Where's the Outrage?

This sucks!!! Please help!

From the Ashvillien:

If you want to lecture me about security and photo equipment, save it. I know. I know. I know. I know.

Anyway, I am currently down several lenses and a strobe thanks to some light-fingered humanoid.

Among the confirmed missing:

nikon 14-24 2.8 serial number 247093 value about 1800
nikon 28-85 3.5 serial number 2109348 value about 300
nikon 50 1.8 serial number not known right now value 150?
nikon 105 1.8 serial number 236510 value… 600
nikon sb600 serial number not known right now value 300

So, why does this big dummy not know the serial numbers? Because the memory card with all the serial numbers was IN THE STOLEN BAG, thankyouverymuch.

All these were in a light blue Mountainsmith fanny pack with a gold carabiner on the top, and my last name, RHODES written in sharpie on the strap. Also my business cards are in there and assorted cables, remotes, batteries and pocket lint. Maybe a roll of film or two as well.

A report has been filed with APD. I am sans insurance right now, of course. I am hoping my good karma will come through, but failing that, please get the word out to any photographers in the Asheville area, I WILL make it worth their while to get any of these items back, and a good lead for the police.

If you are in possession of these items, and don’t know what to do with them. Listen, dude. I just want the stuff back. I will ask no questions with a return. No cops. No baseball bats. None of my wacked out Roller Derby friends visiting you after dark. I promise.

If you see these items please contact the guys at Ashevillein or the police.  You help is much appreciated.

Tags: General, State and Local Politics by ecthompson md
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The Errington Thompson Show. My guest is Mark Karlin. We discuss the latest news: the good, the bad… and the ugly!

Life, specifically my job, has been beating me up as of late. After having been up for more than 36 hours, I foolishly thought I could take a two-hour “nap.” That didn’t work out so well for me. I was seriously late for the show. Thanks to Aaron for calling me. I’m eternally grateful to Mark Karlin of Buzzflash.com for being patient enough to wait for me to show up at the studio. Mark — thank you.

We start by talking about Mark Sanford. The embattled governor of South Carolina is part of this shadowy religious organization called The Family. Their headquarters is located in Washington DC in a building called “C Street.” Now this probably wouldn’t be a big deal, except it turns out that several congressmen live in this building while they are in Washington. First of all, I don’t understand a bunch of grown men living like they’re college students again. I’m sorry, I just don’t understand that. Secondly, Senator John Ensign happens to be an active member of this group. So when you put all this extra information together you get — grown men living like college kids, infidelity and a bizarre secretive religious organization. The whole thing just doesn’t seem to add up. Mark Karlin adds a lot of excellent information to this bizarre incident. The Family believes that these leaders were preordained by God to lead Americans.

We discussed the fact that Barack Obama went to Ghana as his first African country to visit. Clearly, Barack Obama made a good choice.

We then segue into talking about the Central Honesty Agency. I think anybody who was thinking at the time that Nancy Pelosi stated that the CIA lied to her and other members of Congress would have thought that this was a no-brainer. As usual, the Republicans jumped on this using their familiar playbook. They pulled out the play named Patriotism and tried to label Nancy Pelosi as unpatriotic and un-American. As this week has unfolded, though, it turns out that the CIA probably did lie to Congress and withheld vital information on domestic spying. The new inspector general’s report clearly states that Congress was not informed about some domestic spying. It appears that Vice President Dick Cheney led the effort to keep Congress in the dark.

I still have to wonder where Congress is. Where are the hard-hitting investigations?

We also learned recently that the force behind Alberto Gonzales and Andrew Card going to the bedside of John Ashcroft, who had recently undergone surgery, was not Dick Cheney but instead was George W. Bush. I was kind of surprised by this information. Mark Karlin points out that he and others said Buzzflash.com were following the story carefully several years ago. They reported that the available information at the time suggested it was in fact Bush who ordered these two pawns to Aschcroft’s bedside.

Finally, we end with that story about the Washington Post. The Washington Post seem to be selling access to their writers and op-ed columnists. Mark Karlin mentions that this is why Buzzflash takes donations and donations only. You can donate to Buzzflash here.

This is a fun interview. I hope you enjoy it.

The Errington Thompson Show 07-11-09 [ 21:31 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Bush Administration, Civil Liberty, Domestic Spying, Podcasts, Religion by ecthompson md
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In my quest to add Michael Jackson videos to my blog, I present Michael’s tune “Leave Me Alone.”

Artist: Michael Jackson
Tune: “Leave Me Alone”

Tags: Music by ecthompson md
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For a while, Apple has run those “I’m a Mac” ads. The PC is always coming up short. Well, it looks like Microsoft is fighting back.

Watch the video:

Tags: Domestic Issues by ecthompson md
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I’ll have more on this later. Cronkite was huge.

From NYT:

Walter Cronkite, who pioneered and then mastered the role of television news anchorman with such plain-spoken grace that he was called the most trusted man in America, died Friday at his home in New York. He was 92.

The cause was complications of dementia, said Chip Cronkite, his son.

From 1962 to 1981, Mr. Cronkite was a nightly presence in American homes and always a reassuring one, guiding viewers through national triumphs and tragedies alike, from moonwalks to war, in an era when network news was central to many people’s lives.

He became something of a national institution, with an unflappable delivery, a distinctively avuncular voice and a daily benediction: “And that’s the way it is.” He was Uncle Walter to many: respected, liked and listened to. With his trimmed mustache and calm manner, he even bore a resemblance to another trusted American fixture, another Walter — Walt Disney.  (more… )

Tags: Domestic Issues, General, Television by ecthompson md
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Besides being very proud of myself for the pun, I’m still distressed at Goldman Sachs raking in record profits. I heard on Left, Right and Center, Mike Murphy say something like what is good for Sachs is good for the country. What? Wall Street has divorced itself from the rest of the country. They are living in the lap of luxury while the rest of America has been really struggling. As usual, Paul Krugman puts all of this into perspective.

Krugman (emphasis is mine):

First, it tells us that Goldman is very good at what it does. Unfortunately, what it does is bad for America.

Second, it shows that Wall Street’s bad habits — above all, the system of compensation that helped cause the financial crisis — have not gone away.

Third, it shows that by rescuing the financial system without reforming it, Washington has done nothing to protect us from a new crisis, and, in fact, has made another crisis more likely.

Let’s start by talking about how Goldman makes money.

Over the past generation — ever since the banking deregulation of the Reagan years — the U.S. economy has been “financialized.” The business of moving money around, of slicing, dicing and repackaging financial claims, has soared in importance compared with the actual production of useful stuff. The sector officially labeled “securities, commodity contracts and investments” has grown especially fast, from only 0.3 percent of G.D.P. in the late 1970s to 1.7 percent of G.D.P. in 2007. [Read more →]

Tags: Economy by ecthompson md
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I don’t tend to read the Wall Street Journal My excuse is that I can’t read everything.  It has been brought to my attention that John Yoo has written an op-ed defending his memos.

Anonymous Liberal (a lawyer) has a long and thoughtful post which dismantles Yoo’s arguments. The following is from AL:

In this morning’s Wall Street Journal, John Yoo has an op-ed defending himself from the malpractice charges set forth in the recent Inspecter General’s report. As with the opinions themselves, the op-ed is deeply disingenuous and misstates the law repeatedly.

Not surprisingly, Yoo begins the op-ed with a collosal straw man. He points out how important it is to intercept al Qaeda communications and writes: “Evidently, none of the inspectors general of the five leading national security agencies would approve.” Of course, the issue is not whether intercepting communications is a good idea, but whether the program violated the law. Yoo was not a policy maker. He was a lawyer. His job was to state what the law was, not what it should be.

Yoo eventually gets around to addressing FISA, but quickly dismisses any notion that FISA might constrain the president:

It is absurd to think that a law like FISA should restrict live military operations against potential attacks on the United States. Congress enacted FISA during the waning days of the Cold War. As the 9/11 Commission found, FISA’s wall between domestic law enforcement and foreign intelligence proved dysfunctional and contributed to our government’s failure to prevent the 9/11 attacks. . . .

In FISA, President Bush and his advisers faced an obsolete law not written with live war with an international terrorist organization in mind.

It is difficult to overstate how absurdly dishonest this argument is. The “wall” Yoo is referring to was removed by the Patriot Act, which amended FISA. The Patriot Act was signed into law by President Bush on October 26, 2001, a full week before Yoo submitted his now infamous memo authorizing the NSA program. That day, when the President Bush signed the Patriot Act into law, he said:

Surveillance of communications is another essential tool to pursue and stop terrorists. The existing law [FISA] was written in the era of rotary telephones. This new law I sign today will allow surveillance of all communications used by terrorists, including e-mails, the Internet, and cell phones. As of today, we’ll be able to better meet the technological challenges posed by this proliferation of communications technology.

But let’s not take President Bush’s word for it, here’s what John Yoo himself wrote in 2003, in another op-ed in the Wall Street Journal:

Before the Patriot Act, FISA warrants were issued upon a showing that the “primary purpose” of the surveillance was to gather foreign intelligence information. Both the Department of Justice and the special FISA court that issued the warrants interpreted this language, for reasons known only to themselves, to mean that any such information gathered by counter-intelligence services could not be shared, except under rare circumstances, with law enforcement officials. This “wall” prevented law enforcement officials and counter-intelligence officials from pooling their information–a dangerous and stupid practice given that al Qaeda has demonstrated that terrorists can easily operate outside and inside the United States. The Patriot Act changed the warrant standard from “primary purpose” to “significant purpose” in order to eliminate the wall of separation between foreign threats and domestic crimes . . .

The argument that FISA was some obsolete relic of a law that no longer applied after 9/11 is ludicrous. At the Bush administration’s behest, Congress amended FISA in numerous ways. That was the primary purpose of the Patriot Act. [Read more →]

Tags: Domestic Spying, Legal by ecthompson md
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100 years of the NAACP. President Barack Obama at NAACP. This is a great speech. Just when you think Obama has lost his way, he throws a speech like this in your face. I just have to step back and say, “Damn!”

From AP:

President Barack Obama on Thursday traced his historic rise to power to the vigor and valor of black civil-rights leaders, telling the NAACP that the sacrifice of others “began the journey that has led me here.” The nation’s first black president bluntly warned, though, that racial barriers persist.

“Make no mistake: The pain of discrimination is still felt in America,” the president said in honoring the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s 100th convention.

Painting himself as the beneficiary of the NAACP’s work, Obama cited historical figures from W.E.B. DuBois to Thurgood Marshall to explain how the path to the presidency was cleared by visionaries. (more…)

Tags: Civil Rights, Obama administration by ecthompson md
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I found this on BnB and it is very funny:

This being said, she was cool under fire today. Still, I marveled at her ability to remain on point and pleasant throughout the day’s proceedings. I posted over at Jack & Jill politics that I kept waiting for her to jump up, put her hand on her hip and say, “Look here, papi. Whatchu see is whatchu get, right?” In my soap opera, she goes all Rosie Perez a la Do the Right Thing with Sessions as Mookie. Much as I would have enjoyed that, that’s exactly what they want to see. They want to see a loud, gum-smacking, neck-rolling, “spicy Latina” breaking them off a piece of her mind. Not gonna happen.

Today they re-dredged the “wise Latina” question and tried to get her to say that she was an abortion-loving rabble-rousing radical terrorist. Um yeah, it didn’t work. She stuck to the jurisprudence and referenced logical standards of impartiality for every wackadoodle scenario they threw at her. It was so off the wall at one point that I expected Jack Lemon and Walter Mathau to come out and announce that this was all a gag promoting Grumpy Old Men 3 – They’re back and elected to public office!

Let the record reflect that had it been OneChele in front of them today, the conversation would’ve gone a little differently:

“Ms. Chele, thank you for appearing in front of us today.”

I smile. “Umm-hmm, no problem. Anything for Barry, so what’s on your mind?”

“Ms. Chele, can you share with us your opinions on abortion?”

Frowning, I answer. “That seems rather personal. I think we should let grown folks handle grown folks’ business.”

“So you refuse to answer?” [Read more →]

Tags: Fun, Obama administration, Supreme court by ecthompson md
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I will still submit that State of War: The Secret History of the CIA And the Bush Administration by James Risen is a great book, one that I’ve highly recommended. It is simply one of the best books I’ve read about the Bush administration in the last three or four years. I keep referring to that book over and over again. The book recounts a number of scenarios that the CIA tried prior to the invasion of Iraq in order to really delineate whether Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. One of those efforts focused on an anesthesiologist named Dr. Sawsan Alhaddad. Her brother was a nuclear weapons scientist who worked on weapons of mass destruction for Saddam Hussein. The CIA actually flew her to Baghdad in September 2002. She spoke with her brother in person and on the telephone. He told her in no uncertain terms that there was no nuclear program. In all, the CIA flew more than 30 people to Iraq in order to meet with their family members. All of them came back with the same information, that there were no weapons of mass destruction.

It appears that the intelligence community actually did their jobs. They actually tried to find out the answer. There was no failure of intelligence but a failure of leadership.

From across the pond, Britain’s own MI6 had a meeting with the head of Iraqi intelligence prior to our invasion. Michael Shipster, of MI6, met with the head of Iraqi intelligence, Tahir Jalil Habbush, who gave the British everything that they needed to know. There were no weapons of mass destruction. Saddam Hussein was worried about his image in the region. He was also worried about Iran and other competitors in the region. All of this information was immediately passed to the White House. All of this is recounted in Ron Suskind’s book, The Way of the World.

So, the White House “knew” that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction prior to the invasion. They had information from multiple sources which stated that Saddam Hussein was not reconstituting a nuclear, biological or chemical weapons program. Yet we still went to war. Why? Don’t President Bush and Vice President Cheney need to answer this question in front of the American people? With over 4300 Americans dead, shouldn’t Bush and Cheney have to say something to us and to the families of those who have died beause of these actions?

Update from Political Animal:

Fester at Newhoggers links to a set of right-wing bloggers’ predictions for 2003. It’s pretty stunning. For instance:

If we go into Iraq, how many casualties do you expect to see (on the side of the US and our allies)

John Hawkins: “Probably 300 or less”

Charles Johnson:”Very few”

Henry Hanks: “Less than 200″

Laurence Simon: “A Few hundred”

Rachael Lucas: “Less than three thousand”

Scott Ott: “Dozens”

Glenn Reynolds: “Fewer than 100″

Tim Blair: “Below 50″

Ken Layne: “a few hundred”

Steven Den Beste: “50-150″

More from another pre-war interview with Tim Blair:

“John Hawkins: If and when do you see the United States hitting Iraq? How do you think it’ll work out?

Tim Blair: It all depends on Iraq’s fearsome Elite Republican Guard. Why, those feisty desert warriors could hold out for minutes. Dozens of US troops will be required. Perhaps they’ll even need their weapons.”

Tags: Bush Administration, Iraq by ecthompson md
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In the United States, we need to figure out a way to help those at the bottom. These Americans have very little representation in Congress or in our statehouses. They have tenuous jobs. All we have to do is look at Goldman Sachs and see that our country favors the rich.

If you by chance had scraped together enough money to buy a house in the last 10 years and you didn’t fall for any of those no money down schemes, you’re still in trouble. Housing prices for these homes, at the bottom of the market, have been falling like lead balloons. In Los Angeles these homes have fallen by almost 55% since their peak in February of 2007. In relatively stable markets like Minneapolis, these homes have fallen by 47%. So it is possible for many of these Americans to be upside-down on their mortgage.

Remember the ownership society? These guys need some help. Folks in Washington who are currently wrapped up in the Judge Sotomayor hearings or in the health care debate on the appropriations bill need to also consider some legislation to help these Americans.

Tags: Economy by ecthompson md
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Our legislators are sure doing us a disservice. Very few are serious about universal healthcare. The bipartisanship sought by many Democrats (Max Baucus) is a waste of time!!! Republicans have said that they are not interested in any type of healthcare reform. They want the status quo. How do you negotiate from that position?

From the Political Animal:

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R) of Utah complained yesterday, “From the start of the health care debate, Democrats have completely shut us out of the process.”

One wonders which process Hatch has been watching. The Senate majority seems to have invested an enormous amount of time and energy trying to reach out to the 40-seat Republican minority. Indeed, had Dems decided early on to blow off the GOP altogether, chances are, we’d be closer to a finished product by now.

And yet, Republican outreach continues anyway. Late yesterday, Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) continued to huddle with Republicans on his committee, and around the same time, President Obama chatted up Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Bob Corker (Tenn.), Susan Collins (Maine) and Saxby Chambliss (Ga.). The Politico reported this morning that the president will meet with “more Republican senators at the White House” today.

Do these efforts suggest Democrats are back to prioritizing bipartisanship as a perquisite to reform? Apparently not.

[P]rivately, White House officials said the administration is moving closer to advancing the overhaul under a congressional procedure known as budget reconciliation that would make the bill immune to filibuster in the Senate.

While the administration still prefers to get a bill that commands some Republican support, its standard for a bipartisan agreement is a measure that contains GOP amendments — not something that will necessarily attract Republican votes.

The subtle but important shift reflects Obama’s eagerness to get House and Senate bills to a conference in September and sign a final bill into law by fall.

There’s nothing inherently contradictory here. Obama and his allies are effectively telling Republicans, “We’re listening and we’d like your support. But we’re not going to let the minority derail reform.” It adds some leverage to the discussions — Dems want GOP votes, but they don’t need GOP votes, and the majority would apparently prefer that Republicans keep that in mind.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) no doubt spoke for many when he said, “There’s a strong preference for bipartisanship because it makes the bill easier to pass. But if we cannot get bipartisanship, we must forge ahead because health care reform is too important.” Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) added, “There’s a value in achieving bipartisanship, but I will not sacrifice a good bill for that. The people we are working for are not our colleagues, but the American public.”

Meanwhile, in the House, conservative Blue Dog Dems continue to be an ongoing obstacle for reform. Rep. Mike Ross (D) of Arkansas told CNN yesterday, “We remain opposed to the current bill, and we continue to meet several times a day to decide how we’re going to proceed.”

Tags: Congress, Healthcare, Obama administration by ecthompson md
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I’m not sure that I get the Blue Dogs. I know that if I were in Congress I would not want to be labeled as a “Blue Dog” because to me it means thoughtless adherence to budgetary concerns above all others.

From 538.com:

The median Congressional District has an uninsured population of 14.6 percent, according to Gallup’s data (the average is slightly higher at 15.5 percent). Of the 48 McCainocrat districts, 31 (roughly two-thirds) have an above-median number of uninsured. A complete list follows below (actual Blue Dogs are denoted in … you guessed it … blue):

The bottom line is that the health care bill, among other things, is designed to help out the poor and the uninsured, and somehow or another will tax the rich in order to do so. I can understand if, say, Jason Altmire from PA-4 wants to vote against the health care bill. His district is suburban and pretty well off, and almost everyone there has health insurance. But Mike Ross of the Arkansas 4th, where almost 22 percent of the population is uninsured? This is a bill designed to help districts like his. And the same goes for most of the other Blue Dogs. A lot of the time, these guys are stuck in a tough spot between their party and their constituents. Here, those interests are mostly aligned. If a lot of the people on the top half of this list are voting against health care, first check the lobbying numbers, and then check to see if they’re still in office four years hence.

Tags: Healthcare, House of Representatives by ecthompson md
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Senator Jeff Sessions was rejected back in 1986 by the Senate for a federal judgeship. He clearly made some racist statements.

From AP: Witnesses accused Sessions of calling a black lawyer a “boy,” of describing church and civil rights groups as “un-American,” of agreeing with a statement that a white civil rights lawyer was a “disgrace to his race,” and of saying he thought the Ku Klux Klan was all right until he learned members smoked marijuana.

So, Senator Sessions launched an all-out assault against Judge Sonia Sotomayor because she … Well, you decide, why.

Tags: Legal, Senate, Supreme court by ecthompson md
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I know Regina Benjamin, MD. We sat on the AMA’s Committee to End HeathCare Disparities. I know her to be a very thoughtful person. She was never overbearing, yet she had a sense of urgency. She grew up and works on the Gulf shore. Her clinic was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. She understands the problems in our health care system as well as anybody in America. I could spend a moment talking about all of her accomplishments but I wouldn’t do them or her any justice. What you can’t read on a resume is the fact that she cares about her patients. She also cares about those patients that she can’t see. President Obama could not have chosen a better person, in my opinion, for the post of Surgeon General of the United States.

There are several great posts on Dr. Benjamin. Here are a couple -here and here. Of course, now the question is will she be allowed to really speak on health issues?

Tags: Healthcare, Obama administration by ecthompson md
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from TP:

U.S. Army Maj. Stefan Frederick Cook, who should be getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan, is instead seeking a temporary restraining order under the guise of being a conscientious objector. Cook is a birther who is arguing that President Obama is not a natural born citizen and, therefore, ineligible to be commander-in-chief. Cook’s lawyer is Orly Taitz — dubbed The Queen Bee of Birferstan for challenging the legitimacy of Obama’s presidency in California:

In the 20-page document — filed July 8 with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia — the California-based Taitz asks the court to consider granting his client’s request based upon Cook’s belief that Obama is not a natural-born citizen of the United States and is therefore ineligible to serve as commander-in-chief of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Cook further states he “would be acting in violation of international law by engaging in military actions outside the United States under this President’s command. … simultaneously subjecting himself to possible prosecution as a war criminal by the faithful execution of these duties.”

When not filing suit against his commander-in-chief, Cook has also made time to post at the conservative website FreeRepublic.

Tags: Military, Obama administration, Race by ecthompson md
9 Comments »

It is heartwarming to see the affection that we have for our president, Barack Obama. Barack Obama receives a great ovation in St. Louis at the All-Star game. Hall of Famer Stan Musial hands him the ceremonial ball.

Tags: Obama administration, Sports by ecthompson md
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Okay, someone needs to help me with this. Just nine months ago, Goldman Sachs, along with other investment banks on Wall Street, was sucking wind. They were about to go belly up. We, the American people, ponied up billions of dollars. So how can you go from completely destitute one minute and so flush with cash the next minute that if he spread the money around evenly between all employees it would make over $700,000 apiece. This kind of craziness can only happen on Wall Street. There has to be something really wrong with our system if this is possible. Regular Americans continue to struggle while millionaires don’t even have to worry about selling their yacht. It is kind of sickening.

From NYT:
Even on Wall Street, the land of six- and seven-figure incomes, jaws dropped at the news on Tuesday: After all that federal aid, a resurgent Goldman Sachs is on course to dole out bonuses that could rival the record paydays of the heady bull-market years.

In 2007, chief executive Lloyd C. Blankfein, collected one of the biggest bonuses in corporate history.

Goldman posted the richest quarterly profit in its 140-year history and, to the envy of its rivals, announced that it had earmarked $11.4 billion so far this year to compensate its workers.

At that rate, Goldman employees could, on average, earn roughly $770,000 each this year — or nearly what they did at the height of the boom.

Senior Goldman executives and bankers would be paid considerably more. Only three years ago, Goldman paid more than 50 employees above $20 million each. In 2007, its chief executive, Lloyd C. Blankfein, collected one of the biggest bonuses in corporate history. The latest headline results — $3.44 billion in profits — were powered by earnings from the bank’s secretive trading operations and exceeded even the most optimistic predictions. (more… )

Tags: Corporate Wrongs, Economy by ecthompson md
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I like this post.

From Glenn Greenwald:

At his Senate confirmation hearing, Sam Alito used his opening statement to emphasize how his experience as an Italian-American influences his judicial decision-making (video is here):

But when I look at those cases, I have to say to myself, and I do say to myself, “You know, this could be your grandfather, this could be your grandmother. They were not citizens at one time, and they were people who came to this country” . . . .

When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account.

Two weeks ago, Alito cast the deciding vote in Ricci v. DeStefano, an intensely contested affirmative action case.  He did so by ruling in favor of the Italian-American firefighters, finding that they were unlawfully discriminated against, even though the district court judge who heard all the evidence and the three-judge appellate panel ruled against them and dismissed their case.  Notably, the majority Supreme Court opinion Alito joined (.pdf) began by highlighting not the relevant legal doctrine, but rather, the emotional factors that made the Italian-American-plaintiffs empathetic.

Did Alito’s Italian-American ethnic background cause him to cast his vote in favor of the Italian-American plaintiffs?  Has anyone raised that question?  Given that he himself said that he “do[es] take that into account” — and given that Sonia Sotomayor spent 6 straight hours today being accused by GOP Senators and Fox News commentators of allowing her Puerto Rican heritage to lead her to discriminate against white litigants — why isn’t that question being asked about Alito’s vote in Ricci?

Also: if empathy is irrelevant to judicial decision-making, why are GOP Senators calling Frank Ricci as a witness at this hearing?  Since he’s obviously not there to testify about the strict legalistic doctrines governing his claims, but instead is only there to trumpet the facts that make him “sympathetic” so that people will emotionally react against Sotomayor’s ruling (his dyslexia, the amount he spent on books and tutors, his hopes for a promotion), isn’t everything he has to say totally irrelevant pursuant to the GOP’s alleged judicial principles?

Tags: Legal by ecthompson md
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Now I believe I’ve heard it all, a pet airline, really? For you pet owners out there, including myself, there is now an airline called Pet Airways for pets only. Yes, no more having your precious canine or feline held in the cargo area of a plane during flights, just book your favorite pooch a ticket for PetAirways.

Pet Airways took off today from Long Island airport promising a pleasant ride and experience for their K-9 passengers.

For those who have traveled with their pets, you all know how uncomfortable or dangerous pet travel can be. Sometimes the cargo area can be very stuffy and hot which of course is not good for any animal.

Now for the people who came up with the innovative idea of an all pet airline, Alysa Binder and Dan Wiesel who were uneasy about having to check their Jack Russell into a cargo hold while traveling, decided to do something to change the way pets had to travel. After collaborating, the two came up with the idea of an all pet airline and started Pet Airways in 2005. The past four years have consisted of the construction of the aircrafts.

As for the plane that will carry these pampered pooches, it is a single Beechcraft plane that use to seat 19 human passengers. The plane was gutted and can now accommodate 50 pets. In addition, a veterinary assistant will accompany the pilot and co-pilot on each and every flight.

Destinations for Pet Airways will start out with 5 major cities which include: New York, Washington, Chicago, Denver, and Los Angeles. The tickets for a pet to ride in comfort on this airline are starting out around $250 which is comparable to the regular rates of pet travel on U.S. airlines.

I must say, I would love to try out this airline the next time I travel with my pooch Coobie.

Tags: Business, Travel by Blowfish
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