Very recently I had a conversation with an unnamed person, AH. The topic of the conversation was the lack of coups that have happening in the recent years. It is always an exciting thing, especially when it is one of those hostile but not deadly instances. I am not talking about the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, I am talking a little bit more cagey.

As of right now news pouring out of the oil barron country of Mauritania is that the military is or has displaced the current leadership after the canning of 4 military officals because of their support for politicians who were threatening to bring corruption charges on certain influential people. Now apparently the government is more friendly to hard line Islamists. People like NYP, FoxNews, NewsMax and CNN for that matter have all appeared to not care. Which I will say is not the field day/media circus I expected. We shall see in the coming weeks I guess. Last I heard the president is detained. That must be so shitty, going from the president of a country to captive of your own subordinates.

Read more here.

and I am running for VP. Hopeful musings from a bunch of local yokels concerning a nouveau politicien... at least that is what I reluctantly chided to myself after reading this WSJ front pager (here). For those people who have become so disillusioned with politics (including me) take solace in the fact so has everyone else you know, except those who think "we are gonna change the world" a la Howard Dean's every state bungle. The truth is I would rather have a duo fairly new to Washington than the double dealing back room den of bureaucrat loving grupo called the McCant team.  Fact is nothing ever gets done, its all bread and circus anyway. Bloomberg is not going to woo anyone into an invitation to the big ball, oil may come down but prices at the pump won't...except tomorrow when it drops like 5 bucks. Taxes will always hit your pocket and I am voting for Obama/Webb for office. Mainly because I am interested what the bi-line jokers at the NYPost will come up with. For example  "Obama Mired in Webb of Bad Press etc...). Sorry I am talking like a disenchanted former vet. I think I am drunk though due to Euro 2008 fest. More to come, but not at this moment.

With the failed West Side Rail Yards project, the MTA is back to the drawing board having again reached out to Conde Nast among other developers who were originally a part of bid process. The sticking point on the failed deal was the delay of payment by bidders Tishman Speyer for the period of two years. Too much time for the cash strapped MTA. Bloomberg flew to London last week to meet with Mr. Speyer in an last ditch effort to procure a positive outcome, but it was not destined to be. Now Bloomberg, Speaker Quinn and MTA officials are scrambling to fill the developer void quickly as this project represents an important goal for all current administrations to create a new glass and steel business district in an area that has fallen into almost complete disuse. Some city residents and officials see this as a blessing in disguise as they say the TS proposal was boring and un-inventive, as well as a somewhat universal dislike for vulture developers in NYC anyway. Like this blog post from Will on NYT.

Good thing they wasted two years trying to gift
this to the Jets, so they can now sell the land in the
middle of a Real Estate market dip rather than at a
peak. Like everyone else I am glad to see the T/S bid go
down in flames. The MTA should have told them to put
up or shut up a week ago. I don’t get why the city
loves to give these endless opportunities to
renegotiate to developer vultures.

As much as I like Mayor Bloomberg, this represents yet another failure to either have an effective coalition against, or be able strong-arm opposition of his and/or city admin pet projects.

Either way hopefully there is more park in the winner of dev. the rail yards.

During a recent divorce court session NYC Comptroller was in court fighting over a credenza(literally). Just loud enough to be overheard, his lawyer proclaims that his client 'isn't the sharpest tool in the shed'.....Ouch. Tough break for someone whose hoping to run for Mayor. Speaking of which....

Christine Quinn is still battling the "legal slush fund".

Bill Thompson is dealing with personal issues among other things. Such as, how those aforementioned Council slush funds went unnoticed by the city's auditing branch(the comptroller's office).

Rep. Anthony Weiner is sitting by letting his competition shoot themselves in slightly more vital places than their feet. He rose in the polls quickly last Mayoral election, he will easily do this again, more succesfully perhaps.

Everyone else is pretty quiet. As long as Rep. Vito Fossella (S.I., Brooklyn) and his pals aren't around, drinking.

Delta Northwest Merger Talk

        The new consortium of neighborhood outreach groups, lobbyists, oversight committees and pissed off pilot unions have all begun to take their stances on the proposed merger.  The new airline, which is to be called Delta, has called in ex-pol Trent Lott among others as part of their coalition to push this thing through and make it a reality.  Industry experts and airline officials have said it will take a minimum 8 months to finalize the complex deal.  Yes, I believe this merger will be good for the consumer.  More non-stops, more hubs makes consolidation key for Delta-Northwest fliers.  Also I believe this is an important step towards modernizing the top heavy domestic airline industry.  Instead of having to regulate several large domestic airlines, in pure Darwinian style, the industry is moving closer towards an only the strong survive mentality.  As we have seen firsthand with the recent demise of such airlines as Frontier,  among others, the 80's-90's influx of airlines have done their good and now it is time to move on.  What code sharing did in the 90's, consolidation will do in the future.  Air congestion is a hot topic now, but the logic of the mid 90's move towards leasing regional planes to solve route issues has not helped the situation.  Larger airlines with more routes and a more centralized control over coordinating schedules will be a boon for the industry that has ended half of it's two front war with the consumer and is facing the continuing threat of ever increasing jet fuel prices.  The idiom too many cooks in the kitchen comes to mind. Look at any European country and their respective airlines.  Par example; Air France-KLM widely heralded as one of the most successful and financially stable airlines in the world competes with only a couple low cost airlines in which only 1(I believe) is based in France.  Whereas in the US, there are arguably 7 domestic airlines with considerable market share, with many other local and regional airlines.  Plus the perks for me being a Delta Sky miler are looking more and more plus side as time passes. Who knows though?

The Road to Somewhere Shady

NYT Editorial Board must be reading the The Likely Lad or perhaps a coincidence. As published in April 21,2008 NYTimes:

'The Senate has taken the unusual step of proposing that the Justice Department begin a criminal investigation of a long-running Congressional embarrassment known as the Coconut Road earmark. At issue is who slipped the $10 million boondoggle back into the transportation budget after it had been rejected by Congress. '

Read my post on this here. Quinn has brushed her aforementioned mistakes aside, somewhat. This Don Young character though should really burn at the stake for this though.