Burying the East Coast (Again), The Deepwater Horizon and NFL Futility

Top Story: Blizzard Slams East Coast – Sends Travel, NFL Into Disarray. The Eagles-Vikings game has been postponed until Tuesday, the third time Minnesota has had a game moved or rescheduled this season, as a major storm moved up the Atlantic seaboard Sunday, crippling air travel the day after Christmas. The storm didn’t really do it’s strongest work until about Delaware, dropping 20 inches on Newark and turning New York City into a winter wonderland. In Washington, D.C. there was only about 0.5 inches, but the story was the wind. Currently it is gusting up to 35 mph, with wind chills in the low teens.

All three New York City airports are technically closed until noon today, but with the cleanup occurring during these high winds it is likely that hundreds of flights will remain delayed or canceled. Boston is about a day behind that schedule.

It’s a classic nor’easter that has dumped at least 11 inches of snow in every major city north of Philadelphia and brought in winds up to 60 mph in Boston. Massachusetts is in a state of emergency and public officials are begging people: just stay home.

Today’s Boston Globe: “Early Winter Wallop“

NYT: “Huge Blizzard Snarls Travel and Transit in Northeast“

Philly.com: “White Christmas, One Day Late“: Philadelphia will use garbage trucks as snow plows, delaying today’s garbage pickup until next Monday.

Temperatures are expected to rise rapidly in the next couple of days, with Washington moving into the 50′s by the end of the week.

Chalking this up as one of the biggest near-misses ever, as there is literally no snow on the ground in Washington, D.C. right now, though the wind is really whipping around. That can probably just be attributed to the collective exhale of Colts’ fans when Peyton Manning safely slid down after running – if you can call it that – a naked bootleg about 27 yards to ice the game against the Raiders. Talk about an unexpected play. It’s recap week with just four days left in 2010, meaning hundreds of replays of “I’m Not a Witch” and “Demon Sheep” (see below). However, all of the major news anchors have the week off it seems, so naturally there will be no news, except maybe a debilitating snow storm, bombs at more embassies in Rome and the death of Teena Marie. The obvious top story, however: warm weather and rain could threaten the Winter Classic in Pittsburgh. In a week a football game is canceled because it is too cold and snowy on one side of Pennsylvania and a hockey game is in danger because it is too warm and wet on the other. Somehow this is Arlen Specter’s fault.

WSJ: UN Maps Rate Afghanistan Less Secure. “The Wall Street Journal was able to view two confidential “residual risk accessibility” maps, one compiled by the U.N. at the annual fighting season’s start in March 2010 and another at its tail end in October. The maps, used by U.N. personnel to gauge the dangers of travel and running programs, divide the country’s districts into four categories: very high risk, high risk, medium risk and low risk.

“In the October map, just as in March’s, nearly all of southern Afghanistan—the focus of the coalition’s military offensives—remained painted the red of “very high risk,” with no noted improvements. At the same time, the green belt of “low risk” districts in northern, central and western Afghanistan shriveled.”

POLITICO: Barbour Still Acting Like High-Flying Lobbyist. “But at an austere moment, Barbour is anything but an austere figure. He may be the governor of the nation’s poorest state, but he maintains a lifestyle that is the stuff of legend among his friends. Indeed, Barbour jokes that Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels told him “when we were in government together, that his most difficult job was to defend my expense account.”

Seattle Times: New Life for Central District Corner. “It’s a ghost of what it once was — which is exactly what’s motivating business and property owners. They’re sick of seeing the corner that way, they said. And they’re eager to tap its market potential. The heavily traveled corridor serves as a thoroughfare for thousands of residents heading into downtown Seattle everyday…The cheese-steak shop on the northeast corner never looked like much. It’s been empty and tagged frequently with graffiti since 2008, when the owner was shot point-blank at the counter during a random attack. In 2003, the previous owner was also killed.”

Sunday Redux

- Incredible video and slide show in the New York Times depicting the fateful day on the Deepwater Horizon. The Times piece examines why

Story by DAVID BARSTOW, DAVID ROHDE and STEPHANIE SAUL: “Nearly 400 feet long, the Horizon had formidable and redundant defenses against even the worst blowout. It was equipped to divert surging oil and gas safely away from the rig. It had devices to quickly seal off a well blowout or to break free from it. It had systems to prevent gas from exploding and sophisticated alarms that would quickly warn the crew at the slightest trace of gas. The crew itself routinely practiced responding to alarms, fires and blowouts, and it was blessed with experienced leaders who clearly cared about safety.

“On paper, experts and investigators agree, the Deepwater Horizon should have weathered this blowout.

“This is the story of how and why it didn’t.”

- Friedman: “Cut Here, Invest There.” “Make no mistake, President Obama has enacted an enormous amount in two years. It’s impressive. But the really hard stuff lies ahead: taking things away. We are leaving an era where to be a mayor, governor, senator or president was, on balance, to give things away to people. And we are entering an era where to be a leader will mean, on balance, to take things away from people. It is the only way we’ll get our fiscal house in order before the market, brutally, does it for us.”

- Another new Tea Party congressman will reject the government health care plan. “Rep.-elect Joe Walsh (Ill.), who rode a wave of Tea Party support to surprisingly defeat three-term Rep. Melissa Bean (D) in November, said that he does not believe lawmakers should receive the benefits…Republicans who staunchly opposed President Obama’s healthcare reform plan have come under pressure from Democrats and liberal activist groups to decline their government healthcare benefits upon taking office…The push began in earnest after Rep.-elect Andy Harris (R-Md.) reportedly complained in a November private meeting that his government healthcare benefits did not begin immediately.

But of course there is another side: Walsh’s wife, who has a pre-existing condition, appears unhappy with her husband’s decision.

Notes/Quotes/Links

- WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange has agreed to sell his memoir for more than $1 million.

- Best and worst of YouTube politics 2010.

- Best quotes of 2010. “I’m not a witch” comes in second.

- Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn will not seek re-election in 2016.

10th Inning

- The Rams-Seahawks season finale was picked as a flex game for the NFL next week. The winner will win the NFC West, meaning it remains possible that a 7-9 team could win the division for the first time ever.

- San Francisco followed its loss to St. Louis by firing head coach Mike Singletary.

- New England Patriots QB Tom Brady set the record for consecutive passes with throwing an interception in another blowout win yesterday.