The Commentariat -- January 25

Ignorance of the Law Is My Excuse. Eric Lichtblau of the New York Times: "Under pressure from liberal critics, Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court acknowledged in filings released on Monday that he erred by not disclosing his wife’s past employment as required by federal law. Justice Thomas said that in his annual financial disclosure statements over the last six years, the employment of his wife, Virginia Thomas, was 'inadvertently omitted due to a misunderstanding of the filing instructions.' To rectify that situation, Justice Thomas filed seven pages of amended disclosures.... Bob Edgar, president of Common Cause, said he found Justice Thomas’s explanation about the omission to be 'implausible.'” ...

... Jennifer Epstein of Politico: "Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has amended 13 years’ worth of disclosure reports to include details of wife Virginia Thomas’s sources of income, documents released on Monday show.... He also had checked a box marking no spousal income." CW: my emphasis. What is it about the term "spousal income" you don't understand, Mr. Justice? ...

... Judicial Watch has posted pdf's of Thomas' Financial "Disclosure" forms for the years 2003-2009. ...

... Roger Shuler in OpenSalon: "Does this mean a justice on the nation's highest court has committed a crime? The answer probably is yes. Will the legal system kick into high gear in an effort to protect one of its most exalted members? The answer to that definitely is yes -- in fact, it already seems to be happening." Shuler points to a similar failure to disclose case in which an FBI agent pleaded guilty to a felony this month. ...

... Protect Our Elections has "asked the Justice Department to bring criminal charges against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas for making false statements on his Financial Disclosure forms.... Justice Thomas signed these forms under oath after certifying that the information in them was true and accurate." CW: good luck with that.

** The Editorial Board of the Chicago Tribune, which has been a right-wing bastion for 100 years, goes to bat for Rahm Emanuel: "With startling arrogance and audaciously twisted reasoning, two appellate judges ignored more than 100 years of legal precedent, invented a new definition of 'residency' and ordered Rahm Emanuel off the Feb. 22 mayoral ballot.... The Supreme Court must set this right, and fast."

Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "The Bush White House, particularly before the 2006 midterm elections, routinely violated a federal law that prohibits use of federal tax dollars to pay for political activities by creating a 'political boiler room' that coordinated Republican campaign activities nationwide, a report issued Monday by an independent federal agency concludes." Here's a pdf of the Special Counsel's report.

Let's hope Megyn Kelly can tear herself away from watching Fox "News" long enough to catch this "Daily Show" segment:

Noam Scheiber of The New Republic: "Despite all the talk about Obama’s political reinvention as we head into the State of the Union, it’s become increasingly clear that Obama isn’t caving to business. He’s shrewdly co-opting it."

John Harwood of the New York Times: "Suddenly, Republicans face an unanticipated problem: less than three months after their midterm triumphs, President Obama has regained political momentum."

Jennifer Steinhauer & David Herszenhorn of the New York Times: top Democrats rip into Rep. Paul Ryan, Harry Reid calling him "the architect of a plan to end Social Security and Medicare." Reid added, "Republicans are not only endorsing Representative Ryan’s extreme plan but giving him unprecedented power to carry it out."

Sam Stein: "The Obama administration on Tuesday released a policy statement formally opposing a House Republican bill to end the public-financing system of presidential elections."

Federal Disaster Relief Is Unconstitutional, but We'll Take It. John Daley of the Deseret News: "Utah's newest U.S. senator has long championed state's rights and continues to campaign for shrinking the federal government's size and role in state affairs — including natural disasters. But until those changes happen, Republican Sen. Mike Lee backs the state's request for millions in federal disaster relief funds to help Utah's Dixie rebuild from major flooding." Via the Huff Post.

David Corn of Mother Jones: "Andree McLeod, a prominent [Sarah] Palin critic in Alaska, ... has been publicly threatened with assassination — just for requesting, under Alaska's open records act, the work-related emails Palin sent and received while governor."

News Items

New York Times: "Just hours before President Obama was to give his State of the Union address...,  Gen. David H. Petraeus, offered what amounted to his own 'state of the war' address, one noticeably more upbeat than a White House assessment issued late last year. The general’s assessment, in the form of a letter to troops posted on the NATO Web site, outlined a fight in which troops and the military machine here had gained the edge or was on the cusp of doing so on every front." A pdf of Gen. Petraeus' letter is here.

New York Times: "The long-predicted double-dip in housing has begun, with cities across the country falling to their lowest point in many years, data released Tuesday showed. Eight of the 20 cities in the index fell to new lows for this cycle, including Atlanta; Charlotte, N.C.; Portland, Ore.; Miami; Seattle; and Tampa, Fla. Only a handful of places — essentially California and Washington, D.C. — saw prices rise."

Chicago Tribune: "The state Supreme Court today issued a stay of the appellate court order knocking Rahm Emanuel off the ballot and ordered Chicago election officials not to print any ballots without his name. The high court said it was still considering whether to grant Emanuel's request that it hear his appeal on an expedited basis." ...

     ... Update: "The high court issued an order this afternoon saying it would take up the dispute over whether Emanuel meets the state requirement that a candidate for office live in a municipality for a year prior to an election.... The order states the court will take up the case on an expedited basis, using briefs the parties filed with the appellate court. There will be no additional briefs and no oral argument before the high court...."

State of the Union -- Prognostications Part 2

Perry Bacon, Jr., of the Washington Post has yet another preview of the content of the State of the Union address.

Lori Montgomery of the Washington Post: "President Obama has decided not to endorse his deficit commission's recommendation to raise the retirement age, and otherwise reduce Social Security benefits, in Tuesday's State of the Union address, cheering liberals and drawing a stark line between the White House and key Republicans in Congress."

Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times: "In a series of carefully choreographed appearances on Sunday morning talk shows here, Republicans sought to draw the battle lines for the Tuesday night speech over government spending. With Mr. Obama planning to call for 'investments' of tax dollars in specific areas like education, infrastructure and technology, Republicans insisted that 'investment' was just another name for spending that the nation can ill afford." ...

... Shailagh Murray & Lori Montgomery of the Washington Post draw the same conclusion Stolberg does: "The debate that will define this year and likely set the terms for the 2012 elections began in earnest over the weekend, with President Obama and Republican leaders presenting competing visions to reduce the deficit and grow the economy. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Sunday that Republicans would do everything in their power to stop the new spending increases that Obama said were necessary in a video preview of his State of the Union address...."

The Rebuttal(s)

Garance Franke-Ruta & Chris Good of The Atlantic look at what could/will go wrong when Republican Rep. Paul Ryan delivers his rebuttal to the State of the Union address.

Star-Ledger: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said no.

And, although I've purposely avoided even mentioning it, what kinda fun do you think we'll have with Michele Bachmann's rebuttal to the rebuttal, or whatever the hell she bills her little tea party pout. ...

... Robert Schlesinger of U.S. News on the impending Bachmann fiasco (for the Republican party!). ...

... Dave Weigel, in Slate, says the Bachmann rebuttal is no big deal. Why, one person who gave an alternate SOTU rebuttal was none other than Sen. Barack Obama. With video! Oh, and here's another one Weigel mentions but has the good grace not to embed on his post. Eh, so I'm graceless (you will not be able to watch the whole thing, but just listening to the first little bit gives you a chance to recall what a phony that guy is):

Frank James of NPR addresses both rebuttals, with a little help from other bloggers.

Seating Arrangements, Con'd.

Polson Kannath of ABC News: "Daniel Hernandez Jr., one of the heroes of the mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz., two weeks ago, tells ABC News that he will be sitting, along with his father, Daniel Hernandez Sr., with Michelle Obama at the State of the Union on Tuesday...." ...

     ... Washington Post Update: "The White House released Monday the guest list for the first lady's box at Tuesday's State of the Union address."

... The Washington Post has a photohistory slideshow of State of the Union guests.

Cynthia Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "... there will always be at least one bonehead who will see something nefarious in a simple, if superficial, gesture designed to generate goodwill. In this case, the bonehead belongs to Georgia. U.S. Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.), one of the most rightwing and conspiracy-addled members of Congress, called on Republicans to reject the idea of sitting next to a Democrat...."

Karen Garcia thinks the to-do among members of the House & Senate over getting "dates" for the SOTU prom is pretty funny. Garcia refers to this New York Times article which we linked earlier.

Eric Kleefeld of TPM agrees with Garcia: "The biggest question headed into tomorrow's State of the Union address doesn't seem to be what President Obama will say..... No, the big question is -- which Democrat is sitting with which Republican?" He includes a funny exchange in which Kent Conrad (D-ND) asks Kay Bailey Huchison (R-Texas) to the SOTU prom -- on national TV! -- and she turns him down. Plus, Garcia's instinct on Joe Lieberman was right -- here's Christiane Amanpour asking Lonesome Joe about his SOTU plans:

LIEBERMAN: You know, when I was in high school, I always waited too long before the prom to ask for a date, so I haven't done that yet, but...

AMANPOUR: You've got two days. Tell us now.

LIEBERMAN: I'm going to be on the phone today.

Lee Ross of Fox "News": "Just one day before President Obama’s State of the Union address, it’s still not clear whether Chief Justice John Roberts will attend or, like ...Justice Samuel Alito, skip the event. The recent uptick in collegiality from lawmakers on Capitol Hill in the run-up to Tuesday’s speech contrasts sharply with the lingering controversy from last year’s speech in which President Obama rebuked the justices over a campaign finance decision." ...

... ** Dahlia Lithwick has a terrific commentary in Slate on the chilling impression that will be left if all of the conservative Supremes fail to show up for the SOTU & only the moderate attend. It doesn't help, either, that Justice Scalia is "teaching the Constitution" at a closed-door event for conservative House members.

The Commentariat -- January 24

CW: John Heilemann of New York magazine has another inside-the-White-House-dynamic story, and this one certainly has the White House's blessing, unlike the Peter Baker insider story I linked yesterday. Heilemann obviously talked mostly to insiders still inside; Baker talked to former top staffers. Although the stories aren't parallel because their emphases is different, there is still a remarkable contrast between the two pictures presented -- the what-was vs. the what-is. To me, neither looks very good. ...

     ... Commenting on Heilemann's piece, & specifically on a comment by Dan Pfeiffer -- the White House Communications Director -- the Blue Texan of Firedoglake observes, "it sure sounds like Obama’s happiest when he’s punching hippies, because the loudest objections to the tax-cuts-for- billionaires cave were from the left. But more significantly, Pfeiffer gives lie to 'moving to the center' because he admits Obama’s always been there."

Andrew Bachevich in The Atlantic: "In 1961, Dwight Eisenhower famously identified the military-industrial complex, warning that the growing fusion between corporations and the armed forces posed a threat to democracy. Judged 50 years later, Ike’s frightening prophecy actually understates the scope of our modern system — and the dangers of the perpetual march to war it has put us on."

"The Myth of Homegrown Islamic Terrorism in the U.S." Romesh Ratnesar of Time: "In the wake of the Tucson, Ariz., tragedy, you might think that such high-profile alarm would center on the shortcomings of America's mental-health system or the inadequacy of the country's gun laws. You would be mistaken.... Instead, some members of the political class remain fixated on what they regard as a greater national emergency: the purported rise of 'homegrown' Islamic terrorists.... Those who beat the drums about the homegrown terrorism threat often gloss over one salient fact: for all the publicity that surrounds cases of domestic jihad, not a single civilian has been killed by an Islamic terrorist on U.S. soil since Sept. 11."

In his column, Paul Krugman expands on an earlier blogpost in which he derided President Obama's new "competitiveness" mantra & his choice of GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt to "replace" Paul Volcker. In a comment, I expanded on Krugman's theses; you can find my comment here (#15).

Your Tax Dollars at Work -- Defending Creeps Who May Be Crooks. Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times: "Since the government took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, taxpayers have spent more than $160 million defending the mortgage finance companies and their former top executives in civil lawsuits accusing them of fraud. The cost was a closely guarded secret until last week, when the companies and their regulator produced an accounting at the request of Congress.... Taxpayers have paid $24.2 million to law firms defending three of Fannie’s former top executives: Franklin D. Raines, its former chief executive; Timothy Howard, its former chief financial officer; and Leanne Spencer, the former controller."

Your Tax Dollars at Work -- Detaining Journalist Jane Hamsher & David House. Michael Whitney of Firedoglake reports on the frightening acts of officers at Quantico who detained Hamsher & House, who had come to visit Bradley Manning. Hamsher's car was towed & searched. ...

... Juan Cole has an excellent post on Manning's incarceration & Hamsher & House's detention. Cole contrasts Manning's treatment with President Obama's support of the Tunisian uprising -- which came about largely as a result of WikiLeaks documents, which Manning is charged with passing to WikiLeaks. ...

... "The Social Network." Matthew Lee of the AP: "Even as it struggles to contain damage caused by WikiLeaks' release of classified internal documents, the [State] Department is reaching out across the Internet. It's bypassing traditional news outlets to connect directly and in real time with overseas audiences in the throes of unrest and upheaval. American diplomacy isn't a newcomer to Facebook, YouTube, Flickr or Twitter, but it has stepped up online efforts as those networks play a growing role in events around the world."

Steve Kornacki, in a Salon post titled "The Most Cowardly Act of a Retiring Politician," faults Sens. Joe Lieberman & Kay Bailey Huchison for asserting they would have won re-election if only they had decided to run.

Prima Donna, Exit Left. Bill Carter & Brian Stelter of the New York Times: "MSNBC never had any doubt about what it was getting when it made Keith Olbermann the face of the network in 2003: a highly talented broadcaster, a distinctive and outspoken voice and a mercurial personality with a track record of attacking his superiors and making early exits." CW: I suppose we shall have to consider this the definitive word on the breakup of MSNBC & Olbermann; it is the New York Times, after all. ...

... CW: Niall Stanage, writing in Salon, expresses my sentiments exactly: "The smugness, the narcissism, the never-ending parade of yes-man guests: Goodnight and good riddance!" A number of my friends were totally bummed by Olbermann's exit, & I think they were a little mad at me for kissing him good-bye without a tear. But they're coming around.

Looking for a New Way to Dump on the Needy. N.C. Aizenman of the Washington Post: "Republican efforts to repeal or limit the reach of the new health-care law took a new direction last week when Arizona lawmakers approved a novel and controversial attempt to cut Medicaid for 280,000 of the state's poor. The bill, requested and signed by Gov. Jan Brewer (R), empowers her to make a formal request ... for a federal waiver to avoid complying with provisions ... that prohibit states from tightening their eligibility requirements for Medicaid. Twenty-nine Republican governors, including Brewer, have signed a letter calling on President Obama and congressional leaders to remove the provision from the law."

"The Palestine Papers." Suzanne Milne & Ian Black of the Guardian: "The biggest leak of confidential documents in the history of the Middle East conflict has revealed that Palestinian negotiators secretly agreed to accept Israel's annexation of all but one of the settlements built illegally in occupied East Jerusalem. This unprecedented proposal was one of a string of concessions that will cause shockwaves among Palestinians and in the wider Arab world." The Guardian will publish many of the papers, which they obtained from Al-Jazeera, throughout the coming days. CW: the initial consensus is that the revelations make the Palestinians look weak, but -- admittedly not know what forthcoming documents will reveal -- I think these first revelations look very bad for Israel, & I expect many Israeli citizens will see their leaders as bullies, too. We'll see. ...

... Tony Karon of Time, who knows a lot more about it than I, writes, "The major impact of the 'Palestine Papers' ... will be on the administration of President Abbas.... The possibility that a two-state solution can be agreed to by the parties themselves has just become a little more remote. And that leaves the matter of ending the occupation and realizing Palestinian rights back in the lap of the international community." ...

... David Dayan of Firedoglake: "The Israelis look bad on this one for essentially having no interest in the peace process no matter what they could receive from the Palestinians. And the Palestinians look really bad to their hardliners for being willing to give up so much for a homeland. Ultimately, this will not help efforts at reconciliation."

... Update: the Guardian has a page of links to news related to the leaked Palestine Papers. ...

... In today's news: "Yasser Abed-Rabbo, a senior PLO leader, attacked al-Jazeera and its Qatari owners over what he called 'a distortion of the truth' designed to create confusion. Speaking in Ramallah, headquarters of the Palestinian Authority, he called the leak 'a propaganda game through the media in order to brainwash Palestinian citizens'." ...

... AND the Guardian reports more reactions to the leak, including this one: "Martin Indyk, Clinton's national security adviser on the Israeli-Palestinian question and a former US ambassador to Israel, said: 'My reading is there's nothing more here on Jerusalem than [Yasser] Arafat agreed to in Camp David....'"

News Items

AP: Justice Antonin "Scalia adopted a professorial, occasionally playful tone on Monday while addressing members of Congress and staff behind closed doors at an event organized by GOP Rep. Michelle [sic.] Bachmann and the Tea Party Caucus." New York Times item here.

New York Times: "After a senior Palestinian official angrily denounced Al Jazeera on Monday for publishing more than 1,600 leaked Palestinian records of peace negotiations, a small group of protesters tried to break in to the network’s office in the West Bank city of Ramallah."

Chicago Tribune: "Rahm Emanuel should not appear on the Feb. 22 mayoral ballot, according to a ruling issued by a state appellate court today. In a 2-1 ruling, the appellate panel said Emanuel does not meet the residency requirement of having lived in Chicago for a year prior to the election. The judges reversed a decision by the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, which had unanimously agreed that Emanuel was eligible to run for mayor." Here's the pdf of the ruling. ...

... Chicago Sun-Times Update: "Emanuel, speaking to reporters..., said he is confident he will win an appeal and return to the ballot." ...

... Tribune Update: "Attorneys for Rahm Emanuel late today asked the Illinois Supreme Court to prevent Chicago elections officials from printing ballots for the Feb. 22 mayor's election without his name. Emanuel's legal team also said they will ask the state's highest court on Tuesday to hear their appeal of a decision by an appellate court today to knock him off the ballot on the grounds he doesn't meet residency requirements."

AP: "A $21.7 billion development fund backed by celebrities and hailed as an alternative to the bureaucracy of the United Nations sees as much as two-thirds of some grants eaten up by corruption, The Associated Press has learned. Much of the money is accounted for with forged documents or improper bookkeeping, indicating it was pocketed, investigators for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria say. Donated prescription drugs wind up being sold on the black market."

Washington Post: "Jared Loughner, 22, is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in a Phoenix courtroom at 1:30 p.m. Arizona time (3:30 p.m. [ET]...). It will be the second court appearance for Loughner...."

     ... AP Update: Loughner "pleaded not guilty Monday to charges he tried to kill Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and two of her aides.... Loughner, 22, faces federal charges of trying to assassinate Giffords and attempting to murder two of her aides. He will later face state charges dealing with other victims." New York Times story here.