Lay Your Hand on the Dashboard

…and say, “AMEN!”

…“Failure was not an option” for Gene Kranz and his Apollo 13 flight controllers and engineers. In contrast, failure clearly has been an option for President Obama and those claiming to have been on top of this situation “from day one” in his White House and in the Departments of Interior, Energy and Homeland Security. With no single, competent, courageous and knowledgeable leader in charge of a comparably competent, courageous and knowledgeable team as we had with Apollo 13, the Administration has been doomed to failure from the start. The President, without any experience in real-world management of anything, much less a crisis, has no idea how to deal with a situation as technically complex as the Gulf oil spill.

…Salazar’s empty threat to “push BP out of the way” has no basis as a realistic option and best illustrates the floundering of the Obama Administration. Indeed, from “day one,” the expertise of the entire U.S. and British drilling and production industry should have been mobilized to combat this spill, with a single experienced engineering manager in charge.

It still is not too late to start doing it right.

No. It’s not. For the love of God, it’s NOT.

But they won’t, because it doesn’t fit the “BP sucks! It’s not my fault! I’m OUTRAGED! (See my clenched jaw? )” narrative.

So we’ll have oil on the beach here by Friday, probably. And I hope the asshat gets it all over his shoes if he drops by.

Be Still My Beating Heart

‘Cos my Christie Man Crush just keeps growing

Gov. Christie hasn’t changed any principles after all. He overruled Education Commissioner Bret Schundler’s deal with the NJEA that resulted in what was described as compromises but what looked a lot like cave-in in the federal application for Race To The Top, which could result in a $400 million grant for education.

It seems Schundler went a little beyond his leash…and Christie had a little chat with him to remind him who was in charge

In discarding the compromise, Christie publicly scolded Schundler for agreeing to the deal without his approval.

…Christie, who has engaged in a sustained attack on the NJEA since last year’s gubernatorial campaign, was unfazed by the union’s reaction. He minced no words in blaming Schundler either, stressing he will not budge from his core beliefs on how New Jersey’s schools can be improved.

“This is my administration, I’m responsible for it, and I make the decisions,” Christie told reporters during a news conference in West Trenton. “I’m sure we’ll have disagreements in the future. Hopefully, we’ll just handle them a little differently.”

Schundler did not return calls. His spokesman, Alan Guenther, referred questions back to Christie’s office.

The governor said he only learned of the Schundler-NJEA compromise after reading about it in the press. He tore into Schundler on the telephone Friday, one person familiar with the conversation said.

Christie is our last, best hope to rein in the Beast that is our state government. It is incredible to me how people that I talk to are supportive of what he’s trying to do after so many years of it being almost taboo to doubt the Wisdom of our Betters in Trenton.

Now let’s hope the Party machinery doesn’t screw things up and nominate the same sort of faceless hacks that have kept the GOP as the minority party in Jersey for decades. They need to follow Christie and show that they are truly about reforming the Government.

And that’s frankly going to be a tall order for them.

Bill Clinton Will Be Bidding…

…On a certain item in this collection

One of the largest collections of Sir Winston Churchill memorabilia, including an unsmoked cigar, is expected to fetch £1m at auction later.

Sadly, of course, Churchill memorabilia are now somewhat out of fashion in DC these days…

Your Tax Dollars At Work

Via Ace here’s a report that just really really ticks the living dog snot out of me.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — For Alex Pemberton and Susan Reboyras, foreclosure is becoming a way of life — something they did not want but are in no hurry to get out of.

Foreclosure has allowed them to stabilize the family business. Go to Outback occasionally for a steak. Take their gas-guzzling airboat out for the weekend. Visit the Hard Rock Casino.

“Instead of the house dragging us down, it’s become a life raft,” said Mr. Pemberton, who stopped paying the mortgage on their house here last summer. “It’s really been a blessing.”

I just don’t know what to say.

Canada: Damn, This Health Care Stuff Is Expensive

Looks like we better start rationing containing costs

TORONTO (Reuters) – Pressured by an aging population and the need to rein in budget deficits, Canada’s provinces are taking tough measures to curb healthcare costs, a trend that could erode the principles of the popular state-funded system.

…It’s likely just a start as the provinces, responsible for delivering healthcare, cope with the demands of a retiring baby-boom generation. Official figures show that senior citizens will make up 25 percent of the population by 2036.

“There’s got to be some change to the status quo whether it happens in three years or 10 years,” said Derek Burleton, senior economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank.

“We can’t continually see health spending growing above and beyond the growth rate in the economy because, at some point, it means crowding out of all the other government services.

“At some stage we’re going to hit a breaking point.”

Gee, ya think?

And it seems to me this sort of “creative thinking” ain’t gonna help much:

Scotia Capital’s Webb said one cost-saving idea may be to make patients aware of how much it costs each time they visit a healthcare professional. “(The public) will use the services more wisely if they know how much it’s costing,” she said.

Are you kidding me? People will go out of their way to find the most expensive treatment.

Guaranteed.

Remember, They’re The Pros

I certainly know that I’ve mangled my share of the English language, but by gum I do it on my own dime. Can someone explain to me this sentence from those-who-are-possessed-of-layers-of-fact-checkers?

Game McGimsey, a volcanologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, said the vent, lying 1,000 feet under the surface, issued a cloud 40,000 reaching feet in the air.

Maybe “reaching feet” is a new unit of measurement?

Or maybe the name of a particularly flexible Indian?

Agatha Was A Real Bitch

Man oh Manischewitz, this looks like something out of a cheap horror flick

Emergency workers in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador are struggling to get aid to communities cut off by Tropical Storm Agatha.

The storm has left at least 150 people dead since Saturday, most of them in Guatemala.

The picture is of a sinkhole that opened up in Guatemala City

The 30m-diameter sinkhole opened up in a northern district of Guatemala City, with residents blaming the rains and substandard drainage systems. Local reports said one man was killed when the building was swallowed. In 2007, three people died when a similar sinkhole appeared in the same area.

I can’t imagine how awful it must have been to have been in that building…

Spam Line Of The Weekend

“you look like a million dollars.you lood outstanding.”

Gosh, thanks.

You lood pretty great yourself!