The Commentariat -- June 1

Wow, what a boom in my neighborhood at 2:28 am ET. I'd say the Space Shuttle Endeavour just returned.

"Non Means Non." Maureen Dowd writes about the effects on French attitudes about gender issues in the wake of the DSK scandal. ...

... I've posted a comments page for Dowd's column on Off Times Square. Comment on Dowd's column or what you will. I just added my comment.

Neil Irwin of the Washington Post: "The U.S. economic recovery is faltering. Manufacturing — a consistent driver of growth over the past year -- slowed dramatically last month, according to data released Wednesday. Private job creation was exceptionally weak in May, other data showed Wednesday. Adding to that, home prices are falling, consumers are spending less, and companies are laying off more workers, according to other recent reports." CW: who could possibly have known? ...

... Dina ElBoghdady of the Washington Post: "The Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller index shows that single-family home prices fell 4.2 percent nationally in the first quarter from the previous quarter, leading analysts to conclude that prices have fallen by more than they did during the Great Depression."

** Early Primaries. David Leonhardt of the New York Times: two "... economists estimated that an Iowa or New Hampshire voter had the same impact as five Super Tuesday voters." The early primary system "distorts economic policy in several damaging ways. Most obviously, the federal government has lavished subsidies on ethanol ... partly because candidates pander to the Iowa corn industry.... A recent peer-reviewed study found that early-voting states received more federal dollars after a competitive election — so long as they supported the winning candidate." Iowa & New Hampshire also are "so unrepresentative.... Their populations are growing more slowly than the rest of the country’s. Residents of Iowa and New Hampshire are more likely to have health insurance. They are older than average. They are more likely to work in manufacturing. Above all, Iowa and New Hampshire lack a single big city.... So the presidential calendar becomes another cause of what Edward Glaeser, a conservative-leaning Harvard economist, calls our 'anti-urban policy bias.'”

Zachary Goldfarb of the Washington Post: "President Obama on Tuesday nominated former electric utility executive John E. Bryson as his next Commerce secretary. ... Bryson spent nearly two decades as the head of the largest utility in North America, Edison International, the parent company of Southern California Edison, and today serves as a senior adviser to the private-equity giant Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts. He also is a director of Boeing and Walt Disney, a former energy regulator in California and a noted environmentalist who co-founded the Natural Resources Defense Council.... Senate Republicans immediately vowed Tuesday to block the nomination in a dispute with Obama and Senate Democrats over outstanding free-trade agreements."

S.E.C. = Swindlers & Excrement Collaborators. Louise Story & Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times: "How [Fabrice] Tourre [of Goldman Sachs] alone came to be the face of mortgage-securities fraud has raised questions among former prosecutors and Congressional officials about how aggressive and thorough the government’s investigations have been into Wall Street’s role in the mortgage crisis. In the fall of 2009..., his lawyers drafted private responses to the S.E.C., maintaining that Mr. Tourre was part of a 'collaborative effort' at Goldman.... Now, however, as criticism has grown about the lack of cases brought by regulators, the scope of the inquiries appears to be widening. The United States attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., has said publicly that his lawyers were reviewing possible charges against other Goldman officials...."

In a Washington Post op-ed, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner touts the success of the auto industry bailouts.

Sorry to be so late on this, but I've been preoccupied. Paul Krugman has a terrific response to Jared Bernstein's post (see yesterday's Commentariat) on Krugman's last column. Krugman offers a brief laundry list of the Obama Administration's misjudgments about the stimulus and the jobs crisis.

I'm literally behind the Times here, too. Robert Pear of the New York Times: "The administration plans to establish “Medicare spending per beneficiary” as a new measure of hospital performance." ...

     ... Krugman writes, "I do believe that many people in the commentary business can manage to read stories like this, tut-tut about the difficulties, and then — in the very next breath — complain that Obama is doing nothing to limit the growth of health care costs. The point is that this is what cost control looks like. Things like the Ryan plan, which just shift the cost of care onto seniors, are fake; this is the real thing." ...

... Anecdotal Evidence. A friend writes, "A transfer service charges $1,500 a day, three times a week, to take my sister-in-law from a nursing home to a dialysis center ten miles away. No wonder Medicare is in trouble." ...

... Mediscare Claims Redux. Roger Simon, in the Chicago Sun-Times: "The Republicans have wrapped their arms around the Ryan plan, and public opinion be damned, they are hugging it. The Democrats are delighted. They are planning to turn that hug into a death grip." Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link.

We Voted against It before We Voted for It. Adam Sorensen of Time: "The House of Representatives voted 97-318 against increasing the federal borrowing limit by $2.4 trillion without preconditional spending cuts on Tuesday night. The Republican leadership designed the vote to fail: They used a procedural trick to require a 2/3 majority for passage and convinced every last member of their caucus to oppose it. The idea, they said, was to prove ... that raising the debt ceiling won’t happen without a package of accompanying spending cuts.... Tuesday’s failed vote only served to provide political cover for members of Congress who will eventually have to back the incredibly unpopular increase in borrowing capacity."

Right Wing World *

... if someone is attending speeches from someone who is promoting the violent overthrow of our government, that’s really an offense that we should be going after — they should be deported or put in prison. -- Rand Paul

Alex Seitz-Wald of Think Progress: Rand Paul, staunch defender of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, obviously isn't too keen on the First Amendment.

Alex Altman of Time. Former Republican governors Jon Huntsman & Tim Pawlenty face questions about their prior expressions of support for the dreaded individual mandate. CW: If they weren't running away so fast from their original sensible support for the mandate and other Republican base bugaboos, their presidential candidacies would be more credible. ...

... As Verum Serum highlights in this terrific RINO video, Huntsman's reasonable stances on a number of hot-button issues make him radioactive among the nut jobs of his party's base:

"The $7 Trillion Lie." Judd Legum of Think Progress: "Sarah Palin, in the only interview she’s granted during her 'One Nation' bus tour, claimed that the U.S. federal debt had grown more under Obama than 'all those other presidents combined.' [whoever they were; she's not sure] ... When Obama took office the debt stood at $10.6 trillion. After inheriting two wars and the worst economy since the Great Depression, the debt has grown by $3.7 trillion since Obama has been in office. Palin is off by about $7 trillion.... The deficit ... has increased less under Obama than our last president, George W. Bush. Under President Bush..., the deficit increased by $4.9 trillion." With video.

* Where facts are sometimes hard to hide, but it's always worth a try.

Local News

Tax-Free Texas. Zaid Jilani of Think Progress: "In Texas, state lawmakers — overwhelmingly conservative Republicans — ... passed a bill that would tighten sales tax rules and force many online retailers to begin collecting sales taxes just like any other business. This morning, [Gov. Rick] Perry quietly vetoed the bill, protecting Amazon and other large retailers’ tax-dodging...."

Austerity, Christie-Style. Anahad O'Connor of the New York Times: "New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie hopped in a state helicopter on Tuesday afternoon and headed for an event that is not exactly considered important business: His son’s baseball game.... A rising star in the Republican party who some consider presidential material, Mr. Christie has ... tak[en] a hard line on state and local spending, forcing deep budget cuts and proposing budget reforms to eliminate waste.... The Star Ledger reported that Mr. Christie had no public events on his schedule Tuesday. But he did have an event scheduled at 6:30 p.m. at the governor’s mansion..., a meeting with a group of Iowa donors looking to persuade him to run for president in 2012." CW: Sometimes a governor just has to do a little something for himself.

Patrick Marley & Emma Roller of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: "State election officials on Tuesday approved recall elections against three Republican senators but put off decisions on certifying recall petitions against three Democrats." That puts the number of recall elections at six for Republicans and, as yet, zero for Democrats. Naturally, Republicans are crying foul. The election board, which all state Republicans voted to create four years ago, is nonpartisan.

Pugilistic Politicians. Kevin McDermont of the Political Fix: "Illinois' rough-and-tumble politics took a turn for the literal late Tuesday, as a northern Illinois Democrat allegedly punch[ed] a Metro East Republican on the Senate floor after a debate over utility legislation. The altercation took place during a lull in the long final day of the legislative session Tuesday, with no reporters around to witness it." Oh, shoot, it would have been so much better if we'd had a video.

News Ledes

President Obama will meet with House Republicans this morning. Should be fun. AP story here. Washington Post Update: "Republican lawmakers demanded Wednesday that President Obama produce a detailed plan to cut government spending in return for agreement to raise the nation’s debt ceiling. But there was no indication that the White House meeting resulted in any progress on the issue, despite an Aug. 2 deadline to increase the federal debt limit or risk defaulting on obligations."

AP: "Space shuttle Endeavour and its six astronauts returned to Earth early Wednesday, closing out the next-to-last mission in NASA's 30-year program with a safe middle-of-the-night landing. Endeavour glided down onto the runway one final time under the cover of darkness, just as Atlantis, the last shuttle bound for space, arrived at the launch pad for the grand finale in five weeks."

AP: "Government media said the daughter of a prominent Iranian dissident died of a heart attack while attending her father's funeral Wednesday, but opposition websites said she died in a scuffle with security forces. Haleh Sahabi, 54 and a prominent activist and rights campaigner herself, collapsed and died Wednesday at the funeral of her father. He died on Tuesday."

Terrorists in the Heartland? (Bowling Green, Kentucky) Daily News: "Two Iraqi refugees living in Bowling Green were arraigned today on federal terrorism charges -- including accusations of attempting to kill U.S. troops with explosive devices in Iraq. Waad Ramadan Alwan, 30, and Mohanad Shareef Hammadi, 23, are charged in a 23-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Bowling Green on May 26. The men made their initial federal court appearance today in Louisville."

The Commentariat -- May 31

I have an Open Thread up on Off Times Square. Sorry, I'm having connection problems with my new, useless iPod. ...

     ... Update: Karen Garcia has a terrific comment on Nocera's column, which as of this writing, the Times moderators have chosen not to publish. Wait, wait; the Times just plunked Garcia's comment in at #51 & mine at #53. ...

     ... Also, if you'd like to know "Why I Bother to Write about Brooks," see my response (#6) to Anonymous Adam (#5).

Creeps on Parade. CNN: "Hours before President Barack Obama led the nation's Memorial Day observances at the Tomb of the Unknowns, three members of the Westboro Baptist Church were challenged by others who disagreed with them -- including members claiming to be from the Ku Klux Klan." Here's the video. See, I didn't make this up:

More later. No, actually, I'm just not posting a thing until I can get my damned Internet service working properly again. Arrrgh! I hate technology.

Okay, here are a few links:

Gene Robinson: "My advice to Sarah Palin, not that she would take it, is that she’d better be careful. If she keeps pretending to run for the presidential nomination, people might take her seriously.... The fact that Palin’s ego trip so easily stole the spotlight from the actual Republican candidates shows what a challenge the party faces in trying to deny President Obama a second term." ...

... Jason Horowitz of the Washington Post: profiles Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain: "... it is far too early to accept [Herman] Cain’s typically brash view of himself as a serious contender. History says he isn’t. But while his supporters like to talk about 'Raising Cain,' his momentary blip is, more than anything, raising some serious questions for the GOP. Who’s calling the shots in the Republican Party — the elite establishment or the grass-roots activists?"

A Republican You Can Love. Really. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Justice John Paul Stevens is 91, and he retired from the Supreme Court last year. But he seems to be more active than ever. He is making speeches, writing a book and commenting on the news. He is telling people how he would have voted in recent cases, and he is singling out former colleagues for praise and criticism."

David Rogers of Politico: "House Democrats are showing real unity for the first time in pressuring President Barack Obama on Afghanistan — with influential moderates now expressing their impatience alongside the anti-war left that drove the early Iraq war debate. There’s no immediate threat to war funding, but the shift in the president’s party can’t be ignored by the White House going into the 2012 elections."

Jared Berstein, late of the Obama Administration, explains why there aren't any serious jobs programs -- it's the politics, stupid. CW: as I did in my comment to Krugman's column, Bernstein gives Krugman a homework assignment. But Bernstein emphasizes the "could's," while I think Obama should shoot for the "should's," which will never pass but will be winners in the political season.

Tom Dickinson of Rolling Stone has another fascinating profile of Roger Ailes, the despicable head of Fox News. Even Rupert Murdoch thinks Ailes is crazy. Ailes makes the Hearst character is "Citizen Kane" look like a choir boy.

News Ledes

President Obama announces John Bryson will be his nominee to replace Gary Locke as Secretary of Commerce. The President is nominating Locke to be Ambassador to China:

Washington Post: GOP House leaders timed a vote for tonight on raising the debt ceiling to prove that raising the debt limit will never pass ... just "before all 241 members of the Republican conference visit Obama on Wednesday."

AP: "Angered by civilian casualties, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Tuesday he will no longer allow NATO airstrikes on houses, issuing his strongest statement yet against strikes that the military alliance says are key to its war on Taliban insurgents. The president's remarks follow a recent strike that mistakenly killed a group of children and women in southern Helmand province. He said it would be the last.... NATO says it never conducts such strikes without Afghan government coordination and approval."

Reuters: "Pakistani warplanes attacked Taliban positions in the northwestern Orakzai region on Tuesday, killing 17 militants, a senior regional government official said.... The strike came a day after a local newspaper reported that Pakistan will launch an offensive in North Waziristan, a known sanctuary for al Qaeda and Taliban militants."

New York Times: "A Spanish judge issued arrest warrants on Monday for some of the top military leaders of El Salvador’s civil war, accusing them of meticulously planning and carrying out the killings of six Jesuit priests in 1989."

I Guess He Doesn't Read the Papers. AP: "A former chairman of one of Egypt's major banks faces charges of sexually abusing a maid at a luxury Manhattan hotel.... Mahmoud Abdel Salam Omar was arrested on Monday and is accused of sexually abusing the maid at The Pierre, a luxurious hotel near Central Park and Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side, police said."

The Commentariat -- May 30

Memorial Day, May 1, 1865. Art by Owen Freeman for the New York Times.Historian David Blight, in a New York Times op-ed on the first Memorial Day, which took place on May 1, 1865, and was organized by freed slaves in Charleston, South Carolina. It has long, and no doubt purposely, slipped from the nation's memory.

I've posted an Open Thread for today's Off Times Square. ...

... Krugman says it's time to come up with a jobs program, and Douthat says it's time to whack businesses who employ illegal immigrants. Write whatever moves you. ...

... In a story related to Douthat's column, Julia Preston of the New York Times writes, "Obama administration officials are sharpening their crackdown on the hiring of illegal immigrants by focusing increasingly tough criminal charges on employers while moving away from criminal arrests of the workers themselves.... In a break with Bush-era policies, the number of criminal cases against unauthorized immigrant workers has dropped sharply over the last two years." CW: coincidentally, this is what I advocated for in my comment on Douthat (#3). I just posted the comment on Off Times Square.

Gardiner Harris of the New York Times: "There are no national surveys that track doctors’ political leanings, but as more doctors move from business owner to shift worker [and are no longer almost all male], their historic alliance with the Republican Party is weakening.... That change could have a profound effect on the nation’s health care debate. Indeed, after opposing almost every major health overhaul proposal for nearly a century, the American Medical Association supported President Obama’s legislation last year...."

Ariel Levy of the New Yorker writes a long article on Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's prime minister. Her story also details the status of women in Italy: "According to the World Economic Forum’s 2010 Global Gender Gap Report, Italy ranks seventy-fourth in women’s rights, between the Dominican Republic and Gambia." Berlusconi's remarks about women are appalling. Here's one, his answer to complaints about sexual assaults: "We don’t have enough soldiers to stop rape because our women are so beautiful."

Graham Bowley of the New York Times: "At the International Monetary Fund, there is one set of ethics guidelines for the rank-and-file staff and another for the 24 elite executive directors who oversee the powerful organization.... The fund’s board members remain largely above controls [imposed on staff]. The ethics adviser, for example, is not able to investigate any of them."

Karen Garcia is incensed by the Sheryl Gay Stolberg's New York Times article on Elizabeth Warren's "breach of Congressional etiquette," which I linked yesterday. Garcia suspects a White House set-up. Plus she has the goods on Rep. Patrick McHenry, the perp in this matter. CW: For the record, Stolberg's article didn't bother me at all. I always think it's great when somebody gives back as good as she gets, and I thought Warren came out smelling like a rose. Who the hell is horrified -- other than the blowhard -- by somebody dissing a blowhard? Just for the fun of it, in case you missed it, here's the video of the final exchange between McHenry, who accuses Warren of lying, and Warren. As Stolberg says, it was, "depending on one's point of view, delightful":

Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post: not everybody was thrilled to see Palin at the Rolling Thunder rally for veterans & MIAs. With video. ...

... Running for president is not 'American Idol.' -- David Brooks, on Sarah Palin ...

... BUT ... Where's Waldo David?

Sarah Palin and admirers at the Rolling Thunder rally.     ... Photo via Joshua Green of The Atlantic.

Do Not Let Sarah Palin Near a Nuclear (Nuke-U-Lar) Weapon:

Local News

Ben Thrush & Byron Tau of Politico: President "Obama’s biggest asset in [Florida,] a critical swing state he won by a mere 2.8-percentage-point margin in 2008, might be Rick Scott, the wildly unpopular Republican governor Democrats are casting as Lex Luthor to Obama’s Clark Kent.... Broward County, Fla., political blogger Brandon Thorp summed it up this way: 'If presidential and gubernatorial elections were held in Florida today, no declared Republican presidential candidate could unseat Obama, while Rick Scott would have a hard time beating [Cuban President] Raul Castro.'”

News Ledes

President Obama participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns this morning & spoke at a Memorial Day remembrance at Arlington National Cemetery:

President Obama made an announcement about Defense Department personnel this morning. The Washington Post has a related profile of Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, whom the President will name as chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Politico Update: "President Barack Obama said Monday that he is nominating Army Gen. Martin Dempsey as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.... The president also nominated Adm. James 'Sandy' Winnefeld, the commander of Northern Command, as the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of the Joint Forces Command, to replace Dempsey as Army chief of staff":

New York Times: "President Obama has decided to send [Michael McFaul,] the architect of his so-called Russia reset policy, to Moscow as the next United States ambassador there, seeking to further bolster an improved relationship as both countries head into a potentially volatile election season."

AP: "Endeavour and its crew of six left the International Space Station and headed home to close out NASA’s next-to-last shuttle flight, pausing just long enough Monday to perform a victory lap and test equipment for a future interplanetary ship."

AP: "Yemeni warplanes carried out airstrikes Monday on a southern town seized by hundreds of Islamic militants over the weekend, witnesses said, as the political crisis surrounding the embattled president descended into more bloodshed."

AP: "Germany’s coalition government agreed early Monday to shut down all the country’s nuclear power plants by 2022, the environment minister said, making it the first major industrialized nation in the last quarter century to announce plans to go nuclear-free.... Energy from wind, solar and hydroelectric power currently produces about 17 percent of the country’s electricity, but the government aims to boost its share to around 50 percent in the coming decades." ...

... Reuters: "Ratings agency Standard and Poor's cut its credit rating on Tokyo Electric Power (9501.T) to junk status on Monday, saying the utility's bank lenders were more likely to be forced to write off debt as part of a restructuring scheme to compensate victims of an ongoing nuclear crisis."

The Commentariat -- May 29

I've posted an Open Thread on Off Times Square.

Maureen Dowd has a pretty good column on Christine Lagarde, the French Finance Minister, whom the IMF is likely to tap as its new chief.

If you're thinking of becoming something as mundane and quintessentially American as an anti-war activist, you might want to read this story by Colin Moynihan & Scott Shane of the New York Times, which details the extraordinary F.B.I. investigation of self-described Austin, Texas anarchist Scott Crow, who has never been convicted of anything more serious than trespassing during demonstrations. As the authors write, "Other targets of bureau surveillance, which has been criticized by civil liberties groups and mildly faulted by the Justice Department’s inspector general, have included antiwar activists in Pittsburgh, animal rights advocates in Virginia and liberal Roman Catholics in Nebraska." ...

... Speaking of FBI investigations, David Willman of the Los Angeles Times profiles Bruce Ivins, whom the FBI suspected of being the anthrax killer. Ivins died several days after taking an overdose of Tylenol, and before he could be charged. Especially if you are a woman, I think you'll find this just about the creepiest profile of anyone you've ever read. The FBI's investigation by many accounts was sub-par. Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vt.), who was a target of the anthrax attacks, thinks there's more to the story, & Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ), a physicist who represents the district from which the anthrax letters were mailed has called for a 9/11-style commission to conduct an independent investigation.

The most important rule [for Congressional witnesses] is the 80/20 rule: If they’re talking 80 percent of the time and you’re talking 20 percent, you’re winning. If it’s 60/40, it means you’re arguing, and if it’s 50/50, it means you’ve lost and you’d better throw in the towel. -- Tom Korologos, a Washington éminence grise, on how to get through a Congressional hearing ...

... Congressman, you are causing problems. -- Elizabeth Warren, to House Oversight Committee Chair Patrick McHenry (R-NC) ...

... Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times on the insult/breach of protocol heard 'round the Beltway.

I posted a link to Bob Reich's essay on the Senate spending cap bill (Corker-McCaskill) some while back, but if you didn't feel like reading it, maybe you'd like to watch the video where he says the same thing:

Nicholas Kristof's column on the economic ascendance of India is popular among Times readers.

Dog Pee Can't Stop Santorum:

We're not political. This is not a political event ... Maybe she's coming because she knows we have a half a million people in town and thinking she can start her [campaign]? -- Ted Shpak of Rolling Thunder, on Sarah Palin's surprise announcement that she would participate in a Washington, D.C. Rolling Thunder motorcycle rally intended to highlight veterans' & MIA issues

You might not get a promotion if you ... are a British immigration official who puts his wife on the terror watch list while she's in Pakistan so she can't get back into the U.K. & leave her there for three years while you live it up. 

Right Wing World *

Another Republican says he thinks he could have beat President Obama in the general election had he bothered to run -- former Bush budget director & anti-union, anti-family-planning Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels.

For an excellent commentary on Texas Gov. Rick Perry's coyote-shooting incident, see Gingia's comment (# 82 -- highlighted) here. Short version: didn't happen, or if it did was illegal & irresponsible.

This article by David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post slants right; that is, it contrasts the Tea Party with Democrats in the typical he-said/he-said fashion. But I'm linking it because of this assertion by Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.): "They are lying. We've got facts." I'm going to give this guy the benefit of the doubt and take it he really drinks the Kool-Aid, which shows you how scary the Tea Party is. I'm thinking I'll take a liar -- McConnell, Boehner, most of 'em -- over a faith-based zealot -- Huizenga, maybe Paul Ryan. You can't reason with either group, of course, but you may be able to horse-trade with the liars.

* Where facts never intrude.

Local News

More on America's Worst Governor from the St. Pete Times "The Buzz": "... the Republican Party of Florida is robo-calling voters to drum up support for Gov. Rick Scott, who might be America's most-disliked governor.... The automatic, pre-recorded calls feature Scott's voice derided the hometown projects he vetoed from the budgets as 'special interest waste.' Not the kind of message that fellow Republicans, who crafted the budget, wanted to hear. Especially when those special interests included hungry and needy seniors, homeless veterans, paralysis victims, etc." Before his speech announcing the budget vetoes of "special interest waste," Scott "was preceded by representatives of some heavy-hitting special interests:" real estate development and business lobbyists. "Not every interest was represented at the event. Scott's office and RPOF staffers used sheriff's deputies to block Democrats from the event...."

News Ledes

The President speaks at a memorial service in Joplin, a week after the tornado:

President Obama visits Joplin:

AP: "Face to face with the legions of homeless and the bereaved, President Barack Obama on Sunday toured the apocalyptic landscape left by Missouri's killer tornado, consoled the community and committed the government to helping rebuild shattered lives." New York Times story here.