Professional pilot cites civil liberties, refuses TSA body scan

It's unfortunate that it had to come to this. Instead of making a knee jerk decision to add expensive body scans that may or may not work (and may be bad for your health) maybe the TSA could have shown everyone why the scans were so valuable. It's an expensive price to pay for our freedom. Not Sarah Palin/Teabagger BS freedom, but the real thing.

The pilot who refused to go through the new full body scan at Memphis International Airport is speaking out.

Michael Roberts says he refused to go through, not because he's a pilot, but instead because he believes nobody should have to be subjected to "a virtual strip search."

Roberts was traveling Friday from his hometown of Memphis to Houston, where he's based as a pilot for ExpressJet Airlines. He says a TSA agent asked him to take off his shoes and enter the new machine. He told the agent he wasn't willing. "I'm not going to do it," he says. "Not once am I going to show them my naked body."

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NY Times uncovers short list of Chamber of Commerce contributions

And yes, foreign companies are involved according to the report. Corporate America and beyond has declared war on the Democrats. No matter how gently they have been treated despite ruining the economy, they apparently believe that they need even more. Thankfully for these corporations, the GOP is ready and willing to give them their dream list.

As bad as it is to see corporate America trashing the system, we need to learn a lot more about all foreign sources of money that are polluting the US election.

Prudential Financial sent in a $2 million donation last year as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce launched a national advertising campaign to weaken the historic rewrite of the nation’s financial regulations.

Dow Chemical delivered $1.7 million to the chamber last year as the group took a leading role in aggressively fighting proposed new rules that would impose tighter security requirements on chemical facilities.

And Goldman Sachs, Chevron Texaco, and Aegon, a multinational insurance company based in the Netherlands, donated more than $8 million in recent years to a chamber foundation that has helped wage a national campaign to limit the ability of trial lawyers to sue businesses.

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Sarah Palin's flag desecration

Click to see larger version.

Sure looks like it. Read the rest of this post...

How Wisconsin GOPer Ron Johnson worked with Catholic Bishops to kill child sex abuse bill

Jud at Uppity Wisconsin has been bird-dogging the scandal involving GOPer Ron Johnson's ties to the Catholic Church child rape scandal. This really came to light when Johnson went to the State Capitol this year to lobby against legislation that would aid the victims of child sex abuse. That video is here. Johnson was there at the behest of the Catholic hierarchy.

Jud provides a more detailed video of Johnson's appearance at the Capitol and offers these findings:

* It is clear that Johnson was there as part of a coalition of Wisconsin Catholic Dioceses led by Archbishop Jerome Listecki. (If that name sounds familiar, its because its the same ultra-rightwing Listecki that made national news for saying that Obama shouldn't go to Notre Dame.)

* Listecki also has the dubious distinction of running the LaCrosse Diocese for many years. During Listecki's time in LaCrosse the Diocese had the highest "clearance rate" of priests accused of childhood sexual assaults in the nation. The national average of accused priests being "cleared" by the diocese and being allowed to return to their parishes is 12%. At the LaCrosse Diocese, the rate is a whopping 64%.

* The entire Catholic coalition stayed around for nearly the whole hearing, until about a half hour from the end, when victims of childhood sexual abuse were really starting to lay into them. When I say lay into them, I mean it-- I included some on the video below.

* Tony Blando also was there representing the Green Bay Diocese. This is the same Tony Blando that runs the Unified Catholic Schools in Oshkosh, where Johnson served many years on their board. Currently Blando is working as a full-time staffer on the Johnson campaign.

* Several of the victims testifying, including John Mutter, were sexually assaulted within the boundaries of the Green Bay Diocese, where Ron Johnson served on Finance Council (which deals with sexual assault lawsuits). These victims were testifying in favor of lifting the statute of limitations so that they could sue the Green Bay Diocese for reassigning instead of arresting pedophile priests.

Voters in Wisconsin don't know much about Johnson. But, they should know about his involvement with the Catholic Bishops who were trying to cover-up the child rape scandal in Wisconsin. It's appalling. Read the rest of this post...

New insurance rules moving forward

And good news on the health care reform front:

Brushing off a last-minute lobbying push by the insurance industry, state insurance officials on Thursday finalized new rules requiring insurance companies to dedicate more revenues directly to healthcare costs.

The new healthcare reform law requires large employer plans to dedicate at least 85 cents of each premium dollar to actual medical treatments or other activities that improve care. (The threshold for individual and small group plans is 80 percent.) Plans that don't meet those thresholds are required to give rebates to their customers, beginning in 2012.

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Strong turnout for Dems in early voting

Some good electoral news:

Election Day is already over for more than 3 million Americans, and a surprising number of them are Democrats.

Republicans clearly are gaining ground in turning out early voters compared with their showing two years ago, but figures from the first batch of states that offer clues about 2010 early voting patterns still give Democrats an edge in a number of states and big counties.

"If people thought the Democrats were just going to roll over and play dead in this election, that's not what we're seeing," said Michael McDonald, a George Mason University professor who tracks early voting nationally. "They've got to be feeling a little bit better with the numbers that they're seeing."

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Anchorage Daily News: Joe Miller's personal police were active duty military

We discussed here the problem with personal police (I'm deliberately ignoring the dressed-up euphemism "private police"). For us small people, we get the pseudo-uniforms from Wackenhut and [insert city name here] Patrol. For the Big Boys, it's pseudo-Secret Service, with the curly-wire earpieces, the cheap suits and flattops, and all the tough-guy trappings of the real thing. Thus with Alaska GOP Senate hopeful (and Tea Bag loonie) Joe Miller and his own personal goon squad.

Now it turns out that two of Miller's fake cops who put Alaska Dispatch editor Tony Hopfinger in handcuffs (until the real cops came to release him) were active duty military. The Alaska Daily News:

Meanwhile, the Army says that two of the guards who assisted in the arrest of the journalist and who tried to prevent two other reporters from filming the detention were active-duty soldiers moonlighting for Miller's security contractor, the Drop Zone, a Spenard surplus store and protection service.

The soldiers, Spc. Tyler Ellingboe, 22, and Sgt. Alexander Valdez, 31, are assigned to the 3rd Maneuver Enhancement Brigade at Fort Richardson. Maj. Bill Coppernoll, the public affairs officer for the Army in Alaska, said the two soldiers did not have permission from their current chain of command to work for the Drop Zone, but the Army was still researching whether previous company or brigade commanders authorized their employment.

Here's Glenn Greenwald:

DoD Directive 1344.10 [pdf] -- governing "Political Activities by Members of the Armed Forces on Active Duty" -- provides: "A member on AD [active duty] shall not: ... [p]articipate in partisan political management, campaigns, or conventions." The legality is the least of the concerns here. That directive exists because it's dangerous and undemocratic to have active-duty soldiers taking an active role in partisan campaigns; having them handcuff journalists on behalf of candidates is so far over that line that it's hard to believe it happened. The real issue, though, is Joe Miller: the fact that he did this and then emphatically defended it reveals the deep authoritarianism of many of these "small-government, pro-Constitution" right-wing candidates. Any American of minimal decency should be repelled by this incident.

Digby has more about Tea Party authoritarians here.

GP Read the rest of this post...

Join our live chat with Rep. Patrick Murphy, the House sponsor of DADT repeal

The chat with Rep. Patrick Murphy begins at 1:30 PM. The Iraq vet was the House sponsor of the DADT repeal bill -- and has been a tireless advocate. Now, he needs our help.The chat is co-hosted by Open Left, Good As You, Pam's House Blend, Bilerico and AMERICAblog Gay.

For this one, we've got an ActBlue page set up. On Murphy's ActBlue page, the top fundraiser so far is by Stonewall Democrats with 99 contributors. I bet our combined blogs can top that this afternoon. We want 100. Help Patrick Murphy today.
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Palin & Huckabee want to slash NPR's funding for firing Juan Williams over racist anti-Muslim remark

Here's what Palin and Huckabee are saying:

"NPR defends 1st Amendment Right, but will fire u if u exercise it," Palin tweeted. "Juan Williams: u got taste of Left's hypocrisy, they screwed up firing you."

Huckabee went further in his criticism, calling on Congress to pull funding from NPR.

“NPR has discredited itself as a forum for free speech and a protection of the First Amendment rights of all and has solidified itself as the purveyor of politically correct pabulum and protector of views that lean left,” Huckabee said.

“It is time for the taxpayers to start making cuts to federal spending, and I encourage the new Congress to start with NPR,” he added.

Off topic, but doesn't anyone else think that Palin probably wrote like that even before she discovered the Internet?

Here is what Williams said, on FOX, no less, that got him fired:

“I mean, look, Bill, I’m not a bigot,” Williams said on the "The O'Reilly Factor" Monday. “But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.”

Not to be confused with the woman who wears a cross around her neck.

I get that a lot of people had "Muslim panic" in the period immediately following 9/11. It wasn't right, but I wouldn't be surprised if most people had it to some degree. But it's been almost ten years - time to get over it. And then to suggest that people "in Muslim garb" somehow identify themselves as Muslims "first," simply because of the way they dress... what should they be wearing, and how should they self-identify? As Cubs fans?). I don't dress the way I do because I'm Amurikan. You just dress according to local custom, the way you're brought up - and in the US, that involves pants and a shirt, in Saudi Arabia, it doesn't.

So if I don't put on "Muslim garb" when visiting Saudi Arabia, I'm flaunting my American-ness, and have a radical American agenda? And finally, the notion that even if one sees oneself as "Muslim first," that somehow makes that person more suspect?

I suspect a lot of Americans have had a similar experience post-9/11 - getting onto a plane and getting a bit nervous about who's on the plane with them. But Williams sounds like he's trying to justify it, rather than admitting that it's a bit of an over-reaction - and his justification, that their clothing shows they have some Muslim agenda - is just downright weird. That's what got him into trouble. Read the rest of this post...

Second City salutes America's third political parties

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Weekly unemployment numbers fall more than expected

The big picture is obviously still a problem but good news is good news.

New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, government data showed on Thursday, pointing to some improvement in the labor market.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 23,000 to a seasonally adjusted 452,000, the Labor Department said.

Despite the drop, which also saw the unwinding of the prior week's administrative related-jump, claims remain perched above levels usually associated with a strong job market recovery, making it all but certain the Federal Reserve will ease monetary policy further next month.

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Olbermann on Mrs. Clarence Thomas and the Anita Hill voicemail

Following up on the Mrs. Clarence Thomas apology request — see here and here for Joe's good coverage — comes Keith Olbermann and Countdown with a nice summary of the news plus some needed background for those born later than, say, 1980.

Then he launches a nice set of similar "apology requests" which are only marginally more risible than the real Ginny Thomas one. All in all, a very good segment:



First, enjoy Olbermann's review of the context, Thomas's judicial confirmation hearings in 1991 (1:40 in the clip). The clips from that hearing are another reminder that Movement Conservatives (which Clarence Thomas undeniably is and was) will do anything, at any time, to win. In the clip, he almost certainly commits perjury to gain a lifetime Court seat for his cadre. This should never have been allowed. (It's an added insult that Thomas replaced Thurgood Marshall.)

Second, that's then-Senators Alan Simpson and Arlen Specter going ugly on Ms. Hill in the hearings. (You can donate to Joe Sestak, who defeated Specter in the Dem primary, here. He could use your help.)

Third, the string of comic "apologies" is priceless (4:00 in the clip). Ken Mehlman — great choice, though he asks for the wrong apology. And the Bush II request for an apology from the U.S. economy for not having the decency to collapse after he "skipped town" is nicely done.

And finally, if you know the sordid details of Thomas's harrassment of Hill, Olbermann's comment that Mrs. Thomas maybe wanted to meet Ms. Hill "for a Coke somewhere" is nicely understated (1:30 in the clip).

GP Read the rest of this post...

Thursday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Well, DADT is the law of the land again -- at least for now. This has gotten absurd. The White House has lost control of this situation and it looks bad. I hope whoever concocted the Obama administration's strategy on DADT (and those who enabled it, meaning HRC and Winnie Stachelberg at CAP) grasp the magnitude of how screwed up this is. The people who are suffering here are the men and women who are willing to put their lives on the line for the rest of us.

The President starts his day in Seattle. He's doing one of his backyard chats on the economy, then speaking at a rally for Senator Patty Murray. After that, he's heading to the Bay Area. He'll be the headliner at an event for California AG candidate Kamala Harris. She's terrific -- and won't defend Prop. 8. He'll spend the night in San Francisco.

Today, at 1:30 PM ET, we're co-hosting a live chat with Congressman Patrick Murphy. As He actually has been a fierce advocate. Murphy kept adding co-sponsors and building support for DADT repeal. The House vote would not have happened without him. Now, he needs our help. He's in a tight race -- very tight. The latest poll showed him with a 3 point lead. So, today, several LGBT blogs and bloggers (Bilerico, Open Left, Pam's House Blend, Good As You) are rallying around Murphy. We've set up an ActBlue page here. This is a chance to help someone who actually deserves it.

12 more days. Read the rest of this post...

Dog adopts kitten

Yeah, Chris is still gone, so another cute video.

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75 year old tortoise forces Great Dane pup out of bed

Chris is away on a work trip for a day or two, so in the meantime, enjoy another animal video.

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