The Commentariat -- December 24

The View from the White House of the Week that Was:

Stephen Ohlemacher of the AP: "The massive new tax bill signed into law by President Barack Obama is filled with all kinds of holiday stocking stuffers for businesses: tax breaks for producing TV shows, grants for putting up windmills, rum subsidies for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. There is even a tax break for people who buy race horses."

Jeff Zeleny of the New York Times: "President Obama is planning the first major reorganization of his administration, preparing to shuffle several positions in the West Wing as he tries to fortify his political team for the realities of divided government and his own re-election."

Philip Rucker & Paul Kane of the Washington Post on Nancy Pelosi's last full day as Speaker of the House.

This (I think) is Speaker Pelosi's last floor speech:

It is heartbreaking.... That can't be who we are. To have our kids, classmates of our children, who are suddenly under this shadow of fear through no fault of their own. They didn't break the law -- they were kids. -- Barack Obama, on the defeat of the DREAM bill ...

... Yes, Virginia, There Is a Scrooge, Part 1. Shankar Vedantam of the Washington Post: "Congressional Republicans are pronouncing President Obama's proposal that the next Congress overhaul the country's immigration laws as dead before arrival.... Both House and Senate GOP leaders said they would fight any attempt to legalize any of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country before the administration secured the nation's southern border with Mexico." ...

... Yes, Virginia, There Is a Scrooge, Part 2. David S. Hilzenrath of the Washington Post: "Since the meltdown in the housing market began more than three years ago, Maryland and the District have changed their foreclosure laws to give borrowers greater protection. Virginia has moved in the opposite direction.... Virginia ... homeowners can receive less than two weeks' notice that their house is about to be sold on the courthouse steps."

Greg Sargent: "... Harry Reid is in active discussions with his caucus about moving forward with [filibuster] reform in the new year, and is currently devising a plan to do just that...." ...

... Ezra Klein creates this graph from data compiled by Senate.gov on the history of the number of cloture filings, cloture votes & clotures. Klein explains that even this shocking number does not come close to reflecting the number of filibuster threats:

Larry Margasak of the AP: "If you are a college student, teacher or resident of a state that has sales taxes but no income tax, the bipartisan tax agreement this month could mean significant benefits next year."

Sewell Chan of the New York Times: "Economists in universities and on Wall Street have raised their growth projections for next year. Retail sales, industrial production and factory orders are on the upswing, and new claims for unemployment benefits are trending downward."

Bah! Humbug! Paul Krugman: "... there’s a well-developed right-wing media infrastructure in place to catapult the propaganda, as former President George W. Bush put it, to rapidly disseminate bogus analysis to a wide audience where it becomes part of what 'everyone knows.' (There’s nothing comparable on the left, which has fallen far behind in the humbug race.)"

George Warren of News 10 Sacramento: "An airline pilot is being disciplined by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for posting video on YouTube pointing out what he believes are serious flaws in airport security. The 50-year-old pilot, who lives outside Sacramento, asked that neither he nor his airline be identified. He has worked for the airline for more than a decade and was deputized by the TSA to carry a gun in the cockpit. He is also a helicopter test pilot in the Army Reserve and flew missions for the United Nations in Macedonia." CW: do read the whole story of how federal agents came down on the pilot & watch the News 10 video. Thanks to Bob P. for sending the link.

     ... Here's the follow-up story and News 10 video:

     ... AP Update: "A pilot who posted videos on YouTube that were critical of security at San Francisco International Airport is now the subject of an investigation, the pilot's attorney says. The pilot placed several videos on YouTube in late November or early December that showed how ground crew members can enter secure areas by swiping security cards and without undergoing further screening."

Humanitarian Cigarettes & Gum. Jo Becker of the New York Times: "Despite sanctions and trade embargoes, over the past decade the United States government has allowed American companies to do billions of dollars in business with Iran and other countries blacklisted as state sponsors of terrorism.... A little-known office of the Treasury Department has granted nearly 10,000 licenses for deals involving [embargoed] countries.... Most of the licenses were approved under a decade-old law mandating that agricultural and medical humanitarian aid be exempted from sanctions. But the law ... was written so broadly that allowable humanitarian aid has included cigarettes, Wrigley’s gum, Louisiana hot sauce, weight-loss remedies, body-building supplements and sports rehabilitation equipment...." With links to lists of licensees.

David House, writing in Firedoglake, reports on the conditions under which Bradley Manning, suspected of passing U.S. government documents to WikiLeaks, is being held at the Quantico brig. House includes links to several reports on Manning's detention, including those of Manning's attorney David Coombs. ...

... Glenn Greenwald has much more, including Jonathan Capehart's interview of David House:

Dan Eggen of the Washington Post: "The companies that build futuristic airport scanners take a more old-fashioned approach when it comes to pushing their business interests in Washington: hiring dozens of former lawmakers, congressional aides and federal employees as their lobbyists. About eight of every 10 registered lobbyists who work for scanner-technology companies previously held positions in the government or Congress.... On K Street as a whole, by contrast, only about one in three lobbyists has previously worked in government."

New York Times: "The Interior Department reversed a Bush-era policy on wilderness on Thursday, restoring the authority of its Bureau of Land Management to identify and recommend new areas for protection. Since 2003, the department has excluded wilderness as a criterion it applies in managing federal lands for the public benefit.... Environmentalists welcomed the decision but questioned why it had taken nearly two years for the Obama administration to reverse the policy. They also expressed worry that the new policy could prove weaker than the wilderness designation formulas in place before President George W. Bush took office in 2001."

Washington Post: "The Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday that it will regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and oil refineries next year in an attempt to curb global warming. The move, coming on the same day the Interior Department unveiled a plan to protect a broader swath of the nation's wilderness, demonstrated that the Obama administration is prepared to push its environmental agenda through regulation where it has failed on Capitol Hill, potentially setting up a battle next year with congressional Republicans."

National Journal: "A day after President Obama signed legislation repealing the 'don't ask, don't tell' ban on openly gay troops, Defense Secretary Robert Gates had a different message for senior Pentagon officials: The restrictions remain in effect, and service members who violate the 17-year-old law could still face 'adverse consequences.'"

Washington Post: "The number of civilians killed or wounded in the Afghan war increased by 20 percent during the first 10 months of this year, compared with the same period last year, according to a U.N. report issued this week."