The Commentariat -- April 6, 2015
Internal links & defunct video removed.
Afternoon News:
Isabel Kershner of the New York Times: "Whereas Israel's public diplomacy has so far focused on what many have said was an unrealistic demand for the complete dismantlement of Iran's potentially military nuclear infrastructure, Yuval Steinitz, Israel's minister of intelligence and strategic affairs, presented a list of desired modifications for the final agreement due to be concluded by June 30, that he said would make it 'more reasonable.'"
*****
Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "President Obama made a detailed case Sunday for a new framework agreement on Iran's nuclear program, calling it a 'once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see whether or not we can at least take the nuclear issue off the table' and potentially bring regional stability to the Middle East. Obama's comments were part of a major sales pitch launched by the administration Sunday in an effort to marshal public support for the tentative pact, even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and congressional Republicans took to the airwaves to blast the accord. ...
... The New York Times interview is here. With video clips. (See also Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. below.) ...
... Tom McCarthy of the Guardian: "Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday stepped up his attack on a nascent deal to curb Iran's nuclear program, calling the framework agreement announced in Switzerland last week 'a very bad deal'. The framework did not do enough to dismantle Iran's nuclear infrastructure, Netanyahu said, and world powers were making a mistake by offering Iran a path to sanctions relief without demanding more in return." ...
... David Atkins in the Washington Monthly: "As Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu continues to decry the landmark deal between the U.S. and Iran, more evidence is emerging that Israel's current leadership is alienating Americans in droves: '... Only 54% of Americans polled said that Israel is their country's ally, a decline from 68% in 2014 and 74% in 2012.'" ...
... Sandy Berger, former National Security Advisor to Bill Clinton, in Politico Magazine: "This is a good deal. We should not be distracted by talk of a better one. Enacting new, tough sanctions in an effort to force Iran toward a 'better' deal would mystify and alarm the rest of the world, isolating and weakening us. Such sanctions would crumble under their own weight -- amounting to, as Shakespeare said, 'sound and fury, signifying nothing.'"
Mike Barnicle in the Daily Beast: "Why do so many Republicans seem so angry all the time at so much around us? The fury of some like Ted Cruz is understandable. It's fueled by his massive ego and outsized ambition along with his personal belief that he is so smart and the rest of us are so pedestrian that he can manipulate opinion to win the Republican nomination for president with the support of the mentally ill wing of his party." Barnicle devotes much of his post to ragging on John Bolton, who never conceived a war he didn't like, although he never had any intention of actually serving in the military. Because hippies or something.
Eric Lipton of the New York Times on how Comcast pays the influential to influence the FCC. This is precious: "David L. Cohen, Comcast's executive vice president who oversees the company's sprawling lobbying and public relations program, said in an interview on Friday that he was proud of the job the company had done in campaigning for the deal.... He did not dispute that many of the voices supporting the deal received donations from Comcast. But he said he was offended by the suggestion that their endorsements had been made in return for the financial help." ...
... Another example of why Bob Menendez's favors-for-friends program fails to horrify me.
Paul Campos, in a New York Times op-ed, on the real reasons for the huge rise in the cost of a college education: while the conventional wisdom puts the onus on cuts in state funding: "In fact, public investment in higher education in America is vastly larger today, in inflation-adjusted dollars, than it was during the supposed golden age of public funding in the 1960s." (Because the number of students has exploded, per-capita public investment is down somewhat.) And it isn't highly-paid professors, either; "... the average salaries of the people who do the teaching in American higher education are actually quite a bit lower than they were in 1970." Campos puts much of the blame on vastly-growing administrations & overpaid administrators.
Paul Krugman: "Elections and politics.... The evidence suggests that the politically smart thing might well be to impose a pointless depression on your country for much of your time in office, solely to leave room for a roaring recovery just before voters go to the polls. Actually, that's a pretty good description of what the current British government has done, although it's not clear that it was deliberate."
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.
You get one guess & one guess only as to the identity of President Obama's New York Times "interviewer." Here's the lede, which should constitute the only clue you'll need:
In September 1996, I visited Iran. One of my most enduring memories of that trip was that in my hotel lobby there was a sign above the door proclaiming 'Down With USA.' But it wasn't a banner or graffiti. It was tiled and plastered into the wall. I thought to myself: 'Wow -- that's tiled in there! That won't come out easily.'
... Your answer here: Tom Friedman, because everything Tom Friedman writes is about Tom Friedman -- even an interview of the POTUS
Paul Farhi & Rees Shapiro of the Washington Post: "A months-long investigation into a flawed Rolling Stone magazine article about an alleged gang rape at the University of Virginia has concluded that the story reflected failures at virtually every level, from reporting to editing to fact-checking. In a 12,000-word report that reads like a reportorial autopsy, a three-person team at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism called the November article 'a story of journalistic failure that was avoidable.... The magazine set aside or rationalized as unnecessary essential practices of reporting' that would likely have exposed the story as dubious." ...
... Sheila Coronel, Steve Coll & Derek Kravitz write the Columbia U. Graduate School of Journalism report, published in Rolling Stone: "'A Rape on Campus' -- What Went Wrong." ...
... Here are statements, via the New York Times, by Sabrina Erdely, the author of the Rolling Stone story, & by Theresa Sullivan, president of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville.
NEW. Anchorman! Frank Rich: "For all the histrionics, [the Brian Williams] incident of media blood sport was much ado about not so much. The network-news anchor as an omnipotent national authority figure is such a hollow anachronism in 21st-century America that almost nothing was at stake. NBC's train wreck played out as corporate and celebrity farce rather than as a human or cultural tragedy because it doesn't actually matter who puts on the bespoke suit and reads the news from behind a desk."
Presidential Race
The Former Most Interesting Man in Politics. Karen Tumulty & Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "When the presidential buzz began building around Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) a couple of years ago, the expectation was that his libertarian ideas could make him the most unusual and intriguing voice among the major contenders in the 2016 field. But now, as he prepares to make his formal announcement Tuesday, Paul is a candidate who has turned fuzzy, having trimmed his positions and rhetoric so much that it's unclear what kind of Republican he will present himself as...."
Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: Jeb "Bush ... was born in Texas and hails from one of America's most prominent political dynasties. But on at least one occasion, it appears he got carried away with his appeal to Spanish-speaking voters and claimed he actually was Hispanic. In a 2009 voter-registration application, obtained from the Miami-Dade County Elections Department, Mr. Bush marked Hispanic in the field labeled 'race/ethnicity.'" Here's the form. ...
... Jessica Roy: "When contacted by the Times, Bush's spokesperson had no idea why he'd listed himself as Hispanic, which is probably the first honest response ever elicited from a spokesperson."
NEW. Jason Zengerle of New York writes what is billed as "a sober assessment" of Hilliary Clinton's chance to be our next POTUS.
Jonathan Topaz of Politico: "Gary Hart has serious reservations about a Hillary Clinton candidacy. The prospect of a billion-dollar Clinton campaign 'ought to frighten every American,' he said in an interview with Politico, and Democrats would be better served by a competitive primary that forced her to speak in more depth about the issues.... The post-Citizens United campaign finance environment has sullied the presidential process, he said, benefiting establishment politicians who cater to financial backers."
Beyond the Beltway
Kansas Legislators Think up New Ways to Harm Poor Families. Arthur Delaney of the Huffington Post: "Kansas welfare recipients will be unable to get more than $25 per day in benefits under a new law sent this week to Republican Gov. Sam Brownback's desk by the state legislature. The bill also prohibits welfare recipients from spending their benefits at certain types of businesses, including liquor stores, fortune tellers, swimming pools and cruise ships.... 'This provision makes it nearly impossible for a recipient who does not have a checking account to pay rent,' Liz Schott of the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said in an email. 'Moreover, it actually takes money from the pockets of poor families since they will need to pay 85 cents for each additional withdrawal after the first one in a month, and often more with ATM transaction fees.'"
Brandon Rittiman of KUSA Denver: "The [Colorado] Department of Regulatory Agencies determined that a Denver bakery did nothing wrong when it refused to write anti-gay words on a cake. In the ruling released Friday, the Colorado Civil Rights Division rejected the argument that Azucar Bakery discriminated against the customer's religion when it refused the order in March 2014. The state ruled that the cake shop had every right not to make the cakes on the grounds that the message on the cakes would be 'derogatory.'"
News Ledes
Guardian: "Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's fate now moves to the hands of a jury, after a vehement and emotionally charged closing statement from the prosecutor in the Boston bombing trial on Monday."
New York Times: "The Rev. Gardner C. Taylor, a grandson of slaves who took over a Baptist pulpit in Brooklyn in 1948, when overt racism defined much of American life, and became an influential voice for civil rights and one of the nation's most eloquent churchmen, died on Sunday in Durham, N.C. He was 96."
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Reader Comments (8)
I've only now had a chance to respond to Marie's excellent monograph on scriptural inconsistencies and the provenance of certain biblical ideals.
The problem of inconsistent messages and passages that are clearly outside the realm of legality or societal norms today (Do we condone slavery today? Do we really think cursing one's father and mother-although not the kindest thing to do, unless your parents have given you away, like an Arkansas preacher and state rep, to be raped by a "good friend of the family"--should result in death? And if unkempt hair means we're going to die, one would reasonably expect a shitload more hair salons) becomes the question of the divine nature of scripture.
Of course Christians have answers for the inconsistencies (we aren't supposed to understand God's Word--really? I thought that was the point; or inconsistencies are there to make us work to uncover the truth of scripture; or that those who question these inconsistencies just don't appreciate the various "literary devices" employed by those inspired by heaven to jot down biblical events) many of which have their own problems with internal consistency.
The larger point is that much cherry picking and ignoring of inconvenient passages is required for most Christians to even get through the day.
Nonetheless, they wish to enforce these inconsistent rules on the rest of us in the interest of Freedom, natch. But not just any kind of freedom, they want the Religious Freedom to make us all obey rules that are clearly problematic at best and wildly inconsistent at worst.
The bad thing for most of us is that we also have a Supreme Court who doesn't think that's all that bad of an idea.
I remember looooong ago, when Tom Friedman was considered a pretty interesting read. I thought so, at least. That was before he started recycling the same stories over and over and over and began putting himself and his mustache of wisdom front and center. There's nothing wrong with alluding to personal experience when trying to make a point. Good writers do this all the time. Some of the best comments I read on RC connect the larger problems and issues of the nation and the world to more manageable and relatable personal anecdotes. It's a useful rhetorical technique.
But as with any other literary device (see above comment) it must be handled judiciously and must allow for a certain self-awareness of the limitations of "once upon a time I saw a thing happen". So once upon a time Tom Friedman saw an anti-American slogan tiled into a wall. Wow. Well, okay. So where was it? On the wall outside a soccer field or in the courtyard of a career Jihadist? When was it? Is it still there 20 years later? Do people in that country still feel the same way? Maybe some do, but maybe quite a few don't. And although details like this can be revealing, what one believes they say about a society must be interrogated as thoroughly as comments one hears on the street. When I was a kid, this guy I knew said thus and such. But that guy is dead now and I don't think I can easily--or fairly--ascribe those sentiments to his descendants without a whole lot more evidence.
In other words, letting everyone know that you've seen the inside of Bibi's sock drawer doesn't instantly give your opinion on Israel any more validity than the guy on the subway shouting about drone strikes.
I'm being overly didactic now, but after 20 years or more of reading the same (but not reading anymore, thank you very much) recycled bilge and aggressively solipsistic chestnuts like this one, I think a bit of dialectical scrutiny can help put a plug in it.
If what you have to say isn't going to help move things along, or add to the conversation, but is being uttered simply as an ego bump while maintaining your longstanding devotion to Saint Pikkup the Czech, please to be ferme-ing la bouche.
Boy, those Republicans sure are good at down and dirty research.
It appears that David Wihby, the state director and adviser in New Hampshire for Granite State Senator Kelly Ayotte, of the firm of McCain, Graham, and Ayotte, who have been pursuing Benghazi, Benghazi, BENGHAZI for the last three years, has been on a mission.
A suicide mission it would appear.
Wihby, tired of the constant reminders of the Republican War on Women--which of course, doesn't exist--was doing some street level reconnaissance work on the difficulties of women's employment. Having once served as New Hampshire's Commissioner of Labor, Wihby was researching some of the things women have to do to make ends meet in today's job market (3.9% NH unemployment under the Kenyan Usurper being not nearly as GOP-like as the 9% it used to be under The Decider) and, well, he got a bit too caught up in the, er, hands-on aspect of his work.
But now, having been arraigned for soliciting a prostitute, he will be able to add his name to a long line of infamous dickheads.
And Kelly Ayotte will have to find a new research assistant.
Hey, luckily he still has his gig as a member of the Manchester Board of School Committee. Kids need good role models these days, doncha think?
And his boss? Well, since Sen. Ayotte has voted to deny women equal pay ("We have enough laws to protect those greedy bitches"--*not an actual quote...more a paraphrase...) I suppose she's not against prostitution as a way to make a few extra bucks since 77 cents on the dollar ain't makin' it for most anyone.
Where's that War on Women? GOP don't see it nowhere, no how. More research will be needed.
Okay, well, until I come up with something better, he's gonna be Heb Bush for now. Or maybe Heb Arbusto. Shrub the Third.
@Akhilleus: Jeb's real name is John Ellis Bush. So I guess we could go with the Spanish-language version of John, which would be Juan. Or we might properly opt for the diminutive since Jeb likes nicknames: Juanito. Since, as you suggest, the Spanish word for "bush" is "arbusto," I think Juanito Arbusto would be swell.
Olé.
Marie
Bibi's Boys say "Deal, schmeal, we're gonna bomb Iran anyway if we feel like it."
Way to give peace a chance, guys.
According to CBS news, "Yuval Steinitz, a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's, said...the "military option" still exists."
Looks like John Bolton (and Ted Cruz, and Scott Walker, and Bobby Jindal, and...) isn't the only demented war monger.
Marie,
Si, si. I'm diggin' it.
Juanito Arbusto for Presidente. Gracias! It kinda reminds me of Ted Rall's representation of Shrub II as Generalissmo El Busho.
Please welcome Generalissimo El Busho and his brother Juanito Arbusto, dancing the neocon Fandango! Special guest, strappado master Ricardo Cheney on the castanets. Two shows nightly followed by yellowcake fireworks for the kiddies afterwards.
I'm sure Faux News won't have any problem with Juanito checking the Hispanic box on his form. After all, Sen. Warren (allegedly) claimed to be a Cherokee once upon a time. Ergo, both sides do it.
Just to be safe, we might want to get out the tape measure to check the circumference of his calves to make sure he didn't sneak across the border carrying a couple bales of contraband.