Flu and Fubar

I cannot speak for Ilyushin or Tupolev but I do know a little bit about their Western counterparts; Boeing and Airbus.

The last two go to great lengths to build superb airplanes with redundant systems and with everything an operating airline could want; except for one thing. When an airplane is delivered to the airline that bought it, part of its standard equipment is an air-handling plant that can deliver air throughout the airplane equal to or better than that piped into an operating room at the Mayo Clinic.

Part of this system is a complex of tightly-meshed filters with a matrix so small that even the smallest particulate matter is removed. Did you ever try to blow through, say, the wool of a sweater? Pretty easy, huh? Now try to blow through something much finer like a chamois cloth that you use to dry your car. Both are porous and it can be done but it takes a lot more effort.

In order for the airlines to use the manufacturer’s filter equipment it takes a lot more power too which translates into more fuel and more fuel translates into more cost.

As a result most, if not all carriers, “tweak” the system. Some remove the filters altogether and others bypass them. The more “ethical” airlines replace the standard filters with other more porous ones. No wonder, therefore, that all one gets now is a recirculated broth of “cooties”. It may make some people feel good to know that, while they are not getting first-class service or seats they are, at least getting the same air.

And flight attendants live in that atmosphere every day of their working lives. They must have truly awesome palettes of immunities!

Anyway, having just flown back from Texas about 8 days ago after visiting friends, I was not surprised to come down with something. For a day or so, it was just a low-grade sore throat, them Whammo, it hit me. Full blown ‘flu and that’s why you haven’t heard from me in quite a while.

I hope you’ve missed me and I’ve certainly missed you.

When, I could drag my head of the pillow and croak out a request to my doctor’s office for an appointment later that day, I got one. Try doing that in the British National Health Service. And trying doing that when Obamacare is implemented.

It is incredible to me that this sorry saga still goes on and that the politicians still seem to think they can get away with it without lasting repercussions, Take yesterday, as an example.

The oil was burning late in the White House as Obama plotted with Democrat House and Senate members to reconcile their two bills. Politics has been explained as being the art of the possible but this latest expression of the “art” is nothing short of scandalous and is, I suspect, unconstitutional. It is no secret that Obamacare will cost a lot of money in extra taxes. One of those sources was going to be a tax on so-called “Cadillac” health plans. The problem for Obama is that most of these plans are enjoyed by large labor unions and they were mad.

As a result of the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, “right to work” states were recognized. These states, mostly in the South and the West provided a work environment where, say a carpenter or a plumber did not have to join a union. However in the Mid-West and the Northeast they did. So, Obama’s contrived compromise with respect to taxation to fund healthcare is that the benefit package of union members will not be taxed but others will.

Surely, one of the tenets of democracy and liberalism is equality under the law? But now we see a situation where a non-union carpenter in Arizona will be taxed on his health benefit while his equivalent, but a union member will not be.

Actually this madness, which is worthy of Lewis Carroll, demonstrates some interesting things about Obama. For a start, it tells you who is friends are. They are in the Mid-West and the Northeast. They are in the unions. They are in the thug politics of Chicago and Illinois.

But, it also tells you something about the man. He salivates at the thought of standing at the White House signing something, anything about healthcare. Why do you think we don’t have a date yet for the State of the Union message? Because, without some legislation along those lines, he has nothing to talk about.

And it is all about him!


Now it’s time for another dose of TamiFlu!