If Secessionists Wrote Their Own Declaration of Independence

By HappyPlace.com via reader Bonnie. To see a larger image, click here, scroll down a bit, then click on the Declaration. I can't stop laughing:

The Commentariat -- Nov. 19, 2012

My column in the New York Times eXaminer is on Maureen Dowd's takedown of U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice (also linked yesterday). ...

... On That Note -- Anne Flaherty of the AP: "Lawmakers said Sunday they want to know who had a hand in creating the Obama administration's now-discredited 'talking points' about the Sept. 11 attack on a U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, and why a final draft omitted the CIA's early conclusion that terrorists were involved." ...

... AND Brian Knowlton of the New York Times: "The chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Sunday that she planned to investigate why the C.I.A.'s quick determination of terrorism in the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi, Libya, was not reflected in the 'talking points' used days later on television by Susan E. Rice, the ambassador to the United Nations. But the chairwoman, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, also said she was certain that the White House had not been behind any change in the original C.I.A. language to that later used by Ms. Rice." ...

... AND all this because ...

     ... Thanks to Jeanne B. for the graphic. ...

... Un-fucking-believable. John McCain Has a Good Idea. Brendan Sasso of The Hill: "Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) suggested on Sunday that President Obama should send former President Bill Clinton to lead cease fire talks between Israelis and Palestinians." With video. ...

... BUT McCain Just Gets Crazier. Aviva Shen of Think Progress: "McCain went even further than simply opposing Rice's nomination and said that, 'until we find out all the information' on the Benghazi consulate attacks, he would not support any Secretary of State nominee." CW: needless to say, there will never be a time when "we find out all the information" on Benghazi. ...

... AND, Sad News to Report via Ben Ambruster of Think Progress. Lame Duck "Independent" Joe Lieberman is kinda breaking up with the other two amigos, John & Lindsey. Three-ways so seldom work out well. Of course, there could be more to the story (there always is). After all, Lonesome Joe, about to relinquish his Senate seat to an actual Democrat, is soon to be completely irrelevant, a forgotten footnote in the history of how the exceptional American nation got stuck with President Dubya.

... Matt Vasilogambros of the National Journal: "Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, says the Obama administration deserves some credit for Israel's 'Iron Dome' missile defense system, which has protected Israelis during the rocket assaults that have taken place in the last five days."

** Paul Krugman: "... the '50s — the Twinkie Era -- do offer lessons that remain relevant in the 21st century. Above all, the success of the postwar American economy demonstrates that, contrary to today's conservative orthodoxy, you can have prosperity without demeaning workers and coddling the rich." CW: except for the Twinkie part, this has been my manifesto, too, as some readers know. ...

... Daniel Altman in a New York Times op-ed: "... the real menace for our long-term prosperity is not income inequality -- it's wealth inequality, which distorts access to economic opportunities.... Replacing the income, estate and gift taxes with a progressive wealth tax would do much more to reduce [income inequality] than any other tax plan being considered in Washington.... A flat wealth tax of just 1.5 percent on financial assets and other wealth like housing, cars and business ownership would have been more than enough to replace all the revenue of the income, estate and gift taxes.... The majority of American families would receive an enormous tax cut."

... Steven Greenhouse & Stephanie Clifford of the New York Times: "In a rare move, Wal-Mart is trying to stop a union-backed group from staging a series of demonstrations against the company on Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year." CW: glad to see Wal-Mart sticking up for the big guys. It's just wrong for low-paid, part-time, no-benefits 47-percenters to pick on a company owned by THE RICHEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD.

Bill Keller of the New York Times: Secretary of Defense Leon "Panetta proposed a budget that would cut $487 billion -- about 8 percent -- from planned defense spending over 10 years. The fiscal cliff, known to defense wonks as 'sequestration,' would cut an additional $492 billion. Most of the experts I follow think defense can be safely cut below Panetta's level." CW: Here's my cost-savings plan: let's put the generals on a diet of MREs & let them -- or their spouses -- cut their own damned lawns. Maybe showoffs like Gen. Petraeus wouldn't prance around in his medals (he wears them even on his civies) if he didn't have a valet to pin the ribbons on his jackets.

This looks like an old photo -- no comb-over -- so Petraeus probably has more medals now. But close enough.Richard Lardner of the AP: "The [FBI] probably would have ignored [Jill] Kelley's complaint had it not been for information in the emails that indicated the sender was aware of the travel schedules of [David] Petraeus and [John] Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan. Instead, the FBI considered this from the earliest stages to be an exceptional case, and one so sensitive that FBI Director Robert Mueller and Attorney General Eric Holder were kept notified of its progress."

"'Couples' with Epaulettes." Adam Gopnik of the New Yorker comments on the Petraeus, et al., affair & novelist Philip Roth's announcement of his retirement: "As the baffling and then burlesque and then baroquely burlesque affair enveloping General Petraeus and his friends, of both sexes, fell upon us like another hurricane last week, it seemed to confirm once again Philip Roth's fifty-year-old assertion that you can't write good satirical fiction in America because reality will quickly outdo anything you might invent."

** Peter Maass in the New Yorker: "... the Petraeus case shows that among the people who have the most to lose from unchecked surveillance are the people who thought they would benefit from it -- government élites who allocate the funding and make the laws and operate the bureaucracy of surveillance. Perhaps they will start worrying a bit more about becoming the next Petraeus or [Judge Robert] Bork. Our legislators, who are not all angels, now have real skin in the game, so to speak." CW: an interesting history lesson here.

Sahil Kapur of TPM: "On the Sunday talk shows, senior Republicans, former Romney surrogates and prominent conservatives piled on their defeated presidential nominee for telling donors that he lost because President Obama bought off minorities and young voters with 'gifts.'" ...

... CW: I missed this commentary by Jamelle Bouie, which the Washington Post published Friday. But on the Romney-Jindal(and now the pilers-on) "gifts" divide, Bouie nails it: "Bobby Jindal's criticism of Romney rings hollow.... This summer, in explaining his decision to reject Medicaid funds, Jindal declared that Republicans need to 'repeal Obamacare' so that they can 'end this culture of dependence.' If there's a problem with Romney's statement, it was the language, not the sentiment.... There's something odd about this line of criticism. Voters elect and support politicians to do things for them. There's nothing illegitimate about the fact that Obama won by providing tangible benefits to people who needed them." ...

... Adam Serwer agrees with Bouie: "The Republican reaction from party leaders like Jindal is not a rejection of the worldview underlying Romney's remarks, which is extremely popular in right-wing media. It's an expression of political opportunism from politicians who want to leave their footprints on Romney's back as they chase their own ambitions. If it were anything else, you'd see Jindal telling Rush Limbaugh or Fox News, not Romney, to shut up. But you aren't." ...

... In an interesting post in which he provides more examples that support Bouie & Serwer's conclusion, Thomas Edsell examines the demographics behind the rising Democratic-leaning coalition that so frightens the Romney-Limbaugh crowd: "As Obama negotiates with Republican House and Senate leaders to prevent a dive over the 'fiscal cliff,' he will be under strong pressure from his reinvigorated liberal supporters to take a tough stand in support of tax hikes on the well-to-do and to more firmly limit spending cuts." ...

... CW: maybe they'll try a new tack, but as I see it, Republicans have two choices: (1) admit government works & should work harder for ordinary people/voters; OR (2) continue to exploit prejudices in an effort to mask their "gifts" to the rich. I might be wrong, but I don't think Option (2) is in the Republican DNA. They. just. can't. do. it.

An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics. -- Plutarch, via Cory Booker ...

... AND Cory Booker is off my list of Men Who Disappointed Me. Margaret Hartmann of New York: in his usual Twitter correspondence Sunday, "Booker was accused of plotting to redistribute wealth and told 'nutrition is not a responsibility of the government.' Since simply debating the merits of providing food assistance to impoverished Americans doesn't fit into Booker's ridiculously hands-on approach to governing, by the end of the night he'd challenged the Twitter user to a contest in which they'd both try to live off of food stamps for a week."

Congressional Races

Welcome to Florida, State of Denial. David Adams of Reuters: "Tea Party-backed Republican U.S. Representative Allen West said he was still not ready to concede defeat on Sunday... when the clock ran out on a partial recount in South Florida. Results showing West trailing Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy by 1,900 votes were expected to be turned over to the state Division of Elections to be ratified on Tuesday. West was granted a recount of early ballots in St. Lucie County during the weekend, but officials were unable to complete the process before time ran out at midday on Sunday." ...

     ... Update. Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "Democrat Patrick Murphy, a 29-year-old construction company executive, gained 242 votes after the St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections completed its re-tabulation, increasing his lead to more than 2,100 votes over West...."

Local News

Alex Pareene of Salon: "Democrats ought to know what sort of Democrat [New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo] is. If Cuomo allows Republicans to subvert the will of the voters of New York, so that he has an easier time cutting taxes and rolling back regulations, he shouldn't be allowed to sell himself to future primary voters as a progressive."

News Ledes

New York Times: "The European Union offered crucial support for the new Syrian political opposition on Monday, calling the group legitimate representatives for the Syrian people in a move that burnished the new coalition's credibility as it seeks more international aid to help in the fight against the government of Bashar al-Assad. The union stopped short of conferring full diplomatic recognition, as France, Turkey and several Arab countries of the Persian Gulf have done, and instead urged the coalition to develop a plan to create a 'credible alternative to the current regime.'"

Washington Post: "The nation's biggest banks provided more than $26 billion in relief to struggling homeowners between March 1 and Sept. 30, as part of a settlement earlier this year with state and federal officials over widespread foreclosure abuses, according to numbers released Monday."

Reuters: "Moody's stripped France of its prized triple-A badge on Monday, cutting the sovereign credit rating on Europe's No. 2 economy by one notch to Aa1 from Aaa, citing an uncertain fiscal outlook and deteriorating economy."

AP: "Authorities launched a homicide investigation Monday into the house explosion that killed a young couple and left numerous homes uninhabitable in an Indianapolis neighborhood. Indianapolis Homeland Security Director Gary Coons made the announcement after meeting with residents affected by the Nov. 10 blast and shortly after funerals were held for the victims, who lived next door to the house where investigators believe the explosion occurred." The Indianapolis Star story is here.

AP: "Rebels believed to be backed by Rwanda fired mortars and machine guns Monday on the outskirts of the provincial capital of Goma, [Congo,] threatening to capture one of the largest cities in eastern Congo in a development that could drag this giant Central African nation back into war."

New York Times: "After a night of sustained Israeli strikes by air and sea, the Health Ministry [in Gaza City] said on Monday the Palestinian death toll in six days of conflict had risen to 91 with 700 wounded, including 200 children." ...

... AP: "Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers traded fire and tough cease-fire proposals Monday, and threatened to escalate their border conflict if diplomacy fails. No deal appeared near."

New York Times: President "Obama arrived [in Myanmar] as the first sitting American president to visit Myanmar with the hope of solidifying the stunning changes that have transformed this Southeast Asian country and encouraging additional progress toward a more democratic system. With the promise of more financial assistance, Mr. Obama vowed to 'support you every step of the way.' The president was greeted on a mild, muggy day by tens of thousands of people lining the road from the airport -- and by further promises of reform by the government, which announced a series of specific commitments regarding the release of political prisoners and the end of ethnic violence." Washington Post story here. AP story here. ...

... AP: President "Obama is making the first visit ever by a U.S. president to Cambodia because it is hosting the annual East Asia Summit. But White House aides say the president will also raise human rights concerns in his meeting with [Cambodian Prime Minister/strongman] Hun Sen."

New York Times: "President Hamid Karzai ordered Afghan forces to take control of the Bagram prison and accused American officials of violating an agreement to hand over the facility to Afghan control, according to a statement issued by his office on Monday. The move came after what Mr. Karzai said was the expiration of a two-month grace period agreed with President Obama to complete the full transfer of the prison."

Space: "A Russian Soyuz space capsule made a rare nighttime landing in the frigid steppes of Kazakhstan early Monday, returning three astronauts to Earth after a four-month voyage to the International Space Station."

The Commentariat -- Nov. 18, 2012

Okay, by popular request, I wrote a column on Dowd for today's New York Times eXaminer. And I wasn't very nice.

Contributor MAG is right. Chris Christie's Got Talent!:

Peter Baker & Jane Perlez of the New York Times: "Mr. Obama will make a historic visit to Myanmar to mark the emergence of the long-isolated country and encourage its migration from China's orbit toward a more democratic future with the West. He will also stop in Thailand, America's longtime ally in the region as well as a friend of China's. And he will fly to Cambodia for a summit meeting of a Southeast Asian organization as the United States tries to increase its influence in that part of the region. With the election over, the White House has softened its language, and presents the trip not as an explicit attempt to contain China but as the next stage of its so-called pivot to Asia, reorienting American foreign policy after a decade of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan toward the economic and political future of the Pacific. On the cusp of a second term, Mr. Obama sees such a shift as a mission for the next four years and a possible legacy." ...

... Peter Baker: "The president's Kenyan grandfather, Hussein Onyango Obama, spent part of World War II in what was then called Burma as a cook for a British Army captain. Although details are sometimes debated, the elder Mr. Obama's Asian experience proved formative just as his grandson's time growing up in Indonesia did decades later." ...

Jim Kuhnhenn of the AP has more on the President's itinerary.

Reuters: "The White House did not heavily alter talking points about the attacks on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya, an official said on Saturday [aboard Air Force One]. 'If there were adjustments made to them within the intelligence community, that's common, and that's something they would have done themselves,' Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser, told reporters. 'The only edit ... made by the White House was the factual edit as to how to refer to the facility.'" ...

Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs: "Yes, the right wing is still trying to turn the Benghazi attack into a cut-rate Watergate scandal, despite David Petraeus's testimony backing up everything the administration said." CW: quite a good post.

... Mark Landler of the New York Times: "In her sure-footed ascent of the foreign-policy ladder, [U.N. Ambassador Susan] Rice has rarely shrunk from a fight. But now that she appears poised to claim the top rung -- White House aides say she is President Obama's favored candidate for secretary of state -- this sharp-tongued, self-confident diplomat finds herself in the middle of a bitter feud in which she is largely a bystander." ...

... Maureen Dowd peppers her usual snark with some relevant context about the Susan Rice talkshow brouhaha. CW: BTW, I'm not buying Dowd's catfight supposition, & if I have time (time is my enemy), I'll write a NYTX piece on Dowd's column. ...

... President Obama & McKayla Maroney are not impressed. Backstory here. ...

... Kathleen Geier of Washington Monthly: "It's maddening that this country is more or less run by old, white, out of touch, sexist, racist men like McCain and Mitt Romney, whose accomplishments, intellectual and otherwise, are dubious, and who would reaped [sic.] enormous unearned benefits from the wealth and connections they were born into. And yet these same people, rather than being humble about their own modest abilities and respectful of others [like Susan Rice & President Obama] who have accomplished so much in the world despite facing far more formidable obstacles, have the unmitigated call to question their credentials." ...

... BUT Michael Hirsh of the National Journal: Rice has other problems that dwarf the Benghazi flap.

Michael Fletcher & Zachary Goldfarb of the Washington Post: "AARP's rejection of any significant changes to the nation's safety net could be a major factor as policymakers seek a deal to put the government's finances in order through raising taxes and cutting spending on federal programs, possibly including popular entitlements such as Medicare and Social Security."

So Yesterday. Ben Smith of BuzzFeed: "Romney is being erased with record speed from his party's books for three reasons. First, many Republicans backed him because they thought he had a good chance of winning; that appeal, obviously, is gone. Second, Romney had shallow roots, and few friends, in the national Republican Party. And those shallow roots have allowed Republicans to give him a new role: As a sort of bad partisan bank, freighted with all the generational positions and postures that they are looking to dump."

It Ain't Your Pappy's Confederacy No More. Karen Cox in a New York Times op-ed: "THE coalition that voted for Mr. Obama nationally -- single women, minorities and young people -- is the same coalition that voted for the president in Southern states. Latino voters, for example, voted overwhelmingly for Mr. Obama, and they also represent the fastest-growing population within the South. Future elections will be determined by this expanding diversity in the region, much to the chagrin of conservative whites.... The Democratic Party and liberals north and west of us should put a lid on their regional biases and encourage the change that is possible here."

** Trevor Potter, a former FEC commissioner & chairman, whom you know best as Stephen Colbert's SuperPAC lawyer, blames the moribund, deadlocked Federal Elections Commission for failing to rein in SuperPACs, not the Supremes' Citizens United decision. CW: I found this quite enlightening. I hope the President gets around to reading this Washington Post op-ed because he can do something about this.

Igor Volsky of Think Progress: "A little more than a week after Mitt Romney lost his bid for the presidency, [former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt], the prominent Republican tapped to head his transition is encouraging states to implement the Affordable Care Act, a law which Romney had pledged to eliminate on 'day one'" during the 2012 campaign." Leavitt, "who also served as Health and Human Services Secretary under President George W. Bush..., is heavily invested in the law's state-based exchanges." CW: That's okay, Mike. When there's money in it for you, forget loyalty to the loser.

Your Tax Dollars at Play. Rajiv Chandrasekaren & Greg Jaffe of the Washington Post: "The commanders who lead the nation's military services and those who oversee troops around the world enjoy an array of perquisites befitting a billionaire, including executive jets, palatial homes, drivers, security guards and aides to carry their bags, press their uniforms and track their schedules in 10-minute increments. Their food is prepared by gourmet chefs. If they want music with their dinner parties, their staff can summon a string quartet or a choir.... The amenities afforded to today's military leaders are more lavish than anyone else in government enjoys, save for the president." CW: this makes the proverbial $400 hammer look like a bargain.

Greg Miller & Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: The FBI's probe of the Petraeus Affair reveals its nearly unfettered access to electronic communications. "Law enforcement demands for e-mail and other electronic communications from providers such as Google, Comcast and Yahoo are so routine that the companies employ teams of analysts to sort through thousands of requests a month. Very few are turned down."

Agence France Presse: "In March, a Florida radio talk show host named Todd Alan Clem but known as Bubba the Love Sponge said he was going to 'deep fat fry' a copy of the Koran as a stunt, the reports said. Gen. John Allen ... and CIA director David Petraeus, both asked Kelley, who lives in Tampa, to try to intervene and stop the radio host by contacting the city's mayor, Bob Buckhorn. 'I have Petraeus and Allen both emailing me about getting this dealt with,' Kelley wrote to the mayor, according to NBC News.... Kelley's emails were released by the mayor." CW Note: AFP is, of course, basing its assertion on Kelley's claim to the mayor, and Ambassador/Consul General Kelley has been known to exaggerate.

Congressional Races

Emma Fitzsimmons of the New York Times: "The former district director for [Rep. Gabrielle] Giffords [D-Az.], Ron Barber, had enough votes on Saturday to win the race for Arizona's Second Congressional District. Mr. Barber won a special election to fill Ms. Giffords's seat in June. But on Nov. 6, he barely eked out a victory over the Republican candidate, Martha McSally, a retired Air Force colonel, in an election for a full two-year term."

Right Wing World

No comment necessary.

News Ledes

President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton tour the Viharn of the Reclining Buddha with Chaokun Suthee Thammanuwat, the Dean of Buddhism of Wat Phra Chetuphon at the Wat Pho Royal Monastery in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday. AP photo.Washington Post: "President Obama on Sunday defended his trip to Burma, insisting that the visit Monday is 'not an endorsement' of the nation's long-repressive leadership but rather an acknowledgment that the country is making progress toward reform."

President Obama on Israel's right to defend itself:

Space: "A veteran astronaut crew representing the United States, Russia and Japan is returning back to Earth aboard a Soyuz capsule today (Nov. 18) to wrap up a four-month mission to the International Space Station."

New York Times: "Israel pressed its assault on the Gaza Strip for a fifth straight day on Sunday, deploying warplanes and naval vessels to pummel the coastal enclave and striking at two media offices here as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of a possible 'significant' expansion in the onslaught." ...

... Al Jazeera: "Israel is continuing its assault on the Gaza Strip for a fifth straight day, bombarding the Palestinian enclave from both the air and sea. Medical sources said at least three children and two women were killed on Sunday.... Meanwhile, fighters in Gaza fired rockets into Israel. Two of them, aimed at the commercial hub of Tel Aviv, were shot down by Israel's anti-missile system, police said." ...

... Washington Post Update: "Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip on Sunday killed at least 10 members of one family, including a mother and her four children, and struck two buildings used by journalists, inflicting the heaviest toll on civilians since fighting began Wednesday. Militants in Gaza continued to lob dozens of artillery rounds toward Israel, including two powerful long-range rockets that burst over Tel Aviv on Sunday after Israel's antimissile system intercepted them in mid-air." ...

... AP Update: "The U.S. and Britain on Sunday warned about the risks of Israel expanding its air assault on the Gaza Strip into a ground war, while vigorously defending the Jewish state's right to protect itself against rocket attacks. The remarks by President Barack Obama and Britain Foreign Secretary William Hague were part of a diplomatic balancing act by the West as it desperately seeks an end to the escalating violence without alienating its closest ally in the region."

AP: "Divers hired by the owner of an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico that caught fire recovered a body in the waters near the site Saturday evening, according to the U.S. Coast Guard and the rig's owner." ...

... AP: "The company that owns an oil platform that caught fire in the Gulf of Mexico has vowed to continue searching for a second missing worker after a body was recovered in the waters near the site."