GOP senator flips out at airline, sets off security alarm

The Republican senator who found himself on a DC madam's client list is drawing new attention over "impulse control."

After missing a flight last Thursday from Washington to New Orleans,
Louisiana Sen. David Vitter opened an armed security door and went off on a United Airlines employee, according to a report filed Wednesday by (paid-restricted) Roll Call.

The door sounded a security alarm.

Vitter had arrived at the gate for a flight from Dulles Airport, only to find that the door had been closed twenty minutes prior to departure.

After setting off the security alarm, the Louisiana senator proceeded to dress down an airline employee who told him entering the restricted area was forbidden. He invoked his standing as a senator, delivering a "do-you-know-who-I-am" tirade, the paper said.

You can't make this stuff up!

Employee Free Choice Act Goes To Congress Today

To amend the National Labor Relations Act to establish an efficient system to enable employees to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to provide for mandatory injunctions for unfair labor practices during organizing efforts, and for other purposes.

Yay!

Only On Fox

Mediamatters has a new site dedicated to Fox Noise. They should have done this a long time ago!

Dow ends up nearly 380 on Citigroup profit news

Wall Street has had its best day of the year, storming higher after some good news from Citigroup. Citigroup Inc. says it operated at a profit during the first two months of the year. That energized financial stocks and in turn, the entire market. Surprised investors drove the major indexes up more than 5.5 percent to their biggest one-day rally of the year. The Dow Jones industrials shot up nearly 380 points.

Good news! But I don't think we're done yet...

FDIC chief fears fund insolvency

The head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has warned that the fund insuring Americans’ bank deposits could be wiped out this year without the money the agency is seeking in new fees from U.S. banks and thrifts.

FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair acknowledged, in a letter this week to bank CEOs, that the new increased fees and hefty emergency premium the agency voted to levy last week will bring a “significant expense” to banks. But given the accelerating bank failures that have been depleting the deposit insurance fund, she said, it “could become insolvent this year.”

That's not good...

GOP senator would support probe of 'shocking' anti-terror memos

"Rather than prosecuting Bush officials, the Democrat has proposed the creation of a 'truth commission' to investigate alleged wrongdoings in the waging of the war on terror. Leahy’s proposed commission would have subpoena power, but would not press criminal charges against former White House officials."

"Now, interestingly enough, some of the Republicans, in their arguments this morning, were saying, maybe prosecution is the only way you‘re going to really find out," Leahy said. "Something has been done wrong and you should have prosecution. My feeling is, be careful what you wish for. That may be what you get."

Perfect.

Conservatives back Limbaugh over Steele

Newly minted GOP chair Michael Steele may have apologized for calling Rush Limbaugh an "entertainer" (What? He's not entertaining?) and "incendiary," but he's still getting pounded. Not only from the left, but from his fellow conservatives.

The early verdict: Conservatives are backing Rush over Mike. The National Journal's Blogometer says "the most common complaint in the conservative blogosphere is that Steele's 'biggest asset' was supposed to be his communication skills, yet his TV appearances are precisely what have gotten him in trouble."

Grab some popcorn. This is fun!

Dems create 'I'm sorry, Rush' site for GOP officials

HAHAHA!!!

Recent poll showed Bush with higher favorable rating than Limbaugh

In fact, polls by Gallup in February show that Limbaugh has less favorable ratings from the mainstream public than former President George W. Bush. But while members of Congress and presidential aspirants spent most of the last two years trying to run away from Bush, Limbaugh's power seems to be expanding.

"In a February Gallup poll, 45 percent of respondents said they had an unfavorable view of Limbaugh, to 28 percent with a favorable opinion. The partisan divide was steep, with Republicans favoring Rush 60-23, while Democrats disapproved 63-6," Howard Kurtz writes in Tuesday's Washington Post.

How to know when it's time to shut the fuck up...

A new memo shows just how far the Bush administration considered going in fighting the war on terror.

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the Justice Department secretly gave the green light for the U.S. military to attack apartment buildings and office complexes inside the United States, deploy high-tech surveillance against U.S. citizens and potentially suspend First Amendment freedom-of-the-press rights in order to combat the terror threat, according to a memo released Monday.

Jesus...