Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent

Supreme Court Puts Chrysler Sale on Hold (Updated)

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The United States Supreme Court has issued a stay, putting the sale of Chrysler LLC to Italian automaker Fiat on hold. The Court gave no indication of when the stay might be lifted. Chrysler went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy on April 30, and serious questions have been raised about the federal government’s involvement with Chrysler since it began receiving federal money in the waning days of the Bush administration.

One of the issues before the Supreme Court is a fundamental issue I’ve gone on and on about: under what authority did the federal government ‘invest’ in Chrysler? The initial auto bailout came from Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds, which were intended by Congress to go only to financial firms. Using that money on auto companies was patently unconstitutional. Also before the court is whether it is proper for the federal government to force Chrysler’s investors and creditors to accept pennies on the dollar for what they are owed, and to give preferential treatment to certain creditors over others.

The right answer to all of these questions is, of course, that the federal government grossly overstepped its authority time and time again throughout this process, and the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process has been so tainted by improper federal involvement that it must be dismissed entirely and started again. Whether the court will rule properly, however, is anybody’s guess. In the new socialist America, I suspect that the improperly orchestrated bankruptcy will be affirmed by the court.

I weep for the republic.

Update June 9, 2009: As I predicted, the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear challenges to the Chrysler bankruptcy, thus allowing the tainted process to continue and clearing the way for the Fiat buyout.

Much Ado About Nothing

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You’d have to be living in a cave to have missed the big news from the last week. President Barack Obama (D) delivered a lengthy speech—over 6,000 words in length—in Cairo, Egypt. The speech was directed at the Muslim world and expressed the President’s desire to ‘reboot’ the relationship between the United States and the various Islamic nations and peoples throughout the world.

I applaud Obama’s efforts . . . although, as a realist, I’m not seriously expecting his speech to accomplish anything. The greater Islamic world-view is one focused on subjugation of other cultures, and a pleasant speech from the President of the United States won’t change that any more than the last three decades of pleasant speeches have. Having said that though, what struck me about Obama’s (admittedly well-delivered) speech was that he didn’t really say anything. Our previous president, George W. Bush (R), had a reputation for a glib, direct, almost dismissive style of communication. Obama, on the other hand, is quickly gaining a reputation for saying tons of nice-sounding words that, ultimately, don’t really say much more than those glib ‘Bushisms’ did.

So what did we learn from Obama’s long, eloquent speech? Well, we learned that the U.S. isn’t at war with Islam (but we knew that already). We learned that the U.S. wants peace and democracy in the middle east (but we knew that already). We learned that the U.S. doesn’t intend to maintain permanent bases in Iraq and we want to get out of Iraq as soon as we can without destabilizing it or the region (but we knew that already). We learned that U.S. policy with regard to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is that there should be an independent Israel and an independent Palestine living together in peace (but we knew that already).

Read more . . .

Palm WebOS Compatibility Note

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Palm Inc. launched its newest ‘Pre’ smartphone today. The Pre runs Palm’s brand new WebOS operating system, which replaces their ancient Palm OS platform, and has been touted as the first platform that might possibly challenge Apple’s iPhone.

It was my intent to initiate official support for the WebOS browser on this site today, since I’ve long been a fan of Palm and hope this new platform will be a raging success for them. Unfortunately, however, Palm has not yet released a WebOS emulator. Without an emulator, I can’t test my site. Without being able to test my site and make sure it works properly, I can’t officially support the browser.

I have adjusted the code of my site to automatically push the mobile version to WebOS users, but cannot verify its function at this time. As soon as Palm releases a WebOS emulator for developers, I will initiate official support. In the mean time . . . well . . . it probably works fine on everybody’s shiny new Palm Pres, but I make no promises.

It’s Time for Aircraft Telemetry

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Two of the most valuable tools in determining the causes of air disasters are the ‘black boxes’ which are found in every commercial airliner. One is a cockpit voice recorder which tapes the sounds and conversations between crew members in the cockpit. The other is a flight data recorder, which electronically records various bits of information about the state of the aircraft including control positions, engine performance, etc.

The problem, however, is that these boxes are stored in the aircraft. When a plane goes down at sea—like TWA Flight 800 in 1996 or Air France Flight 447 this week—the effort to recover the black boxes can take weeks, if they are ever recovered at all. On September 11, 2001, black boxes from the two planes that were crashed into the World Trade Center towers were destroyed (along with all the data contained therein) in the fires and collapses that followed.

It doesn’t have to be that way. We have the technology to remain constantly connected, even in the most remote places in the world. Commercial aircraft could be equipped with telemetry systems that constantly beam their exact position and all the information typically recorded on flight data recorders to satellites and ground stations, where they could be routed to airline data centers and stored. A live recording from the cockpit voice recorder could also be beamed to remote locations and stored for a set period of time. If this technology were in use today, Air France (for example) could have viewed the flight information for Flight 447 instantaneously after it disappeared—complete with its most recent GPS position and the the flight data & cockpit voice recorder data with which to begin investigating the incident.

With the GPS positions recorded in real-time at a remote location, the search for Flight 447 could have very quickly honed in on the location of the presumed crash. In this case it likely would have made no difference in saving lives, but in other incidents lives might be saved by having this kind of detailed information immediately after a disaster. Furthermore, accident investigation could potentially start and thus finish faster if investigators had immediate access to flight data & cockpit voice recorder information before the oft-delayed physical recovery of black boxes. Where an air disaster occurs due to flawed policy or mechanical problems, identifying the cause and remedying the issue faster will potentially save lives.

It’s time to start using the technology we have at our disposal.

The Murder of George Tiller

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On May 31, Scott Roeder walked into a Lutheran church in Wichita, Kansas, approached George Tiller, and shot him to death. I join with every rational, law abiding American in condemning this vicious act of murder. I pray for Tiller, his family, his church, his community, and others affected by his senseless death.

In-and-of itself, a murder of this sort is not particularly newsworthy outside of local media. Only one person was killed, and that person was obviously targeted. This was no random act, or mass shooting, or act of terrorism. These kinds of murders happen every day in the United States and, indeed, in almost every country, but they do not normally have reach outside of the local news reports.

Tiller’s murder, however, is unique in that he was one of the most prominent practitioners of abortions. In his Wichita clinic, untold numbers of unborn children—each possessing unique, human DNA—were put to death (see ‘The Notre Dame Controversy‘ for a more in-depth look at the moral issue of abortion). Tiller’s clinic was one of only three in the United States to practice ‘partial birth’ abortion, formally known as ‘intact dilation and extraction’, which made his clinic a flash-point for pro-life protesters and Tiller himself a target of violence.

I cannot say it loudly or powerfully enough: the pro-life movement is a peaceful movement, and those who would commit acts of violence in the name of this movement are usurpers of the worst order. A movement dedicated to the protection of human life, by nature, cannot be a movement that would accept or endorse violence. The ends do not justify the means. We believe that an unborn child is a human being entitled to its own life, and aborting that child is murder. Murdering abortionists, however, is just as immoral, and is absolutely unacceptable.

But even as we condemn Tiller’s murder, we have a responsibility not to whitewash how Tiller lived his life. To do so would be akin to condemning Jack Ruby for killing Lee Harvey Oswald—as we should—but without acknowledging that Oswald himself was an assassin who had killed President John F. Kennedy (D).

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Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.