;)
Saturday
Apr212012
The Commentariat -- April 22, 2012
My column in the New York Times eXaminer is on Tom Friedman's little effort for the day. Friedman predicts the end of America, but I find Friedman himself more depressing than his prophecy. The NYTX front page is here. You can contribute here. ...
... AND read Jason Linkins on Krugman-Friedman/Brooks, including the "See also" link at the end of Linkins' post. Funny.
Mike McIntire of the New York Times outs ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council) & its corporate interests and Repubican legislatives members: "Most of the attention has focused on ALEC’s role in creating model bills, drafted by lobbyists and lawmakers, that broadly advance a pro-business, socially conservative agenda. But a review of internal ALEC documents shows that this is only one facet of a sophisticated operation for shaping public policy at a state-by-state level. The records offer a glimpse of how special interests effectively turn ALEC’s lawmaker members into stealth lobbyists, providing them with talking points, signaling how they should vote and collaborating on bills affecting hundreds of issues like school vouchers and tobacco taxes." Common Cause has filed an IRS "complaint asserting that ALEC has abused its tax-exempt status...." CW: this is a good example of liberal groups and bloggers driving an MSM story.
Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court will conclude one of its most significant and controversial terms in decades by taking on one more issue that has divided the nation: Arizona’s crackdown on illegal immigrants. The court's final oral argument on Wednesday -- Arizona v. United States -- provides yet another chance for the justices to confront fundamental questions about the power of the federal government."
Kim Severson of the New York Times: "John Edwards ... will face a federal jury on Monday.... The government's case is simple: Mr. Edwards knowingly accepted the money from two wealthy donors and used it to keep information [his affair & the child he had with his mistress] from the public that would have surely torpedoed his presidential campaign. Thus, the money was a campaign contribution and its use a conspiracy.... Mr. Edwards's legal team rejects that argument entirely...."
David Barstow of the New York Times: When U.S. Wal-Mart executives found out Wal-Mart de Mexico was involved in a huge bribery campaign, they hushed it up. "Neither American nor Mexican law enforcement officials were notified. None of Wal-Mart de Mexico's leaders were disciplined. Indeed, its chief executive, Eduardo Castro-Wright, identified by the former executive as the driving force behind years of bribery, was promoted to vice chairman of Wal-Mart in 2008."
Nicholas Confessore & Derek Willis of the New York Times: "President Obama's re-election campaign is straining to raise the huge sums it is counting on..., with sharp dropoffs in donations from nearly every major industry forcing it to rely more than ever on small contributions and a relative handful of major donors."
Right Wing World *
"This Campaign Was the Time of My Life" (This is a week old, but it's aged well):
Reid Epstein of Politico: Mitt plays the victim card, and it works.
CW: this is a little old, but perfect Sunday listening. Brian Tashman of Right Wing Watch: "Bishop Daniel R. Jenky of the Catholic diocese of Peoria, Illinois, likened President Obama to Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, along with past French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau and German chancellor Otto von Bismarck, [last] Sunday while condemning Obama's 'radical, pro-abortion and extreme secularist agenda.' He said that Catholics in America are in a 'war' as a result of the administration's mandate for religiously-based institutions to cover contraceptives, and compared politicians who back the mandate to Judas Iscariot." With audio. ...
... Steve Benen writes, "... the bishop concluded his harangue about his hatred for the president by giving the congregation voting instructions.... In a complaint to the IRS, the Rev. Barry W. Lynn explained it's 'impossible to interpret' Jenky's voting instructions as 'anything but a command to vote against Obama.' Since the church is at risk of losing its tax-exempt status if it tells parishioners who to vote for, the Hitler comparison in the bishop's partisan rant may end up being the least of his troubles."
* Where Savonarola still rules. -- Akhilleus
News Ledes
AP: "An audio recording has surfaced of an Arizona sheriff [Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County] playing his refusal to cooperate in a racial profiling investigation for laughs at a fundraiser for an anti-illegal immigration group in Texas. He ridicules politicians who sought the probe and displayed contempt toward federal authorities who were -- and are still -- investigating him on two fronts."
Guardian: "The UN is to conduct an investigation into the plight of US Native Americans, the first such mission in its history. The human rights inquiry led by James Anaya, the UN special rapporteur on indigenous peoples, is scheduled to begin on Monday."
BBC News: "US and Afghan negotiators have finalised a partnership agreement for the US role in Afghanistan after its forces withdraw at the end of 2014. The draft agreement on their long-term relationship was signed in the Afghan capital Kabul after months of talks. No details were released, with the deal to be reviewed by both presidents." ...
... Update: New York Times story here.
Reuters: "French voters headed to the polls on Sunday in round one of a presidential ballot, with economic despair on course to make Nicolas Sarkozy the first president to lose a fight for re-election in more than 30 years." ...
... BBC News Update: "French Socialist Francois Hollande has won most votes in the first round of the country's presidential election, estimates show. They suggest he got more than 28% of votes against about 26% for centre-right incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy. The two men will face each other in a second round on 6 May."
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Reader Comments (3)
Poor Tom Friedman, he has stumbled onto a truth and no one realizes it. Tom, almost alone, among pundits, politicos and economists has discovered that "You can't get there from here." Unfortunately, Tom has no idea of how, when, why and what will correct the American decline.
No one including Tom and the other talking heads seems to realize the need for some cataclysmic event to create an environment where the necessary changes can be made.
A Republican administration with a concurring Congress will create the economic debacle that will in short order bring the population to their knees.
From this bottom change will come, hopefully in a peaceful manner, working and middle America will be put back together and a representative government restored. There is always the possibility of pitchforks Marie.
Thomas Friedman doesn't interest me--gas bags are as gas bags do. But Obama's fall off in fund raising does. After three years of sucking up to Wall Street, it's forsaking him for one of their own. Can't blame Wall Street for that; blood is thicker than water. But the interesting part, I think, is now the O team has begun to hit on the very people (I could have said "folks" but refrained) that it has spent 3+ years dissing. Fuck 'em.
To James Singer: funny, I don't feel "dissed" at all. I can find any number of instances of disagreement with the President, but even at that I have to believe he is privy to much more information than I am. (I certainly hope so anyway.)
He stands up for women over and over, and the right of people to access medical care, and Medicaid, education, and more. He has made two solid picks for Supreme Court, given what he was up against in Congress. In fact, it's surprising he got anything done given the level of vitriol on the right.
I am happy to donate my time and money to reelect President Obama.