The Commentariat -- July 13, 2013
The President's Weekly Address:
... The transcript is here.
... Evan McMorris-Santoro of BuzzFeed: "The departure of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano Friday quickly turned into another chance for the Obama administration to push for comprehensive immigration reform. Both Napolitano and President Obama mentioned immigration in their official statements on the changes at DHS, and both used similar language charged with the politics of the ongoing debate in Washington."
A terrific column by Gail Collins on the starve-the-poor/lard-the-rich farm bill. ...
We'll get to that later. -- John Boehner, on the food stamps program ...
... New York Times Editors: The priorities of House Republicans "were clear, as a bare majority rushed to provide $195.6 billion over 10 years to Big Agriculture. Most of the money went to subsidies for crop insurance and commodities, demanded by the corn, rice and sugar barons who fill campaign coffers. The choice made by the House in cutting apart the farm bill was one of the most brutal, even in the short history of the House's domination by the Tea Party."
Corporations Are People, My Friend. Washington Post Editors on the 10th Circuit's "reckless" decision to consider Hobby Lobby a "person" with, um, religious beliefs that exempted the corporation from having to cover workers' contraception. "The Justice Department should appeal this decision. The White House offered a fair compromise to religious groups. But private businesses should not be able to impose the religious views of management onto employees while calling themselves equal-opportunity employers." ...
... Here's more on the decision from Kristen Wyatt of the AP. CW: sorry I missed the decision when it came down two weeks ago.
New York Times Editors: "Gary Gensler, the reform-minded chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, got the best deal he could on Friday, when the commission voted 3 to 1 to approve guidance on how new rules on derivatives will apply internationally, as required under the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. But, in the face of unified opposition to strong 'cross-border' regulation -- from the big banks; their government allies in both the United States and Europe; and a swing-vote Democrat on the commission, Mark Wetjen -- the deal falls short of what's needed to protect American taxpayers and the global economy from the calamitous effects of reckless bank trades."
Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., who has been criticized for the Justice Department's aggressive tactics in secretly obtaining phone logs and e-mails of reporters as part of leak investigations, announced new guidelines on Friday that would significantly narrow the circumstances under which journalists' records could be obtained. A White House spokesman said that President Obama supported the Justice Department's changes...." Holder is still calling for Congress to pass a media shield law. You can read the DOJ report here. CW: I haven't looked at the details yet, but I have a sneaking suspicion that guidelines released in a Friday afternoon docudump will not satisfy critics.
Lost in the Mail? Jim Heintz of the AP: "Russian immigration officials said Saturday they have not received an application from Edward Snowden, the U.S. National Security Agency leaker who wants to get asylum in Russia.... Snowden had made a previous bid for Russian asylum, but President Vladimir Putin said he would have to agree to stop further leaks of information about American intelligence service activities before it would be considered. Snowden withdrew the bid, but participants in Friday's meeting said he was now ready to agree to stop leaks.... Obama and Putin discussed Snowden, among other issues, during a telephone call on Friday, the White House said in a terse statement that provided no specifics of their conversation about the NSA leaker." ...
... Will Englund of the Washington Post has a more comprehensive report on Snowden's asylum request & notes the "semantics" of his promise to stop leaking. ...
... Paul Lewis of the Guardian: "The White House openly criticised Russia for giving Edward Snowden a 'propaganda platform' on Friday, after the whistleblower was permitted to meet human rights activists in the Moscow airport where he has been trapped for three weeks." ...
... Julian Pecquet of the Hill: "The Obama administration on Friday urged human rights groups not to help National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden seek asylum. A U.S. Embassy official called a human rights activist who was set to meet with Snowden at a media event at the Moscow airport to reiterate the administration's position that he is an accused criminal, not a whistle-blower." ...
... Steve Holland & Arshad Mohammed of Reuters: "President Barack Obama planned to raise U.S. concerns directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday about Moscow's handling of former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, who is wanted in the United States for disclosing secret surveillance programs. White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama and Putin would speak by phone about Snowden later in the day, a conversation that was set up in recent days as Washington seeks to persuade Moscow to send Snowden back to the United States to face espionage charges." ...
... Here's the formal statement Snowden made yesterday, via WikiLeaks. ...
... "The Terminal." Hannah Allam & Matt Schofield of McClatchy News: "Beginning a third week holed up in a Moscow airport's transit zone, Edward Snowden finds himself far enough away to evade U.S. authorities, but also too far from any of the sympathetic nations willing to shelter him. Aviation experts say that even if Snowden accepts the tentative offers of Venezuela, Nicaragua or Bolivia to give him shelter, it's virtually impossible to chart a flight plan to those nations that doesn't include traveling over or refueling in a U.S.-friendly country that could demand inspection of the plane -- and detain him."
SEK of Lawyers, Guns & Money: "... it's clear that Zimmerman's guilty of a premeditated action, and if his defense manages to convince the jury that 'sensible' racial animus trumps that, we're all the poorer for it." ...
... Erik Wemple of the Washington Post: "Just another morning on 'Fox and Friends.'" Geraldo Rivera blames Al Sharpton for the murder-two count in the Zimmerman trial; AND THEN SEZ, "How would the ladies of that jury have reacted [to seeing Martin]? I submit that if they were armed, they would have shot and killed Trayvon Martin a lot sooner than George Zimmerman did. This is self-defense." Yes, Geraldo, everybody's a racist. When people (of any color, I guess) see a black teenager wearing a hoodie, they just start shooting. Totally understandable.
Conservative Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker: "What Republicans are selling appeals to an ever-diminishing market that doesn't even include their erstwhile allies in business and industry. And their self-immolation may prove to have been nothing more than a bonfire of vanities."
Local News
David Rauf of the Houston Chronicle: "Senate Republicans Friday pushed through strict new abortions laws, claiming victory in a contentious battle at the Legislature and making Texas one of the toughest states in which to have the procedure. The Senate voted 19-11 to pass the bill and make good on a vow from the state's top two leaders to pass the bill after it was derailed by a filibuster and raucous protests in the gallery last month. The bill now goes to Gov. Rick Perry for his signature. He has said he intends to sign the bill." ...
... Headline of the Week, by Tara Culp-Ressler of Think Progress: "You're Allowed to Carry a Gun into the Texas Senate Gallery, But Not a Tampon." ...
... Chris Tomlinson of the AP: "Troopers thoroughly checked the bags of person entering the gallery, which holds almost 500 spectators. Senate Sergeant-At-Arms Rick DeLeon said no props -- including speculums and coat hangers -- would be allowed into the Senate gallery, per decorum rules. Troopers tossed tampons, perfume bottles, moisturizers, pencils and other things into the garbage." ...
... Houston Chronicle: "DPS officials said people who hold concealed handgun licenses were expedited through [the checkpoints] and allowed to carry their firearms into the gallery, which is standing policy at the Capitol."...
... As "public debate" on the Texas abortion bill began, citizen Sarah Slamen spoke to a state senate committee -- until they shut her up & troopers physically moved her from the podium. That's how "debate" works in Texas's version of democracy. They can deprive you of basic health care, they can probe your vagina, but their delicate ears cannot be forced to hear you say no. Thanks to safari for the link:
... MEANWHILE, over in the Texas house, Rep. Jodie Laubenberg (R), previously most famous for objecting to the use of rape kits because they "clean the woman out"; that is, cause an abortion. Laubenberg voted for the extreme anti-abortion bill because of her respect for "what she calls the 'pre-born life' of fetuses, despite her statement in 2007 that fetuses aren't 'people' enough to receive healthcare." Via Justin Acuff of Addicting Information. CW: The twisted & inverted logic which these confused ideologues must invent & navigate is, well, mindboggling.
Chris Blank of the AP: "Doctors who perform drug-induced abortions in Missouri will have to be in the room to administer the initial dose and won't be allowed to do it remotely via teleconferencing, according to a new law set to take effect next month. Gov. Jay Nixon (D) said Friday that he decided not to veto the new abortion measure but also wouldn't sign it -- a strategy he employed with other abortion restrictions passed in 2010 and 2011 that were also allowed to passively become law."
Dan Levine of Reuters: "Gay marriage opponents asked the California Supreme Court on Friday to stop same-sex weddings in the state and order that a voter initiative banning the nuptials remain in effect.... Protectmarriage.com attorneys wrote in their brief that the injunction against Prop. 8 only applies to the two couples who were plaintiffs in the federal litigation, not to the state as a whole. 'Because those plaintiffs have recently been married, all relief due under that injunction has already been provided,' they wrote, 'and therefore none of the county clerks are required by that injunction to stop enforcing Proposition 8 in the future.'"
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Reader Comments (4)
Question: What is "sensible" racial animus? Does it mean one has
been victimized by an attack, rape or burglary by a Black man (men)?
Or has seen Black men acting violently to White people? Or is it because the mainly Black ghettos have been so rife with poverty, drugs, truancy and addictive behavior?
Do you remember the movie, "Deliverance?" After seeing that many years ago, I felt frightened of toothless White hillbillies. Still do.
Does that qualify as "sensible" racial animus--since those dudes were White?
My husband, who knows Sanford Florida, thinks Zimmerman will get acquitted, because the 6 white women on the jury are Sanford residents, and the town is, like many small Florida towns, extremely racist.
I am more optimistic. I believe Zimmerman will be found guilty of manslaughter, but probably given less than the maximum sentence. If he is found "not guilty," I will once more turn to the cynicism that helps get me through the night here in Tea Party Amurica.
All this Snowden mess is thrown into a different, more favourable, light as I happened to be reading Garry Wills's Bomb Power; it's valuable reading for all Americans. Essentially, it posits that since WW2, a supra-government has emerged, with the President at its head, founded on secrecy. You can't argue about it because you don't know the secret, and they can't answer because it's classified. Those who know the secrets aren't who you expect, either, and they are given full latitude to do whatever they want, with no limits on their expenses or its constitutionality or legality. One feels more sympathetic to the Snowdens of this world, but in the end, it's quixotic. Maybe we should direct more anger at those who hold the secrets, who have a vested interest in warmongering, and in the national security state, which is invoked to allow unprecedented invasions into the private life of citizens the world over, and into the sovereignty of other states.
Did you happen to catch the great video of Texas democracy in action? It's definitely worth a look.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvuNSr3CaGo&feature=share
CW: Evidence abounds that God is not logical. He doesn't have to be. That's why the Big Daddy--certainly not Momma in the eyes to today's Republicans--is God...
And by extension, theology doesn't have to be logical either. The believers have had the illogic covered from the beginning. "In Adam's Fall we Sinneth All.." as McGuffey's theology put it. Since we are all conceived in sin, we should not be surprised when the kid thing doesn't always work out. We're tainted at the start.
Some children are indeed blessings. Some seem to be cursed and curses, albatrosses as Coleridge might have it, that hang too long, putrefying around their parents' necks.
If we could be sure how each child will turn out, we could make the Right's theology make more sense. Cursed children would always be the ones consequent to "sinful" intercourse and must therefore be carried to term, born and raised by parents who didn't want them, repaying their parents' sin with years of deserved misery.
Maybe that's what they're thinking....Those sinners deserve what they get. Sin has consequences and sinners must be made to face them...unless you're a bank or an oil company.