The Commentariat -- March 19, 2012

My column in today's New York Times eXaminer is titled "A Useful Idiot" and discusses Bill Keller's advice to the president on how to decide whether or not to go to war. The NYTX front page, which is full of new stuff, is here. You can contribute here.

** Jeff Toobin of the New Yorker on the Supreme Court, healthcare derangement syndrome & Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Just read it. It is a horror story masked as news commentary and a smack-you-down cautionary tale to all It-Doesn't-Matter-Who's-President lefties.

In a review of Noam Scheiber's new book The Escape Artists, John Cassidy runs a replay of President Obama's middle-of-the-road economic moves. CW: will Second-Term Obama be any bolder? Not likely.

Matthew Rosenberg of the New York Times: "Sometime before midnight Saturday, a pair of rights groups — one Afghan, the other American — quietly posted online a report on how American authorities have continued to send detainees to Afghan prisons even though coalition forces ordered a halt to such transfers last year because of concerns about torture. The report ... added important new details about what goes on in prisons run by Afghanistan’s police and intelligence service, and about how some American agencies may be abetting torture."

James Dao of the New York Times profiles Robert Bales, the soldier accused of the unprovoked, coldblooded murders of 16 Afghans.

CW: I think this article by Sarah Hepola of the New York Times, the gist of which is -- Why is there no nw Gloria Steinem? -- is inherently stupid (it's in the Style section, so that's not surprising), but if you forget about Hepola's central thesis, she does get in some interesting history.

Paul Krugman: Republicans continue to make up lies about the Affordable Care Act. CW: I think we should recognize that they do this out of cruelty to those who will benefit or are benefiting now from provisions of the act. There is simply no good policy or political excuse for it.

Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "Congress is preparing to renew its bitter fight over government spending, as both parties eagerly await the arrival Tuesday of a new budget plan authored by Republican Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.)."

Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "The House plans to vote Tuesday on a bill that would repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board, a 15-member panel established as part of the health-care law that would convene in 2014 and make recommendations to Congress on how to change Medicare." Republicans call the panel "an 'unelected rationing board.' ... (Despite the GOP jab, the 2010 law explicitly bans the board from making any recommendation 'to ration health care.') The repeal legislation enjoyed notable Democratic support until last week, when GOP leaders announced plans to link it to another proposal to limit certain medical malpractice awards." CW: the board is supposed to save costs; I don't think ConservaDems know what they're doing here.

N. C. Aizenman of the Washington Post: "When the Supreme Court holds three days of hearings on the constitutionality of the law next week, supporters and opponents will be reaching for broader political targets. Backers see a moment to educate and sell Americans on a law that continues to confuse and divide them, and that has become a key issue in the presidential campaign. Opponents will direct their energy toward Congress, the potential next front in the fight if the court upholds the law."

Right Wing World

Way Before There Was Santorum.com -- Santorum? Is that Latin for asshole? -- Then Senator Bob Kerrey overheard asking another senator. Read this & 13 more "memories" about Santorum that Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker has collected

Public Policy Polling: "Mitt Romney is headed for a blowout victory in Illinois on Tuesday. He leads with 45% to 30% for Rick Santorum, 12% for Newt Gingrich, and 10% for Ron Paul."

Sarah Wheaton & Richard Oppel of the New York Times: In an us-agin-them speech, Rick Santorum told rural voters that Mitt Romney appeals to GOP voters in urban areas -- the same areas that favor Democrats.

Local News

Miriam Raftery of the East (San Diego) County Magazine: "Michael John Kobulnicky, 50, a leader in the San Diego Tea Party and former regional director of the Southern California Conservative Party, is under arrest for allegedly kidnapping and raping a local woman.... According to police, Kobulnicky offered a ride to a woman walking on Linda Vista Road around 7 p.m. on February 25. But instead of taking her home, he drove to Fiesta Island. There, the 205-pound, 6 ft. 3-inch tall suspect is accused of pulling the victim out of the vehicle and sexually assaulted the 56-year-old woman, then leaving her on the island.... According to his website, Kobulnicky  supports Christian values...." ...

... More from Lauren Steussy of NBC San Diego. "Surveillance footage of the area near the assault gave police evidence to pursue a suspect. They released a picture of the suspect to the public, and many identified the suspect as Kobulnicky." Here's part of the Tea Party statement, which should reassure you that the brutal sexual assault of women is not a Tea Party policy:

One of the things each volunteer of the Tea Party stands for is that each person is responsible for his or her own actions. This is individual responsibility.... This horrendous act of violence was perpetrated by an individual. It did not take place at a Tea party function nor would any Tea Party member or volunteer condone this act.... These allegations should never have become political in nature.

News Ledes 

New York Times: "Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, the owners of the Mets, on Monday settled the lawsuit brought against them by Irving H. Picard, the trustee for the victims of Bernard L. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, for $162 million. The agreement is binding. Picard had accused Wilpon and Katz of ignoring warnings that Madoff was running a fraud during their many years of investing with him. They had said they were unaware of any 'red flags' and had charged that Picard fabricated and distorted evidence against them."

New York Times: "Heavy fighting erupted early Monday between armed defectors and the Syrian Army in a wealthy and well-protected area of Damascus, according to anti-government activists and residents who described the clashes as the most intense in such a strategic area of the capital since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began a year ago." Al Jazeera story here. Al Jazeera's liveblog on Syria is here.

Guardian: "Charges against an American soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians are expected to be filed within a week, and any trial would be held in the United States, according to a legal expert with the US military."

New York Times: A man opened fire outside a Jewish school in southwest France on Monday morning, killing four people, three of them children, and wounding another.... Witnesses said that a man fled the scene in Toulouse on a motorbike."

AP: "President Barack Obama raised $45 million for his re-election bid in February, bringing his total to about $300 million for this election cycle, his campaign said Monday."

As a follow-up to yesterday's Ledes, CNN reports that Mitt Romney won all 20 GOP delegates from Puerto Rico. "With about 83% of total ballots accounted for early Monday in Puerto Rico, Romney had garnered more than 98,000 votes -- or 83% of the total -- based on unofficial results obtained from local party and election officials. Rick Santorum was a distant second, at 8% with slightly more than 9,500 votes." CW: evidently telling Spanish-speaking people they have to learn English if they want to become a state (even though there's no such Constitutional requirement) is not a winning strategy.

The Commentariat -- March 18, 2012

My column in today's New York Times eXaminer is on the Myth of the Grand Bargain. I posted it myself as my editor is away, & couldn't figure out how to get it on the front page, so only YOU will know it's there.

... "Doonesbury" appears in Slate here.

Peterr of Firedoglake: "The Obama administration continues its caving to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops on the requirements of the Affordable Care Act, and seeks input on ways in which to continue its spelunking in the future.... HHS did not announce final rules, but put forward a 32 page proposal for comment [pdf] on religious organizations and their obligation (or lack thereof) to provide coverage for 'certain preventive services.' [allowing exemptions for religious organizations that self-insure & possibly changing the definition of "religious employers"] That 'self insurance' loophole is a huge exemption. Look for any Roman Catholic institutions that aren’t self-insured already to set themselves up that way in short order. If you wish to take HHS up on their offer to listen to comments on this proposal, page 3 of the pdf has four ways to submit your thoughts." ...

   ... CW: Peterr claims in his post that Georgetown U., which Sandra Fluke attends, will be exempted from providing students with contraceptive coverage. However, according to a Washington Post story I linked yesterday, because the Georgetown "policy is not a self-insured plan, the birth control mandate will soon apply." The New York Times report agrees, in essence, with the Post report; that is, Georgetown students will be covered. Peterr is right about this much, tho: if a religiously-affiliated institution is not self-insuring now, it is likely to do so to get out of having to provide contraceptive coverage.

New York Times Editors: "... homeowners are still bearing the brunt of the mortgage debacle. Taxpayers are still supporting too-big-to-fail banks. And banks are still not being held accountable."

Former Reagan budget director David Stockman & New York Times financial reporter Gretchen Morgenson talk to Bill Moyers about the crony capitalism that controls Washington. Thanks to contributor Dave S. for the link:

Matt Flegenheimer of the New York Times reports on some of the blog entries of Karilyn Bales, wife of Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers last week. "Though much of the family’s online presence appears to have been removed in recent days, the fragments that remain capture the daily travails typical of any family with a loved one stationed abroad." ...

... Jennifer Preston of the Times has more. ...

... Elisabeth Bumiller of the Times looks at the issue of high stress for troops deployed numerous times.

CW: Here's something I knew absolutely zero about. Nicholas Kristof writes that Backpage.com, "the premier Web site for human trafficking in the United States, according to the National Association of Attorneys General..., is owned by Village Voice Media, which also owns the estimable Village Voice newspaper. the Village Voice.... The Brooklyn district attorney’s office says that the great majority of the sex trafficking cases it prosecutes involve girls marketed on Backpage."

How Not to Attract Tourists. Pilot Mark Vanhoenacker  in a New York Times op-ed: "... a 2006 survey by the U.S. Travel Association ... found that foreign travelers were more afraid of United States immigration officials than of terrorism or crime. They rated America’s borders by far the least welcoming in the world. Two-thirds feared being detained for 'minor mistakes or misstatements.'”

Right Wing World

** Rick Perlstein in Rolling Stone: conservatives have always been crazy.

Charles Babington of the AP: "The millions of dollars spent by Mitt Romney's allies on TV ads attacking his two main rivals have helped Romney pull ahead in the GOP presidential race.... Republican insiders say Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich are fuming over the hard-hitting 30-second spots that sent them tumbling after they gained early leads in Iowa, Florida, Michigan and other states.... Campaign veterans say Santorum and Gingrich feel the commercials were pointedly unfair, and that's a big reason they keep fighting...."

Doyle McManus of the Los Angeles Times: Mitt "Romney's beginning to look a bit like a Republican version of Dukakis: a Massachusetts governor who might win the nomination by outlasting weak opponents but who may never quite win his party's heart — or the nation's. That's partly because, as Dukakis did, Romney is selling himself as a better manager for the federal government, not as the leader of a grand crusade." ...

... If Governor Romney thinks that he is the CEO of America and can run and manage the economy, he doesn’t understand what conservatives believe in. We don’t want someone in Washington, D.C. to manage the economy. We want someone who can get Washington out of our lives. -- Rick Santorum, on CNN's "State of the Nation" today

CW: Kasie Hunt & Rachel Zoll of the AP are "puzzled" that Roman Catholic Republicans are not lining up behind Rick Santorum. Maybe it's because of this: "Less than one-quarter of Catholics attend Mass weekly. Most use artificial contraception, support gay civil unions or marriage, and hold other views contrary to church teaching." Not to mention this: "Less than half of the Catholic Republicans surveyed knew Santorum's faith, the survey showed, while 11 percent of Catholic Republicans and 35 percent of white evangelical Republicans thought Santorum was an evangelical."

Fore! Ian Millhiser of Think Progress: "In an article that would appear to be a poorly-executed parody of Texas Senate candidate Ted Cruz’s (R) right-wing beliefs it Cruz had not posted it on his own website, the Tea Party stalwart touts a truly ridiculous conspiracy theory about George Soros secretly partnering with the United Nations to come into our cities and eliminate our right to play golf." Apparently Cruz is a viable candidate & could soon become the Honorable Senator Cruz.

News Ledes

ABC News: "President Obama opened up a 30-minute documentary on childhood bullying for Cartoon Network this evening, continuing awareness initiatives he set into motion last year."

New York Times: "Mitt Romney was the winner of the Republican presidential primary Sunday in Puerto Rico.... Mr. Romney was defeating Mr. Santorum by a wide margin in the United States territory, which has 20 delegates, with The Associated Press saying Mr. Romney was likely to take all of them."

New York Times: "Scores of Occupy Wall Street protesters were arrested on Saturday night as police officers swept Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan and closed it. Dozens of demonstrators sat down and locked arms as officers moved in about 11:30 p.m. The protesters chanted 'we are not afraid' as the police began pulling people from the crowd, one by one, and leading them out of the park in handcuffs." Reuters story here.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "Crowds and chaos rattled Missouri's GOP caucuses on Saturday, threatening to put further scrutiny on a process that was already a national anomaly.... Participants in Saturday's caucuses weren't actually selecting their choice for presidential nominee. They were selecting delegates who will appear at two larger meetings in April and June, who will in turn select delegates to the national convention in Tampa."

AP: "Puerto Rico's residents cannot vote in general elections, but are set to award 20 delegates in their Sunday Republican primary."

Reuters: "Motorcycle-riding gunmen linked to al Qaeda shot and killed an American teacher in the Yemeni city of Taiz on Sunday, and Yemeni officials said government forces killed up to 14 militants in clashes and artillery attacks on their strongholds. The attacks underscore the challenges facing President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi who took office last month after a year of massive protests against his predecessor Ali Abdullah Saleh."

Reuters: "A car bomb hit Syria's second city Aleppo on Sunday, a day after blasts killed 27 in Damascus, and security forces arrested and beat activists at a rare anti-government protest in the centre of the capital."

Reuters: "Germans resoundingly elected Joachim Gauck, a former Lutheran pastor and human rights activist from communist East Germany, as president of the European Union's largest country on Sunday, posing a potential political headache for Chancellor Angela Merkel."

Reuters: "A group of 22 Chinese authors have filed a claim against U.S. technology group Apple (APPL.O), alleging its App Store sells unlicenced copies of their books, Chinese state media reported on Sunday. The group, the Writers Rights Alliance, petitioned Apple last year to stop electronic distribution of the writers' books and had earlier persuaded Baidu (BIDU.O), China's largest search engine, to stop publishing their material on its Baidu Library product."

Blah Blah. Chicago Tribune: Romney & Santorum diss each other & the President ahead of the Illinois primary.

The Commentariat -- March 17, 2012

The President's Weekly Address:

    ... The transcript is here.

Peter Behrens, in a New York Times op-ed: "... for many Irish-Americans and Irish-Canadians, including me, St. Patrick’s Day isn’t really about Ireland. It’s about our ancestors leaving that country, often in bitter circumstances, and risking everything on a hazardous journey and being met with fierce hostility and scorn. It is about immigrants struggling, and mostly succeeding, in their new life, or making success possible for their children and grandchildren. It is a story that should describe all newcomers to America. This March 17, on this side of the water, we ought to be celebrating immigration, not just Irishness." ...

... CW: I'll go along with that. I was planning not to celebrate St. Patrick's Day this year, as I've had my fill of Cardinal Timothy Dolan & his anti-sex/anti-woman crusade, not to mention the Irish Catholic Church and its venerable heritage of pedophilia. So here's to my great-grandfather, some five generations back, William Jarlath O'Beirne, who arrived here in the 1860s with his brother Dominick, when both boys were teenagers.

Aaron Restuccia of The Hill: "President Obama will embark on a four-state tour next week to highlight his energy plan amid intensifying GOP attacks on the White House over soaring gas prices.The tour comes as gas prices continue to rise, reaching a national average of $3.83 Friday, according to AAA. Obama will travel to Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Ohio on Wednesday and Thursday, and will deliver remarks in all four states." ...

... President Obama, in campaign fundraising mode:

Words Matter. Kevin Drum of Mother Jones: How the Obama administration's "deep-sixing the 'war on terror' rhetoric really did hurt al-Qaeda."

Friday Afternoon News Dump. N. C. Aizenman of the Washington Post: "The Obama administration’s controversial birth control health insurance coverage rule will not apply to a type of plan used by about 200,000 college and graduate students, officials said Friday. The administration’s authority to issue the rule stemmed from the 2010 health-care law. Officials said they have concluded that for technical legal reasons the law’s reach does not extend to 'self-insured'” student plans, meaning those for which a college or university collects premiums directly from students, then uses the pool to pay for their health care."

Right Wing World

** End Medicare Now. Dana Milbank: "Are Republicans ready to be trusted with the reins of power? If you’re thinking of answering this in the affirmative, you might want to pause long enough to learn what transpired on the third floor of the Capitol on Thursday. There, four prominent Republican lawmakers announced their proposal to abolish Medicare — 'sunset' was their pseudo-verb — even for those currently on the program or nearing retirement."

Is Rick Santorum electable? Remember his last Senate race? … By historic margins, Pennsylvania voters rejected Rick Santorum. -- Mitt Romney ad ...

... The Biggest (Okay, the Bigger) Loser. Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "Romney, like Santorum lost by 17% in a Senate election, in his 1994 race vs. Ted Kennedy. Romney, however, lost big in a historically good year for Republicans, while Santorum lost big in a historically bad year for Republicans." CW Translation: "The other guy's bad, but I'm worse."

It's hard to create a job if you've never had one. -- Mitt Romney, on President Obama ...

... James Bouie of the American Prospect. Romney's assertion is so wrong, in so many ways, including the implicit racism -- black people laze around in do-nothing government jobs (living off nice white people money). Read the whole post.

Jonathan Bernstein, in the Washington Post, on the two, mutually-exclusive Barack Obamas Republicans are running against, & which people who do not live in Right Wing World will not recognize come the general election. CW: Maybe the hand-lettered sign my friend Kate M. saw at a Wisconsin rally would help get these people centered on reality:

Obama is not a brown-skinned
Anti-war socialist

Who gives away free healthcare!
You are thinking of Jesus.

GOP Congressmen invite lobbyists to party in Key Largo -- for a price:

Clueless in Missouri. Scott Keyes of Think Progress: "Three Missouri Republicans running to take on Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) in November were asked during a radio debate on KMOX what the federal minimum wage is and whether they would vote to increase it. None of the three knew what the minimum wage is, but all knew that they would vote against increasing it, regardless." CW Translation: "We don't know what it is, but if it helps poor people, we're against it. P.S. We're rich."

Local News

Paul Davenport of the AP: "Women in Arizona trying to get reimbursed for birth control drugs through their employer-provided health plan could be required to prove that they are taking it for a medical reason such as acne, rather than to prevent pregnancy. A bill nearing passage in the Republican-led Legislature allows all employers, not just religious institutions, to opt out of providing contraceptive coverage when doing so would violate their religious or moral beliefs." CW Translation: "We do does not want our sweet little Arizona gals having sex, and if they can't help doing what comes naturally, well, we hope they get knocked up." When this GOP primary is over, Santorum should move to Arizona. He'd be right happy there.

Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin "State Sen. Pam Galloway [R], who faces a recall election this summer, is resigning from the Senate effective Saturday, leaving an even split between Republicans and Democrats." Galloway said her family was experiencing "multiple, sudden and serious health issues" which required her full attention. "Galloway submitted a letter Friday to the Senate saying her resignation would take effect at midnight.... Her departure comes at the end of the legislative session. But her leaving will change the makeup of committees, including ones that are active when the Legislature is out of session."

How Low Can They Go? Here's a start, but I expect worse. Eric Pfeiffer of Yahoo! News: "An image purporting to show a racist, anti-Obama bumper sticker on the back of a vehicle has been garnering lots of attention on Facebook in the past 24 hours. The bumper sticker reads, 'Don't Re-Nig in 2012.' And in smaller print below, "Stop repeat offenders. Don't' reelect Obama!" The sticker also features an image of the Obama campaign logo crossed out.... It's still unclear is the image of the vehicle has been altered in any way, but a website called 'Stumpy's Stickers' offers the bumper sticker for sale for $3."

News Ledes

President Obama stops by a Washington, D.C. Irish pub for a Guiness. Politico story here. Video here.

New York Times: "But hours [after speaking to President Obama], after meeting with the families of the 16 Afghans killed this week in a shooting rampage attributed to an American soldier, [Afghan President Hamid] Karzai lashed out again at the United States, saying he was at 'the end of the rope' over the deaths of Afghan civilians at the hands of NATO forces. He reiterated his call to confine coalition forces to major bases and to speed up the handoff to Afghan troops. He also accused American officials of not cooperating with a delegation he had sent to investigate the killings in the Panjwai district of Kandahar Province, in southern Afghanistan."

Reuters: "Twin blasts hit the heart of Damascus on Saturday, killing at least 27 people in an attack on security installations that state television blamed on 'terrorists' seeking to oust President Bashar al-Assad."

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: President "Obama ... was feted at three events over about five hours in Georgia: a $10,000-per-person reception at a home near Morningside, a gala at the studios, where the minimum ticket was $250, and a party at Perry's mansion near Vinings for those willing to part with $38,500."

Chicago Sun-Times: "President Barack Obama returned home [to Chicago] for two fund-raisers Friday, taking aim at GOP rivals stumping in Illinois in advance of the Tuesday primary as contenders who hardly measured up to another president from Illinois — a Republican, Abe Lincoln."

New York Times: "A co-founder of Invisible Children, the nonprofit organization whose video 'Kony 2012' has become an Internet sensation, was detained by the San Diego police on Thursday, after they said he was found in the street in his underwear, screaming and interfering with traffic. The police found Jason Russell, the filmmaker behind the video, after responding to calls about a man who was acting irrationally, including one call that alleged he was naked and masturbating...."