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This paragraph from a letter Delta CEO sent to employees, might just say it all:

The overlap with low-cost carriers in our markets is greater than any other network airline. Therefore, Delta is more susceptible to LCC pricing pressures. We currently cannot capture as much revenue per passenger, especially on the East Coast, as legacy carriers with a different LCC market-presence mix are able to do.

During a visit of Secretary of State Rumsfeld to Iraq, General George Casey said:

"If the political process continues to go positively, if the developments with the [Iraqi] security forces continue to go as it is going, I do believe we will still be able to make fairly substantial reductions after these elections - in the spring and summer of next year,"

Note to all of you "get out of Iraq now" folks: there's a big "if" right up front there. Think about it for a while before going out to see Jane Fonda's bus tour. (Link ironically to China's People's Daily. You can't make this stuff up.)

Rumsfeld listed several areas where Iraq needed to step up, including doing more to secure its borders with Syria and Iran, making sure the August 15th timetable for a new constitution is met, and taking a larger role in handling detainees within Iraq.

Another new format this morning. Not sure if this one will last--it was quite a bit more work.

#10: Kansas City's "Fringe Festival"
#9: Rainforests cause more global warming than previously thought
#8: Western collegiate wrestling conference to form

#7: Royals 6, White Sox 5
#6: But does he play a mean pinball?
#5: The Spaceship Company founded
#4: Shuttle external tank foam problems
#3: More, more, more! (Roberts nomination)
#2: Plan may not be enough to keep Delta out of bankruptcy
#1: Rumsfeld in Iraq

Kansas City's WDAF-TV reports that after the current Shuttle flight ends, the spacecraft will again be grounded due to external tank insulating foam which again broke off during launch of Discovery.

NASA will go back to the drawing board again.

Remember way back, early in the Shuttle program, the external tanks were all painted white? After a few launches, they decided they didn't need to paint them any more, in order to save weight.

I'm not saying that painting the tanks again would fix the problem, I'm just saying it's something to think about.

#10: Special to my university pals: The Edu-jargon drinking game.
Because just working at a university will drive you to drink. Via Michelle Malkin.

As always, click on the article title above or on "read more" below to get the entire list.

On the way off of Pad 39B, STS-114's external fuel tank hit a bird, a little over two seconds into the launch.

Launch video here (bird strike not visible, unfortunately). NASA TV did however show a still photo just before the unfortunate demise of the bird in a briefing this afternoon. If they post anything more on Shuttle-bird-gate, I'll link to it.

#10: We're gonna die (in 2036)--Asteroid strike
NASA considers what to do about asteroid that will come way too close to Earth.

As always, click on the article title above or on "read more" below to get the entire list.

From the Daily Kenoshan.

The scammer is basically after your credit card's security code (the one printed on the back of Mastercard/Visa/Discover, or just above your main number on American Express.

If anyone calls you and for any reason asks you for this number, hang up immediately and call your card's 800 number to report a probable instance of credit card fraud.

Never, ever, ever give this number to anyone unless YOU have initiated the conversation.

Due to some recent annoyances with spammers posting in the comment areas of some articles, I've now required users to log in to post.

Getting a login id is easy...just click on the New User link on the left side of the page.

Using the login id is easier. If you've got cookies turned on, your id/password should automatically fill the spaces, and you just hit the login button. (Some browsers make you type in your id before populating your password--sorry about that.)

#10: Plame Game
We need to fill out another slow news day. Sigh. Apparently Attorney General Alberto Gonzales (gasp!) was informed of the Plame investigation (gasp!) by the Justice Department (gasp!) and waited twelve hours before notifying the White House Staff (gasp!) after asking Justice if he needed to keep it confidential or not (gasp!). Gonzales did however inform White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card immediately (gasp! Heat up the tar! Get the feathers ready!). Obviously Gonzales is guilty of obstruction of agenda! Off with his head!

As always, click on the article title above or on "read more" below to get the entire list.