Romney: 47% of Americans are losers, don't care about 'em

[Razgovory]

I wouldn't expect much from a person who puts Ayn Rand quotes in their sig.

[alfred russel]

Mitt Romney Wonders Why Ann Romney's Airplane Windows Don't Roll Down

Making post-fundraiser comments this weekend, presidential candidate Mitt Romney revealed a tenuous grip on the science of aviation, despite the fact that he and his wife, Ann, have been flying around the country this summer on the campaign trail.

After his wife's plane was forced to make an emergency landing this weekend, Romney told the Los Angeles Times, he was worried for her safety. The candidate then continued on a bizarre tangent that showed just how little the Republican nominee understands about flight.

"I appreciate the fact that she is on the ground, safe and sound. And I don't think she knows just how worried some of us were," Romney told the paper. "When you have a fire in an aircraft, there's no place to go, exactly."

Romney said the biggest problem in a distressed aircraft is that "the windows don't open. I don't know why they don't do that. It's a real problem. So it's very dangerous."

The main reason airplane windows don't open is because there isn't enough oxygen at cruising altitude to keep passengers alive. (The fear of window or cabin failures, which would lead to potentially fatal hypoxia, is why many planes are equipped with emergency oxygen masks.)

"You can't find any oxygen from outside the aircraft to get in the aircraft, because the windows don't open," Romney told the Times, suggesting that additional oxygen in the cabin during the electrical malfunction could've alleviated the problem. In fact, if there were an electrical fire on board, additional oxygen would have fed the flames.

Strangely, Romney seemed to acknowledge the importance of oxygen later in his comments. "Fortunately, there was enough oxygen for the pilot and copilot to make a safe landing in Denver," he said.

Hypoxia aboard aircraft has led to many fatalities over the years, including the 1999 crash that killed golfer Payne Stewart. In 2005, Helios Airways Flight 522 crashed, killing all 121 aboard after the crew was incapacitated.

I know there would be safety issues from a lot of different angles, but rolling down the windows wouldn't have oxygen issues if you got under ~20,000 feet or so. If you are sitting in a smoke filled airplane for an extended period waiting to get to the nearest airport, that may not seem like a bad alternative.

In other news, Intrade has the odds for Romney under 30%. Things seem to be slipping away for him.

[Queequeg]

I have never been in a smokefilled airplane cabin.  At least since the 90s. 

[Eddie Teach]

I wouldn't expect much from a person who puts Ayn Rand quotes in their sig.

This coming from someone who's had quotes from Lettow and Hans in his. 

[PDH]

And Spellus has me in his. 

[garbon]

I have never been in a smokefilled airplane cabin.  At least since the 90s. 

I doubt most people have been in a malfunctioning plane that lead to smoke inside the plane.

[CountDeMoney]

I have never been in a smokefilled airplane cabin.  At least since the 90s.

  You can always tell how old your plane is if it still has the metal ashtrays in the arm rests.  Just a bit scary.

[Queequeg]

I have never been in a smokefilled airplane cabin.  At least since the 90s.

  You can always tell how old your plane is if it still has the metal ashtrays in the arm rests.  Just a bit scary.

I remember my dad bitching about smoke-filled flights to Japan on JAL in the 90s.  He complained about it a lot. 

[Jacob]

So how about that whole Mitt Romney investing in a state owned Chinese Oil Company* that big investments in Iran?

*no word on what kind of Oil Company.

Cnooc?  I found it 1) incredibly interesting and 2) so not surprising at all.

Yeah, that's the one. It's particularly interesting, given his own prior statements on what sort of control you have over blind trusts.

[Admiral Yi]

Are the facts you stated not in question Jake?

[CountDeMoney]

Cnooc?  I found it 1) incredibly interesting and 2) so not surprising at all.

Yeah, that's the one. It's particularly interesting, given his own prior statements on what sort of control you have over blind trusts.

From what I've read in the NYT and the FT, Cnooc is a particularly nasty operation.

Last month, Cnooc Limited's chairman, Wang Yilin, said in a speech that the company's large-scale deep water rights were a "mobile national territory and a strategic weapon", a description that highlights the political sensitivity surrounding the company.

In the US, the deal was viewed as part of a worrying effort by China to secure energy interests.

According to a report by the International Gas Report in February of 2009, Beijing gave Cnooc the green light to sign a deal with Tehran immediately after the US agreed to sell arms to Taiwan. The agreement, which was on and off for years before the deal was signed, even prompted interest from the US State Department in 2007, which examined whether it violated the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act.

Cnooc is awaiting approval by the US for its $15bn takeover of Nexen, an oil group based in Calgary with interests in the Gulf of Mexico. The deal requires approval by the Committee on Foreign Investments in the US, which vets cross-border deals on national security grounds. An earlier attempt by Cnooc to take over California-based Unocal in 2005 was scrapped after the transaction was attacked on Capitol Hill. So far, the takeover of Nexen has not garnered similar opposition, although Mr Romney's tax records has put a new spotlight on Cnooc.

Erica Downs, a fellow at the Brookings Institute, said that if the Nexen deal were approved, it would represent the first time a Chinese company was given an operating role at an energy company in the US.

So not cool. 

[Jacob]

Are the facts you stated not in question Jake?

Here are what I understand as being the facts:

1) CNOOC is considered pretty unsavoury by the US, having been denied concessions to get involved with US oil rights, doing business with Iran (immediately after the US shipped weapons to Taiwan) and some of the statements CdM put up. I believe that's pretty much a fact.

2) Mitt Romney is on the record as saying a person has control over what sort of investments are made in a blind trust, that guidelines can be set. I've seen that clip, so I consider that a fact as well.

3) Mitt Romney's blind trust was invested in CNOOC up until some time last year. This I'm not completely sure is a fact; I heard it mentioned a few places, and I believe it's come out as a result of the recent tax return release, but I'm not sure. I expect it's probably true, but I haven't looked into it to a degree that I'll say it's beyond question.

[Jacob]

That said, the Financial Times is reporting those three things as facts: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ee7de4d2-065b-11e2-bd29-00144feabdc0.html

[DGuller]

Obama trading at 76% now.  I now have positive equity in my bet.

[Phillip V]

Obama trading at 76% now.  I now have positive equity in my bet.

You could have doubled your money with me.