It is definitely scary the number of smears that have got airplay already, and we're talking February 2007. This is one tough enemy. 

John 

http://www.haberarts.com/

Apropos of de plane, indeed, I have always wondered why they give me a boarding pass but tell me to deplane rather than deboard. Given the airline industry seems unaware of the perfectly correct terms of embark and disembark, why not, then, a planing pass?

Apropos of Presidential succession, I'm reminded of the times Carl Albert [D-OK] was second in line during periods of [Republican] Vice Presidential vacancy. He happened to live in my then father-in-law's apartment building in DC, and the Secret Service would deploy when he was in line.

In some respects, this was a good thing for the building, as the distinguished Mr. Albert periodically would fall asleep with cigarette in hand, and the resulting firefighting water would pour down, my inlaw's apartment being on a ground level (the lot sloped). Quick Secret Service intervention definitely reduced the periodic floods.

For the Secret Service, they were friendly and got to know the tenants. On an occasion where we picked up my FIL at the airport and didn't know he had been bird hunting, I was into "I don't know him" mode when he walked into the lobby, shotgun case in hand. The agents greeted him by name, and one, not unreasonably, escorted him to his apartment, even helping with the bags. Once the door closed behind him and his shotgun, they seemed OK with the situation.

Admittedly, he was a somewhat well known lobbyist and a friend of Jerry Ford's when Ford was in the House -- Bill's company was a major employer in Ford's district, but they genuinely hit it off on a personal basis, if for no other reason as both being excellent athletes.

No one raised any question about Albert's protection, admittedly a heartbeat-away situation rather than several heartbeats and failures to defibrillate.

As an aside, the truly embarrassing thing about visiting my FIL was when he wanted to go out into the back yard and throw football passes or punt to us. My ex was a mistress of the art of clumsiness, and football was never my sport. Bill had played semipro baseball and varsity football. His next-door neighbor, for many years, was Sonny Jurgensen, who was known to come out on his patio, cigar in one hand and drink in the other, and cheerfully (nicely though) laugh his head off.

--
Howard

*equal opportunity offense to both extremes*

Step up netrooters. What did Edwards actually do. Employ women whose speak, though uncivil, and incendiary was rooted in TRUTH.

What do American want? Bold and desicive leadership.

Freedom on the march.

God in the WH.

Wake up sheeple.

Our government is peopled with NAZI's, fascist warmongers and profiteers, who rob from poor and middle class Americans to feed the superrich. But do the complicit parrots in the socalled MSM raise any issure with this grievous abuses. No. Fascism as state policy is fine and dandy because the Landover Cheerleader and pampered papa's boy coke head masquarading as commander in chief talk to god in the WH, - so oh my, Edwards is controrvesial. Edwards judgement is called into question. When the complicit parrots in socalled MSM quit kissing the fascist Bush government ass long enough to actually examine the widly deceptive conjuring of lies to pimp, I mean sell, - I mean mass market - I mean justify the bloody, costly, ghoulish, noendinsight horrorshow, and excuse for wanton profiteering in Iraq, - then maybe they would have the credibility to question who Edwards employs and why.

Until that day, the truth will set you free Americans, and civility went out the window the nanosecond the fascist warmongers and profiteers in the Bush government started sliming our fellow Americans as anti-American, unpatriotic, communist, lunatic, conspiratorial, spawn of the devil for daring to challenge the Bush government DECEPTIVE, ABUSIVE, FAILING, policies, DERELICTIONS of DUTY, and WANTON PROFITEERING.

Dick Cheney is a satanic monster and pathological liar, and Wolf Blitzer allows him to perpetuate naked LIES, and fascist delusions without rebuke, - so Edwards choice of incendiary advisers is hardly relevent.

The truth will set you free. Americans might want to start looking into it.

There is a lot of media and political buzz, and relatively less, detail about the helicopter losses. It is incorrect to say that there is no threat to US aircraft from insurgents; there always has been.

War is a constant balancing of action and counteraction. Without seeing the detailed analysis, I can't begin to judge what happened. It does bother me that most of the shootdowns have been of AH-64 Apaches, which are the most defended (and offensively potent) US helicopter type. There isn't the information to know if there is a hole in tactics or defense systems that is being exploited, whether the insurgents have acquired new and more potent (or even modified) weapons, or that the helicopters are being ordered or pressured to fly unwise tactics.

The CH-46 (it has an official name, but everyone calls it the Frog) Marine helicopter, like its others, is very old and approaching, or passing, its service life. Decrepit CH-46's are one of the reasons that the Marines have pushed so hard for the V-22 Osprey.

I do want to see more reports before rushing to judgment. Sometimes, bad things happen in war just as a statistical blip. There's a frustrating aspect of the reports to be released: if they did find a vulnerability, you don't want to publish too much about it. While they know one way to exploit it, too much published analysis of such things as blind spots can offer other means of attack. The matter, however, should be thoroughly briefed to Congressional committees, in executive session.

--
Howard

*equal opportunity offense to both extremes*