Archive for December, 2009

DREAMLINER

Monday, December 28th, 2009

Though it is against my nature to be anything other than cynical and jaded, I decided to write my last column for 2009 about something uplifting.  Think “up”, and “lift”, and airplanes come to mind.  More honestly, as a private pilot for over twenty years, it takes even less than that to get me to think about airplanes, but still, there is an uplifting story readily available.  In a way, it’s a story that gave me a sense of hope for the New Year.

For anyone interested in aviation, or big-business, Boeing is an icon.  They’ve been around forever, built  many of the venerable bombers that were so instrumental in our winning World War II, and of course, have designed and manufactured some of the most reliable, safe and efficient aircraft for the commercial transportation industry.  Consider the staple 737, the only aircraft that Southwest operates, and any other of the 700 Series planes that crowd the global airspace on any given day. Remember the unveiling of the 747?  It was, and still is, and incredible machine.

Boeing has been home to many of the sharpest minds in the aviation world, from designers, engineers, fabricators and of course, test pilots.  The company history reads like a fine novel, particularly through the post-war years of prosperity and industrial growth.  It seems every decade or so, they roll out something ground-breaking, and their latest addition to the skies is no exception.

The 787 Dreamliner has been in the works for years and was late coming out of the hangar, but a few weeks ago at their home field in Washington state, the Dreamliner did indeed roll down that famed runway for her inaugural flight.  Now will begin the gauntlet of rigorous flight testing and Federal Aviation Administration regulatory milestones to be met, or more likely, exceeded.  It is another chapter in the spangled history of a great American company.  A history not void of the occasional scandal, by the way, but nonetheless, a company at the top of the heap in terms of developing and utilizing American ingenuity.

The new plane is made nearly exclusively of composites as opposed to aluminum.  “Composite” has become a second word, now considered trade-name for the ingenious material, also bourn of American ingenuity, that layers different materials, mostly plastics, fibers and resin, into a material that is lighter than, and much stronger than, any metal.  It’s truly amazing when you think about the environmental stresses that complex, high-altitude airplanes are exposed to.  Temperature variations of 100 degrees or better are commonplace, from the temperature on the ground at the airport, to the temperature at 35,000 feet.  Wind, turbulence, the weight of payload, centrifugal and gravitational forces that are part of any flight, the stresses of landing and departures.  On and on, and this amazing material surpasses everything else in endurance and longevity.

They already have orders for some 840 planes, and they don’t even have final FAA certification yet.  Above and beyond any of this though, what the Dreamliner also does is allow the rest of us to dream again.  Dream of the days when American know-how was the best in the world.  Our technology and business prowess was the envy of the world.  An idea travels from thought, to paper, to design, construction and then marketing.  Jobs are created.  Not “created” the way we’re used to thinking now, like a wand drawn from a wizard’s sleeve, but “created” the pure and correct way, a solid business built on a product for which there is demand and need.

I guess it’s my nostalgic side, but I get a little mushy everytime I see a new plane roll down that field in Washington.  They’ve been doing it a long time.  There have been dreams that turned into nightmares, and others that exceeded expectation.  Great and courageous men and women have died pressing the dynamic envelope of new airplanes, but did so doing what they love most and understanding the value of their contribution, though it is lost on most of us.  All of these things make it ever more the miracle that they are still building airplanes at Boeing, and still out there on the cutting edge of new technology.

Like Jake LaMotta in “Raging Bull”, they’ve been bruised and battered and up against the ropes more than once at Boeing, but also like Jake, they can legitimately make the claim that they “never went down”.  Here’s wishing Boeing, Inc., another hundred years.

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REASON TO BELIEVE

Sunday, December 20th, 2009

You’re probably already groaning, expecting me to launch into some pre-Christmas rant on religion.  We all have our personal reasons for “believing” or not when it comes to a higher power, but I’ve been offered a reason to believe in something even more elusive these days.  Hope.

It comes in the form of an announcement by Bill Wrenn, Department of Corrections Commissioner for the State of New Hampshire.  In the interest of full disclosure, I like Bill Wrenn.  Back when he was the Chief of Police in Hampton, and President of the Chiefs of Police Association, he was one of the first people to call me to support my effort to gather signatures and petition the state to adopt stronger laws protecting children.  He went on to be part of a study/task force, along with former Attorney General Kelly Ayotte, that eventually led to new and enhanced laws in New Hampshire dealing with sexual predators.  So I am not surprised to see Bill thinking out-of-the-box and bringing new ideas to the table.

The latest is an effort to allow early release for illegal immigrants, incarcerated in New Hampshire, in exchange for a quick deportation back to their country of origin.  There are caveats.  The applicant must be serving time for a non-violent offense, and must have served at least a third of their prescribed sentence.  Wrenn signed an agreement with federal immigration officials on Friday, December 11th.  Getting rid of some of these guys will save the state money and relieve some of the over-crowding that our prisons, like prisons all over the country, are experiencing.

It is odd, though, that there is a “fast-track” deportation option available.  I mean…if we can do it quickly, and without fuss, for these guys, then why not expand that program to include, say…all illegal immigrants?  Somehow, we’re not supposed to notice in cases like this, how the government, like when they’re granting pay raises for themselves, can act so quickly and decisively.  It’s almost as though they’re capable of being efficient.  Weird.

And the program also glosses over the more laughable probability that, without a secure border and an effective, controlled immigration policy in place, most of these criminals will most likely be back here before their cell is re-painted.  These problems are systemic, and certainly not under Wrenn’s domain, but they do call into question the ultimate efficacy of the program.  Still, it is forward-thinking in my view, and is pragmatic.  Why are we feeding and housing these guys?  This program all but eliminates the red-tape in deportation proceedings which, normally, can “take years”.  How, may you ask, could it possibly take “years” to deport an illegal immigrant?  Because it’s not a congressional pay raise, that’s why.

The program, in other states, does not require illegals to finish their sentence, but Wrenn felt it was important that they serve at least a third of their time.  The law also requires that illegals who return after deportation, if caught, will serve the balance of their sentence.  If they’re found the second time, that is.  Wrenn went on to say that there “are certain benefits to removing these folks from this country who are here illegally and committing crimes.”  I would edit that to read that there are “only benefits” to removing these people.

In 2005 my wife and I were on vacation with our kids in the Bahamas when we received a phone call.  My wife’s cousin, Mary Nagle of New City, New York, had been raped and murdered.  We were devastated.  She and her husband, Danny, had two children, lived in Westchester County, and were not part of a lifestyle or community where you ever expect to get that call.
Danny had gone to work and had hired a friend’s company to do some work on the house.  Some power washing and minor deck repair.  The company sent Ronald Herrera Castellanos, an illegal immigrant who would hang on street corners in the mornings to get work.  He had outstanding warrants for assault charges out of New Jersey.  Apparently the cops couldn’t find him, but any number of local contractors could find him every morning.

Danny got a call at work, after dropping his kids at school.  This animal, Castellanos, had brutally raped and murdered Mary, left the house in Danny’s clothes, and called the numbers in Mary’s cell phone, including her mother, to boast about his deed.
Castellanos was caught, tried, and sentenced to 133 years.  Danny and his kids got life.

You can see, the illegal immigrant issue is a sensitive one with me.  While I am glad to see any program that reduces the number of them here, I am irritated to learn that there is some “special” program to deport them quickly, but it is only available under these most strict circumstances, and, more importantly, only after a crime has been committed.  In that regard, it seems ludicrous.  But maybe that’s just me.  I’m thinking, and I bet Danny Nagle would be thinking, it would have been nice if we could have “fast-tracked” Ronald Castellanos back to his homeland before he had a chance to murder a young American mother and wife and ruined the lives of her husband, children, family and friends.

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THE NEW FRONTIER

Monday, December 14th, 2009

Between health care, Copenhagen and Tiger Woods, I sometimes wonder if there are any politicians who would recognize a salient issue if it bit them on the butt.  Boy, do we get lost in the maze, and it’s easy to do.  Whether or not you’re a scandal-hound, the implosion of Tiger Woods is hard not to glance at, at least.  The world summit on global warming in Copenhagen is better than Saturday Night Live (which has recently become funny again for some reason…), as scientists, world leaders and hangers-on arrive in an army of private jets and limousines, leaving a carbon-footprint the size of Texas just in transportation needs, never mind the exhausting of hot air that is transpiring there. President Obama receives a Nobel Peace Price at a most awkward time, as Gore’s Nobel suddenly becomes biodegradable in the wake of the “warming science” fraud disclosure.

And so it is with an even greater sense of relief that I see that at least a couple of our representatives have shown the courage to talk about the pink elephant in the room.  That one, great issue that seems to elude even the most cursory discussion by the liberals…our national debt.

Add pride to my sense of relief.  Pride that one of the Senators is our own Judd Gregg.  Gregg and Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., have spearheaded a growing effort to confront the issue of our debt, head on.  They have introduced a bill, already co-sponsored by 27 democrats, to appoint an 18-member commission of lawmakers and executive branch members to address “unsustainable long-term fiscal imbalance”, otherwise known as our multi-trillion dollar national debt.

Congress, meanwhile, faces a vote on whether or not to raise the federal debt ceiling above the current $12.1 trillion limit.  See if you can guess how that vote will go.  Accordingly, expect the Gregg-Conrad effort to be met with less than unbridled enthusiasm.  Remember…most of these guys talk a good game, but can never pull the trigger that results in the eventual de-feathering of their own lush pillow.  Another shocker?  Speaker Nancy Pelosi has already rejected the idea.  Of course she has.  There’s a Republican involved.

I’ll bet she’ll be all in favor of President Obama’s idea, just announced, that the $200 billion left over in TARP funds should be used for “job-creating efforts”.  His words, not mine.  Ahh…yes…another hundred billion or so, and we should all hope that it is the same grand success that the first $500 billion were.  Just that little shot in the arm helped bring unemployment…woops….hold on a minute.  Let me use another example.  Wait…o.k., I guess there isn’t an example.

Rather than leave that money there and be relieved that we didn’t burn it along with the rest of the TARP money, these idiots can’t wait to throw it against the wall and see what sticks.  Stunning.  Astonishing.  Oblivious to the literal cries and whelps of just about half the country that is scared senseless over our debt and spending, the band plays on as the hull fills with water.

I hope this task force of Judd’s takes shape and that they can develop sound ideas for getting us out of this mess.  I urge everyone to write them, send them an email, let them know you’re on board.  They’ll need all the support they can get, because the notions of fiscal restraint and balanced budgets are quickly going the way of bobby socks and cherry knee-highs.

If Gregg and Conrad fail, I suppose there is always the last hope that the other half of the country will wake up and see what is happening here.  My children will work like indentured servants and keep little of their paychecks.  To acquire and sustain what all of us know as a relatively comfortable, middle-class lifestyle will be all but impossible for them.  We sputter and stumble in our hare-brained attempts at fixes…cash for clunkers comes to mind, with each one failing and only ultimately expanding the debt and worsening the crisis.  There are people who have done everything right, worked and paid their bills, and they are losing everything, while our President lies awake at night wondering how to insure non-citizens, provide trials in America for terrorists and be sure that CEO’s don’t make too much money.

Thank you Judd Gregg.  You may be a lone voice in the wilderness, but it’s a heck of a lot better than no voice at all.

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ENGAGED

Monday, December 7th, 2009

No, no, no…it’s not a retrospective of Tiger’s romance with that Norwegian bombshell,  a somber look back at their engagement.  If it were, though, I would probably title it “Tiger’s Wood”, however, as titillating as the story is, we’ve got bigger fish to fry this week.  No, no, no…I was not using the notion of “frying fish” as a segue into the global warming debate, either.  I still consider the term “global warming” to be a euphemism for a man wetting his pants, anyway, or at least that’s my idea of warm globes.  There’s a connection between warm globes and Tiger Woods somewhere in there, but let’s get back on point.

I’m talking “engaged”, as in military parlance for being actively involved in a battle.  A real-life situation where your life is on the line.  We all know that President Obama has ordered more troops into Afghanistan, giving the military brass almost everything they wanted, troops-wise.  Naturally, the order came with the usual double-talk about predetermined withdrawal dates and how best to “conclude” the war in Afghanistan.  Not one mention of the word “victory” or “winning”, just concluding.  This causes me to conclude that some sort of victory will not be a factor in determining when to withdraw.  Just throw more troops in, tip the hour glass…and wait.

I am less and less convinced that there is anything “winnable” about Afghanistan.  I find myself more and more in favor of establishing a couple of bases there, our own airfield, and planting a strong military presence, enough to keep some sort of containment there and keep the rampant re-growth of terrorist cells that would be the sure result if we up and left, from happening.  I don’t know. I’m not a military strategist.  I’m not even a community organizer.  But unless we get to the heart of the matter, what it is that is truly causing these excruciatingly long and deadly wars in these tiny countries, then we may as well pack up and go home.

The problem is our ludicrously stringent “rules of engagement” policy that we harness our soldiers with as they march onto the battlefield.  No where is our over-zealous effort to be loved by the world for our Christ-like compassion, and our penchant for lawyers, laws and liabilities more evident, than in the ridiculous battlefield rules we try to impose on our military.

Imagine fighting a war where you cannot fire at the enemy unless he shoots at you first.  As a soldier, your first line of defense is simply hoping he’s a bad shot.  We are charging Navy Seals who may have roughed up one of the terrorists who was guilty of burning four Blackwater workers, and then hanging their charred bodies from a bridge as a public and news spectacle.  That’s right…we’re going after the Navy elite who may have bloodied a lip.  It’s not enough, apparently, to have to fear for your life as you protect your country, you must be thinking “lawsuit” or “court martial” in the back of your mind at the same time.

It is obscene that we ask our young men and women, who volunteer…that’s volunteer…to leave their families, train, sacrifice, risk never coming home or coming home with less limbs, and then ask them not to hurt anyone or damage someone’s self-esteem while they are at war.  We could never have won World War II with this mindset, with the media and the lawyers tripping over themselves, busying ourselves with arresting our own soldiers, over the more important task of killing bad guys.

I’ll never understand why we think it is somehow better, once having made the dreadful decision to use military force against another country, to drag it on and on as opposed to going in hard and getting it over with.  It’s like taking six months to rip a band-aid off.  There needs to be some kind of effort made to revisit the military rulebooks, because many of these new rules have “politician” written all over them.  If I had a son or daughter serving our country and looking down the barrel of an enemy rifle, my advice would be to shoot first and worry about the court martial later.

And, of course, the last person you’ll ever see in combat gear, hunkered down in a foxhole while bullets fly right over head…is a politician or a lawyer.  Then again, they’re already using their deadliest weapon right here at home…their pen.

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