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The Commentariat -- October 12
I've posted an Open Thread on Off Times Square.
Their strategy is to suffocate the economy for the sake of what they think will be a political victory. They think that the more folks see Washington taking no action to create jobs, the better their chances in the next election. So they’re doing everything in their power to make sure nothing gets done. -- Obama Campaign, in an e-mail to supporters
... Joan McCarter of Daily Kos applauds "... the White House many of us having been waiting for: the one that recognizes and calls out the Republican opposition for what it is, a gang of nihilists who will destroy anything standing in their path, if they think they can win." McCarter includes some examples of new White House tough talk.
The American people have every right to be angry [and] disappointed by the performance of the Congress. Of course, the American people have also elected people with hard stances, so that to some degree the American people are realizing the results of their votes. If elections have consequences — which I think they do — some of those consequences are getting what you vote for. In this case, many people voted for people who thought compromise was not something that they ought to participate in. -- Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), House Minority Whip
New York Times Editors: "... the memo, as reported by Charlie Savage in The Times, is an insufficient foundation for a momentous decision by the government to kill one of its own citizens, no matter how dangerous a threat he was believed to be.... The decision to kill Mr. Awlaki was made entirely within the executive branch.... Judicial review is required, perhaps a closed-door court similar to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, before anyone, especially a citizen, is placed on an assassination list."
New York Times Editors: "In awarding the 2011 Nobel in economic sciences to Christopher Sims and Thomas Sargent, the prize committee has rewarded two towering intellects — and delivered a challenge to politicians who are driven more by ideology than by serious consideration of the real-world consequences of their actions. Mr. Sims, of Princeton University, and Mr. Sargent, of New York University, were recognized for their research into the relationship between government policy and economic outcomes, as measured by growth, employment, inflation and other indicators.
David Dayen of Firedoglake: "A provocative new video from Brave New Films exposes what appear to be serious environmental crimes in Crossett, Arkansas, caused by waste product at a Georgia-Pacific plant. Georgia-Pacific is owned by Koch Industries":
The media report on the goals of Occupy Wall Street, via Daily Kos:
Fingerprinting the Poorest of the 99 Percent. Kate Taylor of the New York Times: "Taking aim at a practice she called unnecessary, costly and punitive, the speaker of the City Council, , is asking the to justify requiring applicants for food stamps to be electronically fingerprinted. New York City, where 1.8 million people receive food stamps, is one of only two jurisdictions in the country that require applicants to be fingerprinted, according to Ms. Quinn’s office. The other is Arizona. California and Texas recently lifted a similar requirement; New York stopped using fingerprinting for food-stamp recipients statewide in 2007, but kept it in New York City at the Bloomberg administration’s request." CW: that right -- treat them like criminals because it's criminal to be poor.
... AND who are the One Percent? Check out these charts provided by Dave Gilson of Mother Jones, one more shocking than the next. If you think the protesters of Occupy Wall Street are exaggerating, these charts should change your mind. ...
Elizabeth Warren in January 2008 on "the coming collapse of the middle class." Runs about an hour; Warren begins speaking at about 5 min. in. Thanks to commenter Janice for the link:
... A more recent video featuring Warren, a/k/a Molly Erdman:
Mark Sherman of the AP: "Six and a half years after a family outing turned into a weeklong nightmare behind bars, Albert Florence is getting a Supreme Court hearing on his claim that authorities violated his constitutional rights when they twice made him to submit to strip searches in jail. The justices were to hear arguments Wednesday in a case they could use to rule on whether jails may routinely strip search people who have been arrested, no matter the reason. Florence, 36, was arrested based on a warrant for a traffic fine he already had paid. But even if the warrant had been valid, Florence said he should not have been treated like someone who could be hiding a weapon or drugs."
Michael Schuman of Time: "Slovakia's parliament unexpectedly voted against a decision reached by euro zone leaders in July to expand the powers of its $1 trillion bailout fund, a step seen by investors as crucial for combating the escalating European debt crisis. The coalition administration of Prime Minister Iveta Radicova subsequently fell. Without Slovakia's approval, the entire euro zone plan to enhance its rescue fund – by allowing it to buy sovereign bonds and recapitalize banks – will be stymied, perhaps entirely killed off.... The trouble with Slovakia shows the very weaknesses of the entire monetary union itself. There is no simple mechanism for implementing euro zone decisions, even in the face of a serious crisis like the one boiling in Europe today.... So Slovakia proves once again that the euro can only be as strong as its weakest link – whether economic (Greece) or political."
Right Wing World
The U.S. of A. Is Older than You Knew. ... and then it was actually the reason that we fought the revolution in the 16th century was to get away from that kind of onerous crown if you will. -- Rick Perry, in last night's debate, adding two centuries to our history
Philip Rucker & Amy Gardner of the Washington Post report on the Republican presidential debate held last night. The Post cosponsored the debate: "The government is the problem. That was the message Tuesday night as the eight Republican presidential hopefuls clamored to blame Washington for the nation’s economic ills. In turn, they pointed fingers at President Obama, the Federal Reserve and the government generally as the cause of the nation’s economic collapse." ...
... AND here, Post reporters have insta-fact-checked some of the candidates' whoppers. The win, as usual, goes to Michele Bachmann, who gets absolutely nothing right. CW: personally, I resent Bachmann's being in there to make women look stupid. ...
... Jeff Zeleny & Ashley Parker of the New York Times write an overview of the debate, wherein you get the barest hint of what Jonathan Bernstein tells us --
... "Rick Perry is Incredibly Bad at Debates." Jonathan Bernstein of the Washington Post: "... throughout the debate, he went back and forth between garbling his answers and simply disappearing for large stretches. He showed up for a debate on the economy with nothing to say on the economy other than that his economic plan wasn’t ready yet, and apparently he decided to avoid his difficulty in delivering prepared zingers by not bothering to even try any. Just incredible. CW: Perry has almost prided himself on being inaccessible to the press. That may work as governor, even of a large state like Texas, but learning to parry with the press is debate prep -- preparation a presidential candidate obviously needs & Perry badly lacks. ...
... "Race for the Worst." Michael Tomasky for the Daily Beast: "... they were all pretty terrible. But, it must be said, by degree. Romney was unbad enough to stay ahead.... Cain has become a better debater. He has mastered that first-level trick of sounding like he knows what he’s talking about. He hasn’t mastered the second-level art of actually knowing what he’s talking about, but, then, few of them do." ...
... Roger Simon of Politico: "The Republican race has turned into 'The Wizard of Oz.' Rick Perry wants a brain. Mitt Romney wants a heart. And any number of candidates are Dorothy, realizing there is no place like home and they should have stayed there." ...
It's a catchy phrase, in fact when I first heard it I thought it was the price of a pizza. -- Jon Huntsman on Herman Cain's $9.99 economic plan (video here)
... If you'd like to be reminded of how counterproductive Republicans' "economic plans" are, Binyamin Appelbaum & Jackie Calmes of the New York Times, in a straight news story, take a brief look at Herman Cain's 999 plan & Mitt Romney's corporate tax holiday. ...
Suck it up, you whiners. I am the 53 percent subsidizing you so you can hang out on Wall Street and complain.... Get a job, hippies. -- Erick Erickson, big-shot conservative blogger, on the 99 Percent ...
... Avenging Angel of Daily Kos has a good post explaining why 47 percent of Americans pay no federal income tax, which is Erickson's big whiney complaint: it's largely Ronald Reagan's fault. ...
... Annie Lowrey of Slate tells a similar Tale of the Tax-Free (of course none of us is really tax-free; Erickson just wants the 53 percent to think they're getting a bad deal. Lowrey puts more of the blame on Dubya, not Reagan.
Russell Berman of The Hill: "House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) made an abrupt shift in rhetoric toward the Wall Street protesters on Tuesday, saying they were 'justifiably frustrated,' just days after describing the people in the streets as 'growing mobs.' ... The majority leader blamed Obama administration policies for creating the weak economy that has spurred the demonstrations, along with public anger at so-called 'crony capitalism' in Washington." CW: Berman goes into some detail on Cantor's song-and-dance about what he "was trying to say" last week when he described Occupy Wall Street movements as "mobs" & how OWS is different from those nice, concerned citizens in the Tea Party.
News Ledes
New York Times: "Franklin E. Kameny, who transformed his 1957 arrest as a 'sexual pervert' and his subsequent firing from the Army Map Service into a powerful animating spark of the gay civil rights movement, died on Tuesday at his home in Washington. He was 86. His death was confirmed by the United States Office of Personnel Management, which formally apologized two years ago for his dismissal."
New York Times: "Congress passed three long-awaited free trade agreements on Wednesday, ending a political standoff that has stretched across two presidencies.... The approval of the deals with South Korea, Colombia and Panama is a victory for President Obama and proponents of the view that foreign trade can drive America’s economic growth in the face of rising sentiment in both political parties."
AP: "Acting in rare harmony, Congress is preparing to approve three free trade agreements that advocates say will boost exports, give the economy a needed shot in the arm and help put Americans back to work. The trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama are being trumpeted as economic victories by President Barack Obama and most congressional Republicans. Democrats, traditionally wary of free trade, are more ambivalent, but all three pacts are expected to pass easily when they come up in the House and Senate on Wednesday."
AP: "Chrysler Group LLC and the United Auto Workers say that they reached a tentative deal on a new four-year contract early Wednesday that creates 2,100 new jobs.... The agreement covers 26,000 U.S. workers and is subject to ratification by Chrysler's workers." Detroit Free Press story here.
AP: "The Obama administration plans to leverage charges that Iran plotted to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States into a new global campaign to isolate the Islamic republic. U.S. officials say the administration will lobby for the imposition of new international sanctions as well as for individual nations to expand their own penalties against Iran based on allegations that Iranian agents tried to recruit a purported member of a Mexican drug cartel to kill the Saudi envoy on American soil."
Reuters: "Resistance from fighters loyal to ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi crumbled in his home town overnight, government commanders said on Wednesday, and just two small pockets still held out."
AP: "A slew of bombings targeted Iraqi police in Baghdad on Wednesday morning, including blasts by two suicide bombers who tried to ram their vehicles through police station gates. Iraqi officials said 25 people died and dozens more were wounded in the carnage."
Politico: "The Obama administration picked 14 projects Tuesday that will undergo expedited permitting and environmental reviews with the goal of getting construction workers on the job site sooner than normal. The projects include replacing the Tappan Zee Bridge in New York, new equipment for the air traffic control system at two Houston airports, two water treatment plants in New Mexico and a retail and affordable housing complex in D.C."
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