;)
The Commentariat -- Feb. 11, 2013
NEW. Seung Min Kim of Politico: "The Senate Armed Services Committee will vote Tuesday on the nomination of Chuck Hagel to be secretary of Defense. The vote is set for 2:30 p.m., the committee announced Monday." ...
... Tim Mak of Politico: "... Republican aides reacted to that idea by suggesting that some members could walk out in protest."
** Paul Krugman: "... the parties aren't just divided on values and policy views, they’re divided over epistemology. One side believes, at least in principle, in letting its policy views be shaped by facts; the other believes in suppressing the facts if they contradict its fixed beliefs.... For all the talk of reforming and reinventing the G.O.P., the ignorance caucus retains a firm grip on the party's heart and mind." ...
... George Stephanopoulos: "... on 'This Week,' Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., dismissed recent gestures by prominent members of the GOP suggesting a softening of Republican positions as simply 'lipstick on a pig.' ... Ellison said. 'I mean, the bottom line is, the Republicans have a core values problem, not a "who knows who Tupac Shakur is" problem.'" ...
... Pema Levy of TPM: "Republican strategist Nicolle Wallace said Sunday that Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is good for the Republican Party because, as one of many attributes, Rubio "knows who Tupac is."
New York Times Editors: "The [Consumer Financial Protection Bureau] has taken seriously its mandate to protect the public from the kinds of abuses that helped lead to the 2009 recession, and it has not been intimidated by the financial industry's army of lobbyists. That's what worries Republicans.... Having failed to block the creation of the bureau in the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, they are now trying to take away its power by filibuster, and they may well succeed." ...
... Nathaniel Popper of the New York Times: "Regulators across the country are confronting a wave of investor fraud that is saddling retirement savers with steep losses on complex products that until a few years ago were pitched only to the most sophisticated investors." ... CW: looks as if some of the scammers' success is an unintended consequence of near-zero interest rates; people who can't in fact afford to gamble on risky investments are susceptible to claims of fantabulous payouts.
"The Conscience of a Corporation." Bill Keller: the Obama administration's "concessions [to anti-contraceptive religious organizations] are not enough to satisfy the religious lobbies. Evangelicals and Catholics, cheered on by anti-abortion groups and conservative Obamacare-haters, now want the First Amendment freedom of religion to be stretched to cover an array of for-profit commercial ventures, Hobby Lobby being the largest litigant.... I understand why the fastest-growing religious affiliation in America is 'none.'"
David Sanger of the New York Times: "President Obama will use his State of the Union speech on Tuesday to reinvigorate one of his signature national security objectives -- drastically reducing nuclear arsenals around the world -- after securing agreement in recent months with the United States military that the American nuclear force can be cut in size by roughly a third." ...
... Jake Tapper of CNN: "Former Staff Sergeant Clint Romesha, who will be awarded the Medal of Honor by President Barack Obama in a White House ceremony Monday afternoon, will also be honored by the Obamas as a guest of the first lady at Tuesday night’s State of the Union address, administration officials tell CNN." (CW: I guess Jake got sick of playing 2nd fiddle at ABC News.) ...
... Justin Sink of The Hill: "President Obama will circle the country in the days following the State of the Union, with stops in Asheville, N.C., Atlanta, Ga., and his adopted hometown of Chicago." ...
... Ellen Hirst, et al., of the Chicago Tribune: "President Barack Obama will visit Chicago on Friday, when he will discuss gun violence as he focuses on his economic message from Tuesday's State of the Union address, according to the White House." ...
... Zachary Goldfarb of the Washington Post: "President Obama is considering a series of new executive actions aimed at working around a recalcitrant Congress, including policies that could allow struggling homeowners to refinance their mortgages, provide new protections for gays and lesbians, make buildings more energy-efficient and toughen regulations for coal-fired power plants, according to people outside the White House involved in discussions on the issues.... The moves underscore Obama's increasingly aggressive use of executive authority, including 23 administrative actions on gun violence last month and previous orders that delayed deportations of young illegal immigrants and will lower student loan payments. These and other potential actions suggest that Obama is likely to rely heavily on executive powers to set domestic policy in his second term."
Obama Channels Dubya. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Particularly stark has been the secret memo authorizing the targeted killing of American citizens deemed terrorists under certain circumstances without judicial review, a memo that brought back memories of those in which John Yoo, a Justice Department official under Mr. Bush, declared harsh interrogation legal."
Americans for Responsible Solutions, founded by Gabrielle Giffords & Mark Kelly, put out this Web video today:
Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "A new intelligence assessment has concluded that the United States is the target of a massive, sustained cyber-espionage campaign that is threatening the country's economic competitiveness, according to individuals familiar with the report. The National Intelligence Estimate identifies China as the country most aggressively seeking to penetrate the computer systems of American businesses and institutions to gain access to data that could be used for economic gain."
Larry Summers, the Nation's No. 1 Know-it-All, in a Washington Post op-ed: "With strains from the financial crisis receding and huge investment possible in energy, housing and reshored manufacturing, the United States faces a moment of opportunity unlike any in a long time. The economy could soon enter a virtuous cycle of confidence, growth and deficit reduction, much like it did in the 1990s. But this will require moving the national economic debate beyond its near-total preoccupation with federal budget restraint." CW: re: his recommendation to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, unless Larry knows something I don't -- and that's quite possible -- none, or at least very little, of the Canadian oil would come to the U.S. Rather, it would move to Gulf refineries & on to someplace else. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong here.
Tracy Johnson, a sergeant in the North Carolina National Guard, in a moving Washington Post op-ed: "As long as DOMA is federal law, our government is required to treat same-sex military partners and widows like me as second-class citizens in the country we have sacrificed to defend."
More About Bob. Eric Lipton & William Rashbaum of the New York Times: "Senator Robert Menendez sought to discourage any plan by the United States government to donate port security equipment to the Dominican Republic, citing concern that the advanced screening gear might undermine efforts by a private company -- run by a major campaign contributor and friend of his -- to do the work.... The questions ... are potentially ... troubling for Mr. Menendez, who is already facing questions over his fitness for the Foreign Relations Committee chairmanship, because the contract involved a foreign policy concern: curbing the flow of cocaine to the United States from the Dominican Republic."
"Obama Prepares to Screw His Base." Is Ben Smith of BuzzFeed pissed off because he'll have to buy health insurance? Or because BuzzFeed will have to provide access to health insurance for its young staff? Or what? ...
... CW: Here's the thing, Ben. As Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times reports, "On a central philosophical question of the day -- the size and scope of the federal government -- a clear majority of young people embraces President Obama's notion that it can be a constructive force, a point he intends to make in his State of the Union address on Tuesday."
Grave Robber. Harriet Ryan of the Los Angeles Times: "Pressed to come up with hundreds of millions of dollars to settle clergy sex abuse lawsuits, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony ... quietly appropriated $115 million from a cemetery maintenance fund and used it to help pay a landmark settlement with molestation victims. The church did not inform relatives of the deceased that it had taken the money, which amounted to 88% of the fund. Families of those buried in church-owned cemeteries and interred in its mausoleums have contributed to a dedicated account for the perpetual care of graves, crypts and grounds since the 1890s."
Re: the tornado that hit Mississippi, & caused considerable damage in Hattiesburg, Tom Kludt, writing in TPM, has a relevant piece on Steve Palazzo (R), who represents Hattiesburg & initially opposed relief to Northeastern states hit by Hurricane Sandy.
Nicole Winfield of the AP: "With some decisive, often controversial moves, Benedict tried to remind Europe of its Christian heritage and set the Catholic Church on a conservative, tradition-minded path that often alienated progressives and thrilled conservatives. Yet his papacy will be forever intertwined with the sex abuse scandal.... Benedict never admitted any personal or Vatican failure.... He never took action against bishops who ignored or covered up the abuse of their priests...."
Right Wing World
Alex Pareene of Salon on the Right Wing World War: "The conservative movement is a massive and elaborate moneymaking venture" and the feud between the Rovians & the Norquistians is a fund-raising bonanza for both sides. "The entire modern conservative movement these days seems like a successful experiment in getting rich people (and lots and lots of non-rich people, whose donations are less coveted but accepted nonetheless) to pay an ever-growing number of pundits, think tank 'fellows' and 'scholars,' failed campaign hacks and people like Ginni Thomas who seem to serve absolutely no purpose whatsoever." CW: Pareene doesn't mention it, but of course major beneficiaries are the media.
Erasing History. Elon Green, writing in the Washington Monthly, notes that conservapundit Byron York, in criticizing President Obama for doing nothing on jobs, accidentally forgot about Obama's 2011 American Jobs Act, which "died on the table, thanks to Republicans, a month later. The failure to pass this $450 billion bill was of massive consequence to the economy in general and jobs in particular.... The Economic Policy Institute [concluded] that with the passage of the American Jobs Act 'real GDP growth for 2012 would have been 1.4 percentage points higher, bringing growth to 3.4 percent....'"
Ron Paul Sues Ron Paul Supporters. Andre Tartar of New York: "In a move that's baffled and enraged his staunchly libertarian fans, three-time presidential candidate Ron Paul has asked the World Intellectual Property Organization to confiscate two domain names currently held by his supporters: RonPaul.com and RonPaul.org. In a Friday blog post, the sites' proprietors fired back at their hero by claiming that they'd already offered to let Paul buy RonPaul.com (and its 170,000-follower mailing list) for a measly $250,000. (RonPaul.org was apparently thrown in as 'a free gift.') After all, that's the proper market economy way to handle this situation -- right? Instead, their beloved leader has chosen to expropriate private property with the help of a major bastion of liberal tyranny: the United Nations, which controls the WIPA."
Local News
Jack Leonard, et al., of the Los Angeles Times: "The [Los Angeles] Police Department concluded [suspected multiple murderer Christopher Jordan] Dorner was lying when he said his training officer kicked a man during an arrest. But it's not so clear whose testimony should be believed." ...
... They Shoot Pick-ups, Don't They? CW: I think this is the first time I've seen a full report of the Torrance Police's shooting at David Perdue, whom they thought was Christopher Dorner: "... the pickups [driven by the two men] were different makes and colors. And Perdue looks nothing like Dorner: He's several inches shorter and about a hundred pounds lighter. And Perdue is white; Dorner is black." After stopping Perdue & questioning him, the police sent him on his way. "Seconds later, Perdue's attorney said, a Torrance police cruiser slammed into his pickup and officers opened fire; none of the bullets struck Perdue." The Keystone Kops excuse is classic: after purposely ramming Perdue's car, his airbag deployed, so the cop who shot at him couldn't tell whom he was shooting.
News Ledes
Reuters: "U.S. President Barack Obama plans to release a long-awaited executive order aimed at improving the nation's defenses against cyber attacks as early as Wednesday, according to sources familiar with the matter. The order, drawn up after Congress failed to pass cyber defense legislation last year, is meant to improve the protection of critical industries and infrastructure from cyber intrusions."
AP: "Chicago police say the two men accused of killing a 15-year-old honor student mistook her and her friends for rival gang members who'd shot one of the men over the summer. Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy says murder charges were filed Monday against 18-year-old Michael Ward and 20-year-old Kenneth Williams."
New York Times: "Military leaders, law enforcement officials and thousands of others gathered at Cowboys Stadium [in Arlington, Texas,] on Monday to remember Chris Kyle, the retired Navy SEAL sniper and author who was killed with another man, investigators say, by a troubled veteran he was trying to help."
New York Times: "The authorities [in Los Angeles] have received more than 700 tips from the public on the whereabouts of Christopher J. Dorner, the former Los Angeles police officer wanted in connection with three killings, police officials said on Monday."
Space.com: "... NASA's 'Mohawk Guy' ... became world famous after helping NASA's huge Curiosity rover make a dramatic landing on Mars, and now he'll sit with first lady Michelle Obama during Tuesday's State of the Union address. The Iranian-American Mohawk Guy -- whose name is Bobak Ferdowsi -- will sit in the first lady's box to highlight President Barack Obama's call for more visas for skilled immigrants in the fields of math, science and engineering...."
AP: "A gunman who spent years in court battles over custody disputes opened fire Monday in the lobby of a Delaware courthouse, leaving two women dead before being fatally shot, authorities said."
** NBC News: "Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday he will resign on February 28 because of his failing health, saying he no longer has the strength to carry out his duties. Greg Burke, senior communication adviser to the Holy See, said the 85-year-old will step down on February 28 -- becoming the first pope to resign since at least 1415."
The text of Benedict's resignation statement is here.
AP: "Residents shaken by a tornado that mangled homes in Mississippi were waking up Monday to a day of removing trees, patching roofs and giving thanks for their survival. More than a dozen in the state were injured."
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Reader Comments (15)
Re: Torrance Police. And we're supposed to believe that untrained civilians packing heat are a great idea? I imagine that the Torrance Police receive some training. The problem is that many police officers can go through an entire career without ever firing their weapon in a real situation.
Just finished reading a superb (is this better than "really, really good?") article in New Republic by Sam Tanenhaus whose emphasis is on the history of nullification. He ends with this:
"Race will always be a complex issue in America. There is no total cleansing of an original sin. But the old polarizing politics is a spent force. The image of the "angry black man" still purveyed by sensationalists such as Ann Coulter and Dinesh D'Souza is anachronistic today, when blacks and even Muslims, the most conspicuous of "outsider" groups, profess optimism about America and their place in it. A politics of frustration and rage remains, but it is most evident within the GOP's dwindling base—its insurgents and anti-government crusaders, its "middle-aged white guys." They now form the party's one solid bloc, its agitated concurrent voice, struggling not only against the facts of demography, but also with the country's developing ideas of democracy and governance. We are left with the profound historical irony that the party of Lincoln—of the Gettysburg Address, with its reiteration of the Declaration's assertion of equality and its vision of a "new birth of freedom"—has found sustenance in Lincoln's principal intellectual and moral antagonist. It has become the party of Calhoun."
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/112365/why-republicans-are-party-white-people
For those of you who watch Downton Abby do you, like I do, hear some of the character's voices throughout the next day? It seems to me very much like a vivid dream one has that lasts for hours after one awakes. Last night's episode captured a rather startling exchange re: the love that dare not speak its name. One forgets the awful shame that was bestowed on homosexuals.
Re: scrubby,scrubby, dubby where's the yellow duckie? I draw; there for I am... Once out of the cave; art has inspired, condemned, confused, delighted and conspired us naked apes for all the ages. I like George Bush's paintings. To me "Art" with a capitol "A" is the running history of us all. Art connects the dots of the ages. Art expresses what words lie about. Art like music, is unspoken communication between souls . Like the oil layers on canvas each epic takes from the past and expresses it anew.
George's subject matter is himself, of course, no surprise there. But only parts of his self. He's fractured by steam and water; unable to show his full self even to own gaze.
I thought of Jacques-Louis David's "La Mort de Marat" as soon as I saw the picture. It is so much fun linking the two. Marat's murderess said at her trial; "I killed one man to save one hundred thousand." ....
Edvard Munch painted his own version of the scene; I think I like it more so than David's. It fits my mind better although I'm a sucker for the craftsmanship of the French.
What I want is a bathroom scene of a naked George and Laura Bush looking for the weapon of mass de-constuction.
And a duck.
When I was a lad in US Army Basic Training, some of our instructors frequently used "irregardless" but the best one was "withinside."
I'm a loss to deconstruct this word. Does that mean "Not only inside but REALLY inside?"
Anybody?
Am I getting Spammed?
(This was posted on yesterday's comments but I meant it for today, in response to a comment Roger made regarding the word "orientate", a reference to the Weingarten column in the WaPo that Marie had linked earlier.)
When you put it that way, I'm thinking that "orientate" could be considered a portmanteau referring to a supreme ruler of the orient, or an oriental potentate, as in "Genghis Khan, that famous orientate." And old Genghis may have been an opti-mizer, someone who was highly protective (miserly?)of his eyesight. And in meetings with his counselors did he wear an inceti-visor when effectuating his latest initiatives to keep the sun out of his priorit-ize?
Oh god, somebody stop me!
I noticed that Darth Cheney has been snarling again, this time about the danger posted to the country by incompetent appointees placed in important positions by the Obama administration.
No shit Dick. Ain't it the truth?
But Republicans do it much better. I mean they are serious fuckers when it comes to this sort of thing, aren't they?
How 'bout appointments made to congressional committees that discuss bills vital to the safety and welfare of the nation?
Hmmm...let's see. Says here that Michele Bachmann (the MUSLIMS ARE COMING!!) has been reappointed by Skippy Boehner to the INTELLIGENCE committee. We won't go into all that business about oxymorons but I think this does make Boehner a kind of proxy moron at the very least.
Oh, and how about Lamar Smith (R-Idiot) Texas, who has been handed the committee chair for Science, Space, and Technology? He denies that humans are any way involved in global warming and that it's not that big a deal anyway. Why? The old international conspiracy between tens of thousands of scientists and the librul media, that's why. He is the second moron from Texas who distrusts science to head that committee. He believes the media needs to start disseminating information on "alternative" theories. Like, maybe creationism? Good choice for the chairman of the Science committee!
He does, however, plan to make sure that kids in school learn how to add and subtract. Presumably so that they'll be able to keep track of all the idiots sent to congress through gerrymandering and election fraud to replace Democrats with operational brains.
Dick Cheney, always on the lookout for dangerous idiots. Here's your mirror, dick.
PD,
My favorite line of the entire 2 hour episode of last night's Downton Abbey was Bates' passing on of the phrase that allowed Thomas to escape Miss O'Brien's dastardly plot to send him to prison:
"M'lady's soap."
Comeuppance it isn't, but it'll do for now. Nice to see such a scheming harpy squirm a little.
Also a little surprised to hear the usually staid Lord Grantham recollect all the boys who had tried to kiss him in school.
The dowager emerges as an even more Machiavellian manipulator and Mrs. Hughes, as always, remains the moral heart of the whole place.
In other words, pure Downton.
The Pope's resignation, which displaced the "I Shot Bin Laden" feature in Esquire, did not much interest me until I read this in Slate:
..."The Washington Post digs a little deeper into another nugget that is easy to lose track of when focused on the first-person account of the raid itself: The fact that the shooter lost his military insurance the day he retired because he declined to become a reservist. "I asked if there was some transition from my Tricare to Blue Cross Blue Shield," the shooter explained. "They said no. You’re out of the service, your coverage is over. Thanks for your sixteen years. Go fuck yourself.”
Yes, sireee--we really go that extra mile to take care of our veterans. This guy should be the poster boy for our fucked up military.
While I am raking muck, I refer to the piece in 2010 by Christopher Hitchens about the Devil at work inside the Vatican. (It is reprinted in today's Slate). "The Pope wrote a confidential letter to his bishops reminding them about the extreme gravity of a certain crime. That crime was the reporting of rape and torture. The accusations were only treatable within the Church's own exclusive jurisdiction."
Perhaps Pope Benedict should be sent to Guantanamo while further evidence is uncovered. He is too dangerous to be tried in a civilian court.
@Barbarossa: yup, you & Kate Madison, too. I just de-scrubbed your comment & Kate's.
Marie
@Marie: My understanding of the Keystone pipeline is that it would move Alberta tarsands oil from the Canadian border to Gulfport refineries, which, would then export refined products to Europe. The pipeline itself would created some construction jobs (at some environmental cost) and would contribute to the profitability of the major U.S. oil refiners, by assuring them of a constant supply of crude, so they can run at full capacity (always a good thing for a billion dollar refinery). The major environmental impact, of course, is not in the U.S. but in northeastern Alberta, where a lunar landscape has been created over hundreds of square miles of fragile subarctic taiga.
I am having a difficult time believing that Ted Nugent will be allowed in the chamber as a "guest" of Stockman during the State of the Union. Prior to settling on extreme right wing causes, Nugent's stage persona was always about being crazy, loud and extreme. I have doubts about him being a true believer - his antics bring him publicity, which he obviously craves. There is no better venue or time to indulge himself than being in the chamber during the State of the Union. You don't have to be a soothsayer to know he will act out and have to be dragged from the chamber screaming. If he is allowed in the chamber, it is merely another FU in the ongoing crusade to treat the President as illegitimate. Ted was an asswipe way back when I went to small venue concerts as a kid in Michigan.
About the resignation of Pope Benedict, a couple things. In his statement: "...in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary,.. Benedict is nothing if not a serious scholar, although it may be not be literal, he states a lack of strength in both mind and body. A fear of losing mental acuity would likely be a grave blow to someone like him. http://www.itv.com/news/2013-02-11/pope-benedicts-full-resignation-statement/
John Paul II was beloved on the basis of his public kindness and charisma. Benedict was the enforcer of his dogma and he was quite orthodox, neither of them were remotely progressive. JPII had much more to do with covering the widespread child abuse than Benedict. However, I think Benedict is seen as much more culpable than JPII. Primarily, because he isn't charismatic and "well loved". Along with the frailty, perhaps there is an element of ending the era of child abuse associated with him and starting fresh. Don't think that is the reality, but just my thoughts.
I'd like to think my e-mail to Carl Levin last week was one of many that convinced him to get the vote moving on Hagel. If Lindsey Graham were female, the misogynists would suggest that he had PMS or just needed a little "somethin somethin" to get him in line.
The most recent take on the Keystone XL I've found, with some good information post-Susan Rice:
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175648/tomgram%3A_michael_klare%2C_will_the_keystone_xl_pipeline_go_down/?utm_source=TomDispatch&utm_campaign=0780b6a2b6-TD_Klare2_10_2013&utm_medium=email#more
According to the article, "if completed, (Keystone) would provide only 4% of the U.S. petroleum supply,".
The potential of the Tar Sands exploitation is astounding:
"Alberta has a colossal supply of the stuff -- at least a trillion barrels in known reserves, or the equivalent of all the conventional oil burned by humans since the onset of commercial drilling in 1859"
Like the author says, shutting down Keystone XL isn't going to save the earth, but it would provide us with precious time to find alternatives.
Would like to point out that those cops in Torrance (city of my birth) shot up those pick-up trucks before (repeat) before there was 1 million pazoolas riding on the scalp of the black guy. Citizens of Torrance, be afraid. Arm yourselves and if you see a cop, for christ's sake, shoot first.
Marie Burns on the Keystone pipeline "Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong" apropos Paul Krugmans blog on republican suppression of facts. There lies the difference.