.
"The independent testing shows our produce to be absolutely safe, and we are aggressively fighting the state's erroneous findings," said Kenneth Sanquist, president of Sangar.
State health inspectors said they believe the bacteria found in the chopped celery may have contaminated other products at the company's plant. Sangar processes a wide variety of products -- including three varieties of lettuce, peppers, carrots, cucumbers and various cut-up fruit, as well as salad, fruit and soup mixes, according to the company's website. They are distributed primarily in sealed packages to restaurants, hospitals, schools and other large institutions that serve food.
Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, has claimed the 10th victim in California, in what health officials are calling the worst outbreak in 60 years.
Since the beginning of the year, 5,978 confirmed, probable and suspected cases of the disease have been reported in California.
All of the deaths occurred in infants under the age of 3 months, says Michael Sicilia, a spokesman for the California Department of Public Health. Nine were younger than 8 weeks old, which means they were too young to have been vaccinated against this highly contagious bacterial disease.
"This is a preventable disease," says Sicilia, because there is a vaccine for whooping cough to protect those coming in contact with infants, and thereby protect the infants.
However, some parents are choosing to not vaccinate their children. In other cases, previously vaccinated children and adults may have lost their immunity because the vaccine has worn off.
Why are parents skipping vaccines?
The vaccine "does not protect you for life," explains Alison Patti, a spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Sicilia says California Health Department epidemiologists estimate 50 percent of the children who have gotten sick were infected by their parents or caregivers.
According to the recommended vaccine schedule for infants, newborns don't get their first pertussis vaccine until they are 2 months old, leaving them vulnerable to infection until then if the people surrounding them are infected.
Breaking down whooping cough
"That's why the real important message is -- whether it's a mom, dad, sibling, grandfather or grandmother that comes in contact with these really young babies -- all the close contacts, including the health care professionals, need to vaccinated," says Patti. It's called the "cocooning strategy," where the newborns are protected because the older people around them have been vaccinated and protected from pertussis, and therefore won't pass it on to little babies.
The University of Connecticut's West Hartford campus was evacuated Thursday after a bomb threat, said a message posted on the university's website.
"A bomb threat has been received for the West Hartford Campus," the online message said. "Police have responded and are investigating. The evacuation of the campus is in progress and no entry into buildings will be allowed until 12 PM or later. Please check back for further details."
The French Senate adopted new rules Thursday to speed up voting on a controversial pension reform bill that has sent more than a million people onto the streets in protest.
Thousands of people demonstrated in central Paris on Thursday as protesters and lawmakers went down to the wire in a battle over the bill. Protest leaders said they planned to march close to the Senate.
Lawmakers, trying to wade through more than 1,000 amendments -- many put up by opposition senators to try to derail the bill -- will group them together rather than voting on each one, Labor Minister Eric Woerth announced.
He said debate on the bill had gone on longer than on any other law since the Fifth Republic came into existence in 1958.
The bill would raise the retirement age from 60 to 62, among other changes.
About 4,000 people -- mostly students -- were out demonstrating against it on Thursday, police estimated.
The march was largely peaceful, CNN's Phil Black at the scene reported, although there were confrontations between students on the one hand and riot police and undercover police in the crowd on the other.
Video: Protesters fill streets in Paris
Video: Police open fuel depots in France
Video: Pension fury in France
Gallery: French pension protests
RELATED TOPICS
* France
* Labor Strikes and Disputes
* Nicolas Sarkozy
The protesters marched through the city, blocking intersections as they headed for Denfert Rochereau, a central Paris square that has seen many demonstrations over the years.
Some 200 demonstrators blocked France's Marseille Provence Airport for more than three hours Thursday as strikes and protests continued across the country, trade unions said.
But some people are losing patience with the demonstrators, some of whom are causing fuel shortages.
A middle-aged woman who said she had been looking for gas for her motorcycle for an hour said people have "had enough."
"We are really sick of these idiots who are turning our country upside down. We have had enough of all these horrible trade unions that are messing up this country. That is all I have to say," said the woman, who refused to give her name.
The country continues to face some fuel shortages because workers are on strike at all 12 of the nation's refineries, and protesters are blocking 14 of the country's 219 oil terminals.
Pop star Lady Gaga postponed two Paris shows this weekend because of "the logistical difficulties due to the strikes," her website said.
"Unfortunately, as there is no certainty that the trucks can make it to the Bercy for this weekend's shows, the Lady Gaga performances are now postponed," the statement said.
The French Senate is working its way through roughly 1,000 amendments to the pension reform bill, and a final vote on the bill could come as early as Thursday or as late as Sunday.
The lower house of parliament has already passed it, by a vote of 329 to 233.
Toyota is recalling 740,000 vehicles sold in the United States because of potentially unsafe brakes, adding to the automaker's 2010 recall woes.
Toyota Motor Sales, the U.S. division of Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) in Japan, said the recall applies to Avalon models built from 2005 through 2006, non-hybrid Highlanders from 2004 through 2006, the Lexus RX330, and 2006 models of the Lexus GS300, IS250 and IS350.
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Toyota said it's recalling the vehicles because a small amount of brake fluid could leak from the brake master cylinder, causing the brake warning lamp to go on.
If the problem is left untreated, Toyota said driver will first notice a spongy or soft brake pedal feel, with the brakes' ability to slow the vehicle gradually deteriorating.
Toyota said the problem stems from the use of non-Toyota brake fluid. Toyota-brand brake fluid contains lubricating polymers that prevent the problem, the company said.
The company said that Toyota and Lexus dealers will replace the brake master cylinder cup at no charge to vehicle owners.
Worldwide, Toyota is recalling 1.5 million vehicles because of the problem.
The new brake problem is the latest to affect Toyota, which has recalled millions of vehicles due to a variety of safety issues.
Since the second half of last year, Toyota has announced recalls of more than 8 million vehicles. The latest major recall was in August, affecting about 1.33 million Corolla and Matrix vehicles built from 2005 to 2008 and sold in the U.S. and Canada. The company said there was a risk of cracks forming at solder points or on electronic components used to protect circuits from excessive voltage.
A federal appeals panel on Wednesday temporarily blocked a lower court ruling that halted enforcement of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy banning openly gay and lesbian soldiers from the military.
The ruling by a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals gave the government the delay it sought in challenging a federal judge's order last week to stop enforcing the policy around the world.
"The order is stayed temporarily in order to provide this court with an opportunity to consider fully the issues presented," said the appellate panel's ruling, which gave parties in the case until October 25 to file further documents.
CNN iReport: Please share your thoughts on don't ask, don't tell
Aubrey Sarvis, an Army veteran and executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, said the appeals court panel's ruling "means that 'don't ask, don't tell' is once again on the books, and is likely to be enforced by the Defense Department."
"Gay and lesbian service members deserve better treatment than they are getting with this ruling," Sarvis said. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Human Rights Campaign also expressed disappointment and called for an end to "don't ask, don't tell."
Earlier Wednesday, the Obama administration filed an emergency request with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to stop the military from allowing openly gay troops from serving, putting itself in a strange position.
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In effect, the administration wants to continue barring gays from the military even though it ultimately favors repealing "don't ask, don't tell."
"They are in a very bizarre position, frankly, of their own making," CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said.
On Wednesday, the White House referred all questions about the issue to the Department of Justice.
The administration filed a motion Tuesday asking U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Phillips to stay her order last month that banned the enforcement of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. When Phillips denied the request, government lawyers took their case to the 9th Circuit on Wednesday.
In court documents filed in San Francisco, California, the administration argued that "don't ask, don't tell" should remain intact for now.
The administration argued that changing it abruptly "risks causing significant immediate harm to the military and its efforts to be prepared to implement an orderly repeal of the statute."
Toobinsaid the administration would like Congress to deal with the issue on a political level and doesn't want the courts to take it on unilaterally.
A measure that would repeal the policy after a military review and approval from the president, defense secretary and Joint Chiefs chairman has passed the House and awaits action in the Senate.
President Obama is busy trying to convince voters that Democratic incumbents deserve to keep their jobs, but a new poll out Thursday suggests a majority of Americans doesn’t think he deserves to keep his.
According to the survey from Gallup, only 39 percent of Americans say the president deserves to be re-elected while 54 percent think he should join the ill-fated ranks of one-term presidents.
Those numbers may be an ominous sign for the White House, which is expected to step up its re-election efforts shortly after the midterm election season is over.
But similar Gallup polling of past presidents suggests a lot can happen in two years to change public perception. After all, at this point in 2002, 62 percent of Americans said former President George Bush deserved reelection as the country resoundingly unified around the president in the months following the September 11 attacks.
But two years later, amid a war that was growing increasingly unpopular, Bush eked out only a narrow victory over Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry.
And at this time in 1994 – amid a struggling economy and legislative failures - only 38 percent of Americans said former President Bill Clinton deserved a second term. Clinton of course went on to win re-election easily two years later.
Moreover, in 1990, former President George H.W. Bush's reelection seemed all but certain given his high approvals at that time.
The latest Gallup poll surveyed 1,029 adults by telephone from October 14 to 17 and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll in August found similar numbers for the president when it comes to 2012: against an unnamed Republican candidate, that poll had the president losing by 5 points 50-45 percent.
ASM:
The scary part is if GA employees are being treated as badly as they are within the US how do we know what's going on at Embraer? Chances are, probably a whole lot worse. (I hope I am wrong.)
I like the idea however that American people who can afford their own jets are conscious buyers. I like that a lot. Too bad American GA can't seem to pull itself together.
FC
FC,
I know two Americans and one Brazilian who work for Embraer in Brazil. They are as happy as pigs in poo. I know a lot of people who work for Beech, Cessna, Piper, and Cirrus. Ain't none of them happy. Ditto for Teledyne and Lycoming.
Also I know a few people who work for Pilatus. They are as happy as clams also, just waiting for Beech to try and copy the PC-12.
Am I missing something? How exactly are Cessna, Beech and Piper mistreating their employees?
As for their employees being unhappy, that is the same old story. They are in denial and having problems accepting that, in a global economy, you can only command higher pay and benefits if you produce proportionally more and at higher quality than any other worker in the world.
UAW employees are unhappy because they don't get $78/hr anymore. Cessna employees are unhappy because they thing they are *entitled* to make 25 times more than workers in China. Why? Do they put in 25 times more rivets per hour than a young Chinese worker?
What is the logic for these workers to feel entitled to 25x market pay rates?
I don't get it?
The manufacturing wage bubble is bursting just like the .com bubble or the housing bubble. It is no different.
Sure I was upset that I lost money in the .com bubble and that my house is worth less now?
But I don't fee entitled to guaranteed stock market returns or house pricing appreciation.
If anything, US buyers are turning away from UAW built cars and union built planes, because they are completely disgusted with the entitlement culture.
As for Embraer, the employees are not ecstatic nor angry. They are happy to have a good job, but work is hard and pay is modest.
But the culture is completely different. People in the BRIC-M (Brazil, India, China specifically), know they only get to have a job if they are incredibly more productive, so that $$$$ output/hourly costs is low enough to cover factory moving, shipping, training costs. They don't feel entitled to a job like the French or unionized Americans.
If I have a choice to buy a non-union product (e.g. Mercedes built in Alabama) I'll buy it every time over a union product.
That is my one and ONLY consumer activist position.
Baron,
The people I spoke of as being happy or unhappy are ALL non-union employees of Beech, Cessna, Piper, Teledyne, Lycoming, Embraer, and Pilatus. It has NOTHING to do with being union or non-union. It has everything to do with the integrity of management, or the lack therof, of the individual companies.
FC,
There is a video floating around of the ex-Beech dude's Piper presentation at the NBAA convention. It was cringe-inducing; I couldn't finish it. "Auntie isn't dead; she's just lying here is a box with lillies on her chest and the choir singing 'Nearer My God To Thee'. We'll have her up and running in no time!"
For those who wish to contact "Phil Bell", to do something about the "phoney" that has taken over the website, I have gone back through my records . . . attempting to find a clue as to how to contact the "man". It is my understanding, that he, alone, can remove this "botfly", a.k.a. "gadfly" in recent weeks.
'Having attended at least four neurosurgeries, as an observer/inventor, and sometimes helper, of a life saving vascular system, I have not yet observed a frontal lobotomy, evidently the failed procedure of our non-recovering "pseudo gadfly", that from now on I will refer to as the "botfly" (we "gadflies" have a certain amount of family pride).
In the "old days", Phil Bell appeared under another alias, and a humorous "pseudonym", . . . but those early email addresses are no longer in effect. He sometimes spoke of the love of his life . . . Hint: "Ercoupe"! (How far can an "Ercoupe" fly?)
gadfly
(Who, but the "original gadfly" would thus speak?! And, by the way, the "original" gadfly will always and only speak about things familiar to me . . . my personal faith in Jesus Christ, my manufacturing knowledge and experience, the things that concern those (of us) who have spent a lifetime connected with aircraft/aerospace/high technology . . . and issues that directly affect folks down at the shop floor level. I'm not a "news commentator", nor any other type of "tater", potater, tomater, etc., etc. I love to teach, to be a help, and a comfort in times of distress. This "botfly" is directly the opposite. Contact me, direct, at cec@swcp.com . . . if you are the genuine article, you will get through . . . if not, I'll have your number on record, from the time you sign in. So, contact me only if you don't mind being discovered. 'Fair nuf? . . . OK!)
OK ASM - I wasn't aware there was that level of employee unhappiness at Beech and Cessna.
That said, it may be related to the loss of jobs, loss of bonuses, job insecurity, etc.
Maybe they want to hear from the leadership team a *credible* plan to turn the losses around.
At NBAA Embraer announces the type certificate for the Legacy 650, Beech announces - as major announcements:
1 - That they renamed that Premier II as the Hawker 200.
2 - They created a totally new airplane - King Air 250 - also known as the King Air 200 with winglets.
Both yet to be certified.
What are they thinking?
Garmin continues on a roll - just announced first win for Part 25 airplane - Garmin 5000 on Citation X - Awesome. *that is right - beat up all the big boys*
Gadfly, Phil Bell is certainly dead. RIP!!!
Baron . . . You may be correct. Most of us had hoped for a better answer . . . but the man does not respond.
Remember "B.E.G."? . . . connect the dots.
gadfly
(Whatever . . . we've had some great discussions and education, 'midst our opposite opinions on many subjects. 'Don't forget to write!
The "gadfly" . . . ever the innovator. I picked up a couple garden rakes, a few weeks ago at Home Despot . . . our name . . . chopped off the "rake", added some leather straps from "Hobby Lobby", and now have two matching canes to help me around. On Sunday, our church is on the side of a hill, and getting up and down that hill is a problem . . . but these "canes", aka "garden rakes" are a great help.
There's a lesson in there, somewhere, along with that "pony" . . . Don't get old . . . it get's to be a habit, and I haven't yet discovered how to shift into "reverse". But then, My Lord has provided a wonderful future.)
From Baron95: Gadfly, Phil Bell is certainly dead. RIP!!!
Baron,
Like Gad, I've been trying to track down Phil info, as well. No luck.
If you guys want to communicate without all the background noise, I've started a blog called "Aviation Enthusiasts." After all, it's not aviation itself we critique but aviation companies. :-)
It could at least be a place to regroup for the time-being and I can block the noise. Here's the link:
Aviation Enthusiasts
Rather than doing a long blog post on a regular basis (at least at first because I don't have a lot of time), I can just put something along the lines of "Commentary For The Week of October 25" or something like that.
For those that don't know, I'm a years-long lurker and very occasional poster (under "agroth") who, for some reason, was listed in the SLAPP lawsuit filed by Vern.
I've got a basic bio listed at the link, and I'll write more in the future. Just wanted to get something going quick and dirty if anybody is interested.
Andy,
Thanks much; sounds like a plan.
ASM,
Great! Forgive the new layout. I'm working on making it more user friendly. This is the first time I've tried hosting a blog so it's new territory.
ASM:
Dorothy sent message in a bottle to new site.
Good one Andy!!!!
DING DONG the witch is DEAD the witch is dead, the witch is dead! Ding Dong, the wicked witch is dead. la la!
I received an email from Phil on July 19th, the day after the current post. He said he had received a bad back injury shortly after completing the A & P course.
Hope he is okay. Meanwhile the blog coasts along like Payne Stewart's Learjet... near fuel exhaustion but Andy picks up the ball.
OK - Andy - See you over there
It's too bad this site had to fizzle like this, but none of us to my knowledge knows how to get in touch with Phil.
Things are ramping up slowly but surely over at Aviation Enthusiasts
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a write-in candidate to keep her job in Washington, slammed her competitors for the state's Senate seat as unqualified in a televised debate from Anchorage Sunday.
Murkowski is locked in a tight race with Joe Miller, the GOP nominee who defeated her in the Republican primary, and Sitka Mayor Scott McAdams, the Democratic Party's candidate.
"Scott is not ready to lead. Joe is not fit to lead," Murkowski said to groans and jeers from the audience.
"I have been leading this state for eight years and I will continue to do so, bringing the seniority I have built, the work ethic that I have built, and the passion for a state that I love," she continued. "Fill it in. Write it in."
Murkowski's jab came during her closing remarks at the end of the debate. Neither Miller nor McAdams was able to respond directly, although earlier in the debate Miller said, "I've not had a silver spoon" -- a reference to Murkowski's appointment to the seat in 2002 by her father Frank Murkowski, who was governor of Alaska at the time.
Miller defeated Murkowski in the August primary with 51 percent of the vote. He enjoyed strong support from Tea Party activists and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
Murkowski first conceded, but later launched a write-in candidacy.
A recent CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll shows a deadlocked race between Murkowski and Miller among likely voters at 37 percent. McAdams trails with 28 percent.
Much of the debate focused on the federal deficit and its likely impact on Alaska.
McAdams called for a 3 percent cut in all discretionary spending by Washington, but gave no program-trimming specifics.
"You don't balance a federal budget on the backs of kids, on the backs of rural communities, on the backs of seniors, while we continue to give tax cuts to the richest one percent of multimillionaires and provide tax loopholes to multinational corporations," he said.
McAdams suggested removing the federal cap on Social Security taxes, which currently stops at $106,000. He said the added revenue from taxing higher incomes would make the system solvent for another 75 years.
Murkowski called for cuts in entitlement programs.
"If we're really going to cut the spending, if we're really going to deal with the deficit, it has to be with entitlements," she said. "That's where you can make the real reductions and it is hard and it is difficult, but it needs to be done."
Miller advocated bringing state resources to market, especially restricted oil drilling fields, to replace expected lost federal funds.
On illegal immigration, Miller endorsed a border fence between the United States and Mexico, saying the federal government has the responsibility to provide a secure border. He also said he supports an Arizona law which requires police to question people if there is reason to suspect that they're in the United States illegally.
Murkowski said Arizona shouldn't have to figure out how to secure the border, but disagreed with Miller on the notion of building a fence.
"We should not be looking to East Germany as a model for our security and border enforcement," she said.
"Last time I checked, East Germany was no longer a nation," Miller shot back.
"We can't build a fence that's high enough," Murkowski countered.
McAdams said there should be no wall on the Mexican border, but also said there should be no laws that promote racial profiling.
"We do need to enforce the laws we have on the books," he said. "We do need to secure our borders."
The election is scheduled for Tuesday, November 2.
Former President Bill Clinton continued his cross-country campaign swing Sunday night to help the longest-serving member of Congress in his bid to hold onto his seat.
Democratic Rep. John Dingell of Michigan is a 28-term incumbent, but he’s in a tighter reelection battle than he’s seen in a while, hence the Clinton campaign stop.
“Michigan was good for me and I tried to be good for Michigan,” Clinton said. “John Dingell’s been good for you and he’s been good for you in the last year and a half, as he has in his entire career."
Clinton also addressed the larger issues in the midterm election cycle including government spending and health care, and stressed how important it is that Democrats stay in control.
“I’m not just here on a personal mission,” Clinton said. “I like all this enthusiasm, but frankly there are a few things about this election that have gotten me somewhere between disturbed and ticked off.”
Although, he said he doesn’t “do politics anymore,” he got involved in this election “because I saw the American people about to trigger a movie I have seen before,” a reference to the 1994 Republican takeover of the House of Representatives two years after Clinton was elected president.
Clinton said the Michigan event was his 102nd stop during this election season, a tour that will likely continue through Election Day.
A Florida teenager who gained national notoriety for a case of the hiccups that lasted for weeks in 2007 has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder, authorities said.
Jennifer Mee, 19, was arrested and charged Sunday, according to jail booking information on the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office website.
In 2007, Mee's non-stop hiccups gained national attention. She earned the nickname "Hiccup Girl" and appeared multiple times on NBC's "Today" show.
Mee and two others -- Laron Raiford, 20, and Lamont Newton, 22 -- were arrested and accused of fatally shooting a man during an armed robbery attempt in St. Petersburg, Florida, Saturday night.
"Jennifer Mee lured the victim to the address...and Laron Raiford and Lamont Newton robbed him at gunpoint and took miscellaneous items from his person," St. Petersburg Police Sgt. T.A. Skinner said in a statement.
Video: 2007: Meet the 'hiccup girl'
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The three are accused of shooting and killing a man using a .38-caliber revolver, according to an arrest affidavit. The victim "received three gunshot wounds to the chest and one gunshot wound to the shoulder," the affidavit said.
"All three suspects admitted to their involvement and were charged with 1st degree felony murder," Skinner's statement said.
The shooting occurred at 10:30 p.m. Saturday, according to police.
Mee's desperate search for a hiccup cure, first reported in the St. Petersburg Times newspaper, captured the interest of people across the Tampa Bay area -- and beyond.
"We've tried sugar, peanut butter, breathing in a bag, having people scare me," she said in a photo slideshow posted on the newspaper's website in February 2007.
Suggestions -- and interview requests -- poured in. She flew to New York City to appear on the "Today" show. Months later, after her hiccups were cured, she returned for another interview.
But after her hiccups faded, Mee continued to draw attention. In June 2007, local media reported that she ran away from home.
In January 2010, St. Petersburg police once again issued a missing person report for Mee. Her mother told CNN affiliate WFTS that her daughter had stormed off after getting into a fight with her boyfriend. Mee was found after a friend called police, the affiliate said.
Singer Celine Dion, 42, gave birth Saturday to premature twin boys.
The yet-to-be named boys were delivered by cesarean section and are healthy, according to St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Florida.
One infant weighs 5 pounds, 10 ounces, while the other is 5 pounds, 4 ounces, the hospital said.
Obstetrician Ronald Ackerman, in announcing the births, called Dion and husband Rene Angelil two of "the most caring and kind individuals" that the hospital has seen.
Dion checked into the hospital October 16 as a precaution "to prevent the early delivery of her babies," the medical center said.
Her doctors had wanted Dion to remain there at least until the first week of November, when she would be 37 weeks along in her pregnancy, her representative said this week.
Dion, 42, revealed in July that she was pregnant with twins after her sixth round of in vitro fertilization.
The couple has a 9-year-old son, Rene-Charles
U.S. Swimming Federation authorities expect to receive the body of Fran Crippen Monday. The star open-water swimmer died Saturday during the last leg of the Marathon Swimming World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.
"In respect for his memory" the International Swimming Federation (FINA) cancelled the remaining heats in the UAE in the wake of Crippen's death, according FINA's website.
The loss of Crippen, 26, hit hard in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he grew up in a family of swimmers who trained and began competing there. Crippen was on target to achieve his goal of being an Olympian -- a dream cut short.
"We're all grieving. We're all in shock," said Richard Shoulberg, his longtime prep-school coach.
Doctors determined that severe fatigue was behind Crippen's sudden death, UAE Swimming Federation Secretary Saeed Al Hamour said Sunday.
However, Ahmed Ibrahim, the head of the water sports club in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, said earlier that preliminary tests showed that he suffered a heart attack.
The official report released by the UAE Swimming Federation made no mention of a heart attack.
"We do not know," Shoulberg said about the cause of death, adding that Crippen was "fit as a fiddle."
Crippen died Saturday during the last leg of the Marathon Swimming World Cup in Fujairah, the International Swimming Federation said in a news release.
The cause of death is under investigation, the federation said.
In a conversation with Shoulberg 12 hours before the race, Crippen said that the outside temperature was 100 degrees and that the water was 87 degrees.
The high temperatures have led to some speculation that it may have contributed to the death.
However, Al Hamour denied any reports that Crippen's death may have been caused by water temperature or cleanliness.
"The competition was monitored and supervised by the International Swimming Federation. All security measures were taken care of as needed," Al Hamour said. "We've organized so far 14 competitions and championships and never had any death."
Swimming World magazine reported that Crippen fell unconscious during the event and was found by deep-sea divers two hours later near the race's final buoy.
Crippen won bronze in the 10-kilometer event at the 2009 FINA World Championships and was the gold medalist in the same event at the 2007 Pan American games, according to USA Swimming.
The outlook for hiring is improving as U.S. businesses continue to report growing demand and increased profitability, according to a survey of leading economists.
In its October industry survey, the National Association of Business Economics said Monday that employment conditions improved in the third quarter to the highest level since the start of the 2008-2009 recession.
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Looking ahead, expectations for hiring over the next 6 months rose to the highest level since 2006, according to the survey.
The survey, based on responses from 74 NABE members, also showed that industry demand, corporate profits, business costs and capital spending all strengthened in the third quarter from the second quarter and last year.
William Strauss, an economist at Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, said in a statement that the survey "confirms that the U.S. recovery from the Great Recession continues, with business conditions improving."
Despite the positive developments, the recovery is still expected to be slow.
A little over half of the economists in the October survey expect gross domestic product, the broadest measure of activity, to expand by more than 2% this year, down from 67% in July.
While the overall employment picture appears to be getting better, the job market is expected to remain under pressure into next year.
Earlier this month, NABE economists forecast the unemployment rate to rise to 9.7% this year, and then fall to 9.2% by the end of 2011. Unemployment in the United States currently stands at 9.6%.
Still, the October survey showed the percent of respondents reporting a decline in employment fell to 12%, a large improvement from the 31% reporting declines a year earlier.
0:00 /3:12Tough choice: Jobs or profits
The survey also found that profits at U.S. companies are increasingly being driven by sales in overseas markets, suggesting the weak dollar continues to be a boon for exports.
According to the survey, more than half of respondents indicated that some portion of their firm's sales came from operations outside the United States, while 16% said that over half of their sales came from foreign sources.
Meanwhile, a majority of respondents believe current regulatory policies and federal taxes will be a drag on business next year. However, they also expect the Federal Reserve's move toward more easy monetary policy will support business in 2011.
The private sector is still struggling to adapt to changes in the regulatory landscape after President Obama signed a sweeping financial reform bill into law earlier this year. In addition, Congress has yet to decide the fate of tax cuts that are set to expire at the end of this year.
At the same time, the U.S. central bank is widely expected to announce additional stimulus measures next month. Fed officials, including chairman Ben Bernanke, have signaled recently that the bank is prepared to pump more money into the economy by purchasing Treasuries
Cholera is a bacterial illness that causes severe diarrhea and dehydration and can be lethal within hours if a person is not treated.
"This is a bacteria that actually is in the environment. It's in brackish water in the river. It can be in seacoasts and if the environmental conditions are not right, the cholera bacteria can grow up and then anyone who ingests that water or food that comes from that water or food that is prepared with that water can get ill," says Dr. William Schaffner, chair of Preventive Medicine at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
In an epidemic, cholera can also be spread from the feces of an infected person. Children and adults alike are vulnerable. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), three-quarters of people carrying the bacteria have no symptoms. For those who do get sick, the main symptoms include diarrhea, vomiting, muscle cramps, dehydration and shock. Death can occur if treatment is not immediately administered.
While human remains don’t typically pose a health threat, the WHO notes that bodies of people who have died from cholera do pose a health risk and should be kept away from polluting sources of drinking water.
The WHO estimates 3–5 million people are sickened by cholera each year causing 100,000–120,000 deaths.
The bacteria can spread when human waste enters water systems and people drink the contaminated water or eat food that's been cooked in contaminated water. While modern sewerage systems have almost completely eliminated cholera in industrialized countries, it can thrive in areas where war, disaster, or extreme poverty forces people to live in crowded and unsanitary conditions, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Cholera is easily treated if people can be rehydrated. In many cases, giving patients oral rehydration salts can help relieve symtoms. In more severe cases, IV fluids may and antibiotics are required. According to the WHO, the fatality rate may be 30-50 percent if left untreated. Two vaccines are available to prevent cholera, but they are not always readily available in situations where disaster and impoverishment flourish.
Improving sewerage and sanitation conditions is the best way to prevent cholera outbreaks and spread, according to the WHO. But this is not always practical in times of disaster, where food, hygiene and public health tracking may be compromised.
Post by: Georgiann Caruso - CNN Medical Associate Producer
Filed under: Global Health
A designer clothing store, a comic book store, a tattoo parlor and a ... women for sale store.
This unusual window display shocked shoppers at a busy Tel Aviv mall last week when among the run-of-the-mill shops, they came across a group of young women standing in a storefront.
On them were price tags detailing their age, weight, height, dimensions and country of origin.
Organizers said the campaign is designed to bring awareness to women trafficking. It aims to collect enough signatures to pressure the Israeli justice ministry to back legislation that makes it a crime for men to go to prostitutes.
This legislation is the next important step in the fight against women trafficking, said attorney Ori Keidar, one of the founders of the task force against the problem.
"The legislation against the prostitutes' customers will bring a reduction in the demand for prostitution and it will be a less lucrative business for crime organizations," Keidar said.
"This in turn will bring a reduction in the trafficking of women."
Keidar said the legislation is modeled after similar legislation in Sweden that has drastically reduced trafficking and prostitution.
Over the past decade, about 10,000 women have been trafficked into Israel in what Keidar calls "modern slavery."
The women are locked, beaten, raped, starved and forced to receive 15-30 men a day 365 days a year, according to the attorney.
About three years ago, Israeli police greatly reduced women trafficking by pouring resources into the problem. Security forces have also helped by stepping up patrols on the Israeli-Egyptian border as a result of al Qaeda presence in the Sinai.
This 300-kilometer border was the main route for smuggling women into Israel, Keidar said.
"This legislation against the customers will bring a further reduction in trafficking and with a little more pressure we can make this go away" Keidar said.
ward for information on 14 children who may have been taken from orphanages by child traffickers, according to a release from the attorney general of Mexico.
The attorney general also is offering about $400,000 (5 million pesos) in the search for three people in the "Casitas del Sur" case, a statement said Friday.
The children disappeared in February 2009 from the Casitas del Sur orphanage in Mexico City and from homes in Nuevo Laredo and Quintana Roo, the statement said.
Hurricane Richard weakened to a tropical storm over northwestern Guatemala early Monday as it pelted at least four Latin American nations with heavy winds and rains, the National Hurricane Center reported.
Forecasters said the storm would continue to lose steam as it treks through Guatemala and Mexico, and finally into the southwestern Gulf of Mexico.
At 5 a.m. ET, Richard was packing winds of 65 mph (100 kph) as it headed west-northwest at 12 mph (19 kph). The eye of the storm was about 170 miles (275 km) south-southeast of Campeche, Mexico, the hurricane center said.
The Belize National Emergency Management Organization said Sunday all public buses have stopped running and advised private cars to also get off the road.
It urged people living in Dangriga, a town in southern Belize, and in vulnerable parts of Belize City to seek shelter immediately. All vessels should remain in port, the organization also advised.
Belize, a small country in Central America popular among tourists for its pristine beaches and coral reefs, has a hurricane warning in effect, the National Hurricane Center reported, although it said those conditions have likely diminished.
Along with strong winds, the main threat from Richard is the large amounts of rain it will dump on Belize and the Yucatan Peninsula. It is expected to produce three to six inches of rain with local amounts totaling 10 inches. These rains could produce life-threatening flash floods and mud slides, especially in the mountainous terrain.
Mexico's Civil Protection Agency said parts of the peninsula were reporting tropical storm-force winds early Monday.
Disaster preparedness officials in Guatemala told reporters Sunday that the storm's bands would bring heavy winds and rains to the northern part of the country -- and potentially cause mudslides -- but that most of the country would likely be spared from a direct hit.
Tracking maps indicate the storm would move into the Gulf as a tropical depression by early Tuesday. Conditions are not favorable for redevelopment.
"It is not a concern for the U.S.," said John Cangialosi with the hurricane center. "Even if it does get into the southern Gulf of Mexico, a very strong wind sheer of that area will continue to weaken the system."
A wind sheer is caused when winds go in different directions, causing the storm to weaken
2010 9:55 p.m. EDT
(CNN) -- The Alaska Department of Public Safety Tuesday released the names of those killed and injured in the airplane crash that took the life of former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens. David Morris, spokesman for the GCI telecommunications company, explained who was aboard the plane.
DECEASED
Sen. Theodore "Ted" Stevens, 86, of Anchorage, Alaska. Stevens was Alaska's senior U.S. senator for 40 years.
Theron "Terry" Smith, 62, of Eagle River, Alaska. Smith was piloting the GCI-owned plane.
William "Bill" Phillips Sr. Phillips was a partner in the Washington law and lobbying firm Utrecht and Phillips and a former aid to Stevens. Phillips focused on lobbying on transportation, telecommunications, technology, energy, natural resources and national defense issues.
Dana Tindall, 48, of Anchorage, Alaska. Tindall was senior vice president in charge of GCI telecommunications' legal and regulatory matters.
Corey Tindall, 16, of Anchorage, Alaska. Corey Tindall was the daughter of Dana Tindall.
INJURED
William "Willy" Phillips Jr., 13. Willy Phillips is the son of Bill Phillips Sr.
Sean O'Keefe, 54. O'Keefe is a former NASA administrator, former Navy secretary and former Stevens aide who is currently chief executive of EADS' North American unit.
Kevin O'Keefe is Sean O'Keefe's son.
Jim Morhard, Alexandria, Virginia. Morhard is another Washington lobbyist and former aide to Stevens.
Tropical Storm Paula pushed across western Cuba Thursday evening with wind gusts just under hurricane strength in some places, bringing heavy rain and high winds to the island nation, forecasters said.
The storm is gradually weakening and is expected to become a tropical depression Friday, the Miami, Florida-based National Hurricane Center said
As of 8 p.m. ET, the center of Paula was about 25 miles (45 kilometers) east of Havana, the center said. It was moving east at 14 mph (22 kph).
Paula passed just south of the Cuban capital around 6 p.m. Thursday -- with sustained winds of 41 mph (67 kph) and a gust of 54 mph (87 kph) recorded in Havana -- after making landfall at about noon near Puerto Esperanza.
Video: Hurricane season prompts preps
RELATED TOPICS
* Hurricane Paula
* Cuba
* Weather
The storm's maximum sustained winds have weakened to 55 mph (90 kph), the center said Thursday night, but wind gusts of 68 mph had been recorded earlier near Puerto Esperanza. Stronger gusts were confined to a small area near the storm's center, the center said.
Paula's tropical storm-force winds have expanded to 70 miles (110 km) outward from the center, altering the landscape of a storm that has been roughly half that size for most of its duration.
Forecasters said the storm was likely to stick to an east to east-northeast track, moving across western and central Cuba Thursday night and Friday.
The hurricane center said that tropical storm force winds should continue to spread eastward across western and central Cuba Thursday night, primarily along the north coast.
The center discontinued an earlier tropical storm watch also was for the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas.
Emergency management officials in the Keys said Wednesday they were keeping an eye on the progress of Paula and expected some gusty winds and rain, but no protective actions had been initiated. Forecasters predict the center of Paula will remain south of the Keys.
Paula is likely to dump an additional 2 to 4 inches of rain over portions of western and central Cuba over the next two days, the National Hurricane Center said. Total maximum amounts could be 10 inches in some areas. Heavy rain could trigger flash floods and mudslides, forecasters said. The Florida Keys could see between 1 and 2 inches of rain.
In addition, a storm surge is forecast to raise water levels by 2 to 4 feet above normal tide levels along the coast of western Cuba, accompanied by "large and destructive waves," the hurricane center said.
The internet's logo snobs won this one.
Gap Inc. on Monday announced it will drop a new version of its logo after thousands of Facebook and Twitter users called for a return to the classic blue box with tall, white letters -- a logo the clothing retailer has used for more than 20 years.
The now-defunct new logo featured a white background, black letters and a small blue square in the top right corner. After the company proposed the new logo on its website on October 4, the internet lit up with snotty comments about the new look. "It reminds me of the old Microsoft Free Clip-art galleries," one Facebook user wrote. "I can't believe this is happening."
Another wrote: "It totally looks like a powerpoint design!"
The company responded with a Facebook post of its own on Monday.
"OK. We've heard loud and clear that you don't like the new logo," the company said. "We've learned a lot from the feedback. We only want what's best for the brand and our customers."
More than 1,700 people clicked that they "liked" that decision.
"Yay! I don't know why it matters, but it does," one Facebook user wrote in response to that post.
Another Facebook user wrote: "bit of an embarrassing 180 [degree turn], but at least you had the guts to face up to it, well done."
After the logo complaints started rolling in, Gap on October 6 said it would "crowdsource" the design of its brand, meaning it would take alternate suggestions from fans and might decide to use one of them.
But on Monday the company said that idea didn't work either.
"We've learned a lot in this process," the company said in a press release. "And we are clear that we did not go about this in the right way. We recognize that we missed the opportunity to engage with the online community. This wasn't the right project at the right time for crowdsourcing."
A Gap spokeswoman did not immediately respond to CNN's requests for comment.
The back-and-forth has spawned several joke websites.
One, called Crap Logo Yourself, lets people create their own icons in the style of the now-dead Gap logo.
And two Twitter accounts were born from the snafu.
@NewGapLogo has been responding to complaints.
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," said an October 7 post on that Twitter feed.
Another, @OldGapLogo, had been calling for a return to the old logo. On Tuesday, however, that account posted what appeared to be a final tweet:
"Well...looks like my work here is done. Peace. I'm out," it said.
Plenty of news sites and blogs took their stabs at the new logo, too.
Vanity Fair even wrote an obituary for it:
"The new Gap logo is survived by its antagonistic Twitter feed and a dozen 'failed branding strategies' slide shows, in which it will be archived in the annals of history," the magazine wrote. "To heaven, the Helvetica now ascends."
This obviously isn't the first time a company has backed off of a branding change. The blog The Stir has a nice roundup of marketing history's biggest blunders, including the New Coke experiment.
For more information about why Gap says it changed the logo in the first place, see this article by Marka Hansen, president of Gap North America, on the Huffington Post.
"We want our customers to take notice of Gap and see what it stands for today," Hansen wrote on October 7. "We chose this design as it's more contemporary and current. It honors our heritage through the blue box while still taking it forward."
Well, at least until they changed it back again.
Just another note that we have migrated over to Aviation Enthusiasts since this site has been taken over by a spambot and the admin is unfortunately AWOL.
See you there! :-)
The death toll from Haiti's cholera outbreak has risen to 292, the Haitian government said Wednesday. There are 4,147 confirmed cases.
Calling Haiti's cholera outbreak "an extremely serious situation," a United Nations official expressed concern Monday that the infectious disease could spread and grow to "tens of thousands of cases."
"It would be irresponsible to plan for anything but a considerably wider outbreak," said Nigel Fisher, U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Haiti.
Officials with the Pan American Health Organization expressed similar concerns about the disease spreading to the Dominican Republic.
Video: Cholera epidemic sparks fears in Haiti
Video: Haiti's dangerous waters
RELATED TOPICS
* Haiti
* Cholera
CARE has medical teams working around the clock to treat patients in the affected area.
"We also are working in Port-au-Prince, providing hygiene and water purification tablets," CARE spokesman Brian Feagans told CNN.
Missionaries from Tennessee are also doing their part to help contain the cholera outbreak in nearby areas.
"People are aware now; fears are there, but they don't know enough to understand the dangers," Andrea Brewer said.
The lower house of the French parliament approved a controversial pension reform bill Wednesday, despite weeks of protests that brought millions of demonstrators into the streets to try to stop it.
The National Assembly vote of 336 to 233, with five abstaining, was the last legislative hurdle facing the measure.
French unions declared nationwide strikes to try to stop the bill, which raises the retirement age from 60 to 62, and workers and students poured out onto the streets repeatedly over the past two months to protest.
The French Senate gave its final approval to the bill Tuesday, passing it 177-151 despite the protests.
Unions are making a last-ditch effort to derail the measure, calling for nationwide strikes Thursday and again next week.
Video: France raises retirement age
Video: CEO: French pension reform good idea
Video: French reputation damaged?
RELATED TOPICS
* France
* Labor Strikes and Disputes
* Nicolas Sarkozy
The Paris demonstration is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. local time, and flight cancellations are expected out of Paris airports. The Paris metro is expected to run normally, or nearly so.
Lawmakers can still force the bill to go to the Constitutional Council before it becomes law. It takes 60 legislators to do that. The opposition Socialist party has said it will try that route. If the law ends up in front of the council, the body has eight days to decide whether it is consistent with the Constitution.
Once that happens -- or if lawmakers do not require the council to consider it -- the bill becomes law when President Nicolas Sarkozy signs it. He said he will not do that before November 15, but has been one of the law's strongest backers.
The government said the reform is necessary because the current pension system is unaffordable.
Demonstrations took place Tuesday at four universities around the country, the Ministry of Education said. Most universities are on vacation this week.
The country's finance minister said earlier this week she doesn't expect ongoing strikes to cause a significant blow to France's growth forecast for this year.
"There are no winners and no losers in this affair. What is important is to take responsibility, to realize that the economy needs to keep going," Finance Minister Christine Lagarde told French radio station Radio Classique on Tuesday. "I do not deny that we've had several days where there has clearly been an economic impact. I don't think it's enough to change our growth forecast for the entire year."
A spokesman for the Ministry of Finance said France's expected increase in gross domestic product for 2010 is 1.6 percent, a level that has held steady since August.
French workers staged a series of rolling strikes and demonstrations this month and in September.
Lagarde has said the country cannot continue to pay its debts -- to retirees and others -- by borrowing at current levels. The government has announced it will try to cut the deficit from 8 percent to 6 percent of GDP by next year, an ambitious goal.
Six major French unions have called for further nationwide demonstrations on Thursday and November 6, saying that protests so far show the people are ready to dig in for the long haul.
ort.
Padang, Indonesia (CNN) -- At least 311 people have died in a magnitude-7.7 earthquake off Indonesia and the subsequent tsunami, said the head of West Sumatra's disaster management agency Wednesday.
Another 410 people are still missing, agency coordinator Ade Edward said.
Rescuers and aid workers were struggling to reach the victims in the remote, hard-hit Mentawai Islands region of Indonesia.
"It's very difficult" to reach the region either by boat or road, said Andrew Judge, CEO of the nonprofit SurfAid International.
Video: Indonesian resorts destroyed
Video: Earthquake kills dozens in Indonesia
Video: Indonesia quake explained
Map
RELATED TOPICS
* Indonesia
* U.S. National Earthquake Information Center
At least one team, from the Indonesian Red Cross, had to turn back because of high seas. The organization was set to try again Wednesday, taking some 400 body bags, said spokeswoman Aulia Arriani. The trip takes at least 10 hours in good conditions, according to aid agencies.
The Red Cross will send more supplies, but is waiting to see what is needed. However, Ita Balanda, a program manager for the World Vision aid organization in Padang, said the urgent needs are expected to be clean water, food, blankets, clothing, medical attention, emergency shelter and hygiene kits.
"These people lost their houses, mostly," said Balanda, who is receiving information from the local government as well as a local nongovernmental organization. She said three public schools, a bridge, a road and four churches were also reported damaged. An estimated 7,900 households were affected, she said.
Medicines, tents, food and water have been sent to the area by boat, Edward said.
"The worst hit area is North and South Pagai Island. Reports of villages flattened are coming from there," said Antorizon of the West Sumatra disaster management agency, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.
"Limited hospital services are overwhelmed," Judge said. "A lot of homes have been destroyed."
The first pictures from North Pagai Island showed damaged and flattened structures.
In Padang, an atmosphere of concern prevailed. Balanda said young people on the street were soliciting donations to aid victims.
Mahmuddin Moedpro, a former NGO employee who has mobilized a team of volunteers he calls "a voluntary association of humanity," said in an e-mail he was attempting to get aid to the victims as well.
Moedpro, who said he is particularly concerned about the plight of children and pregnant women, said he plans to send supplies, including children's milk, vitamins and food. He said he hopes the government of Indonesia will provide aid and assistance to the victims.
Because of the quake and tsunami, as well as the eruption of Mount Merapi in central Java, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono cut short a trip to Hanoi, Vietnam, and headed for Padang, Indonesia's Antara news agency reported.
"The president is deeply concerned over the tsunami in Mentawai and the Mount Merapi eruption," Djoko Suyanto, coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, told Antara.
Monday's quake generated a "significant" tsunami, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. Some of the missing might include people who are unaccounted for after fleeing to higher ground, said Henri Dori Satoko, head of the Mentawai Islands parliament.
Though communication poses a challenge in the remote area, some witnesses in West Sumatra reported seeing a wave 6 meters (nearly 20 feet) high. Other reports described the tsunami as being about 3 meters (almost 10 feet) high.
At least one village with a population of about 200 people was swept away, with only 40 people recovered, Satoko said.
A man purporting to be Osama Bin Laden warned France to get its troops out of Afghanistan and not to oppress Muslims at home in a tape broadcast by the Al-Jazeera network Wednesday.
"If you want to tyrannize and think that it is your right to ban the free women from wearing the burqa, isn't it our right to expel your occupying forces, your men from our lands by striking them by the neck?" the speaker demands, in reference to recently passed French legislation barring women from covering their faces in public.
French authorities are treating the message "very, very seriously," CNN counterterror analyst Paul Cruikshank said.
"The only way to safeguard your nation and maintain your security is to lift all your injustice and its extensions off our people and most importantly to withdraw your forces from Bush's despicable war in Afghanistan," the speaker says.
The tape is audio only. The speaker does not appear. CNN was not immediately able to confirm that it is really Osama Bin Laden, the head of al Qaeda.
"As you kill us, you will be killed. As you imprison us, you will be imprisoned, and as you threaten our security, we will threaten your security and the initiator of the injustice is the true aggressor," the speaker says.
France has 3,750 troops in Afghanistan, according to NATO's International Security Assistance Force.
French lawmakers approved a ban on full-face veils in September, citing security concerns and saying they violated women's human rights. The ban is scheduled to come into effect in the spring.
The country's terror alert level is red, the second highest, authorities say. It did not change immediately in response to the new tape.
A man purporting to be Osama Bin Laden warned France to get its troops out of Afghanistan and not to oppress Muslims at home in a tape broadcast by the Al-Jazeera network Wednesday.
"If you want to tyrannize and think that it is your right to ban the free women from wearing the burqa, isn't it our right to expel your occupying forces, your men from our lands by striking them by the neck?" the speaker demands, in reference to recently passed French legislation barring women from covering their faces in public.
French authorities are treating the message "very, very seriously," CNN counterterror analyst Paul Cruikshank said.
"The only way to safeguard your nation and maintain your security is to lift all your injustice and its extensions off our people and most importantly to withdraw your forces from Bush's despicable war in Afghanistan," the speaker says.
The tape is audio only. The speaker does not appear. CNN was not immediately able to confirm that it is really Osama Bin Laden, the head of al Qaeda.
"As you kill us, you will be killed. As you imprison us, you will be imprisoned, and as you threaten our security, we will threaten your security and the initiator of the injustice is the true aggressor," the speaker says.
France has 3,750 troops in Afghanistan, according to NATO's International Security Assistance Force.
French lawmakers approved a ban on full-face veils in September, citing security concerns and saying they violated women's human rights. The ban is scheduled to come into effect in the spring.
The country's terror alert level is red, the second highest, authorities say. It did not change immediately in response to the new tape.
A fishing ship whose crew had to be rescued from a fire is limping to port in the United Kingdom, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency told CNN Wednesday.
Ninety-eight crew members were rescued from the Athena early Wednesday, while 13 remain on board to keep the fire under control and pilot the ship to port, the agency's Claire Johns said.
The Vega is accompanying the ship to Falmouth, England, where both ships are due Thursday night, she said. The rescued crew members are aboard the Vega.
The rescue operation was complicated by Athena's distance from land -- some 230 miles (370 kilometers) southwest of the British Isles of Scilly and 270 miles (435 kilometers) west of the Pointe Du Penmarche in Brittany, France.
Because they can carry only so much fuel, British Royal Navy helicopters only had about 20 minutes over the rescue scene before having to return, according to the agency.
Five ships responded to the emergency call to pick up crewmembers, who include Chinese, Russian, Peruvian and Scandinavian personnel.
The Athena is a fishing ship that processes fish on board.
th CNN iReport.
(CNN) -- A system that was pushing ferocious storm cells in a track from Alabama to the mid-Atlantic states brought tornado warnings, watches and delays at Atlanta's airport, a vital national hub.
A tornado warning was in effect Wednesday afternoon near Sylacauga and Alexander City in Alabama, according to the National Weather Service. A watch was in effect at midday Wednesday for north Georgia, including metro Atlanta.
Some flights heading into Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport were being delayed by as much as 90 minutes.
The system, which spawned at least 24 possible tornadoes Tuesday, brought snow and high winds across the Midwest.
Wind advisories were posted across the Upper Midwest and sections of the Ohio Valley. Winter storm warnings -- with the promise of snow -- were in effect in North Dakota and Minnesota.
CNN iReporter Gretchen Pearl in Duluth, Minnesota, said the area was experiencing high winds, heavy snow and slick roads.
"It's a very strong storm system that moved in," Pearl said. "It's definitely been causing a major disruption."
Wednesday was a day of cleanup for communities in North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, Indiana, Wisconsin and Illinois. In addition to the tornadoes, some places recorded wind gusts exceeding 70 mph. The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center said there were 268 reports of wind damage Tuesday.
High winds canceled hundreds of flights Tuesday -- more than 500 at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport alone -- along with dozens more in Minnesota. The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport reduced air traffic from three runways to one for landings and takeoffs Tuesday because of high winds.
Extensive damage from the high winds, tornadoes and possible tornadoes was reported from New York and Wisconsin to the Gulf Coast, but it was most heavily concentrated in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky.
Video: Storms cut swath through Midwest
Video: Storms tear through Midwest
Explainer: Severe weather 101
RELATED TOPICS
* National Weather Service
* Tornadoes
* Storm Prediction Center
Six tornadoes were confirmed in Indiana, three in Ohio and one more in Wisconsin.
In Lincoln County, North Carolina, five homes were damaged and three destroyed by a possible tornado, spokesman Dion Burleson said late Tuesday. Eleven people were hurt -- one with life-threatening injuries. Storms brought down trees, which took power lines with them, knocking out electricity for hundreds of residents.
Several cars were overturned in North Carolina's Catawba County, according to the National Weather Service. Catawba emergency dispatch reported minor injuries, along with home damage.
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A system that was pushing ferocious storm cells in a track from Alabama to the mid-Atlantic states brought tornado warnings, watches and delays at Atlanta's airport, a vital national hub.
A tornado warning was in effect Wednesday afternoon near Sylacauga and Alexander City in Alabama, according to the National Weather Service. A watch was in effect at midday Wednesday for north Georgia, including metro Atlanta.
Some flights heading into Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport were being delayed by as much as 90 minutes.
The system, which spawned at least 24 possible tornadoes Tuesday, brought snow and high winds across the Midwest.
Wind advisories were posted across the Upper Midwest and sections of the Ohio Valley. Winter storm warnings -- with the promise of snow -- were in effect in North Dakota and Minnesota.
CNN iReporter Gretchen Pearl in Duluth, Minnesota, said the area was experiencing high winds, heavy snow and slick roads.
"It's a very strong storm system that moved in," Pearl said. "It's definitely been causing a major disruption."
Wednesday was a day of cleanup for communities in North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, Indiana, Wisconsin and Illinois. In addition to the tornadoes, some places recorded wind gusts exceeding 70 mph. The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center said there were 268 reports of wind damage Tuesday.
High winds canceled hundreds of flights Tuesday -- more than 500 at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport alone -- along with dozens more in Minnesota. The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport reduced air traffic from three runways to one for landings and takeoffs Tuesday because of high winds.
Extensive damage from the high winds, tornadoes and possible tornadoes was reported from New York and Wisconsin to the Gulf Coast, but it was most heavily concentrated in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky.
Video: Storms cut swath through Midwest
Video: Storms tear through Midwest
Explainer: Severe weather 101
RELATED TOPICS
* National Weather Service
* Tornadoes
* Storm Prediction Center
Six tornadoes were confirmed in Indiana, three in Ohio and one more in Wisconsin.
In Lincoln County, North Carolina, five homes were damaged and three destroyed by a possible tornado, spokesman Dion Burleson said late Tuesday. Eleven people were hurt -- one with life-threatening injuries. Storms brought down trees, which took power lines with them, knocking out electricity for hundreds of residents.
Several cars were overturned in North Carolina's Catawba County, according to the National Weather Service. Catawba emergency dispatch reported minor injuries, along with home damage.
A system that was pushing ferocious storm cells in a track from Alabama to the mid-Atlantic states brought tornado warnings, watches and delays at Atlanta's airport, a vital national hub.
A tornado warning was in effect Wednesday afternoon near Sylacauga and Alexander City in Alabama, according to the National Weather Service. A watch was in effect at midday Wednesday for north Georgia, including metro Atlanta.
Some flights heading into Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport were being delayed by as much as 90 minutes.
The system, which spawned at least 24 possible tornadoes Tuesday, brought snow and high winds across the Midwest.
Wind advisories were posted across the Upper Midwest and sections of the Ohio Valley. Winter storm warnings -- with the promise of snow -- were in effect in North Dakota and Minnesota.
CNN iReporter Gretchen Pearl in Duluth, Minnesota, said the area was experiencing high winds, heavy snow and slick roads.
"It's a very strong storm system that moved in," Pearl said. "It's definitely been causing a major disruption."
Wednesday was a day of cleanup for communities in North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, Indiana, Wisconsin and Illinois. In addition to the tornadoes, some places recorded wind gusts exceeding 70 mph. The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center said there were 268 reports of wind damage Tuesday.
High winds canceled hundreds of flights Tuesday -- more than 500 at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport alone -- along with dozens more in Minnesota. The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport reduced air traffic from three runways to one for landings and takeoffs Tuesday because of high winds.
Extensive damage from the high winds, tornadoes and possible tornadoes was reported from New York and Wisconsin to the Gulf Coast, but it was most heavily concentrated in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky.
Video: Storms cut swath through Midwest
Video: Storms tear through Midwest
Explainer: Severe weather 101
RELATED TOPICS
* National Weather Service
* Tornadoes
* Storm Prediction Center
Six tornadoes were confirmed in Indiana, three in Ohio and one more in Wisconsin.
In Lincoln County, North Carolina, five homes were damaged and three destroyed by a possible tornado, spokesman Dion Burleson said late Tuesday. Eleven people were hurt -- one with life-threatening injuries. Storms brought down trees, which took power lines with them, knocking out electricity for hundreds of residents.
Several cars were overturned in North Carolina's Catawba County, according to the National Weather Service. Catawba emergency dispatch reported minor injuries, along with home damage.
A system that was pushing ferocious storm cells in a track from Alabama to the mid-Atlantic states brought tornado warnings, watches and delays at Atlanta's airport, a vital national hub.
A tornado warning was in effect Wednesday afternoon near Sylacauga and Alexander City in Alabama, according to the National Weather Service. A watch was in effect at midday Wednesday for north Georgia, including metro Atlanta.
Some flights heading into Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport were being delayed by as much as 90 minutes.
The system, which spawned at least 24 possible tornadoes Tuesday, brought snow and high winds across the Midwest.
Wind advisories were posted across the Upper Midwest and sections of the Ohio Valley. Winter storm warnings -- with the promise of snow -- were in effect in North Dakota and Minnesota.
CNN iReporter Gretchen Pearl in Duluth, Minnesota, said the area was experiencing high winds, heavy snow and slick roads.
"It's a very strong storm system that moved in," Pearl said. "It's definitely been causing a major disruption."
Wednesday was a day of cleanup for communities in North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, Indiana, Wisconsin and Illinois. In addition to the tornadoes, some places recorded wind gusts exceeding 70 mph. The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center said there were 268 reports of wind damage Tuesday.
High winds canceled hundreds of flights Tuesday -- more than 500 at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport alone -- along with dozens more in Minnesota. The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport reduced air traffic from three runways to one for landings and takeoffs Tuesday because of high winds.
Extensive damage from the high winds, tornadoes and possible tornadoes was reported from New York and Wisconsin to the Gulf Coast, but it was most heavily concentrated in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky.
Video: Storms cut swath through Midwest
Video: Storms tear through Midwest
Explainer: Severe weather 101
RELATED TOPICS
* National Weather Service
* Tornadoes
* Storm Prediction Center
Six tornadoes were confirmed in Indiana, three in Ohio and one more in Wisconsin.
In Lincoln County, North Carolina, five homes were damaged and three destroyed by a possible tornado, spokesman Dion Burleson said late Tuesday. Eleven people were hurt -- one with life-threatening injuries. Storms brought down trees, which took power lines with them, knocking out electricity for hundreds of residents.
Several cars were overturned in North Carolina's Catawba County, according to the National Weather Service. Catawba emergency dispatch reported minor injuries, along with home damage.
‘Interesting discussion, here! One side seems to think some young guy has a “right” to earn $40k, from someone else’s hard won enterprise, and there are those of us who would count it a privilege to earn that sort of money.
There was a time when I, too, wanted to have the lion’s share . . . and set out to achieve that goal. And about that time, we had some of the worst financial conditions imaginable . . . and a raiser of peanuts for president. For the first five years, I paid others the equivalent of the “$40K”, mentioned above . . . actually much more, considering inflation, over the years. For the first five years, I “lost” double that amount, working 80 hours per week, and a wife working full time as an RN . . . raising four kids and building our own house . . . neither of us hardly knowing the difference between night and day. In time, we moved into the black, and beyond. The employees, too, bought their homes, raised their kids, put them through college, etc., . . . but not because of a union, but because we had a common goal.
Hard work wasn’t considered a “right”, but a “privilege”. And we were certainly “privileged”. But sleep was sweet . . . having been earned . . . something those with their “rights” never experience.
Those days are over. The politics of the past ten or fifteen years have changed all that . . . and when things seemed like they couldn’t get much worse, took a deep plunge because those with power were considered “too big to fail”, and have even wiped out our savings, in the past two years.
So now I’m making it on less than half of the young union worker above . . . but I don’t want the government to bail me out, nor do I think someone else “owes me a living”. And there is no way our business will ever hire another employee . . . what government would we trust?
Funny thing, here! When we had lower taxes, we thrived and we paid huge taxes each year. Today, with higher taxes, we don’t pay any . . . there’s nothing being produced on which to pay taxes. This little story is multiplied across the entire nation . . . many times over.
But “dyed-in-the-wool” ideas are not easily changed . . . and those that feel they have a “right” to a certain comfortable lifestyle or income are soon in for a rude awakening.
Take it or leave it . . . that’s where we are (after being in business for over thirty-four years) . . . and the way I see it.
gadfly
‘Interesting discussion, here! One side seems to think some young guy has a “right” to earn $40k, from someone else’s hard won enterprise, and there are those of us who would count it a privilege to earn that sort of money.
There was a time when I, too, wanted to have the lion’s share . . . and set out to achieve that goal. And about that time, we had some of the worst financial conditions imaginable . . . and a raiser of peanuts for president. For the first five years, I paid others the equivalent of the “$40K”, mentioned above . . . actually much more, considering inflation, over the years. For the first five years, I “lost” double that amount, working 80 hours per week, and a wife working full time as an RN . . . raising four kids and building our own house . . . neither of us hardly knowing the difference between night and day. In time, we moved into the black, and beyond. The employees, too, bought their homes, raised their kids, put them through college, etc., . . . but not because of a union, but because we had a common goal.
Hard work wasn’t considered a “right”, but a “privilege”. And we were certainly “privileged”. But sleep was sweet . . . having been earned . . . something those with their “rights” never experience.
Those days are over. The politics of the past ten or fifteen years have changed all that . . . and when things seemed like they couldn’t get much worse, took a deep plunge because those with power were considered “too big to fail”, and have even wiped out our savings, in the past two years.
So now I’m making it on less than half of the young union worker above . . . but I don’t want the government to bail me out, nor do I think someone else “owes me a living”. And there is no way our business will ever hire another employee . . . what government would we trust?
Funny thing, here! When we had lower taxes, we thrived and we paid huge taxes each year. Today, with higher taxes, we don’t pay any . . . there’s nothing being produced on which to pay taxes. This little story is multiplied across the entire nation . . . many times over.
But “dyed-in-the-wool” ideas are not easily changed . . . and those that feel they have a “right” to a certain comfortable lifestyle or income are soon in for a rude awakening.
Take it or leave it . . . that’s where we are (after being in business for over thirty-four years) . . . and the way I see it.
gadfly
‘Interesting discussion, here! One side seems to think some young guy has a “right” to earn $40k, from someone else’s hard won enterprise, and there are those of us who would count it a privilege to earn that sort of money.
There was a time when I, too, wanted to have the lion’s share . . . and set out to achieve that goal. And about that time, we had some of the worst financial conditions imaginable . . . and a raiser of peanuts for president. For the first five years, I paid others the equivalent of the “$40K”, mentioned above . . . actually much more, considering inflation, over the years. For the first five years, I “lost” double that amount, working 80 hours per week, and a wife working full time as an RN . . . raising four kids and building our own house . . . neither of us hardly knowing the difference between night and day. In time, we moved into the black, and beyond. The employees, too, bought their homes, raised their kids, put them through college, etc., . . . but not because of a union, but because we had a common goal.
Hard work wasn’t considered a “right”, but a “privilege”. And we were certainly “privileged”. But sleep was sweet . . . having been earned . . . something those with their “rights” never experience.
Those days are over. The politics of the past ten or fifteen years have changed all that . . . and when things seemed like they couldn’t get much worse, took a deep plunge because those with power were considered “too big to fail”, and have even wiped out our savings, in the past two years.
So now I’m making it on less than half of the young union worker above . . . but I don’t want the government to bail me out, nor do I think someone else “owes me a living”. And there is no way our business will ever hire another employee . . . what government would we trust?
Funny thing, here! When we had lower taxes, we thrived and we paid huge taxes each year. Today, with higher taxes, we don’t pay any . . . there’s nothing being produced on which to pay taxes. This little story is multiplied across the entire nation . . . many times over.
But “dyed-in-the-wool” ideas are not easily changed . . . and those that feel they have a “right” to a certain comfortable lifestyle or income are soon in for a rude awakening.
Take it or leave it . . . that’s where we are (after being in business for over thirty-four years) . . . and the way I see it.
gadfly
‘Interesting discussion, here! One side seems to think some young guy has a “right” to earn $40k, from someone else’s hard won enterprise, and there are those of us who would count it a privilege to earn that sort of money.
There was a time when I, too, wanted to have the lion’s share . . . and set out to achieve that goal. And about that time, we had some of the worst financial conditions imaginable . . . and a raiser of peanuts for president. For the first five years, I paid others the equivalent of the “$40K”, mentioned above . . . actually much more, considering inflation, over the years. For the first five years, I “lost” double that amount, working 80 hours per week, and a wife working full time as an RN . . . raising four kids and building our own house . . . neither of us hardly knowing the difference between night and day. In time, we moved into the black, and beyond. The employees, too, bought their homes, raised their kids, put them through college, etc., . . . but not because of a union, but because we had a common goal.
Hard work wasn’t considered a “right”, but a “privilege”. And we were certainly “privileged”. But sleep was sweet . . . having been earned . . . something those with their “rights” never experience.
Those days are over. The politics of the past ten or fifteen years have changed all that . . . and when things seemed like they couldn’t get much worse, took a deep plunge because those with power were considered “too big to fail”, and have even wiped out our savings, in the past two years.
So now I’m making it on less than half of the young union worker above . . . but I don’t want the government to bail me out, nor do I think someone else “owes me a living”. And there is no way our business will ever hire another employee . . . what government would we trust?
Funny thing, here! When we had lower taxes, we thrived and we paid huge taxes each year. Today, with higher taxes, we don’t pay any . . . there’s nothing being produced on which to pay taxes. This little story is multiplied across the entire nation . . . many times over.
But “dyed-in-the-wool” ideas are not easily changed . . . and those that feel they have a “right” to a certain comfortable lifestyle or income are soon in for a rude awakening.
Take it or leave it . . . that’s where we are (after being in business for over thirty-four years) . . . and the way I see it.
gadfly
‘Interesting discussion, here! One side seems to think some young guy has a “right” to earn $40k, from someone else’s hard won enterprise, and there are those of us who would count it a privilege to earn that sort of money.
There was a time when I, too, wanted to have the lion’s share . . . and set out to achieve that goal. And about that time, we had some of the worst financial conditions imaginable . . . and a raiser of peanuts for president. For the first five years, I paid others the equivalent of the “$40K”, mentioned above . . . actually much more, considering inflation, over the years. For the first five years, I “lost” double that amount, working 80 hours per week, and a wife working full time as an RN . . . raising four kids and building our own house . . . neither of us hardly knowing the difference between night and day. In time, we moved into the black, and beyond. The employees, too, bought their homes, raised their kids, put them through college, etc., . . . but not because of a union, but because we had a common goal.
Hard work wasn’t considered a “right”, but a “privilege”. And we were certainly “privileged”. But sleep was sweet . . . having been earned . . . something those with their “rights” never experience.
Those days are over. The politics of the past ten or fifteen years have changed all that . . . and when things seemed like they couldn’t get much worse, took a deep plunge because those with power were considered “too big to fail”, and have even wiped out our savings, in the past two years.
So now I’m making it on less than half of the young union worker above . . . but I don’t want the government to bail me out, nor do I think someone else “owes me a living”. And there is no way our business will ever hire another employee . . . what government would we trust?
Funny thing, here! When we had lower taxes, we thrived and we paid huge taxes each year. Today, with higher taxes, we don’t pay any . . . there’s nothing being produced on which to pay taxes. This little story is multiplied across the entire nation . . . many times over.
But “dyed-in-the-wool” ideas are not easily changed . . . and those that feel they have a “right” to a certain comfortable lifestyle or income are soon in for a rude awakening.
Take it or leave it . . . that’s where we are (after being in business for over thirty-four years) . . . and the way I see it.
gadfly
‘Interesting discussion, here! One side seems to think some young guy has a “right” to earn $40k, from someone else’s hard won enterprise, and there are those of us who would count it a privilege to earn that sort of money.
There was a time when I, too, wanted to have the lion’s share . . . and set out to achieve that goal. And about that time, we had some of the worst financial conditions imaginable . . . and a raiser of peanuts for president. For the first five years, I paid others the equivalent of the “$40K”, mentioned above . . . actually much more, considering inflation, over the years. For the first five years, I “lost” double that amount, working 80 hours per week, and a wife working full time as an RN . . . raising four kids and building our own house . . . neither of us hardly knowing the difference between night and day. In time, we moved into the black, and beyond. The employees, too, bought their homes, raised their kids, put them through college, etc., . . . but not because of a union, but because we had a common goal.
Hard work wasn’t considered a “right”, but a “privilege”. And we were certainly “privileged”. But sleep was sweet . . . having been earned . . . something those with their “rights” never experience.
Those days are over. The politics of the past ten or fifteen years have changed all that . . . and when things seemed like they couldn’t get much worse, took a deep plunge because those with power were considered “too big to fail”, and have even wiped out our savings, in the past two years.
So now I’m making it on less than half of the young union worker above . . . but I don’t want the government to bail me out, nor do I think someone else “owes me a living”. And there is no way our business will ever hire another employee . . . what government would we trust?
Funny thing, here! When we had lower taxes, we thrived and we paid huge taxes each year. Today, with higher taxes, we don’t pay any . . . there’s nothing being produced on which to pay taxes. This little story is multiplied across the entire nation . . . many times over.
But “dyed-in-the-wool” ideas are not easily changed . . . and those that feel they have a “right” to a certain comfortable lifestyle or income are soon in for a rude awakening.
Take it or leave it . . . that’s where we are (after being in business for over thirty-four years) . . . and the way I see it.
gadfly
http://eclipseaerospace.net/news_indiv.php?id=17
http://eclipseaerospace.net/news_indiv.php?id=17
http://eclipseaerospace.net/news_indiv.php?id=17
The real Gadfly is a great guy that I learned a lot from. I have emailed him privatly. I enjoyed reading his posts as most were educational. He and a whole host of others were passing along their knowledge.
The imposter must be an old Microsoft employee that after stealing peoples money for his wet dream has nothing better to do than try to impersonate a real person. Please go back in your closet & put your panites on your head like you usually do.
The real Gadfly is a great guy that I learned a lot from. I have emailed him privatly. I enjoyed reading his posts as most were educational. He and a whole host of others were passing along their knowledge.
The imposter must be an old Microsoft employee that after stealing peoples money for his wet dream has nothing better to do than try to impersonate a real person. Please go back in your closet & put your panites on your head like you usually do.
The real Gadfly is a great guy that I learned a lot from. I have emailed him privatly. I enjoyed reading his posts as most were educational. He and a whole host of others were passing along their knowledge.
The imposter must be an old Microsoft employee that after stealing peoples money for his wet dream has nothing better to do than try to impersonate a real person. Please go back in your closet & put your panites on your head like you usually do.
The real Gadfly is a great guy that I learned a lot from. I have emailed him privatly. I enjoyed reading his posts as most were educational. He and a whole host of others were passing along their knowledge.
The imposter must be an old Microsoft employee that after stealing peoples money for his wet dream has nothing better to do than try to impersonate a real person. Please go back in your closet & put your panites on your head like you usually do.
The lower house of the French parliament approved a controversial pension reform bill Wednesday, despite weeks of protests that brought millions of demonstrators into the streets to try to stop it.
The National Assembly vote of 336 to 233, with five abstaining, was the last legislative hurdle facing the measure.
French unions declared nationwide strikes to try to stop the bill, which raises the retirement age from 60 to 62, and workers and students poured out onto the streets repeatedly over the past two months to protest.
The French Senate gave its final approval to the bill Tuesday, passing it 177-151 despite the protests.
Unions are making a last-ditch effort to derail the measure, calling for nationwide strikes Thursday and again next week.
Video: France raises retirement age
Video: CEO: French pension reform good idea
Video: French reputation damaged?
RELATED TOPICS
* France
* Labor Strikes and Disputes
* Nicolas Sarkozy
The Paris demonstration is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. local time, and flight cancellations are expected out of Paris airports. The Paris metro is expected to run normally, or nearly so.
Lawmakers can still force the bill to go to the Constitutional Council before it becomes law. It takes 60 legislators to do that. The opposition Socialist party has said it will try that route. If the law ends up in front of the council, the body has eight days to decide whether it is consistent with the Constitution.
Once that happens -- or if lawmakers do not require the council to consider it -- the bill becomes law when President Nicolas Sarkozy signs it. He said he will not do that before November 15, but has been one of the law's strongest backers.
The government said the reform is necessary because the current pension system is unaffordable.
Demonstrations took place Tuesday at four universities around the country, the Ministry of Education said. Most universities are on vacation this week.
The country's finance minister said earlier this week she doesn't expect ongoing strikes to cause a significant blow to France's growth forecast for this year.
"There are no winners and no losers in this affair. What is important is to take responsibility, to realize that the economy needs to keep going," Finance Minister Christine Lagarde told French radio station Radio Classique on Tuesday. "I do not deny that we've had several days where there has clearly been an economic impact. I don't think it's enough to change our growth forecast for the entire year."
A spokesman for the Ministry of Finance said France's expected increase in gross domestic product for 2010 is 1.6 percent, a level that has held steady since August.
French workers staged a series of rolling strikes and demonstrations this month and in September.
Lagarde has said the country cannot continue to pay its debts -- to retirees and others -- by borrowing at current levels. The government has announced it will try to cut the deficit from 8 percent to 6 percent of GDP by next year, an ambitious goal.
Six major French unions have called for further nationwide demonstrations on Thursday and November 6, saying that protests so far show the people are ready to dig in for the long haul.
The lower house of the French parliament approved a controversial pension reform bill Wednesday, despite weeks of protests that brought millions of demonstrators into the streets to try to stop it.
The National Assembly vote of 336 to 233, with five abstaining, was the last legislative hurdle facing the measure.
French unions declared nationwide strikes to try to stop the bill, which raises the retirement age from 60 to 62, and workers and students poured out onto the streets repeatedly over the past two months to protest.
The French Senate gave its final approval to the bill Tuesday, passing it 177-151 despite the protests.
Unions are making a last-ditch effort to derail the measure, calling for nationwide strikes Thursday and again next week.
Video: France raises retirement age
Video: CEO: French pension reform good idea
Video: French reputation damaged?
RELATED TOPICS
* France
* Labor Strikes and Disputes
* Nicolas Sarkozy
The Paris demonstration is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. local time, and flight cancellations are expected out of Paris airports. The Paris metro is expected to run normally, or nearly so.
Lawmakers can still force the bill to go to the Constitutional Council before it becomes law. It takes 60 legislators to do that. The opposition Socialist party has said it will try that route. If the law ends up in front of the council, the body has eight days to decide whether it is consistent with the Constitution.
Once that happens -- or if lawmakers do not require the council to consider it -- the bill becomes law when President Nicolas Sarkozy signs it. He said he will not do that before November 15, but has been one of the law's strongest backers.
The government said the reform is necessary because the current pension system is unaffordable.
Demonstrations took place Tuesday at four universities around the country, the Ministry of Education said. Most universities are on vacation this week.
The country's finance minister said earlier this week she doesn't expect ongoing strikes to cause a significant blow to France's growth forecast for this year.
"There are no winners and no losers in this affair. What is important is to take responsibility, to realize that the economy needs to keep going," Finance Minister Christine Lagarde told French radio station Radio Classique on Tuesday. "I do not deny that we've had several days where there has clearly been an economic impact. I don't think it's enough to change our growth forecast for the entire year."
A spokesman for the Ministry of Finance said France's expected increase in gross domestic product for 2010 is 1.6 percent, a level that has held steady since August.
French workers staged a series of rolling strikes and demonstrations this month and in September.
Lagarde has said the country cannot continue to pay its debts -- to retirees and others -- by borrowing at current levels. The government has announced it will try to cut the deficit from 8 percent to 6 percent of GDP by next year, an ambitious goal.
Six major French unions have called for further nationwide demonstrations on Thursday and November 6, saying that protests so far show the people are ready to dig in for the long haul.
The lower house of the French parliament approved a controversial pension reform bill Wednesday, despite weeks of protests that brought millions of demonstrators into the streets to try to stop it.
The National Assembly vote of 336 to 233, with five abstaining, was the last legislative hurdle facing the measure.
French unions declared nationwide strikes to try to stop the bill, which raises the retirement age from 60 to 62, and workers and students poured out onto the streets repeatedly over the past two months to protest.
The French Senate gave its final approval to the bill Tuesday, passing it 177-151 despite the protests.
Unions are making a last-ditch effort to derail the measure, calling for nationwide strikes Thursday and again next week.
Video: France raises retirement age
Video: CEO: French pension reform good idea
Video: French reputation damaged?
RELATED TOPICS
* France
* Labor Strikes and Disputes
* Nicolas Sarkozy
The Paris demonstration is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. local time, and flight cancellations are expected out of Paris airports. The Paris metro is expected to run normally, or nearly so.
Lawmakers can still force the bill to go to the Constitutional Council before it becomes law. It takes 60 legislators to do that. The opposition Socialist party has said it will try that route. If the law ends up in front of the council, the body has eight days to decide whether it is consistent with the Constitution.
Once that happens -- or if lawmakers do not require the council to consider it -- the bill becomes law when President Nicolas Sarkozy signs it. He said he will not do that before November 15, but has been one of the law's strongest backers.
The government said the reform is necessary because the current pension system is unaffordable.
Demonstrations took place Tuesday at four universities around the country, the Ministry of Education said. Most universities are on vacation this week.
The country's finance minister said earlier this week she doesn't expect ongoing strikes to cause a significant blow to France's growth forecast for this year.
"There are no winners and no losers in this affair. What is important is to take responsibility, to realize that the economy needs to keep going," Finance Minister Christine Lagarde told French radio station Radio Classique on Tuesday. "I do not deny that we've had several days where there has clearly been an economic impact. I don't think it's enough to change our growth forecast for the entire year."
A spokesman for the Ministry of Finance said France's expected increase in gross domestic product for 2010 is 1.6 percent, a level that has held steady since August.
French workers staged a series of rolling strikes and demonstrations this month and in September.
Lagarde has said the country cannot continue to pay its debts -- to retirees and others -- by borrowing at current levels. The government has announced it will try to cut the deficit from 8 percent to 6 percent of GDP by next year, an ambitious goal.
Six major French unions have called for further nationwide demonstrations on Thursday and November 6, saying that protests so far show the people are ready to dig in for the long haul.
The lower house of the French parliament approved a controversial pension reform bill Wednesday, despite weeks of protests that brought millions of demonstrators into the streets to try to stop it.
The National Assembly vote of 336 to 233, with five abstaining, was the last legislative hurdle facing the measure.
French unions declared nationwide strikes to try to stop the bill, which raises the retirement age from 60 to 62, and workers and students poured out onto the streets repeatedly over the past two months to protest.
The French Senate gave its final approval to the bill Tuesday, passing it 177-151 despite the protests.
Unions are making a last-ditch effort to derail the measure, calling for nationwide strikes Thursday and again next week.
Video: France raises retirement age
Video: CEO: French pension reform good idea
Video: French reputation damaged?
RELATED TOPICS
* France
* Labor Strikes and Disputes
* Nicolas Sarkozy
The Paris demonstration is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. local time, and flight cancellations are expected out of Paris airports. The Paris metro is expected to run normally, or nearly so.
Lawmakers can still force the bill to go to the Constitutional Council before it becomes law. It takes 60 legislators to do that. The opposition Socialist party has said it will try that route. If the law ends up in front of the council, the body has eight days to decide whether it is consistent with the Constitution.
Once that happens -- or if lawmakers do not require the council to consider it -- the bill becomes law when President Nicolas Sarkozy signs it. He said he will not do that before November 15, but has been one of the law's strongest backers.
The government said the reform is necessary because the current pension system is unaffordable.
Demonstrations took place Tuesday at four universities around the country, the Ministry of Education said. Most universities are on vacation this week.
The country's finance minister said earlier this week she doesn't expect ongoing strikes to cause a significant blow to France's growth forecast for this year.
"There are no winners and no losers in this affair. What is important is to take responsibility, to realize that the economy needs to keep going," Finance Minister Christine Lagarde told French radio station Radio Classique on Tuesday. "I do not deny that we've had several days where there has clearly been an economic impact. I don't think it's enough to change our growth forecast for the entire year."
A spokesman for the Ministry of Finance said France's expected increase in gross domestic product for 2010 is 1.6 percent, a level that has held steady since August.
French workers staged a series of rolling strikes and demonstrations this month and in September.
Lagarde has said the country cannot continue to pay its debts -- to retirees and others -- by borrowing at current levels. The government has announced it will try to cut the deficit from 8 percent to 6 percent of GDP by next year, an ambitious goal.
Six major French unions have called for further nationwide demonstrations on Thursday and November 6, saying that protests so far show the people are ready to dig in for the long haul.
The lower house of the French parliament approved a controversial pension reform bill Wednesday, despite weeks of protests that brought millions of demonstrators into the streets to try to stop it.
The National Assembly vote of 336 to 233, with five abstaining, was the last legislative hurdle facing the measure.
French unions declared nationwide strikes to try to stop the bill, which raises the retirement age from 60 to 62, and workers and students poured out onto the streets repeatedly over the past two months to protest.
The French Senate gave its final approval to the bill Tuesday, passing it 177-151 despite the protests.
Unions are making a last-ditch effort to derail the measure, calling for nationwide strikes Thursday and again next week.
Video: France raises retirement age
Video: CEO: French pension reform good idea
Video: French reputation damaged?
RELATED TOPICS
* France
* Labor Strikes and Disputes
* Nicolas Sarkozy
The Paris demonstration is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. local time, and flight cancellations are expected out of Paris airports. The Paris metro is expected to run normally, or nearly so.
Lawmakers can still force the bill to go to the Constitutional Council before it becomes law. It takes 60 legislators to do that. The opposition Socialist party has said it will try that route. If the law ends up in front of the council, the body has eight days to decide whether it is consistent with the Constitution.
Once that happens -- or if lawmakers do not require the council to consider it -- the bill becomes law when President Nicolas Sarkozy signs it. He said he will not do that before November 15, but has been one of the law's strongest backers.
The government said the reform is necessary because the current pension system is unaffordable.
Demonstrations took place Tuesday at four universities around the country, the Ministry of Education said. Most universities are on vacation this week.
The country's finance minister said earlier this week she doesn't expect ongoing strikes to cause a significant blow to France's growth forecast for this year.
"There are no winners and no losers in this affair. What is important is to take responsibility, to realize that the economy needs to keep going," Finance Minister Christine Lagarde told French radio station Radio Classique on Tuesday. "I do not deny that we've had several days where there has clearly been an economic impact. I don't think it's enough to change our growth forecast for the entire year."
A spokesman for the Ministry of Finance said France's expected increase in gross domestic product for 2010 is 1.6 percent, a level that has held steady since August.
French workers staged a series of rolling strikes and demonstrations this month and in September.
Lagarde has said the country cannot continue to pay its debts -- to retirees and others -- by borrowing at current levels. The government has announced it will try to cut the deficit from 8 percent to 6 percent of GDP by next year, an ambitious goal.
Six major French unions have called for further nationwide demonstrations on Thursday and November 6, saying that protests so far show the people are ready to dig in for the long haul.
There seems to be some things missing in our “blog” these days. Let me explain.
Andy, our gracious host, seems to have it, . . . all together. A young man with over 4,000 hours in his log . . . obviously excited with the privilege of flying . . . and it is a privilege.
But the discussion too often goes to the financial aspect of aviation . . . nothing really wrong with that. However, we may miss the foundation of “General Aviation”. No matter how you slice it, the “finances” seldom justify flying a small jet, be it twin or single . . . etc., etc., . . . you fill in the blanks.
You see, without a firm foundation, you cannot build a future.
You want to justify owning and/or flying a small aircraft? Turn it in another direction: The experience of “walking on the wings of the wind” (Psalm 104:3 “. . . Who makes the clouds His chariot, Who walks on the wings of the wind.”)
There is an excitement connected with flight that cannot be fully explained in human terms. The psalmist, close to three thousand years ago, put it into those beautiful words, speaking of God in His creation. Sixty-three years ago, I sat in the prison of my fifth-grade grammar school class in Burbank, California . . . and watched out the window at the seagulls gliding on unseen air currents over the playground. They simply “hung” in space. My “notes” were drawings of wing designs . . . put together deep into the night, with balsa wood, double-edged razor blades, straight-pins and Tester’s cement . . . purchased with money earned from mowing lawns, etc. Glider designs filled my mind (except for a cute little blond girl that came to our school that year).
Of course, my Dad had already worked on the “YP-38" proto-type Lockheed fighter/bomber . . . and was now inventing control systems for aircraft . . . that even, today, remain the “de-facto” system that keeps control cables at constant tension through all flight conditions.
Not long after my Dad died . . . and I got out of the Submarine Service, I read about the five missionaries, who were killed by the Auca Indians in Ecuador . . . and the story of Nate Saint, flying into the jungles, etc. And I went on to get my pilot’s and “A&P” training at Moody Bible Institute, etc., . . . old history.
But throughout, I’ve never lost that excitement of flying. It has little to do with the financial part . . . but goes back to that part of “walking on the wings of the wind”.
Once you have a foundation, the building is easy. But without a firm foundation, you have nothing.
gadfly
(The “bean counters” don’t really have a clue . . . but the dreamers of flight . . . they, alone, can carry aviation into the future. Think about it.)
Think of dreamers, who knew the joys of flying:
Steve Saint . . . Steve's Dad, Nate, was one of those five missionaries, murdered on a beach, along a river in Equador . . . what! . . . fifty six years ago? Steve grew up with those folks . . . and today is developing a flying car, already successful, to minister to folks in remote areas of the world. Look it up . . . watch the “You Tube” videos. Will it be successful? . . . It’s built on a firm foundation . . . the love of flying.
Steve’s Dad, Nate, worked out a way to drop a bucket on a long line behind a small plane . . . the bucket would come to a point where it would be almost stationary on the ground . . . and a transfer of information or small objects was possible, between circling aircraft and ground.
Now, I don't know Steve . . . but the story of his Dad, and the other four missionaries affected my own life . . . long, long ago. In fact, I made a total change in direction in 1958 because of those events.
You can look up the “Life” magazine headlines . . . do a search, “Life Auca 1955" . . . you will get countless stories about Jim Elliot, read the book, “Through Gates of Splendor” . . . Nate Saint and “Jungle Pilot” . . . a pivotal point in aviation history. That will lead to “JAARS”, “Jungle Aviation And Radio Service” . . . one of their pilots (Leo Lance) was my flight instructor, back at Moody Airport . . . he flew a “chopped wing” PBY “Catalina” in and out of narrow South American rivers (“chopped”, because the rivers are very narrow), and other famous aircraft . . . DC3 (taking supplies across the Gulf of Mexico), Nordyne “Norseman” . . . serious aircraft that excite true pilots. Paul Wertheimer . . . a short little pilot, my favorite instructor . . . a Hebrew Christian . . . Bob Rich (shop instructor) that spent time as a B-17 bomber pilot over Europe . . . good men, all . . . with a love of God, a love of humans, and a love of flying.
Take all this in any direction you wish. If only from the standpoint of getting in-to and out-of difficult places, look at that aircraft company, Quest, . . . and the Kodiak. All that came out of the events in Equador . . . so long ago.
And who was the very first pilot of Missionary Aviation Fellowship? . . . Betty Greene, a “WASP” pilot of WWII . . . http://www.maf.org/history.
Well, enough of all this. The point being that once you have a foundation, there is nothing that will prevent building on that foundation.
gadfly
(If you wish to earn riches preceded by a dollar sign, go in another direction. Aviation is not for you. The profit of aviation has yet to be clearly defined in a “P&L” ledger.)
Sometimes we need to think about weather and other times we can just go and see what happens.
Enjoy aviation while we can, it seems that it is disappearing right before our eyes!
JetAviator7
All Things Aviation
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