Jimmy Carter in NY Times: “What Happened to the Ban on Assault Weapons?”

Survey USA poll:

Politico:

Moving to fend off outrage from New York officials, the White House military director apologized for flying Air Force One and an accompanying fighter jet low near Ground Zero as part of a photo shoot Monday.

President Barack Obama was not aboard when the huge 747 Air Force jet buzzed across Lower Manhattan, prompting evacuations, 911 calls and frightful memories of the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he had not been informed of the flight and was “furious” over the incident. And Obama was reported by an aide to be just as angry when he learned of the incident.

Pollster:

Now, based on President Obama’s performance to date and looking ahead to the 2012 Presidential election… Do you think you will…

42% Vote to re-elect Barack Obama
22% Consider voting for someone else
24% Vote to replace Barack Obama

(source)

Mark Perry:

From the first Earth Day in 1970:
“Air pollution is certainly going to take hundreds of thousands of lives in the next few years alone,” Paul Ehrlich in an interview in Mademoiselle magazine, April 1970.
Ehrlich also predicted that in 1973, 200,000 Americans would die from air pollution, and that by 1980 the life expectancy of Americans would be 42 years.
“By 1985, air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching earth by one half…” Life magazine, January 1970.
Most Earth Day predictions turned out to be stunningly wrong. In 1970, environmentalists said there would soon be a new ice age and massive deaths from air pollution. The New York Times foresaw the extinction of the human race. Widely-quoted biologist Paul Ehrlich predicted worldwide starvation by 1975.
MP: Consider that since the first Earth Day in 1970, U.S. population has increased by 50.25%, miles driven has increased by 159% and real GDP has increased 203%; and yet air quality is better than ever.

Kansas Supreme Court blog:

April 24th. The Kansas Supreme Court has issued its opinion in Dodge City Implement, Inc v. Board of Barber County Commissioners (No. 96,784) a negligence suit arising out of a truck-train collision in 2003. In a unanimous decision, written by Justice Beier, the court affirmed the Court of Appeals (the opinion of which was quoted extensively) decision which in turn affirmed the District Court’s dismissal of the suit as barred under Kansas’ “one-action” rule. Note: this was the only decision issued this week. (more…)

NRO:

Don’t worry New Yorkers.  That 747 you saw escorted by a fighter plane was a Department of Defense photo-op.  Another one for the “If Bush had done this” file.

Politico:

By ALEXANDER BURNS

President Obama’s speech at the National Academy of Sciences Monday morning hit a brief snag when Obama got ahead of his script.

Laying his plan for a President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, Obama began to name the members of PCAST listed in his prepared remarks - before realizing he’d already introduced them, earlier in his speech.

“In addition to John - sorry, the - I just noticed I jumped the gun here,” Obama said, pausing for several seconds as he looked at the prompter. “Go ahead. Move it up. I had already introduced all you guys.”

The audience, which gave the president a warm reception, responded with a quiet laugh.

Reuters:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sony Corp’s Sony Pictures on Thursday became the sixth major studio to support a theater-chain upgrade to digitally convert 20,000 U.S. and Canadian cinema screens, at an estimated cost of more than $1 billion.

Other studios announced in October they would back a theater-upgrade program with the Digital Cinema Implementation Partners (DCIP), a group of theater chains comprising Regal Entertainment Group, Cinemark Holdings Inc and AMC Entertainment Inc.

The other studios include Walt Disney Co, Viacom Inc Paramount Pictures, News Corp’s Twentieth Century Fox, General Electric Co’s Universal Pictures and Lions Gate Entertainment.

Reuters:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than half of U.S. adults used the Internet to participate in the 2008 election — the first time that threshold has been crossed, according to a study released Wednesday.

Some 55 percent searched for political news online, researched candidate positions, debated issues or otherwise participated in the election over the Internet, the Pew Internet and American Life Project found.

Reuters:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Time Warner Cable Inc said on Thursday it would shelve plans to test a system that bills customers for the amount of broadband bandwidth they use instead of at a flat fee to access the Internet from home after an uproar from consumer groups and politicians.

“It is clear from the public response over the last two weeks that there is a great deal of misunderstanding about our plans,” Time Warner Cable Chief Executive Glenn Britt said in a statement.

The company said it would alter plans to test consumption-based billing while continuing customer education about it. Time Warner Cable has been testing the billing system in Beaumont, Texas.

Rasmussen:

Forty-nine percent (49%) of adults nationwide now say it is possible for anyone who really wants to work to find a job. That’s up from 45% a month ago but still down from 52% in January.

The new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 37% say it’s not true that anybody who wants work can find a job and 14% are not sure.

Fifty-two percent (52%) now believe just about anybody can work their way out of poverty. That’s down four points from 56% a month ago and little changed from January.

Politico:

Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard law professor charged by Congress with overseeing trillions in financial rescue funds, has a surprising secret weapon: Dr. Phil.

The outspoken consumer advocate has appeared on Phil McGraw’s show twice to talk about the financial difficulties facing middle-class families. Another visit, Warren argues, could help explain the complexities of regulatory reform to a wider audience.

But this time, families in need of “money makeovers” aren’t the only ones she has to convince.

Science Daily:

Students in academic difficulty who took the “Learning and Motivation Strategies” course in their first quarter at Ohio State were about 45 percent more likely to graduate within six years than similar students who didn’t take the class.

Average-ability students who took the course were also six times more likely to stay in college for a second year and had higher grade point averages than those who didn’t take the class.

Digital Rules blog:

If you think the national mood is low now, go back to 1973-76. Gas prices doubled in 1973. Stocks fell 48% between January 1973 and December 1974. The American vice president, Spiro Agnew, resigned in disgrace in November 1973. President Richard Nixon followed in August 1974. Saigon collapsed in April 1975 after U.S. armed forces withdrew from a war they were not permitted to win.

In November 1976, Americans elected as president a man almost no one outside of politics or the state of Georgia had known just one year earlier. Democrats captured 61 seats in the Senate, some of them such pacifists they wanted to shut down the Central Intelligence Agency. The Democrats took two-thirds of the seats in the House.

Economic growth was distinctly out of favor during the 1970s. America’s bellwether state, California, had a governor, Jerry Brown, who spouted Zen Buddhism and slept on a mattress on the floor. Jerry Brown liked to recommend a book called Small Is Beautiful by E.F. Schumacher.

Tax Foundation:

The new Yankee Stadium’s construction costs have been publicly subsidized in the form of $942 million in tax-exempt bonds issued by New York City. Seeking tax-free status for the bonds to ensure a lower interest rate, New York structured the deal to ensure it didn’t run afoul of a federal tax code provision which requires that such bonds not be “private activity bonds.” This serves as a huge benefit because the bonds are exempt from city, state, and federal taxes, and have an interest rate about 25 percent below that of taxable bonds. There are two parts to this financing scheme which seem “foul.” First, the new Yankee Stadium will be city-owned and thus exempt from property taxes. Meanwhile its primary tenant, the Yankees, will pay no rent. This clearly brings up the issue of whether such tax-exempt bonds should have been issued at all, and especially when the city is so far in the red.

Pollster:

Public Policy Polling (D)
4/17-19/09; 1,050 registered voters, 3% margin of error
Mode: IVR

Colorado

Job Approval / Disapproval
Sen. Bennet (D): 34 / 41

2009 Senate - General Election
Beauprez (R) 43, Sen. Bennet 42
Sen. Bennet 39, Frazier (R) 35
Sen. Bennet 40, Buck (R) 34
Sen. Bennet 41, Penry (R) 34

(source)

HT RCP

Reuters:

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Sony Ericsson will take some time developing a phone using Google’s Android operating system, its chief executive said on Friday, but declined to say when such a handset would be available.

Most handset vendors are rushing out phones using Android software, hoping to benefit from consumer demand, but Sony Ericsson said it would be some time before its own offering was launched.

“It does require a lot of evaluation, as well as a lot of testing, a lot of acceptance from a consumer viewpoint, and there is still some time to go,” Chief Executive Hideki Komiyama told Reuters in an interview.

KC Star:

Legislation prompted by the murder of Kelsey Smith was signed into law today by Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. It requires cell phone companies to release “ping” information to police showing the whereabouts of missing persons.

After Kelsey went missing, her parents and law enforcement fought with the Smith’s cell phone company for days before the company released the so-called “ping” records. Police used the information to quickly find Smith’s body, four days after she was abducted and killed.

“While no legislation can ever bring Kelsey back, we can make sure that our dedicated police and rescue workers can now get the information they need, when they need it,” Sebelius said in a statement announcing the bill signing. “Our thoughts continue to be with Kelsey’s family, friends and community.”

Economist Mark Perry:

The Fix:

10. Bobby Jindal: The Louisiana governor has virtually disappeared from the national scene after his less-than-well-received Republican response to President Obama’s congressional address in February. And, as we have noted, it is almost logistically impossible for Jindal to run for reelection in 2011 and also pursue the presidency in 2012. Still, don’t underestimate Jindal’s power within the party — he is one of the few politicians that activists and operatives alike get excited about. (Previous ranking: 10) (more…)

The AP:

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - An American journalist jailed in Iran has been convicted of spying and sentenced to eight years in prison, her lawyer said Saturday, dashing any hopes for her quick release.

The verdict was the first time Iran has found an American journalist guilty of spying, and it was unclear how the conviction would affect recent overtures by the Obama administration for better relations and engagement with Washington’s longtime adversary.

Roxana Saberi, a 31-year-old dual American-Iranian citizen, was arrested in late January and initially accused of working without press credentials. But earlier this month, an Iranian judge leveled a far more serious allegation, charging her with spying for the United States.

Reuters:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A day after the violent rescue of a U.S. ship captain from Somali pirates, a cable television channel on Monday said it will air a reality show about the U.S. Navy’s mission to stop piracy off the coast of Africa.

Producers and the Navy have been in talks for three months about the show, which is titled “Pirate Hunters: USN” and is expected to air as a one-hour special in the fall on Spike TV.

The Navy will allow cameras from Spike and 44 Blue Productions to capture life aboard warships USS San Antonio and USS Boxer as their crews search for pirates.

RCP:

“In an interview on MSNBC, Rep. Jane Harman denied having any conversations with pro-Israel lobbyists promising she would intercede in a case dealing with a spy from the country. Harman’s conversations were apparently wiretapped. Rep. Harman is now demanding the Department of Justice release all of the wiretaps, if they exist.”

Link: