US force in the least likely of places The U.S. Senate voted to authorize military force against Denmark if a U.S. citizen is held by the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The C.D. Howe Institute believes that the U.S. could invade Canada in pursuit of its war on terror. (Thanks to Free-Market.net for pointing these out.)
Booking American Airlines travel on the AA.com website? Use DCAA in the discount code box and save 5%.
Crain’s Chicago Business reports that United Airlines will seek federal loan guarantees if their employee groups agree to concessions. United CEO Jack Creighton says whether or not the loan guarantees are forthcoming, the survival of United Airlines is not in doubt.” I’m confused. Why is the government making loan guarantees available to companies that can survive without them?
Harry Truman was known to complain when his fellow Democrats caved in and acted like Republicans: “In an election between a Republican and a Republican, a Republican is going to win.” In other words, what’s the point of voting for a Democrat if they’re just going to vote like a Republican? Now the flip side. CQ Daily Monitor says that House Republican ‘sponsors of a Medicare drug benefit bill plan to introduce the measure today and expect to mark it up on Thursday, a GOP aide said. In the meantime, Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce committee chairmen Bill Thomas, R-Calif., and Billy Tauzin, R-La., continue their “education campaign” to solidify GOP support for the legislation. A Dear Colleague letter is being drafted to explain the impact of a package of Medicare payment increases…
The Senate voted 68-29 to add $450 billion to the federal debt ceiling — just enough to push off insolvency past election day. I’m sure that date is pure coincidence. Or happenstance. Or on purpose.
Today’s CQ Daily Monitor has House Speaker Dennis Hastert announcing at the end of the week a plan to push through the House a bill that would create a homeland security department. The goal, which Dick Armey thinks is realistic, is to create the department by the first anniversary of 9/11. Call me crazy, but I can think of several better ways to honor the victims of the terrorist attack than the creation of a new 170,000 person bureaucracy.
The Bush Administration is considering privatizing the nation’s air traffic control system. Predictably, the union representing government employed air traffic controllers are unhappy. However, as airline schedules return to their pre-9/11 levels, our congested skies need help. This problem has been pretty much solved in Canada through privatization, and it will work even better here.
Oenophiles are a homeland security risk! The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports that the Rochester airport was cleared after security screeners lost track of a woman with a corkscrew in her carryon. Of course, corkscrews can be found in airplane galleys all across the country, where they are used to open bottles of wine (in first class). The woman had taken it from the restaurant in the hotel she had checked out of that morning.
Instapundit makes a very simple and obvious point — that nearly everyone seems to have missed. As the administration demands more funds, more power, and more agencies to gain the information necessary to fight terror… we learn that the real problem isn’t a lack of information at all. The FBI and CIA had all the information they could ever have needed. The failure is in data analysis, not data collection. The CIA and FBI either didn’t know what to do with the information they had, or couldn’t do anything with it. How bizarre to think they need to snoop around for more data.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
