The Commentariat -- August 31 a/k/a Day 4 with No Power
The President's speech from earlier today:
... The transcript is here.
As an official know-nothing, I've posted a new Open Thread on Off Times Square.
David Kocieniewski of the New York Times: At least 25 top United States companies paid more to their chief executives in 2010 than they did to the federal government in taxes, according to a study released on Wednesday. The companies — which include household names like eBay, Boeing, General Electric and Verizon — averaged $1.9 billion each in profits, according to the study by the Institute for Policy Studies, a liberal-leaning research group. But a variety of shelters, loopholes and tax reduction strategies allowed the companies to average more than $400 million each in tax benefits...."
David Dayen of Firedoglake: "Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto’s amended complaint in a lawsuit against Bank of America ... is a stick of dynamite to the foreclosure fraud settlement, exposing it as a useless whitewash that won’t deter banks from their criminal practices. Masto joins other skeptical AGs here in not acceding to such a dereliction of duty, and instead she lays out a thorough case of systematic fraud, in this case by Bank of America, at every step of the mortgage process." CW: read Dayen's whole post. See also today's Ledes. for the backstory.
Sam Youngman of The Hill: "President Obama is preparing to fight a political war this fall on two fronts -- the first against Republicans who want his job and the second against Republicans who want to make his job more difficult."
Right Wing World *
Right Every Time (Even Though I Was Surrounded by Idiots) -- Dana Milbank's suggestion for a retitle of Dick Cheney's memoir In My Time
** GOP War on the Poor, Part 1. New York Times Editors: "In a decade of frenzied tax-cutting for the rich, the Republican Party just happened to lower tax rates for the poor, as well. Now several of the party’s most prominent presidential candidates and lawmakers want to correct that oversight and raise taxes on the poor and the working class, while protecting the rich, of course.... This is factually wrong, economically wrong and morally wrong." ...
... GOP War on the Poor, Part 2: Mike Lillis of The Hill: "House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's insistence that federal disaster aid be offset elsewhere in the budget runs directly counter to his position in the past when the money went to help his Virginia district. In the summer of 2004, after Tropical Storm Gaston slammed into Richmond, Cantor was on the front lines of efforts to secure millions of dollars in federal assistance to clean the wreckage and repair damaged infrastructure. Although the funding was not offset, Cantor cheered its arrival." ...
... CW: The Hostage Taking, Con'd. Here's the backstory, a version of which I linked to way last week before Irene hit the U.S. mainland: Michael Stickings of the Moderate Voice: "Just as Republicans held the country hostage over the debt ceiling ('give us what we want, or else'), Cantor is now trying to do the same over disaster relief (some of which may be needed in his home state of Virginia, which is in Irene’s path). As his spokesperson explained, 'Eric has consistently said that additional funds for federal disaster relief ought to be offset with spending cuts.' ... This is ugly ideological extremism operating as insensitivity to suffering, political hostage-taking with lives and livelihoods in the balance.”
Aman Batheja of the Fort Worth, Texas, Star-Telegram: "Since his first race for office more than a quarter century ago, Gov. Rick Perry has emphasized his roots as a rural farmer. Yet Perry's bank account no longer reflects those humble beginnings as his bottom line has soared in recent years, records show, thanks largely to a handful of real estate deals that critics allege were achieved through the presidential candidates's political connections." ...
Either faith in Christ can cleanse all people of their sin, or none, but not some. The truth of Christ’s death, resurrection, and power over sin is absolute. -- Rick Perry, in a book titled On My Honor, as if he had any ...
... "Rick Perry Is a Theocrat." Dana Milbank: "My problem with Perry’s zeal is one of my problems with the Tea Party generally: Though it claims to be libertarian, it is remixing the religious right’s greatest hits." ...
... Ruth Marcus, one of the fake liberals over on the Washington Post editorial page (a/k/a/ "Fox on 15th") is nonetheless appalled by Rick Perry's Fed Up!: "Perry’s ideas range from wrongheaded to terrifying: requiring federal judges to stand for reappointment and reconfirmation; and letting Congress override the Supreme Court with a two-thirds vote in both houses."
Isn't He Amusing?
Evan McMorris-Santoro of TPM: "For some undefined but Texas governor-sized-and-shaped reason, Mitt Romney is suddenly very interested in attending tea party events." ...
... An Invitation to a Tea Party. Get off the Bus, Gus. Alex Altman of Time: "FreedomWorks, the big-time Tea Party booster run by seasoned Washington insiders, has been a co-sponsor of the latest cross-country bus tour organized by the Sacramento-based Tea Party Express.... But Mitt Romney’s planned appearance on the tour has opened a fissure between the two. On Wednesday, citing opposition to Romney, FreedomWorks announced that it will sever its ties to the tour and join local New Hampshire Tea Party groups in protesting Romney’s speech."
Glen Johnson of the Boston Globe: in his campaign speeches, Mitt Romney regularly bashes Harvard University, never mentioning that not only did he attend Harvard, so did his sons & many of his advisory staff. CW: And did you know one of Mitt's son's is named "Tagg"? Maybe he changed it from "George" after he learned the names of the Palin kids Track, Trig & Tripp.
* Where the villains are too villainous to be believable characters.
News Ledes
New York Times: "The California Legislature is poised to pass a law that would allow illegal immigrants to receive state-financed aid for college. Known as the California Dream Act..., the state law would do nothing to provide a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, [but] it would provide them with more education benefits than they have in any other state."
Trivial Pursuits. New York Times: " and Speaker clashed over, of all things, the date and time of the president’s much-awaited speech to the nation about his proposal to increase jobs and fix the economy.... Congressional historians say that Mr. Boehner’s move was unprecedented."
New York Times: "The Justice Department sued on Wednesday to block AT&T’s proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile, a deal that would create the largest carrier in the country and reshape the industry." ...
... Washington Post: "AT&T vowed on Wednesday to challenge a Justice Department lawsuit that seeks to block its $39 billion bid for T-Mobile, setting up titanic legal war between the telecommunications giant and the Obama administration.The company said it will ask a federal court for an expedited hearing on the matter, saying Justice’s lawsuit came as a 'surprise' and 'disappointment' as government officials had not indicated in repeated meetings that they would reject the deal."
BBC News: "A Kosovo man has told a German court he regrets shooting dead two US servicemen at Frankfurt airport and does not understand why he did it. Arid Uka, 21, told the court he had been radicalised by jihadist propaganda videos he watched online. Prosecutors believe he acted alone in carrying out the first deadly attack by an Islamist on German soil."
New York Times: "Hurricane Irene will most likely prove to be one of the 10 costliest catastrophes in the nation’s history, and analysts said that much of the damage might not be covered by insurance because it was caused not by winds but by flooding, which is excluded from many standard policies." ...
... AP: "As emergency airlift operations brought ready-to-eat meals and water to Vermont residents left isolated and desperate, states along the Eastern Seaboard continued to be battered Tuesday by the after effects of Irene, the destructive hurricane turned tropical storm. Dangerously-damaged infrastructure, 2.5 million people without power and thousands of water-logged homes and businesses continued to overshadow the lives of residents and officials from North Carolina through New England, where the storm has been blamed for at least 44 deaths in 13 states."
... New York Times: "Four-wheel drive vehicles carrying supplies were able by Wednesday morning to get into all but one of 13 Vermont towns that have been cut off since this weekend without running water or power by floodwaters from the remnants of , officials said." ...
... New York Times: "From the Hudson Valley to areas farther north [in New York state], along the Mohawk River and Schoharie Creek, New York growers, many of whose farms have been in the family for generations, were dealt a devastating blow by the storm, which dumped heavy rain on the region." ...
... The Hill: "White House press secretary Jay Carney on Tuesday took a shot at House Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor for insisting disaster aid for Hurricane Irene should be offset with other spending cuts. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Carney said the federal government’s priority should be to respond to the disaster. He also noted that Cantor (R-Va.) hadn’t demanded offsets when the Bush administration rang up 'unprecedented bills.'”
Minneapolis Star-Tribune: "Speaking to thousands of veterans gathered in Minneapolis on Tuesday, President Obama vowed to ensure that returning soldiers have the job skills they need to succeed and made an ironclad commitment to the military and veterans. He pledged to create a job training "boot camp" for veterans who are struggling to find employment in the private sector, a rising problem nationally. He also said he will press states to make it easier for vets to get professional licenses." Video below.
New York Times: "The Obama administration on Tuesday replaced two top Justice Department officials associated with an ill-fated investigation into a gun-trafficking network in Arizona that has been at the center of a political conflagration. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced the resignation of the United States attorney in Phoenix, Dennis K. Burke, and the reassignment of the acting director of the , Kenneth E. Melson."
New York Times: "The attorney general of Nevada is accusing of repeatedly violating a broad agreement it struck with state officials in October 2008 and is seeking to rip up the deal so that the state can proceed with a suit against the bank over allegations of deceptive lending, marketing and loan servicing practices."
Reuters: "A federal judge temporarily blocked key provisions of a Texas abortion law on Tuesday that would require women seeking the procedure to view a sonogram and listen to the heartbeat of their fetus. The law, which had been due to go into effect on Thursday, was a major part of Republican Governor and presidential candidate Rick Perry's agenda in this year's Texas legislative session." The Austin Statesman story is here.
Al Jazeera: "Thousands of Libyans have gathered in Tripoli to mark the end of Ramadan and celebrate Eid al-Fitr, kneeling in prayer in Martyrs' Square as they rejoiced in the collapse of Muammar Gaddafi's regime." ...
... Al Jazeera's liveblog on Libya is here. ...
... NEW. Washington Post: "The spokesman for Moammar Gaddafi’s collapsing government on Wednesday rejected a rebel ultimatum to surrender or face an all-out military assault." ...
... Guardian: "New details have emerged of the route used by Muammar Gaddafi's family to escape into neighbouring Algeria, triggering a diplomatic row over their fate.... The manhunt for Gaddafi and his most powerful sons, Saif al-Islam, Mutassim and Khamis, is moving southwards to the Bani Walid-Sebha desert road. It was being assisted by western intelligence and special forces, including MI6 officers and the SAS. However..., their role is to pick up signals from intercepting equipment not available to the Libyans and identify their significance...."
President Obama spoke to the American Legion in Minneapolis yesterday:
Share Article