atomic_fungus (atomic_fungus) wrote,
atomic_fungus
atomic_fungus

#2396: Nancy Pelosi should step down.

I had a thought today, inspired by some of the lunatics on the left in 2008, who said Bush should resign so Obama could get started sooner.

In that case, it would have been unconstitutional, because the Speaker of the House cannot "defer" to anyone and allow him to be President. But my suggestion is wholly within the bounds of the Constitution.

You see, if Nancy Pelosi were to resign, they could have an election for Speaker of the House right now--and since it's a foregone conclusion that the GOP is going to control the next Congress, they might as well elect John Boehner or whoever the GOP puts up. Right?

Please note I'm not saying we should swear in all those new Congrescritters now; I'm just saying we should elect the new Speaker now so the GOP can advance its agenda. After all, the Republicans won the election, so why should we have to wait for them to begin governing?

* * *

Heh.

* * *

Hey, by now you must've heard about the findings of Obama's "nonpartisan deficit commission" and how it recommends some actual commonsense solutions to America's debt problem, right?

It features a lot of good ideas. It features a few stupid ones (such as making the baseline for spending 2010, rather than 2008), but on balance the proposal is full of intelligent and proven ways to get the US budget under control.

It's not gonna happen, though. Not as written, because it contains:

#1) Tax cuts and a simplified tax code are anathema to big government types, like Democrats and squishy Republicans.

#2) Changes in Social Security that are anathema to big government types.

#3) A hard limit to how big government can be as a percentage of GDP. It limits government income and outlay to a limit of 21% (eventually) of GDP. This is anathema....

#4) It requires that budgets be balanced. (That "anathema" thing again.)

None of that is going to sit well with anyone who thinks that government is the source of prosperity and greatness; and those people control most of the schools and media in this country.

Besides, that GDP thing sounds really nice, until you realize that the past two years demonstrate how the federal government can manipulate GDP to make it look larger than it actually is.

Well, it's a nice-sounding plan, anyway.

* * *

So an AirBus A380 has an engine explode, and the aircraft is now full of holes.
A QANTAS superjumbo was a flying wreck after an engine exploded shooting chunks of metal through fuel tanks and flight control systems.

Last week's mid-air emergency off Singapore also badly damaged a wing, which may have to be replaced.

The Herald Sun can reveal the full list of damage as the big jet was nursed back to Singapore on three engines.

When it touched down the fuel systems were failing, the forward spar supporting the left wing had been holed and one of the jet's two hydraulic systems was knocked out and totally drained of fluid.
Okay, let's get this out of the way right now: WHERE'S THE DAMN ENGINE CONTAINMENT?

Sometimes, jet engines explode. They generally do not do it spontaneously and as long as they're maintained well and not force-fed any foreign objects, they'll happily run along at tens (hundreds) of thousands of RPM without any drama, fuss, or spontaneous disassembly. Nonetheless, it's economically prohibitive to mass-produce perfect examples of anything, so some of them are going to break while being run, and some of the ones that break will end up exploding. This is one of many reasons why commercial aircraft have several engines: redundancy. (Boeing's 777--a twin-engine aircraft--needed to pass critical FAA certification to be allowed on transoceanic routes because--having only two engines--it lacked this redundancy.)

To this end, then, an aircraft engine nacelle has to incorporate rotor containment, so that if the moving parts of the jet engine do come apart, they don't blow the goddamned airplane out of the sky.

Look at the litany of damage to the aircraft, particularly this: "The aft gallery in the fuel system failed, preventing many fuel transfer functions."

And then check this bit: "ECAM (electronic centralised aircraft monitor) warnings about the major fuel imbalance (because of fuel leaks on the left side) could not be fixed with cross-feeding."

Do you know what happens if you're flying an aircraft which loses all its fuel on one side and cannot balance its load of fuel? I can sum it up in one word: CRASH. Or two: "EVERYONE DIES."

So new inspections of the A380 fleet have been ordered.

Do tell.

* * *

Yeah, charging $8.50 for a dozen eggs had nothing to do with it; it's because all your customers are idiots.

Jesus Christ. Gimme eggs that were produced by hens in little cages. I mean, come on: we're talking about a bird which can live just fine without a head.

* * *

Iowahawk is selling a hot rod or two. Damn, that'd be fun.

* * *

More car-related insanity: What asshat thinks chopping a VW 411 wagon is cool?

Well, the same asshat who thinks dropping a 500ci V8 into its engine compartment is a good idea, I suppose.

(BTW that page is showing Gawker's typical liberal bias.)

* * *

From Ace of Spades I got this Japanese video, which made me laugh. I don't know if it's actually supposed to be a parody of the TSA or what, but damn if it doesn't work just fine as one:

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