It may still be some time before we find out what was really going on in the cockpit of the jet that operated as NW 188 from San Diego to Minneapolis. What is known is that for something over one hour, the plane was unresponsive to attempts to contact it by air traffic controllers and the company itself (via whatever means it has to communicate with planes in-flight). During this period of “running silent”, the plane overshot its destination and had to turn around to land in Minneapolis. And this, only after flight attendants had to bang on the cockpit door to get the crew to respond. Meanwhile, interceptor jets were apparently prepared to take-off to intervene. In the post-9/11 era, “intervention” includes the unthinkable possibility of a military jet shooting down a commercial airliner.
So-called experts called in by the media to speculate on what had gone wrong seemed to generally agree that the pilots had probably fallen asleep. They “reassured” us that it is not at all uncommon for pilots to fall asleep while flying. (Don’t you feel better knowing that?) But the pilots themselves claimed that they were embroiled in a heated argument and failed to hear the attempts to contact them. That explanation always seemed implausible to me. But now, their explanation has been revised to them both working on laptop computers, and were not aware of attempts to contact them. What!? We move from a verbal knock-down, drag-out, to simply a couple of people working on laptops and distracted to the point that for over an hour, they are unaware of the very radios they are required to listen and respond to? Do you suppose anyone is buying this? I’m not.
And now, according to reports I heard today, the cockpit voice recorder is…blank. Uh huh. When that voice recorder could corroborate one or another of the various “explanations” of what was going on in that plane, but now it cannot, I am lead to believe that there is yet another explanation that is far more embarrassing, or scandalous that neither pilot wishes to have disclosed and that is why they erased the recorder, which a report today said they could do, once they had landed the airplane.
All three scenarios that have been offered (sleep, argument, laptops) are utterly unsatisfying. Irrespective of which one it might be (or even another, yet to be reveled), these pilot have betrayed the trust of their employers, the agencies that license them to fly, and especially the passengers they are paid to safely deliver to their planned destinations. And given the catastrophic possibility of the plane having to be brought down by a fighter jet as a contingency against a terrorist hijacking the two pilots involved in this incident really should be planning on a new line of work. No matter what was REALLY going on in that plane.
On some level,this product makes me glad that I am not a golfer. But for those of you who are, you should check this out and consider adding it to your bag. It’s “the only club in your bag guaranteed to keep you out of the woods!”
Has anyone seen a man holding a golf club under a towel that is hanging from the front of his pants? If you have, NOW you know what he was REALLY doing.
I acknowledge the inherent risks in being a man and posting a link to this article, as it might leave the impression that I do so out of some satisfaction from its conclusions. As the husband of a wife, father of a daughter and hopefully someday the father-in-law to a daughter-in-law, that is not the case at all. Instead, I found it contained some refreshingly honest criticisms of “feminism” from inside its camp by some of its members and spokespersons…(I used that word as I assume “spokeswomen” might be taken with offensein our age of gender neutrality, thanks in part to feminism.)
The link above is to an interesting article by Albert Mohler that reflects on several newspaper and magazine essays and a book about feminism. On one hand, I am surprised by what has been revealed in these finding, and then again, I’m not. Having worked for many years in the corporate world, with many women professionals, the downsides to the women’s revolution were played out right before my eyes.
This whole matter can be filed in the “you need to be careful for what you ask for, because you just might get it, and then some” category.
Disappointed? Yes. Surprised? Not in the least. The “honorable” senior (Republican in name only) senator from the State of Maine, has announced that she will vote (again) in alignment with the party that she does not caucus with, to pass the so-called Baucus Bill for health care reform.
Apparently, the “distinguished” lady from Maine fell sway to the persuasion of President Barack Hussein Obama, who called her yesterday to convince her to vote (as usual) with her Democrat comrades, er, ah, colleagues. Well done Senator. That’s the way to put a thumb in the eye of the party that you claim to be a member of.
But at the end of the day, does ONE vote from a RINO really make it a bi-partisan bill?
UPDATE: Senator Snowe now explains that she voted for the bill to “keep things moving.” Huh? The bill (with her vote) passed 14 to 9. If my math is correct, the count WITHOUT her vote would have been 13 to 10. I am thinking the bill MIGHT have passed and “kept moving” even without her lending her “bi-partisan support” to it.
PREDICTION: The democrats will now talk about the bill receiving bi-partisan support (by virtue of Snowe’s ONE vote) and they’ll do so with a straight face.
This article is an opinion piece from the WSJ, but it also cites studies and research from respected institutes and academia. The conclusions found in this article come closer to the truth than anything you will hear out of the Obama administration, or Congress.
And these the same same folks who are rationalizing all sorts of savings for the U.S. economy from remaking the health care system. Yeah, right!
On tonight’s (Monday night) episode of the Late Show, David Letterman, as expected, had a bit more to say about the revelations of his moral failure that he revealed last Thursday. “Strange” is about the kindest thing I can say about it.
In usual Letterman style, he attempted to make light of the situation, making himself the punchline of his jokes, and object of his one-liners. But in what came as a real surprise,…he framed the entire matter in the context of HIMSELF being the victim of a crime, specifically as the target of felonious extortion. In a purely technical sense, he IS the victim of a crime, but frankly that is not the real storyline in this whole sordid ”affair”, pardon the expression.
What also came as a surprise was an apology that he made to the current female employees of the Late Show, who had been hounded over the weekend by the media, and others, seeking to find out if any of them were among the ones who had been involved sexually with Letterman. What was implicit in this apology and clarification is that the affairs were in the past and that none of the women currently employed by Letterman are among those that he had sexual contact with. He apologized for leaving the matter unclear last week, and for subjecting his female staff to the intrusion over the weekend. What he did NOT apologize for though was his shameful conduct with the female employees that had apparently worked at the Late Show before the current staff.
He also was very clear that his wife Regina Lasko has been deeply hurt by the revelations, and he admitted that he had a lot of work to do to patch up that relationship.
What came as no surprise whatsoever…Letterman did not take ANY personal responsibility for the root cause of this whole matter. That said, I feel certain that this story is not over by a long shot.
Late last week David Letterman made an on-air announcement that he had engaged in sexual relationships with women he works with on the Late Show with David Letterman. A short video clip (out of a much longer televised discussion) can be seen below. The remarks that Letterman made just prior to those shown in this clip related to how he had been contacted by someone who knew of some unseemly things about Letterman, had proof to that effect, and wanted to be compensated $2 million to remain silent. If he did not receive payment, the extorsionist planned on going public with a book and/or screenplay. The extortionist, it turns out, is (was) a producer for the CBS News program 48 Hours Mystery. This clip gets to the heart of the subject about which Letterman was being blackmailed, and contains his admission to the facts.
[Note: Disregard the invitation in the video to click on another website address. It takes you nowhere.]
Apart from this whole situation being very sad on many levels, especially for Letterman’s wife, young son Harry, and his ”Mom” (who is occasionally featured on the show), it barked out several observations for me.
Confession without contrition is just conversation. I’ll grant you that he conceded to the allegations brought up by the extortionist, but what Letterman has done so far, is just one step removed from denial. That is not to trivialize what he has done thus far. A confession, on the level he has done it, is really rather remarkable given that he has publicists and others who could have acted as his spokesperson admitting to the matter, “with no further comment.” But Letterman, in an extraordinarily matter-of-fact manner, confesses to a number of very serious lapses, not the least of which are the betrayal of his wife, and likely a breach of a number of state or federal laws relating to sexual misconduct in the work place. And for as much as I have been able to research, I have found nothing in the way of apologies or expression of regret. Maybe it’s out there, but I have not been able to find it. And at such time as there is some sort of apology, one might be justified in assuming that it may be grounded in regret over having been exposed, rather than for his moral failure and gross misconduct. Any apology will likely be qualified with something to the effect of “if I have hurt or offended anyone I am deeply sorry.” But we’ll see. I hope that I stand to be corrected and there really is a changed heart that comes out of this for Letterman.
Surprisingly, Letterman’s audience laughs at and applauds the confession that he has had sex with women who he works with at the show. I’ll concede that it may well have been difficult for the live audience to know with certainty if this was a part of some larger comedic bit, or if it was a serious discussion. Nevertheless, I have to ask, is it actually funny, or praiseworthy when someone admits to adultery and fornication? I might have prefered to hear a few gasps, groans, or sighs when he acknowledged his misdeeds, but that certainly was not the case, as you can hear in the clip. And it did not seem like uncomfortable laughter, but more like what you would expect from his audience when there is pure comedy taking place. I’ll grant you that the audience at the taping of a Letterman show is hardly a cross section of America, and certainly does not represent those who hold more conservative, or faith influenced values, but really, is this audience’s reaction one they would like to defend?
Much has been made lately about the lack of journalistic professionalism and objectivity within the mainstream media. How much less confidence do we, or should we have when a highly placed producer of a CBS News Division program is the alleged extortionist in this case?
Letterman is scheduled to return to his studio this afternoon for the taping of tonight’s show. Irrespective of how or if he chooses to address the matter tonight, it is a virtual certainty that his viewer numbers will be high as people tune in to see how this train wreck continues.
Update: Was interested to see this article from the press (albeit the “conservative” daily) in NYC.
Posted by Chuck 
Posted by Chuck 
Posted by Chuck 
Disappointed? Yes. Surprised? Not in the least. The “honorable” senior (
