American's Pilots' union loses

Non-Union Pilots on Communter Flights.

Homeland Security Sex Slave

Via Courthousenews.

UA/CAL transfer assets to SWA

Antitrust.

Video of Arrest

Everyone knew but you, who'd a thunk.?

Bed Bug Control Statement from the FEDS

Leave your bags outside.

MOVIE PLOT CONTEST BACK!

Schneier's Annual Terrorist Strike Movie Plot Contest Is BACK.!!! What'cha got?

Don't forget to copyright the thing. One of these days, I may even let you read mine.

AviationPlanning's HotFlash Column

For Monday, August 30th, good read.

9./11 Montage

As It Happened.

Airline Emissions Levels

HOT.

Mexicana suspending all flights

Find another way home.

False "we are about to ditch" Alarm

Let me see if I have an extra pair of underwear in my carry-on.

Bogarting Conference Fees

Today, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, released the following statement on the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report entitled “Audit of the Department of Homeland Security’s Handling of Conference Fees for the Process Control Systems Forum.”


The Office of Inspector General report reveals that during FY2005 through 2007 the Department of Homeland Security inappropriately collected conference fees to defray the official costs of conferences it sponsored, which violated the law in effect at the time. In addition to illegally collecting fees, the Department failed to turn over those fees to the U.S. Treasury. The Department must now turn over that money to the Treasury and explain to Congress how its financial management system allowed these practices.

The Committee on Homeland Security has held several hearings on the lack of controls in the Department’s financial management system including its travel practices. In December 19, 2009, a hearing held by the Subcommittee on Management, Investigations and Oversight revealed that during FY2005-2007, the Department spent over $100 million on conference-related activities without the necessary internal controls, policies, or systems in place to assure adequate transparency and accountability.



Report.

Roving Scanners

See Bruce Schneier's Blog today for important story about Full Body Scanners in Roving Vans.



Naked Avatar.

FAA fine

Way AFTER the fact.



FAA Press Release.



Perspective, from the editors of Courthousenews.


Letter.

foreign ownership of carriers

Anyone see the movie "Network".? Remember the scene at the dining hall table where Howard Beale, the network anchor, sits listening to the Chairman of the Board? Remember the "there are no foreign currencies" argument? Well, here it is again.

And here, just to refresh your memory, is the text of that scene, if only to remind you, it is the artist who warns us:

From the Movie “Network”., by Paddy Chayefsky, where Beale is the Anchorman and the Speaker is the Chairman of the Board of the Broadcast Network:

Begin Speaker:(Chairman of the Board of Broadcast Network)

"You have meddled with the primal forces
of nature, Mr Beale,
and I won’t have it. Is that clear?
You think you’ve merely stopped
a business deal. That is not the case.
The Arabs have taken billions out of this
country and now they must put it back.
It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity.
It is ecological balance.
You are an old man who thinks
in terms of nations and peoples.
There are no nations.
There are no peoples.
There are no Russians.
There are no Arabs.
There are no Third Worids.
There is no West.
There is only one holistic system
of systems.
One vast and immane,
interwoven, interacting,
multivariate, multinational
dominion of dollars.
Petrol dollars, electro dollars,
multi dollars.
Reichsmarks, rins, roubles,
pounds and shekels.
It is the international system of currency
which determines the totality
of life on this planet.
That is the natural order of things today.
That is the atomic...
and subatomic
and galactic structure of things today.
And you have meddled with
the primal forces of nature.
And you will atone.



Am I getting through to you, Mr Beale?



You get up on your little 10 -inch screen...
and howl about America and democracy.
There is no America.
There is no democracy.
There is only IBM and ITT and AT&T...
and DuPont, Dow,
Unión Carbide and Exxon.
Those are the nations of the worid today.



What do you think the Russians talk about
in their councils of state? Karl Marx?



They get out linear programming charts,
statistical decisión theories,
and compute price-cost probabilities of
their transactions and investments just like us.
We no longer live in a worid
of nations and ideologies, Mr Beale.



The worid is a college of corporations...
inexorably determined by
the immutable bylaws of business.

The worid is a business, Mr Beale.


It has been since man
crawled out of the slime.



And our children will live, Mr Beale,
to see that... perfect worid...
in which there’s no war or famine,
oppressión or brutality;
One vast and ecumenical
holding company,
for whom all men will work
to serve a common profit.
In which all men will hold
a share of stock,
all necessities provided,
all anxieties tranquillised,
all boredom amused.



And I have chosen you, Mr Beale,
to preach this evangel.


Howard Beale:
But. . .Why me?



Broadcast Chairman:
Because you’re on televisión,(the internet) dummy."


Separately.

My bad

You're kidding right. . .I do this all the time for free.

RFID tags for people

Prisoners First, then the rest of you.

amputee screening

Radiation levels are concern for amputees.

Forgetting to put the landing gear down

that's like . . .forgetting to pay your taxes, isn't it.?

American Mechanics Authorize Strike

Seeking Release.

GPS surveillance

No 4th Amendment Right for GPS warrant.

Opinion.

Skeleton's in your closet

Schneier gives the phrase new meaning.

American's Express Seating Outrage

Nickel and Dime.

Failed States

More.

Travel to and from the UK

UK.

More.

Ports of Entry

Rand Corp.

Just let me cup your breasts here a minute

I don't think so.

ACLU responds.

Full Body Scans Go Mobile.

Schneier

Malware role in crash. See Bruce Schneier's column today, Monday 23rd.

Trogan Horse.

And don't expect any raises, either!

RSAV. We have this earmarked for Executive Compensation.

Calling Child Protective Services

Black eyes are not a side effect of a dog bite.

Sun Also Surprises

Preparing for Solar Storms.

see also, previous post concerning solar storm "complex solar flare" from August 3rd, this blog

Bed Bugs Eradication Danger

Warning from EPA.

Who is a Client?

Hi-jack victims.

Lithium Ion Batteries

Old News but you may have missed it.

FAA List.

Union Vote At Delta

At least you get to VOTE.

Airline Consolidation

There are no "implications" there are only "inevitabilities".

Effects of Snow On Airline Performance

Duh.

Update On Icing.

Gohb'mnt Warrantless GPS Surveillance

Judges Divided Over Rising use of GPS Surveillance.

Let's just slip one of these here button-sized things into his brief case as he's going through security:


From Courthousenews, August 2010.

From March, 2009.

The Ballad Of Steven Slater

Art comes to the rescue.

Mommy, can I do that slide.?

NPR Broadcast.

Transcript of NPR Interview.

Commentary.

Bartenders or Bad Cops.?

Calving

No Cruise Ships.

More Complaints

Boo Hoo, your life is so hard.

What are the chances?

Frequent Flyer PayOuts.

Strike Action

British Airways.

Hitler Youth?

A homeland security enterprise that can meet the threats and challenges of the 21st century requires the assistance and commitment of America’s educational system. Schools, colleges, and universities must focus on educating students and training professionals, while fostering innovation and planning for the future. More and more academic institutions are offering classes and degrees in issues related to homeland security. Partnerships between institutions of higher learning and the Department of Homeland Security are a crucial part of developing future homeland security leaders. Three homeland security experts explain how academic institutions have become core members of the national homeland security enterprise—and why this relationship must be deepened and enhanced.


What?

Dream Act

Slightly more than 2.1 million unauthorized immigrant youth and young adults could be eligible to apply for legal status under the DREAM Act legislation pending in Congress, according to a new Migration Policy Institute analysis that offers the most recent and detailed estimates of potential beneficiaries by age, education levels, gender, state of residence and likelihood of gaining legalization.
Prepared by MPI’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, DREAM vs. Reality: An Analysis of Potential DREAM Act Beneficiaries, makes clear, however, that far fewer people would likely obtain legal status because of barriers limiting their ability to take advantage of the legislation’s educational and military routes to legalization. In the report, authors Jeanne Batalova and Margie McHugh estimate that only 38 percent — or 825,000 — of the 2.1 million potentially eligible DREAM Act beneficiaries likely would gain permanent legal status.

“Many potential DREAM Act beneficiaries would face difficulties in meeting the legislation’s higher education or military service requirements because of hardship paying for college tuition, competing work and family time demands and low educational attainment and English proficiency,” said McHugh, who is co-director of MPI’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy.

According to the analysis, enactment of the DREAM Act would :

• Immediately make 726,000 unauthorized young adults who meet the legislation’s age, duration of U.S. residency and age at arrival requirements eligible for conditional legal status (with roughly 114,000 of them already eligible for permanent legal status after the six-year wait because they have at least an associate’s degree).

• Allow 934,000 children under 18 to age into conditional-status eligibility in the future, provided they earn a U.S. high school diploma or GED.

• Extend the possibility of conditional status, provided certain educational milestones are achieved, to another 489,000 unauthorized immigrants between ages 18-34 who meet the legislation’s age and residency requirements but lack a high school diploma or GED.

Three-quarters of potential DREAM Act beneficiaries reside in 10 states – led by California with 553,000 (or 26 percent of total); Texas, 258,000 (12 percent); Florida, 192,000 (9 percent); New York, 146,000 (7 percent); and Arizona, 114,000 (5 percent). The other top 10 states are: Illinois (95,000); New Jersey (90,000); Georgia (74,000); North Carolina (51,000); and Colorado (46,000). The report also provides estimates for Virginia, Nevada, Maryland, Oregon, Utah and Nebraska.



Full Text.

JetBlue Animation

Japanese Video Animation Team Renacts Slater Episode.

Slater's Elevator Interview

Impulse Control.

HuffingtonPost Coverage.

More Hilarious Commentary. (just to brighten your day, your job isn't the only one that blows!)

US Visit

GAO Report.

Jet Blue F/A Steve Slater

We will refuse to do business with Jet Blue for as long as Slater remains under charge for these "crimes".

And for those of you who believe that compliance with a Flight Attendant's instruction/direction is voluntary, you obviously don't know Jack.

“Standing to retrieve luggage before an aircraft has been parked at the gate is not a violation of federal regulations. But failing to follow a flight attendant’s instructions — to sit back down, for example — is a violation,” said Les Dorr Jr., a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.

See the whole piece.

Flight Attendant is required crewmember for operating purposes.


The managers at JetBlue who made these "arrest" calls never provided a medical evaluation of this worker and showed what we consider to be gross neglect of his medical condition. Remember, this head injury occurred on the job, therefore it is a worker's comp issue under NY law (if it in fact occurred in NY, apparently, there's some dispute about that.) The passenger who got up and retrieved their bag, should be arrested and charged with violation of an FAR (Federal Air Regulation), refused passage on Jet Blue and put on the NO FLY LIST.

Jet Blue should be having to explain to a jury why they treated a worker's on the job injury in this manner.

We understand that some people are reportedly raising money for Mr. Slater's defense, but we cannot verify how legitimate these parties are, therefore, we encourage you to contribute to his legal defense fund at the following address, which is the one on file for his lawyer:

HOWARD TURMAN, Attorney At Law

LEGAL AID SOCIETY CITY OF NY
12046 QUEENS BLVD
KEW GARDENS, NY 11415-1204
United States
(718) 286-2164

Slater's next hearing is apparently scheduled for September 21st:
Courthouse News.

Well, here it is

Latest Air Consumer Travel Report.

Yep, that's ice

SWA Pilot fired for failing to de-ice, via courthousenews.

Class Action for Lost Luggage + Fees

Get On Board, via Courthousenews.

concussion or worse

Has ANYONE gotten a picture of this guy's head. What if he's bleeding in his brain? Humm? Can anyone spell "Gross Neglect", boys and girls?

Well, it's even better, here's a source, says the man may have a reason (that is protected as a disability under the ADA) to not be fully cognizant.

Nickel and Dime

Airline Fees.

Crime Aboard Cruise Ships

Data.

Mechanic's Union at American

Seeking New Representation.

Shalala asked humiliating questions

Arab Last Name.

Body Scanner Pasties

Npr.org

Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me. .August 7, 2010


Panel Round Two Full body scanner add-ons.
TSA is putting full body scanners in more and more airports. . .
Pasties. ..Flying Pasties. . .developed by LA company
Some come with messages that TSA can see on their scanner,

TSA admits it stores images.

Blacklisted

Will Black Lists Enhance Airline Safety.?

Mexicana Flight Cancellations

Bankruptcy.

Special Report

Snow Storm Effect on Operations.

See Schneier's Blog

For the P300 Testing article for August 6, 2010.

Homeland Security

GAO Report.

Country Reports On Terrorism

Neighborhoods to Avoid.

DOT report-tarmac times

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Contact: Dave Smallen

Tel: 202-366-5568

MEDIA ADVISORY

Air Travel Consumer Report to be Released on August 10

The U.S. Department of Transportation has targeted Tuesday, Aug. 10, 11 a.m., for the release of the August Air Travel Consumer Report. The report will contain June numbers for flight delays, tarmac times, mishandled baggage reports, passengers denied boarding and consumer complaints.

The Air Travel Consumer Report will be available on the DOT website here.

Additional flight delay numbers will be available on the website of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics at BTS.

Airport Ranking and Summaries.
Flight Delays at-a-Glance.
Causes of Delays.
Searchable Database.
Tarmac Times.

Baggage Fee Lawsuit to Proceed

More.

Unbelievable

For Whom The Bell Tolls.

ACLU's New Normal File.

NYTimes Coverage.

Update.

Fungible, we just love that word.

Complex Solar Flare

Involves entire earth facing side of our Sun. Associated with power failures. Get cash, get gas, get prescriptions filled.

No Kidding.

Immigration Related Laws-States

At Odds.

Hispanic Immigrants, Pew Center.

NSA's warrantless wiretap program

Via Courthousenews.

Disruptive Passengers

Courthousenews covers forced passenger deplaning.



Passenger suit reinstated when flight crew landed prematurely and deplaned what they considered a suspect group.