GOP adviser Castellanos says RNC chair Steele should resign

Fortunately for the GOP they don't have enough black members to worry about losing. Read the rest of this post...

Greenpeace blocks whale meat shipment

They're not sure how this will play out in court but for now, the shipment is not going anywhere. Read the rest of this post...

Airline now charging for overhead luggage

Too much or should people pay less if they carry less?

Spirit Airlines announced Tuesday that it will charge its customers $20 to $45 for items they place in the overhead bins.

The cost depends on whether passengers are members of the airline's ultra-low fare club and whether they "pre-reserve" their carry-on bag in advance.

Each passenger will still able to bring one personal item that fits under a seat for free, such as a purse, briefcase, backpack or laptop computer. They also won't have to pay extra for items such as diaper bags, pet containers and cameras.

Airline officials called it a "bring less; pay less" policy that would ultimately benefit customers.

NOTE FROM JOHN: I have a big problem with this. I already have to pay $25 for my first checked bag on American, which is absurd. And then $35 for the second bag. That's a minimum of a $50 hidden tax per round-trip. And now these thieves at the airlines are going to start charging for carry-on bags? Don't forget - you're not saving money by bringing less on board. They took a right away from you. It has been standard practice forever to bring a carry-on and a personal back on a flight, and two checked bags. Not to mention, the weight of the checked bags has also gone down for domestic and international flights. It's a downward spriral of customer abuse. And until our politicians step in and force the airlines to include all their costs in their ticket prices, thieves like Spirit Airlines, American and the rest of them will keep bilking their passengers with higher and higher taxes.

One more thing - aren't you glad that American, Spirit, United and all the rest phased out those extra baggage charges when gas prices went down over the past year? Remember those were extra charges meant to make up for the surge in gas prices. So it was quite a surprise to see the airlines not decrease the extra charges when gas prices settled down. And now that gas prices are going up again, the airlines are upping the extra charges again.

I for one am getting awfully tired of "stimulating" the airlines' pockets. Read the rest of this post...

It's 'Confederate History Month' in Virginia

The Sons of Confederate Veterans wanted the proclamation from Governor Bob McDonnell. The Sons of Confederate Veterans got the proclamation from Governor Bob McDonnell:

Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) has quietly declared April 2010 Confederate History Month, bringing back a designation in Virginia that his two Democratic predecessors -- Mark Warner and Tim Kaine -- refused to do.

Republican governors George Allen and Jim Gilmore issued similar proclamations. But in 2002, Warner broke with their action, calling such proclamations, a "lightning rod" that does not help bridge divisions between whites and blacks in Virginia.

This year's proclamation was requested by the Sons of Confederate Veterans. A representative of the group said the group has known since it interviewed McDonnell when he was running for attorney general in 2005 that he was likely to respond differently than Warner or Kaine.

I guess we can assume that McDonnell wants Virginia to be known as the capital of the confederacy. That's very 1860s of him. Read the rest of this post...

Anti- health care reform advocate threatens to kill Dem Senator Murray, hopes Obama is assassinated

The Republicans own this death threat. They've escalated the rhetoric to the point where Republicans are convinced that our country is being given over to the Soviets. It's turning people into haters, and now killers. Which isn't very surprising - when you take people who are uneducated and impressionable, and a bunch of "leaders" tell them that the Democrats are dismantling "America," a number of those people snap.

In several other vulgar and profanity-laced messages left over the next week, the caller repeatedly threatened the Democratic senator's life and said he "hopes somebody kills" President Obama as well, according to portions of transcripts in the complaint.

The agent notes the timing of the threats corresponded to the passage of the health-care bill and in several of the messages, the caller "expressed his strong disapproval for the health-care reform legislation, and the fact that Senator Murray voted in support of the bill."

Read the rest of this post...

Obama to take middle course in new nuclear policy

This isn't really a surprise.

The President's MO is to make a promise, then find a compromise (sometimes before the negotiation begins). Progressive advocacy groups need to recognize this fact and respond accordingly. If you want the President to keep his promise, you need to push him. The GOP has already learned this trick, as have conservative Democrats and the military.

Note that in the article below, the very reason the President is compromising is to appease the GOP and the military, i.e., conservative pressure groups. Progressive causes need to simply parrot the conservatives - if you apply pressure to the President, he is far more likely to keep his promises, and at the very least, will look to appease you rather than undercut his promises to you.

A year after his groundbreaking pledge to move toward a "world without nuclear weapons," President Obama on Tuesday will unveil a policy that constrains the weapons' role but appears more cautious than what many supporters had hoped, with the president opting for a middle course in many key areas.

Under the new policy, the administration will foreswear the use of the deadly weapons against nonnuclear countries, officials said, in contrast to previous administrations, which indicated they might use nuclear arms against nonnuclear states in retaliation for a biological or chemical attack.

But officials and analysts said the policy's cautious tone reflected a desire to not upset the military or Republicans in Congress at a time when Obama hopes to get several nuclear treaties ratified.

Read the rest of this post...

Catholic Church accused of making Alaska a 'pedophile's paradise'

At some point, when your institution, and its leaders, are accused, repeatedly, in story after story of aiding and abetting the rape of children, you really need to address it. Yet another Catholic child rape story. This one from Alaska.

Alaska Natives are accusing the Catholic Church of using their remote villages as a “dumping ground” for child-molesting priests—and blaming the president of Seattle University for letting it happen.

According to the allegations, Father Joseph Lundowski molested or raped James Does 29, 59–71, and 73–94, plus Janet Does 4–7—a total of 40 children—giving them "hard candy, money he stole from the collection plate, cooked food, baked goods, beer, sacramental wine, brandy, and/or better grades (silver, blue, or gold stars) on their catechism assignments in exchange for sexual favors."

The lawsuit also alleges Father George Endal raped and molested several boys—and, as Smario and Lundowski's boss, was the person who put Lundowski in charge of the boys dormitory in the Holy Rosary Mission School in Dillingham, Alaska, where catechism classes were split between Smario (in charge of the girls) and Lundowski (in charge of the boys). On separate occasions, Father Endal and another priest named Norman E. Donohue—who allegedly raped James Doe 69—walked in on Lundowski while he was molesting children and either quietly left the room or did nothing to stop it.

Father Francis Fallert, principal of the Copper Valley School and head of the all the Alaska Jesuits from 1976 to 1982, is accused of molesting Janet Doe 6.

The sheer concentration of known sex offenders in these isolated communities begins to look less like an accident than a plan. Their institutional protection looks less like an embarrassed cover-up than aiding and abetting. And the way the church has settled case after case across the country, refusing to let most of them go to trial for a public airing, is starting to look like an admission of guilt.

Read the rest of this post...

New RNC fundraiser allegedly spent PAC money at 'Club Love'

TPM:

The man recently hired by Michael Steele as a Republican National Committee fundraiser was accused in 2005 by a political action committee he chaired of improperly using PAC money on personal nightclub bills, according to a copy of the complaint filed against him.

Bank records obtained by TPMmuckraker show that Neil Alpert, who began working as Steele's "special assistant for finance" last month, used the debit card of the PAC he chaired at Washington's Dream Night Club, which is also known as Club LOVE. An online review describes the club's "four levels of state-of-the-art diversions and urban scenery [attracting] entertainers, pro athletes and DC's sexiest civvies."

Club Love. Nice new name for the RNC. Read the rest of this post...

Gingrich repeats lie about 16,000 IRS agents enforcing health care reform

This is a lie that the Republicans started a while back. That 16,000 new IRS agents were going to be patrolling the land to catch health care reform scofflaws, or something. Factcheck.org already debunked it.

Part of the problem here is that the GOP leadership feels that the only way they can win a policy dispute is by lying. Palin did it with the "death panels," and now they're all doing it with this lie about the IRS. Part of the problem is also that Gingrich continues to feed the kind of anti-govt conspiracy theories that could lead yet another right-wing nut to commit an act of domestic terror. It's a real problem, the degree to which Republicans are fanning the flames of hatred of government, what with the Teabaggers calling a black congressman the n-word, and a gay congressman "faggot," while spitting on another black congressman.

Democrats need to nip these lies in the bud. It's fine to send around the link to Factcheck.org, but at some point I think the President needs to get involved. He can't weigh in on every lie, but when the lies are big, like death panels or this "IRS agent" bs, and when the lie involves a critical part of his agenda - e.g., health care reform - the White House needs to pull out the big guns. No one can get the media's attention like the President. He should call out Gingrich on the IRS lie, just as he should have called out Palin on the death panels. Get in front of the cameras, invite Gingrich to show up tomorrow at the White House gates, at noon, tell him the press will be there, and you'll be glad to watch him explain to the country where the 16,000 IRS agents are in the health care bill. Then get some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the show.

Read the rest of this post...

Australia reacts to oil tanker spill on Great Barrier Reef

The Prime Minister has every right to be furious because it appears as though the tanker was taking a shortcut through a protected area. The fines could be very high for the shipping company but I hope that justice is faster than we've seen in the US with the Exxon Valdez. Imagine the fun along the US coast when oil drilling expands. BBC:

Australian PM Kevin Rudd has voiced his anger over the grounding of a Chinese ship in the Great Barrier Reef.

Mr Rudd said it was "outrageous" the ship had apparently strayed 12km (7.5 miles) off course through the marine park, where it is now leaking oil.

He said the situation remained serious and vowed to bring those responsible for the disaster to account.

Officials say the ship is badly damaged but stable and that the threat of oil slicks has been largely contained.

Mr Rudd said there was "no greater natural asset for Australia than the Great Barrier Reef" and that he took any threat to the marine park "fundamentally seriously".

Read the rest of this post...

Death toll now at 25 with 4 missing in WV mine explosion

Just a horrific workplace tragedy in Montcoal, West Virginia:

If, as feared, the four missing miners are found to have perished and the death toll at Upper Big Branch rises to 29, it would be the worst U.S. mining disaster since 1970, when 38 were killed by an explosion at Finley Coal Co. in Hyden, Ky.

The cause of Monday's explosion has not been determined, but a buildup of methane or coal dust was considered the likeliest culprit.

Although Massey Energy boasts on its Web site of achieving its best safety record in 2009 and beating the industry average for the sixth consecutive year, safety officials said the Upper Big Branch Mine, run by Massey subsidiary Performance Coal Co., has a history of violations for not properly ventilating methane gas.

Federal inspectors fined the company more than $382,000 in the past year for repeated serious violations involving its ventilation plan and equipment at Upper Big Branch, the Associated Press reported. The violations also cover failing to follow the plan, allowing combustible coal dust to pile up and having improper firefighting equipment.

I suspect we'll be hearing more about Massey Energy over the next few weeks. ABC has some of the company's history:

The West Virginia coal mine where an explosion killed 25 workers and left another four unaccounted for in the worst mining disaster since 1984 had amassed scores of citations from mining safety officials, including 57 infractions just last month for violations that included repeatedly failing to develop and follow a ventilation plan. The federal records catalog the problems at the Upper Big Branch mine, operated by the Performance Coal Company. They show the company was fighting many of the steepest fines, or simply refusing to pay them. Performance is a subsidiary of Massey Energy. Another Massey subsidiary agreed to pay $4.2 million in criminal and civil fines last year and admitted to willfully violating mandatory safety standards that led to the deaths of two miners.

Read the rest of this post...

Senator John Ensign: 'narcissistic and reckless — a detached, self-righteous figure'

John Ensign is still a United States Senator. He's still a reliable vote for obstruction in the GOP Caucus. In DC, he's one of the elite. Back home in Nevada, he's getting pummeled in the press. Yesterday, we had Jon Ralston's column about a potential indictment. Today, we've got this brutal, just brutal, article from the Las Vegas Sun:

In interviews with the Las Vegas Sun, more than a dozen friends, associates and Republican allies, some of whom have known Ensign for years, describe him as a politician who has grown narcissistic and reckless — a detached, self-righteous figure with almost no regard for those who helped send him to Washington or keep him there.

Ensign’s actions in the wake of the affair, and the resulting investigations by the Justice Department and the Senate Ethics Committee have bled into the lives of his once-closest aides, associates and friends, as well as largely innocent bystanders and his family.

The sources, most of whom spoke to the Sun on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigations, said what rankles so many in Republican circles is that Ensign seems oblivious to the collateral damage caused by his actions, and unwilling to make the matter disappear by resigning.

Capitol Hill is filled with narcissists. But, Ensign really has taken it to a new plane. He's probably on the verge of an indictment, yet keeps plugging along, seemingly unfazed. We'll never hear a peep from any of his GOP Senate colleagues. Members on the Hill protect each other (although the GOPers did try to throw Larry Craig under the bus, but his scandal was gay-themed.)

One of the best lines from the article:

Ensign was active in Promise Keepers and openly evangelical, gushing with pious intonations.

And, still a Senator. Read the rest of this post...

Tuesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

The President is holding an Easter prayer breakfast at the White House this morning with Christian leaders. According to the Daily Guidance, received via email:

Christian leaders from across the country will join the President at this breakfast for a time of prayer, reflection, and celebration of Easter. The President will also highlight the important role that Christian organizations play in serving our country.

Can't wait to see the guest list for this one.

And, how about that mine disaster in West Virginia? It's horrific. I heard on the radio that there are 25 dead miners and four are missing. Good lord. It sounds like something out of the 1930s, not 2010. Of course, the mine company has a history of safety violations. We'll have more on this later today, I'm sure.

As Chris noted, the British are having elections on May 6th. So, there's one month to aggressively campaign. One month. That sounds so civil. We've already started to see GOPers lining up campaigns for 2012. And, Obama basically started his reelection operation on January 21, 2009. We'll see it kick into gear this November, after the midterms. But, the Brits have one month.

What's the news? Read the rest of this post...

California company to begin pilot of electric car filling station in Japan

But the teabagger/flat earth/there-is-no-climate-change folks are right. It's all just a waste of money and nobody would ever invest in this green technology.

The first public trial of a system that "refills" electric cars in minutes will be launched this month. The Californian company Better Place will test its automated battery-swap stations in Tokyo.

It is the latest element in the company's ambitious plans to build the world's first infrastructure networks for electric cars by the start of next year.

Globally, road vehicles generate around a fifth of carbon dioxide emissions. The figure is the same for the UK. According to a study for the Department for Transport, widespread adoption of electric vehicles with a range of 30 miles or more could halve road transport emissions.

One of the biggest challenges, however, to the large-scale implementation of electric cars is the problem of infrastructure for recharging.

Read the rest of this post...

Gordon Brown to call elections in UK

Apparently Labour believes they're catching up with the Tories, so May is the right time. It still sounds like a tough battle, but how much better can it really get for Brown in a short period of time? The Guardian:

Brown will meet his cabinet for 45 minutes at 9.15am before driving to the palace to ask the Queen's permission to dissolve parliament. Previewing the message that will be at the heart of his election campaign, Brown said tonight: "The people of this country have fought too hard to get Britain on the road to recovery to allow anybody to take us back on to the road to recession."

Before launching his "GB on the road campaign", the prime minister will say the choice is between securing the recovery and a reckless Tory party that will derail it. He will insist that the Tories are alone in believing this year is the right time to cut £6bn in government spending.

David Cameron, the Tory leader, will counter by promising to fight for "the great ignored". For the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg will say: "The election marks the beginning of the end of Brown."

Read the rest of this post...

Tiny monkey fights terrorism in Asia

So that's where Dubya's been. Read the rest of this post...