;)
The Commentariat -- Jan. 29, 2014
Internal links removed.
Dana Bash, et al., of CNN: "House Speaker John Boehner warned President Barack Obama that he will 'run into a brick wall' by using his executive power and bypassing Congress, as the White House has signaled the President intends to do. 'We're just not going to sit here and let the President trample all over us,' said Boehner." ...
... Ed Kilgore: "Somebody needs to explain to Boehner that executive orders typically flow from laws authorizing the president to issue them.... As for the 'brick wall,' it should be fairly obvious that the inertia produced by divided control of Congress and exceptional levels of Republican obstruction will not be Boehner's ally when it comes to overturning executive orders. That 'brick wall' has two sides, and at least so long as Democrats control the Senate, they're not going to be participating in any crusade against Obama's agenda." ...
... For an Example of the Boehner Brick Wall. John Bresnahan & Jake Sherman of Politico: "House Republicans are getting ready to surrender: There will be no serious fight over the debt limit. The most senior figures in the House Republican Conference are privately acknowledging that they will almost certainly have to pass what's called a clean debt ceiling increase in the next few months, abandoning the central fight that has defined their three-year majority."
Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "The House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to impose tighter restrictions on federal payments for abortions, thrusting the issue of a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy into the polarizing politics of an election year. The bill stands no chance of being passed by the Democratic-controlled Senate. But that mattered little to members of both parties, who seemed to relish the chance to accuse their opponents of blatantly twisting the issue to their political advantage."
Zeke Emanuel, in a New York Times op-ed, compares ObamaCare to Sen. Republicans' "replacement" plan. Here's one bit: "In addition, the proposed plan would take us back to the old days when insurance companies could charge women more than men for the same health plan. And older people would also be penalized." Emanuel concludes, "Now that Americans have the chance to examine the alternative, it might help them see the advantages of Obamacare."
That's Not What We Meant! Liz Goodwin of Yahoo! News: "In a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, 19 Democratic senators are siding with the Obama administration against evangelical Christian businessmen who argue that paying for their employees' birth control, a requirement under Obamacare, violates their company's religious freedom.... The 19 senators -- all of whom voted for the popular [Religious Freedom Restoration Act] in 1993 -- argue that the law's religious protections were never intended apply to a for-profit company. Hobby Lobby's 'gross misapplication' of the law perverts Congress' intent in passing it, they write in the brief...." CW: Now let's see how the conservative originalists weasel around this undeniable statement of "original intent."
Jon Pareles in the New York Times: "Pete Seeger sang until his voice wore out, and then he kept on singing, decade upon decade. Mr. Seeger, who died on Monday at 94, sang for children, folk-music devotees, union members, civil-rights marchers, antiwar protesters, environmentalists and everyone else drawn to a repertoire that extended from ancient ballads to brand-new songs about every cause that moved him. But it wasn't his own voice he wanted to hear. He wanted everyone to sing along." ...
... John Nichols of the Nation: Seeger "surrounded hate & forced it to surrender." ...
... Adam Weinstein of Gawker: "94 Reasons Pete Seeger Matters."
Richard Esposito, et al., of NBC News with Glenn Greenwald: "The British government can tap into the cables carrying the world's web traffic at will and spy on what people are doing on some of the world's most popular social media sites, including YouTube, all without the knowledge or consent of the companies. Documents taken from the National Security Agency by Edward Snowden and obtained by NBC News detail how British cyber spies demonstrated a pilot program to their U.S. partners in 2012 in which they were able to monitor YouTube in real time and collect addresses from the billions of videos watched daily, as well as some user information, for analysis. At the time the documents were printed, they were also able to spy on Facebook and Twitter." ...
... ** BUT Bob Cesca: But this, & the "Angry Birds" revelations (linked in yesterday's Commentariat) are pretty much bunk: "... just because this information is available via the apps doesn't mean NSA is collecting it. If it is, there's no confirmation of it in the article.... Neither revelation presents any evidence whatsoever that Americans are being illegally and individually targeted. So the question needs to be asked again: why, if there's no evidence of these operations being used unlawfully against the general public, are these articles in the public interest?"
Eugene Kiely & D'Angelo Gore of FactCheck.org: "Sen. Rand Paul was wrong when he said that 60% of law students and 55% of medical students are women. The share of female students at law and medical schools in the United States is 47% each and hasn't varied much in 10 years. The Kentucky Republican also repeated a myth that 'nine out of 10 businesses fail.' Government data show that almost one-half of new businesses last beyond five years and about one-third of them continue operating after 10 years."
Local News
The New York Times Story Chris Christie Does Not Want You to Read. Kate Zernicke & David Chen defy you to believe Christie had no idea that the political operation he was directing to focus on mayors & communities was, you know, intimidating mayors. They literally draw a map to show how close the Whack-a-Mayor office is to Christie's.
Maureen Dowd interviews Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper about pot & other stuff.
Kat Stoeffel of New York: "Wendy Davis's daughters Amber and Dru have published open letters addressing the inconsistencies in their mother's biography, which have led conservative commentators to call Davis a gold-digger Abortion Barbie who abandoned her children with Sugar Daddy Ken. Both women emphasize that -- regardless of the exact details of her divorces and tuition payments -- Davis worked unusually hard to complete law school in a different state without missing a parent-teacher conference. 'No matter what happened within our family, our mother always made it known that we were and remain the most important thing in her life,' Amber wrote. Both letters [are] available at PoliticsUSA...."
Right Wing World
Sylvie Krekow of Gawker: "After experiencing immense backlash for writing a letter comparing the treatment mega-rich in America today to the persecution of Jews during Nazi Germany, Tom Perkins is furiously backpedaling -- or at least, attempting to do so." Reading Perkins' "self-defense" is as sickening as reading his original letter to the WSJ.
News Ledes
Los Angeles Times: "Less than 3 inches of snow brought [Atlanta, Georgia] to a freezing halt. Children camped out in schools or on buses. Hundreds of motorists were marooned for hours on highways and onramps; some abandoned their cars and walked home through the snow. Workers spent the night in their offices."
Washington Post: The Columbia, Maryland, mall shooter "mentioned killing people in his journal and expressed a 'general hatred of others,' police said Wednesday. The 19-year-old wrote that he was sorry to his family for what he was planning to do, although he did not indicate precisely what that was." ...
... Washington Post: "... the 19-year-old gunman who opened fire in a Maryland shopping mall Saturday, killing two people and himself, was a 'mall rat' who occasionally hung out in the skateboarder shop where the shootings occurred, a store employee said Tuesday."
New York Times: "Islamist rebels and extremist groups have seized control of most of Syria's oil and gas resources, a rare generator of cash in the country's war-battered economy, and are now using the proceeds to underwrite their fights against one another as well as President Bashar al-Assad, American officials say."
Guardian: "The US supreme court granted a stay of execution for the Missouri death row inmate Herbert Smulls, after his lawyers protested that the state had refused to disclose the source of the drug due to be used to kill him. Justice Samuel Alito signed the order that was sent out on Tuesday night after Barack Obama's state of the union speech."
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: "A 300-year-old Stradivarius violin on loan to Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Frank Almond was stolen during an armed robbery after a performance by Almond at Wisconsin Lutheran College, Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn saidTuesday. Almond was attacked with a stun gun and robbed of the instrument -- Flynn said it was valued in the 'high seven figures.'..."
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Reader Comments (16)
Forgive me for being obtuse, but how is the current threat of a brick wall any different from the reality of the last 5 years?
I'm still digesting the SOTU but my favorite bit was the discussion of modern diplomacy and leadership in the world and oh yeah - don't send no f-in new Iran sanctions to my desk you idiots. The President did a very good job clearly explaining diplomacy over war, specifically the Iranian situation to the general public. I noticed McCain's perpetual smarmy glazed stare during this section. Although, I rarely look at McCain without seeing that giant photoshopped cell phone rubber banded to his head courtesy of Driftglass. McCain's BFF, Lindsay Graham was trying for a look of steely disapproval, but I kept hearing a Southern Belle declaring that the President was so good looking.
The minimum wage bit and ensuing chiding to Congress "to get on board" was satisfying. The overall tone struck a masterful cord. Not a trace of anger or condescension, even at times playful, but he gave a clear message that he will do everything he can to move forward with or without Congress.
I liked when the President highlighted Rubio's partnership on tax reduction for single people. Rubio looked green. I sincerely hope that cost Rubio votes.
Overall, thought the President handled last night quite well. The MyRA thing (seemingly awkward to pronounce) is a work-in-progress, didn't get a sense it was quite ready. There were the usual sour faces in the audience...and the tepid hand-clapping from such as Eric Cantor provided the eyeball-rolling moments. Hope Obama does take more executive action. He's got the years to get more done. What's with this lame-duck nonsense?
The 'rebuttal' to SOTU from Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington was, was, was...well sweet. Kept waiting for some background music to swell with sounds reminiscent of 50's family sitcoms. At very least, expected that at any moment she'd head to the kitchen to take the apple pie out of the oven.
Haven't read much about the other so-called rebuttals. Scoured several sites to see what others had to say...so far, not much. Best line, I saw was from a commenter over on Charlie Pierce, describing Rand Paul as "...always looking like a guy who's been sleeping in his suit." And, Pierce has a good late night review of the SOTU.
The wake thrown up from any Obama SOTU typically has the wingnuts floundering in the foam and gasping for breath (I think it's a function of state for them, like water vaporizing with heat). And, as usual, the non sequiturs and nonsense utterances fly like woodchips at a sawmill.
Bad Toupée sniffed that the president's suggestion of gridlock in congress was blatantly untrue and that he, the Buddhific One, would deign to work with the White House on plenty of issues. As long as the president did what Bad Toupée wanted. Others have suggested that the president has lost his mind if he thinks congress can't get anything done that affect the lives of most Americans. I mean, look at all the deaths by gunshot. With every new mall shooting there's plenty of evidence of congress's handiwork.
But I digress.
One of the more egregious, not to say silly, blinkered, ridiculous, ignorant, and stupidly solipsistic comments came this morning on NPR when David Schweikert, the anti-science (but he's on the science committee!), anti-environment (let's drill in the arctic!), anti-tax, anti-healthcare, anti-choice, anti-immigration reform (they can mow my lawn, but that's it), ultra-pro guns for everyone representative from the great state of Arizona (aka CrazyLand West), yawned that after listening to the president last night, his first thought (maybe his first evah!) was how much it sounded like the last one, and the one before, and the one before that. Hmmm....maybe Dave was sleeping through the others as well. Anyway, his big moment of commentariat fame came when he declared, with an appropriately dramatic pause, that he's still waiting for something BIG from this president. Some BIG idea that makes a difference in people's lives.
Oh, you mean like healthcare reform, guaranteeing a chance at healthcare for all Americans for the first time in recorded history? You mean like saving the auto industry, saving the jobs of 1.5 million Americans and preserving $35 billion in tax revenues? You mean like ending the war in Iraq started by a lying sack of shit Republican? You mean like killing Osama Bin Laden, the guy that same Republican sack of shit vowed to get dead or alive but never came closer to than an Al Jazeera video? You mean the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell?
Big ideas like that?
Oh wait, but you're against all that stuff, right?
Sorry, can't help you then. I guess we'll have to wait for Bad Toupée to take office before anything Really Big can get done.
I say again, if Barack Obama discovered the cure for cancer, these assholes would complain that it took him too long. Then they'd find a way to claim that Reagan had actually discovered it first.
If it saves anyone time, the original article defaming Wendy Davis' mothering was written by Ann the 'raving, blond, black dress wearing bomb-thrower' whose last name won't be used by me in a publication 51% owned by Steve Forbes call Real Clear Politics. You might as well click on Pho, or is it Faux? I prefer the soup.
As for McMorris Rodgers from Wikipedia: "The McMorris family moved to Quesnel, British Columbia in 1981 after family patriarch Wayne became the principal of a private Christian school." She'll be "sweet" until she becomes more like Bachman.
If anyone is interested: if you go to "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeUe5-HcsT0" there is about the most clear-eyed comments about Jewish identity politics you'll ever hear. Frank Zappa is talking with Dick Cavett. It's what good tv looks like.
Finally: How about that Rep. Michael Grimm? Class act, huh? Do you think he takes free lunches whenever he visits the neighborhood diner or that he takes money out of the collection bowl in church? If I were the FBI, I might short-list him for investigation of ... anything.
One more bit of SOTU silliness.
So before the speech last night, I happened to catch a segment on NBC's Nightly News (which, after offering this sort of crapulous bilge should be renamed "Tightly News" because such dubious cogitation typically comes from people who are thoroughly pickled) featuring Chuck (I play a journalist on TV) Todd, Fuzzy (Miniscule Testicles) Greggers, and Andrea ("Scoop") Mitchell, giving out with spoonfuls of their hard won Washington wisdom. A few spoonfuls is all we can take without having our synaptic vesicles turned into fried calamari.
Chuckie suggested that the president throw in the towel. Stick a fork in him, baby, he's done, says the chief something or other for NBC. His presidency is over, declares the guy who's always wrong. Greggers was his usual bowl of quivering, amoral jelly and Mitchell said something so out of range that dogs might make sense of it but I couldn't.
But tell me, fellow RCers, do any of you expect Greggers, on his weekly exercise in both-sides-do-it sycophancy, to call out any of the wingnut pod people he's sure to entertain, for the corkscrew logic of their reactions to the SOTU? Here's the gist of it. "Republicans in the senate and especially the house, have outlawed all colors except black and white. Now, they say, we come to the SOTU looking for leadership, direction, COLOR! And what do we get? Black and white!! The idea. The 'merican people deserve sumpin' better. IMPEACH!"
Does anyone believe that Fuzzy will, even for the time it takes Louie Gohmert's knee to jerk rightward, toy with the idea of pointing out the painfully obvious hypocrisy and calculated cynicism of this latest iteration of the GOP dunce cap dance?
We'll put aside the idea of John Boehner making fun of the president for calling 2014 the year of action 'cause, well, his congressional leadership has been morbidly devoid of action. In fact, indolence and sloth are woefully inadequate descriptors of Republican inaction over the last 5 years. I'm thinking....moribund. Like Boehner himself. To quote the great John Cleese about Boehner (and his congressional inmates), "...'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'E's off the twig! 'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisible"
Just about.
But never mind. Chuckie and Fuzzy and Andrea are all ready for next big thing. The next really important issue burning in the minds of Americans who are unemployed and crying out for responsible and responsive government:
BENGHAAAZZZZI.
Earlier I mentioned Bad Toupée (who must be wanking this morning picturing himself and his wig giving out with their own SOTU a couple of years hence) and I didn't want to forget to point everyone to a video shot recently in Bowling Green, KY, BT's home base.
Whilst on a routine brainwashing expedition to an elementary school, Bad Toupée answered a very straightforward question from a fifth grader about whether or not he intends to run for president, with his copyrighted brand of obfuscation and everyone's-against-me, poor-me, pablum.
This is brilliant. And Marie, if you've already posted this, apologies. I must have missed it.
When I run for president, meanies will make fun of my rug! Wah, wah.
Aside from the disgusting comparison between Richie Riches with Jews murdered by Nazis, douchewad Tony Perkins demonstrates one of the things that's really wrong with probably too many one percenters. His brag that he could buy "6 Rolexes with the watch I've got on" is a giveaway. Not much of one, but it's proof positive that people like Perkins truly believe that their it's their money makes them superior. That's it. He offers nothing else in defense of his position except to say "I'm richer than you and that makes me right."
That wouldn't be so bad if it was contained. The problem is that Paul Ryan and pretty much the entire GOP (and too many Democrats) believe the same thing.
Where is Socrates when you need him?
Re: Socrates. They poisoned him.
Interesting piece in The New Yorker by Tim Wu. "Doesn’t Anyone Read The News?"
Reports a browser-linked study by geeks at Microsoft, which found that of a million-plus on-line readers, only 14 percent read political news.
Wu writes: "Journalists and political junkies often presume that everyone cares about politics all of the time. But the fourteen-per-cent number makes it seem more like a hobby or a subculture, something like the N.H.L. or Nascar—a deep obsession for some of members of the population but of limited interest to anyone else, unless something extreme happens."
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2014/01/doesnt-anyone-read-the-news.html
So there you have it sports fans; we're a cult.
Re: "Hey buddy, want'a buy a watch real cheap..." The Band
The cool thing about rich guys and their toys is that the only people that think they're cool is other rich guys. Show me a two zillion dollar watch and I'll probably ask if you could have gotten a more expensive model. With straight face. I have the most expensive time telling machine of all; I ask other people if they can tell me the time. See? I have people to handle the mundane. Better, I don't care; I'm so fuckin' well off I don't have time restrains.
If I did have all the money in the world I would study Milton in the morning, play tennis on a clay court in the afternoon, write checks to the animal rescue groups in the evening, and be a roadie for a hard drivin' bar band at night. I would not be buying watches.
"The Stepford Response: The official rebuttal, delivered by Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, was comically rote and devoid of real content." —this coming from Andrew Rosenthal at the NYTimes http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/all-right-there-are-two-republican-parties/?ref=opinion
...and Charlie Pierce while he thought she was not nutty, "...but who, I believe, was attempting to sell me a dinette set." Both observations mesh with the way I saw her. The Good Mom.
Now lurching in another direction, the NYTimes has a good feature today on Christie and his capos. Odd that the photo missing from his 'inner circle' line-up was of Bill Stepien. Easy enough to find on Google. Why so unavailable? http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/nyregion/for-christie-politics-team-kept-a-focus-on-two-bids.html?ref=politics
JJG's post reminds me of a skit performed by Lewis Black on what he would do with his zillions if he was rich CEO http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5T8Gxk7vbec&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D5T8Gxk7vbec
And, did I hear Obama call Boehner a SOB (son of a bartender) in the SOTU last night?
Barbarossa,
They did indeed. He was convicted on religious grounds, a situation we're not very far from today. How many women in red states are being persecuted on religious grounds for wanting a choice about making private decisions about their lives? That's a form of state conviction.
I'm reminded of the Randy Newman song, "Great Nations of Europe" which describes the religious, military, and cultural tsunami that wiped out millions of native Americans.
Newman relates the outrage of Balboa, mirroring that of many contemporary conservatives, that gay people are allowed to walk around free and unmolested. He took care of that:
Balboa found the pacific
And on the trail one day
He met some friendly Indians
Whom the church told him were gay
So he had them torn apart by dogs on religious grounds they say
The great nations of Europe were quite holy in their way
Sounds like the modern GOP.
Columbus sailed for India, found Salvador instead. Shook hands with some Indians, and soon they all were dead.
Ever wonder what things would be like today if Indian nations had the kind of anti-immigration fervor exhibited today by Republicans? Ted Cruz would be chopping down sugar cane in Cuba and John Boehner would be mopping up puke in a German biergarten.
JJG,
Milton? Really? I guess the bar band gig would even things out.
Don't see a link to today's Keller NYTimes column in RC today, but in light of the SOTU's main theme, I think it's worth a look. Marx (whom I liken to psychology's Freud, equally out of favor with the current crop of experts) is alive and well, it appears...
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/opinion/capitalism-vs-democracy.html?hp&rref=opinion
I note Dean Baker's counterpoint from the progressive/left is quite mild.
JJG: I once had a real estate sales person tell me that you can tell
what kind of person you are by the WATCH you wear. At the time
I was wearing my usual $20 Timex, which kept perfect time. I
didn't buy the house, or the premise that what you wear is what you
are.