The sirens never stop here.

Today we had a series of lectures, ranging from the mildly to hyper liberal about healthcare policy, lobbying and reform. Interesting insight, and they’re all pretty sure heath care reform will pass, in some form. (Which is really really hopeful since there’s not even a framework bill out there to start with).

All we heard from are heartened that the big players that helped torpedo HC reform in the Clinton years are currently sitting at the table. They’re well aware that if too big a chunk is taken out of any of the players they can very quickly switch from participant to opponent.

I’m learning a lot about the process, and look forward to tomorrows’ talks.

Got to Washington, met up with two other classmates and had a nice dinner. We then walked Washington in the evening, seeing the outside of the White House, Washington Monument, WWII monument, Lincoln Memorial (which has been rededicated earlier in the day) then went to the hotel.
My hotel is very nice and is obviously on the main drag to the GWU ED, meaning sirens all night long. Not a restful night.
Sunday the whole class got together for a briefing on the schedule of events and the ‘order of battle’. It was politely pointed out that this is a ‘how policy is made’ seminar, and that the people we’re here to see care not a whit what we think, we’re here to learn how and why they do what they do. Actually I like that, keeping this from devolving into unwinnable arguments and internecine warfare.
Rumor has it Senator Kennedy is to present his Health Care Plan, which has been kept under close hold and not leaked, to date.
This evening we ate at Bob’s Chili Bowl (a local landmark), saw the African American Civil War Memorial then took the Metro to the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial. Wonderful memorial, and its designer is quite a genius. Beautiful.
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I am at DFW waiting for my flight to Washington, DC. I’m one of 40 students from UTDallas going for a week of meetings with policy makers of all stripes.

We’re told these talks are under “Chatham House Rules” (which means off the record, but I need to look up the reference see the link) so I won’t be going into detail on who said what. I do intend to share the insights I can that interest me.

Stay Tuned.

In the email, and always willing to admit when I’m wrong (especially when I am happy about the result):

I am a TSA Test proctor and pilot who found this intresting. I contacted
TSA/Air Marshal Dept and this is what I was told.

Thank you for your inquiry of March 25, 2009, written to the TSA Contact
Center , regarding the status of the Federal Flight Deck Officer (FFDO)
program within the Office of Law Enforcement/Federal Air Marshal Service.

In the Washington Times’ recent editorial “Guns on a Plane”, several
unfortunate and untrue statements were made regarding the Transportation
Security Administration’s (TSA) FFDO program.  Although the editorial is
merely opinion, its inaccuracies may discourage those seeking to join the
thousands of pilots who have already volunteered to become FFDOs.  In fact,
the Washington Times recently printed a retraction stating the story was
published in error.

TSA has trained thousands of dedicated volunteers to become FFDOs, and they
are an integral part of our layered approach to transportation security.
There has never been a discussion or plan to end the program as alleged in
the editorial, and there are no plans to transfer funds away from the FFDO
program.

We appreciate that you took the time to share your concerns with us and
hope this information is helpful.

Feel free to pass this on.
-(redacted)

I looked, and yes, there is an editorial at the Washington Times stating the program not only has the support of the current administration but increased funds are being sought:

The Obama administration has no plans to end a program that trains commercial airline pilots to carry guns and thwart terrorist attacks, and in fact is seeking to expand resources for oversight and training, government officials and pilots organizations say.

And, to finish the meme, from the Federal Flight Deck Officers Association:

Your voices have been clearly heard in Washington, D.C., and last week’s Op-Ed piece in The Washington Times, combined with expressing your concerns to Congress, has yielded one of the greatest showings of support (to date) from the TSA to operate a successful FFDO program. The Op-Ed retraction in The Washington Times today was a direct result of a defensive TSA responding to the pressure placed on them by Congress, and they publically went on the record.

Good news, and I’m pleased.  I hope you are as well.

Traffic deaths last year lowest since ‘61 – CNN.com
(CNN) — The number of Americans killed on U.S. highways last year was the lowest since 1961, the Department of Transportation announced Monday.
The number of fatalities on U.S. highways dropped in 2008 to its lowest level since 1961.

Last year’s death toll was put at 37,313. In 1961, the number of lives lost was 36,285. The numbers were compiled by the DOT’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

There’s no information in this about whether the number of miles traveled was guesstimated, and factored into the deaths per million miles travelled. 2008 was the big gas price run-up, which (reportedly) had most drivers cutting way back on their driving, which can be assumed would cut down on accidents just through subtracting drivers and miles driven.

We’ll see when the 2009 numbers come out. If the death toll is back up we’ll know it wasn’t seatbelts (though they no doubt helped, and I’m a big fan of seatbelt use).

Newsflash: you cannot believe everything on the internet!

Yes, that’s really what appeared.  I moved it over to get the screen cap, but that’s the only change.

I was pleased to be Zippy’s caretaker when we went to the Bahamas for a medical conference (background on Zippy Here).

I’ve made a pictorial essay on the travels and travails of Zippy the Lobster:

Also, recall what Zippy’s trying to do, raise awareness (and coff money coff) for childrens’ brain cancer research.  So, if you feel the urge, go over there and give a little.

Someone is trying to tell me something.

First it’s snow in DFW in March (see prior), now this.

Now its 42 minutes stuck on the good ship Maria in the Pirates of the Carribean. So far. Really.

Update: I was at Disneyland, with my wife and daughter; wife sat this ride out, perhaps she’s prescient. We were in the ‘yo, ho, you, ho, a pirates’ life for me’ segment of the ride when everything came to a stop.

At first no biggie, then we stayed still as more and more people-filled boats piled up behind us. We knew something was wrong, but no big deal. Then, no motion for a long time. I wasn’t timing at that point, but at about 6 or 8 minutes a female voice gave us a “we’ve hit some stormy seas, but we will be moving shortly”. No motion.

At about 15 minutes we’d heard the announcement once or twice, and they mercifully stopped the music. A male voice accidentally said we were having a technical problem (true) and then later gave the ’stormy seas’ thing (to his credit, then he abandoned the script).

Shortly after we were told that a sensor at the first drop had malfunctioned which had caused the whole ride to stop, and that facilities were/was coming. (Something I cannot figure out: how does any system designer allow one sensor failure upstream to stop all the downstream travel? Is the system that tight? During one announcement they said there were 44 boats holding 22 each, which given the size of the ride I cannot imagine would necessitate stopping all the boats.)

At about 25 minutes in another announcement, and the work lights were turned on. That was a good psychological move, as now we could see a lot more than the standard theatrical lighting, and the kid behind me stopped crying almost immediately. (It wasn’t me, really, but was good for my psychology, too). We could see some walkways not normally visible (pictures to follow if they clean up in photoshop okay), but nothing earthshattering.

Several more announcements, and then it was time.  We were sequentially removed in an orderly fashion onto a landing, then went through a Cast Only area back to the Magic Kingdom.  (My daughter was very happy to personally confirm there’s a Cast Member break room under the Pirates ride, which she’d read on a message board).

Disney was appropriately nice, and they seemed genuinely apologetic, and gave out a fast-pass equivalent for any park ride we wanted (good for that day only, and excluding the new Nemo ride), which we used.

The plane ride home was delayed, but only 45 minutes, so I suppose that’s a win.

Plainly, I shouldn’t vacation.

If you’re not reading Michael Yon’s Online Magazine you’re missing out.  I don’t know enough about Ernie Pyle’s writing to compare the two, but he is following in Pyle’s footsteps, actually going with the troops as they do their jobs.

His writing is gripping, and he pulls no punches; when we screw up, he writes about that, too.  He’s a daily read for me.