Cronyism At 36,000 Feet

PLUS: How the torture started, and who started it...Hey, DoD, it works better if you test the body armor before you give it to soldiers...Coffee helps you remember...You’re nineteen, you want a beer, let’s think this over...Where’d our CEO in Chief get to?..And Karl Rove thinks the Constitution is nothing but blah blah blah blah blah. It’s April 4th and this is Mic Check. It’s frakkin’ on.

Celebration Excuse

The U.S. chooses its flag (and patriotism now has a face), the nation loses a hero, and Tippiecanoe tips over from pneumonia. It’s April 4 and here’s why we’re seeing red, white, and blue today.

1818

The United States Congress adopts the flag of the U.S. with 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state.

1841

William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia one month after coming into office, becoming every mother’s favorite example of why you can’t leave the house without your coat.

1850

Say hello to Botox City! Los Angeles, California is incorporated as a city.

1949

NATO is established, providing mutual security to the big boy’s club of the West.

1968

Wear black to work today: civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated.

1975

Feel like a slave to your computer? Blame Bill Gates and Paul Allen for founding Microsoft. (Harvard is still raw about you leaving, Bill.)

Blow yourself some candles

1928: Poetess Maya Angelou who just wants a drink o’ water
1964: King of the double entendre, David “I Blew Myself” Cross
1979: Heath Ledger, talented actor and biggest Hollywood tragedy of 2008
1991: Baby momma following in her big sis’ steps, Jamie Lynn Spears

Daybook

Potus

Attends summit meetings of the NATO Ukraine Commission and NATO Russia Council; meets with the Romanian Prime Minister Calin Pepescu Tariceanu; has dinner with Croation President Stjepan Mesic and his wife Milka Mesic.

Stumpin’

The North Dakota Democratic State Convention begins.

Congress

Senate

In session.

House

Pro forma session.

Joint Economic Committee: Hearing on the March employment situation. On tap: Keith Hall, commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Daytime

Oprah: Lisa Ling investigates puppy mills!
The View: Special program on diet and exercise (R 1/25/08) Regis & Kelly: Renee Zellweger, guest co-host Anderson Cooper
Ellen: Forest Whitaker, conservationist Eugene Cussons, the B-52’s
Martha: Cupcake Week concludes.

Late night

Letterman: Ellen Pompeo, Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige
Leno: David Spade, Nora Hardwick, Ben Lee
Ferguson: Jena Malone, Bell X1
Conan: Christina Applegate, Lewis Black
Kimmel: Artie Lang, Spencer Grammer, Paramore

 

Eavesdrop

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Danger In The Skies

  • Who: The House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, featuring a host of airline safety specialists and representatives.
  • What: An investigations and oversight hearing on “critical lapses in FAA safety oversight of airlines: abuses of regulatory “partnership programs."”
  • Why You Should Care: Regulators overseeing Southwest Airlines repeatedly allowed the airline to escape punishment for safety violations because of a close relationship between the airline and federal officials. The scariest part is that this could be just the tip of the iceberg. And we think you’ll agree: No one wants safety left up to chance at 36,000 feet.

The Audio

  • Chairman James Oberstar: ” FAA needs to re-think its relationship with airlines and the other regulation entities which it regulates.”
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  • Oberstar: ” The only customer for the FAA — if you’re going to use that term — is the air-traveling public. Airlines are not customers.”
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  • Aviation safety inspector for Southwest airlines Bobby Bourtis: “I’m here today because I’m concerned for the safety of the flying public, which has been jeapordized by the abusive authority in violation of the federal regulations.”
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  • And, finally, Chairman Oberstar lays down the law: “The FAA would have us believe that what took place was an isolated incident and has been contained. In fact, the testimony we have heard substantiates that clearly this is not an isolated aberration, attributed — or attributable — to a rogue individual, but rather a systematic breakdown of the safety oversight role of the FAA. It is misfeasance, malfeasance, bordering on corruption.”
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Popularity Contest

We know how busy you were today, so we went ahead and put together this list of the most-popular online stories so you could catch up on your news lickety-split.

ABC: The Clinton Tax Returns: What Will They Reveal?

CBS: Ex-Stripper Gets 99 Years For Murder Plot

NBC: Serb ex-wife gets half of everything — literally

CNN: Naomi Campbell arrested at Terminal 5, say UK media

FOX: Michigan Fifth-Grader Finds 27-Year-Old Mistake at SmithsonianScienceMuseum

REUTERS: Research debunks health value of guzzling water

BBC: Daily caffeine ‘protects brain’

WP: Pr. William Arrests 41 People in First Month of Immigration Crackdown

NYT: Tighten Your Belt, Strengthen Your Mind

USAT: ATA Airlines files for bankruptcy, cancels all flights

LAT: Superdelegate says Clinton needs ‘big win’ in Pennsylvania

Masthead

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Mic Check is produced every weekday by Christy Harvey, Sara Langhinrichs and Nicole Murphy, and is a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Read more about Mic Check.

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