The Commentariat -- April 24

Art & caption by Karen Garcia.I have been remiss is lending festivities to the Easter holiday. Karen Garcia, however, has not. She had great advice for everybody, including those of you planning to attend tomorrow's Easter Egg Roll at the White House.

** "Poor Jane's Almanac." Jill LePore in a New York Times op-ed: "Today ... the nation’s bookshelves sag with doorstop biographies of the founders; Tea Partiers dressed as Benjamin Franklin call for an end to social services for the poor; and the 'Path to Prosperity' urges a return to 'America’s founding ideals of liberty, limited government and equality under the rule of law.' But the story of Jane Mecom, [Bejamin Franklin's sister,] is a reminder that, especially for women, escaping poverty has always depended on the opportunity for an education and the ability to control the size of their families."

The White House has finally made video available of President Obama's full Facebook townhall, which he & Mark Zuckerberg conducted last Wednesday:

"Hold the Halo." Maureen Dowd: "Next Sunday ... Pope Benedict XVI will preside over the beatification for the man he revered, the first time in a millennium that a pope has elevated his immediate predecessor and the swiftest ascension toward sainthood on record.... As progressive as [John Paul II] was on [many] issues, he was disturbingly regressive on social issues — contraception, women’s ordination, priests’ celibacy, divorce and remarriage. And certainly, John Paul forfeited his right to beatification when he failed to establish a legal standard to remove pedophiles from the priesthood, and simply turned away for many years."  

     ... Update: I've added a comments page for Dowd's column in Off Times Square, & I've posted my comment to her column.

     ... Update 2: the Times has held back Karen Garcia's excellent comment on Dowd, but you can read it here AND write or copy-and-paste your own comment.

Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: "The Federal Reserve’s experimental effort to spur a recovery by purchasing vast quantities of federal debt has pumped up the stock market, reduced the cost of American exports and allowed companies to borrow money at lower interest rates. But ... benefits [to the general economy] have been surprisingly small. The latest estimates from economists, in fact, suggest that the pace of recovery from the global financial crisis has flagged since November, when the Fed started buying $600 billion in Treasury securities to push private dollars into investments that create jobs."

Paul Richter of the Los Angeles Times: "Although the United States and the European Union have blocked access to more than $60 billion in Libya's overseas bank accounts and investments, other nations have done little or nothing to freeze tens of billions more that Kadafi and his family spread around the globe over the last decade, according to U.S., European and U.N. officials involved in the search for Libyan assets. Kadafi has moved billions of dollars back to Tripoli since the rebellion began in mid-February, the officials said. The totals are not clear, in part because investigators believe the Libyan ruler made significant investments in companies and financial institutions that shield his identity."

Theola Labbe-DeBose of the Washington Post: "The growth of technology has left 911 behind. Although people can send a text to vote for the next American Idol, they can’t send one to report the East Coast Rapist.... Other simple actions, including sending 911 a smartphone photo of a car speeding from a robbery, are also impossible.... Federal and local officials readily acknowledge the need to modernize 911 calls, and they have taken small steps to digitize, but there are no plans in place for how to pay the billions of dollars the upgrade will cost and no timetable has been set." CW: because "America is broke," & we can't afford luxuries like a modern 911 system. More tax breaks, anyone?

Caitlan Flanagan in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, advocates for shutting down fraternities. "A 2007 National Institute of Justice study found that about one in five women are victims of sexual assault in college; almost all of those incidents go unreported. It also noted that fraternity men — who tend to drink more heavily and frequently than nonmembers — are more likely to perpetrate sexual assault than nonfraternity men, according to previous studies. Over a quarter of sexual-assault victims who were incapacitated reported that the assailant was a fraternity member." CW: Before I read Flanagan's op-ed, I thought the premise was ridiculous. I'm less sure of that now. See what you think.

Nicholas Kristof says young American prostitutes are victims of human trafficking, too. "... They deserve sympathy and social services — not handcuffs and juvenile detention."

After reading Joe Nocera's (implied) criticism of Spencer Bachus, the Republican Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, who hails from Jefferson County, Alabama, & wants to delay or dismantle derivatives regulation, reader Haley S. told me I should link to an article that told the whole story of what happened in Jefferson County. She 's right. So here it is: ...

... America in the Age of Oligarchy: One County's Story. Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone: "In 1996, the average monthly sewer bill for a family of four in Birmingham [Jefferson County, Alabama] was only $14.71 — but that was before the county decided to build an elaborate new sewer system with the help of out-of-state financial wizards with names like Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase. The result was a monstrous pile of borrowed money that the county used to build, in essence, the world's grandest toilet — "the Taj Mahal of sewer-treatment plants" is how one county worker put it. What happened here in Jefferson County would turn out to be the perfect metaphor for the peculiar alchemy of modern oligarchical capitalism: A mob of corrupt local officials and morally absent financiers got together to build a giant device that converted human shit into billions of dollars of profit for Wall Street — and misery for [the people of Jefferson County]." Read the whole story.

Charles Hanley of the AP: "Former chief U.N. nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei suggests in a new memoir that Bush administration officials should face international criminal investigation for the 'shame of a needless war' in Iraq. Freer to speak now than he was as an international civil servant, the Nobel-winning Egyptian accuses U.S. leaders of 'grotesque distortion' in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq invasion, when then-President George W. Bush and his lieutenants claimed Iraq possessed doomsday weapons despite contrary evidence collected by ElBaradei's and other arms inspectors inside the country."

Contra assertions by Fracking Joe Nocera, ("In Texas and Oklahoma, it has been used for decades, with nobody complaining much about environmental degradation.") friend of T. Boone Pickens, not everybody in Texas loves fracking. Kate Galbraith of the New York Times: "On Wednesday, several dozen protesters marched through downtown Fort Worth, waving signs and chanting anti-drilling slogans that reflected concern over air and water pollution. The anxiety centers on a recently expanded drilling method called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which is now used in more than half of new gas wells drilled in Texas. This practice — which involves blasting water, sand and chemicals far underground to break up rock and extract gas — is common in the Barnett Shale, a major shale-gas field around Fort Worth."

Right Wing World *

"Pity for the Rich." Matt Yglesias: "You can tell something’s happening in the economic policy debate when you start reading more things like AEI’s Arthur Brooks explaining that it would simply be unfair to raise taxes on the rich. Harvard economics professor and former Council of Economics Advisor chairman Greg Mankiw has said the same thing." Here's a link to Brooks' pathetic Washington Post op-ed (it's so stupid you might think Arthur was related to Our Mister Brooks, but I don't think he is.) ...

   ... Paul Krugman: "... my take is that what we’re looking at is the closing of the conservative intellectual universe, the creation of an echo chamber in which rightists talk only to each other, and in which even the pretense of caring about ordinary people is disappearing. I mean, we’ve been living for some time in an environment in which the WSJ can refer, unselfconsciously, to people making too little to pay income taxes as 'lucky duckies'; where Chicago professors making several hundred thousand a year whine that they can’t afford any more taxes, and are surprised when that rubs some people the wrong way." ...

... BUT Screw the Poor, Especially if They're Neglected Children. Todd Heywood of the Michigan Messenger: "Under a new budget proposal from [Republican] State Sen. Bruce Casswell, children in the state’s foster care system would be allowed to purchase clothing only in used clothing stores.... Under his plan, foster children would receive gift cards that could only be used at places like the Salvation Army, Goodwill and other second hand clothing stores.... Casswell says the plan will save the state money, though it isn’t clear how much the state spends on clothing for foster children or how much could be saved this way." CW: I'm sorry, but it's getting harder & harder not to think of Republicans as essentially evil.

NEW. Yesterday, Ben Smith of Politico, who is generally a good reporter, wrote this, which I found pretty incredible:

I've been looking for a good analogue to the willingness of Republicans to believe, or say they believe, that Obama was born abroad, and one relevant number is the share of Democrats willing to believe, as they say, that 'Bush knew.' ...More than half of Democrats, according to a neutral survey, said they believed Bush was complicit in the 9/11 terror attacks. [emphasis Smith's]

      ... But as Driftglass notes, as only Driftglass can, it ain't so. I've asked Smith to respond. ...

      ... Update: I've corresponded with Smith on this & wrote three (comments hog!) comments on Driftglass's post. The bottom line: Smith's assertion that "more than half of Democrats ... believed Bush was complicit" is not accurate.

Peter Wallsten of the Washington Post: "Anxiety is rising among some Republicans over the party’s embrace of a plan to overhaul Medicare, with GOP lawmakers already starting to face tough questions on the issue at town hall meetings back in their districts. House leaders have scheduled a Tuesday conference call in which members are expected in part to discuss strategies for defending the vote they took this month on a budget that would transform the popular entitlement program as part of a plan to cut trillions in federal spending." CW translation: they're going to make indefensible cutbacks sound great! Look for identical talking points Tuesday afternoon.

Over in Right Wing World, the Street people are getting very upset about the "collapse of the dollar." But Barry Ritholtz of The Big Picture asks, "Where were all you concerned dollar bulls earlier in the decade? ... US currency [dropped] by less than 20% over the past few years. That’s not a dollar collapse; A fall from 121.02 in July 2001 to 70.69 in March 2008 — Now THATS a dollar collapse:

Those are years along the horizontal axis, beginning with 2000.* Talks only to itself.

News Ledes

AP: "Deep divisions within Yemen's opposition appeared to doom an Arab proposal for the president to step down within a month, raising the prospect of more bloodshed and instability in a nation already beset by deep poverty and conflict."

AP: "At least 500 people died in religious rioting that followed Nigeria's presidential election, a civil rights group said Sunday, as volatile state gubernatorial elections loom this week. Meanwhile, police in the northern state of Bauchi said at least 11 recent college graduates who helped run polling stations as part of the country's national youth service corps have been killed in postelection violence, while other female poll workers have been raped."

... Al Jazeera: "Heavy fighting has raged anew in Misurata, leaving at least 25 people killed and at least 71 others critically injured as forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi gave up more ground inside Libya's third-largest city. Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim said early on Sunday the army had suspended operations against rebels in Misurata, but not left the city...." ...

     ... AP Update: "An air strike on Moammar Gadhafi's sprawling residential compound early Monday badly damaged two buildings, including a structure where Gadhafi often held meetings, guards at the complex said."

AP: "Syrian security forces detained dozens of opposition activists and fired from rooftops in a seaside town Sunday as authorities turned to pinpoint raids after days of bloodshed brought international condemnation and defections from President Bashar Assad's regime."

AP: "Doctors say Rep. Gabrielle Giffords can walk a little and is even trying to improve her gait. But the report Sunday in The Arizona Republic adds the congresswoman herself is planning to 'walk a mountain.'" Update: the Arizona Republic has much more detail.

The Commentariat -- April 23

I've posted comments on Collins, Nocera & Blow on the Off Times Square page. In their usual weekend scramble, the Times is still holdng back my comments on Nocera & Blow (at 11:00 am ET), each of which -- for one reason or another -- is not bad.

The President's weekly address:

Paul Krugman: "The claim that only rich people pay taxes is a zombie lie — something that keeps coming back no matter how many times it’s killed by evidence.... High-income people pay the bulk of the federal income tax. But that’s not the only tax! And while the income tax is quite progressive, the payroll tax — the other major federal tax — isn’t; and state and local taxes are strongly regressive.... The overall system is barely progressive at all":

... Jonathan Chait of The New Republic with a more detailed explanation of how the right gets away with this zombie lie. Short answer: they focus on the federal income tax. "The right seems to have an unlimited number of talking heads, columnists, and pseudo-economists willing to peddle this nonsense."

Obamacare Pays Off -- for Insurance Companies. Karen Garcia learns health insurance companies are making record profits -- partly because claims are down. The insurance companies credit the low claims to bad weather; Garcia credits "deductibles, the co-pays and all the other out of pocket expenses" that the insureds can't afford.

President Finds Manning Guilty. Guess We Can Skip the Trial. Michael Whitney of Firedoglake: "In a discussion yesterday with Logan Price, a Bradley Manning supporter who was part of a group of activists who sang a song during the President’s San Francisco fundraiser, President Obama flatly stated that Bradley Manning 'dumped' documents and that 'he broke the law.'” Here's the videotape:

The Last Liberal Turns out the Lights. Jonathan Weisman of the Wall Street Journal: "Jared Bernstein, Vice President Joe Biden‘s economic adviser and one of the longest serving economists in the Obama White House, will leave the administration at the end of the month, a White House official said. Mr. Bernstein, a liberal voice in an increasingly centrist White House, will join the liberal-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. He is also in advanced talks to be an on-air commentator for Bloomberg News Service’s television network.

Josiah Ryan of The Hill: Maine Sen. Susan "Collins is the first Republican senator to state publicly that she will not support the Ryan budget." ...

... Zaid Jilani of Think Progress: "All across America, a Main Street Movement has broken out to defend the middle class against right-wing attacks on labor rights and basic public services. In recent days, this movement has turned on GOP House members who voted to effectively end Medicare and turn seniors over to private insurance companies when they approved Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) radical budget bill. On Tuesday, Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) was the latest congressman to face the ire of Main Street America during a town hall event with constituents who stopped being polite and started getting real.

Right Wing World *

I think [voting] is a privilege, it's not a right. Everybody doesn't get it, because if you go to jail or if you commit some heinous crime your rights are taken away. This is a privilege. -- Kurt Zellers, Speaker of the Minnesota State House. Zellers, a Republican, was advocating for requiring voter ID cards, which would likely lower the "privilege" among more left-leaning citizens: students, the poor .

The right to vote is explicitly referenced in several constitutional amendments, in addition to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
-- Eric Roper, Minneapolis Star Journal reporter

These comments by Speaker Zellers reveal a lack of seriousness about protecting one of our basic constitutional rights. Perhaps this explains why Speaker Zellers is so willing to pass a photo ID requirement that makes voting more difficult for Minnesotans despite our long tradition of civic participation and election integrity. -- State Rep. Ryan Winkler, DFL party

I fully understand it's a right we all have. I probably should have said it a little bit better at that late hour at night. -- Kurt Zellers, after criticism

CW: I haven't linked to any stories about Sen. John McCain's "We are all Libya rebels" lap for the very reasons Steve Benen illuminates.

Oh, rats, I missed Krauthammer Day, which was yesterday. Matt Yglesias: "... today is Charles Krauthammer Day, marking the eight anniversary of one of the greatest remarks of all time:

Hans Blix had five months to find weapons. He found nothing. We’ve had five weeks. Come back to me in five months. If we haven’t found any, we will have a credibility problem.

"In a related development, Krauthammer continues to be employed as a major television commentator and newspaper columnist."

* Where facts never intrude.

Local News

She's B-a-a-ack! With the resignation of Sen. John Ensign & his likely replacement to be Rep. Dean Heller of Nevada's second Congressional district, Sharron Angle is back in the news. Jon Ralston of the Las Vegas Sun: "The state GOP, which is petrified of the prospect of Sharron Angle winning the CD2 special election, has obtained a legal opinion that says the special election must be done through a nominating process through central committees -- an interpretation that, coincidentally, could hurt Sharron Angle's chances. The letter, from Reno attorney David O'Mara, also buffs up Secretary of State Ross Miller as the greatest, most non-partisan SOS ever (so he'll obviously do what we want him to do.). ...

... David Catanese & Alex Isenstadt of Politico with more on the political future of Sharron Angle.

News Ledes

New York Times: "Syrian security forces fired their weapons into crowds of mourners in at least three towns on Saturday as tens of thousands of people buried protesters who were killed a day earlier in the worst bloodshed since the uprising began last month. Human rights activists and witnesses said at least 11 people were killed on Saturday." AP story here.

New York Times: "Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, agreed on Saturday to leave power after 32 years of autocratic rule, according to a top Yemeni official, but only if the opposition agrees to a list of conditions, including that he and his family be granted immunity. Opposition leaders said they were prepared to accept most of the terms of the deal, which both they and a Yemeni official said would establish a coalition government with members of the opposition and ruling party. The president would turn over authority to the vice president."

Washington Post: "Residents of the besieged western city of Misurata ventured downtown for the first time in weeks Friday as rebels celebrated regaining control of the city center and said they hoped deployment of U.S.-armed Predator drones could help them drive Moammar Gaddafi’s forces out completely. ...

... McClatchy Update: "Forces loyal to Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi began withdrawing from the besieged western city of Misrata on Saturday, Gadhafi officials said, the first shift away from what has been an escalating urban war for control of Libya's third-largest city."

AP: "The Pentagon says the U.S. Air Force has carried out its first Predator missile strike in Libya." ...

... Al Jazeera: residents of Ajdabiya, Libya, name their largest square for documentary filmmaker Tim Hetherington, who was killed in Libya earlier this week.

New York Times: "More than 30 medical workers are missing in Bahrain, an American rights group said Friday, in the latest indication that the country’s health care system is being drawn into Bahrain’s confrontation with pro-democracy campaigners."

New York Times: "A federal appeals court on Friday reopened the criminal case against four former American military contractors accused of manslaughter in connection with a shooting that killed at least 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in 2007. Criminal charges against the former employees of Blackwater Worldwide had been dismissed in December 2009 by a federal judge in Washington, who criticized the Justice Department for its handling of the case and ruled that prosecutors had relied on tainted evidence."

Washington Post: "The Senate Ethics Committee is pushing ahead with its investigation of Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) despite his announcement that he would resign, an unusual move that, legal observers said, demonstrates the panel’s resolve to at least issue a public rebuke."

AP: "A plane carrying first lady Michelle Obama this week came even closer to a big military cargo jet than previously reported, the National Transportation Safety Board said Friday. The distance between the two planes closed to 2.94 miles before air traffic controllers at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington directed the first lady's plane to abort a landing...."

New York Times: "Persistent public suspicions about corruption and mismanagement that swirl around Egypt’s secretive deal to sell natural gas to Israel prompted Egypt’s public prosecutor on Friday to extend the questioning of former President Hosni Mubarak for 15 days, judicial officials said."

Reality Chex & the NYT Paywall -- Part III

As I suggested in Part II, the way I think the Times is handling non-subscriber hits is this:

The Times counts all of your hits, however you get to a Times page. Once you get close to 20, they send you warning notices that you're nearing your max, again -- no matter how you got to those particular Times stories. But when you hit 20, if you link to the Times site via Reality Chex or another Website, you can keep on keepin' on. The purpose of the warning notice, then, is to scare you into subscribing.

If you look at the URL on a Times story you've linked via Realty Chex or another site, it may have some stuff after the <html?> that the Times is using to ID/track where you stand. Next month, you'll go through the same thing. Unless & until the Times changes its policy, don't worry about it.

"Unscrupulous People." Yesterday, I linked to a post by Jeff Bercovici of Forbes, who writes, "The New York Times’s online paywall, the most closely watched experiment in the news business, is working like a charm, say its creators." They already have 100,000+ subscribers. "Meanwhile, paywall dodging has been less of a problem than was anticipated, said Martin Nisenholtz, the Times Co.’s digital chief. 'We’re seeing far less effect from the so-called workarounds than we in fact modeled,' he said. The dodgers aren’t a concern, he said, because 'they’re people who would likely never pay in any event.' And if they turn into a bigger problem, Nisenholtz added, 'we have a broad range of ways to combat these unscrupulous people.'” [emphasis added]

Here's an exchange I had with Bercovici regarding his post:

Constant Weader: 

Interesting, but the Times is still playing headgames with nonsubscribers. I have a noncommercial Website/blog where I have always linked Times articles, & I didn’t change my policy when the paywall went up. According to a letter from the publisher addressed to Times readers to announce the paywall,

Readers who come to Times articles through links from search, blogs and social media like Facebook and Twitter will be able to read those articles, even if they have reached their monthly reading limit.

But when they linked thru my site, my readers started receiving notices that they were on their last (or nearly last) 'free' article. So I wrote to the Times to ask them to clarify their policy. I received a response from one Andrew Smith in Customer Service, who wrote,

All non-subscribers to the New York Times (either a digital subscription or a print subscription) are limited to twenty articles per month.

The behavior described by … your readers when accessing that editorial is consistent with how we designed our new metered model for access to NYTimes.com.

In view of the apparent contradiction between Mr. Sulzberger’s stated policy & Mr. Smith’s letter, I again asked Smith (& I sent a copy to Sulzberger) to clarify. No response.

As nearly as I can tell, based on many letters from readers, the Times is “counting” reader hits, but even after they’ve reached their 20/month max, the Times is letting readers link through my Website.

But they won’t say so.

Bercovici:

I was confused by that myself, and I think they didn’t do a great job of explaining it upfront. Like you, I was under the impression that views via social media and blogs were uncounted, when in fact you can use up your quota that way; it’s just that AFTER your quota is used up you can continue to access articles via those links.

In short, Unscrupulous People, Bercovici and I have come to the same conclusion, no thanks to any confirmation from the Times.