The Commentariat -- Nov. 23, 2012
** Paul Krugman: Marco's Rubio's "the age of the earth is a mystery" "didn't come out of the blue. As speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, Mr. Rubio provided powerful aid to creationists trying to water down science education. In one interview, he compared the teaching of evolution to Communist indoctrination tactics.... Mr. Rubio's complaint about science teaching [was] that it might undermine children's faith in what their parents told them to believe. And right there you have the modern G.O.P.'s attitude ... toward everything: If evidence seems to contradict faith, suppress the evidence.... Modern American conservatism is highly correlated with authoritarian inclinations -- and authoritarians are strongly inclined to reject any evidence contradicting their prior beliefs.... Don't shrug off Mr. Rubio's awkward moment. His inability to deal with geological evidence was symptomatic of a much broader problem -- one that may, in the end, set America on a path of inexorable decline." ...
... CW: I believe this is why it is difficult to get a fair jury trial. I sometimes watch crime shows where they poll the jury afterward, & often the jurors' "reasons" for deciding guilt or innocence seem to be merely justifications for preconceived views of the accused. My advice: if you're innocent, get a liberal jury. If you're guilty, get a conservative jury; then just look innocent -- & you'll get away with murder. ...
... P.S. Now apply this theory to the GOP attack on Susan Rice:
The Washington Post Editors write a scathing critique of the "bizarre attack" & "half-baked conspiracy theories" of 97 House members who signed a "remarkable" letter against Susan Rice. The Post editors come mighty close to accusing the signators of racism & sexism, nothing that 80 percent of the conspiracy theorists are white men & nearly half are from former states of the Confederacy. Good for the Post. P.S. The Post editors are NOT liberals.
As Long as We Can Say "We Won!": Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "Congressional negotiators ... are examining ideas that would allow effective tax rates to rise for the wealthy without technically raising the top tax rate of 35 percent. They hope the proposals will advance negotiations by allowing both parties to claim they stood their ground." CW: never mind what makes sense. ...
... NEW. Jamelle Bouie in the Washington Post: "... it would be unwise for President Obama to agree on a lame-duck package; he'll have the most leverage after Jan. 1, when the United States begins to descend the fiscal slope and tax rates return to their Clinton-era levels." As for the debt ceiling, President Obama should invoke the Fourteenth Amendment. "A provision in the amendment -- originally meant to ensure payment of Union debts after the Civil War -- [reads] ... 'The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payments of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion,' the crucial passage says, 'shall not be questioned.'"
Igor Volsky of Think Progress: "Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) told a local television station in Georgia on Wednesday that he will no longer support [Grover Norquist's] Taxpayer Protection Pledge to never vote for any tax increases under any circumstances." CW: Chambliss claims he abandoned his pledge because of love of country, but I kinda wonder if just maybe this had something to do with it: "16 incumbent Republicans and one incumbent Senator who signed Norquist's pledge lost on election night. In total, at least 56 Republican House incumbents or candidates who signed the pledge and 24 Republican Senators or hopefuls lost." Chambliss definitely is not a principled guy.
Zachary Goldfarb of the Washington Post: economists say the Obama administration didn't do enough to help people with underwater mortgages (no kidding!), & these mortagors continue to drag down the economy. Big surprise -- Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is the heavy. CW: six months (or more) ago, I linked to a story that provided pretty compelling evidence that Geithner didn't want to help home mortgagers because every feasible plan to reduce their mortgage payments would cost his banker buddies. Expect Timmy to get a BIG payoff when his government "service" stint ends.
Robert Reich: if you care about the U.S.'s workforce, don't shop at Wal-Mart today. Reich, a former Labor Secretary, puts startling stats about the decline of the American workforce all in one place. Read it & weep. ...
... Jordan Weisman of the Atlantic, in a very good post, publishes some stats & recounts how Wal-Mart (& other big-box retailers) screw their workers in so many ways. CW: American consumers really must demand higher prices! I mean that. Right now, taxpayers are subsidizing Wal-Mart, Target, Michael's, etc., by paying more into the social safety net programs to cover food stamps, Medicaid & other types of coverage for low-wage earners. These people work; they should earn a living wage & not have to be humiliated by dependence on the rest of us. ...
Art via Salon.
... ** Andrew Leonard of Salon: "For wily veterans of a decade of Black Friday doorbuster sales, 2012 was the year that the last semblance of a boundary between the actual day of Thanksgiving and the formal commencement of the holiday shopping season finally collapsed.... Consider the example of the Kelley family in Fort Myers, Fla., so determined to sacrifice nothing of their quality of life while in quest for the perfect deal that they showed up in front of the local Best Buy's doors on Monday, equipped with a dinner table.... The merger of festival and fantastic flat-screen TV deal makes sense: The United States is the greatest consumer society that has ever existed on this planet." CW: I am especially moved by this story inasmuch as my husband is sending me to that self-same Fort Myers Best Buy to pick up a cheap computer. I assume this is a fool's errand & the cheap computers are long-gone, but it is an errand I refused to run last night after slaving over a hot stove & two ovens all day. ...
... CW Update: I went, I saw, I conquered!
... AND if you think Black Friday Thursday sucks for consumers, think of those low-wage retail workers who have no choice but to leave their families & go to work on Thanksgiving, a supposed national holiday. Pat Garofalo of Think Progress reports. ..
... In Fashion Retail News. Donovan Slack of Politico: "Anna Wintour's 'Runway to win' initiative -- which had famous designers like Tory Burch and Marc Jacobs creating bags, shirts and other gear for the Obama campaign -- brought in a lot more dough than some predicted. Campaign manager Jim Messina tells Bloomberg Businessweek that the venture, which had been mocked by some pundits, raised 'just north of $40 million.'"
SEC s/b SEX. Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone: "In a salacious 77-page complaint that reads like Penthouse Forum meets The Insider meets the Keystone Kops, one David Weber, the former chief investigator for the SEC Inspector General's office, accuses the SEC of retaliating against Weber for coming forward as a whistleblower. According to this lawsuit, Weber was made a target of intramural intrigues at the agency (which has a history of such retaliation) after he came forward with concerns that his bosses may have been spending more time copulating than they were investigating the SEC."
Ned Berkowitz of ABC News: "... Jill Kelley ... was apparently so eager to make a multi-billion dollar Korean business deal that she was willing to cancel anniversary plans with her husband, Dr. Scott Kelley, according to emails reviewed exclusively by ABC News. Emails between Kelley and Adam Victor, president and CEO of TransGas Development Systems, also appear to confirm the New York businessman's claim that Kelley wanted a huge fee for brokering the transaction." ...
... CW: You know all those medals David Petraeus's valet pins on his jacket? I highlighted them on the Commentariat a couple of days ago. Don't be too impressed. Turns out you can get a medal for partying. And Petraeus was handing 'em out. Daniel Politi of Slate: "Gen. David Petraeus was the first to recommend that Jill Kelley receive the Joint Chiefs of Staff's second-highest honor to a civilian, reports the Tampa Tribune. The award was approved by Adm. Mike Mullen, who was the Joint Chiefs chair at the time. The reason for the award? Kelley 'distinguished herself by exceptional service while supporting the mission of the United Central Command, building positive relationships between the military and the Tampa community, supporting community outreach, and advancing various military endeavors,' according to the award citation." Here's the Tampa Trib article. Do these people have any idea how ridiculous they are?
Right Wing World
... Via Juanita Jean's.
Michael Collins of the Knoxville News-Sentinel: "U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais said Wednesday that he never intentionally misled voters about his past and stressed that he has no plans to resign over recent revelations that depict a private life starkly at odds with his public image as an anti-abortion, family values congressman.... DesJarlais said he is not the same man who supported his first wife's decision to have two abortions. The physician-turned-congressman said he also deeply regrets sexual relationships with multiple women, including two patients, three co-workers and a drug company representative while he was chief of staff at Grandview Medical Center in Jasper, [Tennessee].
Dennis G. of Balloon Juice: "I came across this one this morning:
Republican lawmakers in Michigan, a state which eliminated tax credits for children last year, have proposed a tax credit for unborn foetuses of 12 weeks gestation
"So, when the nutters took control of Michigan, one of their first actions was to take away tax credits for families with children (those moochers needed to be punished). Now they want to give tax credits to zygotes and the unborn. Typical. Their fantasies must be feed and they get extra satisfaction if they can flip the bird to reality while they do it. Extreme, crazy and dangerous, they are doing wonders for the Republican brand."
Hope Yen of the AP: "Emboldened by rapid growth in e-commerce shipping, the cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service is moving aggressively this holiday season to start a premium service for the Internet shopper seeking the instant gratification of a store purchase: same-day package delivery.Teaming up with major retailers, the post office will begin the expedited service in San Francisco on Dec. 12 at a price similar to its competitors." ...
... CW: I predict that if retailers switch over to the P.O.D., it will be a real pain for customers. The P.O.D. won't deliver packages to my door that don't fit in the box. They won't tell me they have a package that doesn't fit in the box. Instead, I get a notice of non-delivery & a fabulous opportunity to call someone at a handling center somewhere like Chicago who doesn't know squat, after which I spend the next 48 hours tracking down my $20 package, a process that usually requires me to "be firm" with some postal worker(s).
Local News
Monica Davey: "... one party will hold the governor's office and majorities in both legislative chambers in at least 37 states, the largest number in 60 years and a significant jump from even two years ago.... Twenty-four states will be controlled by Republicans.... At least 13 states will be Democratic.... (The situation in New York, where the potential for single-party control by the Democrats rests on the makeup of the Senate, is still uncertain.)" Look for the passage of "bold partisan agendas."
Fernanda Santos of the New York Times: "It took until 15 days after the election, but all valid votes in Arizona have now been counted, including a record number of provisional ballots that fueled suspicions of voter suppression among Latino voters and raised questions about the integrity of the electoral process in the state.... Results announced on or just after election night remained unchanged, though it took days for three Congressional races to be decided. All of them were won by Democrats, who will replace Republicans as a majority in the state's Congressional delegation come January."
News Ledes
New York Times: "Mark Thompson, the president and chief executive of The New York Times Company, testified on Friday in a closed-door inquiry investigating why the British Broadcasting Corporation canceled a contentious report into sexual abuse, a Times spokesman said."
Reuters: "Protesters stormed the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood's party in Alexandria on Friday, throwing chairs and books into the street and setting them alight, after the Egyptian president granted himself sweeping new powers."
AP: "The prospect of failure loomed over a European Union leaders' summit intended to lay out the 27-country bloc's long-term spending plans. While heavyweights like Britain and France are pulling in opposite directions, smaller members, too, are threatening to veto a deal to make themselves heard."
Guardian: "Egyptian opposition groups are calling for mass protests amid mounting anger at President Mohamed Morsi's surprise decision to give himself, and the Islamist-dominated assembly writing Egypt's new constitution, extraordinary new powers."
Guardian: "Argentinian politicians and global debt campaigners have responded with fury to a US court judgment that risks plunging the country back into default. Elliott Capital Management and Aurelius Capital Management, regarded as "vulture funds" by Buenos Aires, won a ruling in a New York court on Wednesday that could force Argentina to hand over $1.3bn (£816m) in repayments and interest to the tiny minority of bondholders who refused to sign up to a hard-fought writedown of its debts after the country defaulted in 2001."
Reuters: "The U.S. shopping frenzy known as 'Black Friday' kicked off at a more civilized hour, with shoppers welcoming decisions by retailers such as Target Corp and Toys R Us Inc to move their openings to Thursday night."
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Reader Comments (8)
CW Update: in Wednesday's Commentariat, a commenter posted a complete "psalm" to Nate Silver which she copied from another Website.
I did some research & found out who the original author was. I linked to the writer's site in a comment on Wednesday's thread, then wrote & asked him if I could leave the psalm up or if he wanted me to remove it. He said I could let it stand.
This all took me at least a half hour, perhaps more, as the poem had been copied in multiple places without credit -- just as our commenter did.
PLEASE don't steal other people's writing. I don't know how many times I can say this or in how many ways.
I was really pleased the other day that an editor at Daily Kos picked up one of my NYTX columns. She copied a few sentences, she linked to my original NYTX column & she commented on what I'd written. That's the way to do it. I'd have been pretty unhappy if I'd discovered that the editor had instead just copied my stuff & said she read it someplace & it was by somebody.
The next time a commenter here decides to "publish" somebody else's work in the Comments section -- without the author's permission -- no matter how much I like & respect you or how good the piece is you "published," I'm just going to ZAP the comment. I'll probably add an imprudent remark, too.
Sister Mary Elephant
Although the stuffing was way too salty and the piece of blueberry pie I ate was too large, what's not setting well on my stomach right now is the information about high jinks in the highest circles of the military. Somehow Marie always gets us the little news "bits" that escape my usual news sources. As a lifelong liberal (I'm certain I was born this way--or even as a foetus perhaps), I have always respected the military leadership as opposed to the political chicken hawks of our time. My brother served in Vietnam--from which he returned in body but not mind--and my son served eight years in the Navy. I always thought we should have a draft for these recent wars so as to democratize them, and still think so. But those damn ribbons on the general's uniform don't look so good.
Anyway, where is Bill Mauldin now that we need him?
AND furthermore, many thanks Marie for your perseverance in ensuring proper attributions. Nothing annoys me more than the occasional e-mail crediting statements to famous people who did not say them or altering the details. I always "reply to all" with a link to snopes.com. So far I have not lost any friends that way but I have cut way down on those e-mails.
At the risk of being disrespectful of the dead, I have wondered about something since the deaths in Benghazi. It seems that Ambassador Stevens was a stellar diplomat who had embraced Libyans and many Libyans, but not all, had embraced him in return. Do we know why he chose to be at the consulate which was not well fortified on 9/11? Its obviously easy for me to talk out my ass because my mouth knows better, as my dad used to say ( Ex Marine) without the whole picture. However, I wonder what was so important that you would expose yourself to harm on the anniversary of the 9/11 attack. Libya is a chaotic place at this point and he must have been aware of the violent factions operating there. Total failure of the local CIA with intelligence? Naivete of Ambassador Stevens?
@Diane. Good question, & I'm pretty sure there's no "official" answer yet. We know Stevens had requested -- in general -- more security for the Libyan diplomatic corps, especially in Tripoli. Mid-level State Department officials denied the request, but unless Stevens had taken the extra (nonexistent) security people with him to Benghazi, they wouldn't have made any difference, & in view of the nature of the attack, might not have made any difference anyway.
My guess is that the real answer -- the answer everybody at State, all those scandal-mongering Republicans & the President know & have known for some little while -- is that Chris Stevens -- or the CIA operatives riding with him -- fucked up. As you suggest, September 11 would have been a good day for all Americans, official and otherwise, to lie low in any majority-Muslim country and especially in countries that had known contingents of Al Qaeda affiliates or wannabees.
I think the delay in making public the "investigation" results is a kindness to the family of Ambassador Stevens and the other three men killed. Because that's the answer & McCain, et al., know it's the answer, I find the Republicans' taking advantage of the tragedy (and it is a tragedy if indeed it was an avoidable attack) to be doubly disgusting. BTW, I made up that answer; I don't know if anyone else is making the same assumption. So it could be wrong.
Marie
I hate to argue with Paul Krugman, but (There's always the "but") as correct as he is (and always is) about the right's celebration of ignorance over inquiry, it's also a fact that science, art, and literature evolve without the support, understanding, or okay of average people. Or, to put it another way, despite the indifference (or obliviousness) of plain folk. Bach would be forgotten today, science would be stuck in 900 a.d., literature would consist of oral sagas told by campfire storytellers, and so on. What concerns me is that, in our justified zeal to call out the right as 1) ignorant fools and/or 2) politicians catering to ignorant fools, we risk forgetting that popular consensus is not the force that drives intellectual, artistic, or technological progress. Left to a public vote, our knowledge of the universe and our solar system, the development of the novel form, space flight, polyphonic composition, and so on, would have received a Pee-ew Research poll "no." And been cancelled.
Mass ignorance is not a good thing, of course, but it's easy to panic unduly. For instance, we read a hell of a lot into the answers given on the yes/no polls of our time, as if the average voter's inability to grasp Darwin equaled pro-creationism. Give people an either/or on something they know nothing about, and they're likely to go with the false answer. The important thing, of course, is not to have a populace capable of explaining or teaching Darwin--how many of us are qualified to do so?--but one which knows that scholarly consensus trumps commonly received "knowledge." Which, in our Twitter age, should be a snap, no?
And, a thousand times no, I'm not suggesting we not teach Darwin, that we not find a way to teach his vastly important findings to average students. Rather, I'm suggesting we not get so worked up when people show a weakness in comprehending Darwin, Algebra, two-part counterpart, and so on. We should expect it.
@Raul: but wasn't Krugman's point and one that I made earlier in the week that the problem with someone like Rubio making statements like that is because he is pushing the Republican agenda for privatization of our educational system with its watered-down science and myth making creationism curriculum. As Marie mentioned, Rubio knows better, he's just spouting talking points for the right wing base. Look at Texas, for example, to understand what can happen to our educational system. The meddling of Texas textbooks was horrific and the so called Texas miracle turned out to be a fraud –– public money was found to be in private pockets. So, I'd argue that yes, we DO need to get worked up about our politicians who feign ignorance in order to push their agenda. Again, I don't care much that Aunt Rose won't accept scientific facts or that brother Bill thinks God created woman from a rib; what I do care about, passionately, is teaching our children to think for themselves by giving them the best knowledge possible in science, history, literature, etc. We can't do that when they receive mediocre and false teaching.