Food stylist pulled from Delta flight due to tattoo

Having just flown Delta recently, I think he would have done himself a favor had he stayed off the plane. What kind of idiotic airline doesn't immediately apologize to a frequent flyer in this situation? This helps explain why Delta is such a poor airline and disliked by so many.

Noted Los Angeles food stylist Adam C. Pearson was settling into his seat aboard a Delta flight Saturday morning when the flight attendant tapped him on the shoulder and asked him to come to the front of the plane. His first thought? "I'm getting an upgrade!"

Not exactly.

Pearson was temporarily asked to step off the plane and learned that another passenger had reported him for suspicious behavior, and noted that he had the words "Atom Bomb" tattooed across his fingers. Questioned by the captain and the flight attendant, Pearson explained that the tattoos referred to a childhood nickname. After answering a few more questions, Pearson -- who is a frequent Delta passenger and has flown over 142,000 miles with the airline this year alone -- was allowed to return to his seat.

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Night Music

Open Thread, the Been There edition

Martin Sexton, Thinking About You

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Schumer to investigate lead in reusable grocery bags

Yes, the issue needs to be investigated, but wouldn't it be nice if we saw so much enthusiasm for real reform on Wall Street, which is in Schumer's back yard? Of course, this brings us again back to the annoying little problem that ensures the status quo.

Sen. Charles Schumer of New York is seeking a federal investigation after a newspaper's report of lead content in some reusable grocery bags.

The Democrat told The Associated Press that many of the reusable grocery bags sold nationwide are manufactured in China. Schumer plans to announce Sunday that he is contacting the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

There is less concern that the lead would easily rub off on food when the bags are new, but there is a concern that as bags wear down lead could accumulate in landfills, creating a potential environmental hazard.

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Korean 'free trade' deal duplicates NAFTA

There's much to figure out in the new 'free trade' deal (pdf) that Obama is eager to ink on behalf of his hoped-for 2012 campaign contributors, but Jane Hamsher points us to this:

The Korea FTA text contains the extreme investor rights that promote offshoring; the private enforcement of those rights that had led to serial attacks on domestic environmental, health, and other safeguards; a ban on Buy America; limits on financial service regulation ( recall, this is a 2007 pre-crisis text with all of the crazy extreme dereg language of past Bush FTAs) and more of the most damaging NAFTA-style provisions Obama promised to fix.

"Extreme investor rights" — has a nice ESPN ring to it; extreme sports for the golf-and-Viagra crowd.

That's extreme foreign investor rights, by the way. Obama on the campaign trail:

"With regards to provisions in several FTAs that give foreign investors the right to sue governments directly in foreign tribunals, I will ensure that foreign investor rights are strictly limited and will fully exempt any law or regulation written to protect public safety or promote the public interest. And I will never agree to granting foreign investors any rights in the U.S. greater than those of Americans."

Now, not so much. Jane adds (my emphasis):

The trade deal is seen as a sop to Korea so the US can maintain a military presence in the region. ... Hillary Clinton has been pushing hard for the agreement, and its ratification is the fondest wish of the Chamber of Commerce. ... It would be a truly horrific blow to whatever is left of American manufacturing at a time when unemployment is rampant. But from a political standpoint, fighting for another so-called “free trade” agreement right now has got to represent some kind of death wish for the Democratic party. I don’t have any other way to explain it.

A nice tight package of things to keep in mind:

1. To keep our 1950s garrison in Korea, we hand over to Korean companies the right to sue American state and local governments (among others) in NAFTA-style trade tribunals.

2. Hillary Clinton, the Dem most like to step forward (reluctantly, I'm sure) if Obama falters in 2012, loves this Chamber of Commerce wet dream of a deal.

3. Which puts Obama, Clinton, and the whole Democratic establishment on the opposite side of anyone who's given two thoughts to whether this is good for actual Americans. Citizens who understand these agreements hate them.

Jane calls this deal a "death wish." Me, I think it's just those pesky Puppet strings. Like this one. Or this one.

What you can do: Join any resistance you can; there will be many. And there's a terrific opportunity to enlist the Teabag Brigade against this one. Go for it. These trade deals have to be stopped; and with effort and education they can be. As Jane pointed out, anti-outsource and anti-NAFTA messaging is a huge electoral winner.

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The Federal Reserve and QE2 explained

To be fair to Goldman Sachs, the TARP money profits were already reflected in their previous quarters so they could use some help now that it's almost bonus season. Read the rest of this post...

McCain continues his war against DADT repeal, now wants another study

McCain did talk DADT repeal on "Meet" today. Not good, as expected. Via Sam Stein:

Senator McCain has been accused of backtracking on his stance as well. Several years ago, he stressed that he would be open to the idea of repeal if U.S. military leadership approved it. But once several of the top officials started speaking out against the policy, McCain moved the goal posts. He wanted to wait for a Pentagon-commissioned study on the ban.

That study's findings were reported last week. And the preliminary data showed that service members would have little to no problem with openly gay colleagues. Even then, however, McCain was not sold. The study was leaked, he stressed (arguing that he couldn't be sure about its veracity) and it didn't measure the right issues. And even if the right study was conducted, McCain went on, Congress would need time to examine and debate it.

"You and I have not seen that study," he said of the leaked findings. "And this study was directed on how to implement the repeal not whether the repeal should take place or not."

"A thorough and complete study of the effects, not how to implement a repeal, but the effects on morale and battle effectiveness, that's what I want," he added. "And once we get this study we need to have hearings, and we need to examine it, and we need to look at whether it is the kind of study that we wanted."

That's such B.S., of course. This study does look at morale and battle effectiveness. McCain is lying. But, will we hear any push back from the White House? This will set the tone for the lame duck.

McCain peddled this lie before. But even, Marine Corps Commandant James Amos, who is no friend of repeal, wasn't buying that line from McCain during his confirmation hearings in September:

Amos also countered Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) argument that the Pentagon’s study won’t tell military leaders if repeal would undermine military effectiveness, insisting that “at the end of the day, when all of this information comes to whoever is the 35th Commandant of the Marine Corps in December….will be able to give his best military advise on that.”

“If this policy is changed. The last thing you’re going to see your Marine Corps do is try to step in and push it aside. That will simply not be the case,” Amos said. “There will be issues, we’re going to work through them.”

So, McCain knows better. He's just obsessed with this issue.

According to Sam, McCain also addressed Cindy' flip-flop on DADT. I'm sure she got an earful or two from her husband for speaking out against bullying. Sadly ironic.

UPDATE: Here's the video courtesy of Think Progress:
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National Opt Out Day set for November 24

What a concept, innocent until proven guilty. Hmm, now where have I heard there? And what old Cold War foe did the opposite? As much as the concept is good, it's going to be tough to pull it off.

Air travelers, mark your calendar. An activist opposed to the new invasive body scanners in use at airports around the country just designated Wednesday, Nov. 24 as a National Opt-Out Day. He’s encouraging airline passengers to decline the TSA’s technological strip searches en masse on that day as a protest against the scanners, as well as the new “enhanced pat-downs” inflicted on refuseniks.

“The goal of National Opt-Out Day is to send a message to our lawmakers that we demand change,” reads the call to action at OptOutDay.com, set up by Brian Sodegren. “No naked body scanners, no government-approved groping. We have a right to privacy, and buying a plane ticket should not mean that we’re guilty until proven innocent.”

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Sunday Talk Shows Open Thread

Good morning.

There are lots of Senators on the Sunday shows today. Lots of them. But, there are two guests who will garner a lot of attention: David Axelrod, who appears on "Meet" and FOX and President McCain, who is also appearing on "Meet." I suspect President McCain will establish the conditions under which he'll allow the Defense bill to pass and indicate what he's going to do on Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Funny how McCain lost the election, yet controls so much policy. I guess that's because no one stands up to him. From Axelrod, I have no idea what we can expect. Perhaps one day, the White House communications team will develop a coherent message on something. Until then, President McCain dictates. (Maybe David Gregory could ask McCain how he managed to orchestrate Cindy McCain's flip-flop on DADT this week. But, that might mean Gregory would irritate McCain and no one in the traditional media would ever do that these days.)

The full lineup, which is particularly painful today (painful as in Gingrich, Greenspan, Lindsey G., Heath Shuler and Rand Paul, among others) can be viewed here. Read the rest of this post...

The Pretenders - Brass in Pocket

The song that brought them into the spotlight. When they passed through Philly, I saw them both nights at the old Tower Theater and wished they were playing another night. Too bad drug addictions took such a heavy toll.

Looking back at my zip through the States recently, one thing that still works very well is customer service. I could do without the constant hounding (that some people think is helpful) but still, service is at a completely different level there.

The other issue that stood out for me was how disillusioned people in their 50s, 60s and even 70s were with the state of the US. I heard on multiple occasions that the US as a power was wiped out and dying. I'm still not a believer in China - or at least this current regime - but I also don't quite know what to think about our future. There's no appetite for real change among the political class. At this rate, how long can this mess continue before we're passed by someone? Read the rest of this post...