The Commentariat -- July 30, 2013

Steve Holland of Reuters: "President Barack Obama will propose a 'grand bargain for middle-class jobs' on Tuesday that would cut the U.S. corporate tax rate and use billions in revenues generated by a business tax overhaul to fund projects aimed at creating jobs. His goal, to be outlined in a speech at an Amazon.com Inc facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee, is to break through congressional gridlock by trying to find a formula that satisfies both Republicans and Democrats." ...

... Obama Welcomes Chinese-Style Labor Conditions in the U.S. Alec MacGillis of the New Republic wants to know why Obama is making his speech at an Amazon warehouse. MacGillis points to a story about working conditions in an Amazon warehouse "west of the Mississippi." Conditions, according to the report & another account of conditions at the Chattanooga facility where Obama will speak, were brutal. ...

... CW: I don't think the answer MacGillis got from the White House is satisfactory. Moreover, the reports MacGillis cited aren't the worst I've read about how Amazon treats it workers. Here are links to the Lehigh, Pennsylvania Valley Morning Call's investigation of a warehouse there. If you never read the original story, I urge you to read it now. Evidently, this is what the White House means when it applauds Amazon for "bringing back jobs from overseas." Deputy press secretary Amy Brundage said yesterday, "The Amazon facility in Chattanooga is a perfect example of the company that is investing in American workers and creating good, high-wage jobs." We might as well have voted for Romney; at least we KNEW this is what Romney had in mind for us woebegone little people. ...

... PLUS. Stephanie Condon & Jill Jackson of CBS News: "The CEO and board of directors of the [American Booksellers Association], which represents independent booksellers, called Mr. Obama's trip 'greatly misguided' and accused Amazon of driving bookstores out of business and killing jobs. 'While Amazon may make news by touting the creation of some 7,000 new warehouse jobs (many of which are seasonal), what is woefully underreported is the number of jobs its practices have cost the economy,' ABA CEO Oren Teicher and the group's board of directors wrote in a letter to the president Monday." ... CW: Oh, seasonal. See. The lazy bastards want to sit around most of the year collecting unemployment insurance & buying filet mignon & caviar with their food stamps. ...

... "A 'Fun, Fast-Paced Environment.'" Dave Jamieson of the Huffington Post has more on those new jobs in Chattanooga. Yup, Amazon is advertising for temps. CW: The whole post is worth a read. I wonder if the workers who appear as part of the scenery for Obama's speech will get paid for the time they spend lolling about in chairs.

As the GOP attempts to weave the Weiner-Filner-Spitzer stories into a Democratic-war-on-women meme, Katrina vanden Heuvel, in a Washington Post column, explains what war on women actually means: "Consider what the [Republican] party stands for: Allowing bosses and insurance companies to discriminate against women; forcing raped women to carry their rapist's fetus; requiring insurance coverage for Viagra but not for the pill; defunding Planned Parenthood, Head Start, childcare, and services for domestic abuse victims; conscripting doctors to violate women with medically unnecessary (and thus punitive) procedures; and redefining rape so more rapists walk free."

Gene Robinson: "Edward Snowden's renegade decision to reveal the jaw-dropping scope of the National Security Agency's electronic surveillance is being vindicated -- even as Snowden himself is being vilified."

Jonathan Chait of New York: "The current jostling between Larry Summers and Janet Yellen to become the next head of the Federal Reserve has introduced a new ... primal fear into the minds of the hard-money cranks: the trepidation that their monetary essence will be drained by a woman." ...

... Matthew O'Brien of the Atlantic: "Larry Summers Should Absolutely Not Be the Next Fed Chair." O'Brien prefers Christina Romer, but is sure Janet Yellen is second-best. Larry, not so much.

President Obama & former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had lunch yesterday.... Carrie Dann of NBC News: "For President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, friendship is what's on [Monday's] menu. The two Democrats and former rivals met for lunch Monday at the White House, spawning a frenzy of predictable media speculation about whether they might be putting their heads together about Clinton's much-rumored 2016 run.... Clinton is now also scheduled to have breakfast Tuesday with Vice President Joe Biden, considered a top potential rival for the Democratic nomination."

Rachel Weiner & David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "The Senate has confirmed James Comey as the new director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation by a 93 to 1 margin. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) had placed a hold on Comey's nomination over questions about the bureau's use of drones on U.S. soil.... After receiving a response to his concerns from the FBI detailing the 'limited' use of surveillance drones, Paul released his hold.... He was the only senator to vote against Comey's confirmation; two senators voted 'present.'"

Tal Kopan of Politico: "Sen. Ted Cruz believes Republicans can defund 'Obamacare' if they stand together, but he said 'scared' Republicans are standing in the way. 'What I can tell you is there are a lot of Republicans in Washington who are scared. They're scared of being beaten up politically,' Cruz (R-Texas) told Glenn Beck ... radio show Monday." ...

... Jonathan Bernstein in the Washington Post: "Why, yes, Ted Cruz is a demagogue." It's all he's got. ...

... Steve Benen ran his list last week, but might as well remind ourselves, via Zoe Carpenter of the Nation, just how many ways and how far Republicans are willing to go to sabotage the Affordable Care Act, a federal law upheld by the Supreme Court.

Local News

If you like gossip, here's a story about the Clintons & Huma Abedin by Maggie Haberman of Politico that is less purple than some of the other stories about the Clintons & Huma Abedin, yet sums up the gossip stuff. ...

... AND if you want to know what Anthony Weiner thinks about stuff, Denis Hamill of the New York Daily News has the interview. Here he is on the women with whom he was sexting: "These are people who I thought were friends, people I trusted when I communicated with them. But who knows what they might do now. But none of it is new. It's all old stuff." CW: yes, Anthony, there are means girls out that who will betray and victimize you. So unfair. ...

... Brenda Edwards of Politico: "New York mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner has plummeted to fourth place in the running, with opponent Christine Quinn firmly vaulting into the lead, according a new poll. In a Quinnipiac University survey released Monday, 53 percent of likely Democratic Primary voters polled said the former congressman should drop out, and only 40 percent saying he should remain in the race." ...

... Here's one guy who says he won't vote for Weiner:

... MEANWHILE -- David Chen of the New York Times: "Alarmed by Eliot Spitzer's momentum in his unexpected bid to win citywide office, an unlikely coalition of business leaders, women's groups and labor unions is vowing to finance an ambitious effort to thwart the former governor's ambition.... Now, they are pledging to raise and spend at least $1.5 million on advertising, direct mail and field work in an effort to persuade voters that Mr. Spitzer would be a poor choice for comptroller...."

Analyzing Mitt. Mitt Never Said What You Lazy Freeloaders Heard Him Say. David Corn of Mother Jones: Mitt Romney is in "deep denial" about his 47-percent remark. "... the fellow who wanted to lead the United States cannot look at reality squarely and own what he said. Months after being rejected by American voters -- winning the support of, uh, only 47 percent -- Romney still cannot take responsibility himself." In case you've forgotten the detail, Corn has them.

News Ledes

AP: "U.S. home prices jumped 12.2 percent in May compared with a year ago, the biggest annual gain since March 2006. The increase shows the housing recovery is strengthening."

BBC News: "The train driver in last week's crash in Spain was talking on the phone when it derailed, investigators say. The train was travelling at 153km/h (95mph) at the time, investigators at the Court of Justice of Galicia said. Francisco Jose Garzon Amo was speaking to members of staff at the state-owned railway company, Renfe, they added.... The speed limit on the sharp bend where the train derailed was set at 80km/h (49mph)."

USA Today: "Three former Penn State University officials, including ousted former president Graham Spanier, were ordered to stand trial Tuesday on criminal charges related to an alleged cover-up that temporarily shielded convicted child predator and former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky from law enforcement scrutiny. Following two days of testimony, a Pennsylvania judge ordered Spanier, former athletic director Tim Curley and former university vice president Gary Schultz to face charges on perjury, conspiracy, failure to report suspected child abuse and other related charges in a decision that opens another grim chapter in a scandal that rocked the state's largest university."

New York Times: "Eileen Brennan, a smoky-voiced actress who had worked in show business for more than 20 years before gaining her widest attention as a gleefully tough Army captain in both the film and television versions of 'Private Benjamin,' died on Sunday at her home in Burbank, Calif. She was 80.

New York Times: "An appeals court on Tuesday unanimously upheld a decision striking down New York City's restrictions on the sale of large, sugary drinks, dealing a serious blow to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's hopes of reviving the rule before his term runs out."

NBC News: Judge found Bradley Manning not guilty for aiding the enemy, guilty of releasing classified documents knowing they would be accessible to the enemy. Could amount to total sentence of 154 years. Judge may take several weeks to sentence Manning. No link. ...

... NBC News Update: "Pfc. Bradley Manning, the former Army intelligence officer who was branded as both a whistle-blower and a traitor after he sent 700,000 secret government documents to WikiLeaks, was acquitted Tuesday of aiding the enemy but convicted of most other charges. Manning was convicted of 20 of the remaining 21 counts, including leaking intelligence knowing it would be accessible to the enemy, releasing classified information and disobeying orders. Aiding the enemy was the most serious charge and carried a potential life sentence. The judge in Manning's court-martial, Col. Denise Lind, found that Manning had no intent to provide the enemy with classified information but was negligent in releasing the documents. The charges of which Manning was convicted carry a total of 154 years in prison. Manning will be sentenced later."

Orlando Sentinel: "Roads near a gas plant in Lake County, [Florida,] were littered with twisted pieces of propane canisters early Tuesday, hours after explosions that injured at least eight people and forced the evacuation of residents up to a mile away. Just before 7 a.m. Tavares Fire Chief Richard Keith told reporters on the scene that, 'we don't think there was any act of sabotage or anything like that.' Instead, 'It was probably a human or equipment error,' he said.

Reuters: "Egypt's rulers allowed an EU envoy to meet deposed President Mohamed Mursi, the first time an outsider was given access to him since the army overthrew him and jailed him a month ago, and she said she found him in good health."

War and Remembrance

I've been thinking about the discussion of the Vietnam war that took place among contributors here last week. As far as I recall, that war and the Korean War, from a U.S. policy perspective, had little or nothing to do with the welfare of the people of Southeast Asia. Our goal in Korea, Vietnam, Laos & Cambodia was never to help the locals; it was always to contain China. Sure, there was a lot of rhetoric about “communism,” and diversionary red scares peppered the hoohah, but it was not the form of government that concerned us. (The most belligerent war hawks never murmured about declaring war on “socialist” countries like Sweden & Denmark or on the dozens of dictatorships we often aided and abetted.) What policymakers cared about was China's taking over the portions of Asia it did not already control.

In the 1950s and '60s, pretty much everybody in the U.S. believed in the “domino theory” – and with good reason. It was proved in Eastern Europe and ultimately in Southeast Asia as well. Whether or not the people of Vietnam are happy with their government today seems relatively unimportant to the issue. The question was then whether or not the Vietnam war was worth the effort to contain China. Maybe it did slow that country's march over its neighbors and influence its politicians' decision not to go further – at least militarily.

Facile remarks about agent orange, by the way, say nothing whatever about whether or not the war itself was justifiable. Certain military tactics may be unjustified – for humanitarian or other reasons – in a conflict that is otherwise a “just war.” Ask the people of Dresden about that.

Another concept most Americans believed in at the time their leaders were amping up the Viet Nam military effort was that our guys were the “good guys” and our aims were righteous. Millions of Americans, including most of our leaders during the Vietnam era, had participated in what was seen almost universally as a “just cause” – World War II. Young men signed up for Vietnam because their fathers had gone to Italy or Guam. To find fault with them – years or decades later – for believing in the rectitude of our leaders then seems rather callous. Maybe ya hadda be there to get it. Opposition to the Vietnam war was never universal, though it grew with time and events. There was often a certain selfishness in much of the opposition, and the same was true for many who favored the war. Dick Cheney and Bill Clinton were hardly the only guys who thought they should not have to risk getting shot up because they had better things to do stateside.

In hindsight, was Vietnam a good idea? Well, we lost, so maybe not. We lost in Korea too – mostly – but democracy did gain a little toehold in a region that is largely devoid of popularly-controlled government models. I don't know if Japan's and South Korea's examples have influenced the demands of those Chinese citizens who are pressing for a more open, capitalistic society, but that seems plausible.

A veteran of the Korean conflict, a contributor here, reminded me of another benefit to the Korean war: “I got a 4-year, totally free, college education and a guaranteed low-interest, zero-down home loan out of the deal,” James Singer wrote.

I have often written about the social compact that dominated this country's economy during much of the second half of the last century – the unwritten understanding among the government, business and labor that each had a stake in the U.S. and that each needed the others for the country to prosper. But I don't think it ever occurred to me how important the wars were to that compact: the G.I. bills that funded Singer's education & home loan also paid for millions of others' educations and provided for low- or no-down-payments on their little slices of the pie. The social compact may have developed out of the disaster of the Great Depression, but for decades the G.I. bills were a significant factor in sustaining it. Little changed for women and minorities in the two decades following World War II – even though minority men did their share in the wars* – but the white man-of-the-house made out pretty well. So did the country, for all he contributed in return.

*AND, I should have said, so did women of all hues.

The Commentariat -- July 29, 2013

Hope Yen of the AP: "Four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives, a sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream. Survey data exclusive to The Associated Press points to an increasingly globalized U.S. economy, the widening gap between rich and poor and loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs as reasons for the trend. The findings come as President Barack Obama tries to renew his administration's emphasis on the economy, saying in recent speeches that his highest priority is to 'rebuild ladders of opportunity' and reverse income inequality." James S. mentioned this in yesterday's Commentariat.

"Detroit Looks to Health Law to Ease Costs." Monica Davey & Abby Goodnough of the New York Times: "As Detroit enters the federal bankruptcy process, the city is proposing a controversial plan for paring some of the $5.7 billion it owes in retiree health costs: pushing many of those too young to qualify for Medicare out of city-run coverage and into the new insurance markets that will soon be operating under the Obama health care law.... But if large numbers of localities follow that course, it could amount to a significant cost shift to the federal government."

Kate Pickert of Time: "Earlier this month, the Washington Post published a blockbuster front-page story about a secretive committee that determines what Medicare pays physicians for their work. Part of the American Medical Association (AMA), the committee estimates the time and intensity of various doctor tasks, and the recommendations are plugged into a formula that sets Medicare reimbursements. The committee overestimates the time it takes to perform myriad medical procedures, which thereby increases the amount doctors can earn from Medicare.... What's surprising about this AMA committee's influence is ... that the federal government relies on the committee so heavily -- almost blindly at times." The Affordable Care Act's Independent Payment Advisory Board may reduce the power of this group.

Kari Rea of ABC News: "Today on 'This Week,' Glenn Greenwald ... claimed that those NSA programs allowed even low-level analysts to search the private emails and phone calls of Americans":

... Digby: Meanwhile, we had David Gregory fluffing the NSA's pool boy, Congressman Mike Rogers, on Meet the Press. Rogers explained at length, without any follow-up, that the vote this week that came just 6 votes short of dismantling the NSA programs was a result of the public being upset about the administration's abusive Big Brother IRS and Obamacare which they confused with the benign NSA that's doing God's work. That is no joke, it's what he said. And then he lied repeatedly about other details we already know while the petty little Villager David Gregory (who, like so many others, obviously can't see past his personal animosity toward Greenwald to the underlying issues) asked him to go on at length about how Edward Snowden is killing people." ...

... Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: "Pressure is building within the US Senate for an overhaul of the secret court that is supposed to act as a check on the National Security Agency's executive power, with one prominent senator, [Ron Wyden {D-Oregon}] describing the judicial panel as 'anachronistic' and outdated.... Sunday, the prominent Democratic senator for Illinois, Dick Durbin, added his voice to the mounting criticism of the Fisa court, telling ABC's This Week: 'There should be a real court proceeding. In this case, it's fixed in a way, it's loaded. There's only one case coming before the Fisa, the government's case. Let's have an advocate for someone standing up for civil liberties to speak up about the privacy of Americans.'" ...

... Ditto from Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times, with a few different examples of the shift. ...

... David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: Sen. Ron "Wyden [D-Oregon] finally has the audience he sought. All it took was Snowden. This is an awkward fact of Wyden's success: To get anyone's attention, the senator needed somebody else to break the laws that he would not. 'This debate should have started long, long, long ago. And it should have been started by elected officials and not by a government contractor,' Wyden said Friday." ...

... Missed this report by Peter Wallsten of the Post, published July 26: "The Obama administration's top intelligence official acknowledged Friday that there have been 'a number of compliance problems' in the government program that has collected phone data on millions of Americans. James Clapper, director of national intelligence, also said the government had not collected any other bulk data on Americans using its authority under the USA Patriot Act beyond the phone information and Internet data gathered under a separate program that was canceled in 2011." You can get to Clapper's letter from Wyden's site. If the task box doesn't load automatically, click "please click here." When the task box opens, click on "Open with Adobe reader."

Paul Krugman: urban sprawl inhibits social mobility.

John Broder of the New York Times: "Mr. Obama's decision to nominate [Gina] McCarthy, 59, [to head the EPA] was an act of defiance to Congressional and industry opponents of meaningful action on climate change. It was also a sign of his determination to at least begin to put in place rules to reduce carbon pollution."

Sam Roudman in the New Republic: the Bank of America building, touted when it opened in 2010 as an "environmentally-responsible high-rise building," in fact "produces more greenhouse gases and uses more energy per square foot than any comparably sized office building in Manhattan." Roudman explains how that came about, mostly because of the way BoA uses the building & because faulty standards gave BoA the green rating in the first place.

** E. J. Dionne: "Yes, let's mess with Texas." Eric "Holder's move shows is an utter contempt for efforts to deprive our fellow Americans of their right to cast a meaningful ballot. It is a contempt that all of us should feel."

Bill Keller: "People may no longer give [President] Obama suspicious glares in department stores or clutch their purses when he enters an elevator, but they have typecast him according to their own fears and expectations of a black man in the White House. They are still profiling Barack Obama."

Garrett Epps, in a Salon republication, takes to the Second Amendment with textual analysis and concludes that it "is in equipoise." Interesting anyway.

Nicole Winfield of the AP: "Pope Francis is reaching out to gays, saying he won't judge priests for their sexual orientation, in a remarkably open and wide-ranging news conference as he returns from his first foreign trip. Francis says: 'If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?' His predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, authored a document that said men with deep-rooted homosexual tendencies should not be priests. Francis is being much more conciliatory, saying gay clergymen should be forgiven and their sins forgotten."

Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed wonders, "Is This The Most Embarrassing Interview Fox News Has Ever Done?":

... CW: for what it's worth, there is plenty of evidence that some of the models for Jesus were Zealots, & some "sayings of Jesus" written in the Gospels are consistent with Zealotry. No serious scholar would disagree with this, though some weigh other attributes more heavily than radical aspects that the Gospel writers included to define Jesus; e.g., his Pharisaic sayings are perhaps more prevalent than the political sayings attributed to him. But there is not much evidence that Jesus was an actual person. I'd have to read Aslan's book to see if he acknowledges the scholarship that pretty much debunks the Jesus biography.

Local News

** Yesterday, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said the federal government would not be bailing out Detroit (see yesterday's Commentariat for link), but John Cassidy of the New Yorker writes, "President Obama should stress the necessity of shared sacrifice, and push the state of Michigan to take on more of the city's fiscal responsibilities, perhaps by offering it more federal aid. Once all the parties come to an agreement, the federal government could also help with the tasks of downsizing and of rebuilding roads and schools, and taking other measures to attract businesses and families." As for the country's collapsing infrastructure, "Where better to start than in Detroit?" Leaving Detroit's fate in the hands of a Republican governor & his backers is handing conservatives the opportunity "for showdowns with public-sector unions across the country."

Make that magnifying glass a mirror. Daily News artwork.Greg Smith of the New York Daily News: "Serial sexter Anthony Weiner paid a private eye nearly $45,000 in campaign cash to investigate his lie that a hacker posted a crotch shot on his Twitter feed, campaign spending records show. Weiner's brazen attempt to cover his tracks occurred shortly after Memorial Day weekend in 2011, when his first sexting scandal erupted and he went into furious spin control trying to save his career in Congress. He maintained that he had been victimized -- and promised an investigation to get to the bottom of how it happened."

Adam Martin of New York: Maureen Dowd & Rush Limbaugh agree about Huma Abedin's reason for sticking with der Weinerschnitzel.

News Lede

Washington Post: "A wave of vandalism continued to mar some of Washington's more popular landmarks Monday with at least three more attractions spattered with green paint, and authorities announced the arrest of a woman near one of the incidents at Washington National Cathedral. The latest crimes occurred three days after the Lincoln Memorial was hit in similar fashion. On Monday, the light-green paint was discovered on an organ in the cathedral's Bethlehem Chapel, in the cathedral's Children's Chapel and on the granite base of a statue next to the Smithsonian Castle on the Mall. D.C. police said Monday evening that they had charged Tian Jiamel, 58, whom they believe to be homeless, with one count of defacing property."