First-class airport with lots of funding but few travelers

There is a state-of-the-art airport in Johnstown, Pennsylvania (population 23,000) that has few travelers but gets a lot of federal funding.

Inside the terminal on a recent weekday, four passengers lined up to board a flight, outnumbered by seven security staff members and supervisors, all suited up in gloves and uniforms to screen six pieces of luggage.

For three hours that day, no commercial or private planes took off or landed. Three commercial flights leave the airport on weekdays, all bound for Dulles International Airport.

The photo above shows the security check-in area at the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport in Johnstown, Pa., where the security staff members sometimes outnumber the passengers.

What keeps this pristine, little used facility going is $200 million in federal funds in the past decade. And all thanks John Murtha (pictured) who is a powerful and corrupt Washington Congressman.

Rep. John P. Murtha (D-PA) is credited with securing at least $150 million for the airport.

It was among the first in the country to win funding from this year's stimulus package: $800,000 to repave a backup runway.

Murtha, dubbed the King of Pork by critics, consistently directs more federal money to his district than any other congressman -- $192 million in the 2008 budget.

The lawmaker, who uses the airport frequently during his campaigns, has steadily steered millions of taxpayer dollars to it to build a new terminal with a restaurant; a long, concrete runway sturdy enough to handle large jets; and a high-tech radar system usually reserved for international airports.

A video of this little-used state-of-the-art airport can be found here. More of this story is here.

In out of the rain

Cyclists take cover from the rain in public phone booths in Rio Branco, Brazil

GOP to begin calling a spade a spade

The RNC (Republican National Committee) will begin branding Democrats as the “Democrat Socialist Party.”

Many Republicans will be saying, It’s about time! What took ‘em so long?

As we have said before - this is not your father’s Democratic Party. The word Democrat no longer seems to be appropriate. They really should change the name of the party to the National Socialist Party.

The “he’ll pay my mortgage and buy my gas” crowd won’t care what the party is called. In fact they won’t even know what the word Socialist means.

RNC Chairman Michael Steele (pictured) wrote a memo last month opposing the resolution.

Steele said that while he believes Democrats “are indeed marching America toward European-style socialism,” he also said in a (rare) flash of insight that officially referring to them as the Democrat Socialist Party “will accomplish little than to give the media and our opponents the opportunity to mischaracterize Republicans.

When the writer of the article, linked to below, asked if such a resolution would force RNC Chairman Michael Steele to use that label when talking about Democrats in all his speeches and press releases, the RNC member replied: “Who cares?” That pretty much sums up the attitude some members of the RNC have toward their chairman these days.

The Republicans really need to get a leader they can rally behind before the 2010 elections.

Steele is probably right, however, no matter how the Democrats mischaracterize Republicans, the media will pick up on it quickly and firmly. As far as Republicans trying to label Democrats as Socialists, the media will either ignore the attempt or glorify the brand.

It won’t be that difficult for the media to convince most Americans under the age of 40 that Socialism is the neatest thing since sliced bread.

Link

Will Windows 7 be here for the Holidays?

Microsoft has announced that the next version of Windows will ship before the end of 2009.

But will it really be ready for the Holidays? We remember the many delays before Vista was finally on the market.

ZDNet says that as a rule, talk of a new operating system usually has a chilling effect on computer sales as buyers wait for the new operating system to appear.


People do this because they want the latest operating system on their new computer and don’t want the hassle of upgrading. Adopting the wait and see approach also eliminates any hardware hassles that might happen.

Recently ZDNet asked the following question on their website:

Does the release of Windows 7 by the end of the year alter PC buying plans?

The reply was:

Yes - 56%

Not planning to buy a new PC - 25%

No - 16%

Don’t know - 3%

The recession will cause a slump in computer sales for the remainder of 2009. If the ZDNet respondents reflect a true cross-section of potential computer buyers, there could be an even bigger slump in computer sales between now and December when Windows 7 is slated to appear.

Link

How a president ages while in office

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Washington logic

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What will PBS do to the Cat in the Hat?

There is a delightful squib on a Time Magazine blog at the link below titled, Will PBS Neuter the Cat in the Hat?

There will be an educational animated series starring Dr. Seuss' most famous character on PBS Kids. This Cat in the Hat series will begin in the fall of 2010.

In The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!, the giant feline takes six-year-olds Nick and Sally "on a magical journey to all corners of the globe to make natural science discoveries," in a vehicle called the Thinga-ma-jigger.

The writer wonders about the idea of cleaning up and reforming an irreverent character such as the Cat in the Hat for the sake of educational TV.

The Cat didn't visit the children's homes to teach them about undersea life—except by balancing their pet goldfish on top of a tower.

He didn't set out to instruct them and improve our national scientific literacy.

The cat was an irresponsible hedonistic ne'er-do-well who wreaked disaster, encouraged children to disobey their mothers and ate cake in the bathtub, then tried to clean up the pink stains using Dad's ten-dollar shoes.

He stormed in like a whirlwind to shake them out of their complacency, get them into a little ultimately harmless trouble, and clean up the mess when he was done.

He wasn't a science teacher; he was a partying, raging id.

Will we get that on PBS Kids?

Or will he be muzzled?

Will he be wuzzled?

Will he be foofery-fiff-faff-fer-nuzzled?

Link

Dog on wheels

A dog injured in the Sichuan earthquake walks with its improvised "wheelchair" at the Home of Love Little Animal Protection Center in Chengdu, China.

Being a fashion model isn’t all fun and games

A model reacts backstage before her appearance on the runway at Fashion Week in New York.

Walking on water

The media has convinced many Americans that Obama can walk on water but the White House dog doesn’t quite have the hang of it yet.

The pork flu could be a pandemic

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Another dumb celebrity quote…

Christina Aguilera (pictured) asked, “So, where's the Cannes Film Festival being held this year?”

A 7-year-old boy died Saturday morning after a texas couple opened fire on him and other alleged trespassers.

Donald Coffey Jr., his father and friends were on their way back from joy riding near a levee and swimming in the Trinity River around 9 p.m. Thursday when homeowners Gale and Sheila Muhs (pictured) fired at them with a 12-gauge shotgun, police say.

The Muhses, both 45, are charged with aggravated assault and are being held in the Liberty County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bail each. The couple is expected to appear in state district court in the coming week.

The boy, struck in the face, was among eight people, including four children, who had been on the river outing. Four people, including another child, were shot.

The men had stopped to go to the bathroom and got out of the Jeep near the Muhses’ home in the Westlake subdivision south of Dayton.

They heard a loud woman’s voice in the darkness ordering the group to get off the property.

Cindy Nelton said the ordeal happened over two or three minutes in “pitch darkness.”

“And then I heard a shot and our windows were blown out,” Nelton said.

Nelton, who never saw a shooter, said she immediately stomped on the gas and screamed, “We’ve got kids in this vehicle! Y’all need to stop shooting!”

A second shot, and possibly others, came in reply.

More of the story here.

Obama as Spock on Star Trek

With the release of the new movie Star Trek last week, editorial cartoonist Michael Ramirez wonders what Mr. Obama would say as a member of the Star Trek movie cast.

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Was Einstein wrong about the bees?

It is said that Albert Einstein once warned that if bees died out, humans would follow four years later.

We doubt if Einstein actually issued that warning. However, whether the quote is true or not, scientists have described the idea that humans rely on honeybees to survive as a "myth".

Honeybees pollinate many of the vegetables and fruit eaten by humans and that feed livestock.

Now researchers writing in Current Biology say is not true that a decline in the pollinators may threaten the human food supply – creating a "pollination crisis".

The scientists from Argentina and Canada argue that most agricultural crop production does not depend on pollinators.

However, they do warn honeybees are crucial for some of our favorite foods like plums, raspberries, cherries, mangoes, Brazil nuts and cashew nuts.

It is interesting to note that three or four years ago there was a flurry of scare reports in the media about the demise of the honeybee, and how mankind would suffer. As soon as it was discovered that that global warming was not the cause of colony collapse disorder, warnings about disappearing bees slowed to a trickle.

Alarmists are now saying the cause of colony collapse disorder is the use of insecticides.

Some are even claiming that the bee population is actually increasing - see the second link below.

Link here and here.

Bee keeper

Wang Dalin, a Chinese beekeeper, is covered with his bees at his farm in Zigui, in central China’s Hubei province

Happy Mother's

Obama to rescind stimulus money over union wage cuts

The Obama administration is threatening to rescind billions in stimulus money if Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers do not restore wage cuts to unionized home healthcare workers in California.

Organized labor helped elect Barack Obama. Now he is once again paying unions back for their help.

Obama is already in the process of handing GM and Chrysler over to the United Auto Workers Union.

This time he is jumping in to aid unionized home healthcare workers in California by threatening to rescind billions to the state.

Does anyone ever question why Mr. Obama apologizes and reaches out to appease our enemies while threatening anyone here at home that won’t fall in line with his agenda?

Link

Rosie from The Jetsons?

No, this is not Rosie from "The Jetsons." She is a model getting ready for the Narcisco Rodriguez show during the New York Fashion Week.

Intelligence memo catches Pelosi in a lie

One wonders if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (pictured) even cares if she is honest and truthful - or not. She knew she knew - so what else is new?

Intelligence officials released documents this evening saying that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was briefed in September 2002 about the use of harsh interrogation tactics against al-Qaeda prisoners, seemingly contradicting her repeated statements over the past 18 months that she was never told that these techniques were actually being used.

In a 10-page memo outlining an almost seven-year history of classified briefings, intelligence officials said that Pelosi and then-Rep. Porter Goss (R-Fla.) were the first two members of Congress ever briefed on the interrogation tactics.

The memo, was issued by the Director of National Intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency to Capitol Hill and notes the Pelosi-Goss briefing covered enhanced interrogation techniques.

The issue of what Pelosi knew and when she knew it has become a matter of heated debate on Capitol Hill.

Link here and here.