;)
The Commentariat -- Feb. 15, 2014
In his Weekly Address, President Obama urges Congress to raise the minimum wage:
Steven Greenhouse of the New York Times: "In a defeat for organized labor in the South, employees at the Volkswagen plant here voted 712 to 626 against joining the United Automobile Workers, even though the company did not oppose the unionization drive." ...
... Working at McDonalds. Terran Lyons, as told to Kj Dell'Antonia: "I work the night shift. It’s a good job, except they pay us so little. It would be easier except right now, it takes me about two hours on buses to drop my kids off and get to work." Lyons, a crew trainer, earns $9.85/hour. CW: The Times quite often runs short pieces on the stories of minimum- & near-minimum-wage workers. I've got news for billionaire assholes Sam Zell and Tom Perkins: Terran Lyons, & millions of other Americans, work at least as hard as do you sick old farts, their lives are much more challenging than yours, they are not persecuting you, & they have as much right to participate in the so-called democratic process as you do.
Danielle Douglas of the Washington Post: "The Obama administration on Friday gave the banking industry the green light to finance and do business with legal marijuana sellers, a move that could further legitimize the burgeoning industry. For the first time, legal distributors will be able to secure loans and set up checking and savings accounts with major banks that have largely steered clear of those businesses. The decision eliminates a key hurdle facing marijuana sellers, who can now legally conduct business in 20 states and the District."
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "A sweeping decision on Thursday night struck down Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage and continued a remarkable winning streak for gay rights advocates, putting new pressure on the Supreme Court to decide the momentous question it ducked last summer: whether there is a constitutional right to same-sex marriage." ...
... Robert Barnes & David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post profile U.S. District Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen, who declared unconstitutional Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage. Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-Prince William), co-author of the ban, called for her impeachment. Ted Olsen, one of the two principal advocates who successfully challenged California's anti-gay marriage Prop 8, called Allen's decision "a beautiful opinion" & said everyone should read Allen's decision. So here it is. (Barnes & Fahrenthold call the ruling "forceful and sometimes grandiose.") ...
... David Cohen & Dahlia Lithwick in Slate: "Insofar as there was confusion about what Windsor[, last year's Supreme Court decision striking down the Defense of Marriage Act,] meant at the time it was decided, the lower courts across the country have now effectively settled it. A survey of publicly available opinions shows that in the eight months since Windsor, 18 court decisions have addressed an issue of equality based on sexual orientation. And in those 18 cases, equality has won every single time. In other words, not a single court has agreed with Chief Justice Roberts that Windsor is merely about state versus federal power. Instead, each has used Windsor exactly as Justice Scalia warned' -- as a powerful precedent for equality." ...
... Paul Waldman of the American Prospect: "Same-sex marriage opponents refer to themselves as advocates of 'traditional marriage,' but they backed themselves into a corner by assuming we'd all agree that because something is 'traditional,' it has an inherently superior moral value." ...
... Ron Brownstein of the National Journal: "To understand the rolling demographic and cultural trends threatening the GOP in presidential elections, a good place to start might be with the polychromatic ads Chevrolet is running during the Olympics. First, consider the source. Chevrolet is not a company that equates buying its product with saving the planet.... In the past, its ads have linked the company, without apparent irony, to 'baseball, hot dogs, [and] apple pie.' But Chevy's latest ads, under the title 'The New Us,' celebrate the transformation of the American family into a kaleidoscopic array of new forms. In cascading images, one ad warmly portrays couples of every race and ethnicity, interracial couples, gay male couples, gay female couples -- all raising what appear to be happy, well-adjusted children. Not only does Heather have two mommies; in the world Chevrolet evokes, she's perfectly fine with it.... The 'new us' bears more than a passing resemblance to the new coalition that has allowed Democrats to win the popular vote in five of the past six presidential elections." ...
... CW: Brownstein is right. And the Chevy ad is an amazing, surprising & delightful bit of evidence that "traditional marriage" comes in many forms. So hooray for the new us. When even Chevy & Madison Avenue gets it, we are kinda there.
Christi Parsons & Diana Markum of the Los Angeles Times: In Fresno, California, "President Obama on Friday warned against thinking of water as a 'zero-sum game' and urged regional players to push beyond politics in solving supply problems. On a dusty afternoon spent with politicians and farmers, Obama argued against pitting agricultural interests against urban ones, or north against south. 'We're going to have to figure out how to play a different game,' Obama told participants in a round table Friday afternoon. 'We can't afford years of litigation and no real action.' Still, he said, he had no intent of wading into water politics, joking that he wanted to 'get out alive.' While in town, Obama promised more than $200 million in aid to those affected by the drought."
President Obama spoke at the House Democratic Issues Conference yesterday:
GOP's Dr. Frankensteins Can't Control Their Monsters. Kathleen Hunter of Bloomberg News: Republican leaders have no effective way of punishing Ted Cruz for his wrecking-ball tactics.
... Carol Gentry of WUSF finds some Tampa Bay-area Republicans who love the ACA. Here's one:
Peggy Arvanitas of Seminole has been a Republican for decades. In fact, she helps get GOP voters out to the polls. And yet, on her car there's a bumper sticker that says 'I Heart Obamacare.' Here's why: She lost her coverage last year when the company she worked for went under; she had to take a part-time job with no benefits. Then the health law kicked in. Since Jan. 1, she's had a Humana plan she likes. Because her income is low, she pays just $10 a month. When Arvanitas finishes her business degree and passes the CPA exam, she says, her income will go up, and the premium will, too. She sees that as sensible and fair. 'It isn't a Democrat or Republican issue,' she said. 'It's a health care issue.'
... CW: Arvanitas' coda is unfortunate. On the one hand, she realizes Republicans are wrong; on the other hand, she ignores it. So she's saying, "Thanks, Democrats, for improving my life despite unrelenting Republican obstructionism; now I'm going out to work to elect Republicans." Stooo-pid.
** Tim Egan: "The sickness that infects news and politics, and its commensurate cynicism, can be directly traced to the creation of Fox News -- 'a political operation that employs journalists,' in the words of Gabriel Sherman, author of the new book on Roger Ailes, 'The Loudest Voice in the Room.' There is no bigger media story in the last 50 years than the creation of a news network run by political hacks, says Sherman. I'm inclined to agree. But just as important, civility itself took a dive with the rise of Fox, and has never recovered." Egan goes on to give Bill O'Reilly his just desserts. CW: Sorry, missed this one when the Times published it two days ago.
New Yorker: "On this week's Political Scene Podcast, Hendrick Hertzberg and Ryan Lizza join Dorothy Wickenden to discuss Hillary Clinton's political career":
Beyond the Beltway
A Miracle in Kansas. Kevin Murphy & Carey Gillham of Reuters: "Opposition grew on Friday in Kansas to a bill that would allow businesses and other groups to refuse certain services and benefits to same-sex couples on the basis of 'sincerely held religious beliefs.' The Kansas Senate will likely reject the bill, which the Kansas House approved on Wednesday, the Senate's president said. Meanwhile, a newly formed statewide business coalition said it would oppose the measure. Senator Susan Wagle, a Republican, said the majority of her caucus does not support the bill on the grounds that it may encourage bias.... The measure passed the House 72-49. Republicans outnumber Democrats 32-8 in the Senate and 92-33 in the House." CW: Also, thanks to Kansas businesses, many of which probably did not want to be targeted by bigots for serving gay people.
Chuck Bartels of the AP: "A group of death row inmates won a court judgment Friday that temporarily blocks executions in Arkansas and says the state Legislature gave too much authority to the Correction Department when it designated the agency director as the person who picks the drug for lethal injections. A law passed last year specified that the state kill inmates by using a barbiturate but did not specify which one."
Peter Hamby of CNN: "On the heels of a major winter storm that blanketed his state with snow, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie spent Friday at a resort in Puerto Rico with his family." ...
... So then there's this Bergen Record story of all these roofs collapsing across several North Jersey communities. AND forecasts are calling for more snow today.
News Ledes
AP: "Another round of snow made its way into the Northeast on Saturday as the region continues to dig out from the previous storm. New England is expected to be hit hardest by the latest blast of winter weather. The National Weather Service says 10 to 14 inches of snow is expected in eastern Massachusetts and parts of Rhode Island. Connecticut could see 8 to 10 inches along its Rhode Island border."
New York Times: "After four days of deliberation, the jury in the trial of Michael Dunn, a Florida man who shot a teenager to death in a parking lot during a dispute over loud music, said it could not agree on whether Mr. Dunn had acted in self-defense or was guilty of murder. The jurors did find Mr. Dunn guilty of three counts of second-degree attempted murder for getting out of his car and firing 10 times at the Dodge Durango sport utility vehicle in which Jordan Davis, 17, was killed. Three other teenagers, the subjects of the attempted murder charges, were in the car but were not struck. Mr. Dunn continued to fire at the car even as it pulled away. On the attempted murder convictions, he could be sentenced to 20 to 60 years in prison."
New York Times: The United Nations mediator for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, wrapped up the second round of peace talks [in Geneva] on Saturday without breaking a longstanding deadlock or setting a date for a third round, and urged the parties to think seriously about their commitment to the negotiations. Mr. Brahimi said the talks had broken down primarily because the Syrian government balked at his suggestion that the negotiators discuss both sides' top demands in the first two days of negotiations, rather than spending days on the government's priorities."
The Hill: "The government of Cuba announced late Friday that it will no longer process visas for U.S. travel to Cuba. Cuba said travel will end until a new U.S. bank can be found to process visa fees that are collected and routed to Cuba.Cuba's decision means only humanitarian travel will be permitted to the island nation from the United States, and that the 'people-to-people' visas and other educational travel will be shut off.... The decision is a blow to the goals of the Obama administration, which sought to expand travel opportunities to the island. It will also have an immediate impact on Cuba's access to hard currency, on which many of its citizens rely."
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Reader Comments (7)
Could the reason those Chevy ads are so great is because there is a woman at the helm?
Cherrios also has an ad with a biracial family that got some in a snit about it. What did Cherrios do? Made another ad with the same family. I think Marie is exactly right when she says when Madison Avenue "gets it" we are kinda there.
And perhaps we are also kinda there in the religious realm. Adam Gopnik has a wonderful piece in the New Yorker, "Bigger than Phil" whose title comes from Mel Brooks's 2000 Year Old Man when asked to explain the origin of God. He admits that early humans first adored "a guy named Phil, and for a time we worshipped him. Phil "was big, and mean, and he could break you in two with his bare hands!" One day, a thunder storm came up and a lightening bolt hit Phil. "We gathered around and saw that he was dead. then we said to one another, 'There's something bigger than Phil!"
Gopnik explores man's need for that something bigger while cheering on the atheist's letting go of that invisible hand.
I love the fact that Scalia was the mover and shaker––to his horror––of gay rights––of equal rights. That is simply delicious.
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2014/02/17/140217crat_atlarge_gopnik
Re: Runnin' twenty red lights in their honor. Just burned through a tank full of high octane in my L-60 Corvette to express my solidity with the corporate suits want to sell cars to a rainbow market. I wonder what NASCAR thinks? No, I don't have an L-60 Corvette but when I was a kid that model was the cat's meow.
@JJG: I had a red Corvette in my salad days and had to treat it like a fragile musical instrument (some said "like a contrary feline"), had to carry jumper cables in the trunk since it would die on me periodically. I really had no business having a car like that that had to be tuned constantly. It was given to me by someone who promised love everlasting and then left me with the damned thing which I finally got rid of. It was the only time I ever got a ticket for speeding. Don't know if mine was an L-60, it certainly was snazzy, but the day I bid it adieu I was almost as relieved as when I bid that someone farewell.
Just saw that MTP will have the Science Guy (Bill Nye) and the runner-up in the Sarah Palin think-alike contest (Marsha Blackburn R. Tenn) on Sunday. I'll bet Charlie Pierce will have a pithy recap in his Gobshites section come Monday on this inane debate!
Liked Bill Mahrer's "...Christie is 350 lbs of toast!" statement.
@PD Had me one of those 'vettes. It was a '62 (black with red interior) and the two tops. It was fun while it lasted!
Lord have mercy, I certainly hope Mr. Christie isn't rockin' his speedo at the Puerto Rican resort.
Many politicians in places like Kansas and Virginia do not seem to know that all gay people have mothers. Many gay people also have fathers and a goodly number may even have brothers and sisters. Over time, many gay people have acquired friends and perhaps other people that respect them.
Thankfully, attacks on gay people has become hazardous as in time all politicians will learn. this.
I just got another fear-mongering e-mail from a Dem organization asking me to join them in shaming Ted Cruz for his anti-lgbt bill. This strikes me as a foolish undertaking. His bill, on this subject, at this time, is a wonderful poison pill. Repugs who vote against it will be tea-partyed; repugs who vote for it will be in deep shit in November. Relax. Let the good times roll.