Say hello to, eh. Gary Johnson, prez candidate

JUST READ THAT Gary Johnson has announced his candidacy for president. Whooo. Gary Johnson? No, not the Gary Johnson who is your cousin Mamie's mailman, although it couldn't hurt. This one is the former governor of New Mexico. He says he's qualified. Besides, he needs a good job like a lot of other people these days. His decision to join the crowded field leaves only you and me and Joe the Plumber who haven't entered the race, and there's still time for Joe.

The Plain Dealer's front page spread on school vouchers and charter schools ("Kasich championing school choice") contained not a word about the ongoing court case in Columbus against Ohio charter King David Brennan's for-profit White Hat Management. The boards of ten charter schools under White Hat's management have accused the company of refusing to account for $230 million in state money that has been poured into White Hat since 20o8. In an earlier article by ProPublica, White Hat lawyer Charles Saxbe defended the company's secrecy about where the money goes, insisting that when it arrives from the state, it becomes private money for White Hat. There's a way to explain everything, even where it explains nothing. So let the good times roll!

How generous of the airlines. Their new rules will refund to the passenger the baggage fees if baggage is lost. Once when Pan-Am separated us from our luggage in a flight to Athens, Greece, the company blamed it on Olympic Airlines and said, "We're outta here." Not a dime. The luggage eventually turned up in Frankfurt, Germany, where it had remained for weeks without a single Greek having ever laid a hand on it. That's my sad story. I'm sure you have one, too.

From Harper's Index:

Minimum number of birds that die from crashing into New York City windows each year: 100,000

Date on which Glenn Beck hypothesized that an attempted assassination of Sarah Palin "could bring the republic down": 1/10/11