The Commentariat -- April 14, 2013
Jon Chait of New York on how "the mysterious inner workings of [John] Boehner's mind" determine whether or not a bill becomes a law. CW: And, as I noted months ago, it becomes law only if Boehner decides to let the House minority push the bill through. "What makes this process especially perverse is that it not only removes House Republicans from the negotiations -- it eliminates all transparency. All the decision-making power rests on Boehner's control of the voting schedule."
Maureen Dowd profiles Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who has unexpectedly found himself leading the fight for gun safety legislation. ...
... Karen Tumulty & Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "As the Senate prepares to begin debate next week on the biggest gun-control bill in nearly two decades, the gun rights lobby and its Senate allies are working on a series of amendments that could have the opposite effect -- loosening many of the restrictions that exist in current law. Most worrisome to those who advocate new gun limits is an expected amendment that would achieve one of the National Rifle Association's biggest goals: a 'national reciprocity' arrangement, in which a gun owner who receives a permit to carry a concealed weapon in any one state would then be allowed to do that anywhere in the country." ...
... WBUR Boston: "... Team NewtownSTRONG ... is running [in the Boston Marathon tomorrow] to support NewtownSTRONG, a charitable foundation raising scholarship money for the siblings of children lost in the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn...." With audio. Thanks to contributor Julie for the link. ...
... Steve Benen: according to Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council, if the Congress passes a bill requiring universal background checks, pretty soon the feds will be rounding up Christians. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's the plan. And a right good reason to support the bill. But Benen is not convinced: "I can understand the appeal of silly arguments like these -- they combine paranoia, fear of government, and a persecution complex, all staples of the religious right's political identity -- but the fact that conservatives are relying on them suggests they can't think of legitimate arguments based on reality. When one can't win a policy debate by sticking to the facts, it suggests the debate itself is already over." ...
... Which brings to mind Wayne LaPierre, whom Sheryl Gay Stolberg & Jodi Cantor profile in the New York Times.
Jim Kuhnhenn & Julie Pace of the AP: "By voluntarily putting entitlement cuts on the table, particularly a proposal to slow the rise of Social Security benefits, [President] Obama has no other gambit to win tax increases from Republicans. With many Democrats balking at what he's already offering, it's not politically feasible for him to offer the GOP anything more. Puzzled Democrats maintain that Obama not only has given away his leverage, he also has threatened the very identity of his party, which sees the Social Security Act of 1935 as one of its signature achievements."
Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times: "Here's hoping that one priority [of new S.E.C. chief Mary Jo White] is to determine, and ramp up, investigations and whistle-blower complaints that are approaching their five-year statute of limitations. For a lot of cases involving questionable practices and disclosures arising from the mortgage bust of 2008, time is running out." One of those whistle-blower cases in against SunTrust Banks, which allegedly sold a boatload of "liar loans" to Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac.
Tom Shanker of the New York Times: "After a series of scandals involving high-ranking officers, the American military for the first time will require generals and admirals to be evaluated by their peers and the people they command on qualities including personal character. The new effort is being led by Gen.Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as part of a broad overhaul of training and development programs for generals and admirals.... It is likely that the review will lead to a reduction in the overall number of generals and admirals, and the size of personal staffs, communications teams and security details. The review also looked at whether administrative staff members assigned to commanders had been used to run personal errands for officers and their spouses." CW: Surprise! The brass don't like it.
Prof. T. M. Luhrmann, in a New York Times op-ed: Some evangelical churches "implicitly invited people to treat God like an actual therapist. In many evangelical churches, prayer is understood as a back-and-forth conversation with God -- a daydream in which you talk with a wise, good, fatherly friend. Indeed, when congregants talk about their relationship with God, they often sound as if they think of God as some benign, complacent therapist who will listen to their concerns and help them to handle them.... For them, God is a relationship, not an explanation." CW: Or as a character in the 2004 screen version of Elmore Leonard's The Big Bounce said, "God is just an imaginary friend for grownups." (I couldn't find this citation in the novel; the line appears in the film twice.)
Cameron Joseph of the Hill: "The Democrat who said the leaders of the liberal group Progress Kentucky told him they bugged Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) campaign office is backing off a key part of his earlier account. Jefferson County Democratic Executive Committee member Jacob Conway originally said the two cofounders of the small liberal super-PAC told him they had bugged McConnell's office. Now, Conway says he may not have talked to Shawn Reilly, one of the men he identified."
Local News
Danielle Dreilinger of the Times-Picayune: Louisiana "Gov. Bobby Jindal defended his school voucher program in a whirlwind interview Friday with NBC-TV newswoman Hoda Kotb.... Jindal also said he has no problem with creationism being taught in public schools as long as a local school board OK's it." ...
... Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs: "despite his talk about 'moderation,' Bobby Jindal is just as much of a religious fanatic reactionary as any other Republican.... I believe this is the first time Jindal has come right out and said he's in favor of teaching creationism in public schools, although it's been obvious from his political agenda. This is the GOP 'reformer' -- just another anti-science caveman."
"Courage in Kansas." New York Times Editors: "Nearly four years after an anti-abortion extremist opened fire and killed a Wichita abortion provider, Dr. George Tiller, as he stood in the foyer of his church, a new medical clinic offering comprehensive reproductive health services -- including abortions through the first trimester of pregnancy -- opened on April 3. It is in the building that once housed Dr. Tiller's clinic.... The fact that it has opened at all is remarkable, and is a tribute to the perseverance and courage of those involved in the project, especially Julie Burkhart, a former colleague of Dr. Tiller who directs the Trust Women Foundation, which owns the clinic."
... Chas Sisk of the Tennessean: "After a confrontation with an 8-year-old girl and other activists, along with mounting opposition from fellow Republicans, state Sen. Stacey Campfield dropped his effort to tie welfare benefits to grades, asking that the legislation be held for further study."
News Ledes
AP: "Months of increased tension at the Guantanamo Bay prison boiled over into a clash between guards and detainees Saturday as the military closed a communal section of the facility and moved its inmates into single cells. The violence erupted during an early morning raid that military officials said was necessary because prisoners had covered up security cameras and windows as part of a weekslong protest and hunger strike over their indefinite confinement...."
AP: "Dr. Hilary Koprowski, a pioneering virologist who developed the first successful oral vaccination for polio, died this week at his suburban Philadelphia home. He was 96. Although not as well-known as fellow researchers Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin, Koprowski's 1950 clinical trial was the first to show it was possible to vaccinate against polio, the crippling and sometimes fatal disease that's now all but eradicated."
AP: today is election day in Venezuela.
AP: " The United States says it's committed to defending Japan and opposes any coercive action by China to seize territory under Japanese control in the East China Sea. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says the U.S. isn't taking a position in the dispute over the islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China."
Share Article
Reader Comments (7)
Good to see someone like Chris Murphy (my senator) being given decent press. Many of us supported his campaign not only because we thought him worthy of the office, but because the thought of Linda M. wrestling her way in made us shudder.
Tomorrow is the Boston Marathon. I heard on NPR that a group of parents from Newtown, CT will run the 26-mile in memory of the the 26 people killed.
http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2013/04/12/boston-marathon-newtown
Re: The bird's the word. I don't know who Judith Hayes is but I sure do admire her sense of humor. Her statement makes Booby Jindal out to be the insane, self-serving, ignorant asswipe we knew him to be.
Besides, she reminded me of a joke told to me long before I was old enough to get it.
What's the difference between a stork and a swallow?
T.M. Luhrmann's website is worth a look. It is interesting to see research and articulated positions about a group (evangelicals) who by my own shorthand I call "easily led". She can call it what she will; I just want to figure out how to deal with the ignert proud folk purporting to be Christians when they have zero respect for me or mine.
JJG: The good news is that I'm not old enough for something; the bad news is I don't get the joke. Is the difference between a stork and a swallow something that can be explicated on this family-sensitive site?
@Ken Winkes. I seriously doubt it.
If the answer is "a blessed event," I think the question -- for most men, anyway -- would be which is which? No matter what the difference between a stork & a swallow, I would venture to say that either way, women do all the work.
@JJG: don't bother to correct me.
Marie
On another but older topic, Marie, you could've said: "No, they're crawdads."