The Commentariat -- Dec. 29, 2012
Cliff Notes
The President's Weekly Address:
... The transcript is here.
Jonathan Weisman & Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "At the urging of President Obama, the Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate set to work Friday night to assemble a last-minute tax deal that could pass both chambers of Congress and avert large tax increases and budget cuts next year, or at least stop the worst of the economic punch from landing beginning Jan. 1.... Speaker John A. Boehner..., once seen as the linchpin for any agreement, essentially ceded final control to the Senate and said the House would act on whatever the Senate could produce." CW: ... in case anyone wondered if the Tea Party had weakened the power of the House. CW P.S. Two cheers to Weisman & Steinhauer for using the term "fiscal cliff" only once, & then placing it half-way through the article.
President Obama made a statement at about 5:50 pm ET Friday, saying that he was "modestly optimistic" that Senate leaders could work out a bill that at the very least would prevent middle-class taxes from rising January 1 & that would extend unemployment benefits for 2 million Americans. He said "ordinary folks" don't understand why Congress can never get its act together & does everything at the last minute, if it does anything at all:
... Michael O'Brien of NBC News: "President Barack Obama tasked the United States Senate with trying to resolve the 'fiscal cliff' in the waning hours before the New Year following a meeting between congressional leaders and the president. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will lead the last-minute effort to avert the automatic tax hikes and spending cuts set to take effect on Jan. 1 unless Congress acts. And Obama said he is 'optimistic' they can reach an accord before midnight on New Year's Eve...."
Jim Kuhnhenn of the AP: "A person familiar with the details says President Barack Obama is not making a new 'fiscal cliff' offer at his high-stakes meeting with congressional leaders at the White House."
Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) repeatedly pops Fox "News" anchor Greg Jarrett's claim that the President wasn't doing his job on the budget negotiations; Van Hollen again & again points the finger at Speaker John Boehner who "walked away" from the negotiations, then sent the House home. And who knew Fox had a "brain room"? Maybe it's like a cloakroom, where they store their brains while they're at work. Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link:
Digby: "I see no reason [for Democrats] to capitulate on spending at this point. If that's what it takes, go over the cliff. Why should Democrats become the tax collectors for the austerity state?"
Andy Borowitz: "The international terror group known as Al Qaeda announced its dissolution today, saying that 'our mission of destroying the American economy is now in the capable hands of the U.S. Congress.' In an official statement published on the group's website, the current leader of Al Qaeda said that Congress's conduct during the so-called 'fiscal-cliff' showdown convinced the terrorists that they had been outdone."
Paul Krugman: "... the business leaders intervening in our economic debate are, for the most part, either predatory or hopelessly confused (or, I guess, both).... Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks, exemplifies the hopeless confusion factor." Krugman counts the ways Schultz is wrong. "Republican extremism isn't the only source of our dysfunctional response to economic crisis, that the awesome inability of Very Serious People to come to grips with either political or economic reality is another huge source of our failure." ...
... Ezra Klein: "... at the elite level -- which encompasses everyone from CEOs to media professionals -- there's a desire to keep up good relations on both sides of the aisle. And so it's safer ... to offer an anodyne criticism that offends nobody -- 'both sides should come together!' ... That breaks the system. It hurts the basic mechanism of accountability, which is the public's ability to apportion blame.... If you want Washington to come together, you need to make it painful for those who are breaking it apart. Telling both sides to come together when it's predominantly one side breaking the negotiations apart actually makes it easier on those who're refusing to compromise."
Kelly O'Donnell of NBC News: apparently there's some progress on the "dairy cliff," too. "Without action by Congress, dairy prices would begin to soar to an estimated $8 dollars per gallon beginning in January. The pricing would revert to 1940s farm policy, when milk costs were tied to a more labor intensive production."
AND Plenty of Progress of Surveillance. Robert Pear of the New York Times: "Congress gave final approval on Friday to a bill extending the government's power to intercept electronic communications of spy and terrorism suspects, after the Senate voted down proposals from several Democrats and Republicans to increase protections of civil liberties and privacy." ...
... ** Glenn Greenwald: "Obama successfully relied on Senate Republicans (the ones his supporters depict as the Root of All Evil) along with a dozen of the most militaristic Democrats to ensure that he can continue to eavesdrop on Americans without any warrants, transparency or real oversight. That's the standard coalition that has spent the last four years extending Bush/Cheney theories, eroding core liberties and entrenching endless militarism: Obama + the GOP caucus + Feinstein-type Democrats. As Michelle Richardson, the ACLU's legislative counsel, put it to the Huffington Post: 'I bet [Bush] is laughing his ass off.' ... It's hard to put into words just how extreme was [Dianne] Feinstein's day-long fear-mongering tirade.... Here we find yet again a defining attribute of the Obama legacy: the transformation of what was until recently a symbol of right-wing radicalism -- warrantless eavesdropping -- into meekly accepted bipartisan consensus.... Anyone who stands in the way of the US Government's demands for unaccountable, secret power is helping the Terrorists." Read the whole post. ...
... Adam Serwer of Mother Jones effectively rebuts Feinstein's fearmongering & aspersion-casting. ...
... CW: it's pretty obvious why the media have barely covered extension of warrantless wiretapping: very few of their readers feel even vaguely threatened by a law that could potentially ensnare -- theoretically, at least -- only Americans who talk to friends who are in foreign countries. Ironically, "telephoning foreigners" has a much higher incidence among the press -- percentage-wise -- than in the general population.
Raymond Hernandez of the New York Times: "The Senate approved $60.4 billion in emergency spending on Friday to pay for recovery efforts in states ravaged by Hurricane Sandy, at one point fending off a Republican bid to reduce the aid package by more than half. But it is unclear that the House will act on the measure before Congress adjourns for the year."
Ezra Klein again: "Sens. John McCain and Carl Levin -- backed up by a handful of senior senators from both parties -- have been prepping a filibuster proposal meant to undercut more significant reform of the Senate rules.... This is filibuster reform for people who don't want to reform the filibuster.... If you think the Senate is pretty much working well as is, and the biggest threat are the folks who want to change the rules, then this is the proposal for you." CW: what's the matter with Carl Levin? ...
... Sahil Kapur of TPM: "Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Tom Udall (D-NM) promptly said the alternate proposal put forth by Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Carl Levin (D-MI) is too weak and does nothing to prevent senators from filibustering quietly and escaping public accountability for their obstruction -- the centerpiece of the Merkley-Udall 'talking filibuster' plan.... Udall and Merkley insisted that Democrats have the 51 votes necessary to pass their more robust plan and called on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to take it up." ...
... Alexander Bolton of The Hill: "Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), a leading proponent of filibuster reform, said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) has the 51 votes he needs to change Senate rules with the 'nuclear option.' The maneuver would be controversial, however.... Republicans say using 51 votes to change Senate procedures -- and to prevent the minority party in the Senate from blocking a majority-vote -- amounts to breaking the rules to change them."
Ruby Cramer of BuzzFeed: "President Obama's chief environmental official departed in part over her opposition to a controversial plan to pipe oil from Canadian tar sands to Texas refineries, two sources familiar with the situation told BuzzFeed Thursday.... [Lisa] Jackson 'left as a matter of conscience,' said Jeff Tittel, the director of New Jersey's Sierra Club chapter and a longtime friend of Jackson's.... President Obama initially delayed Keystone's progress, but this March authorized the construction of its Southern portion over howls from his former allies in the movement to stop carbon emissions."
Michael Duss of the American Prospect: in a broad sense, neocons' "... attacks on [former Senator Chuck] Hagel represent an attempt by the neoconservative wing of the Republican Party to avoid a conversation over America's changing role in the world. Over the past years, and especially during the recent presidential election, this faction has seen their expansive (and expensive) view of American hegemony increasingly marginalized as U.S. leaders grapple with constrained budgets, an electorate that has soured on costly foreign adventurism, and an international environment that has proven to be far less malleable to American whims and preferences than neocons have theorized."
Emily Schultheis of Politico: "Democrats both nationally and in Massachusetts are throwing their support behind Rep. Ed Markey to replace Sen. John Kerry in Massachusetts, hoping to clear the field for him in what could become a crowded Democratic primary."
Oops! Missed This. Charles Babington of the AP: "Brian Schatz symbolized a generational change in Hawaii's Senate delegation, taking the hand of his new colleague, 88-year-old Sen. Daniel Akaka, moments before being sworn in Thursday as the successor to the late Democratic Sen. Daniel Inouye. Vice President Joe Biden administered the oath of office in a chamber peopled by a dozen Democratic senators and a handful of Republicans. As he walked up the center aisle to meet Biden, Schatz, 40, took Akaka's hand and helped the frail Democratic senator, who is retiring, stay at his side. Schatz had flown to Washington hours earlier on Air Force One with President Barack Obama." ...
...Seung Min Kim of Politico on why Hawaii's Gov. Neil Abercrombie chose Schatz over Sen. Inouye's preferred choice to succeed him -- Rep. Colleen Hanabusa.
Joseph Pisani of the AP: "Demand for firearms, ammunition and bulletproof gear has surged since the Dec. 14 massacre in Newtown, Conn.... The shooting sparked calls for tighter gun control measures, especially for military-style assault weapons like the ones used in Newtown and in the Aurora, Colo., movie theater shooting earlier this year. The prospect of a possible weapons ban has sent gun enthusiasts into a panic and sparked a frenzy of buying at stores and gun dealers nationwide. Assault rifles are sold out across the country. Rounds of .223 bullets, like those used in the AR-15 type Bushmaster rifle used in Newtown, are scarce. Stores are struggling to restock their shelves. Gun and ammunition makers are telling retailers they will have to wait months to get more." CW: I'm sure Wayne LaPierre's owners are delighted with his work. ...
... The Bushmaster "Man Card." New York Times Editors: "Gun owners once talked about the need for personal protection and sport hunting, but out-of-control ad campaigns like Bushmaster's have replaced revolvers and shotguns with highly lethal paramilitary fantasies.... The effect of these marketing campaigns on fragile minds is all too obvious, allowing deadly power in the wrong hands. But given their financial success, gun makers have apparently decided that the risk of an occasional massacre is part of the cost of doing business."
... CW: Several weeks ago a commenter said he belonged to the NRA and favored gun control. I asked him why he maintained his membership. He never did respond. If you belong to the NRA & don't think every man needs a Bushmaster, please do tell us why you continue to support an organization controlled by gun manufacturers & other commercial interests.
Greg Noth in Think Progress: "... histories of substance abuse and other socio-demographic and economic factors are stronger determinants of violent behavior than psychiatric disorders. The contribution of the mentally ill to overall crime rates is an extremely low 3 to 5 percent, a number much lower than that of substance abuse."
** Steven Greenhouse & Jim Yardley of the New York Times: "... even as the deadly Nov. 24 fire at the Tazreen factory has stirred soul-searching inside and outside the apparel industry about the effectiveness of its global factory monitoring system, some nonprofit groups say Walmart has been an important obstacle to efforts to upgrade fire safety. That is partly because it has shown little interest in changing the existing practice of demanding that the factories, often operating at razor-thin margins, meet fire safety standards at their own cost." ...
... Annie-Rose Strasser of Think Progress: "Craft store chain Hobby Lobby announced on Friday that it will ignore the ruling of U.S. courts and refuse to provide copay-free birth control access to its employees. It will do so despite whatever costs it may incur, even if they are higher than the cost of birth control itself." CW: if corporations are people, my friend, I guess it's safe to say that many corporations are evil, my friend.
Aaron Blake of the Washington Post picks the Top 10 Political Quotes of 2012. With videos.
Local News
Miranda Leitsinger of NBC News: "Arizona sheriffs and the state's attorney general are pushing controversial programs to allow school officials and volunteers to carry guns in the wake of the shootings at a Connecticut school that left 20 children dead. The latest proposal comes from Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the self-described toughest sheriff in America, who wants to station his 'posse' of volunteers outside of about 50 schools in Maricopa County within a week, according to KPNX, a local NBC station." CW: I suppose if the "posses" catch any suspected miscreants, then can hang 'em from the old oak tree. Yee-haw!
News Ledes
AP: "Former President George H.W. Bush's condition continued to improve Saturday, prompting doctors to move him out of intensive care, a spokesman said."
AP: "Three al-Qaida militants were killed in a suspected U.S. drone strike in southern Yemen, Yemeni security officials said, the fourth such attack this week and a sign attacks from unmanned aircraft are on the upswing in the country."
AP: "The United Nations envoy for Syria warned Saturday that the country's civil war could plunge the entire region in chaos by sending an unbearable stream of refugees into neighboring countries, but his talks in Moscow brought no sign of progress toward settling the crisis. Lakhdar Brahimi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov both said after their meeting that the 21-month Syrian crisis can only be settled through talks, while admitting that the parties to the conflict have shown no desire for compromise."
AP: "Indian police charged six men with murder on Saturday, adding to accusations that they beat and gang-raped a woman on a New Delhi bus nearly two weeks ago in a case that shocked the country. The murder charges were laid after the woman died earlier Saturday in a Singapore hospital where she has been flown for treatment."
AP: "After waiting years and seeing marriage rights nearly awarded and then retracted, gay couples in Maine's largest city didn't have to wait a moment longer than necessary to wed, with licenses issued at the stroke of midnight as the law went into effect." ...
... The Bangor Daily News currently has quite a few related stories on its front page.
AP: "Embattled French President Francois Hollandethrew out a plan to tax the ultrawealthy at a 75 percent rate, saying it was unfair. In a stinging rebuke to one of Socialist Hollande's flagship campaign promises, the constitutional council ruled Saturday that the way the highly contentious tax was designed was unconstitutional." ...
... Reuters Update: "The French government will redraft a proposal for a 75 percent upper income tax band and resubmit it, the prime minister's office said on Saturday, after the Constitutional Council rejected the measure included in the 2013 budget."
Reuters: "A suburban New York newspaper that sparked an uproar among gun enthusiasts by publishing names and addresses of residents holding pistol permits is now planning to publish even more identities of permit-toting locals. Further names and addresses will be added as they become available to a map originally published on December 24 in the White Plains, New York-based Journal News, the newspaper said."