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Wednesday
May072014
The Commentariat -- May 8, 2014
Internal links removed.
CW: Light postings today & in the near future. I'm veddy, veddy busy. I'll do my best, but "best" won't be optimal.
They Have No Shame. Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "The House voted Wednesday to hold in contempt Lois Lerner, a former Internal Revenue Service official who is the focus of multiple investigations into whether the agency targeted President Obama's opponents. The vote gives a politically charged issue new prominence in an election year. In a contentious debate before the vote, Republicans made allegations of a Watergate-style inside job to cover up high crimes that helped steal a presidential election. Democrats invoked former Senator Joseph R. McCarthy and delusions of widespread conspiracy." ...
... Peter Sullivan of the Hill: "Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said the special committee he'll lead on Benghazi could continue into the 2016 campaign, when Hillary Clinton might be running for the White House. Asked about that possibility Wednesday on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe,' Gowdy said the length of his work would depend on the administration's level of cooperation.... Some Democrats suspect Republicans want to keep Benghazi in the news to try to hurt Clinton if she runs for the White House in 2016, as expected. " CW: "Some Democrats"? How about "every sentient political observer"? ...
... Dan Merica of CNN: "Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that she is 'absolutely' satisfied with what she knows about the Benghazi terror attack, and cast doubt on the intentions of House Republicans spearheading a select committee to investigate it."
... They Got Nothin'. Ed Kilgore: "All along, the underlying GOP J'Accuse! seems to be that the administration was ignoring an upsurge of al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist violence, the relative absence of which since then would seem to be a show-trial-stopper if the inquisitors hadn't already moved along to second- and third-order questions about who 'covered up' what when." ...
... USA Today Editors: "After 13 inquiries, a select committee on Benghazi hardly seems the best way for Congress to spend its time." ...
... Even Tuck Chodd agrees "It looks like nothing more than a partisan stunt":
... Olivia Kittel, et al., of Media Matters answer anew "The Already Asked-And-Answered Questions Fox Wants To Know From The Benghazi Select Committee." Useful, if you need to counter your Foxbot brother-in-law.
ObamaCare Aversion Syndrome, Ctd. Robert Pear of the New York Times: "House Republicans summoned a half-dozen health insurance executives to a hearing Wednesday envisioned as another forum for criticism of the Affordable Care Act. But insurers refused to go along with the plan, and surprised Republican critics of the law by undercutting some of their arguments against it. Insurers, appearing before a panel of the Energy and Commerce Committee, testified that the law had not led to a government takeover of their industry, as some Republicans had predicted. Indeed, several insurers said their stock prices had increased in the last few years. The executives also declined to endorse Republican predictions of a sharp increase in insurance premiums next year, saying they did not have enough data or experience to forecast prices." ....
... CW: The GOP committee members' apparent surprise at the execs' testimony is an indicator that the bubbleheads actually do live in a bubble. They believe their own fake talking points. ..
... Jonathan Chait recaps "some of the predictions made by the critics [of ObamaCare] that have taken a factual beating.... They still have many predictions of doom that cannot be falsified for years and years to come.... But if they truly believe the arguments they have made -- that the law not only should not but cannot work -- shouldn't they be expressing, at minimum, some serious doubts?"
Edward Wyatt of the New York Times: "A Democratic member of the Federal Communications Commission called Wednesday on the agency's chairman [Tom Wheeler ]to delay a proposal for new net neutrality rules, throwing into doubt whether the chairman will be able to muster enough votes at an F.C.C. meeting next week to issue proposed rules. Jessica Rosenworcel, one of three Democrats on the five-member commission, said in a speech Wednesday that a delay was warranted because of a 'torrent of public response' to the idea that the commission's rules might create a fast lane on the Internet for companies willing to pay for it."
Digby, in Salon, on one effect of open carry laws: "... in the wake of the new Georgia law that pretty much makes it legal to carry deadly weapons at all times in all places, parents were alarmed when an armed man showed up at the park where their kids were playing little league baseball and waved his gun around shouting, 'Look at my gun!' and 'There's nothing you can do about it.' The police were called and when they arrived they found the man had broken no laws and was perfectly within his rights to do what he did.... Common sense tells anyone that a man waving a gun around in public is dangerous so the parents had no choice but to leave the park. Freedom for the man with the gun trumps freedom for the parents of kids who feel endangered by him.
... CW: The majority of the Supremes may declare these open-carry laws constitutional, but they clearly violate the central tenet of the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be sacred & undeniable; that all men are created equal & independant, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent & inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness." Anyone who feels "free" to pursue his bliss while a guy is waving a gun in his face is as crazy as the gunman. A person without a gun is not "equal" to or "independent" from a loon with a loaded firearm. Too bad the Declaration carries no weight of law.
** Adam Weinstein of Gawker: "In all the furor over Tal Fortgang -- the privileged white Princeton freshman who wrote so passionately about how he's not a privileged white guy -- no one, not even the New York Times, noted that his post was made possible by a conservative group that bankrolls and grooms college kids for right-wing leadership."
Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), who is in a difficult race for re-election, invited President Obama to visit the tornado-devastated town of Vilonia, despite Obama's unpopularity in Arkansas. "Mr. Pryor, a two-term incumbent, stood right behind Mr. Obama as he made his remarks, and the president made sure to point out the senator's leadership role in the tornado recovery efforts. He praised Mr. Pryor; Vilonia's mayor, James Firestone; and Gov. Mike Beebe and Representative Tim Griffin, for being 'hands-on, on the ground throughout these difficult days.'"
Lisa Desjardins of CNN: " The election-year attention on women lands directly on the House floor Wednesday, after Republican leaders decided to allow a vote on a National Women's History Museum, changing their approach to the issue. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Democrat of New York, has pushed the idea of a national women's museum for over 17 years. Her bill to trigger the first step, a museum commission, has passed the House and Senate before, but during separate sessions of Congress. In each case a Democratic majority in one chamber approved the museum commission but Republicans in the other blocked it.... Maloney is quick to credit her bipartisan cosponsor, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, who personally made the case for the museum to key GOP leaders in the House." CW: Turns out Blackburn is good for something, even if it is any election-year ploy.
Gail Collins: often their gone-viral videos outlast the candidates. Collins reprises several outrageous campaign videos, but concentrates on this one, which I've embedded before:
... Afterword. (By Collins): "Winteregg's employer, a conservative Christian college in Cedarville, Ohio, was not amused and fired him from his job as adjunct professor of French. It's always unfortunate when educators get punished for their outside political activities. On the other hand, I believe I speak for all of us who have been adjunct professors when I say it's unlikely that we are talking about losing a living wage."
Annals of American Journalism, Ctd.
Jonathan Cohn demonstrates once again that if your only source of news is the Right Wing World Gazette, you will be ignorant.
Joe Strupp of Media Matters: "News veterans and journalism ethicists are urging CBS News to reopen the investigation into the discredited 60 Minutes Benghazi report following new questions about correspondent Lara Logan's actions and concerns that an earlier internal review did not do enough to reveal all the facts.... This week, New York magazine uncovered [also linked on the Commentariat a few days ago] new internal details about the report and how it got on air, several of which were inconsistent with what was found in CBS' internal review.... According to New York, Logan relied heavily on a highly partisan source, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, when crafting her report, while internal CBS office politics allowed the story to air without standard vetting - neither of which were disclosed by the initial internal review."
Eating Their Young. Amanda Marcotte in Salon: Over there at Fox "News," where the median-age viewer is 68 (great demographic), the new "war" is a war on young people. It seems -- for the first time in history! -- the kids are going on spring break where they wear skimpy bathing suits, get drunk & have sex. Tut, tut and tut.
Gubernatorial Race
Peas in a Pod. Chris Christie, who chairs the Republican Governors Association, traveled to Maine today to stump for Gov. Paul LePage. Christie promised to spend big for LePage, who is in a three-way race. Mario Maretto of the Bangor Daily News: "Democrats on Wednesday agreed LePage and Christie were cut from the same cloth. 'They both claim to be straight talkers who tell it how they see it, but as we've all learned the hard way, they're masters of the absurd tirade, which have embarrassed the people of their states,' [Vermont Gov. Peter] Shumlin[, head of the Democratic Governors Association,] said during a conference call with reporters. Shumlin and the Democratic Governors Association highlighted LePage's record of inflammatory comments and notable controversies ... including when he called the IRS the 'new Gestapo' and told the NAACP they could 'kiss my butt,' as well as a document-shredding scandal at the state Center for Disease Control."
Presidential Race
Philip Elliott of the AP: "The Republican National Committee wants to take more control over how the party picks a White House nominee. The RNC was to meet Wednesday in Memphis, Tennessee, to choose members who will effectively set the calendar for 2016's long list of potential presidential contenders. If the party's chairman, Reince Priebus gets his way, the GOP will pick its nominee more quickly than during past contests and have fewer debates in which candidates could criticize each other. The RNC also was expected to put penalties in place for candidates who don't follow the committee's plans."
Beyond the Beltway
... Whitewash Is Expensive. Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: "The cost to New Jersey taxpayers for Gov. Chris Christie's internal inquiry into lane closings at the George Washington Bridge is likely to reach several million dollars, outpacing early estimates and touching off urgent attempts to reduce the cost, according to newly available documents and interviews."
Patrick Marley, et al., of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: "After 24 hours of legal maneuvering in a politically charged investigation of Gov. Scott Walker and his allies, an appeals court late Wednesday handed prosecutors a victory, preventing for now the destruction of evidence from the case. The three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago stayed U.S. District Court Rudolph Randa's preliminary injunction from Tuesday stopping the John Doe investigation, saying he had overstepped his authority. The appeals court ruling also said Randa cannot order prosecutors to destroy evidence they have collected in the five-county probe."
News Ledes
Washington Post: "Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine vowed Thursday to press ahead with a referendum on independence, defying Russian President Vladimir Putin's surprise call for Sunday's vote to be postponed."
Guardian: "A majority of the jurors who this week convicted [Cecily McMillan,] an Occupy Wall Street activist, of assaulting a New York police officer have asked the judge in her case to not send her to prison."
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Reader Comments (12)
@ citizen625 asked in yesterday's thread for me to post a particular video semi-permanently for him/her to watch later.
That's not necessary. When I post something you want to read or watch later, just bookmark the page the item is on. To do that, call up the page by clicking on the header (e.g., The Commentariat May 6, 2014); then bookmark the URL in the address window.
In this particular case, the URL is http://www.realitychex.com/constant-comments/the-commentariat-may-6-2014.html
Marie
So Putin has decided that having a Civil War next door might not be so great after all. After sufficiently stirring up the crazies he claims to move his troops off the border (awaiting confirmation) and tells his Russian "brethren" to hold off on the sudden and non-democratic referendum for autonomy that would undoubtedly entrench the ideologues on each side. But guess what? The Ukrainian militias, now more empowered than ever with their gun barrel diplomacy bringing victory in every direction their pointed, say Fuck You Mr. Putin we're leaders of our own distorted destinies thank you very much. Who would've thought that arming and directing a civilian army of dejected men with nothing but time on their hands could get out of hand?
It's a horrible things to watch, a society that suddenly find itself bordering on civil war, citizens targeting citizens for seemingly superficial reasons. Only a few months ago, Ukraine seemed like any other country with its own historical baggage but enough social glue to hold everything together. How quickly such dangerous turns can be taken...
A direct comparison is difficult given the completely different circumstances, but it's hard not to see flashes of similarities between the Bundy Bunch militia trying to "control" the local territory and the infamous Green Men in Ukraine who appear out of thin air with an already established strategy of sowing seeds of chaos. Especially considering the interview of the insane militiamen Richard Mack, a former sheriff mind you, claiming to sacrifice the women for their wet dream of modern cowboys and indians. I don't want to infer that similar scenes could be reproduced at home, but with Fox "News" propagating their extreme ideas nationwide and the continuing divide between the entrenching minority on the right and the leftward drift of society, a moment will come when reconciliation will have to happen. And we already know how accepting the right is to compromise.
The other day Ak mentioned the quote of "If not us, who? If not now, when?" I've been thinking that maybe the election of Obama, despite the rampant racist bubbling up to the surface, did indeed come at a perfect moment in our history. Some said too early, but I consider it just right. I don't think the vast majority of the old conservative "traditionalists" really understood how much (and how fast) our society has been changing in all facets. Suddenly seeing African Americans in the White House and a black man smiling those pearly whites on the teevee everyday certainly came as an existential shock to those not paying attention. Yet for the last 6 years some semblance of reality has begun to sink in. Acculturation is en route. Obama is the modern Jackie Robinson, easing in change but on the grandest scale. We've come a long way, and Obama's timing could have saved us from more social upheaval had he come later. Much better now than later.
Safari,
While reading your comment, I was wondering whether, if circumstances were only slightly different, a situation similar to the Ukrainian chaos could erupt in the US. My initial reaction is to say no, for a number of reasons.
First, we're not a small nation only recently allowed to break off from an enormous military and political power now sitting hungry-bear like on its border. We are also a much more diverse population which should diminish the impact of any single group such as the violent pro-Russian separatists or an outside agitator like Putin.
That's on the no side.
On the yes side, I have to look, not to Ukraine, but to Thailand, where the prime minister has just been booted out of office by an activist court aligned with Thailand's version of the 1% oligarchy.
Anti-democratic forces have been mustering for at least the last decade in Thailand as democracy becomes more popular and forceful in a country that still has a king. This is all a bit unusual since Thailand has been a democratic country for over a century. Women in Thailand had the vote before women in the US. But lately, the idea of the vast swath of unwashed citizens having ever more say in the direction of the country has infuriated those around the king and their allies in the landed and wealthy upper classes.
The deposing of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has been called a new type of coup d'etat by members of Pheu Thai, the democratic party representing the vast majority of Thai voters. There does seem to be some irregularities surrounding some of the Pheu Thai moves in recent years, but the reaction on the part of the anti-democratic forces is completely in line with the way those forces in this country point to the smallest bumps and call them impeachable offenses.
This got me thinking that it's not really necessary to arm knuckleheads and stir them up with talk of outrages and manufactured nationalism, and appeals to ethnic purity as in Ukraine, in order to take over a country, or at least fuck it up to the point of complete dysfunction.
In fact, that is what the Republican Party and the 1% in this country have been about for at least the last 25 years. And we had our own "new type of coup d'etat" crafted by our own activist court when the right-wing supremes halted a democratic election and installed, by fiat, their own choice for president. No one here used terms as definitive and inflammatory as "coup d'etat", at least not in the courtier press, but that's what it was. And there's no other way to define what the GOP and the Kochs and that same activist court have been doing in subverting voting rights than as anti-democratic.
If we think stuff like coup d'etats only happen in other places, we need to rethink our assumptions.
Idiots walking around with guns threatening to shoot people is pretty scary.
The work of indigenous anti-democratic forces and their allies among the wealthy and in the judiciary are far more so.
What conservatives have managed in this country, is both.
You're right. Obama was elected at the just the right time. Now we have to consolidate those advances and not be dragged into chaos by the forces of the 1% and their lap dogs in the courts.
@safari: I agree with your assessment re: the timing of Obama's presidency. One could equate this with the explosive sixties in response in large part due to the button-down atmosphere of the fifties where the beginnings of turmoil were rearing their liberal heads. The right-wing conservatives were starting to chew their cud a little more actively, but it wasn't until the Clinton presidency that they started to really dig in the dirt and fling the poo. But then we had the Bush years in which liberals suddenly got their mo-jo working creating havoc on that presidency. When Obama took the reins it put the conservatives in a state of culture shock and the fun began. It's as if these feast of fools suddenly tasted a nasty dish that made them so sick they haven't stopped vomiting since. So yes, let's have it all out now––it was bound to come. Next it will be probably be a woman in the high seat and that will be another hurdle, but we'll muddle through that one too. The question has got to be is the culture in this country going to change for the better or are we on the path of such division we'll never find our way back to a semblance of "getting along" despite differences. Crazy guys in parks waving guns and not being arrested is a sign of something bad coming our way.
P.S. After viewing the Winteregg video which is really quite clever, I watched a George Carlin bit on republicans that was featured on the viewing slot. Man, oh, man do we need him now! A shame he's no longer with us. Of course, here on R.C. Akhilleus is our Carlin so we can get our daily dose.
Seems to me that that idiot waving a gun in the park could've been shot by someone who felt threatened by him. Too bad he wasn't. It would've made a nice test case for "stand your ground" and "open carry" jurisprudence.
@PDPepe - You seem quite sure that the good old US of A will muddle through the racism that has been wrecking our country for generations. Broken-hearted cynic that I am, and married to an even more cynical Southerner, I do not hold that hope. I think racism will not die out until our country is so inter-married (all races and nationalities) that "race" will be a non issue. There will be no White, Black, Asian or Eskimo--since there will be none left with any "purity," except perhaps a few in-bred Whites with 6 sets of teeth, one in their asses. I have no idea how long this will take, but we have a start right now. Probably several more generations--if our earth lasts that long.
Equally as important, I think ALL of the old White Guys have to die off, and probably their carbon copy sons. That's certainly a couple of generations away. When all of this happens, and IF we are able to have more equality in wealth and resources among our people, I think we have a chance. At that point, I think the whole gun issue will be moot. It is part of the White Guy delusion of entitlement!
As for the woman issue, not to worry. Women are, and always have been, the "superior" sex (thank you Ashley Montagu), and will be natural leaders of sane laws and customs.
Happy thought. Too bad we, our children, and perhaps our grandchildren, will not be around for this awakening! Ah....but we will be walking the golden streets of heaven--looking down at the peaceful world we have bequeathed.
Love and peace - Aldous Huxley
@Kate; Over the last couple of years I've been reading your posts and I think your self-description as a "broken hearted cynic" is erroneous. You are a broken hearted romantic or a broken hearted idealist or a broken heart realist or just broken hearted. Why do I think that you ask. Because you are always hoping for the best mankind has to offer even when you assume the worst is what we'll get. That not cynical. Cynical is knowing mankind's worse is the best we'll get. Followed by a little smiley face. I think most on site here want to be cynics but most are just too damn nice of people to really pull it off. Test; do you give the homeless money for food knowing they are going to buy booze or do you not give money to the homeless because they are going to buy booze? I give money to buy booze but oddly I won't give money to a homeless smoker. Selective charity. Cynics are people that think everybody is as shitty of a person as they are. You aren't one from what I have read. PS. I'm afraid there's a lot of White Gals that need to drop dead before anything changes too.
James,
I think you may have hit on a solution, or at least a somewhat therapeutic plan for addressing gun waving acolytes of the second half of the second amendment (ignoring the first part that pretty much negates what they think it really says).
First, we have a national Public Threaten Everyone With Guns day and see if we can get liquor companies to hold a concurrent Booze Guzzling day. Tell everyone who is sane to stay indoors and let the ginned up loonies shoot each other in the name of freedom.
Stand your ground will, at least for a day, be lie on the ground, and wait for emergency services if you're still breathing, which, because most of them live in red states, have been curtailed by draconian budget cuts in order to allow the rich to pay even fewer taxes than they do now.
Just think of how many loonies we can clear out in one day!
PD,
I've also thought of the shock to the conservative system to have a black president followed by a woman. But we need to keep the pressure on. After Hillary, we need a Native American lesbian who chooses an Asian American gay man as her vice president.
Mass exodus! And if it's anything like the Bible story, they'll be wandering in the desert for 40 years!
What's not to like? By the time they get back, if they ever do, we'll have global warming under control, fair taxes on the rich, single payer healthcare, voting rights for all, and real education for the next generation.
@JJG - Thanks! You are very insightful! I think you are right. I am a broken-hearted romantic idealist--always have been. However, I do believe I am truly cynical about Rich White Men and corruption in all cultures due to the toxic effect of money, power and greed. (Cynical = belief that selfishness motivates human actions.) I am also cynical, in general, about the South--though I think most of the racist, gun loving, women hating loony tunes are ignorant and delusional--and are still fighting the Civil War. But I am broken-hearted most of all. And so discouraged at the lack of honesty and decency in our public debate.
I agree with Rodney King: "Why can't we all just get along?"
@James: I thought of the same thing.
@Kate: You and I are contemporaries (born in 1939, the year WW II began) and apparently share similar views. I too am broken hearted. Since I have an incurable disease, I no longer worry too much about the way things are. I just hope that somehow, somewhere a bad person gets their just desserts, but I'm not holding my breath. My fellows at RC make life more bearable.
@Marie: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/08/us/florida-finds-itself-in-the-eye-of-the-storm-on-climate-change.html?_r=0
Looks as if it's time to leave the great state of Florida. Of course, climate change is a liberal hoax, and if it's real, humans have nothin' to do with it. Tell that to Miami.