


Hat tip: Dave W.
In addition to communicating with the local Air Traffic Control facility, all aircraft in the Persian Gulf AOR are required to give the Iranian Air Defense Radar (military) a ten minute ‘heads up’ if they will be transiting Iranian airspace.
This is a common procedure for commercial aircraft and involves giving them your call sign, transponder code, type aircraft, and points of origin and destination.I just flew with a guy who overheard this conversation on the VHF Guard (emergency) frequency 121.5 MHz while flying from Europe to Dubai. It’s too good not to pass along. The conversation went something like this…
Iranian Air Defense Radar: ‘Unknown aircraft at (location unknown), you are in Iranian airspace. Identify yourself.’
Aircraft: ‘This is a United States aircraft. I am in Iraqi airspace.’
Air Defense Radar: ‘ You are in Iranian airspace. If you do not depart our airspace we will launch interceptor aircraft!’
Aircraft: ‘This is a United States Marine Corps FA-18 fighter. Send ‘em up, I’ll wait!’
Air Defense Radar: (no response … total silence)
Billionaires around the world are scrambling to assess the losses and ripple effects from a reported $50 billion ripoff orchestrated by Bernard Madoff, the once well-regarded Wall Street trader.Madoff's investment advisory business served between 11 and 25 clients and had a total of about $17.1 billion in assets under management...
...On Dec. 10, 2008, Madoff informed the Senior Employees, in substance, that his investment advisory business was a fraud. Madoff stated that he was "finished," that he had "absolutely nothing," that "it's all just one big lie," and that it was "basically, a giant Ponzi scheme. Madoff stated that the business was insolvent, and that it had been for years. Madoff also stated that he estimated the losses from this fraud to be at least approximately $50 billion.
Yep, $50 billion. In other words, that $17.1 billion is only the beginning: presumably Madoff's clients had invested much more than that, and Madoff was sending statements to them, on the one hand, while reporting different numbers to the SEC, on the other -- none of which were true... If the total losses are really $50 billion, that means that the average loss to Madoff's clients is a minimum of $2 billion, and perhaps as much as $4.5 billion. After all, in a Ponzi scheme, everybody comes out fine, except the last people out: the 11 to 25 clients still with Madoff to this day.
Put simply, they thought he was cheating. Cheating through insider trading, that is. Henry Blodget has one view.For years and years I've heard people say that [Bernie's] investment performance was too good to be true. The returns were too steady -- like GE earnings under Welch -- and too high given the supposed strategy.
One Madoff investor, himself a legend, told me that Madoff's performance "just doesn't make sense. The numbers can't be straight." Another sophisticated Madoff investor actually went through trade confirms in order to reverse-engineer the strategy and said, "it doesn't add up."So why did these smart and skeptical investors keep investing? They, like many Madoff investors, assumed Madoff was somehow illegally trading on information from his market-making business for their benefit. They didn't consider the possibility that he was clean on that score but running a good old-fashioned Ponzi scheme.
One of Whitney Tilson's friends said he was suspicious "because of the 1-2%/month returns with never a down month (much less quarter or year), combined with never showing a a down month (much less quarter or year), combined with never showing anyone his portfolio."About a dozen angry investors gathered on Friday in the lobby of the Lipstick Building in midtown Manhattan, where the market-making firm and advisory fund are both headquartered, demanding to know the fate of their money... One woman who declined to give her name said that when she called the firm's offices on Thursday she was told it was "business as usual." Another investor groused, "Business as usual? Of course it's business as usual. We're getting screwed left and right." ...Police later evicted the small group from the building.
Prior to Madoff's arrest, investors had wondered how he was able to generate annual returns in the low double digits in a variety of market environments. ..."Many of us questioned how that strategy could generate those kinds of returns so consistently," said Jon Najarian, an options trader who knows Madoff and is a co-founder of optionmonster.com.
Last night's [auto bailout] efforts failed when the UAW refused to agree to wage parity between US automakers and non-union foreign manufactures with plants here in the US.
I wonder how the lower paid but profitable non-union workers at Honda and Toyota plants here in the US feel about their taxes going to prop up their overpaid and bankrupt competitors.
Financial markets are supposed to allocate capital and monitor that it is used to good effect. They are supposed to be rewarded when they do that job well, but bear the consequences when they fail. The markets failed. Wall Street’s focus on quarterly returns encouraged the short-sighted behaviour that contributed to their own demise and that of America’s manufacturing, including the automotive industry. Today, they are asking to escape accountability. We should not allow it.
What needs to be done is to help the automakers get a fresh start and allow them to focus on producing good cars rather than trying to juggle their books to meet past obligations.
"...Rahm Emanuel did, in fact, have multiple conversations with Governor Rod Blagojevich -- and his chief of staff John Harris -- about the Senate seat... The conversations took place after the FBI wire taps were put in place and after Emanuel was promoted to Chief of Staff by Barack Obama...
"...The timing of the conversations make it likely the source says that the phone conversations were recorded and are in the hands of the FBI.""Raghu said he needed to raise a million for Rod to make sure Jesse got the seat," the second businessman said. "He said, 'I can raise half of it, $500,000.' The idea was that the other two would help raise the rest."

10. Ford Pinto: Hey, only a couple of hundred fuel tanks exploded. What's the big deal?
9. Chevrolet Cavalier: Here's a plan: let's go a decade without upgrading any technology plus try to pawn off a high-end model (the Cadillac Cimarron) on an unsuspecting public. AKA the rubes. AKA us.
8. Chevrolet Astro: Hey, we need a minivan! Let's slap some sheet-metal on a truck -- no one'll know the difference!
7. Ford Taurus: Introduced in '86 to great acclaim, Ford went on to ignore the sedan for two decades, until it ended up an Avis staple.
6. Jaguar X-Type: Speaking of the Taurus, may I introduce the Jag X-Type? Or, as some like to call it, The Brand-Killer.
5. Hummer H-2: Can you imagine the planning process? "First, we're betting gas prices will never increase. Second, let's show everyone what we think of the environment. Third, the guiding principle is to crush other drivers."
4. Chrysler Sebring: It's called the Sebring because the Vapid was taken.
3. Ford Explorer: it's not a 401K rollover, but it's almost as well known for its catastrophic tendency to crush passengers. And it helped spawn Detroit's addiction to SUVs that ultimately doomed the company.
2. Chevy Cobalt: What's it take to win the "Least Reliable Small Car" award from Consumer Reports? Or a two-star review from TAC? Or blogosphere reviews like "...the worst vehicle I have ever driven..."? Simple. It takes a Cobalt.
1. Chevy Vega: Some of the quotes from Car Talk's worst car list say it all."As near as I could tell, the car was built from compressed rust."
"My Chevy Vega actually broke in half going over railroad tracks. The whole rear end came around slightly to the front, sort of like a dog wagging its tail."
"Burned so much oil, it was single-handedly responsible for the formation of OPEC."
It’s just nice to know that my President-elect went through that entire system – all of these guys – Ayers, Blagojevich, Rezko, the Reverend Wright – and he didn’t notice any of them. At his worst, he is oblivious. At his absolute worst, he is disingenuous. He had to know something about some of these guys. ... We’re told that he’s the smartest guy on the planet on one hand. In the other hand, he never noticed any of this stuff. Come on, get the antenna up there, Barack. You got to wake up.
| -- Dennis Miller |
A 231-page report (PDF), published by the U.S. Senate, offers an astounding panorama of dissenting opinions that thoroughly debunk the so-called "consensus" on anthropogenic (human-caused) global warming. Some of the highlights:
Maureen Dowd is second from right.
What that has to do with the Times, I have no idea. I wasn't aware they employed any journalists. I just thought its main business function was to serve as a wire service for the Democratic National Committee.
Commenter Howdy pointed us to a Tribune article that references additional discussions between Obama and Governor Blagojevich regarding his Senate seat.Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Thursday cited the potential for bad “karma” and avoided discussing potential Senate successors to Barack Obama should the Democratic nominee win the White House, but acknowledged he has a process in mind for making the most important appointment of his career.
“I just don’t want to jinx him and I don’t like the karma of me thinking that far ahead,” Blagojevich said of Obama’s prospects in Tuesday’s election. The governor added, “We have had some discussions about a process which we’ll share … if all goes well.”
Sources close to Blagojevich, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak for him, said one issue would be to consider who could most help the governor politically.
“What helps me in my quest for the future, whether it’s re-election or legacy?” one Blagojevich confidant said of the selection process being eyed by the Democratic governor, who has seen his job approval rating fall to staggering levels. “It’s a big milestone.”
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has discovered carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting another star. This breakthrough is an important step toward finding chemical biotracers of extraterrestrial life.
The Jupiter-sized planet, called HD 189733b, is too hot for life. But the Hubble observations are a proof-of-concept demonstration that the basic chemistry for life can be measured on planets orbiting other stars...
...Organic compounds also can be a by-product of life processes and their detection on an Earthlike planet someday may provide the first evidence of life beyond our planet.
Now that Barack Obama will be moving to the White House, his seat in the U.S. Senate representing Illinois will have to be filled.Obama met with Governor Rod Blagojevich earlier this week to discuss it. Illinois law states that the governor chooses that replacement. There's already been speculation about his selection...from Congressman Jesse Jackson, Junior to Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth.
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KHQA TV wishes to offer clarification regarding a story that appeared last month on our website ConnectTristates.com. The story, which discussed the appointment of a replacement for President Elect Obama in the U.S. Senate, became the subject of much discussion on talk radio and on blog sites Wednesday. The story housed in our website archive was on the morning of November 5, 2008. It suggested that a meeting was scheduled later that day between President Elect Obama and Illinois Governor Blagojevich. KHQA has no knowledge that any meeting ever took place. Governor Blagojevich did appear at a news conference in Chicago on that date
The second article was written by a different author than the first, which would imply that independent confirmation of the meeting may have taken place."The president-elect can get Blagojevich's wife on paid corporate boards in exchange for naming the president-elect's pick to the Senate."
Of course, there's always the tiny, trivial discrepency in stories between David Axelrod and President-Elect Obama. Namely, that Obama and Governor "Toast" Blagojevich discussed the Senate seat.While insisting that the President-elect had not expressed a favorite to replace him, and his inclination was to avoid being a "kingmaker," Axelrod said, "I know he's talked to the governor and there are a whole range of names many of which have surfaced, and I think he has a fondness for a lot of them."
“I had no contact with the governor or his office and so I was not aware of what was happening, ” Obama told reporters today in Chicago. “It’s a sad day for Illinois. Beyond that, I don’t think it’s appropriate to comment.”
"I was mistaken when I told an interviewer last month that the President-elect has spoken directly to Governor Blagojevich about the Senate vacancy. They did not then or at any time discuss the subject."
For guys who operated in each other's orbits on a frequent basis, the Obama-Blago relationship has been discussed in the press at length.• Obama Advised Blagojevich On His Victorious Gubernatorial Run. "That year, [Obama] gained his first high-level experience in a statewide campaign when he advised the victorious gubernatorial candidate Rod Blagojevich, another politician with a funny name and a message of reform." (Ryan Lizza, "Making It," The New Yorker, 7/21/08)
• Obama: "If the governor asks me to work on his behalf, I'll be happy to do it." (John Patterson, "Senator Says He's Still Willing To Help Blagojevich Despite Hiring Concerns," Chicago Daily Herald, 7/27/06)
• Obama Endorsed Blagojevich For A Second Term. "Obama, who endorsed Blagojevich for a second term nearly 18 months ago, said he's ready to help Illinois democrats in the upcoming elections." (John Patterson, "Senator Says He's Still Willing To Help Blagojevich Despite Hiring Concerns," Chicago Daily Herald, 7/27/06)
• Obama: "We've got a governor in Rod Blagojevich who has delivered consistently on behalf of the people of Illinois." (Deanna Bellandi, "Illinois Democrats Talk Unity But Don't Show It," The Associated Press, 8/16/06)
...[Rezko's] strongest ties have always been with Blagojevich. Rezko's and Blagojevich's families often socialized. Rezko and the governor's wife, Patti, a real estate agent, even worked on several property deals together since 1997, earning Patti Blagojevich at least $38,000 in fees....Rezko recommended numerous candidates for Cabinet positions and state boards and commissions. And in a sign of how closely he meshed his pizza business deals with his forays into politics, a close circle of Rezko business investors and their relatives received jobs and appointments to influential state posts under Blagojevich... Blagojevich appointed three Rezko pizza business investors to a controversial board that oversees hospital projects. (That board was replaced amid an ongoing federal kickback investigation that led to the indictment of the board's vice chairman.)
The state's business development agency, run by a former Rezko real estate firm executive, employed the daughters of two other pizza business partners, including a man who is a fugitive on federal tax charges... And another Rezko partner got a loan for pizza franchises through a California businessman whose firm won an $83 million contract for redeveloping the restaurants at Illinois Tollway oases. The loan came after an introduction from Rezko. Blagojevich has said those who secured jobs and appointments were qualified...
"The president-elect can get Blagojevich's wife on paid corporate boards in exchange for naming the president-elect's pick to the Senate."
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Corruption in the Blagojevich administration has been the focus of a federal investigation involving an alleged $7 million scheme aimed at squeezing kickbacks out of companies seeking business from the state. Federal prosecutors have acknowledged they're also investigating "serious allegations of endemic hiring fraud" under Mr. Blagojevich.
Political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko who raised money for the campaigns of both Messrs. Blagojevich and Obama is awaiting sentencing after being convicted of fraud and other charges. Mr. Blagojevich's chief fundraiser, Christopher G. Kelly, is due to stand trial early next year on charges of obstructing the Internal Revenue Service.
A former Illinois real estate specialist says FBI agents have questioned him about a Chicago property that had been bought by convicted felon Tony Rezko's wife and later sold to the couple's next-door neighbor, Sen. Barack Obama.
The real estate specialist, Kenneth J. Conner, said bank officials replaced an appraisal review he prepared on the property and FBI agents were investigating in late 2007 whether the Rezko-Obama deal was proper.
“Agents and I talked about payoff, bribe, kickback for a long time, though it took them only a short number of minutes of talking with me while looking at the appraisal to acknowledge what they already seemed to know: The Rezko lot was grossly overvalued,” Mr. Conner told The Washington Times Monday.
“Rezko paid the asking price on the same day Obama paid $300,000 less than the asking price to the same seller for his adjacent mansion,” he said. “This begs the question of payoff, bribe, kickback.”...Chicago real estate developer Tony Rezko was convicted June 16 on felony counts of fraud, money laundering, and aiding and abetting a bribery scheme involving kickbacks from companies wanting to do business with the state... Conner said his appraisal of the Rezko property, held in Rita Malki Rezko's name, was replaced with a higher one and he was fired when he questioned the document.
...According to his complaint, Mr. Conner reviewed the appraisal of the Rezko property by another firm, Adams Appraisal, which had set the value at $625,000. The complaint said he told his bosses the property had been overvalued by at least $125,000 and that a “reasonable and fair evaluation” should have been no greater than $500,000.
Mr. Conner said the removal of his appraisal “seemed understood as a crime with respect to the subpoena” of the Rezko property and the FDIC audit.
Update II: Jammie Wearing Fool: Obama throws Axelrod under the bus in record time.
During his sermon, Grand Mufti Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh admonished non-believers:After stressing the importance of following the true faith, Al-Asheikh also emphasized the need for believing other messengers of God. “Whoever does not believe in the messages of the Prophets Jesus and Moses, peace be upon them, is considered an infidel,” Al-Asheikh said...
...He also emphasized the need for intellectual security and protection from extremist, deviant, terrorist and extremist ideologies.
The pilgrims chanted anti-US and anti-Zionist slogans during the ceremony also attended by the Supreme Leader's representative for Hajj affairs, Hojatoleslam Mohammad Mohammadi Reyshahri... "God is Great", "There is no Deity but Allah", "Death to Israel", and "Death to America" were among the slogans chanted by the masses in unison as they gathered in the Desert of Arafat...
In any event, I patiently searched Google News for sermons that decried the atrocities at Mumbai to no avail. It would seem a curious omission. But perhaps I just missed it.