Peggy Noonan says Bush destroyed Republican Party

Op ed piece in the Wall St Journal here. Peggy really unloads on Bush. Lists Iraq, spending, growth of government and immigration. She feels Bush deliberately went against the desires of the party members, leading to demoralization and back biting.
I suppose. On the other hand, I still feel Bush did right by going into Iraq after 9/11. The other course of action was to retreat to Fortress America, and let Al Queda, the Taliban, Hamas, and other terrorists consolidate their bases in the middle east. Bush decided to take the war to the enemy by occupying the enemy's downtown. And he has stuck to his guns despite endless attacks by the media, the CIA, State Dept, and the armed forces bureaucracy.
The offensive in Iraq gave us freedom from terrorist attacks on US soil since 9/11. Why? Simple, offer young jehadi's the choice of combat in friendly Iraq, where they can speak the language and can blend in, or boarding an airliner bound for the great Satan, where they stick up like sore thumbs and might get lynched if their cover fails. Even young jehadi's are smart enough to figure the odds on that choice.

Marketing 101 for car ad agencies

You've seen 'em, the soft focus TV ad, often in black and white. Camera brushes over the car lightly, then dwells on the scenery, or the pretty girl or the open road, anything but the car. Best view of the car is some arty shot from a strange angle. At this point you are wondering what the hell brand of car is being sold. The modern jello styled four door sedans all look alike, it ain't like in the '60's when you could recognize the make from four blocks away. The ad rolls on, you are still wondering what they are selling. Only at the very end of the ad do they flash up the maker's name for about 2 seconds.
Does this sell cars?
Have you seen the Toyota ad for "green" cars? Shows a car made of birch bark and twigs sort of flowing together as the wind whips the stuff around. Shape suggests a Prius, but could be anything. Then as the voice over is saying green things about recycling, you see the birch bark car decompose back into soil and disappear.
Somehow that ad doesn't speak to me either. To much like watching the final victory of body rot.

Newsies can ask the stupidest questions

Watched the Republican debate last night. Outstandingly stupid question comes from Tim Russert. "Mayor Guiliani, how do you feel about your drop in the polls from 40% to 20%?" Russert doesn't need to ask this question, we all know the answer. It gave Guliani a few minutes to tell us how morale in his campaign is high, the polls will change, and he will win. We know that, and we know Guliani is gonna say it. Why bother with the question?
Then the newsies spent some time trying to get the Republicans to say mean things about one another on stage. The candidates may not be the sharpest knives in the box, but they are too smart to start negative campaigning right on TV.

Sixty airliners per hour is why your flight is late

Good article on air traffic congestion here.

Space flight to t he asteroid belt (Aviation Week)

Aviation Week reports NASA insiders are pushing for a manned trip to the asteroid belt, or the Lagrange points before doing a lunar base. Such a mission does not require a lander, a vessel with the rocket power to soft land and then lift off again. Such a lander does not exist now, and might take halfway to forever to develop. An asteroid mission only requires a space craft large enough for a years long mission. It has to carry enough food, water, and air for the round trip. Going to a near earth orbit asteroid would reduce the travel time to a matter of months, as opposed to years for a mission to the Martian moons, or the main asteroid belt.
Such a mission would create the kind of excitement the Apollo missions enjoyed.

Barack Obama remembers Willy Horton

Back in 1988, George Bush ran a devastating TV ad against Mike Dukakis. The ad accused then governor Dukakis of paroling/pardoning/letting off the hook, an ugly con named Willy Horton who proceeded to commit some ghastly crime while out of stir. The ad was effective, and Dukakis made the mistake of not replying to it. Silence gives assent. Dukakis should have said something. He could have denied that it happened, that it was all the parole board's fault, it didn't happen on his watch, it was a terrible mistake what has been corrected, whatever. Instead he said nothing in public and the ad sank in. Voters expect mud to be thrown in an election. But they also expect the victims to fight back. The mud doesn't stick if the target denies it. If the target says nothing after being slimed, the voters begin to think there must be something to the charge.
The Clintons have thrown a bit of mud at Obama, and Obama has very properly denied the charges and politely accused the Clintons of lying. Obama remembers Willy Horton and remembers that silence gives assent.
The newsies are delighted, and have instant replayed the mud slinging to the point of nausea among us political junkies. (only true political junkies bother to watch) And pontificated about how terrible it is and how the candidates are pulling the campaign down to unspeakable issues like race and sex.
Malarkey. This is a spirited, and largely positive campaign that has galvanized the electorate.
Just look at the primary turnout figures.

P51 Mustang fighter flies again

South Korea has been developing a turbo prop trainer/light attack aircraft since 1980. It's an aircraft type with considerable promise. Lighter, cheaper, and with more endurance than jets or attack choppers like F16 or Apache, it still carries enough firepower to be very useful against Al Quada type enemies. It can carry a pair or 500 pound bombs, 76 rockets in pods, or four .50 cal machine guns, any of which can do serious damage. With air support like that on call, platoons can go deep into Indian country and fear no evil.
The Koreans have had some development problems over the years. The Americans got stuffy about furnishing American parts for aircraft sold to Indonesia. A prototype was lost after both ejection seats accidentally ejected the crew in flight. A deal with Columbia fell thru after the Columbians asked from a night attack version loaded up with enough avionics to create a propeller drive F-22. Despite these obstacles, Korean Aerospace Industries has managed to deliver 105 aircraft to the South Korean Air Force, so the aircraft is a reality, rather than aerospace vaporware.