It’s summer and there’s nothing much to say politics-wise. I will, however, say this:
GO CANADA
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UPDATE: I’ve included a medals standings ticker on the left. The flash file is from the Toronto Star’s site. I wonder how long they’ll allow the hotlinking.
The NDP is hiring! For all of you wide-eyed Jack Backers out there, you could score your dream job of a lifetime working as Jack Layton’s legislative assistant for example.
Writing memos, fetching coffee, coming up with witty one-liners to summarize the Pacific Rim impact on the national trade deficit… YES!
While he’s “Jack” to the whole country, he could be “yes Mr. Layton, sir” to you!
Among the key duties listed:
Among the qualifications listed:
The job posting also states:
“A collective agreement is in effect between the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (Local 232) and the Federal New Democratic Caucus. A ten working day appeal period outlined in article 15.03 applies to this position. All terms and conditions in the Collective Agreement apply to this posting and this position. All applications will be received and held in confidence. Present and former members of CEP Local 232 or PASS should so indicate on the application.”
And while the posting concludes with “The NDP is an employment equity employer”, the posting also boldly states: “NOTE: THERE IS A PREFERRED CANDIDATE FOR THIS POSITION”
hmm….
The 9/11 Commission report was released at 11:30am EST today. It is 585 pages in length and contains some shocking revelations at the overall unprepared state of the FAA and the military to address the situation. I will not comment at length because I don’t believe that I have more than a common knowledge about 9/11.
You can download the report here
So far, here are some of the more shocking paragraphs that I have found:
At 9:36, the FAA’s Boston Center called NEADS and relayed the discovery about an unidentified aircraft closing in on Washington:�Latest report. Aircraft VFR [visual flight rules] six miles southeast of the White House. . . . Six, southwest. Six, southwest of the White House, deviating away.� This startling news prompted the mission crew commander at NEADS to take immediate control of the airspace to clear a flight path for the Langley fighters:�Okay,we�re going to turn it . . . crank it up. . . . Run them to the White House.� He then discovered, to his surprise, that the Langley fighters were not headed north toward the Baltimore area as instructed,but east over the ocean.�I don�t care how many windows you break,� he said.�Damn it. . . . Okay. Push them back.�
…
The time of notification of the crash of United 93 was 10:15.174 The NEADS air defenders never located the flight or followed it on their radar scopes.The flight had already crashed by the time they learned it was hijacked… As it turned out, the NEADS air defenders had nine minutes� notice on the first hijacked plane, no advance notice on the second, no advance notice on the third, and no advance notice on the fourth.
…
More than the actual events, inaccurate government accounts of those events made it appear that the military was notified in time to respond to two of the hijackings, raising questions about the adequacy of the response.Those accounts had the effect of deflecting questions about the military�s capacity to obtain timely and accurate information from its own sources. In addition, they overstated the FAA�s ability to provide the military with timely and useful information that morning.