EADS working on hypersonic jet

The future or another interesting idea but bad business plan? The ticket prices will likely be as expensive as the Concorde, so bankers only need apply.

Aerospace group EADS, owner of planemaker Airbus, thinks it has the answer — a hypersonic jet that flies above the atmosphere, yet takes off from a regular runway.

"It is not a Concorde but it looks like a Concorde, showing that aerodynamics of the 1960s were very smart," Jean Botti, EADS' chief technical officer, said.

By flying above the atmosphere and using biofuel to get the plane off the ground initially, the group hopes to avoid the supersonic boom and pollution Concorde was notorious for.

"When you are above the atmosphere nobody hears anything," Botti said.

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Pig bladders used to regenerate muscles in leg of seriously wounded soldier

This is a fascinating story. Oddly, it was first reported in The Australian -- and I haven't seen much pick up from the U.S. media. The religious right types are probably going to freak out over this, but, wow, it's amazing:

A US soldier whose leg muscles were destroyed by a bomb in Afghanistan has been able to start walking again after using a radical therapy that enabled his body to regrow the lost tissue.

Marine Corporal Isaias Hernandez lost 70 per cent of his right thigh muscles in the blast, an injury so severe that amputation is normally the only treatment.

Corporal Hernandez was, however, offered a therapy in which his remaining muscles were impregnated with an experimental growth promoting substance extracted from pig bladders. It prompted the muscles to regenerate to a point that Corporal Hernandez has regained most of his strength.

"It was a remarkable recovery," said Stephen Badylak, the tissue engineering director at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.

It is remarkable. Read the rest of this post...

US Forest Service disputes McCain's anti-immigrant fire claims

Who really needs facts when you're busy smearing immigrants? Facts just get in the way.

A U.S. Forest Service official said today there is no evidence that illegal immigrants started some of the wildfires in Arizona, as Sen. John McCain had claimed.

Tom Berglund, spokesman for the federal group managing the Wallow fire that McCain toured Saturday, said the cause of the fire has been determined as "human," specifically an "escaped campfire," meaning the campfire sparked beyond the confines of the rocks containing it.

Two "subjects of interest" have been spoken to, but as of now, no suspect has been named, Berglund said. When asked if there is substantial evidence that some fires were caused by illegal immigrants, as McCain said at a news conference Saturday, Berglund said: "Absolutely not, at this level."

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Obama and gay marriage: Sometimes evolution IS just a theory

President Obama, who says he's "evolving" on gay marriage, now reportedly won't evolve quickly enough to come out in favor of marriage equality at this week's big gay/trans (aka LGBT) fundraiser.

As Joe writes on AMERICAblog Gay: Evolve already.

As an aside, I've noticed a number of recent news reports failing to give Joe credit for being the person who asked Obama about gay marriage, and got the President to admit that his attitude towards the issue is evolving:

"I also think you’re right that attitudes evolve, including mine.

It might be nice to give credit where credit is due." Read the rest of this post...

Krugman says the economy isn’t recovering at all

Paul Krugman has an interesting post about whether we're in a Japan-style lost decade or not. He notes that Clive Crook in the Financial Times thinks we're flirting with the possibility.

For Krugman we're well beyond flirting — we've blown way past Weinerville on the road to regular hookups (my phrasing, of course; the Professor is more professional).

His evidence is this chart, the graph of employment-to-population ratio (click to see).  Here's Krugman:

What you see isn’t a recovering economy that may be stumbling; you see an economy that has stopped its free fall, but hasn’t really been recovering at all.

With "austerity" the word on every Beltway lip, we'll be lucky if that lower line doesn't fall further.

GP Read the rest of this post...

Clarence Thomas has another ethics problem, and his name is Texan Harlan Crow

Clarence is at it again, and by "it" I mean getting found out for taking decades-long money and gifts from the deeply conservative Texan, Harlan Crow. According to the New York Times headline:

Friendship of Justice and Magnate Puts Focus on Ethics

As opposed to baseball, I suppose.

So let's look. The Times (my emphasis):

Mr. Crow stepped in to finance the multimillion-dollar purchase and restoration of the cannery [the dilapidated place where Thomas's mother worked, in the town that calls itself the birthplace of Justice Clarence Thomas], featuring a museum about the culture and history of Pin Point that has become a pet project of Justice Thomas’s.

The project throws a spotlight on an unusual, and ethically sensitive, friendship that appears to be markedly different from those of other justices on the nation’s highest court.

The two men met in the mid-1990s, a few years after Justice Thomas joined the court. Since then, Mr. Crow has done many favors for the justice and his wife, Virginia, helping finance a Savannah library project dedicated to Justice Thomas, presenting him with a Bible that belonged to Frederick Douglass and reportedly providing $500,000 for Ms. Thomas to start a Tea Party-related group. They have also spent time together at gatherings of prominent Republicans and businesspeople at Mr. Crow’s Adirondacks estate and his camp in East Texas.

According to Think Progress:

[Harlan] Crow has donated nearly $5 million to Republican candidates and conservative organizations, including $100,000 to the anti-John Kerry Swift Boat Veterans for Truth[.]

Think Progress then goes on to catalog the seemingly endless list of ethical lines that Thomas has crossed. These include:

■ Attending "a Koch-sponsored political fundraiser intended to fund the conservative infrastructure of front groups, political campaigns, think tanks and media outlets", and

■ Numerous edits of his wife's income statements from thank-god-for-forgetfulness claims of no income to claims of over $800,000 in Movement Conservative funding (skip down to the timeline).

That's not the end.

And to answer the question on your lips, Yes, Congress can impeach Supreme Court justices (my emphasis):

A Supreme Court Justice may be impeached by the House of Representatives and removed from office if convicted in a Senate trial, but only for the same types of offenses that would trigger impeachment proceedings for any other government official under Articles I and II of the Constitution.

Article III, Section 1 states that judges of Article III courts shall hold their offices "during good behavior." "The phrase "good behavior" has been interpreted by the courts to equate to the same level of seriousness 'high crimes and misdemeanors" encompasses.

In addition, any federal judge may prosecuted in the criminal courts for criminal activity.

In practice, only one Justice, Samuel Chase, has been impeached, and that in 1804 (the Senate acquitted him in 1805). From Answers.com and WikiAnswers (my emphasis):

Only one Supreme Court Justice, Samuel Chase (one of the signatories to the Declaration of Independence), has ever been impeached. The House of Representatives accused Chase of letting his Federalist political leanings affect his rulings, and served him with eight articles of impeachment in late 1804. The Senate acquitted him of all charges in 1805, establishing the right of the judiciary to independent opinion. Chase continued on the Court until his death in June 1811.

As you can imagine, that's a tough nut to crack. Maybe the criminal court is a better bet. Keep digging, folks.

(By the way, if the name Harlan Crow sounds familiar, he's the son of Trammell Crow, founder of the Wyndham Hotel chain, among other holdings. Wyndham ... nice name; worth remembering.)

GP Read the rest of this post...

We're back from Netroots Nation

Russ Feingold speaks (I was far away, the seats were actually packed)

We're back from the Netroots Nation progressive blog conference.

2,400 people attended this year, and there was a really good vibe to the conference. Last year folks were pretty dejected, at least it felt that way to many of us, but this year people were back in form. Not necessarily planning to bust their butts for the President's reelection, but at least with a renewed vigor for politics, and that's good. I'll be writing more about the conference as I get my life back in order today - the dog was not pleased that I left her with the neighbors for 5 days (though she had a good time forcing them to play ball every 2 hours (apparently I didn't tell them about that part)).

MinnPost on the conference, and the mood about the Obama re-elect:

Don Utter, a retiree from Columbus, Ohio, traveled to Minnesota to attend Netroots. But Utter, who is politically active in his community, said he won't work for Obama because the president left his progressive ideals at the door as he walked into the White House.

When asked if he'll help Obama 2012, Utter responded with an abrupt, "No."

"I'm so disappointed with Obama," he said. "He brought the same 'Banksters' in, he's attacking civil liberties …"

Adam Green, a cofounder of the PCCC, agreed. He said his mother — who traveled to campaign for Obama in 2008 — won't do so for 2012 because Obama hasn't enacted many of the policies he ran on.

"I can't in good faith lie to people again," Green said she told him.

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Are federal regulators undermining safety at nuclear reactors?

A nuclear disaster is about the last thing we need now.

Federal regulators have been working closely with the nuclear power industry to keep the nation's aging reactors operating within safety standards by repeatedly weakening those standards, or simply failing to enforce them, an investigation by The Associated Press has found.

Time after time, officials at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have decided that original regulations were too strict, arguing that safety margins could be eased without peril, according to records and interviews.

The result? Rising fears that these accommodations by the NRC are significantly undermining safety — and inching the reactors closer to an accident that could harm the public and jeopardize the future of nuclear power in the United States.

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Wal-Mart wins case to stop sex discrimination lawsuit at the Supreme Court

UPDATE: It wasn't unanimous. It was a 5 -4 decision with Scalia writing for the majority. The initial report was wrong.

This is just breaking. Not a surprise that this Supreme Court would side with Wal-Mart, but, surprised it was unanimous:

The Supreme Court has ruled for Wal-Mart in its fight to block a massive sex discrimination lawsuit on behalf of women who work there.

The court ruled unanimously Monday that the lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. cannot proceed as a class action, reversing a decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The lawsuit could have involved up to 1.6 million women, with Wal-Mart facing potentially billions of dollars in damages.

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Could be historic day in New York on last day of session. Marriage vote expected in Senate.

UPDATE @ 2:49 PM: Word from Albany is that there won't be a vote today. Maybe tomorrow, so the session won't end today.
______________________

We're closely monitoring the action in Albany at AMERICAblog Gay.

Today is the last scheduled day of session for the NY legislature. The marriage bill passed in the Assembly last Wednesday. We have 31 of the 32 votes needed to pass in the Senate. Intense discussions have been under way to insure that the GOP Senate leader calls the bill up for a vote. Today's NY Post is reporting that GOP negotiators "privately admitted that a deal is near." That's very significant. The GOP Senate conference has been the roadblock. On our side, Governor Cuomo has truly been a fierce advocate.

Greg Sargent offers an astute analysis of what this development means:

A historic day for marriage equality? The most important thing to watch today: New York’s state legislature is on the verge of voting to become the sixth state to legalize gay marriage. Proponents are one vote in the state senate short of making today a very big day indeed for marriage equality.

The larger story is striking: This year, for the first time, multiple national polls are showing majority support for the notion that consenting gay adults should have the right to marry and enjoy the same benefits of marriage that heterosexual couples do. If New York takes this step today — which would make it the largest state thus far to do so — it will reinforce the sense that the national outcome of this decades-long civil-rights battle, which has produced a truly astonishing shift in public attitudes, is inevitable.

It is inevitable. And, today could be historic for New York and the nation.

If you live in New York, call your Senators today. Andy Towle posted a list of the undecideds with contact info. here. Have your friends and family in NY call, too. This can happen today -- and it will be a huge step forward for equality. Read the rest of this post...

Lib Dems in new row with Tories over environment and regulations

Notice the similarities between the attacks in the UK and the US. When these regulations are stripped, take a guess who wins? Surely not the general population. In both cases, they're using the economic crisis as an excuse to scrap even more regulations. How about focusing on actual jobs creation? The Guardian:

The energy secretary, Chris Huhne, has attacked his Conservative colleagues in government as "rightwing ideologues" and "deregulation zealots" for placing environmental regulations on a list of red tape to be considered for scrapping.

In comments made at the weekend to a conference of social democrats in his party, Huhne made it clear he is opposed to environmental protection laws such as the Climate Change Act, the Wildlife and Countryside Act and the National Parks Act being included in the government's review of regulations in force in the UK.

His views are thought to reflect a range of opinion within Liberal Democrats in government. A source close to Huhne said he was supported by the business secretary, Vince Cable, and Lib Dem ministers were braced to do battle over hundreds of regulations they believe their Tory colleagues will be inclined to discard. The move is part of a Lib Dem strategy to fight their corner more aggressively that has been evident in the party leadership's successful opposition to the NHS changes.

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NATO blames Libyan civilian deaths on "weapons malfunction"

The families of the dead will surely sleep better at night knowing that it was all just a big mistake with the fancy weapons system. Problems like this happen often enough yet though it doesn't even slow down the military. It hardly triggers any criticism either as everyone keeps buying into the non-stop war. It's not even an issue that the main politicians even discuss, it's such a non issue. Al Jazeera:

NATO has acknowledged responsibility for an air strike that killed a number of civilians in Tripoli, the Libyan capital.

A statement from the alliance said that a military missile site was the intended target of a raid on Sunday morning but one of the weapons did not strike it and may have caused civilian casualties.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Oana Lungescu, a NATO spokesperson, said NATO's killing of civilians was a "sad incident that we deeply regret".

"We had targeted a missile system to the north of Tripoli and it appears that one of our weapons malfunctioned and caused these civilian casualties on the ground," Lungescu said.

Libyan officials said that nine civilians, including two children, were killed in the strike.

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Second Greek bailout delayed

Even if they think a second (or third or fourth) bailout will help, how could they possibly believe that delaying it is a good idea? Maybe it's time they conclude that it won't work and that Greece needs to pull out of the euro and restructure the economy. The Guardian:

Eurozone governments have postponed a final decision on whether to throw debt-mired Greece a summer lifeline, saying Athens must force through harsh austerity measures before they will release €12bn (£10.6bn) of funds to keep the country's economy afloat and avert an international crisis.

The 17 eurozone finance ministers met until the early hours of Monday in Luxembourg to hammer out the structure of a new three-year bailout for Greece in a way that would persuade European banks, pension funds and other private creditors to roll over the country's ballooning debt.

A statement, issued after seven hours of deliberations, committed the ministers to putting together a second bailout plan for Greece, beyond the initial €110bn euro rescue launched in May last year. In addition to more official loans, the new bailout would include a voluntary rollover by private investors of their Greek debt holdings. The statement did not say how large the new plan would be or give details of the rollover.

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