The Unwanted Blog

As a followup to this posting, take a gander at this video. It’s a collection of quotes and exchange originally broadcast on C-SPAN in late 2004. In short, major problems were found with the running of Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac… and the Democrat hate machine comes out in force and tars the investigation as racist… and features Franklin Raines (disgraced former CEO of Fannie Mae) who astonishingly refers to those crappy sub-prime mortgage loans with this gem: “These assets are so riskless, that their capital should be under two percent.”

SEE the amazing Maxine Waters declare that there’s not a crises at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae!

BOGGLE at Ms. Waters refer to Raines’ leadership as “outstanding!”

STAGGER under the weight of Rep. Lacy Clay’s claim that the investigation of Raines was a “lynching!”
THRILL to Barney Frank claiming that there are no “safety and soundnes” issues!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL36nwCSYUM

If you’re a subscriber, or want to spend money, you can read the full transcript of the hearing here:

http://www.fnsg.com/transcripta.htm?id=20040225t7800&query=shelby

Bah. And now these same assholes are blaming “the market” for the problems, conveniently forgetting that while they and their buddies broke laws and lined their pockets, they helped bring about the ruination of the economy.

As a follow-up to this post, here is a drawing from 1968 showing a Manned Orbiting Laboratory meant for NASA use. Numerous “NASA MOLs” were envisioned (including designs which clustered numerous MOL-modules with a Skylab-type S-IVb space station), this one was specifically an astronomical variant. How similar the instruments in this NASA version were to those planned for the USAF versions is unclear.

Lockheed’s design for the SuperSonic Transport circa 1966 was the L-2000-7. In planform it was a pretty straightforward double-delta design (especially compared to the Boeing 2707-100, which featured variable geometry wings), but in detail featured a great many complex curves…

And here’s a larger version of the inboard profile:

l20007a.jpg

March of this year I flew from Salt Lake to Arkansas, with a stopover at Dallas-Fort Worth. The view out the window was fairly scenic…

The return flight landed in the rain and the dark. My camera didn’t seem to like those conditions, but still produced some interesting results…

Circa 1960. Taken from a mockup review film.

Also shown was a rotating model of the cockpit section, with skin panels removed to show inner structure.

Often overlooked in civic planning is the value of cats as structural reinforcements. They can serve especially vital roles in supporting corners…

Former VP Al Gore continues his journey into self-parody, according to this Reuters article:

Nobel Peace Prize winner and environmental crusader Al Gore urged young people on Wednesday to engage in civil disobedience to stop the construction of coal plants without the ability to store carbon.

…

“If you’re a young person looking at the future of this planet and looking at what is being done right now, and not done, I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration,” Gore told the Clinton Global Initiative gathering to loud applause.

Hey, Al:

As someone who grew up in Illinois, and whose parents are still trapped within that benighted experiment in machine politics, I found this news item to be appealing:

CHICAGO, Sept. 25 (UPI) — U.S. federal agents say they have enough evidence to indict Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich for fraud and conspiracy, WBBM-TV, Chicago, reported Thursday.

…

Fitzgerald’s office said June 30, 2006, it was looking into “very serious allegations of endemic hiring fraud” in the Blagojevich administration.

Prosecutors also mentioned Blagojevich in an indictment as the intended beneficiary of at least one extortion attempt by Blagojevich fundraiser and businessmen Antoin “Tony” Rezko.

Rezko was convicted June 4 on 16 of the 24 counts against him. He awaits sentencing in October on mail and wire fraud, aiding and abetting bribery and money laundering convictions. He still faces two more trials.

Now, why would I rejoice in the indictment of a governor of a state not my own? Well the fact that he supports stripping Americans of their Constitutional rights is a bit of a negative in my view:

Governor Blagojevich is a long time supporter of gun control. He has tried to raise the price of an Illinois Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card from $5.00 to $500.00, saying that such a large increase was necessary so people would think twice about wanting to own a gun.[58] Blagojevich vetoed 3 gun bills in 2005, which would have:

1. Eliminated the police database of gun purchases

2. Eliminated the waiting period for someone wanting to buy a rifle or shotgun, when trading in a previously owned weapon

3.Overridden local laws regulating transport of firearms.

Now, if every other politician who supports such blatantly antiAmerican, unConstitutional laws were to be similarly indicted, I’d be a happy man.