Sunday
Mar102013
The Commentariat -- March 11, 2013
Please sign the White House petition "Save Social Security." If you think means-testing is a good idea, see my argument as to why it is not -- it's the 12th comment in the Comments section. ...
... Bernie Sanders: "Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today introduced legislation cosponsored by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to strengthen Social Security by making the wealthiest Americans pay the same payroll tax that nearly everyone else already pays. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) introduced the companion bill in the House. He joined Sanders at a news conference in the Capitol to discuss their bill to bolster Social Security without raising the retirement age or lowering benefits." Thanks to contributor Dave S. for the link. ...
... Michael Fletcher of the Washington Post: "Research tying longer life expectancy to a higher income has profound implications for battles over trimming entitlement programs and raising the retirement age.... Even as the nation's life expectancy has marched steadily upward, reaching 78.5 years in 2009, a growing body of research shows that those gains are going mostly to those at the upper end of the income ladder.... 'People who are shorter-lived tend to make less, which means that if you raise the retirement age, low-income populations would be subsidizing the lives of higher-income people,' said Maya Rockeymoore ... of Global Policy Solutions." CW: isn't that the idea? ...
... Flippity-Floppity, Flippity-Flop. Sahil Kapur of TPM: "When he unveils his budget plan this week, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) will complete a 720-degree flip on President Obama's cuts to Medicare providers in the Affordable Care Act. As he revealed on 'Fox News Sunday,' Ryan's upcoming budget will sustain the cuts.... Ryan ran for vice president last year against Obama's cuts to Medicare, which don't target beneficiaries but instead lower reimbursements for hospitals and private insurance companies under Medicare Advantage.... [Ryan's] new position is a return to an earlier stance. His House-passed blueprints in 2011 and 2012 also assumed the same level of Medicare savings as the Affordable Care Act, while repealing the rest of the law. But even that was a reversal after Ryan and his GOP colleagues strenuously objected to the Medicare cuts before Obamacare passed." P.S. Ryan's budget also repeals ObamaCare. CW: so when are the MSM going to start calling this guy out as Not a Serious Very Serious Person? ...
... Actually, Chris Wallace of Fox "News" did so yesterday, if only a tiny little bit. ...
... Ed Kilgore on deja vu all over again, via the MSM's phony narrative of what's happening in partisan politics. ...
... Charles Pierce picks up on Kilgore's theme: "The Pod People have taken over Tiger Beat On The Potomac [a/k/a Politico].... They come when you sleep, and they leave behind the Pod People, all of whom look like Reince Priebus.... the stories get even more podworthy as you read through them, the harmonies quite startling on the general theme that the president has failed to make nicey-nice enough to the Republicans, who lost that election last fall that didn't really count because Nate Silver might be gay or something."
** Prof. Katherine Newman, in a New York Times op-ed: "While the federal government has largely stuck by the principle of progressive taxation, the states have gone their own ways: tax policy is particularly regressive in the South and West, and more progressive in the Northeast and Midwest. When it comes to state and local taxation, we are not one nation under God. In 2008, the difference between a working mother in Mississippi and one in Vermont -- each with two dependent children, poverty-level wages and identical spending patterns -- was $2,300.... The relationship between taxing the poor and negative outcomes like premature death persisted.... We all pay a huge price for this shortsightedness." (Emphasis added.)
Paul Krugman: "Fiscal fearmongering is a major industry inside the Beltway, especially among those looking for excuses to do what they really want, namely dismantle Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. People whose careers are heavily invested in the deficit-scold industry don't want to let evidence undermine their scare tactics; as the deficit dwindles, we're sure to encounter a blizzard of bogus numbers purporting to show that we're still in some kind of fiscal crisis. But we aren't. The deficit is indeed dwindling, and the case for making the deficit a central policy concern, which was never very strong given low borrowing costs and high unemployment, has now completely vanished."
... Here's what Krugman was trying to get across to Zombie Ron Johnson (RTP-Wisconsin), but Johnson, who is too stupid, arrogant & rude to listen, kept talking over him: "You can't say that for the last 25 years, when Social Security ran surpluses, well, that didn't mean anything, because it's just part of the federal government -- but when payroll taxes fall short of benefits, even though there's lots of money in the trust fund, Social Security is broke." ...
... More Austerity Now. Phil Izzo of the Wall Street Journal: "7.1%: What the unemployment rate would be without government job cuts. While most industries have added jobs over the past three years, the recovery has largely bypassed the government sector. Federal, state and local governments have shed nearly 750,000 jobs since June 2009.... No other sector comes close to those job losses over the same period." Via Greg Sargent.
New York Times Editors: "The State Department's latest environmental assessment of the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline makes no recommendation about whether President Obama should approve it. Here is ours. He should say no, and for one overriding reason: A president who has repeatedly identified climate change as one of humanity's most pressing dangers cannot in good conscience approve a project that -- even by the State Department's most cautious calculations -- can only add to the problem."
Bill Keller thinks Bradley Manning would have been better off to leak directly to the New York Times, something Manning said he tried to do. ...
... Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake, who has covered the Manning case more extensively than anyone, comments on Keller's piece.
Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: sequestration cuts will force cutbacks in services at Yellowstone National Park ...
... AND Charles Pierce: "It turns out that a lot of those self-reliant, keep-yer-dead-hands-off-mah-sagebrush Western galoots out in Wyoming don't like it much when their pet ideology starts biting them in the regions where they keep their wallets." ...
... CW: see, that's because the Western galoots & their ingrained ideology just assume that deep government cuts mean only that socialists in Washington won't be "handing out free stuff" to "those people."
Amy Davidson of the New Yorker on Chuck's Excellent Adventure in Afghanistan., a reminder that Melville's Ishmael got the headline right 150 years ago: "Bloody Battle in Affghanistan."
... Benjy Sarlin of TPM has a timeline of how Jeb (Not His Real Name) "Bush pulled a 360 on immigration reform."
Brian Bennett of the Los Angeles Times: "Eight senators who have spent weeks trying to write a bipartisan bill to overhaul immigration laws have privately agreed on the most contentious part of the draft -- how to offer legal status to the nation's 11 million illegal immigrants. According to aides familiar with the closed-door negotiations, the bill would require illegal immigrants to register with Homeland Security Department authorities, file federal income taxes for their time in America and pay a still-to-be-determined fine. They also must have a clean law enforcement record."
Nicole Belle of Crooks & Liars takes a look at misogyny & racism on the Internet.
Somebody Will Mess with Your Stuff. Mary Carmichael of the Boston Globe: "The resident deans sit on Harvard's Administrative Board, the committee charged with handling the cheating case. They were not warned that administrators planned to access their [e-mail] accounts, and only one was told of the search shortly afterward. The dean who was informed had forwarded a confidential Administrative Board message to a student he was advising, not realizing it would ultimately make its way to the Harvard Crimson and the Globe and fuel the campus controversy over the cheating scandal." ...
... Richard Perez-Pena of the New York Times: "Bewildered, and at times angry, faculty members at criticized the university on Sunday after revelations that administrators secretly searched the e-mail accounts of 16 resident deans in an effort to learn who leaked information about a student cheating scandal to the news media. Some predicted a confrontation between the faculty and the administration."
For those few of you who haven't yet dropped everything to listen to 13 hours of "Rand Paul & Friends Monopolize the Senate," Driftglass has kindly posted an abbreviated version: "The Rand Paul Filibuster in 36 Seconds":
Congressional Race
Ruby Cramer of BuzzFeed: "Although [Ashley] Judd has yet to start the process in earnest -- she will reportedly declare herself a candidate for the Kentucky Senate race in May, 'around Derby,' according to a report in The Huffington Post -- the actress and longtime political activist might have what it takes to beat Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, say former staffers to celebrities who made the transition in decades past." Cramer suggests s path to success that was followed by other celebrities-turned-successful-politicians. ...
... Steve Kornacki of Salon, on the other hand, has a reality check for Judd.
News Ledes
Wall Street Journal: New York City "Mayor Michael Bloomberg was dealt a stinging blow on Monday when a state Supreme Court Judge quashed his plan to ban the sale of large sugary drinks in the city's restaurants and other venues. At a late afternoon news conference, Mr. Bloomberg and the city's top lawyer, Michael Cardozo, said they believed the judge erred in his ruling and vowed to appeal."
AP: "Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was convicted Monday of corruption charges, ensuring a return to prison for a man once among the nation's youngest big-city leaders. Jurors convicted Kilpatrick of a raft of crimes, including a racketeering conspiracy charge. He was portrayed during a five-month trial as an unscrupulous politician who took bribes, rigged contracts and lived far beyond his means while in office until fall 2008."
AP: "She was one of the better kept secrets of Sweden's royal household: a commoner and divorcee whose relationship with Prince Bertil was seen as a threat to the Bernadotte dynasty. In a touching royal romance, Welsh-born Princess Lilian and her Bertil kept their love unofficial for decades and were both in their 60s when they finally received the king's blessing to get married. Lilian died in her Stockholm home on Sunday at age 97." The BBC News video story is here.
Reuters: "Cardinals held final discussions on the troubled state of the Roman Catholic Church on Monday, the day before they seclude themselves from the world to elect a new pontiff, with no clear frontrunner in view."
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Reader Comments (22)
Would like to forward the petition "Save Social Security" to e-mail
contacts; I don't do Facebook or Twitter. Any help would be
greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Anyone pushing a grocery cart around the store is keenly aware of inflationary prices. And who out there doesn't realize that the CPI numbers are carefully massaged, especially when it comes to the end-of-year cost of living adjustments! This argument against Obama's proposed chained CPI adjustment for Social Security came in a comment from reader Karen Garcia (under Krugman's commentary today). Here's a segment from her:
"For someone who just won re-election based on the women's vote, Obama sure has a weird way of showing his appreciation. That's because for the average woman receiving a measly $950 monthly check, adjusting the cost of living formula may well spell the difference between her starving and eating, shivering and turning up the heat a notch, taking meds or going without -- and ultimately, between living and dying. The consumer price index for factoring in the cost of living is already is too stingy, not factoring in health care and food costs."
If any CW reader can leave comments under the Krugman article today (I don't do Facebook, no longer comment there) but, may you could include a link to Marie's petition with your own comment. Do it! Do it often! Get the word out.
...simply Copy & Paste the URL with your comment, or in e-mails to friends: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/save-social-security/s8BZbPj3
@MAG. The underlying assumption of the so-called "chained CPI" is that people switch to more affordable alternatives when the costs of products rise, so people's actual cost-of-living doesn't rise as fast as COLA. Chained CPI is, in effect, "chained" to "belt-tightening." It is probably demonstrably true that people in the general population "belt-tighten" when they notice their favorite brand of shampoo suddenly costs a dollar more, but many seniors have already downsized about as far as they can go -- they've sold their big houses & moved to condos; they've sold off the extra family cars; they eat less expensive cuts of meat (steak > hamburgers > catfood); they purchase generic drugs; they don't buy new furniture; they wear clothes they've had for years, etc.
In addition, seniors' expenses tend to be fixed -- or as their needs increase -- actually go up. They need help around the house for things they used to do themselves, or they must move to an assisted living facility which is more expensive than their former digs. Their medical costs -- both those covered by Medicare & supplemental insurance -- go up, not down.
In other words, seniors cannot just "cut back" as younger people with more flexible discretionary household budgets may do.
Here's Dean Baker on chained CPI.
Marie
An additional thought on the theoretical savings a chained CPI is projected to provide: as producers and distributors continue to amalgamate (think gasoline, private medical insurance, Cargill and Con-Agra), room for competition necessarily declines, diminishing the chances the canny or just plain strapped shopper will find varying prices for anything. When prices are fixed monopolistically, consumer "choice" ceases to exist, and all cat food will cost pretty much the same: the highest price the traffic will bear. That's the real set of "chains" we have to look forward to, whether the CPI is chained or not.
@Ken Winkes. Thanks. Another example of how "the system" is stacked against ordinary people. This is where government is of course supposed to step in and regulate the Great Gods of Capitalism & make them play more fairly. But, as we learn from every Republican, regulations are curbs on our FREEEEEDOMS!
Marie
While considering the bizarre alternate universe inhabited by so much of the supine MSM and centrist pablum puking pundits, I came across this headline in the Times weekend arts section on Friday:
"Bolshoi Dancer Says He Condoned Beating but Not Acid Attack".
"Sure I wanted to kick the living shit out of the guy, but I wasn't down with the acid in the eyes thing."
If you haven't been paying attention to the international arts scene, a dancer at the Bolshoi Ballet, it seems, paid an ex-con friend to pound on the company's artistic director for reasons stemming from, shall we say, artistic disagreements. The ex-con in turn decided, apparently, to up the ante by dousing the poor sap with acid. Ouch. Cue international scandal!
Anyway, apart from the amazing candor of this sort of confession, I wondered what it would be like if the media, or better yet, politicians, started being more honest about what they had done to, or were about to perpetrate upon, the public?
"Rep. Ryan Admits Planning to Starve Grannies but Declines Wanting to Outright Murder Them."
"I suppose they'd be hungry" said the GOP's budget genius, "but I'm guessing that most of them would survive. But we simply can't ask our corporate sponsors to pay another nickel in taxes, now, can we? So those grannies better stock up on Cup-a-Soup."
I'd almost respect an asshole who at least told the truth.
Almost.
@akhilleus. Ha ha. Too bad the business model for GOP politicians requires them to obscure what they're really up.
Here's everything you ever wanted to know about the attack & Bolshoi politics from David Remnick of the New Yorker.
Marie
Now you all may think that certain red states (lookin' at you, Louisiana) treat education as the red-headed stepchild of political chicanery. And, well, you'd be right.
But never fear, here comes Bobby Jindal to the rescue!
Gov. WannabePresidentMaybe is plowing millions into voucher schools in order to get Louisiana students out of those awful public schools, where you can't even say a gosh-darned prayer to Jesus without Obama coming into your town in the middle of the night trying to round up all the white women, and he's shoving them into voucher supported charter schools that teach them the "right" things.
They even have their own textbooks! Their very own history books which tell the "Truth".
So what will John and Mary Pelican State learn from the book of History According to Bobby?
The KKK were the good guys. God's truth.
Slaves on antebellum southern plantations were treated with kindness and respect. They were happy, singing and dancing and eatin' watermelon. Praise Jesus!
Just like the Flintstones, humans once kept dinosaurs as pets! Imagine the feed bill!
Oh, and here's a tid-bit about recent history (later than 5,000 years ago when those nice dinosaurs were sleeping in front of the hearth):
Hippies! Hippies were the source of all evil in the 1960s. They worshiped Satan, they didn't take baths on Saturday night, AND they had TERRIBLE manners.
Well fuck me, those damned hippies. They ruined everything.
I'm thinking they got David Brooks to ghost the chapter on hippies.
Okay, I know this is funny, but this is an indication of the sort of abominable shit the GOP wants to teach kids. Just think of the kind of imbecilic zombies they're trying to raise. Any day now Louisiana's kids will start getting test scores that will beat kids raised in the 9th century. A few of them, anyway.
Ahhhh....but maybe not.
This is some truly crazy shit
@Akhilleus: " The KKK were the good guys. God's truth."
Is it true that some schools that receive Louisiana vouchers will be teaching that the KKK was a source for good? Are you speculating? Or what? Please let us know. This is a pretty serious charge, & if true, I'd like to document it.
Marie
Marie,
According to the site linked in my post, americablog, this is what they voucher school history text will be teaching about the Klan:
"The Ku Klux Klan was a force for good
[The Ku Klux] Klan in some areas of the country tried to be a means of reform, fighting the decline in morality and using the symbol of the cross. Klan targets were bootleggers, wife-beaters, and immoral movies. In some communities it achieved a certain respectability as it worked with politicians."
From:
United States History for Christian Schools, 3rd ed., Bob Jones University Press, 2001
Sounds to me like they're saying that the KKK were the good guys.
Want to know why the DoD costs so much? Here's one reason:
http://www.salon.com/2013/03/11/lockheed_martins_herculean_effort_to_profit_from_defense_spending/
I remember back when Jimmy Carter was President, there were some Herks bought and paid for by Libya sitting on the runway near the Lockheed factory in Marietta, GA. Since they couldn't be delivered due to sanctions, they just deteriorated, but Lockheed sure got their money.
When I was stationed in Germany, the Lockheed F-104 fighter seemed to the standard NATO fighter (West Germany, Italy, Norway, Canada, Spain, Turkey, Netherlands, Greece, and Denmark). The US Air Force had long since reired it, but that didn't stop Lockheed. How did they sell so many? Bribery. Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands was implicated to the tune of $1.1 million US dollars. .
I'm not saying the Herk isn't a good airplane--it is, but as the article makes clear, we don't need so many. It was the aircraft I jumped from in jump school in 1965. A friend of mine spent his entire career at Lockheed on the C-130 project.
@Akhilleus. Sorry, I missed the link. I agree with you that the Bob Jones textbook says exactly that, according to Aravosis, whom I consider to be a reliable source. Unless Aravosis is leaving out a big "BUT they were really horrible racists," this is some serious shit.
I sure would like to see Bobby Jindal have to answer for that. Just trying to defend that sentence alone should make Jindal think twice about running for president. It's beyond inexcusable. He'd basically be running on the KKK ticket. Wow! The David Duke of Indian-Americans.
Marie
Two notes: One to remind Marie that David Dukes in a Lake Charles boy, so Jindal maybe be just grandstanding for the home crowd. Two to ask Ak any clue on the immoral movies? My "To Watch" list is almost depleted and I'm looking for suggestions.
Marie,
You would think that cuckoo shit like that would disqualify one for public restroom inspector but I will bet you my collection of hippie paraphernalia and all Country Joe and the Fish albums that were Gov. Grand Dragon Lover to appear on the David Gregory Right Wing Ball Washing Hour this week he wouldn't be required to respond to any question tougher than "Who's your favorite Ayn Rand character?"
Marie,
An article you might find of interest, Op Ed by Ralph Benko in March 11 Forbes Mag. I emagine it's not at the top of your reading list.
http:/www. forbes.com/sites/ralphbenko...conversation
He quotes Assosiated Press article about Gov. buying 1.6 Billion (yes, that's a B)rounds of ammo for Homeland Security. At the height of the Iroq war the military only used about 6 million rounds a month.
Also purchasing 2717 armor protected MRAP vehicles for distribution to law enforcement agencies around the USA. Looks like somebody is concerned about domestic terrorism or broadbased disgust with Washington.
James,
I guess it depends on your definition of "immoral" but I'll see what I can do.
I'm guessing you're not interested in anything the Bobby-Jindalistas would term "immoral", such as films that considered women, gays, immigrants, progressives, scientists, teachers, agnostics, atheists, believers in equality, lovers of facts, or Democrats anything but scum of the earth.
@Akhilleus
As to no surprise to anyone, Brownbackistan is pushing all in on the new "Charter School" craze as well.
http://cjonline.com/news/2013-03-03/it-time-charter-school-revolution-kansas
One phrase that particularly drew my attention... "Parts are lifted word for word from its model legislation." I haven't researched it, but this screams ALEC to me. Having the fortress of Koch Kingdom planted in Kansas, that wouldn't surprise me one bit.
The whole ALEC craze is yet another example of "professionals" outsourcing the real responsibilities of their jobs. Heaven forbid legislators actually legislate real laws, that must be mind-numbing, tedious work. Nah, I'd prefer to chat up conspiracy theories about Communism's comeback.
On another note, before checking in on Reality Chex I just so happened to watch the very immoral movie Mississippi Burning by Alan Parker. The talk of the piety of the KKK really launches you down the dark tunnel of Right Wing World because down in those depths is the ONLY place it makes sense to even consider such preposterous notions. Reliving the horrors of 1964 Alabama with its seething racists leaves you uncomfortable to the core. A mere fifty years ago...
Connecting this tragedy to education, the words of Frances McDormand who plays the wife of the sheriff/KKK member ring true today when she explains the social processes that lead those folks to act the way they do. Growing up in that environment as a kid, living everyday with the people around you telling you that THIS is the real normal, even the bible says segregation is the right thing to do. With falsehoods permeating the discourse, your brainwashed by the time you can think for yourself. And washing out those nasty stains are never easy.
No, no, Ak. We all know that stuff is immoral. I meant stuff the KKK campaigned against... that kind of immoral.
A note re: the KKK: Justice Hugo Black once was a Klan member, he claimed for political purposes, like belonging to the Elks or Lions in those hot southern days, but the stigma of that membership stuck to him for life, but obviously didn't impede his getting onto the Supreme Court. Also Robert Bryd––he of the Constitution (that little black book in his back pocket) carrying Senator who, when he could, took over the Senate floor with flourish, scolding his fellow Senators for this and for that and made a difference––I forget just what kind of difference.
Bernie Sanders has a nice graphic about Chained CPI here
Kornacki's piece on Judd is well thought out and supported by facts. However, I think it is clear that contemporary politics don't necessarily reflect logic or rational thought ( see Republican primary candidates). I am hoping that low information voters, who tend to vote on less than thoughtful grounds, will give her a boost via her good looks and name recognition. She has very progressive views, but her looks and manner are stereotypical Southern Lady all the way. A great big sun hat and some downward demure glances - shucks the woman will collect a lot of votes. It'll be interesting to watch Nate Silver's ongoing analysis when and if she runs.
Coming in late today from the annual barrel tasting excursion. There were numerous barrels requiring our attention.
PD. A college chum had to deal with Byrd during the struggle to get Titles XVII and XIX (Medicare and Medicaid) passed. He said Byrd was probably certifiably crazy and also probably the smartest member of the upper house. Later, I believe I read--can't say where--that Byrd was also the genius behind the silent filibuster. On the plus side, I once had a cassette of him playing "Turkey in the Straw" on the fiddle; he was passing good.