Solicitor General supports Vatican's sovereign immunity in child rape cases

The Ninth Circuit of Appeals determined that the Vatican could be a defendant in a case brought by a victim of abuse at the hands of a priest. At issue is the interpretation of the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act of 1976. That law includes several exceptions to immunity, including 28 USC § 1605, which reads:

(a) A foreign state shall not be immune from the jurisdiction of courts of the United States or of the States in any case—

(5) not otherwise encompassed in paragraph (2) above,in which money damages are sought against a foreign state for personal injury or death, or damage to or loss of property, occurring in the United States and caused by the tortious act or omission of that foreign state or of any official or employee of that foreign state while acting within the scope of his office or employment;

Before the Supreme Court, the Obama administration's Solicitor General is siding with the Vatican's interpretation of the U.S. law:

In a filing on Friday, the solicitor general's office argued that the Ninth Circuit court of appeals erred in allowing the lawsuit brought by a man who claims he was sexually abused in the 1960s by the Oregon priest.

The unnamed plaintiff, who cited the Holy See and several other parties as defendants, argued the Vatican should be held responsible for transferring the priest to Oregon and letting him serve there despite previous accusations he had abused children in Chicago and in Ireland.

The solicitor general's office, which defends the position of President Barack Obama's administration before the Supreme Court, said the Ninth Circuit improperly found the case to be an exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, a 1976 federal law that sets limits on when other countries can face lawsuits in US courts.

"Although the decision does not conflict with any decision of another court of appeals, the Court may wish to grant the petition, vacate the judgement of the court of appeals and remand to that court for further consideration".

The Obama administration apparently doesn't think priests actually work for the Pope. Read the rest of this post...

What does it say about Sarah Palin that she can't speak even one sentence of correct English?

Maybe we should pass a law that in order to become President you need to be able to utter an entire sentence in correct English.

Ruth Marcus on Sarah Palin:

Three unattractive Palin traits have, if anything, been amplified since the election: her unwillingness to buckle down and do the necessary preparation; her tendency to adopt what McCain adviser Steve Schmidt described as a "down is up and up is down" version of reality; and her enhanced sense of injury at the hands of what she oh so cleverly refers to as the "lamestream media."

Palin's appearance on "Fox News Sunday" pushed me over the edge.

First, there was Palin on Republican Senate nominee Rand Paul, whose candidacy she had championed. Anchor Chris Wallace asked straightforward questions: Was Paul right or wrong in his view that the 1964 Civil Rights Act went too far in banning discrimination in private establishments? What did Palin make of the controversy? He got typically Palinesque answers, rambling and aggrieved:

"I think there is certainly a double standard at play here. When Rand Paul had anticipated that he'd be able to engage in a discussion, he being a libertarian-leaning constitutional conservative, being able to engage in a discussion with a TV character, a media personality, who perhaps had an agenda in asking the question and then interpreting his answer the way that she did, he wanted to talk about, evidently, some hypotheticals as it applies to impacts on the Civil Rights Act, as it impacts our Constitution. So he was given the opportunity finally to clarify, and unequivocally he has stated that he supports the Civil Rights Act."

Actually, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow and other interviewers did not ask Paul about "hypotheticals." They asked whether he supported prohibiting private business owners from keeping blacks off their premises.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure blacks being kicked out of businesses wasn't a hypothetical. It was American History 101. Read the rest of this post...

Obama to visit Gulf Coast, discuss oil spill review

Whether this means he is fully engaged is another question. Outside of the GOP, most people understand that the disaster was in large part caused by Republican policies of self-regulation that removed the government from proper oversight. Even with that in mind though, it remains very challenging for liberals to accept the drifting and lack of a plan. Giving BP the benefit of the doubt for the first week or so is understandable. Failing to organize your own team of experts to verify BP claims and act independently is much more challenging for people to understand. The White House has to stop talking tough and start acting tough. There's still nothing to suggest BP executives fear anything beyond losing their jobs with massive golder parachutes.

Five weeks of rudderless leadership during a defining crisis is not doing anyone - including the environment - any favors. Is it so wrong to have higher expectations than a Bush-like response?

Obama will also travel to Louisiana on Friday, the White House said. He will get an update on the oil spill response and cleanup and will meet with residents who have been personally affected by the oil gushing from a damaged undersea well head, officials said.

And he is expected to discuss the disaster Thursday, after the Interior Department reports on the circumstances that led up to the spill. Obama had ordered a review, set to arrive later this week.

The show of greater attentiveness from the president comes five weeks after an April 20 explosion on a rig off the Louisiana shore killed 11 workers and triggered the oil spill. It also follows criticism from Republicans, and some Democrats, that the administration has not done enough in the crisis.

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Harold Ford, Jr. attacks net neutrality - plays the 'market uncertainty' card

Is there any reason why any Democrat likes this guy? More likely, this week, he's whoring himself for the telecom industry, because they're about as fearful of reform as Wall Street. Harold Ford, Jr has to be among the most nauseating excuses for a Democrat who is out there. He always gives the impression that anything he says is dictated by whoever is paying him this week or perhaps next week. All he does is put on a nice suit and pitch whatever nonsense industry wants. This week Ford is all about those unknown consequences of net neutrality and how dangerous it can be. Uh uh. Dangerous to Harold Ford, Jr's paycheck for lobbying. Doesn't he have some Wall Street lobbying to do today or maybe another CNBC session? Or is this the week he goes back to gay bashing? Read the rest of this post...

Is there a Sarah Palin vileness/absurdity threshold?

The very fact that Sarah Palin, an unaccomplished, inexperienced, idiot was chosen to be the vice presidential candidate of a rather old man, means that if there is a threshold, it's pretty high. From Greg Sargent:

A question for fellow reporters and editors: At what point do Sarah Palin's attacks and smears become so vile and absurd that they no longer merit attention? Is there such a point?

Palin, who has broken the mold in so many ways, has defied the laws of political and media gravity in another fashion: Despite the ever-mounting ridiculousness of her claims, she continues to get attention. This isn't so with other figures. Frequently those who traffic in absurdity and smears to get media attention keep upping the ante until their assertions become so grotesque and self-parodic that they are no longer newsworthy.

It's kind of like inflation: Keep printing more money and the value of it keeps dropping. That hasn't happened with Palin.

As long as Palin isn't an actual candidate for public office, at what point do we stop rewarding every statement from Palin, no matter how vicious or mendacious, with attention? Should there be such a point?

Read the rest of this post...

ABC dives into Gulf oil with Philippe Cousteau Jr

It raises the question of how valuable the chemical dispersants are in this process. They break the oil down but now small bits are everywhere which is probably much more harmful to fish. Read the rest of this post...

Top Kill procedure has begun in the Gulf

From ABC News:

BP on Wednesday launched its latest bid to plug the gushing well in the Gulf of Mexico by force-feeding it heavy drilling mud, a maneuver known as a "top kill" that has never before been tried 5,000 feet underwater.

The oil giant's chief executive earlier gave the procedure a 60 to 70 percent chance of working, and President Barack Obama cautioned Wednesday there were "no guarantees."

BP spokesman Steve Rinehart said the company will pump mud for hours, and officials have indicated it may be a couple of days before they know whether the procedure is working. The top kill involves pumping enough mud into the gusher to overcome the flow of the well, and engineers plan to follow it up with cement to try to permanently seal the well.

Read the rest of this post...

CBO: Stimulus created up to 3.4m jobs, boosted GDP by up to 4.6%

I wish it would have been larger, but it's now categorically true that the stimulus created jobs. The GOP, and their leaders, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, have been definitively proven wrong. Reuters:

The massive U.S. stimulus package put up to 3.4 million people to work and boosted GDP by up to 4.6 percent in the first three months of 2010, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said on Tuesday.

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Coast Guard approved 'Top Kill' procedure

The Coast Guard has decided that BP can try to stop the oil spill using the "top kill" process:

Federal On-Scene Coordinator Rear Admiral Mary Landry, acting on the validation of government scientists and in consultation with the National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen, has granted approval for BP to begin proceeding with their attempt to cap the well using the technique known as the “top kill.”

This expedited step provides the final authorization necessary to begin the procedure.

I'm a bit obsessed with this today. Getting updated via Twitter from the the Deepwater Horizon Incident Joint Information Center (JIC). No one seems to know if the "top kill" will work.

Ustream has a live cam from user, "Hurricane City," which is tracking the amount of oil gushing into the Gulf with a scroll of the situation in the Gulf, including updates on the animals that are being affected.

NOTE FROM JOHN: Since I wasn't sure what "top kill" was, I looked around and found this:

The top kill will involve pumping heavy drilling mud into the blow-out preventer sitting at the top of the well, underneath a mile of water in a maneuver that BP Plc (NYSE:BP) gives a 70% change of success, at best.

The procedure has never been attempted in water a mile deep. BP has already delayed the attempt from its earlier target date of this past weekend. The procedure could even end up pushing valves further open and worsening the spill.

Read the rest of this post...

Rachel talks DADT repeal with Rep. Patrick Murphy; UPDATED: Ben Nelson will vote for repeal

UPDATE: Senator Ben Nelson will vote for DADT repeal in the Senate Armed Services Committee. Adam Bink at Open Left broke the news late this morning. SLDN's Aubrey Sarvis explained the significance of this development to Greg Sargent:

"We believe Chairman Levin is pretty much there with his vote count," Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, tells me, in a reference to Senator Carl Levin, who chairs the committee.

This appears to bring the amendment much closer to a full floor vote in the Senate, which was anything but certain as of this morning.

______________
Definitely worth a watch. Excellent analysis followed by an interview with Murphy, the House sponsor of DADT repeal:
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Paul Ryan mourns. When it's politically convenient.

Thought for the day:

Paul Ryan, the lead Republican on the House budget committee, couldn't attend the President's debt commission meeting today due to a death in the family. But it hasn't stopped him from twittering budget policy barbs for the last hour.

Read the rest of this post...

Bush at energy conference: 'It's in our economic interests that we diversify away from oil'

The end of the world may be near. Somehow if Obama said the same I don't think the response would be the same.

As the U.S. Gulf Coast battled a massive oil spill, former President George W. Bush told the American Wind Energy Association conference here today, "It's in our economic interests that we diversify away from oil."

"It's in our environmental interest," the onetime Midland oilman added. "And, finally, it's in our national security interest."

Bush, speaking at the Dallas Convention Center, said he believes that his grandchildren "will be driving electric cars, powered primarily by renewable sources of energy."

Read the rest of this post...

Gulf oil cleanup workers getting sick

This is a very serious problem for quite a few reasons. Obviously cleanup workers becoming sick is a major problem. Besides that, BP's failure to provide proper safety gear immediately jumps out as does the failure of BP to immediately fund health care clinics for workers. Some are still assuming that BP will do the right thing and provide money but any delay should be viewed with concern. If BP slips out of their responsibility, the GOP will likely view this as yet another "entitlement program" as they are now doing for 9/11 rescue workers. All of this is happening in the context of repeated GOP efforts to protect BP and block their liability.

Instead of barking out orders on the beach for a photo-op that didn't go as well as he had expected, maybe Tony Hayward could investigate the safety of workers and open the BP checkbook to fund these urgent clinics.

Some fishermen who have been hired by BP to clean up the gulf oil spill say they have become ill after working long hours near waters fouled with oil and dispersant, prompting a Louisiana lawmaker to call on the federal government to open mobile clinics in rural areas to treat them.

The fishermen report severe headaches, dizziness, nausea and difficulty breathing. Concerned by the reports, Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-La.) wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius asking the agency's help providing medical treatment, especially in Plaquemines Parish, a southern region where many fishermen live.

Melancon said he expected BP to fund the clinics, but his spokeswoman said Tuesday the company had not responded to last week's request for financial assistance.

Read the rest of this post...

Obama will hold press conference tomorrow afternoon

It's been awhile, but the President is holding a press conference tomorrow at the White House:

President Barack Obama will hold a news conference at the White House on Thursday, a day before his second trip to the Gulf of Mexico region and amid growing criticism of the administration's response to the month-long oil spill.

And, it's the same day the full House and Senate Armed Services Committee will be voting on the compromise legislation on DADT repeal. The compromise was crafted by Obama's Deputy Chief of Staff, Jim Messina, so it's a White House proposal now. Read the rest of this post...

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

The President is still in California. He'd doing an event in Fremont, then heading home. Last night at a fundraiser for Barbara Boxer, Kip Williams co-founder of GetEQUAL, yelled at the President to move faster on Don't Ask, Don't Tell repeal. For that, Kip was arrested. Via email, Kip reported, "For the record, I didn't "heckle" my President tonight. I simply asked him to do the right thing - what he already promised he would do. And as long as we keep up the pressure, I still believe he'll do it."

Tomorrow, the full House and the Senate Armed Services Committees will vote on the compromise DADT legislation. The compromise was conceived by the White House. We don't have the votes right now in the Senate Committee. So, on his way back from California, the President needs to call Senators Byrd and Ben Nelson. We need 15 votes in the Senate Armed Services Committee. We're at 14. And, add Scott Brown to the call list. he's a no right now. Since, the House and Senate will be voting on Obama's compromise, he needs to make sure it wins. But, so far, the White House engagement has been counterproductive. We had 14 votes in the Armed Services Committee before the deal was cut on Monday. And, the language coming from the White House and Pentagon convinced Jim Webb to vote no. That's some genius strategy from the White House. Offer a compromise and lose votes. I thought it was supposed to wrok the other way.

BP is going to try to plug the oil leak today with mud. The process is called "top kill." It will be shown live on the spill cam, probably some time this morning. BP's cam is here. If you don't want to land on BP's website, the Washington Post has the feed here. Read the rest of this post...

Angela Merkel blasted by European commission chief

And he's right. In the US during the peak of the financial crisis, lawmakers were correct about moving quickly to inject cash into the banks and settle the crisis before it become worse. Yes, there remains some ugly details that were missed but to stopped the bleeding and calmed the markets. Merkel instead chose to drag out the process and lead the attacks on Greece, as if that would somehow solve the problem and end the crisis. Obviously it was political opportunism at its worst for Merkel. By letting the process drag out Merkel has done her own damage to the euro. As it stands today, nobody is sure when the crisis will end, but it will not be any time soon.

José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European commission, who is believed to be supported by a majority of the 27 member states, described Merkel's campaign to reopen the Lisbon treaty as "naïve". He said that the bill of almost €900bn for rescuing Greece and shoring up the euro would have been much cheaper had Berlin acted more swiftly, and accused the German government of failing to lead public opinion in defence of thebeleaguered single currency.

Barroso's surprisingly public criticism, in an interview with Germany's conservative newspaper the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, signalled the high-level political friction in the EU over how to restore faith in the single currency.

Barroso's staff, as well as the governments of many other EU member states, think the mixture of hard line and prevarication shown by Merkel since the crisis erupted in February have made a bad situation worse. They say that swift action in February would have deterred the financial markets and contained the crisis to Greece and its sovereign debt.

Read the rest of this post...

Sometimes advertising can be true - Guinness may be good for you

It really could be for medicinal purposes according to a new report. I never needed an excuse to have a pint of the black but now I'm going to have to insist, for good health. For those who never saw the old signs, here are a few samples. Unfortunately the study doesn't make any special claims about giving you strength.

The old advertising slogan "Guinness is Good for You" may be true after all, according to researchers.

A pint of the black stuff a day may work as well as a low dose aspirin to prevent heart clots that raise the risk of heart attacks.

Drinking lager does not yield the same benefits, experts from University of Wisconsin told a conference in the US.

Guinness was told to stop using the slogan decades ago - and the firm still makes no health claims for the drink.

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