The Commentariat -- March 14

Glenn Greenwald on the firing of state department spokesman P. J. Crowley: "So, in Barack Obama's administration, it's perfectly acceptable to abuse an American citizen in detention.... But speaking out against that abuse is a firing offense. Good to know.... Of course, it's also the case in Barack Obama's world that those who instituted a worldwide torture and illegal eavesdropping regime are entitled to full-scale presidential immunity, while powerless individuals who blow the whistle on high-level wrongdoing and illegality are subjected to the most aggressive campaign of prosecution and persecution the country has ever seen." ...

... Andrew Sullivan: "By firing PJ Crowley for the offense of protesting against the sadistic military treatment of Bradley Manning, the president has now put his personal weight behind prisoner abuse. The man who once said that forced nudity was a form of torture, now takes the word of those enforcing it over a distinguished public servant.... As commander-in-chief, Obama is directly responsible for the inhumane treatment of an American citizen. And Crowley's firing will make it even less likely in the future that decent public servants will speak out against such needless sadism." ...

... Ezra Klein: Candidate Obama would not approve of President Obama. "The tradeoff between security and moral purity is always more difficult for a president than a candidate, but as we saw in the Bush administration, the pendulum can swing too far towards security, in a way that does little to make us safer and erodes who we are. Crowley’s firing is a sign that that may be happening to the Obama administration." ...

... Constant Weader: Secretary Clinton should have stood by Crowley. She didn't. Still, I'm sure she'll continue on her world tour urging other countries to respect human rights.

... BUT, in one way, the Obama Administration is making government more transparent. Under the direction of Cass Sunstein, the Administration is putting useful government data on line, & some private entities have mined those data to provide even more useful services -- like real-time transportation apps ("the #49 bus will be ten minutes late").

In an op-ed piece in the Tuscon Arizona Daily Star, President Obama proposes gun reforms, or so the headline says. No, he doesn't. He repeatedly panders to all the "responsible" gun owners, then he says states should better maintain the registration system already in place. Bold move. ...

     ... NEW. Bush III. AP Spin Meter: "Barack Obama once said it was a 'scandal' that then-President George W. Bush didn't force renewal of a federal assault weapons ban. Now it's Obama himself who's steering clear of that and other politically sensitive gun-control measures...."

Paul Krugman is incensed that politicians are aiding and abetting banksters who continue to cheat holders of home mortgages.

Janet Hook & Naftali Ben David of the Wall Street Journal: "Washington has quietly begun the most serious debate on long-term deficit-reduction in decades — the 'adult conversation' that political leaders have said will be needed to address this fiscal year's forecast of a $1.65 trillion deficit and the nation's long-term fiscal woes. Even as the parties have deadlocked over discretionary spending cuts involving less than 2% of the $3.7 trillion budget, the political climate is growing more hospitable to the kind of grand bargain needed to rein in the rest of the budget — potentially encompassing the tax code, the defense budget and entitlement programs, such as Medicare and Social Security." ...

... AND Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to make that conversation difficult -- and necessary. ...

... AND Ezra Klein in the Daily Beast or Newsweek or something: "...there's a good chance politicians will destroy hundreds of thousands of jobs without doing anything at all about long-term deficit problems.... Most economists don't think we should start cutting spending until 2012."

Jennifer Haberkorn of Politico: some Congressional Democrats are looking for viable alternatives to the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate in case the Supreme Court strikes down the mandate. CW: the bad news: one of the prime movers of this effort is ConservaDem Ben Nelson of 'Cornhusker Kickback" infamy. ...

... Harold Pollack & Christopher Lillis of Kaiser Health News: "Both Democrats and Republicans should be dismayed at the sight of a partisan campaign driving yet another distinguished figure [-- Dr. Donald Berwick --] out of American government. In a recent letter, 42 Republican senators harshly urged that Berwick's permanent nomination [be] withdrawn.... [Berwick] is exactly the type of health policy wonk who, if circumstances were different, might have been appointed to the same job under a Republican administration.... For government to succeed, we need such experts who can do their work at least somewhat shielded from the immediate partisan fray.... If we don't fix this, we will all come to regret it."

Jeff Mason & Will Dunham of Reuters: "Anxiety over Japan's quake-crippled nuclear reactors has triggered calls from lawmakers and activists for review of U.S. energy policy and for brakes on expansion of domestic nuclear power."

Hannah Allam & Mohannad Sabry of McClatchy News: "The Arab world's much-heralded collective push toward democracy is now in jeopardy, activists and analysts say, as autocrats fight back with lethal force.... Over the weekend, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi reclaimed territory from outgunned rebels through a vicious offensive of air strikes and tank fire. Saudi Arabia flooded its streets with so many security forces that much-anticipated demonstrations never even materialized. And Yemen's president came back Saturday with snipers and riot forces even after record crowds had gathered for the 'Friday of no return.'"

Right Wing World

The Wagons Are Circling. In case your wondering how much mainstream Republicans dislike Sarah Palin, an op-ed in The Hill by staunchly conservative former New Hampshire governor & Sen. Judd Gregg will give you a clue. Gregg is horrified that Palin's name recognition, along with a wide-field primary, could help her win the Republican nomination for president. ...

She's becoming Al Sharpton, Alaska edition. -- Matt Labash of the hard right-wing Weekly Standard, on Sarah Palin & her whiney, everybody's-picking-on-me meme

... Jonathan Martin & John Harris of Politico: "This year, the conservative intelligentsia doesn’t just tend to dislike Palin — many fear that her rise would represent the triumph of an intellectually empty brand of populism and the death of ideas as an engine of the right."

Local News

Total Recall. Devin Rose of the Wisconsin State Journal explains how the recall process works in Wisconsin & describes some efforts to recall Gov. Scott Walker, who must have been in office for a full year before an official recall effort can be mounted. ...

... Rose also links to the state's Government Accountability Board site which tells how to proceed with recall efforts. CW: I've linked to the GAB's home page. I won't be surprised if the GAB becomes an early victim of the Walker "reform" movement. My friend Kate M., who forwarded me the link to the Rose story, writes, "I think we need a National Government Accountability Board with a hundred links to D.C. -- K Street, Congress, Supremes."

News Ledes

Here are President Obama's full remarks on education. He also discusses the situation in Japan:

President Obama spoke about reforming education at a middle school in Arlington, Virginia this amorning. AP: "President Barack Obama is calling on Congress to rewrite the nation's governing education law in time for a new school year next fall. It's an ambitious timeline but one administration official says it is necessary to start closing the achievement gap between American students and their counterparts in China and elsewhere." Here's an updated, post-speech AP story.

New York Times: "... radioactive releases of steam from the crippled [Japanese nuclear] plants could go on for weeks or even months." ...

... New York Times: the death toll from the Japanese quake & tsunami rises. ...

... Stars & Stripes Update: "The U.S. 7th Fleet has moved its ships and aircraft away from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant in Japan after low levels of contamination were detected in the air and found on the crews of three helicopters returning from disaster relief missions near Sendai." ...

... New York Times Update: "Japan’s struggle to contain the crisis at a stricken nuclear power plant worsened sharply early Tuesday morning, as emergency operations to pump seawater into one crippled reactor failed at least temporarily, increasing the risk of an uncontrolled release of radioactive material, officials said."

New York Times: "Military forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi cranked up military and psychological pressure against rebels on two fronts on Monday, offering an amnesty to those who surrendered their weapons while bombing a strategic linchpin in the east and surrounding a rebel-held town in the west."

New York Times: "The Pakistani government again postponed resolution on Monday of the case of a C.I.A. operative, Raymond A. Davis, who is in jail here under investigation for murder after shooting two alleged robbers in January."

New York Times: "The State Department spokesman, Philip J. Crowley, resigned on Sunday, three days after publicly criticizing the Pentagon as 'ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid' in its treatment of Pfc. Bradley E. Manning, the soldier imprisoned on charges of leaking classified government documents to the antisecrecy group WikiLeaks."

Reuters: "Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday the killing of a Jewish settler couple and three of their children was 'inhuman,' telling Israel he was determined to help catch those responsible. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had complained that Abbas's administration insufficiently condemned the attack and even encouraged such bloodshed through "incitement" in official Palestinian forums."

Reuters: "Anonymous, a hacker group sympathetic to WikiLeaks, released on Monday emails that it obtained from someone who said he is a former Bank of America Corp employee. In the emails dating from November 2010, people that appear to be employees of a Balboa Insurance, a Bank of America insurance unit, discuss removing documents from loan files for a group of insured properties."

Wall Street Journal: "The World Trade Organization handed an important victory to China, ruling that the U.S. illegally imposed both antidumping and antisubsidy duties on some Chinese exports in 2007. The trade body's surprise decision sets a precedent in limiting the ability of China's trading partners to impose punitive duties on its exports."