;)
The Commentariat -- Jan. 11, 2013
The New York Times eXaminer has several excellent columns up on WikiLeaks/Bradley Manning.
OMG. OB/GYN Phil Gingrey, who also happens to be a Congresscritter (R-Ga.), tells the Marietta Daily Journal that former Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) was "partially right" about "legitimate rape" because women who are "tense and uptight" often cannot ovulate. (Gingrey does add a caveat: "a woman may have already ovulated 12 hours before she is raped, you're not going to prevent a pregnancy there ... because the horse has already left the barn, so to speak.") See, ladies, if you do get pregnant as the result of rape, there's a good chance you really wanted it. So it was consensual. And that makes you a slut.
"Mint That Coin!" Paul Krugman explains the debt ceiling & the trillion-dollar coin to shut-ins. ...
... Jamelle Bouie of the American Prospect sees the trillion-dollar-coin as a powerful negotiating tool. It tells Republicans that, ultimately, President Obama has all the leverage. He can ignore any & all of their demands, not just because he has the public (& the business community) on his side, but also because he always has the coin as a legal go-around. ...
... Hey, look -- Fox "News" is as stupid as Congress. Bet you're all surprised. Screenshot via Jed Lewison of Daily Kos:
... CW: Brian Beutler of TPM gets into a lot of tea-leaf-reading in this post on GOP debt-ceiling strategy, but his bottom line is what's important: "John Boehner will have a small margin for error. And if he misses, it will leave him more or less where he was after his fiscal cliff Plan B fell apart, and he'd be the one forced to choose between surrender and economic havoc." For all his bluster, Boehner knows that he cannot count on his caucus to go along with any deal that recognizes real-world exigencies. It isn't just back-stabbing backbenchers, either; Boehner's top two lieutenants & some committee heads voted against the tax-&-spending deal.
Julie Pace & Erica Werner of the AP: Vice President "Biden is scheduled to meet with video game representatives Friday as the White House explores cultural factors that may contribute to violent behavior." ...
... Michael Shear of the New York Times: "Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. will present President Obama with proposals for stemming gun violence by Tuesday, setting in motion legislative and executive actions that will encompass guns, ammunition, mental health services and violent images in popular culture.... Mr. Biden did not say whether he would recommend a renewal of the 1994 assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004. But he cited several other measures, including efforts to limit the availability of high-capacity magazines and the need for what he called 'near universal background checks' that would go beyond doing checks at gun shows." ...
It is unfortunate that this administration continues to insist on pushing failed solutions to our nation's most pressing problems. We will not allow law-abiding gun owners to be blamed for the acts of criminals and madmen. -- NRA statement, issued after its representatives met with the Vice President ...
... Reid Epstein of Politico: "President Barack Obama is trying an end run around the NRA -- rallying groups as varied as churches, medical organizations, retailers and the Rotary Club to build support for new gun regulations." ...
... Steve Holland of Reuters: "More than a hundred scientists from virtually every major U.S. university told Biden's task force in a letter that research restrictions pushed by the NRA have stopped the United States from finding solutions to gun violence. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has cut gun safety research by 96 percent since the mid-1990s, according to one estimate. Congress, pushed by the gun lobby, in 1996 put restrictions on CDC funding of gun research. Restrictions on other agencies were added in later years." ...
... Contributor Mushiba recommends this post by Joan Chittister of the National Catholic Reporter re: the Newtown massacre. Chittister is in error when she writes, "In the United States 88.8 people per 100 own a gun." I know this because I made the same mistake. That is the approximate rate of guns/population in the U.S., but the percentage of adults who live in households with guns is far less than that -- about 47 percent. That is, for a lot of gun owners, one is not enough. Nonetheless, Chittister punchline is beyond reproach, IMHO.
... Robbie Brown of the New York Times: Keith "Ratliff's passion for firearms made him something of a celebrity on the Internet, where he helped make scores of videos about high-powered and exotic guns and explosives. His YouTube channel, called FPSRussia, became the site's ninth largest, with nearly 3.5 million subscribers and more than 500 million views. But last week..., the police in northeast Georgia found him dead at his office on Jan. 3, shot once in the head. He was surrounded by several guns, but not the one that killed him. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is treating it as a homicide." ...
Half of all mass killings in the United States have occurred since the assault weapons ban expired in 2005, half of all of them in the history of the country. -- Former President Bill Clinton, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Jan. 9 (CW: I linked a story on this yesterday)
... the available data shows that Clinton was way off-base in his assertion, making an exaggerated claim -- which his office would not even defend. -- Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post
** Banks. Always. Win. Jessica Silver-Greenberg: "Federal banking regulators are trumpeting an $8.5 billion settlement this week with 10 banks as quick justice for aggrieved homeowners, but the deal is actually a way to quietly paper over a deeply flawed review of foreclosed loans across America, according to current and former regulators and consultants."
Edward Wyatt of the New York Times: "Banks and other lenders will be prohibited from making home loans that offer deceptive teaser rates or require no documentation from borrowers, and will be required to take more steps to ensure that borrowers can repay.... The rules, being laid out by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and taking effect next January, will also set some limits on interest-only packages or negative-amortization loans, where the balance due grows over time." ...
... New York Times Editors: "... the rules ... include some features that could hurt lower-income borrowers." ...
... Peter Eavis of the New York Times: "As part of a fervent lobbying effort, banks warned repeatedly that strict regulations could crimp lending at a time when the housing market was just starting to get back on its feet. Regulators seemed to give some credence to that concern. Citing the 'fragile state' of the housing market, the bureau said it would allow new mortgages to meet more flexible standards for affordability during a phase-in period of up to seven years."
President Obama nominates Jack Lew to be Secretary of the Treasury (see also yesterday's Commentariat for some details:
... Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) won't be voting to confirm Jack Lew. He says why here. ...
... Paul Krugman will appear on Bill Moyers' PBS show this evening. Here's a preview in which he talks about the position of Treasury Secretary:
"Behold, the New Democratic Chutzpah." Dave Weigel makes that case that Republicans in both Houses finally may have jumped the shark. The latest over-the-top remarks come from Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the ranking member of the Budget Committee: "Jack Lew must never be secretary of the Treasury." Weigel says Sessions' statement boils down to this: "Barack Obama's nominee ... [has] a dangerous amount in common with Barack Obama." Ergo, Weigel writes, "Every time a Republican threatens an Obama nominee, their job gets easier." Weigel sees the same thing happening elsewhere: Jay Carney's refusal to rule out the trillion-dollar coin, Joe Biden's announcing the likelihood of executive action on gun regulation. CW: let's hope Weigel is right. ...
... Robert Reich: "... when the nation is jeopardized -- whether in danger of defaulting on its debts or succumbing to mass violence -- a president is justified in using his authority to the fullest. The mere threat of taking such actions ... could be useful in pending negotiations with congressional Republicans. They have not shied away from using whatever means available to them to get their way. The President should not be reluctant to play hardball, either."
Reed Abelson & Julie Creswell of the New York Times: "The conversion to electronic health records has failed so far to produce the hoped-for savings in health care costs and has had mixed results, at best, in improving efficiency and patient care, according to a new analysis by the influential RAND Corporation."
Kevin Drum on "runaway" Medicare costs: "First, our population is aging and we're going to pay for that. Deal with it. Second, Medicare is going to have some excess growth above that, and we should look for ways to get that under control. But that excess growth is fairly modest.... Healthcare is a problem. But it's not an insurmountable one.... Our future is not the budgetary nightmare that conservatives keep trying to make it out to be." With a chart to prove it. ...
... CW: pundits usually neglect to point out that there is an easy way to cover almost all of the additional costs of Medicare: hire more workers and pay workers more. The payroll tax is a percentage of income & the tax for Medicare has no cap. The more workers earn, the more they'll pay in. I am pretty sure that the main reason for the Medicare shortfall is income inequality.
New York Times Editors: "An authoritative report issued by the Institute of Medicine this week found that, on average, Americans experience higher rates of disease and injury and die sooner than people in other high-income countries. That is true at all ages between birth and 75 and for even well-off Americans who mistakenly think that top-tier medical care ensures that they will remain in good health.... Likely explanations include a large uninsured population and more limited access to primary care, two problems that should be mitigated by the health care reforms that will kick in next year; higher levels of poverty and income inequality in this country; weaker safety net programs; sedentary lifestyles and obesity; higher rates of drug abuse and traffic accidents that involve alcohol; and greater use of firearms in acts of violence." CW: and Republicans think "cutting entitlements" is a damned good idea.
Sarah Lyall of the New York Times: "... climate change is not just about rising temperatures, but also about intense, unpleasant, anomalous weather of all kinds." Lyall & her fellow reporters list a string of weather horrors. ...
... David Sirota has an excellent post in Salon titled "Your Weatherman Probably Denies Global Warming." Research shows that weather forecasters could educate millions of confused climate-change deniers; of course they won't be doing so if they're deniers themselves. Also, Sirota includes this fun figure, one I've been wanting to know: "... thanks to the U.S. Senate filibuster, lawmakers representing just 11 percent of the population can kill almost any national legislation." ...
... For all the good it will do, Gene Robinson has a reminder for fiscal conservatives/climate-change deniers: "... we're going to deal with climate change whether we like it or not. We're going to spend many billions of dollars over the coming years providing disaster relief in the wake of hurricanes and other destructive weather events. If we're a bit smarter, we'll spend even more to protect our coastal cities from storm surges of the kind that devastated parts of New York.... But if we were really smart, we'd be talking about how to mitigate the ultimate damage by weaning ourselves from coal, oil and other energy sources that produce carbon emissions."
Local News
Sydney Lupkin of ABC News: "Planned Parenthood will face a judge on Friday in Texas, trying to overturn a massive defunding of the family planning nonprofit in the state. They say they're not the only ones suffering. Women like Landon are left scrambling for new doctors, and even non-Planned Parenthood linics find themselves at a crossroads."
Jack Healy of the New York Times: "Nearly six months after a mass shooting in a Colorado movie theater..., and with last month's killings at Connecticut's Sandy Hook Elementary School..., Gov. John W. Hickenlooper of Colorado called Thursday for universal background checks on all gun sales in the state ... in his annual State of the State address.... Democrats, who now control both houses of Colorado's Legislature, rose to their feet and applauded the governor's proposal while Republicans sat silently.... Mr. Hickenlooper, however, stopped short of proposing a ban on assault weapons or outlawing high-capacity ammunition magazines, which are being pursued in New York."
Right Wing World
Ted Cox of DNAinfo Chicago: "Tea Party favorite Joe Walsh [who lost his bid for re-election] says conservatives are losing the 'war' for U.S. voters and encouraged his backers at a South Loop rally to engage in civil disobedience to defy the Affordable Care Act or new gun regulations. At his most aggressive, he told dozens of supporters to 'defy and or break the law and engage in civil disobedience' if faced with federal health care law restrictions or new gun laws." ...
... Scott Keyes of Think Progress: "Lawmakers in two states, Wisconsin and South Carolina, have proposed legislation to arrest any official caught trying to implement Obamacare. In South Carolina, the legislation proposed a possible five-year prison sentence for federal employees or contractors who attempt to enforce the law."
News Ledes
Presidents Obama & Karzai joint press conference:
... New York Times: "President Obama ... said Friday that beginning this spring American forces would play only a supporting role in Afghanistan, which opens the way for a more rapid withdrawal of the troops. Though Mr. Obama said he had not yet decided on specific troop levels for the rest of the year, he said the United States would accelerate the transition of security responsibilities to the Afghans, which had been set to occur at the middle of the year, because of gains by Afghan forces."
AP: "Charting the course for a war's end, President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai meet Friday at the White House to discuss the future of the U.S. role in Afghanistan and the 66,000 American troops in harm's way. The two leaders plan a joint afternoon news conference."
Washington Post: "The CIA has opened the year with a flurry of drone strikes in Pakistan, pounding Taliban targets along the country's tribal belt at a time when the Obama administration is preparing to disclose its plans for pulling most U.S. forces out of neighboring Afghanistan."
Washington Post: "The Pentagon will impose a freeze on hiring civilians, slash operating costs on military bases and take other immediate steps to trim spending in preparation for the possibility that Congress will fail to reach a deal to avert billions of dollars in additional cuts, defense officials said Thursday. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said he ordered the cutbacks as a precautionary measure because he has grown pessimistic that Congress and the White House will reach agreement."
ABC News: "In a ruling that comes as little surprise, the judge overseeing the Aurora, Colo., theater massacre has ordered that there is enough evidence against James Holmes to proceed to a trial."
AP: "Islamic militants seeking to topple President Bashar Assad took full control of a strategic northwestern air base Friday in a significant blow to government forces, seizing helicopters, tanks and multiple rocket launchers, activists said. The Taftanaz air base in the northern Idlib province is considered the biggest field in the country's north for helicopters used to bomb rebel-held areas and deliver supplies to government troops."
New York Times: "British police and the country's leading children's charity drew a horrific picture on Friday of almost six decades of accusations of sexual abuse of children as young as eight by television host Jimmy Savile, and prosecutors admitted for the first time that they could have brought him to trial before his death but failed to do so." The Guardian story is here: "The report paints a stark picture emphasising the tragic consequences of when vulnerability and power collide. His offending footprint was vast, predatory and opportunistic." The Guardian lists key findings here. The pdf of the actual report is here.
New York Times: "Boeing's newest and most sophisticated jet, the 787 Dreamliner, suffered more mishaps on Friday, when All Nippon Airlines of Japan reported incidents involving planes on two domestic flights." ...
... AP: "The Federal Aviation Administration is undertaking a comprehensive review of the critical systems of Boeing's 787s, the aircraft maker's newest and most technologically advanced plane, after a fire and a fuel leak earlier this week, the agency said Friday."
New York Times: "Senior United States and Russian diplomats met on Friday with Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations and Arab League special envoy, to discuss possible mechanisms for ending the Syrian conflict but with little sign that an agreement was close."
14 Comments
Reader Comments (14)
Rand is a well respected and has earned that respect, at least in the Criminal Justice area, with which I am familiar. I was surprised at the results of their study on the use of medical records.
On a personal note, I have seen the electronic medical records used expensively and work very well in the HMO Kaiser here in California. They have been using electronic records for several years. The benefits include immediate access to your meds and history during an office visit, as well as prompt relay of a prescription to the pharmacy; a clear print out of the visit including diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up; they provide a flash drive, which you can have upated @ 6 months with your medical records, auto generated test results with history functions and graphs to name a few. Their system of phone treatment is based on electronic medical records and it is quite prompt and thorough. I always feel as if the doc who calls has reviewed my records and asks all the right questions. Saves a lot of time and money and I get a good outcome - no copay for me, no visit, appropriate meds.
Joan Chittister's latest article in the National Catholic Reporter, "US preoccupation with guns is the enemy within", weighs in on gun violence with information that is familiar to us. However, her conclusion ties into the article's title and I found it compelling:
"From where I stand, the situation in Newtown itself is the clearest argument against the casual presence of military weapons in civilian hands. After all, the high-powered weapons that killed 20 small children and six peaceful adults were bought by a woman who was preparing to defend herself, we're told, from impending social chaos.
The irony is that while she concentrated on the enemy outside, it was the enemy within that killed her and 26 others with her guns. Her preoccupation with being armed and its role in her own demise may be a metaphor for the entire country."
This is the link to her article: http://ncronline.org/node/42611/
National Catholic Reporter, by the way, is the "Independent News Source" of liberal thinking in the Catholic Church and not to be confused with the National Catholic Register, which is the American mouthpiece for the Vatican.
On Lyall and Sirota and weather:
Yes, you would think this whole weather thing would be harder to ignore than it apparently is, unless you're a farmer, perhaps, absolutely dependent for your livelihood on what Mother Nature provides.
Makes me wonder if the physical isolation of most folks from weather and its consequences makes weather, barring disasters it occasionally brings, irrelevant simply because we spend so much of our time inside something, a building or car, cocooned away. And wouldn't it be ironic if it was precisely our easy access to cheap fossil-fuel generated power that keeps us warm and dry that makes it possible and even likely we will continue to ignore the looming disaster the use of that same fuel will bring?
So lets see, today we see posts on two 'delusions', climate change and the idea that the US has wonderful medical care. There is something in common with these two 'delusions'. In the great majority of cases related to 'delusional', politicians, pundits, weathermen, the fuel industry, the health care industry and more are not delusion. The correct word is GREED. For a large fraction of our world, all that matters is money. Absolutely nothing else is an issue. The other group of citizens who by this shit are also not 'delusional'. They are duped. And given the fact that the other part of America where we suck, not listed as a problem today, education, makes the duping really easy.
We are on our way to hell, but you are not going to have to die before you get there.
Those poor people at the NRA. Beset from all sides by troublesome gnats.
The idea! Their being bothered by that awful Joe Biden and having to take precious time out of their day and lowering themselves by going to the White House to discuss gun violence when that time could have been spent far more profitably in talks with gun manufacturers about how to make sure that nothing will get in the way of increased assault weapon sales.
I mean, think of all those pesky squirrels running around unmolested. Every home owner needs an assault rifle or three to mow down beastly rodents attacking their domiciles. Rat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat! That'll show those little bastards. Oops...we hit the mailman. Oh well, he's always late with the mail anyway. A little abdominal surgery and he'll be fine. And he only needed one eye anyway.
But back to the non-issue of gun violence.
Don't you agree with that article in Republico about what a creep the president is for trying an "end around" the NRA? Would he try that with organizations of similar importance, prestige, and power? Would he try an end around on the Vatican? On the UN? On NATO? Then he shouldn't be trying that shit on the NRA. It's just disrespectful. I mean, who the hell does he think he is? Is he still on about those kids in Connecticut? That's old news. Besides their all dead now. What good will gun safety and background checks do for them now? Fuggedaboutit.
He should just go back to Kenya and the NRA will take care of everything just like they've always done.
Assault weapons for everyone!
Stop the presses! Or whatever they use in TV land (stop the servers doesn't sound nearly so cool).
Sean Hannity, big brain on Fox (c'mon...wait until I finish before you start giggling...), has released a transcript of a breathless, but fair and balanced, whatever they call it on Fox (there's that giggling again!) interview with a couple of completely unbiased members of the gun manufacturing lobby telling all about their meeting with mean ol' Joe Biden (Hannity, as is typical of the cordial and respectful tone adopted by all Fox personalities refers to him as arrogant Uncle Joe) on the issue of gun violence and what can be done about it.
To begin the interview, Hannity reminded everyone of what was going on inside the fantasy land they all inhabit:
"The president and his newly formed gun task force continue to plug away at taking away your guns."
Interestingly during this incredibly insightful interview filled with fact-like stuff, or at least what passes for facts at Fox, not a single mention was made of "taking away...guns". In fact, no one anywhere has mentioned anything about taking away guns. The discussions were about background checks and the availability of high capacity magazines, but oh well, never mind. Little Sean has to appease the NRA apparatchiks.
During the questioning, one of the most important concerns for Hannity was exactly how arrogant "Uncle Joe" was toward all those nice suppliers of automatic assault weapons. The answer, which must have made Hannity's crest fall a bit, was not at all. He apparently was polite and courteous, qualities not allowed on a Fox set except toward emissaries from Wingnut Land (although one guest toward the end of the interview decided that because Biden didn't get down on his knees and thank them for their input that that probably counted as arrogance).
Finally, Hannity ended this colloquy of powerful intellects with a declaration that there needs to be a separation of powers and the president needs to respect the wishes of congress. Just to make sure that Hannity is being consistent, I did a Google search to see exactly how many times he reminded Bush that he couldn't do exactly as he pleased (now you can start giggling).
So it appears that the right, as always, is keeping a closed mind about making sure more kids aren't mowed down. But at least they're biting on that executive action idea floated by Biden.
Deluded, insulting, intransigent, AND easily manipulated.
Unfortunately, due to daily habits, the isolationism of the average American seems to be steadily eroding the bond we share with our environment (social and natural). The proliferation of new technologies continues to close us off more than ever. LED screens fit in our pocket now. We've become drones lulled by the dull light of emptiness. Talk to your neighbor? Nah, no time. Gotta check the Yankee's score.
I don't have grey hairs yet but youth's lives today hardly resemble what I remember. That shows the drastic changes we're undergoing, with a whole generation tied to social media and spreading their digital footprints across the web. I climbed trees to have a little fun. I rarely glimpse a neighborhood monkey these days...
Add this to our service society, where every desire is available for a fee. We've streamlined instant gratification (like most advanced economies) to a point where we never question where it comes from and what it took to get it there. No questions asked. Just buy and consume. Next.
These social disconnects also help to explain (but a small part in a vast ocean) our unwillingness to confront serious gun reform or a real climate change agenda. Academic institutions can't research gun-related issues, but the NRA has sure done their sociological homework on the average American. They pull the same card from their sleeve every time and we get distracted talking about 'monsters' while our anger dissipates into a small gurgle and then it fadesssss away.
Climate change? Play the same tape. Talk to me smoothly 'til it fadessss away.
We're too easily manipulated. A solid 2-week distraction campaign is enough to derail pretty much any popular momentum we can get going. The issue has to directly affect us if this two week barrier is to be extended into meaningful reform.
Unfortunately that would require a Nation-wide Sandy super storm or a more condensed series of gun-assaults which actually make the front page, instead of the typical hiding of these social ills in the side columns on page 7.
Alex Seitz-Wald has an aticle in Salon along the same lines as my post yesterday.
http://www.salon.com/2013/01/11/stop_talking_about_hitler/
Wing nuts make up their own history. Or was it "We make our own reality"?
And the MSM just blithely regurgitates their crap without questioning it.
Conversation this morning in the car on the way to the supermarket:
Joe: do you know what Akhilleus meant by "Chiodo Sulla testa"?
Phyllis: No––my Italian is scant.
Joe: He meant Marie hit the nail on the head, roughly speaking.
Phyllis: You read their exchange?
Joe: I did.
Phyllis: Well, I'll have to reread it to understand what it was that Marie said that hit the nail on the head.
Joe: You might just want to do that.
Phyllis: He also said many thanks in Italian–-I got that.
Joe: Good. Let's not forget to get more eggs–-we only have three left.
PD,
More eggs are, indeed, a necessity. Especially if one is in need of some experimental omelette making. And Joe was entirely correct regarding the nature of Marie's nail hitting concerning the consideration of colonial Bostonians and their Tea Party, as opposed to the current imbeciles making up the current collection of teabaggers.
It seems it's necessary to break some teabags in order to make an omelette these days. Or to make some sense. Or something.
I myself would be happy with a simple breaking of teabagger heads. The only problem would be the dispersal of noxious substances.
Yuck.
Re: Travels of the Gullible; Mr. Swift was born too soon for his own good. Politics in America 2013. Say "no' to national health and say 'yes' to more guns. Satire? no, reality; it's gettin' weird out there; real weird.
Is the Faux "News" clip about the trillion dollar coin a joke or do they seriously not understand what money is? If you have silver dollar, is it worth $1.00 in silver? No, it's worth more than that, but when you spend it, it still only buys a dollar's worth. Does a penny contain .01 worth of copper? It doesn't matter; it still buys .01 of goods. A coin is worth whatever the government says it is worth.
As Akhelius says: M o r o n s.
@Barbarossa: I think Steve Benen explains it quite well:
"In a way, this offers another helpful example of epistemic closure on the right -- the NRCC's error generated widespread mockery, but primarily among those who understand the basics of the debt-ceiling fight. In other words, those who pointed to the Republicans' error are the kind of folks Fox News routinely ignores, so the network had no idea that the NRCC stunt was a fiasco."
Marie
@P.D. Pepe: I have read your post. I cannot quite wrap my head around the idea that I should mentioned, even in a tangential way, somewhere around butter and eggs, in another family's conversation.
Also, your husband's Italian is awfully good. I had to look up "chiodo"; I thought it was a verb.