The Commentariat -- April 7

** Matt Miller in the Washington Post: "Paul Ryan’s new fiscal blueprint doesn’t balance the budget until sometime between 2030 and 2040, and racks up more than $14 trillion in new debt by then. By Ryan’s own reckoning, his plan adds $5.7 trillion to the debt in the next decade alone, while more than tripling interest payments, from $212 billion this year to nearly $700 billion in 2021. The only way such a profligate plan can be called 'fiscally conservative' is by comparison to Barack Obama’s budget, which never comes close to balance and loads on more debt even faster. Meanwhile, both the House budget chairman and the president shortchange needed investments in America’s future. The question sane citizens should ask in the face of these dueling disappointments is: Why are these the only choices?" CW note: this column is a two-pager I can't link as a single page; it's worth clicking through to Page 2. ...

... Ezra Klein sums up his own observations about Ryan's budget plan in a post that's a pretty handy synopsis. ...

... Cheez Whiz. Karen Garcia on Paul Ryan: "The obvious point of the Ryan plan is to Scare Us All To Death, as well as start a generation war between Millennials and their grandparents." ...

... Captain "Courageous." Mark Thompson of Time: "Rep. Paul Ryan's plan to cut the federal budget is garnering a lot of attention because it makes tough choices. Except when it comes to defense spending, that is."

... Robert Greenstein of the Center on Budget & Policy Priorities talks to Neil Cohen of NPR about decreasing the deficit:

... Paul Krugman notices that somebody at the Heritage Foundation scrubbed the most ridiculous figure on the "the Heritage report that’s the basis for the Ryan plan": an "amazing" 2.8 percent unemployment rate. (CW: I hate to be fair to Paul Ryan since he isn't fair to any of us, but what Krugman doesn't say is that Ryan himself rejected the 2.8 figure & projected a slightly higher unemployment rate of 4. percent.) ...

... The Right Hand Doesn't Know What the Right Hand Is Doing. Jed Graham of Investors.com: "Under the balanced budget amendment proposal unveiled last Thursday with all 47 GOP senators on board, the blueprint presented by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan on Tuesday would be unconstitutional until sometime after 2030."

New York Times Editors: "The employment discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart, which the Supreme Court heard last week, is the largest in American history. If the court rejects this suit, it will send a chilling message that some companies are too big to be held accountable."

Economist Joseph Stiglitz, in Al Jazeera, on manageable risks American politicians refuse to manage: Both the Fukushima nuclear crisis and the American financial crash of 2008 "provide stark lessons about risks, and about how badly markets and societies can manage them.... Experts in both the nuclear and finance industries assured us that new technology had all but eliminated the risk of catastrophe. Events proved them wrong: not only did the risks exist, but their consequences were so enormous that they easily erased all the supposed benefits of the systems that industry leaders promoted."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "If you didn’t know it was a Supreme Court argument, you might think you were seeing a catastrophically overbooked cable television show. The justices of late have been jostling for judicial airtime in a sort of verbal roller derby." ...

... AND in case you were wondering why Congress can't get anything done -- David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: an academic study finds that Members of Congress spend 27 percent of their time taunting each other.

Our Friends in Bahrain. Clifford Krauss of the New York Times: "With Saudi troops now in the country to support King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, Bahrain has taken on the likeness of a police state. There have been mass arrests, mass firings of government workers, reports of torture and, on Sunday, the forced resignation of the top editor of the nation’s one independent newspaper."

Democrats Make Up Stuff, Too. Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi claimed that under the House's effort to kill the Affordable Care Act, "6 million seniors are deprived of meals — homebound seniors are deprived of meals." But, Kessler, writes, "It’s bad enough that she repeatedly mixed up 6 million meals and 6 million people — and made no effort to correct the record after her statement was reported in the media. But the figure she used appears to have been invented itself, with little basis in fact."

Right Wing World *

* House Members Vote against Facts. Ben Geman of The Hill: "The House rejected a Democratic amendment Wednesday that would have put the chamber on record backing the widely held scientific view that global warming is occurring and humans are a major cause. Lawmakers voted 184-240 against Rep. Henry Waxman’s (D-Calif.) amendment to a GOP-led bill that would strip the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to regulate greenhouse gases."

I Oppose Federal Government Spending -- Except in My District. Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "As a candidate, Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler [R-Wash.] denounced stimulus spending and, once elected, voted for a Republican budget bill that would make $61 billion in cuts to a vast array of programs this year." But now she's trying to get a $10 million grant for her district that she voted against in the omnibus Republican spendng bill HR 1. "In some cases, [like this one, Republican members of Congress] are trying to circumvent the very cuts they voted for." CW: we've heard this story before, and we'll hear it again. And again.

Sam Hananel of the AP: "Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Fla., said the average federal worker earns $101,628 in total compensation — including wages and benefits -- compared with $60,000 for the average private employee.... But ... a disproportionate number of federal employees are professionals, such as managers, lawyers, engineers and scientists.... A 2002 study of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office ... found that federal salaries for most professional and administrative jobs lagged well behind compensation offered in the private sector." CW: think of it as comparing the compensation of a Wal-Mart greeter and a NASA scientist as evidence federal workers are overpaid.

They Know It's Bad Because a Right-Wing Nut Said So. Justin Elliott of Salon: "One of the more striking things about the current anti-sharia craze is how often state legislators who introduce anti-sharia bills can't answer basic questions about Islamic law or why they see it as a threat." That's because "... many of the anti-sharia bills being considered around the country are either based on or directly copied from model legislation created by an obscure far-right Arizona attorney and activist named David Yerushalmi."

* Where facts never intrude.

Local News

Patrick Marley, et al., of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on the state supreme court race, which is almost certain to go to a recount, will keep the focus on the explosive standoff between unions and Gov. Walker & his Republican allies. "The campaigns of Kloppenburg and Prosser have talked to election officials about the process for recounts and what fundraising rules would be in place...." ...

... Kevin Brennan of the National Journal: "While the final outcome of Tuesday's Wisconsin Supreme Court race likely won't be known until after a recount, one result is already in: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) and his allies suffered a political loss. Before the drawn-out controversy over Walker's collective bargaining reforms, Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser seemed poised to cruise to reelection. Prosser won 55 percent of the vote in the February 15 primary, while Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg finished with just 25 percent. Less than two months later, Prosser finds himself trailing Kloppenburg by a few hundred votes, albeit with a few thousand absentee ballots left to count."

News Ledes

President Obama "reports to the nation" on progress this evening on budget negotiations:

New York Times: some top conservative Republicans publicly signal Speaker Boehner that he should cut a deal & not allow the government to shut down. ...

... Politico: "President Obama has 'postponed' his trip to Indiana scheduled for Friday, the White House announced late Thursday."

If presented with this bill, the President will veto it. -- White House statement on H.R. 1363, a stopgap bill which the House passed today ...

... Washington Post: "President Obama and congressional leaders met again Thursday night to try to negotiate a deal on a spending bill that would avert a looming federal government shutdown, and the lawmakers vowed to keep working on an agreement ahead of a Friday deadline." ...

We’ve been close on the cuts for days. The only things — I repeat, the only things — holding up an agreement are two of their so-called social issues: women’s health and clean air. -- Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader

... New York Times: "The frenetic negotiations to avert a government shutdown seem largely focused not on dollars and cents, where the two sides are not all that far apart, but on policy issues, primarily abortion and environmental regulations, that defy easy compromise.”

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "In a political bombshell, the clerk in a Republican stronghold released new vote totals adding a net total of 7,582 new votes in the tight state Supreme Court race to Justice David Prosser, swinging the race significantly in his favor."

President Obama & Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos spoke to the press this afternoon. Washington Post: "The government of Colombia has agreed to better protect union members and vigorously prosecute those responsible for violence against them, potentially paving the way for the Obama administration to seek congressional approval of a free trade treaty with the South American country."

New York Times: "Cathleen P. Black, a magazine executive with no educational experience who was named New York City schools chancellor last fall, stepped down Thursday, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced. Mr. Bloomberg called Ms. Black into his office Thursday morning and urged her to resign, officials said, ending a tumultuous and brief tenure for the longtime publisher."

Washington Post: "A powerful aftershock 16 miles off the northeastern coast of Honshu, Japan’s main island, late Thursday triggered tsunami warnings, one month after the country’s strongest quake on record hammered the same region."

AP: "Republicans ... plan to hold a House vote Thursday on one-week legislation to avoid a government shutdown, despite opposition from the White House and Senate Democrats pressing for a longer-term solution.... Thursday's GOP measure would combine a full-year Pentagon budget with a big slice of cuts to domestic programs as the price to keep the government running.... [Speaker] Boehner's move appeared aimed at shifting political blame if a shutdown occurs, but the announcement of Thursday's vote angered Democrats who felt talks were progressing." ...

     ... Washington Post Update: "Congressional negotiators working through the night failed to reach an agreement to fund the federal government for the remainder of the year, increasing the likelihood of a government shutdown beginning this weekend, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said Thursday morning. Reid said the talks foundered over two Republican policy provisions on abortion and the environment and that the negotiators largely agreed to an amount of spending cuts. But House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) disputed that, saying there was 'no agreement on a number' and that the disagreements were not limited to a couple of policy provisions known as 'riders.'” ...

     ... Politico Update: "Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Thursday that he’s starting to doubt whether Speaker John Boehner wants to reach a deal and avoid a government shutdown. 'Are you starting to question whether Speaker Boehner truly wants a deal?' a reporter asked Reid Thursday. 'Yes I am,' Reid responded."

... New York Times: "Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said on Thursday that if the United States government shuts down this weekend and into next week, American troops would experience a temporary halt in their pay." ...

The New York Times has the latest on what federal government services will be curtailed & what ones will not in the event of a shutdown.

Washington Post: "The Senate on Wednesday evening rejected a Republican measure that would limit the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Four Democrats – Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Ben Nelson (Neb.), Mary Landrieu (La.) and Mark Pryor (Ark.) – joined most Republicans in voting for the measure; one Republican, Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), joined Democrats in voting against it."

AP: "Rebel fighters are claiming that NATO airstrikes hit their forces on the front lines and touched off a retreat from the outskirts of the oil port of Brega."

AP: "Syria's president [Bashar Assad] has granted thousands of Kurds living in a northeastern province Syrian citizenship in the latest overture by Bashar Assad to try and quell extraordinary anti-government protests."

New York Times: "Portugal’s caretaker government gave in to market pressures on Wednesday and joined Greece and Ireland in seeking an emergency bailout. The decision came after the government was forced to pay much higher rates to sell more debt."

The Commentariat -- April 6

To those of you linking from The Sideshow, the site's main page is here.

Ezra Klein asks the question we've all been asking -- Where is President Obama? And why is he so disappointing when he does show up? ...

... Kevin Drum of Mother Jones cites Klein & adds, "I really have no idea what [President Obama] thinks of taxes, the deficit, Medicare cuts, or much of anything else on the domestic agenda. I guess he's figuring that if his political opponents insist on digging themselves into a hole, he might as well stand back and let them. But if he keeps this up much longer, there's going to be nothing left of his presidency except 'Well, I guess he's better than the wingnuts from the other party.'"

Sheryl Gay Stolberg & Robert Pear of the New York Times: federal agencies prepare for a shutdown. ...

     ... Update. Ed O'Keefe & Michael Raufe of the Washington Post: "Failure to reach a budget deal would mean furloughing about 800,000 federal employees nationwide — many of whom are expected to surrender their BlackBerries, according to senior administration officials familiar with shutdown planning. A shutdown might also require organizers to cancel Washington’s storied Cherry Blossom Parade, which is scheduled to occur Saturday morning along the Mall."

... Ben White of Politico: "Some market observers and federal government officials say [the shutdown] actually could be helpful by making a failure to raise the federal debt limit — a potentially catastrophic event — significantly less likely.... From an economic perspective, failure to raise the debt limit — or to even come close to failure — would have vastly larger implications than a brief shutdown. It could lead to an equity market collapse and a huge spike in interest rates as investors demand much larger payments for the increased risk of buying U.S. debt. But a government shutdown could ... make a deal to raise the debt limit later this spring easier for conservatives to swallow and more akin to previous, noncontroversial votes to raise the borrowing limit."

More on "The Path to Disparity Prosperity" -- the Ryan/Republican plan to gut entitlement programs and lower taxes on corporations & the rich: ...

How do you define "courage"? Probably not the same way Washington pundits do ...

What ConservaDem Senate Budget Deficit Hawks Think of the Ryan/Republican House Proposal:

I think that it completely lacks balance. He has dramatic cuts in taxes for the wealthiest among us and finances that by draconian cuts to those of us who are dependent on Medicaid and Medicare.
-- Kent Conrad (D-ND) Senate Budget Committee Chair

Independent experts agree the House plan would make deep cuts to the Medicare benefits seniors count on. It would end Medicare as we know it and funnel Medicare dollars directly into private insurance companies’ pockets. Under the House plan, seniors’ coverage would be cut drastically, benefits would no longer be guaranteed and seniors’ costs would skyrocket. -- Max Baucus (D-Montana), Senate Finance Committee Chair

... Glenn Kessler, the Washington Post fact-checker: "... the Ryan budget plan relies on dubious assertions, questionable assumptions and fishy figures. The ideas may be bold, but the budget presentation falls short of his claim that he is getting rid of budget gimmicks." ...

... Meredith Shiner of Politico: "Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) touted the help of former Clinton advisor Alice Rivlin — 'a great, proud Democrat' — in promoting a key Medicare provision in his budget proposal Tuesday. The only problem? Rivlin said she told the Republican she doesn’t support the final version of the measure he wrote into his budget — a provision Ryan referred to generally as the 'Ryan-Rivlin' plan when rolling out his sweeping economic blueprint."

... New York Times Editors: "Representative Paul Ryan’s proposals to reform Medicare and Medicaid are mostly an effort to shift the burden to beneficiaries and the states. They have very little reform in them.... For decades the Republicans have made clear their antipathy toward Medicare and Medicaid. Now they are trying to use the public’s legitimate concerns about the deficit to seriously cripple both programs. This isn’t real reform. If it moves forward, Americans will pay a high price." ...

... AND the Times Editors again: "The plan would condemn millions to the ranks of the uninsured, raise health costs for seniors and renege on the obligation to keep poor children fed. It envisions lower taxes for the wealthy than even George W. Bush imagined: A permanent extension for his tax cuts, plus large permanent estate-tax cuts, a new business tax cut and a lower top income tax rate for the richest taxpayers. Compared to current projections, spending on government programs would be cut by $4.3 trillion over 10 years, while tax revenues would go down by $4.2 trillion. So spending would be eviscerated, mainly to make room for continued tax cuts." ...

... "Not a Budget." Dana Milbank: "... for all ... the cuts, the Republicans’ plan increases the federal debt by more than $8 trillion over the next 10 years, and it continues federal budget deficits until nearly 2040. Under the proposed balanced budget amendment to the Constitution that Ryan and his Republican colleagues claim to support, Ryan’s budget wouldn’t be in compliance for at least the next quarter century. How could the House Republicans make such enormous cuts and yet not solve the debt crisis? Simple: Ryan’s proposal isn’t a budget. It’s a manifesto for the anti-tax cause." ...

... Harold Meyerson of the Washington Post: "If it does nothing else, the budget that House Republicans unveiled Tuesday provides the first real Republican program for the 21st century, and it is this: Repeal the 20th century." ...

... Jon Chait of The New Republic: "It contains a massive, regressive tax cut. Ryan does not want to talk about the tax cut. His video touting the plan focuses entirely on the debt, and makes no mention whatsoever of the tax cuts. Ryan doesn't mention the tax cuts, of course, because they unravel the entire rationale for his proposal.... He is making a choice -- not just cut Medicare to save Medicare, but also to cut Medicare in order to cut taxes for the rich." Includes video of Ryan's pitch, which I refuse to post. ...

... David Leonhardt of the New York Times: "... there is at least one big way in which the plan isn’t daring at all. It asks for a whole lot of sacrifice from everyone under the age of 55 and little from everyone 55 and over. Representative Paul Ryan, the Wisconsin Republican who wrote the plan, calls the budget deficit an “existential threat” to the United States. Then he absolves more than one-third of all adults from responsibility in dealing with that threat." Why? Because Boomers & the elderly vote. ...

... Bob Reich: "... if the shutdowns contribute to the belief among Americans that government doesn’t work, Republicans win over the long term.... That's why it’s so important that the President have something more to say to the American people than 'I want to cut spending, too, but the Republican cuts go too far.' The 'going too far' argument is no match for a worldview that says government is the central problem to begin with."

CW: somehow the MSM manages to cover every meeting of two or more teabaggers [Bloomberg] (and here [ABC News] and here, [New York Times], etc.) but when 2,000 people in Washington, & people in other cities across the country, march on the Koch brothers, you have to turn to alternative media to find out about it. Here's Alex Seitz-Wald of Think Progress on the April 4 marches on Koch & Co., which coincided with the anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. With video. As Karen Garcia noted in a post last week, when 5,000 people marched in New York City against the state's budget cuts, the New York Times, "the paper of record," didn't cover the event that took place in its own city. Garcia read about it on Al Jazeera!

The Lord-High Executioner. Mark Benjamin of Time: "Attorney General Eric Holder's announcement Monday that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four other alleged 9/11 plotters will be tried in military commissions rather than civilian courts means that KSM might face lethal injection at Guantanamo, and the President might have to personally sign off on his death.... In civilian court, a judge assigns the death penalty according to sentencing guidelines. In a military commission, the President must explicitly approve a death sentence. And the Military Commissions Act of 2009, which governs those cases, gives the President wide latitude to use his own judgment in a capital case." ...

... Kristen Breitweiser, 9/11 widow and activist, in Common Dreams, on the military trials: the Obama DOJ has abandoned the Constitution and President Obama has broken "his golden word," personally delivered to victims' families, to prosecute the remaining alleged 9/11 conspirators in open court. ...

... Dahlia Lithwick: "Attorney General Eric Holder finally put the Obama administration's stamp on the proposition that some criminals are 'too dangerous to have fair trials.' In reversing one of its last principled positions — that American courts are sufficiently nimble, fair, and transparent to try Mohammed and his confederates — the administration surrendered to the bullying, fear-mongering, and demagoguery of those seeking to create two separate kinds of American law.... It's about the president and his Justice Department conceding that the system of justice in the United States will have multiple tiers — first-class law for some and junk law for others."

Alex Pareene of Salon: "Liberty University, the evangelical private Christian school founded by dead apartheid-supporting bigot Jerry Falwell, received $445 million in federal financial aid last year. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, by the way, received $420 million from the federal government.... Liberty University -- where the biology department teaches Young Earth Creationism -- is, astoundingly, an accredited school of higher learning. The school was broke and in debt until God killed Falwell for the insurance money."

Right Wing World *

The Mysterious Governor Huckabee. CW: I'm late out of the box on this April 1 post by Siddhartha Mahanta of Mother Jones, but it's no April Fools joke:

Send a public records request seeking documents from his 12-year stint as Arkansas governor, as Mother Jones did recently, and an eyebrow-raising reply will come back: The records are unavailable, and the computer hard drives that once contained them were erased and physically destroyed by the Huckabee administration as the governor prepared to leave office and launch a presidential bid.... What do the Huckabee files hold?

     ... Read Mahanta's whole post. It's pretty fascinating. Oh, and he appends this 2007 video of Huckabee touting open government and transparency:

* Where facts never intrude.

Local News

We linked to this story from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel a couple of days ago, but let's milk it a little (hey, we're talking about the Dairy State): "Just in his mid-20s, Brian Deschane has no college degree, very little management experience and two drunken-driving convictions. Yet he has landed an $81,500-per-year job in Gov. Scott Walker's administration overseeing environmental and regulatory matters and dozens of employees at the Department of Commerce." His qualification: he is the son of one of Walker's big campaign backers. Thom Hartmann puts the story in perspective. First he notes that there is "a little-known provision in Scott Walker’s anti-union bill converts 37 government workers into political appointees to be handpicked by Walker himself." Then Hartmann assesses Walker's hiring skills:

So let’s get this straight -- a Wisconsin teacher with a Master’s degree doesn’t deserve to take home $50,000 a year -- but the drunken son of a big campaign donor with no experience or qualification whatsoever deserves $80,000 a year. Republican government at its finest.

     ... Wisconsin State Journal Update: "The son of a prominent lobbyist is being demoted following controversy over his selection for a high-paying post in the Walker administration. Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday announced that Brian Deschane would be sent back to the Department of Regulation and Licensing where he worked earlier this year as the bureau director of board services — a job that paid $64,728 a year.... Deschane never graduated from college and ... had no discernible experience in the field. Yet ... he was chosen to replace a 25-year state employee with a degree in chemical engineering and a resume full of management and regulatory experience.... The Walker administration and Jerry Deschane [Brian's father] both denied any quid pro quo took place." Journal Sentinel story here. ...

     ... Update from Daniel Bice of the Journal Sentinel: "the two candidates Deschane beat out to get the position as head of environmental and regulatory affairs": ... (1) a former state cabinet secretary under Republican Gov. Scott McCallum with a doctoral degree and eight years' experience overseeing the cleanup of petroleum-contaminated sites"' & (2) "a professional engineer who served since 2003 in the post to which Deschane was appointed." Neither got so much as an interview. Democrats want an investigation of whether or not Deschane is qualified for the job he has returned to & whether that hire was proper. Brian Deschane's father Jerry has admitted "he might have mentioned" his son's availability to Gov. Walker's chief of staff, who is the person who recommended young Brian for the $65K job.

News Ledes

President Obama spoke to the press briefly after his meeting with Sen. Reid & Speaker Boehner:

President Obama talks about the budget fight/government shutdown at his townhall in Bucks County:

     ... Update: video of the full event is here.

President Obama spoke at a National Action Networks event in New York City this evening. Update: the video is here.

Al Jazeera: "A coalition of Gulf allies has begun efforts to convince Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Yemeni president, to step down in response to anti-government protests that have swept the country in recent weeks. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations will convene a meeting among themselves and Yemeni representatives in Riyadh, the Saudi Arabian capital, in coming days, though an exact date has yet to be set."

Boston Globe: "An employee of a Christian summer camp on Cape Cod shot himself to death today just days after he became the focus of a criminal investigation into allegations that he sexually abused a camper during the 1980s, officials said.... The camp is the same one that apologized recently to US Senator Scott Brown for potential abuse he may have suffered there four decades ago.... Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represents a former camper who brought a sex abuse allegation to prosecutors on Monday, said the employee was his client's alleged abuser: Charles 'Chuck' DeVita, 43, who is listed on the camp's website as part of the leadership team and director of the physical plant."

New York Times: "President Obama has asked House Speaker John Boehner and Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, to come to the White House Wednesday at 8:45 p.m. to discuss the stalemate over the budget negotiations, White House officials said." Story has been updated: "President Obama emerged from an Oval Office meeting with Congressional leaders on Wednesday night with no breakthrough on the budget stalemate, but he said the 90-minute discussion had helped to 'narrow the issues' that are outstanding." See video above.

Love Letter from Gaddafi. AP: "Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has appealed directly to President Barack Obama to halt what the Libyan leader called 'an unjust war,' and wished Obama good luck in his bid for re-election next year. In a rambling, three-page letter to Obama obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, Gadhafi implored Obama to stop the NATO-led air campaign...."

President Obama visited a Bucks County, Pennsylvania, wind turbine plant & held a townhall meeting this afternoon. See video clip above.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin State "Justice David Prosser clung to a narrow lead over Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg in the state Supreme Court race early Wednesday.... But even with 99% of the vote counted, fewer than 600 votes -- about 0.04% of ballots -- separated the candidates.... That close margin had political insiders from both sides talking about the possibility of a recount, which Wisconsin has avoided in statewide races in recent decades. Any recount could be followed by lawsuits - litigation that potentially would be decided by the high court." AP story here. ...

     ... Journal Sentinel Update: "In a race still too close to call, Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg took a paper-thin lead over Justice David Prosser in the state Supreme Court race early Wednesday, capping a race marked by massive voter turnout, Gov. Scott Walker's union bargaining plan, and record spending by outside interest groups. As of 11:30 a.m. [12:30 pm ET], The Associated Press had results for all but 1 of the state's 3,630 precincts and Kloppenburg had taken a 235 vote lead...." This story has been updated: "As of 2:15 p.m., The Associated Press had tallied results for all of the state's 3,630 precincts and Kloppenburg had taken a 204-vote lead after Prosser had been ahead most of the night by less than 1,000 votes. Kloppenburg declared victory based on the AP's results."

... Rout. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Chris Abele -- a 44-year-old philanthropist, scion of a wealthy Boston family and political neophyte -- handily defeated state Rep. Jeff Stone (R-Greendale) ... to become the next Milwaukee County executive. Abele had 61% of the vote to 39% for Stone...." The position -- last held by Gov. Scott Walker -- is nonpartisan, but Abele is a long-time supporter of Democrats. Abele will complete the last year of Walker's term, and says he will run again for a full four-year term. Stone blamed "the unrest we had in Madison" for his defeat.

AP: "The protective ozone layer in the Arctic that keeps out the sun's most damaging rays — ultraviolet radiation — has thinned about 40 percent this winter, a record drop, the U.N. weather agency said Tuesday. The Arctic's damaged stratospheric ozone layer isn't the best known 'ozone hole' — that would be Antarctica's, which forms when sunlight returns in spring there each year. But the Arctic's situation is due to similar causes: ozone-munching compounds in air pollutants that are chemically triggered by a combination of extremely cold temperatures and sunlight."

New York Times: "Opposition forces in Ivory Coast said on Wednesday they had begun an assault to dislodge strongman Laurent Gbagbo from a bunker under his residence after he refused French and United Nations demands to leave."

Washington Post: "Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates arrived in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday for a meeting with King Abdullah.... Gates planned to report to Abdullah on the progress of a $60 billion arms deal with the Saudis and discuss plans for upgrading the nation’s missile defense system.... Saudi Arabia is the largest buyer of U.S. arms.... Some U.S. officials have bristled at the aggressive role of the Saudi military in last month’s crackdown in neighboring Bahrain. But a senior defense official ... said Wednesday that the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia remained strong."

Remembrances of Pantyhose Past

Since Frank Rich left the Times, Maureen Dowd has been trying to fill his shoes. Rich has a knack for seeing and exploiting the connections between retail politics and cultural fads and phenomena. Dowd does not, though evidently she thinks she does. In today's column, one of her lamest yet, she makes a stab at contrasting the demented, abusive Charlie Sheen with a fashion photographer named Bill Cunningham. She begins her essay by recounting an incident in which "a fashion designer" once "humiliated" her by publicly dissing her choice of pantyhose, after which Cunningham cheered her up by snapping her photo. Dowd ends her tour de faiblesse with Cunningham's remark, “As a kid, I went to church and all I did was look at women’s hats.”

Not surprisingly, the Times moderators rejected my comment, but I think it's a valid criticism. It probably is more worthwhile reading than Dowd's column. The terms of usage on your Adobe Flashdrive download are more worthwhile reading than Dowd's column. My comment:

This column would be appropriate to the "Style" section or perhaps even to the "Arts" section, but it does not belong on the op-ed page. The opposition you attempt to draw between Bill Cunningham and Charlie Sheen is thinner than a runway model. That both men have something to do with women is about as useful as contrasting the National Organization for Women with pantyhose, both of which have -- something to do with women.

Speaking of pantyhose, I don't know any adult women who would care if some evidently drunken and unquestionably boorish fashion designer didn't like theirs. I cannot think of anything any more trivial than the fashion correctness of pantyhose. I don't wear them. Besides, fashion designers are incapable of humiliating me. I don't care what they think because their entire frame of reference is superficial -- sort of like a guy who goes to church and thinks about hats.

If you want to write about how the world treats women, there are dozens of better ways to do so, and some of those better ways have come from you: for instance, your columns on the Roman Catholic Church's mistreatment of American nuns. Get back to journalism, please, Ms. Dowd, and leave the film reviews and fashion-world profiles for the pros in other sections of the paper.