Midday open thread

• What an ass:
  

  According to Federal Aviation Administration documents and audiotapes obtained by The Smoking Gun, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) "scared the crap out of" airport workers at Cameron County Airport in South Texas last October, when he landed his Cessna on a closed runway.

  On October 21, 2010, Inhofe landed his plane on a runway that was closed and marked with an X, apparently scattering construction workers and nearly hitting a truck. According to an FAA report, Inhofe noticed the X, but "still elected to land avoiding the men and equipment on the runway."  [...]

  "He was determined to land on that runway come hell or high water, evidently," Boyd said.

  In another FAA recording, airport manager Marshall Reece can be heard saying he has "got over 50 years flying, three tours of Vietnam, and I can assure you I have never seen such a reckless disregard for human life in my life."
  

• Is the Huckster still toying with the idea of a presidential bid?

  Sources tell Politico's Maggie Haberman the former Arkansas governor turned Fox News host has been quietly reaching out to potential donors and recently met with a group of GOP activists in New York about a potential White House bid.
  

• And what about the adulterer who would be king?
  

  Newt Gingrich might be on the verge of delaying his potential 2012 presidential bid yet again.

  Less than two weeks ago, the former House Speaker, who is currently officially unofficially exploring a 2012 run, said he would decide by May 1 whether he'll run for the White House.

  But Rick Tyler, a top Gingrich aide, told The Hill's Shane D'Aprile that it's "highly unlikely" his boss will participate in next month's Fox News 2012 GOP primary debate in South Carolina on May 5.

• Comedy:

  Though last Friday?s near-government shutdown did not lead to a major defunding of Title X family planning programs, at least one anti-abortion group, Students for Life of America, still sees it as a ?partial victory for the pro-life movement,? and is unlikely to give up the fight to defund Planned Parenthood. [...]

  In an April 11 email, a group called ?Students for Life of America? said the deal was still a boon to the anti-abortion movement. ?While, our goal of de-funding of Planned Parenthood was not achieved, we advanced the ball forward, pushing through the misleading rhetoric on Capitol Hill, and obtained the opportunity for an historic vote which will take place in the U.S. Senate this week,? reads the email.

  ... even though the vote will fail, and:

  Online gifts to Planned Parenthood have surged by 500 percent since Republicans passed a budget amendment stripping the group of its federal funding.
  

• Digby has a column in The Hill:

  The entire political world has descended into a deficit frenzy that rivals the mass hysteria of the Salem witch trials. The mania has been growing for months, but exploded last week when D.C. heartthrob Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin (R) unveiled what was widely received as the most important document since the Emancipation Proclamation and the entire political establishment started babbling about ?brio? and ?courage.?

  Nothing else matters at this point ? not anemic economic growth, not sustained, shockingly high unemployment, not a Middle East uprising of world-changing consequence ? not even an epic nuclear catastrophe. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) said on CNN this week that the deficit is ?the most significant national security interest that the United States is facing today.? And that?s with the U.S. currently involved in three wars! (Well, two wars and one ?kinetic military action.?)
  

• Spillionaires?

  The oil spill that was once expected to bring economic ruin to the Gulf Coast appears to have delivered something entirely different: a gusher of money.

  Some people profiteered from the spill by charging BP outrageous rates for cleanup. Others profited from BP claims money, handed out in arbitrary ways. So many people cashed in that they earned nicknames -- "spillionaires" or "BP rich." Meanwhile, others hurt by the spill ended up getting comparatively little.
  

• What a bunch of dopes:

  The Associated Press mistakenly published a story Wednesday about General Electric Co. that was based on a fake press release.

  The fake release said that General Electric, responding to criticism over the amount of taxes it pays, would repay a $3.2 billion tax refund for 2010 to the Treasury Department.

• And in somewhat related news:

  EXXON MOBIL: The oil giant that was the world?s most profitable corporation in 2008 has spent $5.7 million in campaign contributions over the last ten years and $138 million in lobbying expenditures. Its federal corporate income tax liabilities for 2009? Absolutely nothing. Not only did it pay nothing, but it also received a tax rebate the same year of $156 million.

  CHEVRON: Chevron spent $4.4 million in campaign contributions and $91 million in lobbying expenditures over the last decade. It received a tax refund of $19 million in 2009 while making $10 billion in profits and $324 million in government contracts in 2008.

  CONOCOPHILLIPS: The Texas-based gasoline giant spent $2.5 million in campaign contributions and $63 million in lobbying expenditures over the last decade. It received ?$451 million through the oil and gas manufacturing deduction,? a special tax break, between 2007 and 2009, despite $16 billion in profits over the same period of time.

  (there's more)

• Well, this is a relief:

  Shannon Bond reports that JP Morgan Chase is winning the future and "reported a 67 per cent jump in first-quarter profit, as better performance of its credit card division offset losses from its troubled mortgage business."

  Recall that as recently as March 31, JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was warning us that the new Dodd-Frank bill would be ?the nail in the coffin? for giant American banks. He also warned one year ago that derivatives reform might cost his firm a few billion in revenue and Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) cited the touching plight of Dimon and his business as a reason to further deregulate banks.

• Sidney Harman has died:

  Sidney Harman, an audio pioneer who built the first high-fidelity stereo receiver, dabbled in education and government, and made a late-in-life splash by acquiring an antiquated Newsweek magazine and wedding it with a sassy young Web site, The Daily Beast, died Tuesday night in Washington. He was 92.
  

• O-kay:

  A raid 150 years ago by Confederate sympathizers on a Union fort at what is now Pensacola Naval Air Station was likely little more than an ill-planned and drunken misadventure, perhaps ended by one soldier's warning shot - and a blank one, at that.

  But don't tell Pensacola residents that the Jan. 8, 1861, skirmish meant nothing - the event is the stuff of legend in this military town. Some even claim the clash was the Civil War's first, three months before the battle on April 12, 1861, at South Carolina's Fort Sumter, which is widely recognized as the start of the war.
  

Source: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/66UrxJbTCf4/-Midday-open-thread

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