Day: January 5, 2006

For the second time in just over a week, an Alaska Airlines jet was damaged after making contact with a vehicle used to load baggage. This time though, the plane was on the ground when the damage was discovered.

Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Amanda Tobin said the Boeing 737-700 was being moved by a push tug at the time of the incident, but she could not immediately say whether the plane hit the loader or vice versa. A push tug is normally used to move an aircraft away from a gate or pull it toward a gate.

Tobin said about four people had boarded Flight 808 bound for Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport around 11:30 a.m. when the damage occurred. The passengers exited the plane and were reaccommodated.

The airline immediately informed authorities and was still investigating, she said.

“We are looking diligently at the cause,” she said.

Apparently, they haven’t been diligent enough in dealing with this problem.

On Dec. 26, an Alaska Airlines MD-80 heading for Burbank, Calif., lost cabin pressure at 26,000 feet because of a foot-long gash in its fuselage.

Investigators said that in-flight scare occurred after a ramp worker struck the airplane with a baggage-handling vehicle while it was at the gate, but did not immediately report the accident. The hit caused a crease in the airplane’s aluminum skin, which opened up to a 12- by 6-inch gash as the plane reached 26,000 feet.

The plane landed normally and none of the passengers was injured. Alaska said that worker, who works for Menzies Aviation, was suspended. Other workers were given safety briefings.

Sounds harmless right? Wrong. 

This kind of thing is completely outrageous. I can’t even imagine what might be going through the mind of a baggage handler who punches a hole in the side of an airplane and simply walks away without telling anyone knowing that the plane won’t be able to sustain flight. Worse yet, he walked away knowing that the lives of everyone on board could be in jeopardy. I can’t even comprehend this kind of selfishness.

Now, not only will I have to be aware of the possibility of a terrorist act while flying on a plane, I have to worry about negligent baggage handlers who just might break part of the plane. UNBELIEVABLE.

Alaska Airlines has to get its act together NOW before a serious tragedy occurs.

Some of the 12 coal miners who died in the Sago Mine disaster left farewell messages to their families. They knew they were going to die.

“Tell all I’ll see them on the other side,” read the note found with the body of 51-year-old mine foreman Martin Toler Jr. “It wasn’t bad. I just went to sleep. I love you Jr.”

Tom Toler, Martin’s older brother who worked 30 years in the mine with him, said Thursday that the note was “written very lightly and very loosely” in block letters on the back of an insurance application form his brother had in his pocket.

“I took it to mean that it was written in the final stages,” the brother said. “I’d call it more or less scribbling.

No note was found on the body of 59-year-old machine operator Fred Ware Jr., but daughter Peggy Cohen said she and other relatives who went to identify bodies at a temporary morgue were told by the medical examiner that some of the men wrote letters with a similar message: “Your dad didn’t suffer.”

“The notes said they weren’t suffering, they were just going to sleep,” said Cohen, who planned to retrieve her father’s belongings to see if he had put such a note in his lunch box.

Cohen said her father had the peaceful look of someone who died of carbon monoxide, and the only mark on his body was a bruise on his chest.

“It comforts me to know he didn’t suffer and he wasn’t bruised or crushed,” she said. “I didn’t need a note. I think I needed to visualize and see him.”

The first of the funerals are set to begin on Saturday.

Hospital chief says Ariel Sharon has sustained vast brain damage as a result of the stroke and cerebral hemorrhage.

Pat Robertson knows what God thinks, and here’s what he says about Ariel Sharon.

The Reverend Pat Robertson says Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s massive stroke could be God’s punishment for giving up Israeli territory.

The founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network told viewers of “The 700 Club” that Sharon was “dividing God’s land,” even though the Bible says doing so invites “God’s enmity.”

Robertson added, “I would say woe to any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course.”

He noted that former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated.

Robertson said God’s message is, “This land belongs to me. You’d better leave it alone.”

Note to Pat – people don’t understand God any better when you form messages like this.

Playboy. In Braille.

Quote of the day:

“There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Chuck Norris has allowed to live.”

Heh.

If this involved anyone other than Hillary, there would be a loud and clear call for a widespread investigation into her fund raising efforts. But alas, it is Hillary, and as such, this will get swept under the rug.

A campaign fundraising group for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has agreed to a $35,000 fine for underreporting thousands of dollars spent on a lavish Hollywood fundraiser in 2000, the man who bankrolled the event said.

The organization, New York Senate 2000, agreed to a federal finding that it failed to report $721,895 spent on the fundraiser to boost the former first lady’s campaign for Senate, according to paperwork provided by Peter F. Paul, who helped finance the star-studded gala that drew Cher, Diana Ross, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston.

Paul filed the initial complaint that led to the investigation, and on Thursday provided a copy of a signed agreement between New York Senate 2000 and the Federal Election Commission.

An FEC spokeswoman said no documents had been filed publicly and declined comment. Marc Elias, a lawyer for the Clinton campaign group, did not immediately return calls for comment.

Let the sweeping begin.

When asked for reaction to the news that Ariel Sharon was gravely ill following surgery to correct a major brain hemorrhage, most of the world’s leaders wish the prime minister a quick recovery and complete return to his office as soon as possible. Then, there were the exceptions.

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday that he hoped Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was dead and wished the same for the rest of the Israeli leaders, the ISNA student news agency reported.

“Today you will all have heard, and I hope that this is final, that the criminal of Sabra and Shatila has rejoined his ancestors,” Ahmadinejad said referring to Sharon’s alleged role in the massacre of Palestinians in Beirut refugee camps in 1982. “God willing, the others will join him soon,” he added.

And there was this from Hamas:

“The political map will definitely change with the absence of Sharon,” said a spokesman. “But the absence of such a criminal and a militant will be better for the region.”

And from the ‘man on the street’:

Another man said: “I do not care about Sharon. Sick or not, he is a criminal, a war criminal, who massacred many people.” In Rafah in the Gaza Strip, schoolchildren celebrated by handing out cake to passers-by.

 There’s something you won’t see in the US. At least, not today.

US Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid flips his lid after the Office of Homeland Security moves Las Vegas down on the list of cities considered potential high-risk targets by terrorists. He’s called for the resignation of Homeland Security Department Secretary Michael Chertoff. Is Mr. Reid concerned for the people of Las Vegas? It’s tough to know. By making comparisons to other cities, it seems more likely that Harry’s in a tizzy because less money will be funnelled into his home state of Nevada.

“We had more visitors on New Year’s Eve than they had in Times Square and we’re not a high-risk area? For heaven’s sakes,” Reid said.

Las Vegas received $8 million in 2005 through such high-threat funding to purchase a spectrometer to detect chemical agents, special clothing, chemical response vehicles, handheld computers for emergency personnel to communicate, a bomb robot and a bomb armored vehicle, according to the Clark County Office of Emergency Management.

Chertoff defended the scaled-back approach as one that focuses federal grants on those areas most needing to make preparations, with the 35 locations decided by 3.2 billion calculations aimed at determining regions most susceptible to terrorism.

Some have said that Las Vegas isn’t threatened, it’s the ‘Strip’ that is and casino owners are already spending big money to secure it themselves, so a loss of federal funding isn’t going to immediately change anything. Unfortunately for Mr. Reid, this protestation comes off as just another example of his constant denunciation of anything the Bush Administration says or does. While it could be that his intentions are genuine, he’s lost any chance he might have had to look sincere. There is simply no more credibility there.

I’ve already heard from a number of people who have said that if Sharon were to die, Israel would be thrown into political upheaval. The elections, scheduled for March 28, would go on as planned but now it’s results are less than certain. Sharon was expected to easily win the vote.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon fought for his life Thursday following seven hours of emergency surgery to stop widespread bleeding in his brain. The massive stroke made it unlikely that he would return to power.

Vice Premier Ehud Olmert was named acting prime minister and convened the Cabinet for a special session, where Sharon’s large chair at the center of the long oval table remained empty. “This is a difficult situation that we are not accustomed to,” Olmert told the somber ministers.

A brain scan after surgery showed that the bleeding had been stopped, and the 77-year-old prime minister was transferred to the intensive care unit, said Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, the director of Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem.

At a midafternoon briefing, Mor-Yosef said Sharon was in serious but stable condition on a respirator in “deep sedation.” He will remain sedated for another 24 hours at least, Mor-Yosef said.

Sharon’s sudden turn for the worse, at the height of his popularity, stunned Israelis, who had relied on the tough ex-general to steer them through turbulent times. Rabbis called Israelis to flock to synagogues and say special prayers.

Meanwhile, some Israeli news outlets have said that technically, Sharon is already dead.

Reliable sources indicate to Israel Insider that PM Ariel Sharon died at 11 am. Israeli media channels still report his condition is “very grave.” Director of Hadassah Hospital Shlomo Mor-Yosef officially denies “rumors” of death and says Sharon’s condition is “serious but stable.”

Channel 10 reports those closest to Sharon as saying he has suffered “brain damage.” A likely explanation to reconcile the two reports is that Sharon has suffered brain death — the lack of cerebral activity — but that his heart continues beating, while he remains anesthetized and respirated.

I expect official word to come sometime today that the prime minister has expired.