The Commentariat -- October 1

I've posted an Open Thread on Off Times Square for the weekend.

President Obama's Weekly Address:

Barbara Ehrenreich in a Washington Post op-ed: "Admirers of the rich, led by pundits and politicians on the right — from Laura Ingraham to Larry Kudlow — have long derided the victimization claims of African Americans, women, gays and the unemployed, but now they’re raising their voices to defend the rich against what they see as an ugly tide of 'demonization.' ... You would never guess from all the talk of demonization that the rich enjoy perhaps the strongest PR machine on the planet, far beyond their entourages of agents, publicists and assorted image-makers. The mainstream media, for example.... Evangelical Christianity ... once harbored an ancient biblical bias in favor of the poor, but now, at least in its high-profile megachurch manifestations, it has abandoned the book of Matthew for a 'prosperity gospel' that counts wealth as a mark of God’s favor."

Peter Finn of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department wrote a secret memorandum authorizing the lethal targeting of Anwar al-Aulaqi, the American-born radical cleric who was killed by a U.S. drone strike Friday, according to administration officials. The document was produced following a review of the legal issues raised by striking a U.S. citizen and involved senior lawyers from across the administration. There was no dissent about the legality of killing Aulaqi, the officials said." ...

... Greg Miller of the Washington Post: Anwar "Aulaqi’s death represents the latest, and perhaps most literal, illustration to date of the convergence between the CIA and the nation’s elite military units in the counterterrorism fight.... Traveling from secret bases on opposite sides of Yemen, armed drones from the CIA and the military’s Joint Special Operations Command converged above Anwar al-Aulaqi’s position in northern Yemen early Friday and unleashed a flurry of missiles. US officials said the CIA was in control of all the aircraft, as well as the decisions to fire, and that the operation was so seamless that even hours later, it remained unclear whether a drone supplied by the CIA or the military fired the missile that ended the al-Qaeda leader’s life." ...

... Here are President Obama's full remarks regarding the killing of Awlaki, remarks made yesterday morning during the ceremony for changing of the Joint Chiefs of Staff:

... Scott Shane of the New York Times: "The reported killing of Anwar al-Awlaki on Friday, an American citizen hit by a missile fired from a drone operated by his own government, instantly reignited a difficult debate over terrorism, civil liberties and the law." ...

... Michael Crowley of Time: "... the Awlaki killing ... is an occasion for Washington to debate some basic questions about our targeted killing campaign." ...

... Kevin Drum of Mother Jones: "... there are very good reasons that national governments are more constrained in their ability to kill their own citizens than in their ability to kill foreigners, constraints enshrined in both the explicit rules and longstanding traditions of due process. That bright line has grown a lot dimmer today. The hardcore national security hawks in both parties will likely cheer Obama's 'toughness' today, but they shouldn't. Bright lines, once crossed, seldom survive."

Occupy Wall Street

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake has a good overview of the protest. CW: The organizer's site is here -- it was down when I tried to load it, which could be a good sign. Anyway, Gosztola goes a fine job of reporting on the protesters' goals and messages. ...

... Gosztola is livingblogging today's activities. Here's a Fox "News" chopper-cam scan of yesterday's impressive crowd at One Police Plaza, which I got from Gosztola's liveblog:

... James Downie of the Washington Post: "Media coverage — even on the left — has been minimal, and what coverage has existed has been largely derisive. Cable’s liberal stalwart Rachel Maddow didn’t have a segment on the protest until last night, Mother Jones ran an article entitled 'why #occupywallstreet isn’t working,' and Grist’s Dave Roberts said the occupation was 'designed to discredit leftie protest.' And, yet, the occupation is spreading." ...

... After getting off to a shaky start (see also Karen Garcia on this), the New York Times metro assignment editor seems to be putting actual reporters on the story. N. R. Kleinfield & Cara Buckley of the Times: "The stalwarts seem to range from a relatively modest 100 to 300 people, though the ranks swelled to more than 2,000 on Friday as the protest has begun to attract mainstream attention from those disaffected with the weak economy and to enlist support from well-known liberals. The actress Susan Sarandon stopped by, as did the Princeton professor Cornel West and former Gov. David A. Paterson of New York." ...

... Marie Antoinette & her Wall Street courtiers sip champagne as the common people protest the Wall Street regime. Perhaps Queen Marie is unaware of the possible consequences of the amusing street spectacle:

... Karen Garcia has more on the Marie Antoinette of Wall Street & her entourage. Garcia includes this etching of the original Marie reviewing the unwashed masses from her own balcon (that's the Marquis de Lafayette there kissing the Queen's hand):

... AND Now for a Word from Baron von Bloomberg of the NYC von Bloombergs. Harry Siegel of the Village Voice: "New Yorkers need 'to help the banks' was Mayor Michael Bloomberg's message to the Occupy Wall Street crowd in his weekly radio appearance on the John Gambling show. 'The protesters are protesting against people who make $40-50,000 a year and are struggling to make ends meet. That's the bottom line,' Bloomberg said..., adding that 'we all' share blame for taking on too much risk, not just the financial industry.... Asked if there's an 'end-game' for the protesters and if they will be allowed to stay in Zuccotti Park, which is privately owned but open to the public, Bloomberg said, 'We'll see.'" ...

... NEW. Kevin Gosztola has more on Baron von Bloomberg's radio daze. ...

... Matt Stoller in Naked Capitalism: "What these people are doing is building, for lack of a better word, a church of dissent. It’s not a march, though marches are spinning off of the campground. It’s not even a protest, really. It is a group of people, gathered together, to create a public space seeking meaning in their culture. They are asserting, together, to each other and to themselves, 'we matter'”.

Right Wing World *

Gov. Rick Perry, who's had government jobs most of his life, says billionaire investor Warren Buffett understand the private sector. Via Jed Lewison of Daily Kos:

Ha Ha Ha Ha. Erik Wemple of the Washington Post notes that, according to the Daily Caller story (which the editor stands by), the EPA is seeking to add 230,000 employees at an additional cost of $21 billion. That would be a 244 percent increase over their previous year's budget, by Wemple's calculation. You'd think somebody besides the Daily Caller would have noticed. Oh, and the Daily Caller didn't bother to ask the EPA how they could justify this extraordinary expansion. Well, no, because the quote from the EPA spokesperson would have been, "Ha ha ha ha."

* Where capitalists don't understand capitalism but career bureaucrats do.

Local News

We are at war with these people ["these people" being Ohio public employees]. -- Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio) ...

... CW: the first part of this post of Kathie Bracy's blog authenticates a letter from Dr. Michael Shreffler, an Ohio schools superintendent. The letter, which appears in full in the blogpost, is well-worth a read, especially if you live in Ohio. If Ohioans think John Kasich is on their side, they have another think coming. (And next time, Gov. Kasich should be more careful whom he invites to his rant parties.) Thanks to reader Wayne M. for the link.

This boy is not a rapist ...... BUT. Jill of Brilliant at Breakfast: "In response to a string of at least 10 unsolved sexual assaults in Brooklyn, New York police are reportedly stopping women on the street who are wearing clothing they say is revealing and advising them to cover up if they don’t want to be raped." Jill goes on to point out the error of the cops' logic. CW: Somehow I don't think the cops will get Jill's "nuanced" advice.

News Ledes

Al Jazeera: "NATO-led forces have captured Haji Mali Khan, a senior commander for the Haqqani network in Afghanistan, during an operation in eastern Paktia province earlier in the week. Khan is 'the uncle of Siraj and Badruddin Haqqani ... one of the highest ranking members of the Haqqani network and a revered elder of the Haqqani clan,' the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement on Saturday. The Haqqani network, which attacked the US emabssy in Kabul earlier this month, is based on the Afghan-Pakistan border." With video.

NYPD officers arrest & cuff a child on the Brooklyn Bridge:

... Al Jazeera: "New York City police say about 500 protesters have been arrested after they swarmed the Brooklyn Bridge and shut down a lane of traffic for several hours. Police say some demonstrators spilled onto the roadway Saturday night after being told to stay on the pedestrian pathway. Officers cut the marchers off, plunged into the crowd, and began making arrests as marchers chanted, 'Shame! Shame!'" ...

     ... AP Update: "More than 700 protesters demonstrating against corporate greed, global warming and social inequality, among other grievances, were arrested Saturday after they swarmed the Brooklyn Bridge and shut down a lane of traffic for several hours in a tense confrontation with police.... The majority of those arrested were given citations for disorderly conduct and were released, police said."

... NBC News: "Police confronted protesters in a heated exchange on the Brooklyn Bridge, where thousands of Occupy Wall Street marchers snarled traffic and blocked both sides of the expanse Saturday. Police made arrests but would not release the number because the protest is continuing, NBC New York reported." ...

... Gawker (yes, sometimes the best source for news): "... NYPD spent Saturday allowing Occupy Wall Street protesters to halfway-cross the Brooklyn Bridge before cutting the marchers off and arresting several people, a controversial crowd-control tactic known as 'kettling.'"

Washington Post: "The Energy Department defied Republican critics Friday by announcing that it had committed an additional $4.7 billion in loan guarantees toward four big-dollar clean technology projects just hours before the program’s funding expired. The announcement marked a dramatic ending for the $18 billion loan guarantee program, which has been central to the administration’s push to create jobs and promote green technology. Simultaneously, the program has come under fire for its handling of a half-billion-dollar loan to Solyndra, a solar company that collapsed in August."

AP: "President Barack Obama and his House Republican adversaries feuded over how to best create jobs in the weakened U.S. economy Saturday, with Obama demanding Congress pass his $447 billion jobs bill and the GOP countering with a call for less government red tape." Video of the President's weekly address in the left column.

Reuters: "Florida defied national Republican Party leaders on Friday and set its U.S. presidential primary election for January 31, a move likely to push forward the 2012 election schedule as other states jockey to keep their influence."

The Commentariat -- September 30

I have a comments page up on Off Times Square, the subject of which is President Obama & Civil Liberties. Write on this or something else.

[Anwar] Al-Awlaki was born here, he’s an American citizen, he was never tried or charged for any crimes. To start assassinating American citizens without charges - we should think very seriously about this.... If the American people accept this blindly and casually, that we now have an accepted practice of the President assassinating people who he thinks are bad guys, I think it’s sad. -- Rep Ron Paul (R-Texas) ...

... Glenn Greenwald: "After several unsuccessful efforts to assassinate its own citizen, the U.S. succeeded today (and it was the U.S.).  It almost certainly was able to find and kill Awlaki with the help of its long-time close friend President Saleh, who took a little time off from murdering his own citizens to help the U.S. murder its."

Yesterday I linked to a New York Times op-ed by Fred Bergsten, an Assistant Treasury Secretary under Jimmy Carter, who wrote that reducing the U.S. trade deficit would greatly improve the U.S. economy and the jobs situation; lowering the trade deficit would, in effect, be a tax-free stimulus. David Dayen of Firedoglake gets into the weeds on legislation that has been floating around Congress, some of which is about to come up for a Senate vote, that -- by imposing tariffs on China -- would move toward doing exactly what Bergsten proposes. But, oh, there are impediments, as Dayen explains, even though members of Congress from both sides of the aisle have favored such legislation in the past. ...

... Harold Meyerson of the Washington Post cites academic studies that demonstrate the disastrous effect China has had on U.S. jobs -- and why the legislation is needed. Among the findings: "Between 2001 and 2010, the U.S. trade deficit with China cost Americans 2.8 million jobs.... Most of those jobs — 1.9 million — were in manufacturing.... As China’s productivity soared during the past decade, the value of its currency should have risen correspondingly. Instead, China purchased dollars..., [thus] depressing the yuan and making Chinese exports about 28 percent cheaper than they would be if the yuan had been allowed to appreciate...."

News You Can Use. Ann Carrns of the New York Times: "Starting Saturday, big banks must comply with a new regulation that caps the fees they can charge merchants for processing debit card purchases. But some consumers are already seeing the impact of the change, in the form of higher fees charged on their checking accounts, as banks seek to recoup lost revenue. Bank of America is the latest bank to say it will begin charging a monthly fee for checking accounts that use debit cards. Starting early next year, the bank will charge $5 a month, in any month that the customer uses a debit card to make a purchase." (Emphasis added.) Here's a more detailed NYT article on the same subject. ...

Plum Island. AP photo.More News You Can Use, If You Want to Buy an Island. Edward Wyatt of the New York Times: "Deep within President Obama’s proposals to raise revenue and reduce the deficit lies a method that has garnered bipartisan support, something rare in Washington these days. It involves selling an island, courthouses, maybe an airstrip, generally idle or underused vehicles, roads, buildings, land — even the airwaves used to broadcast television. Among the listings: Plum Island, N.Y., off the North Fork of Long Island, which the government has already begun marketing as 840 acres of 'sandy shoreline, beautiful views and a harbor.' As former home to the federal Animal Disease Center, it may need a bit of 'biohazard remediation,' making it a real fixer-upper."

Paul Krugman: "Despite what Republican presidential candidates are saying, regulation and taxes are not responsible for America’s weak job growth." ...

... In a blogpost, Krugman asks: "If fear of future regulations and taxes is holding business back, as everyone on the right asserts, why didn’t the Republican victory in the midterms set off a surge in employment?" ...

... Meanwhile, Some of the Newly Unemployed Don't Have to Worry. "Pay for Failure." Eric Dash of the New York Times: "The eye-popping severance package continues to thrive in spite of the measures put in place in the wake of the financial crisis to crack down on excessive pay.... Last week, Léo Apotheker was shown the door after a tumultuous 11-month run atop Hewlett-Packard. His reward? $13.2 million in cash and stock severance, in addition to a sign-on package worth about $10 million.... At the end of August, Robert P. Kelly was handed severance worth $17.2 million in cash and stock when he was ousted as chief executive of Bank of New York Mellon.... A few days later, Carol A. Bartz took home nearly $10 million from Yahoo after being fired...."

Adam Serwer of Mother Jones takes a more nuanced position on President Obama's failure to be a civil libertarian than did Jonathan Turley in the L.A. Times op-ed linked in yesterday's Commentariat. While Serwer concedes that the Obama polices are no different from Bush's (Turley says Obama's policies are worse than Bush's), he notes that Obama, unlike Bush (for much of his tenure), has Congressional cover. That is, Bush just did what he did, while Obama is acting under Congressional authority. Serwer cites New York Times reporter Charlie Savage:

... once Congress adjusted statutes late in the Bush years to kind of retroactively approve what the government had been doing, the rule of law concerns sharply diminished. But the civil libertarian concerns remained. Now we know that Obama was not the civil libertarian many of his supporters hoped he would be; he was just a rule of law guy.

... Savage's speech, delivered at a Harvard Law-Brookings forum on "Law, Security & Liberty" on September 17, 2011, is here. If you have 40 minutes to listen to Savage, it will be 40 minutes well-spent:

Steve Benen adds to John Dickerson's post linked yesterday on the criticism (by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and others) that President Obama has not shown "leadership": Benen writes, "... the president’s critics are raising the wrong complaint. For the right, the criticism should be that Obama may be an effective leader, but he’s effectively leading the nation in a liberal direction they disapprove of. For the left, the criticism should be that Obama isn’t leading the nation to the left quickly or aggressively enough. But to characterize him as a passive bystander is absurd."

Nathaniel Popper of the Los Angeles Times: "The race is on to tap one of the most vital sources of campaign cash — Wall Street — and the early results are not looking good for President Obama. The president's campaign struggled this week to sell out a fundraising dinner Friday at Manhattan's gilded Four Seasons restaurant despite its being hosted by America's No. 1 capitalist, Warren Buffett.... The dinner for 100 was also a relative bargain at $10,000 a plate; recent fundraisers in Hollywood and New York have gone for $35,800 a pop." ...

... Justin Elliott of Salon has a rundown of the big-bucks donors to Republicans & Democrats who will make their money talk in 2012.

The Obama Strategy. Jackie Calmes & Mark Landler of the New York Times: "With his support among blue-collar white voters far weaker than among white-collar independents, President Obama is charting an alternative course to re-election should he be unable to win ... industrial states traditionally essential to Democratic presidential victories.... What buoys Democrats are the changing demographics of formerly Republican states like Colorado..., Virgnia and North Carolina. With growing cities and suburbs, they are populated by increasing numbers of educated and higher-income independents, young voters, Hispanics and African-Americans, many of them alienated by Republicans’ Tea Party agenda." ...

... BUT Ron Brownstein & Scott Bland of the National Journal: "New census data show that the Great Recession and its aftermath have battered virtually every state in the nation — and that some of the heaviest blows have landed on states that may loom the largest in the 2012 presidential election."

Kathleen Hennessey of the Los Angeles Times: "The group that powered Joe Miller, Sharron Angle and Christine O’Donnell to Republican primary victories is back in action. Tea Party Express, the California-based political action committee, has endorsed Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock in his bid to unseat six-term Republican Sen. Richard G. Lugar."

Right Wing World

... right to work is the way to go if you want good jobs. -- Mitt Romney, claiming that states that don't allow "closed shop" unions create more and better jobs

Josh Hicks of the Washington Post fact-checks Romney's assertion: "Romney’s remarks appeared rooted in actual Labor Department data, even though he spouted some numbers that didn’t match his own analysis. Regardless, the former governor exaggerates the importance of these statistics, and he fails to acknowledge that factors other than labor laws play a role in determining job growth. Romney earns two Pinocchios for his claim that 'good jobs' and job growth result from right to work laws. His statistics are technically correct but his reasoning is too simplistic and ultimately could be misleading to ordinary people."

Stephen Stromberg of the Washington Post on Rick Perry's misplaced regrets: "I'm sorry for the things I said that might cost me votes."

News Ledes

Los Angeles Times: "California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris will no longer take part in a national foreclosure probe of some of the nation's biggest banks, which are accused of pervasive misconduct in dealing with troubled homeowners. Harris removed herself from talks by a coalition of state attorneys general and federal agencies investigating abusive foreclosure practices because the nation's five largest mortgage servicers were not offering California homeowners relief commensurate to what people in the state had suffered, Harris told The Times on Friday."

AP: "The Pentagon has decided that military chaplains may perform same-sex unions, whether on or off a military installation. The ruling announced Friday by the Pentagon's personnel chief follows the Sept. 20 repeal of a law that had prohibited gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military."

President Obama spoke at an event honoring outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen late this morning. Voice of America: "U.S. Army General Martin Dempsey will be sworn as the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Friday. President Barack Obama will be in attendance when the 37-year veteran becomes the nation's top uniformed officer, replacing retiring Navy Admiral Mike Mullen. Mr. Obama nominated Dempsey to succeed Mullen in May, only a month after Dempsey assumed the post of chief of staff of the Army."

** New York Times: "In a significant and dramatic strike in the campaign against Al Qaeda, the Defense Ministry [in Yemen] said American-born preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, a leading figure in the group’s outpost in Yemen, was killed on Friday morning. In Washington a senior Obama administration official confirmed that Mr. Awlaki was dead. But the circumstances surrounding the killing remained unclear. It was not immediately known whether Yemeni forces carried out the attack or if American intelligence forces, which have been pursuing Mr. Awlaki for months, were involved in the operation." ...

     ... ** Updated Lede: "Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical American-born cleric who was a leading figure in Al Qaeda’s Yemen affiliate and was considered its most dangerous English-speaking propagandist, was killed in an American drone strike that deliberately targeted his vehicle on Friday, officials in Washington and Yemen said. They said the strike also killed a radical American colleague traveling with Mr. Awlaki who edited Al Qaeda’s online jihadist magazine." (Emphasis added.) ...

     ... New York Times Update: "Yemen’s official news agency reported that the young Web-savvy American thought to be behind Inspire, a magazine for Al Qaeda, was killed in the same Friday strike that killed the radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. The report, citing an unnamed defense official, said the man, Samir Khan, was killed in the strike, along with two other people, and identified him as an American citizen and a computer specialist."

Washington Post: "Energy Secretary Steven Chu acknowledged Thursday making the final decision to allow [Solyndra,] a struggling solar company, to continue receiving taxpayer money after it had technically defaulted on a $535 million federal loan guaranteed by his agency.... Also Thursday, a law enforcement official confirmed that the criminal probe of Solyndra is focused on whether the company and its officers misrepresented the firm’s finances to the government in seeking the loan or engaged in accounting fraud."

Washington Post: "After a remarkable run as the most successful atom smasher in the world, the Tevatron — a four-mile underground ring about 50 miles west of Chicago — will smash no more. At 2 p.m., Pier Oddone, director of Fermilab, the Energy Department facility that operates the Tevatron, will command the shutdown of the mammoth machine. Operators will switch off dual beams of particles that have been colliding since 1985, sprouting terrific sprays of fleeting particles that offered a glimpse of the subatomic world."

The Hill: "Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said, at the moment Democrats in Congress don't have enough votes to pass President Obama's jobs bill, but Durbin added that that situation would change." The WLS Radio report is here.

Can You Hear Us Now? Crain's New York: "The city's most experienced agitators — the labor and community groups that typically organize local marches, rallies and sit-ins — have been largely missing from the Occupy Wall Street protest.... But that's about to change. A loose coalition of labor and community groups said Thursday that they would join the protest next week.... The United Federation of Teachers, 32BJ SEIU, 1199 SEIU, Workers United and Transport Workers Union Local 100 are all expected to participate. The Working Families Party is helping to organize the protest and MoveOn.org is expected to mobilize its extensive online regional networks...."

Los Angeles Times: "Pakistani political leaders meeting Thursday in the capital [Islamabad] denounced U.S. allegations that the country's premier spy agency assisted insurgents in attacking American targets in Afghanistan, but also stressed the need to keep lines of communication open with Washington."

The Commentariat -- September 29

I've posted an Open Thread on Off Times Square.

E. J. Dionne on why conservatives hate Warren Buffett & why characters like those on the Wall Street Journal editorial board try to subject him to higher standard of disclosure than they do all their hedge-fund manager & right-wing secret campaign-donor friends who pay taxes at a rate lower than many of us do. CW: wouldn't it be fun to know what tax rate the Koch brothers pay? I'd guess, because they own an energy company, they pay even less than hedge-fund operators do.

New York Times Editors: "The American Bar Association, the Judicial Conference of the United States and every major organization focusing on criminal justice opposes mandatory minimum sentences. The federal and state governments should get rid of them — and the injustices they produce."

Law Prof. Jonathan Turley, in a scathing Los Angeles Times op-ed, excoriates President Obama as "a disaster for civil liberties." Turley writes, "... the election of Barack Obama may stand as one of the single most devastating events in our history for civil liberties." He isn't saying anything Glenn Greenwald & other civil libertarians haven't been saying from the get-go, but his review of Obama & Holder's appalling record of excusing war criminals, etc., and publishing it in an MSM outlet, is welcome.

Glenn Greenwald has a good post on the dismissive way in which the mainstream has dismissed & marginalized the Wall Street protesters. It's what mainstream types do when outliers protest their shenanigans.

John Dickerson of Slate: "What the president's [conservative] critics really mean when they say the president 'isn't leading' is that he hasn't announced that he is supporting their plans, or that he hasn't decided to commit public suicide by announcing a position for which they can then denounce him. By any measure [including Chris Christie's in his critique of the President], Obama is a leader.

Fred Bergsten, an Assistant Treasury Secretary under President Jimmy Carter, in a New York Times op-ed: "The United States runs an annual trade deficit of about $600 billion, or 4 percent of our entire economy. Eliminating that imbalance would create three million to four million jobs, according to Commerce Department estimates, at no cost to the budget.... Mr. Obama has set a goal of doubling the nation’s exports over five years. But his administration has done little to achieve that goal, which is inadequate to begin with.... First, the United States must, in effect, weaken the dollar by 10 to 20 percent. This step alone would produce one million to three million jobs.... Second, the United States must negotiate a reduction in foreign regulations, monopoly practices and other barriers to the export of American services.... Third, we must get serious about defending the intellectual property rights of our companies...."

"Regulatory Uncertainty: a Phony Explanation for Our Jobs Problem." Lawrence Michel of the Economic Policy Institute: "An examination of current economic trends, and especially what employers are doing in terms of hiring and investment, debunks this story [which conservatives tell] about regulatory uncertainty as the cause of our dismal job growth." (CW: the paer is longish & wonkish.) Via Jonathan Bernstein of the Washington Post.

Lyle Denniston of SCOTUSblog reports on the Justice Department's decision to ask the Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of the individual mandate during this court term. ...

... Here's the White House explanation, laid out in a blogpost by Stephanie Cutter, a senior advisor to President Obama:

We know the Affordable Care Act is constitutional.  We are confident the Supreme Court will agree. ...

... Massimo Calabresi of Time weighs in on possibilities of how the Court might rule & how these could effect President Obama's standing -- and his re-election chances.

Paul Ryan Proposes to End Employer-Based Health Care Insurance. Reuters: "In a speech to Stanford University's Hoover Institution in California, [Rep. Paul] Ryan [R-Wisc.] said his measure, which would effectively dismantle the way most Americans receive medical coverage, should be part of any Republican plan to replace President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul." Ryan's plan would "eliminate healthcare tax breaks for business, [which] would likely encourage most companies to drop their employer-sponsored plans."  ...

... Cameron Joseph of The Hill: "The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) will soon send out press releases pressuring 50 potentially vulnerable House Republicans to take a stand on ... Ryan's (R-Wis.) Tuesday speech calling for the government to end the practice of giving tax breaks to companies that provide health insurance to their workers." ...

... David Morgan of Reuters: "With billions of dollars in Medicaid spending at risk in Congress, states are forming a loose confederacy to oppose any federal cuts that could damage state budgets already awash in red ink.... Lobbyists say governors, legislators and other state officials, Republican and Democrat alike, have found common ground in a push to convince a special congressional deficit panel that White House-backed Medicaid cuts totaling $41 billion will only weaken a system that already struggles to deliver care to 60 million beneficiaries."

Cara Buckley of the New York Times: "In summer 2010, Congress set aside $1 billion for a program intended to bail out people in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure. It was estimated that the program, administered by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, would help as many as 30,000 households. But the program is now ending after achieving lackluster results and stirring widespread recrimination. Fewer than 15,000 households are expected to receive help despite enormous demand, and perhaps half of the money will go unspent." CW Surprise: Congress & the Obama Administration blame each other.

Drones Rule. Christian Caryl in an NYRB review: "... the US Air Force now trains more UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] operators each year than traditional pilots.... The US aerospace industry has for all practical purposes ceased research and development work on manned aircraft. All the projects now on the drawing board revolve around pilotless vehicles. Meanwhile, law enforcement agencies around the country eagerly await the moment when they can start operating their own UAVs."

CW: Oh, we just can't highlight this story enough times. Ezra Klein in Bloomberg News on the powerlessness of workers when unemployment is high. Gee, Klein uses Amazon's Allentown warehouse as an exemplar. Are you buying that new Kindle Fire? And don't think this is going on only in Allentown, or only at Amazon.

Jonathan Bernstein reveals the secret coded messages in President Obama's schools back-to-school speech. CW: short & funny.

Ben Smith on The Accidental Governator. Arnold says he had no intention of running for governor of California -- he announced his candidacy as a gag while appearing on Leno to promote "Terminator 3."

Right Wing World

Forget Krugman. And Stiglitz. Forget Baker & Reich & DeLong. Joshua Holland of AlterNet: God will save the economy. If she feels like it. According to conservative fundamentalists. Which is one reason right-wing politicians want to starve the government -- their base thinks that god will decide what needs fixing and will fix it.

The idea for a health care plan is not mine alone. I was told that Newt Gingrich was one of the very first people that came up with an individual mandate. -- Mitt Romney (Romney also noted the right-wing Heritage Foundation also supported the individual mandate)

Michael Shear & Richard Perez-Pena of the New York Times: "If he runs for president, Chris Christie might highlight the themes he mentioned on Tuesday night in his speech at the Reagan Presidential Library, promising a new era of bipartisanship and compromise like the one he largely takes credit for achieving as governor of New Jersey." BUT "Despite the legislative accomplishments that his office frequently promotes, Mr. Christie’s brief tenure at the helm of New Jersey’s government in Trenton has been marked by as much acrimony as there has been agreement." CW: OR, you think a guy who yells at & belittles whomever he pleases is a model for bipartisanship?

Making Up Stuff Because, Well, It's Sensational! Greg Sargent: "... the [right-wing] Daily Caller took a terrible hit yesterday after falsely reporting that the Environmental Protection Agency is looking to hire 230,000 new 'bureaucrats' — at a cost of $21 billion! — to implement new climate rules. The tale quickly went viral on the right." Once the Daily Caller's claim was completely debunked the editor did what you'd expect; in the face of overwhelming evidence the story was completely false, he backed the original story. ...

... Dave Weigel of Slate: guess who else stands by the bogus story even after learning it was not true? -- why, Sen. Jim Science-Is-a-Hoax Inhofe (R-Okla.). CW: Evidently, the oath of office comes with a "no-shame" clause.

... Steve Benen: "The conservative media world ... just doesn’t seem to care [about facts]. It explains a great deal about why those who rely on outlets like these seem so woefully uninformed about current events." ...

... AND this from Benen: Rick Perry gets the Boston Tea Party story wrong, too. "The moral of the story? If you learn American history from right-wing talk radio, you’re bound to get a lot of the details wrong."

Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "Texas Gov. Rick Perry, facing a conservative backlash over his labeling as heartless those who oppose his state law giving college tuition breaks to the children of illegal immigrants, said Wednesday that the tone of his remarks was 'inappropriate.'" CW: Right. Because bigots opposed to sound economic policies that help innocent non-white young people might like cute puppies.

Ah, looks like Florida Republicans are going to screw up the primary calendar by moving their primary to a date in January 2012, before everybody else's, per Alex Pareene of Salon. CW: this is bad news for secondary candidates like the lovely Michele, who might be able get their special blocs, like the lovely apocalyptic crowd, to give them early boosts. Candidates with cash have a big advantage in a state the size of Florida. Plus, the Republican electorate is more mainstream here, so far-right candidates have less appeal. I'm betting Karl Rove & Co. are not unhappy about Florida's expected move, no matter what they may say on the teevee.

Funny Money. Murray Waas & Peter Henderson of Reuters: "Contradictions in sworn statements about Rick Perry's fundraising for his 2006 reelection bid raise questions about whether aides to the Texas governor, who is now running for president, gave false or misleading testimony under oath. In a civil suit later filed by Chris Bell, Perry's Democratic challenger in that race, the testimony of aides David Carney and Deirdre Delisi was directly contradicted by a sworn statement from Perry's own gubernatorial campaign committee."

News Ledes

New York Times: "The United States Capitol Police on Thursday said they were investigating The Onion, a satiric media organization, for making false reports on Twitter claiming that there was a hostage situation inside the Capitol building."

New York Times: "This week, Judge James Zagel of United States District Court indefinitely delayed ... sentencing [of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich], which had been set for Oct. 6. He offered no explanation."

AP: "Federal agents raided a Boeing plant that makes military helicopters in suburban Philadelphia on Thursday and charged more than three dozen people with distributing or trying to get prescription drugs, among them powerful painkillers."

AP: "German lawmakers on Thursday overwhelmingly approved expanding the powers of the eurozone bailout fund, a major step toward tackling the sprawling debt crisis, in a vote that also helped strengthen Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government." Here's the Spiegel story (English). ...

... Reuters: "Following a now-familiar script, Europe again averted disaster in its debt crisis when German lawmakers rallied behind Chancellor Angela Merkel to approve a stronger euro zone bailout fund on Thursday. But bigger challenges loom for the euro zone now. Financial markets are already anticipating a likely Greek default and demanding more far-reaching measures to prevent the crisis that began in Athens from spreading far beyond Europe and its banks."