Plan may not be enough to keep Delta out of bankruptcy

This paragraph from a letter Delta CEO sent to employees[*1] , 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.

More, more, more! (Roberts nomination)

Dem senators want confidential Roberts papers. The Wall Street Journal[*1] thinks it’s a mistake to give them the papers:

At about the time the first batch of documents was being delivered to Capitol Hill Tuesday afternoon, the eight Democrats on the Judiciary Committee sent a thank you letter to President Bush that began with the words, “We are disappointed,” and went on to label as “ill-advised” the Administration’s decision not to release Judge Robert’s papers from his years as Deputy Solicitor General under the first President Bush.

Shuttle external tank foam problems

Did the EPA bring the Shuttle down? From NASA’s application to the EPA[*1] for a waiver from the CFC ban:

A reduction in compressive and tensile strengths was also realized due to the change from CFC 11 blown foam.””The new foams were also more susceptible to a phenomenon known as “popcorning”, sporadic loss of small pieces of foam at low heating rates, leading to ET Intertank foam loss that ultimately resulted in Orbiter TPS tile damage.

Rumsfeld in Iraq

“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[*1] 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.

Morning Whip, July 28, 2005

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

Shuttle grounded again

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.

Morning Whip, July 27, 2005

#10: Special to my university pals: The Edu-jargon drinking game.
Because just working at a university will drive you to drink[*1] . Via Michelle Malkin[*2] .

As always, click on the article title above or on “read more” below to get the entire list. #9: Shuttle
Shuttle blasts off[*3] , hits a bird[*4] , drops a tile or two[*5] , now in orbit.

#8: Nude sailors rapped for jolly rodgering.
I really can’t improve on The Mirror’s headline[*6] . Couple rescued after lovemaking cries from their dingy misunderstood as pleas for help. No, really.

#7: Parrot swears at zoo patrons, gets time out in the naughty spot.
Nanny 911 dispatched to animal park to deal with potty-mouthed parrot[*7] . No, not really, but it seems as if this is one foul-mouthed fowl.

#6: Royals 7, White Sox 1.
Lima effective starting pitcher, Royals exploit White Sox errors[*8] in 6th inning. Royals need to go 44-18 to finish .500, 26-36 to avoid 100 losses.

#5: Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Federalist Society?
Democrats fixate[*9] on organization which, according to its web site[*10] , promotes

the principles that the state exists to preserve freedom, that the separation of governmental powers is central to our Constitution, and that it is emphatically the province and duty of the judiciary to say what the law is, not what it should be.

A truly radical agenda which all right-thinking Americans should oppose. Yeah, right. Hat tips: Reason Magazine[*11] and OpinionJournal[*12] .

#4: Why the New York Times is considered “liberal”
This New York Times article[*13] accused the Bush Administration of refusing to turn over Abu Gharib pictures to a judge. Well, guess what? The article was utterly, completely, totally wrong[*14] . (Article linked to sfgate.com because the NYT wants everyone to pay to get biased, slanted, inaccurate news.)

#3: “They make us look like idiots. We’re not idiots.”
Seattle Post Intelligencer[*15] interviews actual veterans about FX’s “Over There” TV show.

#2: Iran continues working on nukes, advertising for terrorists
Iraninan magazing advertises for jihadists[*16] , elsewhere Iran says it will continue its nuclear program[*17] .

#1: Amnesty International discovers that terrorists are not nice people
After castigating the civilized West, AI turns around and lo and behold! finds that Islamic militants do not respect human rights[*18] . Their recommendation: stop doing it and play nice. Yeah, that’ll work.
Hat tip: Faces from the Front[*19] .

Shuttle hits bird, returns to orbit

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[*1] (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.