Bunning ‘Furlough’ Wasting Millions in Name of Fiscal Responsibility
Remember Jim Bunning blocking unemployment extension and playing chicken with dozens of projects? Well, they're now coming home to roost: The Department of Transportation said Monday that Republican Sen. Jim Bunning's blockage of legislation designed to keep a host of federal programs operating forced the agency to furlough nearly 2,000 employees without pay, temporarily shut down highway reimbursements to states worth ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on March 2, 2010 09:06
Political Science Collaboration: Two Heads Better than One?
A new study -- itself co-authored -- finds that political scientists are increasingly doing collaborative research and focusing less on the single-author research that characterized the discipline in the recent past. They analyzed the research articles in American Political Science Review, the flagship publication in the field, and found that in 1970, nearly two-thirds of the papers were by single authors ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on February 25, 2010 16:39
Blogging Etiquette: Corrections and Updates
A drive-by commenter on yesterday's post about the Sarah Palin wristband faux controversy offered, "If you had any honor you would take the post down." Aside from the fact that the original post didn't say what she apparently thought it had and I had supplied three updates further clarifying the situation, I informed her that, "One doesn't take posts down, ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on February 11, 2010 14:26
Federal Government Closes, Resentment Ensues
Shocking no one who lives in the area, OPM Director John Berry announced late yesterday afternoon that the Federal government would close its offices in the National Capitol Region today because the fallout from the weekend blizzard would make travel unsafe. Given that this is the area's worst snowfall in recorded history and that a large portion of the workforce ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on February 8, 2010 09:10
Airlines Pad Schedules, Lie About Flight Times
WSJ's Scott McCartney explains "Why a Six-Hour Flight Now Takes Seven." [caption id="attachment_46844" align="alignright" width="400" caption="Jets taxi at Los Angeles International Airport after an East Coast snowstorm caused the cancellation of many flights. Airlines are increasingly padding their schedules, in part, to deal with such events. (Getty Images)"][/caption] our airline seat may not have much padding, but the airline's schedule sure does. Delta ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on February 6, 2010 15:37
Obama Most Polarizing President Ever
The 65 percentage-point gap between Democrats' (88%) and Republicans' (23%) average job approval ratings for Barack Obama is easily the largest for any president in his first year in office, greatly exceeding the prior high of 52 points for Bill Clinton. So begins Jeffrey Jones' introduction of a new Gallup poll. Here's the graphic illustration: It didn't start out that way. Overall, Obama ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on January 25, 2010 13:37
Unruly Passengers Disrupt Northwest Flight 243
Yet another incident aboard Flight 243 from Amsterdam to Detroit. Sources tell Fox 2 that a flight from Amsterdam into Detroit Metropolitan Airport was held on the tarmac after landing because of unruly behavior by some of the passengers.The source says four men from Saudi Arabia were saying something in Arabic that alarmed four on-board Federal Air Marshals. The Marshals speak ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on January 13, 2010 11:08
Google Ending China Censorship
The world's biggest search engine is threatening to abandon the world's largest country. Google Inc. will stop censoring its search results in China and may pull out of the country completely after discovering that computer hackers had tricked human-rights activists into exposing their e-mail accounts to outsiders. The change of heart announced Tuesday heralds a major shift for the Internet's search leader, ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on January 12, 2010 22:39
Why Israeli Airport Security Won’t Work in USA
[caption id="attachment_45909" align="alignright" width="400" caption="Transportation Security Administration Security Officer Nyamsi Tchapleu looks at images created by a "backscatter" scanner during a demonstration at the Transportation Security Administration's Systems Integration Facility at Ronald Reagan National Airport December 30, 2009 in Arlington, Virginia. Backscatter technology uses low level x-rays to create a two-sided image. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)"][/caption] One refrain we've ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on January 7, 2010 14:52
Obama Briefed on Homeland Terror Threats
The president and his key national security advisors were warned about a possible terrorist attack just three days before the failed Detroit plot, Mark Hosenball reports for Newsweek. President Barack Obama received a high-level briefing only three days before Christmas about possible holiday-period terrorist threats against the US, Newsweek has learned. The briefing was centered on a written report, produced by ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on January 2, 2010 09:16
TSA Bullies Bloggers Who Published Leaked Procedures
[caption id="attachment_45672" align="alignright" width="400" caption="TSA Special Agent John Enright, left, speaks to Steven Frischling outside the blogger's home in Niantic, Connecticut, after returning Frischling's laptop Wednesday. Photo: Thomas Cain/Wired.com"][/caption] There's quite a bit of chatter this morning about the fact that two travel bloggers of whom I'd never previously heard have had their computers confiscated pursuant to subpoenas after publishing unclassified ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 31, 2009 12:33
Detroit Terror Plot
The botched attempt by one Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, allegedly somehow connected to al Qaeda, attempting to blow up a passenger jet as it made its descent into Detroit quite naturally has the blogosphere buzzing. Richard Fernandez and Josh Marshall have good roundups of the news as it was developing throughout the evening, along with the rampant speculation that was going on. ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 26, 2009 09:52
Fort Hood-Linked Imam Killed in Yemen Strike
An air strike in Yemen may have killed the top leaders of al Qaead's branch in that country, along with an American-born cleric linked to the Fort Hood massacre. A Yemeni air raid may have killed the top two leaders of al Qaeda's regional branch on Thursday, and an American Muslim preacher linked to the man who shot dead 13 people ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 24, 2009 11:21
Airlines Can Keep Passengers Prisoner 3 Hours
The federal government is placing limits on the ability of airlines to mistreat customers. They don't go nearly far enough. U.S. airlines could face stiff fines for stranding passengers aboard grounded planes for more than three hours, according to a regulation that officials said on Monday was aimed at upholding passenger rights. The Transportation Department initiative tries to address public ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 22, 2009 10:44
Protocol Economy Easier Said Than Done
In his latest column, "The Protocol Society," David Brooks argues that, In the 19th and 20th centuries we made stuff: corn and steel and trucks. Now, we make protocols: sets of instructions. A software program is a protocol for organizing information. A new drug is a protocol for organizing chemicals. Wal-Mart produces protocols for moving and marketing consumer goods. Even when ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 22, 2009 09:44
