New Jersey's Weatherization Program Squandering Millions

The 2009 stimulus package included a section for weatherization programs around the country. New Jersey was entitled to $119 million under the ARRA of 2009, but has spent only 5% of the amount thus far, and much of that has been squandered.

This program is desperately in need of reform or elimination. The intentions of the program -to improve weatherization and improve efficiencies of homes owned by low-income households - may be worthy, but this program isn't the way to get it done. The State Auditor's audit bears this out:

According to a report released this week by State Auditor Stephen Eells, the program’s cost controls weren’t being effectively implemented.

The audit determined that $2.7 of the $8.7 million in expenditures reported so far were considered fraudulent and the payments were stopped. Weatherization agencies are provided advance funds but must submit reports on the expenditures.

Of the $119 million, New Jersey was awarded half, or $64 million, upfront. The state was promised the other half once the it could demonstrate progress, or that 30 percent of the units the state promised to weatherize are completed.

The report noted that the lack of oversight resulted in varying construction costs, underpaid workers, and “unreasonable spending.”

Eells said that the spending problems were the result of “inadequate review of financial reports and a lack of guidance from the state and federal agencies.”

Auditors visited four weatherization agencies and found that of the reported $614,000 in expenditures, $54,000 were “unreasonable.”

For example, one weatherization agency spent $1,499 for in-dash GPS systems when a cheaper a $200 portable model would have worked. Another agency was reimbursed more than $17,000 for vehicles it purchased prior to the grant funding.

Construction costs fluctuated dramatically. One weatherization agency charged the program $1.50 for light bulbs, while another charged $27; the audit did not specify how many bulbs were purchased in each instance. Another weatherization agency charged $10 for a dryer vent, while a similar installation cost $126, according to the report.

The problems are a combination of businesses taking advantage of what they perceive to be free money and government programming that doesn't establish benchmarks, reasonable costs, or effectively target waste in the program.

This program could have been more successful if the state funneled the money to upgrading state office or schools (or both) with more efficient boilers and HVAC systems. This would have reduced costs to taxpayers over the long term and improved long neglected infrastructure. Homeowners can do many of the same projects for a fraction of the money spent on the stimulus weatherization program on their own or via their own contractors.

In fact, it might have made more sense for the state to arrange a weatherization rebate program allowing low income homeowners to apply for rebates for the work done rather that the system that was put into place. While this might not have eliminated the bogus requests and outlandish costs, it would have accelerated the spending within the state on weatherization programs and gotten people working on these projects.

A rebate system would have made more sense in that the state could have set up an application form putting together the contract/proposal form that homeowners could use to apply for the funds and contained the necessary protections to the homeowner and contractors. Work on each project would have been contingent on approval by the state - protecting homeowners from being hit with unexpected costs (or a provision to allow for a maximum unexepcted costs) and giving all parties a measure of certainty in upgrading homes around the state.

Will Burmese Junta Release Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi

Will the Burmese junta, which just won yet another rigged election in "convincing" fashion, release pro-Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi? Media reports seem to indicate that her release from house arrest is pending, but why would the regime release one of their most outspoken critics?

Some seem to think that this might be a way to lessen the outrage over the junta rigging yet another election:

On Friday, a day ahead of her scheduled release, government officials told the French news agency her release was a certainty, although no time was mentioned.

And Tin Oo, vice chairman of her banned National League for Democracy party, said his sources told him her release order has been signed.

Authorities increased security in Rangoon as supporters gathered near her lakeside home and at the party's headquarters.

A Saturday release would be six days after Burma's first election in two decades. The military's political party already has claimed a majority of seats in both houses of parliament, in voting that Western leaders and human rights activists say was fraudulent and aimed at ensuring continued military rule with a civilian face.

Aung San Suu Kyi's release would raise immediate questions about how much freedom the military rulers will grant her. Her followers say she will not accept any conditions on release. Her lawyer says the 65-year-old Nobel Peace laureate would resume political activities.

Her party won a landslide victory in Burma's last elections, held in 1990, but military rulers refused to let it take power. Now, some analysts think the military might view Aung San Suu Kyi's release as a way to soften overseas criticism of last Sunday's election.

Given that she's been held for 15 of the last 21 years by the junta, the release doesn't mean much given how tight a leash the junta will have on her appearances and ability to travel. Expect that the slightest amount of criticism or failure to follow rules will land her back under house arrest.

The junta has repeatedly failed to adhere to the will of the Burmese people and the latest rigged elections are no exception. Nor is Kyi the only political prisoner being held by the junta. She's only the most visible - largely as a result of being a Nobel laureate.

Amtrak Kills Potential Deal With NJ Transit On Hudson River Tunnel

Amtrak is now pursuing its own brand of stupidity with talks ending between Amtrak and NJ Transit over jointly building a tunnel into New York from New Jersey along the Northeast Corridor.

This is once again the height of stupidity because neither Amtrak nor NJ Transit has the capacity to build the tunnel on its own and the federal government is the one party that can bring sufficient funding to the table for this critical interstate infrastructure.

Gov. Christie rightfully killed the ARC tunnel because New Jersey would be left on the hook for cost overruns and the federal government refused to pick up the tab on potential overruns, that could range from the most optimistic $1 billion to more than $5 billion. That the federal government wasn't willing to pony up the obligation to cover that amount when President Obama was backing mass transit and high speed rail projects as part of his stimulus package and upgrade to the nation's infrastructure is quite telling as to the Administration's true intentions and knowledge of the project. Moreover, it shows that the New Jersey Congressional delegation simply didn't have the wherewithal to get the additional funding, even as they blasted the Christie Administration for killing the project. Senator Lautenberg was more interested in launching investigations into why Christie killed the project than he was in securing the necessary federal funding to see the project continue so that New Jersey taxpayers wouldn't be on the hook for all of the cost overruns.

Amtrak's excuse for this latest nonsense is that they are not interested in operating with a commuter rail project and that they are focused on intercity rail.

“We are no longer interested in this project,” said Vernae Graham, spokeswoman for the national rail agency.

“There were exploratory talks going on with NJ Transit,” Graham said “The talks have stopped. … That was commuter rail, and we are interested in intercity rail projects.”

Graham said she could not say when the discussions ended, and had no further statements.

The agency’s sudden announcement came late Thursday, a day after Governor Christie optimistically told The Record’s editorial board that Amtrak was interested in engineering work and other plans NJ Transit had already done for a Hudson River commuter rail tunnel project Christie shut down last month.

“Amtrak has already spoken to us about whether certain [aspects] of the engineering work and other [work] that was done already might be something that they could purchase from us as they begin to look to plan their tunnel for high-speed rail,” Christie said at the Wednesday meeting.

Here's a memo to Amtrak. NJ Transit shares those tracks and tunnels out of necessity because the acquisition of additional rights of way is cost prohibitive. Ignoring the fiscal reality means that Amtrak and NJ Transit will not get the additional capacity that both agencies need - they need to pool their resources rather than fight each other for their own separate rights of way and infrastructure that neither can actually afford to maintain.

Amtrak has been incapable of managing its own infrastructure and yet it thinks that it can scrape together the funds to build a completely new infrastructure. Amtrak has yet to show that it can build a single mile of high speed rail comparable to European levels of service at a comparable cost.

Indeed, the ARC tunnel project cost at least three times as much per mile as the Swiss Gotthard base tunnel project, even though the actual tunnel length was several times shorter. Unless American projects can get the cost per mile down to within the range for projects done in Europe, they aren't going to make any headway.

It's for that reason that NJ Transit and Amtrak need to work together on building the new Hudson River tunnels. The shared costs are critical to building infrastructure that can benefit both agencies without bankrupting either them or the New Jersey taxpayers who would have borne the majority of the costs for the project and its overruns.

There is an argument to be made that coordinating HSR with commuter rail on the same right of way is difficult and defeats the purpose of building HSR. Yet, any alternative proposal would involve building new tunnels, and there are ways to join the tunnel costs so that neither Amtrak nor NJ Transit would take the hit of building the tunnels on their own. Indeed, the new proposed tunnels could have been designed as a 4-track tunnel - two 2-track systems that would lead to a new/expanded Penn Station with the back-end space in Sunnyside Yards for through traffic and vastly expanded capacity. That clearly didn't come up in the talks. Nor did the talks to work on the Portal Bridge first, which remains the single biggest problem on the entire Northeast Corridor outside the Hudson River tunnels. In fact, the Portal Bridge is an even bigger problem since track problems at the bridge result in incessant delays and Amtrak and NJ Transit have dragged their feet to get that project done. Instead of expediting the replacement of this major source of commuter and Amtrak delays, NJ Transit instead spent a billion dollars on the Secaucus Transfer (which would be made all but obsolete by the ARC tunnel and its one-seat ride from North Jersey). That's money that would have replaced the Portal Bridge years ago and provided greater speed access along the Northeast Corridor.

Adult Stem Cells Used To Study Autism

Scientists are using adult stem cells to study autism. They're using cells taken from adults suffering from a related disorder to study autism.

The stem cells came from adult patients with Rett syndrome, a severe developmental disorder similar to autism.

Researchers sought to make neurons from these cells because "if we can understand the extreme case, we can understand all the others," said study researcher Alysson R. Muotri, assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego.

Now, researchers can use the cell model to test drugs and therapies to study how they can impact autism, Muotri said.

Often, it's hard to test autism treatments in animals because it's difficult to see the physical manifestations of the disorder — researchers can't observe the impaired social interactions and communication that are the hallmarks of the disease in humans, Muotri said. Until now, the only other solution was drug testing directly in humans.

"Now, we're proposing that, before going to humans, we test in cells," he said.

To create the cells, researchers from the university and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California took cells from patients with Rett syndrome, and transformed them into cells similar to embryonic stem cells, called induced pluripotent stem cells.

This kind of research may show insight into how autism develops and potential treatment paths.

Cigarette Tax Hike Means New York State Budget Shortfall

Once again, the efforts to reduce smoking via increases in taxes may have unintended consequences for state budgets. New York raised the cigarette tax and is now finding that revenues have dropped off a cliff.

The Post reported in August that retailers said sales were off by as much as 45 percent in stores bordering low-tax states like Pennsylvania and Vermont, as well as tax-free Indian reservations in western New York and on Long Island.

The hike raises the average price of a pack of Marlboros to $11.60 in New York City, compared to $5.93 in Matamoras, Pa.

Anecdotal reports suggest sales are booming on in-state Indian reservations, where tribes have so far stymied Paterson's efforts to collect taxes on cigarettes sold to non-Native Americans.

"That's what we warned would happen, and obviously it has come to fruition," said James Calvin, of the New York Association of Convenience Stores.

"Every tax increase drives more smokers to that dark, shadowy, unregulated, unlicensed, untaxed side of the street. The whole policy is self-defeating."

If the trend continues, the state could fall far short of the $260 million windfall Paterson expected from the 58 percent tax hike.

The increase has brought in only $13.8 million a month, according state sales figures, which means the plan could be as much as $136 million in the red by March 31.

Budget Division spokesman Erik Kriss said fiscal analysts factored a 22 percent drop in cigarette sales into their estimates.

"We feel we're going to be on target for the fiscal year," he said.

Budget officials did recently lower by $113 million the sum it expects to collect by taxing reservation sales of cigarettes.

Some sales were lost due to smokers quitting, but other smokers simply shifted their sales to other states or Indian reservations, where New York has been unable to secure tax revenues from cigarette purchases.

While reducing the number of smokers is good for the overall health of the population and can reduce health care costs, the programs funded by tobacco taxes are getting hit because of the combination of overly optimistic tax revenues and funding levels that did not anticipate the lower revenues. That means that some of the very health programs funded by tobacco taxes are in jeopardy because the revenues simply aren't there. Other revenue sources will need to be increased to make up for the deficiency - that means tax hikes or program cuts.

Throw in the latest warning label proposals that amplify the already existing smoking warning labels and tobacco sales should continue to fall.



It also means that the tobacco taxes are running into a wall where politicians will no longer be able to rely on such taxes to balance budgets or fund health programs, even though the revenues are sorely needed to balance budgets around the country.

Paper Claims Russian Spymaster Was Double Agent For US

The New York Daily News is reporting that the ringleader of the Russian spy ring that included Anna Chapman was actually a double agent for the US and that the Russian spy agency is trying to hunt the guy down.

According to the newspaper Kommersant, a Russian spook named Colonel Shcherbakov double crossed Moscow's Foreign Intelligence Service, the espionage agency known as SVR, by reporting to the U.S. while also serving a the ringleader of a band Russian secret agents.

The betrayal is a major blow to Russian intelligence, and now the Kremlin is calling for the traitor's head.

"We know who he is and where he is," a Kremlin official told Kommersant.

"Do not doubt that a Mercader has been sent after him already," the official told the paper, referring to Russian agent Ramon Mercader, who murdered exiled Bolshevik Leon Trotsky with an ice axe in 1940 in Mexico.

The newspaper reported that Shcherbakov had been spirited out of Moscow to the United States just days before the FBI announced its spy ring sting in late June.

The SVR missed some crucial red flags that should have tipped them to Shcherbakov's identity, the newspaper reported, including the fact that he had a daughter living in the U.S. and a son who abruptly quit a job for Russia's anti-narcotics agency just days before the scandal broke.

It's believed that the daughter further assisted in the spy efforts.

Of course, this gives another opportunity to bring out the Anna Chapman photos:

Chapman and the other Russian spies were honored as heroes upon their return to Russia, and Chapman managed to land a deal with Maxim for a sexy photo shoot.

US authorities have not commented on the claims.

Retailers Brace For Black Friday And Begin Releasing Sales Fliers

Once again, we're just about two weeks away from the start of the 2010 Christmas buying season, which will be augmented by a severely shortened Hannukah buying season that starts earlier than usual. The Jewish holiday of Hannukah will start on December 1, meaning that folks buying those gifts will have to start earlier than usual and could mean a distortion of retail information overall as buyers surge to stores before December 1 to take advantage of the sales, but lessen as the season wears on.

Retailers make the bulk of their annual sales during this season, and they need strong sales to make up for what has been lackluster results once again. Sales are leaking out online and comparison shopping for the best bargains is something I do well in advance to maximize my shopping experience.


Black Friday Ads has some sales up for Sears, Lowes, Toys R Us, and Kmart. More will follow.

BFADS.NET also has listings posted.

Both sites offer up shopping lists and other features to track information so that you can hunt down the best deals. Thus far, it looks like retailers aren't going for the crash discounts seen in past years because they've done a better job managing their inventories so as to reduce the need for major sales. There are some doorbusters that seem to be huge deals, including one at Sears for a stainless steel French Door refrigerator that is going for $1,099, when it normally retails for $2,399. Target is selling a Tom Tom GPS for $79, which is $100 off the original price.

Home Depot isn't letting these websites carry their doorbusters sales because it claims that it undermines the company's advertising and marketing deals, but they'll probably release that information next week so that people can have a few days to figure out what and where to buy.

Televisions and electronics are again a big deal, and there should be some good sales. I don't think clothing will see as many good deals, but you might score a good deal by looking through the items individually on the sites. Toys R Us is providing gift cards with doorbusters purchases of certain iPod Touches.

At the same time, some retailers are promoting early "Black Friday" sales, which are really nothing more than repackaged sales promotions or aren't really any different from the usual sales offered at other times of the year. It really pays to read the fine print and look for the good deals. They're out there - but you have to know where to look and to do your research.

NJ Transit Touts Capital Budget But Instead Shows Commuters Lack of Understanding

NJ Transit Director Jim Weinstein tried his best to spin a positive message about NJ Transit in the wake of Gov. Chris Christie killing the agency's pet ARC tunnel project. Weinstein claimed that the agency was spending $2.7 billion on capital projects.

He included the purchase of new railcars, upgrades at several stations, and other amenities.

That's nothing other than a rehash of the agency's master plan and budget proposals that have been previously published.

Was there anything new in this presentation?

No.

The ARC tunnel was a flawed program that was destined to cost the state billions more in cost overruns at a time when NJ Transit and the state could not afford them. The federal government wasn't willing to pick up the tab on the cost overruns which tells you all you need to know about the Obama Administration's willingness to match his words of support for mass transit and Amtrak with the actual deed of making sure that what would have become the nation's largest mass transit infrastructure project was funded. If the federal government wasn't willing to absorb the costs for overruns on an interstate project, why should New Jersey be forced to do so when the project was interstate?

The presentation further ignores the massive amounts of waste that NJ Transit has spent on projects of dubious benefit to riders. Building Secaucus Transfer was supposed to cut travel times and increase connectivity between NJ Transit lines, but anyone riding from North Jersey into Hoboken has had a longer commute. Since Secaucus opened, the average commute to Hoboken has increased by several minutes each way. I figure that my commute has lengthened by 5 minutes each way. That adds up. The billion dollar project meant that the agency could not spend that money on other more pressing needs, like upgrading rails or overhead power lines in conjunction with Amtrak. Indeed, a billion dollars for Secaucus could have gone to fully replace the Portal Bridge (located south of Secaucus Transfer over the Hackensack River), which remains one of the worst rail bottlenecks on the entire Northeast Corridor and is a frequent cause of delays for thousands of riders.

It's about priorities, and NJ Transit was about pushing an agenda that diverges tremendously from what the commuters in New Jersey actually need. Secaucus may eventually turn into a useful hub, but even the ARC tunnel would have made that impossible since the ARC tunnel would have eliminated the need to transfer to the Northeast Corridor since the ARC tunnel proposed a 1-seat ride into Manhattan from North Jersey. Given that Secaucus already sees a fraction of the ridership that NJ Transit used in its estimates to get that project approved - and that's with the increase in riders since the park-n-ride was built and the Meadowlands connector operating - the ARC tunnel would have turned this into an even greater boondoggle than it already is.

Of course, no one at NJ Transit said how they would fund the additional operations into and out of Manhattan with its operational budget, when the agency had to raise fares significantly this past July in conjunction with service cuts.

The agency has been more interested in building infrastructure where it isn't needed, and ignoring the dire need for parking and maintenance at its already existing facilities. This is most pronounced on the Northeast Corridor lines, but is present at other NJ Transit lines. Yet, it was only within the last 18 months that Secaucus had a proper parking lot built nearby to service the station, and that has contributed greatly to the increased ridership out of the station. That goes to the lack of foresight, planning, or understanding of mass transit utilization and needs by riders.

The ARC tunnel speaks greatly to this, and its cancellation should lead to a general reevaluation of all NJ Transit projects that put riders and the state on the hook for projects when the agency can barely handle its existing infrastructure. Of course, this is how public authorities and government agencies and politicians work - it's far more glamorous to have a ribbon cutting or groundbreaking for a new facility than to ensure that existing infrastructure is properly maintained. New projects are somewhat easier to fund than infrastructure maintenance and replacement, even though it is more critical to the ongoing function and operation of the transit system.

Veterans Day 2010

Veterans Day is a celebration of those who are currently serving or have served in the US Armed Services. November 11 was set as the Armistice day commemorating the end of the First World War, which was the war supposed to end all wars. In 1953, as a result of the massive mobilization of the US Armed Forces in fighting the Korean War, Congress amended the Armistice Day legislation to reflect Veterans Day. President Eisenhower issued the first Veterans Day proclamation.

It is a time to reflect on how we should honor these men and women who have done so much and asked for little in return.

On this Veterans Day, we should not only remember those who served and gave their all for this nation, but that we honor and remember the sacrifices made by those who continue serving today. It is through their blood, sweat, and tears, that this nation has survived bloody conflicts and become a beacon of freedom and liberty to all the world - a beacon that continues to provoke hostility and resentment because we represent what people aspire to have.


Iwo Jima Memorial at night. Taken March 2005. 

Thank you to all who served!

And as many soldiers return home from duty, some find themselves less than whole after sustaining injuries in combat. For them, the road home is a long difficult struggle, and Project Valour-IT, a charity operated by Soldiers Angels has sought to help improve the quality of life by providing technology solutions.





Serve those who served, and Project Valour-IT is on a fundraising drive to provide laptops to assist wounded servicemembers.

How Not To Demolish A Building

This is video of a smokestack demolition in Ohio. The smokestack came down, but not where the demolition team wanted it. Instead, it came down on power lines and other electrical equipment knocking out power to 8,000 people:

On My Nightstand: Into the Storm

If you've watched Storm Chasers, then you've heard and seen the video shot by Reed Timmer. He's written a book chronicling his storm chasing around Tornado Alley and his experiences trying to study extreme storms.



Into the Storm is a sometimes gripping account of his storm chasing days across America's heartland and attempts to capture extreme storms around the country. It's definitely worth a read.

The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 119

Work continues all around Ground Zero as the Freedom Tower (1WTC) is approaching the height of nearby 7WTC at a rate of about 3 stories per week. The steel is being erected in three story increments, which means that the tower should be nearing 900 feet by the end of the year. 4WTC, which is diagonally across from Ground Zero is also rising, but at a somewhat slower pace.

The North Memorial Pool has been filled and the waterfall curtain walls are being tested. Trees are continuing to be planted around the memorial site and will soon ring the memorial pools.

Meanwhile, the former Deutsche Bank building continues to linger as unexpected difficulties in tearing down the remaining six stories have added to the delays. The sixth floor turned out to be particularly difficult to demolish because it was a mechanical floor, and was heavily reinforced making it more difficult to tear apart.

Also, Judge Hellerstein has again delayed the due date for the Ground Zero workers compensation fund by a week to allow lawyers more time to get 95% of the class to approve the $712 million package.

In order to collect on the $712 million settlement, 95 percent of the 10,000 plaintiffs had to join up and file notarized paperwork by 11:59 Monday night.

But with just hours to go, the judge presiding over the suit issued a gag order meaning neither side could say if the threshold was hit until all the paperwork had been processed, something that could take a few more days.

Manhattan federal Judge Alvin Hellerstein cited the "huge influx" of people joining as the deadline approached saying it "taxed the capacity to process" them on time, according to the New York Post.

They now have until Thursday afternoon to finalize the paperwork, according to the New York Times.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of thousands of workers who said they were sickened from cleaning up after the Sept. 11 attacks without proper protective gear or supervision by the city.

UPDATE:
Here's video of the tests via the NY Times:

Defense Department Says Mysterious California Contrails Wasn't Produced By Military Missile; UPDATE: Did Blogger Solve Mystery?

The US military has ruled out that the contrails seen off the California coast weren't produced by one of their missiles, but they can't say what exactly did produce the plume.

More than a day after a CBS camera caught video of an unidentified projectile leaving a condensation trail off the California coast, the situation remains a mystery, with the Defense Department insisting that it was not a missile.

The Pentagon is still not sure what that was in the sky off the coast of California -- except that it was not a missile fired by the U.S. or some other country, reports CBS News Pentagon correspondent David Martin.

The video of what looks for all the world like the contrail of a missile was shot Monday evening by KCBS cameraman Gil Leyvas from a news helicopter over Los Angeles.

"I saw a big plume coming up, rising from looked like beyond the horizon and it continued to grow," Leyvas said.

He zoomed his camera in and stayed on it for about 10 minutes. To him it looked like an incoming missile.

They figure it was either an amateur rocket or aircraft contrails. ABC News says that there are no indications that this was a foreign military weapon system either. The FAA says that they didn't catch anything on their radar tapes, and the military says that they didn't schedule or inadvertently launch missiles in the vicinity.

UPDATE:
The NY Post reports that a blogger may have solved the mystery by noting that one of two flights were in the vicinity of the suspect contrails. It was either an America West or UPS flight.

Liem Bahneman on Wednesday pinpointed America West flight 808 as the likely cause -- backing up an explanation offered by a senior military official to Fox News Channel that the contrail caught on video by a news helicopter “was more likely caused by an airplane than anything else."

Bahneman wonders if he is the first to call it: "I did a lot of extrapolation of what flights could be at the right position (off the coast) at the right altitude (for contrail formation) and came down to two possibilities: UPS flight 902 (UPS902) or America West flight 808 (AWE808)."

UPDATE:
The Post gets the flight information wrong. Bahneman says that it was US Airways flight 808. The flight originates in Phoenix and ends in Honolulu.

Mysterious Missile Launch Off California Coast Confounds

No one quite knows for sure who or what was launched off the coast of Southern California.



The US Defense Department is thus far saying that it isn't one of theirs, but that isn't exactly a comforting thought. If it is one of our missiles, it could have been a secret test launch and that would explain the denials.

However, the alternative, that some foreign entity fired a missile off the coast and no one at NORAD or other military branches knows who or what fired the missile is far more disconcerting.

UPDATE:
The Defense Department continues denying any role in the missile launch and they are working with the FAA to determine who fired off the missile and what was the purpose/payload. There is speculation that it could have been an amateur or commercial launch, but the specter of terrorism is present as well.

UPDATE:
Reports that this might be a previously announced military test, as the FAA appears to have sent out a warning to avoid the general vicinity where the missile was launched don't match the timeframe of the launch. This information is for a period of time starting today into tomorrow for the affected area:

KZLA LOS ANGELES A2832/10

– THE FOLLOWING RESTRICTIONS ARE REQUIRED DUE TO NAVAL AIR WARFARE CENTER WEAPONS DIVISION ACTIVATION OF W537. IN THE INTEREST OF SAFETY, ALL NON-PARTICIPATING PILOTS ARE ADVISED TO AVOID W537. IFR TRAFFIC UNDER ATC JURISDICTION SHOULD ANTICIPATE CLEARANCE AROUND W537 AND CAE 1176. CAE 1155 WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE FOR OCEANIC TRANSITION. CAE 1316 & CAE 1318 WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE FOR OCEANIC TRANSITION. CAE 1177 WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR OCEANIC TRANSITION. W537 ACTIVE, CAE 1176 CLOSED. SURFACE – FL390, 09 NOV 20:00 2010 UNTIL 10 NOV 01:00 2010. CREATED: 08 NOV 20:52 2010

from pilotweb.nas.faa.gov

We'd have to search back further to see if there was a similar warning for the evening of November 8 (last night) and thus far there is no indication of any similar warning on the FAA website.

UPDATE:
US Northern Command says that they don't know what it was, but it wasn't a threat to the US.

U.S. Northern Command says it’s “unable to provide specific details … [but] can confirm that there is no threat to our nation, and from all indications this was not a launch by a foreign military.”

Come again?

What they appear to be saying is that it was a not-nearly-as-secret secret US program and even NORTHCOM hasn't been read into the program to comment? Because that's what the implication of their statement is. Expect CYA alerts in 3...2...1...

Because the possibilities of the alternatives is quite disturbing (that a foreign country/entity launched a missile within miles of the US coast and no one in the DoD seems to know what happened.

UPDATE:
Danger Room has some more updates, and castigates NORAD and NORTHCOM for their inability to promptly determine what exactly was shown in the video:

Meanwhile, naval analyst Raymond Pritchett makes a smart point: that the mystery itself is becoming a security problem.

“When someone makes an unannounced launch what looks to be a ballistic missile 35 miles from the nations second largest city (at sea in international waters), and 18 hours later NORAD still doesn’t have any answers at all – that complete lack of information represents a credible threat to national security,” he writes. “If NORAD can’t answer the first and last question, then I believe it is time to question every single penny of ballistic missile defense funding in the defense budget. NORTHCOM needs to start talking about what they do know, rather than leaving the focus on what they don’t know.”

If this was indeed aircraft contrails, then the FAA should be able to figure it out from the radar tapes of the area. If it wasn't, then NORAD and NORTHCOM had better figure out what happened here.

Deadline Day For Ground Zero Workers Compensation Plan

Yesterday was the deadline day for thousands of Ground Zero workers who are part of a class action to approve a settlement deal that would be administered by Kenneth Feinberg. It will be several more days before we know whether at least 95% of the nearly 10,000 participants approved the plan.

As the deadline for more than 10,000 ground zero workers to opt into a multimillion-dollar settlement with the city and its contractors approached, the federal judge overseeing the cases said on Monday that it would take several more days to tally and verify “the huge influx” of responses.

Until then, Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of United States District Court in Manhattan ordered the lawyers in the cases not to discuss the status of claims with the news media, “to avoid confusion and speculation.”

The settlement would officially end the lawsuits filed by firefighters, police officers and others who took part in rescue and cleanup operations after the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. The plaintiffs claimed respiratory and other illnesses that they attributed to inadequate protective equipment and supervision by the city at the disaster site.

The plaintiffs have until 11:59 Monday night to file their papers and reach the required threshold of 95 percent approval for the settlement, which would pay up to $712.5 million, to go into effect. The Associated Press reported over the weekend that a leading plaintiffs’ lawyer, Paul J. Napoli, said that 90 percent of those eligible had accepted the deal by last Friday.

This is a totally separate compensation package than the one that has been winding its way through Congress, the James Zadroga Compensation program, which would provide several billion dollars towards medical coverage and additional study of those who worked at Ground Zero following the attacks.

What Long Suffering Mets Fans Hope For In Sandy Alderson

Sandy Alderson is a no-nonsense baseball man. He's guided the Oakland A's and has led MLB's efforts to clean up the mess of underage players in the Dominican Republic.

So, it comes as no surprise that the Mets hope that by making him their General Manager, that they can clean up the mess left by Omar Minaya.



While Minaya's tenure as GM didn't always result in seasons being over as they began (they twice imploded in September with coughing up big leads), the feeling among Mets fans is that the team simply didn't give fans a chance right out of the gate.

Alderson's hire changes that, and Mets fans have to look forward to his hire of a manager who will show more fire and demand more of his players than Jerry Manuel did.

Awlaki Again Calls For Worldwide Jihad Against US

Anwar al-Awlaki is again in the news. He's shot a video where he again calls for worldwide jihad against the United States.

Anwar al-Awlaki said since all Americans are the enemy, clerics don't need to issue any special fatwas or religious rulings allowing them to be killed.

"Don't consult with anybody in killing the Americans, fighting the devil doesn't require consultation or prayers seeking divine guidance. They are the party of the devils," he said. "We are two opposites who will never come together."

In the 23-minute Arabic language message entitled "Make it known and clear to mankind," al-Awlaki said that for Americans and Muslims it was "either us or them."

Born in New Mexico, al-Awlaki has used his website and English-language sermons to encourage Muslims around the world to kill U.S. troops in Iraq and has been tied by U.S. intelligence to the 9/11 hijackers, underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, as well as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people in November at Fort Hood, Texas.

U.S. investigators say since he returned to Yemen in 2006, al-Awlaki has moved beyond just inspiring militants to becoming an active operative in al-Qaida's affiliate there.

Yemeni officials have been unable to track him down and he's seen as being one of the key spiritual leaders in al Qaeda's worldwide movement. They've put him on trial in absentia, but that will do nothing to stem his calls for worldwide jihad.


At the same time, his latest video serves notice that fatwas are not needed to fight the US.

Meanwhile, Canadian papers are reporting that Awlaki was welcomed into the UK in 2002 despite US authorities investigating his role in the 9/11 attacks:

Awlaki was fleeing an FBI inquiry in America in the wake of his involvement with three of the Sept 11 hijackers, when he arrived in Britain in late 2002.

But even with such a cloud over him, he was "welcomed with open arms," according to Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens, from the Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King's College, London, who is an expert on Awlaki. The controversial cleric lectured for the Muslim Association of Britain, the Federation of Student Islamic Societies, and the Islamic Forum Europe, based at East London Mosque.

He began a "grand tour" of Britain, from London to Aberdeen, as part of a campaign by the Muslim Association of Britain.

While in Britain, Awlaki was working on a lecture series called Constants in the Path of Jihad, which he produced in 2005, a few months after being banned from the country. But it was only with the Fort Hood shootings in Texas by Major Nidal Hasan, a disciple of Awlaki, in November last year, that British Islamic organisations began to distance themselves from him.

Awlaki's specialty is recruitment and spiritual guidance, and the two go hand in hand.

YouTube has finally pulled a bunch of videos proffered by Awlaki, but Awlaki continues spreading his message of hate online.

President Obama Supports Permanent Security Council Seat For India

This is potentially huge news for the United Nations and US relations with South Asia and beyond. India is the world's largest democracy, and it has long been a leading member of the non-aligned nations although it has frequently aligned itself with the then Soviet Union in disputes because of US relations with Pakistan.

That's all water under the bridge as the US forges continuing closer ties with India. President Obama has now publicly stated that the United States would support adjusting the United Nations Security Council to include a permanent seat for India.

“The just and sustainable international order that America seeks includes a United Nations that is efficient, effective, credible and legitimate,” the president said. “That is why I can say today — in the years ahead, I look forward to a reformed U.N. Security Council that includes India as a permanent member.”

Members of Parliament reacted with sustained applause. But neither the president nor his top advisers offered a timetable for how long it would take to reform the council, or specifics about what steps the United States would take to do so. Last month, India won a two-year nonpermanent seat on the council, which has five permanent members: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

But expanding the body will be a complicated endeavor that will require the cooperation of other countries and could easily take years. “This is bound to be a very difficult process and it’s bound to take a significant amount of time,” William J. Burns, the under secretary of state for political affairs, said here.

Mr. Obama is on a 10-day trip to Asia that will take him to four countries, all democracies; it is no accident that China is not on the list. The president’s announcement on Monday underscored how the United States is trying to promote India as a global power at a moment when both countries are concerned about the increasing influence and assertiveness of China.

“In Asia and around the world, India is not simply emerging,” Mr. Obama said in his speech, echoing a line he used earlier in the day at a joint news conference with Mr. Singh. “India has emerged.”

Third world nations have long chafed under the Security Council's rules that provide the permanent five members with the veto power to trump anything done in the General Assembly or thwart action within the Security Council itself.

Much of that legacy is borne from the post-World War II period when the United Nations was in its formative stages and the Cold War brought its own paradigm shift.

President Obama's move would definitely realign the Security Council's dynamics and would undercut some of the criticisms over how the Security Council operates. Of course, it also opens matters up for more criticism - particularly from China, who sees India as a longstanding threat and rival. It could also bring criticism from countries like Japan.

Bringing India into the permanent membership aboard the Security Council wont come quickly, but it could be part of a larger move to revamp the Council's operations - perhaps with additional countries being made permanent members such as Japan or Germany or even Brazil or Egypt to increase the geographical distribution of permanent members.

Amtrak and NJ Transit In Talks To Build New Tunnel

Isn't it odd that now that Gov. Chris Christie killed the ARC tunnel project that would have been nothing more than a real expensive white elephant for NJ Transit and New Jersey taxpayers that NJ Transit is now in talks with Amtrak over building a new tunnel into Penn Station for high speed rail.

This is as it should have been in the first place. NJ Transit did not need its own tunnel to nowhere with no space to place trains that have disembarked passengers and which would not have eliminated bottlenecks for passengers if there were delays. The ARC tunnel was already looking at cost overruns by a significant factor over the originally estimated $5 billion (it was last up to $8.7 billion and that cost overruns were expected to push it to at least $10 billion and perhaps as much as $13 billion with New Jersey taxpayers picking up the cost for all those overruns). The Obama Administration offered to pick up another $350 million but that was insufficient to cover the potential overruns that would total up to $3 to $5 billion. Needless to say, the Obama Administration didn't feel so strongly about this shovel ready project to get the funding to make the project happen and the New Jersey congressional delegation failed to persuade anyone in Congress or the Administration to make the money happen despite their protestations to the contrary.

Christie did the right thing in killing the project and making sure that a new tunnel project runs through to Penn Station where it will provide the greatest return on investment and maximizes limited resources.

The Amtrak proposal is part of a much larger long range plan to upgrade the Northeast Corridor to high speed rail with much higher speeds than currently possible with even the Acela service. It would incorporate a new right of way and limited stations between Washington, DC and Boston. The cost to build the entire system would be in the ballpark of $117 billion over the life of the upgrades, which works out to a not inconsequential $5 billion per year. That's a huge infusion of money into the system if it ever comes to fruition and receives the funding and support from Congress. That is up in the air with the Republican takeover and the public in little mood to increase funding for a rail system that is largely perceived as being a waste of money because it cannot operate as a stand alone service without significant subsidies.

Drivers Still Ignore Common Sense At Railroad Crossings

A driver in Plauderville, New Jersey is very lucky this morning after engaging in an act of supreme stupidity. The driver apparently decided that the railroad crossing gates were optional at Midland Avenue and attempted to drive around them even though a NJ Transit train was fast approaching.

The train had no chance to slow down. It clipped the car and the train thudded to a stop about a half mile down the track. I should know, since I was on board with Mrs. Lawhawk. We were delayed about 20-30 minutes while police and emergency crews responded. I was actually surprised at how quickly they were able to get the train moving again.

If this scenario sounds familiar, it's because I've written about this issue in the past - and at this very location.

The fact is that all too many people see this:


... and ignore it. 

NJ Transit and local authorities have ample evidence that this is a dangerous crossing and that no amount of action short of eliminating the crossing will be sufficient to prevent accidents here. Midland Avenue crosses at an extreme angle and cars are more than willing to chance crossing even though the gates are down rather than make the crossing at Market Street.

Also, I want to thank the crew of the train for keeping the passengers informed as to the ongoing situation. When NJ Transit does something wrong, I let them hear it, but in this case when their personnel did something right, I want to let them know it as well.

Yet Another Example Of Why Not To Trust Gov't Food Guidance

Say cheese! Or not.

Then help arrived from an organization called Dairy Management. It teamed up with Domino’s to develop a new line of pizzas with 40 percent more cheese, and proceeded to devise and pay for a $12 million marketing campaign.

Consumers devoured the cheesier pizza, and sales soared by double digits. “This partnership is clearly working,” Brandon Solano, the Domino’s vice president for brand innovation, said in a statement to The New York Times.

But as healthy as this pizza has been for Domino’s, one slice contains as much as two-thirds of a day’s maximum recommended amount of saturated fat, which has been linked to heart disease and is high in calories.

And Dairy Management, which has made cheese its cause, is not a private business consultant. It is a marketing creation of the United States Department of Agriculture — the same agency at the center of a federal anti-obesity drive that discourages over-consumption of some of the very foods Dairy Management is vigorously promoting.

Urged on by government warnings about saturated fat, Americans have been moving toward low-fat milk for decades, leaving a surplus of whole milk and milk fat. Yet the government, through Dairy Management, is engaged in an effort to find ways to get dairy back into Americans’ diets, primarily through cheese.

Americans now eat an average of 33 pounds of cheese a year, nearly triple the 1970 rate. Cheese has become the largest source of saturated fat; an ounce of many cheeses contains as much saturated fat as a glass of whole milk.

Is it any wonder that people have no idea what they should eat or what quantity is healthy?

People need to realize that the government simply doesn't know what is best and that the best option on food is to eat reasonable portions and a varied and balanced diet.