A while back Congress passed a bill of rights for airline passengers.  At that time I called and let my congress people that this bill was a waste of their time.  We cannot trust Congress with our Original Bill of Rights, so what made everyone think they would do better with one they wrote themselves?

First of all, air travel is not a “right”.  It is a product you purchase.  You put down your money for travel between point A and point B for a particular time. Read more »

For years and years the blame-America-first crowd has done everything under the sun to spread the Bad American image.  I remember beginning in the 1960’s they started spreading their vile poison.

They think that by destroying American businesses and America’s reputation other countries are in some way elevated in their stature in the world.  In reality (the BAF people often stray from the real world) the United States supports all of the countries in the world

 I challenge you to fine one that we don’t send money to, with the possible exceptions of Cuba, North Korea or Iran.  Even those countries occasionally get our “humanitarian aid”, but I have a sneaky suspicion that the aid gets sold to buy trinkets for the despots.

So we can say without a doubt that destroying America would injure the whole world system.

I have heard for years that American tourists are the most hated in the world.  Tales would be spread in the print media (this was before the Internet, Emails and blogs) about the “Ugly American” visiting all of our friends in Europe, especially France.  American tourists would come back from France claiming they were mistreated (especially in France).

I personally know of several people who traveled to France and Belgium fifteen to twenty years ago and came back with the same stories, except that Belgium had a slightly better attitude toward Americans.  I have been to Belgium around fifteen years ago and had nothing but great reception by everyone I met.  I was having some mussels in Brussels, just to be able to say I did, and had one friendly native remark the mussels were as big as my nose!  We all had a laugh, but the truth be told, those mussels were slightly bigger than my nose (and I do have a big nose).  It was actually the best meal for the price I have ever had.

For full disclosure, outside from my Brussels trip, I have had no other European travel.  So the question remains: Are the Americans the worst?

The answer is not surprising for me; the answer is no.  If you do not believe me read this Reuters report fro, of all places, Paris!

The French are the very worst tourists!  I would not have thought that.

Continental Flight 61, a Boeing 777 was on a flight from Brussels, Belgium to Newark, New Jersey with 247 passengers on board.  In the middle of the flight the pilot, age 61, died.  The co-pilot landed the plane without any problem.  That was his job – to take control of the plane if the pilot is incapacitated and unable to perform.

As the plane approached Newark airport, all traffic was stopped for an hour or so.  While this was done in the name of “safety” I think the airport made a wrong decision.  This tied up and delayed many flights for up to several hours so far and it could be extended to longer delays by the end of the day.

No, I do not have a degree in aviation or knowledge of the inside workings of the FAA and airport operation.  What I do know is this: all international flights have co-pilots, and those co-pilots are fully qualified to fly the airplanes to which they are assigned.

This particular flight happened to also have a third person who was also qualified to fly the plane.  At no time was the flight safety jeopardized by the untimely death of the pilot.

There are some of you out there that would bring up the fact that these planes have and use autopilots.  I agree with you that they do use these, even for takeoff and landing.  I personally just don’t like the idea of trusting the landing of a plane to a Microsoft PC, a Mac or a hardened iPhone.

Some entrepreneur found a way to make money and solve the pirate problem.

I just had to post this!

 

This is the best idea yet.  Be sure and read the whole thing.  I was checking cruise lines because I heard the rates are very cheap right now.

I found a Somali cruise package that departs from Sawakin (in the Sudan) and docks at Bagamoya (in Tanzania).

The cost is $800 per person double occupancy but I didn’t find that offensive.  What I found encouraging and enlightened is that the cruise is encouraging people to bring their ‘High powered weapons’ along on the cruise.  If you don’t have your own weapons you can rent them right there on the boat.  They claim to have a master gunsmith on board and will have reloading parties every afternoon as well as optional marksmanship training. Read more »