The Commentariat -- March 20, 2012

My column in today's New York Times eXaminer is on journalistic standards of the New York Times. I actually have something nice to say! The NYTX front page is here. You can contribute here.

Neil deGrasse Tyson makes the case for NASA -- and the future of the nation:

In today's Comments, contributor P. D. Pepe refers to this editorial in today's New York Times: A "study, issued Monday by a consortium led by the Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan watchdog group, found that most states shy away from public scrutiny, fail to enact or enforce ethics laws, and allow corporations and the wealthy a dominant voice in elections and policy decisions. The study gave virtually every state a mediocre to poor grade on a wide range of government conduct, including ethics enforcement, transparency, auditing and campaign finance reform. No state got an A; five received B’s, and the rest grades of C, D or F."

Our Corrupt President & Congress. New York Times Editors: the House has passed, the Senate is about to pass & the President will sign a JOBS bill that is all about deregulation & not about jobs. "Its opponents — the current and former chairmen of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the association of state securities regulators, AARP, the Consumer Federation of America, the A.F.L.-C.I.O. labor federation and unions, several big pension funds and many prominent securities experts — have presented ample evidence to show that deregulation raises the cost of capital by harming investorsand impairing markets, making it harder for legitimate companies to thrive." Why pass & sign it? "... they can all get more from corporate constituents if they cooperate to enact legislation that big donors want." CW: I just wrote to the POTUS & urged him to "Prove you're not corrupt & veto the JOBS bill." It made me feel better.

"How Obama Tried to Sell out Liberalism." Jonathan Chait of New York magazine: "... Obama’s disastrous weakness in the summer of 2011 went further toward undermining liberalism than anybody previously knew." Read Chait's analysis. We knew dribs & drabs of this last summer, & everything I read at the time was startling/dismaying. Chait nails it down. ...

... Here's the Washington Post story Chait writes about. CW: I skimmed it; too painful to read. ...

... Greg Sargent: why Obama concentrated on deficit reduction as jobs hemorrhaged: "Dems and White House officials knew that the policy justification for the pivot to deficit reduction was flimsy at best. But they decided they couldn’t win the short-term argument, and went ahead and pivoted, anyway."

... "Political Malpractice, Deficit Edition." Paul Krugman: "... the various accounts of what went wrong are converging on a very depressing picture, in which White House political 'experts' actually believed that trying to please the Washington Post editorial page was a winning political move."

Dahlia Lithwick & Raymond Vasvari in Slate: "H.R. 347, benignly titled the Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act, passed the House 399-3.... President Obama signed it on March 8.... Simply put, the way the bill will 'improve' public grounds is by moving all those unsightly protesters elsewhere.... The teeny cosmetic changes to Section 1752, which purport to be about new kinds of security, are really all about optics. They conflate dissent with danger, a Cold War habit which America was beginning to outgrow, but which after 9/11 seems to be a permanent part of the political landscape." CW: as I recall, contributor Dave S. first brought HR 347 to our attention.

Mary Pat Flaherty, et al., of the Washington Post: "Like many others..., Robert Bales, the Army staff sergeant being held in a massacre of 16 villagers in southern Afghanistan..., enlisted out of a sense of civic responsibility.... But Bales’s decision to join the Army also came at a pivotal point in his pre-military career — a career as a stock trader that appears to have ended months after he was accused of engaging in financial fraud while handling the retirement account of an elderly client in Ohio.... An arbitrator later ordered Bales and the owner of the firm that employed him to pay $1.4 million — about half for compensation and half in punitive damages — for taking part in 'fraud' and 'unauthorized trading.'" Bales' victim says he has not "been paid a penny" of the award. "... the finding of financial fraud adds to an increasingly complex picture of a man who ... had repeated encounters with the law, including an arrest on suspicion of drunken driving, involvement in a hit-and-run accident and a misdemeanor assault charge. In addition to those incidents, he had evidently been under financial stress. His home near Tacoma was put up for a short sale a few days before the March 11 shootings in Afghanistan." ...

... NEW. Charles Pierce on Robert Bales & Trayvon Martin. CW: I'll have something to say on this myself later today or tomorrow.

Alex Pareene of Salon: White Police Chiefs Ray Kelly of NYC & Bill Lee of Sanford, Florida, complain everybody victimizes white police chiefs. CW: every so unkindly, Pareene describes Kelly "as an officious prick on a raging decade-long power trip." I've personally encountered both Kelly & Lee, & to be fair, I'd say they are both officious pricks.

Right Wing World

Exclusive! Secret Code Names Revealed! Marc Ambinder in GQ: "GQ can reveal the [Secret Service code] names chosen by the top two GOPers: ... Mitt Romney elected to call himself 'Javelin.' And Rick Santorum chose 'Petrus.' ... 'Petrus' is a biblical allusion — as in St. Peter, the first pope. (The Latin name is derived from the Greek word for 'rock.') Perhaps 'Javelin' is a reference to the '60s muscle car made by American Motors Corporation, the company once run by George Romney."

Quote of the Day. We need a candidate who's going to be a fighter for freedom.... I don't care what the unemployment rate's going to be. Doesn't matter to me. My campaign doesn't hinge on unemployment rates and growth rates. -- Rick Santorum

One way to tell a candidate has reaches his "sell-by" date: reporters start dumping their deeply-reported and analytical stories. It happened with Perry; it happened with Gingrich; and so today, as polls show Romney likely to pull out a big win in Illinois, we have THIS:

... Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "Over the last decade, Mr. Santorum has been a prolific writer of op-ed articles, letters to the editor and guest columns in some of the country’s largest and most influential newspapers. All the while he displayed many of the traits that define him as a presidential candidate today: a deep and unwavering Catholic faith, a suspicion of secularism and a conviction that the country was on a path toward cultural ruin." ...

... AND. Stephanie McCrummen & Jerry Markon of the Washington Post: "Within the story of how Santorum grew up and decided to run for president, there is the story of a boy who grew up to become ever more devoutly Catholic, a journey all the more relevant as Santorum has vigorously asserted a role for religious conviction in the realm of governance." Although he says he is not a member, Santorum has embraced Opus Dei, a group that "has been criticized ... by former members as 'cult-like.' ..."

After reading the fact-free comments to his column yesterday, Krugman explaiins Right Wing World: "... a large and cohesive bloc of voters lives in an alternative reality, fed fake facts by Fox and Rush — whom they listen to out of tribal affiliation — and completely unaware that it’s all fiction. It’s also, by the way, why attempts at outreach by Obama will fail. Even if he gives the GOP 95 percent of what it wants, these voters will never hear about it; they will still know, just know, that he’s a radical bent on destroying America."

Local News

Emily Bazelon of Slate: "Trayvon Martin's killer remains free" because "Florida’s self-defense laws have left Florida safe for no one — except those who shoot first."

News Ledes

At about 8:40 pm ET, NBC News projects Mitt Romney as the winner of the Illinois GOP presidential primary. Here's the New York Times page on the results.

Chicago Tribune: "Illinois primary voters head to the polls today to choose nominees for the fall in races from the White House to county courthouses after a final week of campaigning that saw the Republican presidential battle overshadow lower-level candidates seeking attention.... Democratic voters ... will decide several heated congressional contests in newly drawn districts."

AP: "Conservative Republicans controlling the House unveiled a budget blueprint Tuesday that combines slashing cuts to safety net programs for the poor with sharply lower tax rates in an election-year manifesto painting clear campaign differences with President Barack Obama. The GOP plan released by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan would, if enacted into law, wrestle the deficit to a manageable size in short order, but only by cutting Medicaid, food stamps, Pell Grants and a host of other programs that Obama has promised to protect." Washington Post story here.

Washington Post: "Federal authorities announced Monday night that they are opening a full-scale criminal investigation into the slaying of an unarmed black Florida teenager [Trayvon Martin] whose death provoked an outcry from African American leaders and sparked calls for gun-control reforms in Florida." ...

     ... New York Times Update: "A grand jury will hear evidence next month in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black Florida teenager [Trayvon Martin] by a neighborhood watch volunteer, the state attorney’s office for Brevard and Seminole Counties announced on Tuesday."

... ABC News: "In the final moments of his life, Trayvon Martin was being hounded by a strange man on a cellphone who ran after him, cornered him and confronted him, according to the teenage girl whose call logs show she was on the phone with the 17-year-old boy in the moments before neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman shot him dead."

New York Times: "As Iraq prepares to showcase itself to the world next week with a highly anticipated gathering of Arab leaders, a string of suicide attacks and car bombing on Tuesday morning offered a bloody reminder that insurgent violence still wreaks havoc with the country’s tenuous stability. The attacks killed at least 43 people in a half-dozen cities across the country...."

New York Times: A major [Pakistani] parliamentary review of relations with the United States opened on Tuesday with calls for an end to drone strikes and an unconditional apology for an American attack on Pakistani soldiers last November."

AP: "A gunman who killed four people at a French Jewish school may have filmed the attack, the interior minister said Tuesday, as hundreds of police combed southern France for the killer, suspected in three other deaths."

Guardian: "North Korea has invited the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to return, three years after expelling its nuclear monitors, the agency says.Without disclosing North Korea's terms, the IAEA spokeswoman Gill Tudor said it had received the invitation on Friday.

Comments

[Carlyle]

The Ryan plan would cetainly reduce medicare costs but may increase total medical costs. Prior to Medicare old folks only went to the Doctor when they were sick. General Practioners did lots of things like minor surgeries, skin care, delivering babies, and advising on diabetics and obesity. Pediatricians made house calls. Family doctors frequently also the pediatrician made house calls.
All hospitals were non-profit run by the community and the Doctors or by the Catholic Church and the Doctors.
Employer health insurance offered widely during and after the war increased demand. Medicare dropped a huge amount of demand on health providers. Group practices and specialists prospered.
Things are changing. Employers are dropping heath insurance as much as they can. A Ryan voucher plan will ensure the elderly pay more for medical services. Large numbers of people will stop getting the needed testing and follow up and medical attention.
Demand for medical services will decline. We will no longer have a shortage of Doctors. Half empty hospitals will increase charges to cover fixed costs. Emergency rooms will be full of people needng
help but unable to pay. People with vouchers will be routinely fleeced. The end of Medicare will usher in chaos. Of course, most of the pain will be felt by old folks and workers. This is part of the war on the poor.

[Marie Burns]

@Carlyle. I haven't seen this year's Ryan plan yet, but in general, any attempt to privatize Medicare will be more costly than Medicare. The costs will shift to individuals & -- to some extent -- the states. Individual old folks aren't very good at insurance shopping, largely because there are few companies operating in each area. Should Republicans win the White House & Congress, they will repeal the ACA, which would make seniors uninsurable. Seniors aren't good at doctor-shopping, either, and there is not much in the way of true managed care in the U.S., which is something the ACA promotes, both for better health results & cost savings.

In addition, a number of Republican senators want this all to happen now, to people who are currently on Medicare -- that would be I, for one.

What the GOP has in mind is a total disaster, & I consider it immoral & beyond cruel. And all for what? So rich people can have their taxes lowered.

[PD Pepe]

The editorial, "The States Get a Bad Report Card," in the Times today reveal some pretty dismal grades. "The study, issued Monday by a consortium led by the Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan watchdog group, found that most states shy away from public scrutiny, fail to enact or enforce ethics laws, and allow corporations and the wealthy a dominant voice in elections and policy decisions."

So I took this information, looked up the governors in each state wondering whether there was something telling re: political affiliation. Our states are run by many more republicans than democrats and the grades of D and F were given to those many republican governed states, but the states governed by democrats didn't fair too well either. There were only five who were given a B: Nebraska, New Jersey )who woulda thunk?), California, CT., and Washington. The latter three are run by democrats.

[Akhilleus]

Regarding Marie's characterization of Republican intransigence towards health care in this country as 'immoral', I would point out that, incredibly, to some on the right, denial of health care to the poor, the indigent, and the elderly (who aren't already rich), IS the only moral thing to do. To many on the right, health and welfare are not guaranteed unless you do what it takes to make yourself self sufficient, if not wealthy. To them wealth is the reward for living a highly moral life. It has nothing to do with connections, luck of birth, or inherited wealth. The rich are that way because they are superior people. They really believe this crap. Conversely, the poor are poor because they are lazy and shiftless. Had they had the proper moral grounding, they too would be rich and could afford insurance. People who are sick, unlucky, mired in poverty, afflicted in any way are that way because they are not deserving of a better life or too lazy to pursue one, like the Koch brothers or Richard Mellon Scaife or Rupert Murdoch. For them it's a category of morality. Also they believe that insurance is like a car. If you can't afford it, take the bus. No one has the right to insurance. They don't see decent health insurance as a necessary element to a stronger nation. They really don't give a rat's ass about that. If you get sick, don't come crying to us because we earned our money and we're not going to take care of sick, poor, old people or minorities and immigrants too lazy to take care of themselves. This is the marketplace at work. You can't afford a Bentley? Take the bus. You can't afford insurance? Eat shit and die.

This is another corner of that alternative universe Krugman talks about. So it's perfectly okay for some (probably most) on the right to pooh-pooh health care.

Unless they get sick.

But then, they're moral and deserving. And Jesus loves them.

[DaveS]

@akhilleus

That attitude is made ever more hypocritical taking into account that many of these moralizers earned their money and status the hard way...they were born. Then you have people like Paul Ryan who used his father's social security money to build his fortune. Here's a man who has idolized Ayn Rand, a woman who hardly lived what most people would consider a moral life and spent her last years living off the welfare state.

It is the hypocritical moralizers who are immoral.

[Carlyle]

Kill the Affordable Care Act, severely reduce Medicare payments and watch what happens.
Insurance rates will go up as a lack of demand will reduce income.
We will have too many hospital beds and will be back to the practice of all charging at the rate of the least efficient provider.
We will, all of the sudden, have enough family Doctors.
We will have a surplus of specialists and group practices.
Many more employers will stop providing insurance,
Instead of fifty million Americans without health insurance, we will have one hundred million.
There will be lines out the door at all emergency rooms of damaged Americans unable or unwilling to pay for service.
A Ryan plan is a self inflicted wound. The rest of he world can provide health care for everyone and America can't? Shame.

[Marvin Schwalb]

Here is the good news for the Republican healthcare plan. The idiots who support them are going to be a major part of those who suffer from the change. It isn't the poor. They already have little or nothing. It's the tea party elders and the middle class who are going to get the bills.
and Carlyle, you are right, the only specialty worth entering will be emergency medicine, except who is going to pay that bill? It is either the government or the alternative, let them die. So here is the summary of the Republican position on heath: sweetie, we will do everything we can to make sure you are born. After that if you get sick, well drop dead.
P.S. I know it is politically incorrect to use this term, but the Republicans really are the new Nazis.

[akhilleus]

Dave,

I wonder how many of her devout and worshipful acolytes know (or care) about Ayn Rand's mooching off the state just like the people she so viciously characterized as immoral takers?

Your point is an excellent one. Once Rand was diagnosed with lung cancer she set in motion all the paperwork necessary to collect social security and had her medical bills paid for by Medicare. True to hypocritical form, she did it under a different name, her married name, Ann O'Connor, using the name of her husband who gave up his acting career in order to make enough money to support Rand for years before she became famous for espousing a philosophy that denigrated anyone who, like herself, needed help from others. She paid him back by carrying on long term adulterous affairs and finally used his name to siphon money off the state like a bum (her description of those who found it necessary to use Medicare and Social Security to live) in order to protect her reputation as a tough minded individualist.

No wonder frauds like Rand Paul and Paul Ryan feel such a kinship with this hypocrite.

Thanks for shining a little light into one of the dingier dung holes in Right-Wing world.