NBC: Obama will pick Kagan as next Supreme Court Justice

A scoop from NBC tonight:

President Barack Obama will nominate U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan to serve as an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, NBC News’ Pete Williams reported late Sunday night.

Kagan, 50, served as the Dean of Harvard Law School from 2003 to 2009. Obama nominated her to serve in her current post as solicitor general early in 2009, and she won Senate confirmation by a vote of 61-31. She is the first woman to serve as solicitor general of the United States.

From 2005 - 2008, Ms. Kagan also served as a paid advisor to Goldman Sachs. Read the rest of this post...

Attempt to stop oil fails in Gulf

It didn't really sound very likely to succeed but it's not as though there are many great options at this point. NY Times:

The latest effort to contain the oil spill that has poured millions of gallons of crude into the Gulf of Mexico encountered a setback 5,000 feet underwater, officials said Saturday, meaning oil will continue gushing into the ocean for at least several more days, and possibly months.

Workers on Friday night maneuvered a containment dome — essentially a 98-ton steel box with an opening at the top — over the worst of two remaining leaks on the seabed to funnel the oil through a pipe to the surface, where it would be collected by a drill ship. With efforts to stop the leak by sealing the well at its source having proved unsuccessful, the dome was considered the most immediate way to limit the leak’s damage until the well is permanently closed.

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Coalition talks continue in UK

A Tory-Lib Dem coalition sounds doubtful, but so do most options. BBC:

Senior Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are to hold more talks about the possibility of their parties forming a new government.

Conservative and Lib Dem negotiators will meet at 1100 BST - after leaders David Cameron and Nick Clegg met on Saturday for private 70-minute talks.

There will also be a meeting of Conservative MPs at 1800 BST on Monday, the BBC understands.

The Tories won the most election votes and MPs, but are short of a majority.

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And yet another story of an abusive priest shuffled within the church

What the hell is the matter with the Catholic church? They're a bunch of sick people running the show if this is how they think rapists should be handled. Same story, different location.

A rutted red dirt track leads to the "bar," a couple of homemade wood benches in the shade of an old tree dripping with wild mangoes. Within easy reach, there's a yellow plastic jerry can of the fiery palm wine the American priest loved.

A 40-year-old schoolteacher now charges that the Rev. James Tully gave the palm wine to teenage boys to make them more susceptible to his advances.

This faraway corner of West Africa — with no electricity or piped water — is where the Roman Catholic Church sent Tully, twice. The teacher told The Associated Press that Tully abused him and other boys repeatedly during his first stint in Sierra Leone, from 1979 to 1985. After a conviction in the U.S. for giving minors alcohol and groping them, the church sent Tully back to Sierra Leone for a second stint from 1994 to 1998.

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Volcanic ash clouds disrupting air traffic, again

Thankfully, the rail system in Europe is quite good but for any long distance travel, chaos could be returning.

Air passengers could face further disruption today as northerly winds bring volcanic ash back over Ireland and western Scotland.

A number of flights from the UK and Ireland were grounded yesterday as several Spanish airports closed.

They were expected to remain shut until the early hours of this morning as an ash cloud moved over Europe.

Ryanair said airspace over southern France could also be restricted and the airline was expecting to have to cancel flights until midnight yesterday.

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The teabaggers have a scalp: They've ended GOP Senator Bob Bennett's hopes for reelection.

Yes, the teabaggers have an incumbent's scalp. Yep, in one of the most conservative state's in the nation, one of the most conservative Senators was defeated in at the GOP's nominating convention (a gathering of the most conservative of the conservatives):

When it was announced that Bennett had been eliminated from the race, a huge ovation swept through the convention hall and there were hoots and shouts of "He's gone! He's gone!" Other delegates hugged and tea party members waved their yellow "Do Not Tread On Me" flags.

Bennett becomes the first Utah senator to fail to get his party's nomination since Democrats tossed out Sen. William King in 1940 over King's opposition to the New Deal.

Bennett, who is the son of four-term Sen. Wallace Bennett, was in tears as he answered questions during an emotional meeting with reporters.

"The political atmosphere, obviously, has been toxic and it's very clear some of the votes that I have cast have added to the toxic environment," he said, choking up. "Looking back on them, with one or two very minor exceptions, I wouldn't have cast them any differently even if I'd known at the time it would cost me my career."

One of those "minor exceptions" was Bennett's support for the TARP bailout. So, looks like the economic crisis has caused one more job loss.

In Utah, winning the GOP nomination is usually akin to winning the general election. That doesn't happen in most states. So, in other states, let's have more of the teabaggers taking over the GOP and nominating candidates who are way outside the mainstream. Be helpful if they nominate Rand Paul in Kentucky on May 18th. Read the rest of this post...

Sunday Talk Shows Open Thread

The dominant topic on the shows today is terrorism. The White House is sending out Attorney General Eric Holder (ABC, NBC) and Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan (CNN, CBS).

The GOP has that superstar of all things national security related: Rudy "A noun, a verb and 9/11" Giuliani. Remember how Rudy used his stellar credentials to vault to the GOP nomination? To be fair, the GOP isn't relying solely on Rudy to spread its message today. Joe Lieberman is doing his part on FOX News.

And John will be discussing why the media seems so intent on making the Times Square bombing and the oil spill a partisan issue on Howie Kurtz's 'Reliable Sources' on CNN at 11AM Eastern. They'll also be talking about how the media almost helped the bomber get away.

We're also getting a dose of financial reform from Senators Dodd and Shelby.

Full lineup is here.

And, Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers out there -- including mine. Have a great day, Rita. Read the rest of this post...

Nirvana Unplugged - The Man Who Sold The World

After a long day on the train and then a 1,000 foot walk up to the village from the train station (with luggage and basic supplies for the week) we are settled. Our legs are feeling it a bit but the view over the sea is distracting us enough to think about other things. A few people have been swimming so if the sun stays we're going to pack a picnic lunch and take a dip down below.

On the way up we met our furry friends so sat down and played with the cats for a while. Monsieur Bave (Mr. Drool) quickly took advantage of the visit to take in a bit of back scratching and belly rubbing. We don't really remember his name so that's what we call him due to his regular drooling when he gets happy. The poor old boy had a nasty fight with a rat years ago and barely survived. He had to be stitched together though his mouth never quite recovered. As soon as I upload a few photos I'll add some shots of him on AMERICAblog Pets. He's really a lovable and adorable cat. Read the rest of this post...

EU discussing 'stabilization fund' to settle markets

For those who follow the currency markets, you have probably noticed the rapid gains by the dollar in recent days. It wasn't long ago that the dollar hit new twelve month lows against the euro. Even with the massive drop on Wall Street last week, the dollar was still managed to slip briefly below $1.27 before closing just over that amount. If you compare that to $1.34 a week ago and even $1.50 within the past year, that's a massive tumble for the euro. Clearly the Greek crisis has been a shock to the system though Greece is only one of the very serious problems. The markets have been looking at Spain and Portugal as well as Italy and Ireland, all of whom have serious challenges ahead.

Once Europe has settled then the markets will no doubt look for the next concern such as California or who knows what? It's easy to understand those who are arguing against more cash - who wants to tell local voters they're paying for some other country in this climate - but there seems to be little alternative. BBC:

EU finance ministers are set to meet in Brussels to discuss establishing a new "stabilisation mechanism" to prevent the Greek debt crisis from spreading.

The fund would reportedly have up to 70bn euros (£60bn) at its disposal to guarantee loans and be available to the 16 member states in the eurozone.

Many leaders want it agreed before markets open on Monday to prevent investor fears over the euro spreading.

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