The Commentariat -- November 21

Economist Dean Baker in Firedoglake on why the Congress should not cave to catfood commission plans to cut Medicare & Society Security benefits. Baker lays out the economic & political reasons the plans are stupid.

** Sabotage. Steve Benen: "We're talking about a major political party, which will control much of Congress next year, possibly undermining the strength of the country -- on purpose, in public, without apology or shame -- for no other reason than to give themselves a campaign advantage in 2012.... [The Republicans'] general approach has shifted from hoping conditions don't improve to taking steps to ensure conditions don't improve. We've gone from Republicans rooting for failure to Republicans trying to guarantee failure." ...

     ... CW: commenters to the New York Times, myself included, have been saying this for more than a year. Why have main-streamish pundits taken so long to smell the stench? Indeed, the title of Benen's post is "None Dare Call It Sabotage." Oh, yes, we do.

     ... Update: here's a case in point: my comment on Paul Krugman's column last week; it's at the top of the page, probably the most popular Times comment in a few weeks. It isn't just people who take the trouble to write comments who recognize the Republican Plot against America; people who read agree that Republicans are American saboteurs. ...

... Kevin Drum of Mother Jones disagrees with me: "... my own view isn't that Republicans are consciously trying to sabotage the economy. Rather, I think it's really easy to convince yourself of things that are in your own self-interest, and that's mostly what they've done. A bad economy is in their self-interest, so they've convinced themselves that every possible policy to improve things is a bad idea. Of course, excuses like that from mushballs like me are the reason the liberal noise machine is sort of anemic in the first place." ...

... Digby: in the new media world, "strategy is considered a moral value in itself," so sabotage -- if it proves a winning strategy -- becomes a virtue.

Vice President Joe Biden in a New York Times op-ed: "The United States must also continue to do its part to reinforce Iraq’s progress. That is why we are not disengaging from Iraq — rather, the nature of our engagement is changing from a military to a civilian lead."

Deborah Solomon of the New York Times interviews Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the magazine.

I sat next to her once. Thought she was beautiful. And she's very happy in Alaska, and I hope she'll stay there. -- Barbara Bush, on Sarah Palin

Jeff Sommer of the New York Times: Based on the facts at hand right now, Mr. Obama is likely to win the 2012 election in a landslide. That, at least, is the prediction of Ray C. Fair, a Yale economist and an expert on econometrics and on the relationship of economics and politics. What’s the basis of this forecast? In a nutshell: 'It’s the economy, stupid.'”

Julie Pace of the AP: President Barack Obama has asked security officials whether there's a less intrusive way to screen U.S. airline passengers than the pat-downs and body scans causing a holiday-season uproar. For now, they've told him there isn't one, the president said Saturday in response to a question at the NATO summit in Lisbon. 'I understand people's frustrations,' Obama said, while acknowledging that he's never had to undergo the stepped-up screening methods." ...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the new TSA security procedures. Clinton herself, as Jeff Zeleny of the Times reports, does not have to go through the TSA gauntlet when she travels: "cabinet members if they are escorted by agents or law enforcement officers ... are allowed to go around security":

... The TSA Won't Touch His Junk. Jeff Zeleny of the New York Times: "Representative John A. Boehner, the soon-to-be Republican speaker, pledged recently that he would fly commercial airlines back home to Ohio, passing up the military plane used by the current speaker, Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat. But that does not mean he will endure the hassles of ordinary passengers.... [At] Ronald Reagan National Airport..., there was no waiting for Mr. Boehner, who was escorted around the identification-checking agents, the metal detectors and the body scanners, and whisked directly to the gate."

Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone comments on the reported federal probe of insider-trading: "... there is a mounting pile of evidence suggesting a sort of widespread culture of insider trading in which a few players (specifically the major banks and a few of the biggest and best-connected hedge funds) have milked a seemingly endless stream of exclusive information, not occasionally or opportunistically but as an ongoing commercial strategy."

Shahien Nasiripour of the Huffington Post on oversight of the Home Affordable Modification Program, known as HAMP. HAMP is subsidizing financial institutions even when the institutions can't provide paperwork proving they own properties & when they back out on homeowners because they say the individuals haven't provided proper paperwork. 

"7,000 Ways to Fix the Deficit." David Leonhardt of the New York Times: "... the online you-fix-the-deficit puzzle that accompanied a Week in Review article last Sunday ... [received] more than one million page views, and more than 11,000 posted Twitter messages about the puzzle, most including their own solution. The Times analyzed those solutions, each of which cut at least $1.345 trillion from the 2030 deficit, to get a sense of readers’ choices." You can still play with the budget here.

Republican Judges to Party of No: "Say Yes." Ian Millhiser of Think Progress: in an "exceptionally rare" plea, "... seven Republican-appointed federal judges [joined Democratic appointees &] co-signed a letter [to the Senate leadership] warning of the consequences of the GOP’s systematic obstruction of President Obama’s judges: "We respectfully request that the Senate act on judicial nominees without delay." The full letter is here (pdf).

Local News:

Ana Valdes of the Palm Beach Post: Florida's "Republican Gov.-elect Rick Scott is giving no indication he intends to bow to Christian protesters' demands that he give up his investment in a Spanish-language social networking site they consider immoral because it partners with Playboy Mexico and allows users to share provocative photos and messages." CW: isn't it stunning that these "Christian protesters" didn't mind voting for Scott even tho they knew he ran a multi-million-dollar fraud against the U.S. taxpayer (the firm of which he was CEO settled for a $1.7 billion fine), but now they're outraged because he has an indirect investment in an enterprise that publishes "provocative photos and messages"? The real porn is the Medicare fraud, you idiots.

Down & Out in Fort Myers, Florida. Washington Post: a photo essay. Chris Walker used to make $100,000 a year as a nursing home executive. She has been out of work for a year-and-a-half. Story by Wil Haygood.

Thoughts on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell from the Folks Back Home. From the Editors of the Lexington Herald-Tribune: "Despicable sounds like a better fit [than 'cynical'] for someone willing to sacrifice American lives in the pursuit of winning and keeping political power." AND McConnell's acquiescence to a moratorium on earmarks was merely a symbolic exercise & a way to avoid a showdown with tea party Republican Senators-elect; it will have little or no effect on the deficit -- or on creating jobs & improving the economy, which is what Americans really want. Thanks to Jeanne B. for the links.

The Commentariat -- November 20

President Obama's closing remarks at the NATO summit:

President Obama makes opening remarks at his press conference in Lisbon:

     ... Highly recommended: this C-SPAN video, which includes the Q&A session. (Supersize it if you don't want to watch on a teeny-tiny screen.)

More News from the NATO Summit

Washington Post: "Nations on the front lines of the old Cold War divide made clear [in Lisbon] Saturday that they want the Senate to ratify the new U.S.-Russia nuclear treaty, and said that Republican concerns about their well-being were misplaced. In an unannounced group appearance at the end of an administration background briefing on Afghanistan, six European foreign ministers took the stage with a message for Congress. 'Don't stop START before it's started,' Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nickolay Mladenov said."

Politico: "Speaking to reporters in Lisbon, [President] Obama stressed that the plan to begin the 'transition' of [Afghan] security forces in July 2011 and end in 2014 was endorsed by NATO partners and was proposed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai himself."

AP: "Russia was receptive but stopped short of accepting a historic NATO invitation Saturday to join a missile shield protecting Europe against Iranian attack, the alliance's chief announced. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed to involve technicians in development plans, but did not make a commitment for his nation to be linked to it if it becomes operational, NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced." ...

... Washington Post: "Russia agreed Saturday to cooperate with NATO on erecting a U.S.-planned anti-missile network in Europe as part of what was described as a new era in security relations between the former Cold War enemies. The accord, announced at a NATO summit in Lisbon, symbolized a conclusion by the United States and its main European allies that Russia is not a threat to be protected from but a potential ally in girding the continent against possible ballistic missile attacks from Iran or elsewhere."

New York Times: "NATO leaders began talks on Saturday over an exit strategy from Afghanistan, pledging to remain in the country to assist with training, logistics and advising even as troops are withdrawn, said NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen." ...

     ... Washington Post Update: "The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan formally adopted a transition plan Saturday designed to turn over control of the war to Afghan security forces by 2014 but continue heavy financial and military support for the indefinite future." ...

     ... BUT, according to the AP: "NATO nations formally agreed Saturday to start turning over Afghanistan's security to its military next year and give local forces full control by 2014. The U.S. and its allies appeared to disagree on when NATO combat operations would end. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he did not expect NATO troops to stay in the fight against the Taliban after 2014. Later, a senior Obama administration official said the U.S. had not committed to ending its combat mission in Afghanistan at the end of 2014."

***********************************************************************

Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times: "... the Congressional Oversight Panel [published] a thoughtful and thorough report last week on the mortgage documentation mess. It argued that ... paperwork problems may have significant implications for banks, investors and the stability of the financial system.... It also questions the view, held by some overseeing the Treasury Department’s loan modification effort, that mortgage documentation errors have no impact on the program."

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "Republicans seem to have entered a post-post-9/11 era, in which national security is no longer a higher priority than their interest in undermining President Obama." Milbank backs the New START treaty AND the new TSA security patdowns. CW: at least he's half-right. ...

... Mary Beth Sheridan of the Washington Post: "An unusual split has opened between conservative Republicans and the American military leadership over the U.S.-Russia nuclear treaty, with current and former generals urging swift passage but politicians expressing far more skepticism.... Seven of eight former commanders of U.S. nuclear forces have urged the Senate to approve the treaty." CW: Sheridan accepts Republican anti-treaty talking points as if their "objections" were serious concerns. They aren't. This is strictly a political ploy to damage the Obama Administration. That disapproval of the treaty will also compromise national security is of no concerns to these callous, traitorous partisans.

Michael Shear of the New York Times: the American Values Network, "a group backing the ratification of a new arms treaty with Russia, has created a version of [President Lyndon] Johnson’s famous 'Daisy' ad.... The commercial ... is scheduled to run on cable television in states whose senators will be key to passage of the new treaty":

Here's the original ad, which aired only once:

The main reason so many in Congress oppose letting the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire is that they are the wealthy. The President's proposal of allowing tax cuts for those earning $250,000 or more per year would raise the taxes of most members of Congress. Half of them are millionaires, and with a base salary of $174,000, a majority likely have reportable incomes of at least $250,000 a year. -- Constant Weader ...

... Forty "Patriotic Millionaires" ask the Congress to let the tax cuts for millionaires expire. Link via Joe Conason.

Another Setback for Average Americans. Louis Uchitelle of the New York Times: "Organized labor appears to be losing an important battle in the Great Recession. Even at manufacturing companies that are profitable, union workers are reluctantly agreeing to tiered contracts that create two levels of pay.... Managers of some marquee companies are aiming to make this concession permanent. If they are successful, their contracts could become blueprints for other companies in other cities, extending a wage system that would be a startling retreat for labor."

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Empowered by their election gains, Congressional Republicans are giving little ground to President Obama and weakened Democrats in the final weeks of the 111th Congress, imperiling Democratic efforts to pass major tax and spending legislation, unemployment aid and a nuclear nonproliferation treaty among other issues."

Dan Eggen & T.W. Farnam of the Washington Post: Democratic strategists are deciding to "fight fire with fire by encouraging the formation of counterweights to the GOP-leaning independent groups that dominated the airwaves this fall."

Ryan Grim of the Huffington Post: "Leaders of the effort to reform the filibuster in the Senate are pushing forward despite the election outcome, working to gather support within the Democratic caucus while reaching out to Republicans."

Tobin Harshaw, who writes "The Thread" for the New York Times, has a very good compilation of posts & articles about the TSA's new security procedures, instituted just in time for the busiest travel day of the year....

... CW: despite the fact that many observers see this issue on the conservative-liberal continuum largely because of the privacy issue, people of every political persuasion who have actually undergone the searches cite reasons to find them unwarranted. I am persuaded by this observation by conservative lawyer Ann Althouse:

Someone, at some level of the Obama administration, decided that the only way to channel people into the see-you-naked machines was to make the alternative more offensive to nearly everyone. Personally, I’d take the grope over being seen naked, but I did a poll yesterday, and I see that the scanner is significantly more popular than the grope.... I suspect that if too many people choose the grope over nakedness, the plan is to intensify the grope until they get the scanner acceptance rate they need. -- Ann Althouse

      ... That was in fact, exactly the experience that another conservative, The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, had at Baltimore-Washington International, where TSA employees taunted him for choosing the groping over the X-ray machines. ...

... Goldberg was hardly alone. Susan Stellin of the New York Times reports, "In the three weeks since the Transportation Security Administration began more aggressive pat-downs of passengers at airport security checkpoints, traveler complaints have poured in. Some offer graphic accounts of genital contact, others tell of agents gawking or making inappropriate comments, and many express a general sense of powerlessness and humiliation.... On Tuesday, two pilots filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration, claiming that the new screening procedures violate Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure." At least one other party has filed a similar suit. ...

... The New York Times Editorial Board: "... there is no excuse for the bumbling, arrogant way the Transportation Security Administration has handled questions and complaints.... Nothing in the Constitution permits power-happy or just downright creepy people from abusing their uniforms and the real need for security." ...

... CW: my friend Karen Garcia writes in a New York Times comment (#4),

Leonardo's "Vitruvian Man."Whenever I see those nude body scans of passengers, I am reminded of the famous DaVinci drawing of the 'Vitruvian Man' - multiple limbs spread-eagled in perfect geometric formation. I can envision the $10-an-hour TSA workers making a fortune marketing those things. Even though they are so not saved! We should know by now that nothing computer-generated ever truly disappears. Those plastic gloves the Gestapo-lites use to pat us down will never disappear either. They'll be sitting in a landfill, unchanged, a thousand years from now, forever sanitized for our protection.

But, having read Karen's comment, along with reports that a huge percentage of Americans approve of the new TSA policy (though as Nate Silver points out, few in this huge percentage have actually been subjected to it), the image I'm seeing looks more like this, minus the fig leaf, of course:

The Seventeenth Commandment: "Thou shalt not recall U.S. Senators." Eugune Volokh recounts a recent New Jersey Supreme Court decision re: a planned recall of New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, & explains why a recalling Senators is unconstitutional. 

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial. -- U.S. Constitution, Sixth Amendment...

... Brian Palmer, in Slate, on the definition of "speedy."

"Celebrating Girls and Women." Federal Judge Kimba Wood is well-known for other things, but I like her for this recent "ruling." The attorney in question, Bennett Epstein, is a misogynistic jerk. 

You sit there, just looking stupid.... It is a juvenile spectacle, and I resent being called upon to give it dignity. -- Justice Antonin Scalia, on the State of the Union address

... CW: the State of the Union address, as Scalia well knows, is a Constitutional requirement. Attendance by the Justices, however, is not. David Ingram of BLT has more on Justice Scalia's observations, delivered at the annual dinner of the ultra-conservative Federalist Society’s national convention.

Louis Sahagun of the Los Angeles Times: "California's Latino and Asian voters are significantly more concerned about core environmental issues, including global warming, air pollution and contamination of soil and water, than white voters, according to the latest Los Angeles Times/USC poll. For example, 50% of Latinos and 46% of Asians who responded to the poll said they personally worry a great deal about global warming, compared with 27% of whites. Two-thirds of Latinos and 51% of Asians polled said they worry a great deal about air pollution, compared with 31% of whites."

CW: the slug for Alex Pareene's review of Sarah Palin's new book was pretty funny: "The reality show star is outraged that everyone in the press is contributing to her publisher's marketing campaign." The review, which is short, is even funnier. But the LOL bit comes from Palin herself in the form, naturally, of a tweet, which  perfectly captures her signature self-absorbed petulant ignorance: *

     * Update: actually, Gawker, she's right, if you post whole pages of the book. Numbskulls.

... Sam Stein & Lisa Shapiro of the Huffington Post post some brief excerpts of the Palin book & provide a short synopsis.

President Obama at NATO Meeting

President Obama's statement following Friday's NATO meetings:

President Obama & Portugese Prime Minister Socrates make statements to the press following their meeting. President Obama begins speaking about 4:50 min. in:

President Obama speaks to the press at a joint event with Portugese President Cavaco Silva: