The Commentariat -- December 30

My column at the New York Times eXaminer is up. It's another Krugman v. Brooks day. The NYTX front page is here.

Also, I've been feeling miffed that with so many conspiracy theories floating around Right Wing World, the left has no conspiracy theories of its own. I invite you on Off Times Square to come up with a few to sort of balance things out.

"Keynes Was Right." Paul Krugman: "The bottom line is that 2011 was a year in which our political elite obsessed over short-term deficits that aren’t actually a problem and, in the process, made the real problem — a depressed economy and mass unemployment — worse. The good news, such as it is, is that President Obama has finally gone back to fighting against premature austerity — and he seems to be winning the political battle."

Peggy Orenstein, in a New York Times op-ed, on gender-specific toys: "... the environment in which children play and grow can encourage a range of aptitudes or foreclose them. So blithely indulging — let alone exploiting — stereotypically gendered play patterns may have a more negative long-term impact on kids’ potential than parents imagine. And promoting, without forcing, cross-sex friendships as well as a breadth of play styles may be more beneficial. There is even evidence that children who have opposite-sex friendships during their early years have healthier romantic relationships as teenagers. Traditionally, toys were intended to communicate parental values and expectations, to train children for their future adult roles. Today’s boys and girls will eventually be one another’s professional peers.... How can they develop skills for such collaborations from toys that increasingly emphasize, reinforce, or even create, gender differences? What do girls learn about who they should be from Lego kits with beauty parlors or the flood of 'girl friendly' science kits that run the gamut from 'beauty spa lab' to 'perfume factory'?" CW: the "Riley" video, which Orenstein mentions, is in the December 28 Commentariat. ...

... "Your Modern Republican Party: It Makes Mississippi Look Liberal." Joan Walsh of Salon: "There is no freedom or equality for women without reproductive freedom. Having been raised a Catholic, I understand religious objections to abortion, and my only answer is, by all means, don’t have one. Work to make them less common."

"What the Frack?" Chris Nelder in Slate: "The recent press about the potential of shale gas would have you believe that America is now sitting on a 100-year supply of natural gas. It's a 'game-changer.' A 'golden age of gas' awaits, one in which the United States will be energy independent, even exporting gas to the rest of the world, upending our current energy-importing situation. The data, however, tell a very different story. Between the demonstrable gas reserves, and the potential resources blared in the headlines, lies an enormous gulf of uncertainty."

Right Wing World

Scammer of the House. Tim Murphy of Mother Jones does a nice job of summarizing the complicated, crooked, tax-evading scams Newt Gingrich cooked up in the 1990s, which ultimately earned him a fine & helped force him out of Congress: "... he used a network of consulting firms, educational institutions, and even a charity for inner-city teens to promote a set of clearly partisan political goals designed to sweep Republicans into power in Washington. Gingrich's web of interconnected organizations formed the early prototype for the multimillion-dollar public and private network he established after leaving public office, known now as 'Newt Inc.'" CW: I suppose this isn't fair, but Newt is my image of a Republican Congressman -- a nasty, megalomaniacal professional grifter. 

Ron Paul Isn't the Only Crazy Conspiracy Theorist Running for President:

Michele Bachmann is up against not only the other candidates, but up against President Obama, who has Facebook, Twitter, Google, and YouTube in its back pocket. I believe that helped him win the last election. No president should have the monopoly of those companies in their back pocket. -- Jonathan, a radio talkshow caller ...

... I absolutely agree, Jonathan. We have seen, whether it is the head of Facebook or Google, it is clear there is an alliance with the Obama administration, as well as with NBC. -- Michele Bachmann

Update: Yippee! Another Bachmann Conspiracy Theory! John McCormick & Lisa Lerer of the Washington Post: "Michele Bachmann pressed her allegations that the former head of her Iowa presidential bid was bribed by the campaign of rival Ron Paul to endorse him, even as one of her own aides denied the charge. The aide who issued the denial later quit Bachmann’s campaign, the candidate said." Bachmann is a gift who keeps on giving.

Meteor Blades of Daily Kos: Ron Paul changes his story on the newsletters -- again:

There were many times I did not edit the entire letter and other things were put in. I was not aware of the details until many years later. These were sentences that were put in, eight or 10 sentences. It wasn’t a reflection of my views at all. It got in the letter and I thought it was terrible. -- Ron Paul, yesterday

Ron Paul’s characterization of the newsletters as only containing ‘eight to ten sentences’ that can be characterized as ‘offending’ is preposterous. As anyone can see from the scans of the newsletters available on the TNR website or posted elsewhere, the documents contain pages upon pages of bigoted statements and outright paranoia. -- Jamie Kirchick, The New Republic ...

... Update: Dave Weigel has a full transcript of Paul's remarks yesterday re: the newsletters.

Beth Reinhard of the National Journal: the beloved Ron Paul breakfasts alone. "He's just a cranky old man who wants to eat his eggs in peace before he sets out to save the world."

Ron Paul could see all the rioting black people in Israel from his house if it were not for the glare off his tin foil hat. -- Sparks69, commenting on the breakfast story

Rick Santorum's brilliant plan to end poverty: (1) graduate from high school, (2) get married. CW: why didn't Krugman think of that? ...

... Amy Sullivan of Time: "... all of the potential darlings of the Christian Right – Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain – have foundered. While [Rick] Santorum was busy visiting every county in Iowa, his opponents each took time from their Fox News appearances and book tours and movie screenings to enjoy a race up the polls, only to fall Wile E. Coyote-like off the cliff. The only reason social conservatives had for not making Santorum their first choice was the belief that one of the other candidates had a better chance of winning the nomination. But now that all of them are long-shots, why not embrace the guy with whom they identify most?" Sullivan answers that one.

AND Rick Perry Is Still Ignorant. Arlette Saenz of ABC News: "Texas Gov. Rick Perry admitted Thursday that he didn’t know about the Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas, a case decided while he was governor which struck down the state’s anti-sodomy law and similar laws in 13 others." Oh, BTW, "The Texas governor referenced Lawrence v. Texas in his 2010 book Fed Up!, calling it one of the court cases in which 'Texans have a different view of the world than do the nine oligarchs in robes.'” ...

... Alex Seitz-Wald of Think Progress: "As TPM’s Pema Levy notes, Perry defended the law in 2002 when the high court took up the case, saying, 'I think our law is appropriate that we have on the books.' When his state lost, he called the justices 'nine oligarchs in robes.' [CW: of course not all 9 oligarchs concurred with the majority decision. Scalia wrote an unintentionally hilarious dissent.] Perry attacked the decision in his 2010 book and even ran on a platform of opposing 'the legalization of sodomy' during his 2010 reelection bid." CW: Perry must be on drugs. He cannot really have forgot all that.

Stan Collender of Capital Gains & Games grades the GOP presidential candidates on their deficit reduction plans. And these guys have the gall to criticize Obama.

News Ledes

New York Times: "Egypt’s military rulers privately signaled a retreat on Friday in a crackdown on organizations that promote democracy and human rights..., even as the authorities in Cairo tried to discredit the organizations with accusations of suspicious activity. The country’s de facto leader, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, and other senior officials pledged to halt the raids against the organizations, to allow them to reopen their offices and to return documents, computers and other property seized on Thursday...."

New York Times: "Verizon Wireless bowed to a torrent of criticism on Friday and reversed a day-old plan to impose a $2 bill-paying fee that would have applied to only some customers."

Al Jazeera: "The United States is pushing ahead with a weapons deal with Iraq despite the near breakdown of the coalition government. Reports suggest the deal is worth nearly $11bn and includes advanced fighter jets and tanks. The sale comes despite warnings that the country may be falling deeper into sectarian strife after an arrest warrant was issued for the Sunni vice president, Tariq al-Hashemi."

Reuters: "Israel killed the leader of an al Qaeda-inspired faction in the Gaza Strip on Friday, accusing him of involvement in firing rockets and a planned attack on the Jewish state from the neighboring Egyptian Sinai. The deadly air strike was Israel's second against a Salafi Islamist militant this week. Militants identified him as Momen Abu Daf, chief of the Army of Islam...."

Haaretz: "Amid a verbal row with the United States over blocking the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil shipping route, Iran proclaimed on Friday that it will start testing long range missiles in the Persian Gulf."

Doing the Wrong Thing. Reuters: "Spain's centre-right government will announce billions of euros in savings measures on Friday, using its first decrees since sweeping to power at November elections to give the nation a foretaste of tougher austerity to come."

New York Times: North Korea announced on Friday that there would be no change in its policy under its new leader, Kim Jong-un, striking a characteristically hostile posture with a threat to punish President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea for 'unforgivable sins.'"

AP: "Fox Latin America has apologized for a poll on whether Jews killed Jesus Christ that one of its staffers put on a Facebook page promoting the National Geographic Channel's Christmas special. The poll asked readers who they think is responsible for the death of Christ: Pontius Pilate, The Jewish People or the High Priests." CW: I didn't even know there was a Fox Latin America, but I'm not surprised they're as dumb as the donkey he rode in on (as the story goes).

The Commentariat -- December 29

My column in the New York Times eXaminer: "Did the New York Times publish a 'lazy rewrite' of a 2008 Reason magazine story? Both of the former Reason reporters – Julian Sanchez and Dave Weigel – say so. Sanchez ... calls New York Times reporters Jim Rutenberg and Serge Kovaleski “a couple of indolent hacks … too desperate to give the appearance of being real reporters to provide a reference and do original work.'” ...

NYTX Editor Chris Spannos: "The New York Times has experienced a dramatic series of changes closing out this year and that seem to cast the shadow of instability over the “paper of record” as it enters into 2012. This month alone delivered news of massive changes including CEO Janet Robinson’s departure from the Times, as well as more than ten buyouts of long-time columnists and editorial staffers. If this news wasn’t enough, the Times also recently announced the sale of 16 local papers that made up its regional media group, and the Newspaper Guild of New York has strongly expressed worker dissatisfaction with Times managerial practices. The Times put icing on its own cake yesterday when it mistakenly sent 8.6 million confusing e-mails notifying recipients that they, the subscriber, had requested cancellation of their own home delivery service." CW: this is a TERRIFIC article, and of course I don't say so just because Spannos mentions ME. The NYTX front page is here.

Paul Krugman: "... the debt we create is basically money we owe to ourselves, and the burden it imposes does not involve a real transfer of resources.... Talking about leaving a burden to our children is especially nonsensical; what we are leaving behind is promises that some of our children will pay money to other children, which is a very different kettle of fish." With graphs! CW: you'll have to read the post. I didn't understand it when Dean Baker wrote about this the other day, but I think I get it now. Oh, bottom line: David Brooks is wrong again.

Denver Post Editorial Board: "... more than 80 years after the federal government issued the first television station license, the [Supreme] Court remains a TV-free fortress. Justices over the years have provided various explanations for this aversion to allowing a camera (and yes, it would probably be a single unobtrusive instrument) in the courtroom — explanations that seem increasingly shopworn as time passes.... We hope the court's longtime ban on TV cameras during arguments will give way to a more enlightened policy." ...

... Linda Greenhouse on the factors that influence judges and justices, and what the public thinks these factors are. It's complex!

Kevin Drum of Mother Jones on "the slippery slope of drone warfare." CW: this is something many of us have been thinking about since the targeting killing of Anwar Al-Awlaki (along with his young son and others). ...

... Ta-Nehisi Coates of The Atlantic: "Drones are a perfect weapon for a democracy. One gains all of the political credit for killing the country's enemies, and none of the blame for military casualties.... But I wonder about ... what [the victims' families] think of [a] country [that] executes children a world away with a joystick. I wonder about their anger. But mostly I wonder about the secrecy here at home."

Right Wing World

** James Kirchick of The New Republic in a New York Times op-ed: "... there is one major aspect of [Ron Paul's] newsletters, no less disturbing than their racist content, that has always been present in Paul’s rhetoric, in every forum: a penchant for conspiracy theories.... Paul has frequently attacked the alleged New World Order that 'elitist' cabals, like the Trilateral Commission and the Rockefeller family, in conjunction with 'globalist' organizations, like the United Nations and the World Bank, wish to foist on Americans.... Paul has not just marinated in a stew of far-right paranoia; he is one of the chefs.... Ron Paul is a paranoid conspiracy theorist who regularly imputes the worst possible motives to the very government he wants to lead." ...

... Mike Konczal on how the Ron Paul newsletters for "white dudes" translates into today's Tea Party belief that social welfare is fine for hardworking white people but not for those Other undeserving freeloaders.

"Feel Free to Ignore Iowa." Gail Collins on the Iowa caucuses: "On Tuesday, there will be a contest to select the preferred candidate of a small group of people who are older, wealthier and whiter than American voters in general, and more politically extreme than the average Iowa Republican." ...

... On the Other Hand... Jonathan Bernstein of the Washington Post: "The 'skip Iowa' strategy has been tried many times, from Al Gore in 1988 to John McCain in 2000 to Wesley Clark in 2004 to Rudy Giuliani in 2012, and it’s never worked yet."

Matt Bai profiles Newt Gingrich for the New York Times Magazine. CW: I didn't read much of it.

News Ledes

The Hill: "New light bulb efficiency standards will begin phasing in on Jan. 1 despite intense opposition from conservatives, who have blasted the rules as a textbook unnecessary federal regulation. While Republicans secured inclusion of a measure blocking funding for enforcementof the standards in a year-end spending bill, energy efficiency groups say the provision will have little practical impact. The Energy Department rules will nonetheless go into effect at the start of 2012."

New York Times: "Fortifying one of its key allies in the Persian Gulf, the Obama administration announced a weapons deal with Saudi Arabia on Thursday, saying it had agreed to sell F-15 fighter jets valued at nearly $30 billion to the Royal Saudi Air Force."

Reuters: "A week after settling a landmark federal discrimination case, Bank of America Corp's Countrywide unit was ordered to face a lawsuit by a Hispanic couple who said it applied excessive pressure to refinance their home on terms they did not accept and could not afford. In an opinion by a prominent Republican-appointed judge, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena, California said a lower court was wrong to dismiss the complaint by Victor and Belen Balderas, who claimed they could not read the English language loan documents they signed."

If you're wondering if your Sears or K-Mart store has been flagged for closure, the AP has a partial list of stores to be closed.

New York Times: "Egyptian security forces stormed the offices of 17 nonprofit groups around the country on Thursday, including at least three democracy-promotion groups financed by the United States, as part of what Egypt’s military-led government has said is an investigation into “foreign hands” in the recent outbreak of protests.... The raids were a stark escalation in what has appeared to be a campaign by the country’s military rulers to rally support by playing to nationalist and anti-American sentiment here. But for the military rulers to suggest that American government funding may have played a role in the recent unrest is remarkable, in part because the Egyptian military itself receives $1.3 billion in annual American aid."

Bloomberg News: "Fewer Americans filed applications for unemployment benefits over the past month than at any time in the past three years, a sign the U.S. labor market is on the mend heading into the new year.... . Applications ... rose for the first time in a month in the week ended Dec. 24, climbing by a more-than- forecast 15,000 to 381,000." ...

... Bloomberg: "The number of Americans signing contracts to buy previously owned homes rose more than forecast in November as falling prices and low borrowing costs boosted demand."

Washington Post: "Against the backdrop of persistent questions about his conservative credentials, [Mitt] Romney drew enthusiastic crowds as he rumbled across eastern Iowa in a bus making the case that he is the most electable Republican in the field. A Time-CNN poll released Wednesday put Romney at the front of the pack despite his decision to spend relatively little time in Iowa, where a conservative GOP electorate has resisted his candidacy. Romney had 25 percent support, compared with Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) at 22 percent and former senator Rick Santorum (Pa.) at 15 percent. Former House speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.), who was the front-runner just a month ago, trailed with 13 percent in the Time-CNN poll."

Washington Post: "With the Iraq war over and troops in Afghanistan on their way home, the U.S. military is getting down to brass tacks: culling generals and admirals from its top-heavy ranks. Pentagon officials said they have eliminated 27 jobs for generals and admirals since March, the first time the Defense Department has imposed such a reduction since the aftermath of the Cold War, when the collapse of the Soviet Union prompted the military to downsize."

New York Times: "North Korea declared on Thursday the young heir Kim Jong-un supreme head of the country, as tens of thousands of people rallied in Pyongyang one day after the funeral of his father, Kim Jong-il, to swear their allegiance to the dynastic transfer of power."

New York Times: "Turkish airstrikes killed at least 35 people in the Kurdish border region with Iraq on Thursday in what the army said was an operation aimed at separatist fighters. Local villagers said the dead were instead young diesel smugglers who had been misidentified by the Turkish military."

Reuters: "Syrian security forces shot dead 17 protesters Thursday, six of them in a city being visited by Arab League monitors checking on President Bashar al-Assad's compliance with a pledge to stop a military crackdown on popular unrest."

The Commentariat -- December 28

My column in today's New York Times eXaminer is on Ross Douthat and the Seven Dwarfs. Douthat found something to like in all seven GOP presidential candidates. As you might suspect, I didn't. The NYTX front page is here.

Toddlers Can Be Heroes, Too. Many thanks to Lane Moore of Jezebel for the video & to Akhilleus (also a hero) for sending the link to the video of Riley, the Littlest Feminist:

** Stephen Marche of Esquire: "... a class system has arrived in America — a recent study of the thirty-four countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that only Italy and Great Britain have less social mobility.... In the United States, the emerging aristocracy remains staunchly convinced that it is not an aristocracy, that it's the result of hard work and talent. The permanent working poor refuse to accept that their poverty is permanent. The class system is clandestine.... The majority of new college grads in the United States today are either unemployed or working jobs that don't require a degree. Roughly 85 percent of them moved back home in 2011, where they sit on an average debt of $27,200. The youth unemployment rate in general is 18.1 percent.... The Tea Partiers blame the government. The Occupiers blame the financial industry. Both are really mourning the arrival of a new social order, one not defined by opportunity but by preexisting structures of wealth." ...

... ** "Income Inequality Is a Symptom, Not the Disease." Charles Pierce on how Bill Clinton made you poor and the New York Times and University of Chicago say it isn't so.

Batocchio, the Vagabond Scholar, links the best blogger posts of the year, chosen by the bloggers themselves. I've read several, & they are indeed quite fine -- and many are funny.

Ron Klain, a former Obama administration official, writing in Bloomberg News, credits Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner & then-economic counsellor Gene Sperling with setting up the payroll tax extension face-off between the President & the Republican Tea Partiers in Congress.

Nate Silver explains why he "concurs with the conventional wisdom that Republicans are favorites to win control of the Senate next year." CW: I keep thinking, "Surely voters will come to their senses." But I trust Silver's stats a lot more than I trust my own wishful thinking.

Greg Miller of the Washington Post: "The Obama administration’s counterterrorism accomplishments are most apparent in what it has been able to dismantle, including CIA prisons and entire tiers of al-Qaeda’s leadership. But ... in the space of three years, the administration has built an extensive apparatus for using drones to carry out targeted killings of suspected terrorists and stealth surveillance of other adversaries. The apparatus involves dozens of secret facilities, including two operational hubs on the East Coast, virtual Air Force cockpits in the Southwest and clandestine bases in at least six countries on two continents. Other commanders in chief have presided over wars with far higher casualty counts. But no president has ever relied so extensively on the secret killing of individuals to advance the nation’s security goals."

Dana Milbank reveals "the cracks in his crystal ball." ...

... Steve Benen fesses up to some of his predictions gone awry.

Ben Nelson, Cornhusker Cowpie. Steve Benen: "Democratic leaders from the White House and Capitol Hill pleaded with Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), asking him to run for re-election for one main reason: the party is desperate to keep its Senate majority and it has no one else to run in Nebraska. As is often the case, Nelson is letting his party down.... Nelson waited until after Democratic and allied groups had invested [more than $1MM] ... to strengthen his standing in Nebraska, and then decided to retire.... Nelson has voted with the right many times over the last couple of years — even on filibusters — offering Republicans cover on a wide range of issues. When pressed, Nelson would often tell his Democratic allies the votes were necessary to bolster his re-election bid."

Lee Spears of Bloomberg News: "With Facebook considering the largest Internet IPO on record and regulatory filings showing that at least 14 other Web-related companies are planning sales, the industry may raise $11 billion next year.... That would be the most since $18.5 billion of IPOs in 1999, just before the dot-com bubble burst."

Right Wing World

Dan Balz & Amy Gardner of the Washington Post: "The Republican presidential candidates opened an intensive week of campaigning in wide-open Iowa Tuesday with the embattled Newt Gingrich casting rival Mitt Romney as an establishment defender of big government and accusing Romney’s supporters of lying about his record." ...

... AND if you'd like to know what nasty things the GOP candidates are saying about each other in Iowa, Jeff Zeleny & Michael Shear of the New York Times provide a sampling. ...

... Oh, Here's a Sample. Alex Moe of NBC News: "The Strong America Now Super PAC is sending direct mail pieces to Iowans this week in support of Newt Gingrich while attacking Mitt Romney – something the Gingrich campaign has vowed not to tolerate. 'Romney is the second most dangerous man in America and will perpetuate Obama's slide into financial crisis,' one of at least two mailers from the Super PAC floating around the state reads." ...

... AND Here's Another. Ron Paul is "The One." The other guys are "serial hypocrites" and "flip-floppers":

Steve Benen sums up why Mitt Romney -- unlike every presidential candidate since Watergate -- won't release his tax returns:

1. Mitt Romney is worth $250 million.
2. He got rich by laying off American workers.
3. He pays a lower tax rate than you and the rest of the middle class.
4. He wants to be president so he can keep it this way.

America must decide who to trust: Al Gore’s Texas cheerleader, or the one who stood with Reagan. -- Ron Paul campaign ad

More Implicit Lies from Ron Paul. Josh Hicks of the Washington Post: "We pulled this comment [above] from an ad that accuses Rick Perry of trying to 'undo the Reagan Revolution' when he backed Al Gore for president in 1988.... Paul has little room to criticize politicians for changing their party affiliations. He campaigned for president as a Libertarian in 1988, after running for office seven times as a Republican and serving as a GOP member of the U.S. House for more than six years at that point. So why didn’t he vie for the Republican nomination? Because he’d renounced the party — along with Reagan’s presidential policies — a few years earlier, resigning from the GOP and forgoing a bid for reelection to Congress."

Charles Pierce: South Carolina's Gov. Nikki Haley is "outraged" that U.S. AG Eric Holder has gone all lawyery on her state & is enforcing the Voting Rights Act. Pierce suggests she move to Oshkosh, by gosh.

Jason Easley at Politicus USA: All those nice Christians over at Fox "News" are "outraged" that the Obama family has taken a Christmas vacation which will cost taxpayers $4MM, including "the cost of everything from transportation to accommodations for the First Family, the White House staff, and the White House press corps." But somehow they weren't outraged with President Dubya spent much, much more on his many trips to his Crawford ranch. "He was the most expensive vacation president in US history." Thanks to Kate M. for the link.

Here's an update on Worst Christmas Songs Ever. This is an actual campaign video, which should disabuse you of the notion there could ever be a President Newt:

     ... Update: Ha ha ha. "This video has been removed by the user" -- the "user" of course being the Newt. Luckily, somebody else captured it (Newt can probably take this down, too, so watch it while it lasts, but definitely before lunch -- and not while you're drinking a beverage to preclude the chance of a spit-take that might zap your keyboard):

News Ledes

New York Times: "Hosni Mubarak, the former president of Egypt ousted in the revolution last February, was wheeled back into a courtroom [in Cairo] on a hospital gurney on Wednesday to resume his trial amid reports from both supporters and opponents that the proceedings appeared to be going in his favor."

New York Times: "Italy’s short-term borrowing costs were halved Wednesday at an auction of government bills, easing the immediate pressure on the country’s economy."

Reuters: "Closing off the Gulf to oil tankers will be 'easier than drinking a glass of water' for Iran if the Islamic state deems it necessary, state television reported on Wednesday, ratcheting up fears over the world's most important oil chokepoint."

New York Times: Sergei Filippov, a high-ranking member of Vladimir Putin's United Russia party "disrupt[ed] scheduled debates [at a meeting of a regional legislature] on forest fire prevention and a transportation tax, to make an appeal to his fellow party members: acknowledge and repair the fraud that many people here believe United Russia committed in recent parliamentary elections." Putin has dismissed criticisms of the elections.