Free Republic

US complaints about European government subsidies to Airbus Industrie have not stopped US airports preparing for the arrival of the giant A380 jet that is set to spark a new transatlantic trade dogfight. A Monday deadline for an agreement is almost certain to pass without a result and the United States has said it will then take its complaint to the World Trade Organization. Airbus is hoping the 550-seat A380, the world's biggest jet, will revolutionize air travel. And even though no US airline has ordered the European jet, aviation authorities are getting Los Angeles, New York's John F....

April 2, 2004: For a long time is was said, only half in jest, that you built a new warplane by finding the most powerful engine you could and then building an airplane around it. That has changed in the last two decades. The engine and the airframe are now easy, the software to make everything work together is the hard part. The F-22 software comprises some two million lines of source code (the text and numbers that are converted, or "compiled', into computer readable instructions). This code is complex, and it must work reliably for long periods of time,...

<p>For more than two years, San Jose officials have been adamant: The cost of its grand new City Hall downtown was capped at $343 million. No caveats, no excuses.</p> <p>Actually, it's not it.</p> <p>With little public notice, the city council is scheduled to vote today to approve $45 million for technology, equipment, furniture and moving costs. Total spending on the 18-story building and adjoining rotunda would grow to $388 million. The original price tag was $214 million.</p>

Bush's White Elephant President Bush’s approval rating has remained above 70 percent for ten months. Far from being an asset, these approval ratings are a liability that has hurt his agenda. Immediately after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Democrats feared and Republicans hoped that Mr. Bush’s approval ratings—which jumped from 57 percent to 90 percent—would create political capital that would help Bush advance his legislative agenda and elect more Republicans. Both Republican hopes and Democratic fears went unfulfilled. On November 6, only 55 days after September 11, the GOP lost control of the governors’ mansions...