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By Karl Popper
By Michael Dirda
$11.16
$40
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U.S. Missile Defense Agency
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In news that would make Han Solo proud, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency has shot down a ballistic missile using a high-powered laser. The technology, which never, ever worked in the past, is criticized by some as weaponizing space and others as a colossal waste of resources.
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seeandavoid.com
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During a time when the term government spending (not to mention recession) gets quite a few hackles up, House Democratic bigwigs’ choice to scrap plans to purchase four posh planes to shuttle congressional leaders around is clearly wise, although the Senate vote may still pose a problem.
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Missing from Republican VP hopeful Sarah Palin’s speeches during her recent homecoming visit to Alaska were two talking points she had used in heavy rotation before, but they were back in her script once she returned to talk to “lower 48” audiences, which, as Fox News (!) points out, may not be familiar with the relevant back stories.
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bbc.co.uk
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A Sudan Airways passenger jet carrying around 200 people crashed while landing at the Khartoum airport late Tuesday, skidding off the runway during stormy weather, catching fire and splitting in half. Dozens of people on the craft were reported killed after earlier estimates placed the toll much higher.
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Flickr / gTarded
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The shocking truth about FAA plane inspections was revealed Thursday when three inspectors told a congressional hearing their supervisors ignored their concerns about the safety of Southwest planes and reprimanded them for raising questions.
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news.bbc.co.uk
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The Air Force has decided to ground all 676 F-15 fighter jets in service because of a recent crash that is thought to have originated from a mechanical defect that may have caused the plane to break up in flight.
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Thanks to new regulations, small travel-size portions are now OK. As far as we can tell, however, snakes are still verboten.
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To commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, we have assembled a collection of the most memorable and compelling footage related to that day—some of it iconic and unforgettable, like the images of the planes crashing into the towers, some of it more below the radar, like Jon Stewart’s first show after the attacks.
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An Iraqi architect at JFK Airport was wearing a shirt that read “We Will Not Be Silent” in Arabic and English. Security officers said it was upsetting other passengers, and said he couldn’t board until he turned it inside-out or put on something else. He chose the latter. (Read his reaction after the jump) (h/t: Raw Story)
This is pretty ridiculous: If security guards were worried that he was a terrorist, a new shirt wouldn’t have thwarted his plot. And if they didn’t suspect he was a terrorist, why can’t he wear a shirt of protest?
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Illustration: Karen Spector
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By Tad Daley — “Liquids on a Plane” may have caught our attention, but the real terror threat is nuclear, as a newly released report makes so apocalyptically clear. An analyst with the Nobel Prize-winning outfit Physicians for Social Responsibility lays out the progressive case for staving off nuclear holocaust.
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Image courtesy Snakes on a Blog
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Even though ?Snakes on a Plane? (which premieres today) promises to be a ludicrous action movie, it heralds a new paradigm in film: direct fan-filmmaker collaboration.
Responding to the pleas of fans on the Internet, the makers of “Snakes” added more violence, more nudity, and even the above line of profane dialogue. Never before have fans so directly influenced the production of a movie. Experts say the ripple effects across the industry could be huge.
Lots of great video links after the jump…
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By Robert Scheer — Investigators have known for a decade about terrorist plots to bring down passenger jets with liquid explosives. So why, all of a sudden, did Bush ban most liquids on flights?
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From MSNBC
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American officials leaned on England to arrest the would-be plane bombers at least a week before British authorities wanted to move in, according to MSNBC. One British official suggested the attacks were not imminent; the suspects did not yet have plane tickets—some didn’t even have passports.
Why did this allegedly happen? We have a (unfortunately justifiably) cynical answer. Click to the jump….
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From Boing Boing
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Like, we don’t know, but ... it may be a bad idea to combine potentially explosive liquids in trash bins near big crowds. (h/t: Boing Boing)
Also, John at AMERICAblog wants to know: If liquid explosives were suspected back in a 1995 plane bombing plot, why have liquids been allowed on planes since then, and now suddenly they’re not?
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From cs.umn.edu
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In the wake of the foiled terrorist plots to explode passenger jets in midair, a White House official told an AFP reporter on Thursday, “Weeks before September 11th, this is going to play big” as a political opportunity for the GOP. The AFP reporter was merciless in his reporting, noting that Bush & Co. have been tarring Democrats as soft on terrorism the past few days—knowing full well that news of the terror plot could break at any moment.
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Did you know that airline officials can’t force you to show your ID before a flight? Every sign you see at U.S. airports that says otherwise is false. Also, the regulations governing this area are being kept secret from the public. Read about the man petitioning the Supreme Court to shed light on the situation.
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Sen. Joe Lieberman seized upon news of the foiled British plane bombers to say that a victory for his Democratic rival, Ned Lamont, in November would constitute a victory for the terrorists.
You know, when John at AMERICAblog asked who was going to be the first one to exploit this situation for political gain, he thought it would at least be a Republican….
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From craphound.com
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It was looking like snakes were going to be the biggest threat to planes this summer, but energy drink bottles filled with explosive liquids turned out to be the real problem.
Check out the TSA’s hours-old official ban on liquids on planes.
Update #1: The terrorists were apparently “planning to smuggle hydrogen peroxide-based liquid/slurry explosives” (whatever that is) in the bottles, according to U.S. News.
Update #2Someone came up with a fitting graphic (above)
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AP / Matt Dunham
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Scotland Yard has upset a terrorist plot to explode planes in mid-flight from the UK to the U.S. As part of an operation lasting several months, authorities arrested 18 people and raised the threat level in the UK to critical, the highest possible.
Update: Bush raised America’s threat level to red—the highest. It’s a first for America.
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From the BBC
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Bowing to a Freedom of Information request, the U.S. government has released a video of what is apparently (thanks, reader Lorenzo) American Airlines Flight 77 slamming into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. The group that made the FOIA request did so to dispel conspiracy theories.
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The 9/11 conspirator tells a Virginia court that he and would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid were supposed to fly a plane into the White House on Sept. 11.
Posted on Mar 27, 2006
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