AMERICAblog News

American Airlines to charge for blankets

2010-02-09T20:06:00.000-05:00

Well at least they can't control the temperature inside the plane, right? Besides being stuck with them as the only carrier nearby, why would anyone use that airline? The last flight I did with them was so bad that I swore I would never even consider American as an option. The interior was falling apart and they had ear sets for some passengers but not all passengers on the long flight to South America. Then again, not all of the passengers had working TV screens so it didn't even matter. It remains a mystery how they stay in business other than owning a few important routes.

ABC's new poll on partisanship

2010-02-09T18:50:00.001-05:00

Americans aren't thrilled with Obama and the Dems, but they're far less thrilled with the GOP. And this is what usually happens when the desperate party goes negative. Usually it happens in campaigns, at the very end - the candidate who's losing throws a hail (Mary) of negatives at the frontrunner. Often it damages the frontrunner, but it just as often hurts the instigator even more. I think that's what we're seeing with the public in this poll. The GOP has done a good job of hurting Obama, but they haven't done a very good job of helping themselves in the process.

Like we miss Cholera

2010-02-09T17:36:00.000-05:00

A billboard someone set up in Wyoming.

Enzi says Blagojevich. Hilarity ensues.

2010-02-09T16:59:00.001-05:00

So much for privacy and body scans

2010-02-09T16:07:00.000-05:00

That didn't take long. Will everyone else be as amused?

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan isn't intimidated by the full body-scan machines that have been recently installed at London's airports - in fact, he's been signing off printouts of his X-rays.

Khan, appearing on 'Friday Night With Jonathan Ross' - one of British television's most popular weekend shows - revealed he's been turning the controversial security machines into a public relations opportunity at London's Heathrow airport.

Follow us on Twitter

2010-02-09T15:05:00.000-05:00

Joe and I are on Twitter, you can follow us via our various accounts:

@AMERICAblog - the RSS feed of the main blog
@AMERICAblogGay - the RSS feed of the gay blog
@aravosis - my personal rantings, usually about politics, but not always
@joesudbay - Joe's personal rantings, ditto

So, if you want to follow the blog itself, then subscribe to the blog feeds. If you want to see what Joe and I are personally tweeting, including retweets of your favorite bloggers and others around the Netroots and beyond, follow our personal feeds, which personally I find a lot more fun. We only tweet a small amount of our own blog posts in our personal feeds, so best to subscribe to all.

Gibbs just flashed crib sheet on palm at WH briefing, included 'eggs, milk, bread, hope and change.'

2010-02-09T14:12:00.002-05:00

Seriously. He was referring to Sarah Palin's now-famous crib sheet she wrote on her hand.

Obama administration rips into Republicans for politicizing war on terror

2010-02-09T13:51:00.004-05:00

Now this is what we like to see. Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan penned an op ed today about how Republicans are politicizing the war on terror. It included the following tidbit:

Politically motivated criticism and unfounded fear-mongering only serve the goals of al-Qaeda. Terrorists are not 100-feet tall. Nor do they deserve the abject fear they seek to instill.

He's right. And it's about time the White House hit back hard. But in the past, the White House has often gotten cold feet right after it hit Republicans hard. Here's to hoping they're relentless, and to hoping they have a larger plan for buttressing and reinforcing Brennan's comments with other surrogates. These kind of messages pack a punch, but only if delivered as part of a larger messaging strategy.

Interestingly, Brennan's comments parallel what Newsweek's Jonathan Alter said last week:

I think they're [Republicans] in a place now where they just want to hurt Obama. What they don't get - and I wish they would look into their souls a little bit - if they convey, over and over again, that the President of the United States is weak, what does that do? It emboldens the terrorists. And I don't say that lightly. Think of terrorists overseas, or at home, that might be plotting an attack - if they think that the President is weak, which he is not, he is manifestly not. He's killed twice as many of them, not to put too fine a point on it, with Predators as his predecessor did. He is not weak. But if they continue to convey that he is weak, that gives serious help to the terrorists.

I think the pressure should now be on these Republicans, aren't you helping the terrorists, by insisting, against all evidence - remember we have 100% conviction rate of terrorists in civilian courts in this country. 100%. It's not like any of them are out walking the streets, as we're told. The only detainees from Guantanamo who have been released and who have returned to terrorism in their home countries were released under President Bush. So far there has not been one case of that happening under President Obama. So, this line is a bunch of hooey, and they have to stop saying it, and the onus now has to be on them for why they're not harming us by continuing to do so.

'Lift the ban' groups criticize latest Gillibrand move on DADT

2010-02-09T12:22:00.003-05:00

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has taken the lead on the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell in the Senate. But it's not entirely clear that she's helping matters.

With all Palin's talk about being an 'energy expert', Alaska isn't even among the top 10 energy producing states

2010-02-09T11:20:00.004-05:00

Alaska produces 2.9% of the total energy production of the US. Why does the media let her get away with her ongoing lie that Alaska produces 20% of the nation's energy, and thus that makes her an energy expert? It simply makes her, once again, an idiot and a liar.

The Hill: 'Cracks are beginning to show in Emanuel’s once-impregnable political armor'

2010-02-09T09:41:00.003-05:00

According to The Hill, Democrats on Capitol Hill are focusing their ire on Rahm:

Democrats in Congress are holding White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel accountable for his part in the collapse of healthcare reform.

The emerging consensus among critics in both chambers is that Emanuel’s lack of Senate experience slowed President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority.

The share of the blame comes as cracks are beginning to show in Emanuel’s once-impregnable political armor.

Emanuel has presented himself as the all-powerful. He's led Obama's presidency into a tailspin (and Obama let him). While Emanuel hasn't worked in the Senate, his Deputy Chief of Staff, Jim Messina, is a long-time former Senate staffer. How Emanuel and his crew destroyed the Obama brand so quickly will be the subject of debate for years to come.

Criticism of the Obama leadership team is becoming more pervasive. Over the weekend, Steve Clemons wrote a very powerful post about the President's management team, led by Emanuel. John posted it here. It's definitely worth a read as is the Financial Times article by Edward Luce, to which the Clemons post refers. As John noted, Steve has excellent sources around D.C. The traditional media is paying attention. Steve has been discussing the problems with the Obama White House leadership team on news shows for the past several days. I saw him in a clip on the TODAY Show this morning.

In an analysis of the FT Times and Clemons articles, Digby, as usual, nails it:

And Rahm, by the way, is way more trouble than he's worth. Even Nixon's advisors were more subtle --- and far more lethal. You don't keep a nasty henchman who makes enemies of everyone and inspires loathing by his very presence if he can't even get the job done.

On most issues, the GOP is out of step with the American people

2010-02-09T08:30:00.001-05:00

Nate Silver did an analysis of public opinion on 25 issues, which separate Democrats and Republicans. There seems to be a sense among some pundits that Obama and the Democrats are on the wrong side of what people want. In fact, on most, it's the GOPers who are disagree with the prevailing public view:

Of these 25 issues, Obama's position appears to be on the right side of public opinion on 14: the bank tax, repealing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, campaign finance, the credit card bill, D.C. voting rights, fair pay, financial regulation, gays in the military, hate crimes, the jobs bill, mortgage relief, PAYGO, SCHIP, and Sotomayor. It would appear to be on the wrong side of public opinion on five issues: the GM/Chrysler bailout, Guantanamo Bay, health care, the extension of the TARP program, and terrorist trials. On the other six issues, the polling is probably too ambiguous to render a clear verdict.

Republicans, on the other hand, have overwhelmingly opposed to almost all of these measures with the exception of Ben Bernanke and Afghanistan troops, both of which poll ambiguously, and the credit card bill, which polled well.

Obviously, this analysis is superficial in certain ways. All issues are by no means created equal, and health care in particular, which is unpopular, has weighed heavily upon the public's perception of the Democrats. In addition, there is probably another layer of 'meta-argument' that goes beyond specific issues, and at which the GOP has tended to excel.

Republicans have been better at the meta-messaging. They don't care about issues, politics rules. That's especially true when the GOPers can turn national security into a political issue. They love that. On the other hand, Democrats spend more time talking about the intricacies of legislation and the process of passing it.

And, I'm still waiting to hear the Obama administration's message on health care. Considering it was the dominant issue, it's still stunning that the message was never clear. That might have helped.

The bigger point here is that, for most issues, the President and Democrats are doing what the American people want. They need to lead.

Tuesday Morning Open Thread

2010-02-09T07:38:00.000-05:00

Good morning.

Much of D.C., including the federal government, is closed again today and we're expecting another big snow storm. In its latest alert, the National Weather Service issued a "Winter Storm Warning" predicting accumulations of 10 - 20 inches.

The President, however, is hard at work. Today, he and the V.P. are hosting a bipartisan meeting at the White House "to discuss working together on the economy and jobs." The expected attendees are Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader John Boehner. I'm sure McConnell and Boehner are really committed to working together with Obama. They wouldn't help with the stimulus when the economy was on the brink of falling into a depression. But, McConnell did become the de facto leader of the world after garnering the 41st Senator for his caucus, so he must be obeyed.

Let's get threading...

Italian agriculture minister sells out more than the US Supreme Court

2010-02-09T06:15:00.000-05:00

It's hard to say which is worse. Italy is a country that takes extreme pride in it's history of mastering the art of cooking. I can sort of get that the minister is hoping to get money moving to the local industry instead of a few billion being spent in a neighboring country but c'mon. Putting on a McDonald's apron and proudly boasting about the quality of McItaly burger? Wouldn't it be better for him to invest more time in promoting something that is actually quality? The Slow Food movement comes from Italy and guess what? They promote locally produced products. That's certainly more Italian and would generate more money than this junk. What an embarrassment.

Italy's agriculture minister defended his sponsorship of McDonald's new all-Italian burger Monday amid criticism that he is selling out to a multinational corporation and sacrificing Italy's culinary reputation in the process.

Minister Luca Zaia has argued that McDonald's new McItaly burger — using all Italian beef, Asiago cheese and artichoke spread — will pump €3.5 million ($4.8 million) more a month into the pockets of Italian farmers grappling with tough economic times.

Credit crisis pushes some people over the edge

2010-02-09T03:46:00.000-05:00

Another bizarre episode stemming from the financial ruin caused by the credit crisis. This story from last summer is now popping up again since it's coming to trial. The pensioners probably became carried away with getting rich fast to pad their retirement but isn't that what the bankers were doing? Just as these retirees will deserve whatever happens in court, it's disappointing that we don't see the same with the bankers themselves. How exactly does one lose trillions and yet the only thing that happens is that they receive enough money to pay out hundreds of millions in new bonuses? And remember, it's Wall Street who thinks everyone is being too hard on them. As if this wasn't their doing.

A retired architect and four other pensioners took their financial adviser hostage and held him in a purpose-built prison in Bavaria after their stock market investments failed, a court has heard.

The 74-year-old architect, identified only as Roland K, told a court in Traunstein, southern Germany, that he and his accomplices thought their financial adviser had "cheated and taken the piss" out of them after their investments in the US property market evaporated. As a result, he told the court, they had "decided to invite him for a few days' holiday in Upper Bavaria".

Roland K denied kidnapping but admitted the group, including his seventh wife, 79-year-old Sieglinde, Willi D, 60, and Iris F, 64, a retired doctor, abducted James Amburn at his home in Speyer, southern Germany, in June before transporting him in the boot of a car to Roland K's house at the lakeside resort of Chiemsee, where he had built a prison for him in the cellar.

HHS investigating Blue Cross of CA for raising rates 39%

2010-02-09T00:55:00.001-05:00

Shut em down.

President Obama's secretary of health and human services fired off a sharply worded letter to a California insurer Monday, demanding to know why it is raising rates for individual policyholders by as much as 39 percent.

Anthem Blue Cross of California sent out notices earlier this month to many of its roughly 800,000 holders of individual policies, informing them that the costs of their plans would sharply increase to cover rising health-care costs. The increases do not affect employer-provided plans in the state.

Sebelius also noted that Anthem's corporate parent, WellPoint, has seen its profits "soar," rising to $2.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009.

"These extraordinary [rate] increases are up to 15 times faster than inflation..."

Here's my favorite part of the article:

Costs have increased in the individual market, Anthem responded Monday afternoon, because the recession has led many policyholders to drop their coverage, spreading expenses among a smaller pool of customers.

Their high rates have forced people to drop coverage in a recession, so as a result Blue Cross is going to raise rates even higher, and force even more people to drop, and so on. It sounds like a strategy to get rid of these people all together. Thank God the Republicans, Joe Lieberman, Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu and Max Baucus have been whoring for the insurance industry and helping to guarantee that real health reform will never happen in this country.

I said it before and I'll say it again. Repeal Congress' health care plan. Let them go on the individual market and get it like the rest of us, if they're so afraid of socialized medicine.

Shelby drops some holds, but still holding Air Force hostage for pork

2010-02-08T23:45:00.000-05:00

The White House reportedly didn't cave to his demands. (H/t Taegan) But as Emptywheel at FDL points out, Shelby is still holding the military hostage for his pork.

Ben Nelson opposing Obama nominee to National Labor Relations Board

2010-02-08T22:30:00.000-05:00

Remember how Obama's DNC gave $500,000 to Senator Ben Nelson via the Nebraska Democratic Party? That was in late December.

So, how's that's working out for them?:

In a move that will further irritate his Democratic critics, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) announced on Monday evening that he would not just oppose but also help filibuster President Barack Obama's nominee to a key labor relations agency

In a statement from his office, the Nebraska Democrat announced that he would oppose cloture for Craig Becker's appointment to the National Labor Relations Board, all but assuring that confirmation won't take place.

Reuters on our humongous snowball fight last Saturday

2010-02-08T21:38:00.003-05:00

Reuters did a really cute video of our massive snowball fight we had not far away from where Joe and I live in DC. Their video is here, it's cute. As Joe noted earlier, we have yet another storm coming tomorrow, with a possible 10 to 20 inches, though it seems all the weathermen disagree:

As our previous update indicates, we're calling for 5-10" in D.C. and to the south and west, and 8-16" to the north and northeast for the upcoming storm. Our accumulation projections are less than the National Weather Service's (10-20"), Topper Shutt's (1 to 2 feet), Doug Hill's (12-16"), and Bob Ryan's (8-12"). The reason for this is that we see the possibility of a dry slot impacting southern half of the metro region. Having said that, we're going to analyze some data coming in between 9 and 11 p.m. tonight and will adjust our accumulation map in our 11 p.m. update as necessary.

And here are a few of my photos I took that day (you can also check out video I took of the snowball fight here):

GOP demands Obama kill House and Senate bills and take reconciliation off the table, or they won't meet to talk about a health care compromise

2010-02-08T20:28:00.004-05:00

From Roll Call (behind a pay firewall):

In a tersely worded letter to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel on Monday, Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) wrote that Republicans “would rightly be reluctant” to participate in the Feb. 25 bipartisan health care meeting if the White House refused to consider scrapping the current health care reform bills.

In their letter, Boehner and Cantor called on Obama to take reconciliation off the table as a “show good faith” to the GOP.

“Eliminating the possibility of reconciliation would represent an important show of good faith to Republicans and the American people,” the letter said.

UPDATE: The White House has responded. It sounds decently strong at first blush. But on a re-read, it's not totally clear what it means. It doesn't say that the President will stand by the House and Senate bills, just that he's supported them in the past. Yes, he has. What about now? It says the President wants real reform. That can be defined as anything. Also, it might have been smart for the White House to include something pointing out the fact that the GOP is now putting down pre-conditions to a meeting about which the White House put no pre-conditions.

On the buffoonery of Senator Susan Collins

2010-02-08T19:35:00.002-05:00

Steve Benen masterfully destroys the GOP Senator who has asserted herself as the leading critic of the Obama administration's handling of the Christmas Day bomber. That would be Susan Collins. She has been wrong consistently and pretty much lying, yet she keeps digging. It would be embarrassing for any member with an ounce of self-respect. But, Collins sold her soul to Mitch McConnell long ago:

When we cut through the nonsense and cheap talking points, what we're left with is Collins, after making a series of demonstrably false claims, complaining that the Justice Department didn't coordinate further with other agencies on how best to deal with Abdulmutallab. That's it. That's all that's left from the original argument.

But, again, this is foolish. For one thing, the Obama administration has applied the exact same procedures as Bush/Cheney, and Collins never expressed this outrage before. For another, as Attorney General Eric Holder explained last week, "No agency supported the use of law of war detention for Abdulmutallab, and no agency has since advised the Department of Justice that an alternative course of action should have been, or should now be, pursued."

What we're left with, then, is Susan Collins making a mistake by falsely criticizing the administration, and then digging deeper with a series of even more absurd false criticisms.

She should have quit while she was behind. As this story has dragged on, Collins has sounded less like a reasonable, moderate, influential senator and more like a rookie House member trying to impress Fox News producers.

Not sure how all of this helps Collins' constituents in Maine. But, it does get her on t.v. And, she's desperate to be a player. We hear that it drives her craaaazzzyyy that Olympia gets all the attention.

Meghan McCain takes on Teabaggers, Palin

2010-02-08T18:11:00.001-05:00

You know, she's spot on.

Congressman Tancredo went on TV and he was the first opening speaker and he said, ‘People who could not even spell the word vote or say it in English put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House whose name is Barack Hussein Obama.’ And then he went on to say that people at the convention should have to pass literacy tests in order to be able to vote in this country, which is the same thing that happened in the 50’s to prevent African Americans from voting. It’s innate racism and I think it’s why young people are turned off by this movement. And I’m sorry, but revolutions start with young people, not with 65-year-old people talking about literacy tests and people who can’t say the word ‘vote’ in English.

You can watch what McCain had to say about Palin here.

Beer good for your health?

2010-02-08T17:24:00.000-05:00

At least some beers, apparently. Go figure.

The experts said beer was a major source of dietary silicon – roughly half of the silicon in beer can be readily absorbed by the body.

Charles Bamforth, lead author of the study, said: "Beers containing high levels of malted barley and hops are richest in silicon.

"Wheat contains less silicon than barley because it is the husk of the barley that is rich in this element.

"While most of the silicon remains in the husk during brewing, significant quantities of silicon nonetheless are extracted into wort and much of this survives into beer."

DC's got a Winter Storm Warning: Expecting another 10 - 20 inches

2010-02-08T15:59:00.006-05:00

Oh boy. This city is already a mess. We haven't recovered from the blizzard. And, we're getting more via the National Weather Service:

.WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM NOON TUESDAY TO 7 PM EST WEDNESDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STERLING VIRGINIA HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TUESDAY TO 7 PM EST WEDNESDAY. THE WINTER STORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.

* PRECIPITATION TYPE...SNOW.

* ACCUMULATIONS...10 TO 20 INCHES.

* TIMING...MID-AFTERNOON TUESDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY.

John just got some photos at the local grocery store. It's like the Soviet Union. Below would be the vegetable, and orange juice, sections.

Rep. Murtha died today

2010-02-08T14:56:00.000-05:00

Congressman John Murtha (D-PA), a powerful force in the U.S. House, died today:

A spokesman says Democratic Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, a retired Marine Corps officer who became an outspoken critic of the Iraq war, has died. He was 77.

He had been suffering complications from gallbladder surgery.

In 1974, Murtha became the first combat veteran of the Vietnam War elected to Congress. He wielded considerable clout for two decades as a leader of the House subcommittee that oversees Pentagon spending. But frustration over the Iraq war led him to call for an immediate pullout of U.S. troops in 2005.