Chu, LaHood, Ducan, Rhee, and FiOS

The title of this post says it all - so I will just go in order...

* I just went to the The Paper of Record's website and saw that Bush approved $17.4 million in loans. This is just a measure to let the hobble along until Obama can come in and just pour money into their coffers. I'm pro saving these companies and don't think bankruptcy would have destroyed them, but I'm against this bailout. I see this as a bailout of failed-union policies, not as a bailout of the automakers.

Anyway ... back to the post:

* It turns out that Dr. Steven Chu - Obama's nominee for Minister of Energy - went to my high school. Dr. Chu graduated from Garden City High School in 1966 (quite a bit before I did, though I understand the building has not changed much), and cites one of his teachers, a Mr. Miner, as one of the main reasons for his love of physics. So I did some reading about him, the guy seems pretty smart - he is Chairman of the Physics department at Stanford. The Paper of Record has a great quote that I just have to put here:

New houses could be made energy efficient with an investment of an extra $1,000, “but the American consumer would rather have a granite countertop.” (At a lecture in Washington on energy options, June 25, 2008)

* LaHood. The whole LaHood nomination (he was nominated for Minister of Transportation) has been overshadowed by the fact that Obama announced that he hates gay people, but I'm still fuming over LaHood (especially since I knew long ago that he hated gays). The more I read about him, the more I want to vomit. I mean Norman Mineta = great American, Ray LaHood = great non-American (I didn't want to compare him with another country because most that I can think of have pro-transit policies). Sidebar, I was trying to find this great post-9/11 picture of Mineta on a Coast Guard patrol boat, it was so great - but I can't find it. Anyway ... LaHood. I honestly don't know what to make of him, he doesn't have an anti-transit record, but I was hoping for someone who is all about smart growth and transit, etc, etc. (Cough - Janette Sadik-Khan - Cough) Anyway, I'm going to bring you a quote from my friend Panda. Just as a little background, this kid would support Obama if he was shooting American's in front of the White House, so I figured I would give you some pro-LaHood talk:

I think we need to wait and see on the Transportation Secretary. According to the Chicago Tribune, LaHood is a moderate Republican with a bipartisan "record of supporting funding for Amtrak and public transit." As far as appointing a Republican to the Cabinet, LaHood seems like an ideal candidate. I think we need to hold off on judgment for now. As I said before, once the rubber hits the road (or the wheels hit the rail), then we'll see what this administration is all about.

Anthony also popped over to Track Twenty-Nine after reading my post about LaHood which linked to T29. He found this pro-LaHood comment on this post, which I generally disagree with (I agree much more with the blogs author Matt), but it also offers a unique perspective on the entire LaHood thing:

Matt, I feel your pain. I had extremely high hopes for who could have potentially been Transportation Secretary (my favorite was Blumenauer); nevertheless, your past few posts expressing serious disappointment with Obama got me thinking.

In an ideal world, with the right appointments, government could wave a magic wand and satisfy all of us urbanists instantly. I'm afraid the political game simply isn't that simple. At first glance the LaHood appointment appears to be a slap in the face to anyone hoping for a much more progressive approach to transportation. However, there are still a few things worth considering:

First, we still don't know who is going to be the Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration. It could be possible for Obama to use that position, rather than Transportation Secretary, to push a more progressive urban agenda. Second, it is entirely possible that transportation issues, particularly urban transportation issues, could be handled out of an entirely different executive office. In that case it would make sense to appoint someone like LaHood to oversee the airlines, interstates, etc. and let someone with more urban experience handle the urban issues. Third, transit issues are often held up by stubborn congressional Republicans (people like McCain who think we ought to privatize Amtrak or people like Coburn who don't think we should fund WMATA or other agencies with federal dollars); putting an extremist as the head of DOT probably won't help to win these individuals over.

Finally, I think you have done good work on this blog, so please don't take this the wrong way; but your last few posts have almost confirmed the perceived snobbish attitude that leads a lot of folks to distrust urbanists with otherwise good intentions. When I voted for Obama I knew that on transportation issues 1) they couldn't be worse than under McCain and 2) that it was really a roll of the dice as to whether or not any real progress would get made during the first term. Campaign rhetoric is usually just that: rhetoric. Setting your expectations too high ultimately leads to the disappointments you now seem to be experiencing.

* Duncan! My friend Friend sent me a post from DCist about how Obama's nominee for Minister of Education, Arne Duncan, will have to deal with DC School's Chancellor Michelle Rhee. Now - I am a huge fan of Rhee ... and would take a bullet or two for the woman - but it is an interesting thought. The Ministry of Education always feels the need to get involved in DCPS, and will likely even get more involved -- as Rhee will likely ask for the system to be placed in a 'state of emergency' giving her even more control over teacher contracts ... and the fact that the American Federation of Teachers (the national union) is getting involved in the whole battle. Well Duncan, you read it here first - Rhee is right, and I expect you to stand by her. It is important to point out that Duncan received a recommendation for the job of Minister from the AFT - so that will be interesting. There is a write up over at US News that I suggest you read - here. The article also had a great Rhee quote:

If the children don't know how to read, I don't care how creative you are. You're not doing your job.

I think it will be interesting to see what happens with Duncan, because I think he will have to get involved sooner rather than later in the battle taking place in DCPS. Michelle you have my full support, so if you want to go over to the Ministry of Education and toilet paper those red school houses they have out front - let's do it! And I will leave you with a quote in The Paper of Record from Arne Duncan, which I believe shows that he's got Rhee's back:

We are one of the few districts in the country that has shut down underperforming schools and replaced the entire school staff. This turnaround school strategy has taken some of our lowest-performing schools and doubled or tripled test scores within a few years. Same kids, different teachers, new leadership, a new educational approach, and the results are dramatic. (Testimony before House education committee, July 17, 2008.)

* And finally ... FiOS. I talked about FiOS the other day, when I wrote a passionate post about how awesome it is. I neglected to tell you that last Christmas while I was home - I convinced my parents to get FiOS ... as it was finally available in my neighborhood. My family had been using Verizon for landline services, Cablevision for internet, and DirecTV for television. The reasoning for using three different companies was my Dad's hatred of Cablevision, but the lackluster-ness of DSL made cable-internet the only option. Anyway, so I was home this afternoon watching FiOS and decided to go look at the HD channel offerings. AMAZING.

Okay ... based on my rough count of HD channels online, RCN, which as of last week added more HD channels has about 67 channels which are HD, 20 of which fall under premium only packages. So everyone had at least 50ish HD channels. Meanwhile, FiOS has about 103 channels available in HD, about 30 of which fall under premium only packages. So with FiOS everyone has at least 70ish HD channels. wow... America. FiOS wins.

I'm out for now ... that net neutrality post is still coming, one of these days.

Oh Cocktail - I really agree with you ... this 'internet' capitalization thing is driving me crazy.

Oh Snap...

This should have been my usual morning post - but I got a little sidetracked, so now its an afternoon post - with a lot of information.

Sidebar: They really need a better way to make like bullet points on here - each of these paragraphs is a different topic.

Okay, go out and eat please ... just do it ... Nathan's in Georgetown is apparently hurting so much that they might not be able to renew their lease this coming April.  I've honestly only dined there twice, but I've passed by a million times, and it is truly a Georgetown icon.  I get this information via Marc Fisher in WaPo this morning - in an article about Georgetown turning generic.  Apparently Nathan's was feeling the hurt even before the union-induced recession, so I can't imagine that things are faring any better.  So the next time I am in Georgetown, I think I am going to pop in for a bite to eat - I've only been for brunch so I might as well try another meal.  Though I will say, there brunch is pretty good.  I will add though, that if you are looking for hole-in-the-wall sports bars/restaurants in Georgetown - Chadwicks is really good.  I basically just undermined this entire post by recommending another restaurant over Nathan's -- lol -- go to both I guess.  Yum!

Education.  Education.  Education.  Rhee.  Rhee.  Rhee.  I have yet to have the honor of posting about The Iron Chancellor on this blog, but I will.  The reason I bring this up is Obama's nomination for Minister of Education (I'm pretty much over this whole 'Secretary' business - Minister sounds better), Arne Duncan.  I don't know the guy, he's certainly no Iron Chancellor, but she's also not ready to be MoE.   The Paper of Record has all the deets about this guy here, he seems to be pretty legit - straddling the divide between destroying evil unions and getting our schools the resources they need.  He has the experience, the brains, and the temperament to be an excellent Minister.  I am glad to see that Mr. Duncan is so focused on early childhood education, it makes absolutely no sense to start reforms in middle schools and high schools when the kids are coming without the proper educational background.  I look forward to positive changes and hopefully no children will be left behind.

BusinessWeek ran with a story yesterday about Airbus keeping it's 'edge' on Boeing.  Let's just start with the facts, If it ain't Boeing, I'm not going.  Any 'edge' that BusinessWeek asserts that Airbus has proves that BW has no idea how to run a business.  Airbus is kept afloat by the EU, their business model is non-existent, they just make up designs that have planes looking like Sperm Whales and then receive billions of dollars in government subsidies in order to keep the program afloat - as far as I am concerned Airbus is unreal, it doesn't qualify as a legitimate business.  Anyway back to the BW article, it talks about how Airbus didn't get the memo that no one wants Sperm Whale planes and they are looking for smaller, lighter, more agile planes like the godsend the Dreamliner.  I'm pretty sure according to Boeing's original timeline, I was supposed to be flying in a Dreamliner right now ... but that didn't happen.  Then again when you completely reinvent the manufacturing process to make a plane completely out of composite you are bound to run into some delays.  The 787 is now not expected to deliver until mid-2010, sadness.  Though that still puts it light years (4 years-ish) ahead of Airbus' lackluster competitor the a350 (which is essentially a plane they already make).  Boeing also has double the orders for the 787 than Airbus does for the a350.  I mean basically its a fact, Boeing is better.  I don't know why BW wrote this article, it was a waste of everyone's time ... Airbus should have gone bankrupt years ago.

All this talk of planes has me quite happy - I love planes.  And I love Boeing.  It also reminded me to check out the blog of a good friend of mine - Jon Ostrower - who writes FlightBlogger.  Anytime I come across a blog post about airplanes, Jon is linked somewhere in the post because he knows everything about everything.  He's quite smart and seems to get all the deets before anyone else, so he's clearly a good guy to know (and a good blog to read).  Anyway, I popped over to his blog (link again - yea you should go, its that good.), and he is leading with a story about the Chinese cancelling or delaying aircraft deliveries in 2009.  He points out this sucks for our friends over at Airbus, who are currently building a new factory over there.  I'm sure the EU will rush in to bail them out and make sure they remain an unreal and illegitimate business.

Taking the airplane thought and merging into a new topic. ... I would have included this in my Dreamliner discussion, but it had already gotten too long and off track - unions.  It is clear to me and basically every economist in the world (not verified) that the unions have caused the current recession - jk.  sort of.  Anyway, a union-lead strike caused a 58 day delay with Boeing's Dreamliner, probably causing a much bigger delay due to a backlog of parts that showed up - couldn't be put in the right places, etc, etc.  The Big Three had horrible business practices and didn't seem to get that people weren't going to buy SUVs for ever, but even with that stupidity I think they could have survived on their own.  Except for the fact that they are saddled with huge health care costs for retirees -- and they can't actually close down a factory.  Yea, that is absolutely my favorite.  When they close a factory or shutdown a production line, or really attempt to save any sort of money ... they still have to pay the people who work there.  Yea?  Does that make much sense to you?  In essence, they have absolutely no flexibility.  That is like if over the next 3 years when Bank of America lays off some 35,000+ employees, they just got to go home but still got paid 95% of their salary.  I'm sorry ... what?  Is this socialism?  Why even bother having a business if you can't make any decisions to save money.  I'm sure old Socialism Corrupt will have a post up in seconds about how unions are the 'fabric of our nation' and saved this and that and are the greatest - blah blah blah.  Yea, I'll admit it ... unions were good for quite some time - they have served their role, but they are inefficient and have no place in the 21st century.  Making a case for unions is like making a case for a horse drawn carriage over a car - yea its pretty cool, but its certainly not the best way to travel and it costs so much more money than it could ever be worth.  So you heard it here first, I'm calling on the 2010 Republican Congressional Majority to pass a law abolishing all unions.  Actually, why go through Congress - unions should just disband themselves on their own.  Okay .. that's good.

I can't wait to see Corrupt's response to this union banter - he frequently gets in a tizzy about such things.  He's all about making sure that people get paid for work they aren't actually doing.

I was trying to look up what happened with that whole Jim Graham wants underage kids to get trashed thing - but the Legislative Information Management System (LIMS) seems to require intricate knowledge of the legislation in order to find it - which kind of defeats the purpose in my eyes.  So I decided to read the Council's agenda for this afternoon ... this thing is like a 3-ring circus.  Their day seems to be occupied with approving resolutions naming streets and buildings after people.  Of note!  On the Consent portion of the agenda is the final vote for the approval of Verizon's Cable franchise, which means FiOS!  FiOS!  FiOS!  Oh I'm excited.  Anyway I discover that Jim Graham and the other cowboys over at the Council have decided to go ahead and approve this Bill (B17-0983) 13-0.  Unreal.  Fenty I'm counting on you buddy ... you made the right choice with Rhee and Lainer, make the right choice on this one.  Well I'm glad that Jim Graham has succeeded in getting kids drunk, hopefully they don't vomit all over his lawn.

The Paper of Record ran an Op-Ed today, declaring the death of dating.  It is over, it is done with, hook ups are here to stay.  According to the article, a new study by Child Trends has found that more High School seniors saying they never date than date frequently - aka they are whores.  Well this is great for our society.  Actually ... it is a very interesting article, and its also intriguing to see the amount of studies that have been done into this whole hook-up thing.  Makes sense to me, like the article notes - I am more likely to hook up with someone a few times, and if it is good - then go on a date.

Caroline Kennedy - get a life, do something else.  You will not be the Senator from The Great State of New York.  The Daily Intel has the rundown of the opinions out there, here.

Okay ... this has gone on for long enough.  Enjoy.

Also, I hate the dentist.  That is all.