News Cut: August 21, 2009 Archive

Five a 8 - 8/21/09: Disagreeing with ourselves

Posted at 7:23 AM on August 21, 2009 by Bob Collins (14 Comments)

1) Again with the journalism, eh Jon Stewart? The Daily Show host's guest last night was Betsy McCaughey, one of the leading opponents of President Barack Obama's health care plan. Here's the first installment of the extended interview (and here's the second part).

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Exclusive - Betsy McCaughey Extended Interview Pt. 1
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Healthcare Protests

McCaughey said, "it's one thing to pay doctors to spend time with their patients to discuss this issue, but putting pressure on their doctors to require patients to go through a consultation... that's really wrong."

It was at that point that I wished Jon Stewart kept up with the news from South Dakota. Don't get so smug, Minnesota politicians. It wasn't that long ago (2003) when you passed the Women's Right to Know Act, which required doctors to inform patients that abortions increase a woman's risk of breast cancer, even though that assertion is very much in dispute.

Time to rewind the conversations: When exactly is it OK for government to dictate the conversation with your doctor? And when isn't it? On this matter, it's not about agreeing with each other. We don't presently agree with ourselves.

The links above are the extended interviews. Here's the one edited for the yucks.

Meanwhile, last night hundreds packed a forum on health care in Mankato. Contentious, but polite, is the characterization from an MPR reporter who was there.

2) I can't decide this question: Is the world in good shape or bad shape when it can find the time to preoccupy itself with the question of whether a woman who wins a track & field event is really a woman?

3) Is Bob Dylan really from Minnesota? If so, where did his accent come from? Graeme Wood, writing in The Atlantic, traveled to Hibbing to find out, and -- of course -- to get in a few shots at the people who do live here:

So far, from Jaqi and the regulars at the Sportsmen's, I had heard not even the faintest echo of what Philip Larkin called that "cawing, derisive voice," though I had heard plenty of derision. But accents are tricky, especially in diversely settled regions like northern Minnesota. Hibbing was an iron town, and the mining jobs had attracted immigrants from at least fifty different known ethnic stocks. Even today, one of Hibbing's main attractions is the Hull Rust-Mahoning Open Pit Iron Mine, a vast scar on the earth where generations of miners extracted ore from taconite. The pit extends more than a mile across, and from behind the chain-link fence at the lookout point on the northern fringe of town, it resembles a polluted northern twin of the Grand Canyon.

(h/t: @MNstories)

4) I've written plenty this week about the national convention of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in Minneapolis, so I'll try not to repeat myself too much. Today, they take up the full resolution on non-celibate gay clergy (Today's activities start at 8 a.m.). Here's the live video feed, but if you want an example of Twitter at its finest, spend the day following the vote here. A few are blogging but what we've learned in Minneapolis this week is nobody can tweet like a Lutheran.

5) I forget. Are frogs an indicator species? New research: Traffic noise could be ruining sex lives of frogs.

TODAY'S QUESTION

Health care reform is the subject of town hall meetings, congressional negotiations and presidential news conferences. But the debate is happening in locations that never make the news. We want to know how the controversy is playing out in your life. Where does your health care debate take place?

WHAT WE'RE DOING

I'll have another installment in the News Cut series, "The Unemployed," by early afternoon. I'm looking for more people to profile. Contact me here.

Midmorning (9-11 a.m.) - First hour: When both the Lockerbie bomber and disgraced quarterback Michael Vick were released back to society, some people were outraged. But one scientist suggests that we have evolved to forgive, alongside biblical traditions of redeeming sins. Kerri and her guests consider forgiveness. News Cut readers, on the other hand, already have. Here and here.

Second hour: Singer Dar Williams.

Midday (11 a.m. - 1 p.m.) - First hour: Cardiologist Dr. Thomas Kottke and Dr. David Wallinga, director of the Food and Health program at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, discuss what constitutes healthy living.

Second hour: Three brain scientists discuss how the brain works.

Talk of the Nation (1-3 p.m.) - It's Science Friday. First hour: A look at the hurricane season.

Second hour: The food-shopping decisions we make and whether they matter.

All Things Considered (3-6:30 p.m.) - Toni Randolph is following the ELCA vote. Brandt Williams will report on the use of police video. Who looks at it and when? Dan Olson looks at the transportation hub springing up near the Twins ballpark.

Nationally, Mike Pesca begins a series -- Friday Night Lives -- with a visit to high school football training camps. Richard Gonzales profiles the last remaining auto plant in California, which is likely to close soon. Joel Rose will report on why the promise of digital TV has fallen so far short.

(14 Comments)

Mesaba faulted in stranding of ExpressJet passengers

Posted at 11:20 AM on August 21, 2009 by Bob Collins (21 Comments)

The U.S. Department of Transportation today said it wasn't the fault of the crew of that ExpressJet flight that sat on the ramp in Rochester for hours a couple of weeks ago. It was the fault of a crew from Mesaba Airlines.

Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, writing on his blog today, said his preliminary investigation has found:

• *** The local representative of Mesaba Airlines--the only carrier in a position to help the stranded plane--improperly refused the requests of the ExpressJet captain to let her passengers off the plane, telling the captain that the airport was closed to passengers for security reasons.
  
  This is what led to the nightmare for those stuck on the plane.
  
  The Mesaba rep said this apparently because there was no one from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) available to screen passengers. But, in fact, TSA procedures allow passengers to get off the plane, enter the terminal and re-board without being screened again as long as they remain in a secure area.
  
  *** While the crew of the Continental Express flight did what they could to assist passengers, more senior personnel within Continental or ExpressJet should have become involved in an effort to obtain permission to take the passengers off the plane.

The plane left Houston at 9:23 p.m. on August 11, but was diverted by thunderstorms to Rochester. Passengers were kept for about six hours waiting inside the cramped plane amid wailing babies and a smelly toilet even though they were only 50 yards from a terminal, the Associated Press reported.

The Associated Press, meanwhile, has obtained recordings of the ExpressJet's flight crew conversation with its corporate headquarters. ExpressJet has also provided this timeline of the flight.

Here's the audio with some annotations I've made:



(h/t: Brian Bakst, AP)

Update 2:39 p.m. - Delta CEO Richard Anderson's reaction (Delta owns Mesaba)

"Because customer service is so important to our industry, I have personally reached out to Continental's chairman and CEO to ensure we fully understand the facts of this unfortunate incident. Delta is working with Mesaba to conduct an internal investigation, continue our full cooperation with the DOT and share all the facts with Continental."

Update 2:51 p.m. - Mesaba Airlines Chief Executive Officer John Spanjers' statement:

"Mesaba respectfully disagrees with the DOT's preliminary findings as they are incongruent with our initial internal review of the incident. Because Continental Express Flight 2816 diverted to an airport where they have no ground handling service, Mesaba offered assistance as a courtesy during this delay. While the investigation is ongoing, Mesaba is fully cooperating with the Department of Transportation and looks forward to the final report."

Update 2:57 p.m. - Transportation Security Administration (TSA) isn't talking, but noted this posting on its Web site:

Airlines, not TSA, make the decision on whether or not to deplane passengers if there is a delay or diversion. TSA does not prohibit airlines deplaning passengers and re-boarding without screening as long as they don't exit past the checkpoint and leave the secure area, regardless of whether or not TSA officers are conducting screening operations. In addition, TSA has the ability to recall security officers and resume screening passengers after hours at the request of an airline or airport.

It's important to remember, this is one side of the story.

Update 7:04 p.m. Here's my interview on MPR's All Things Considered:

(21 Comments)