Tuesday
Feb282012
The Commentariat -- February 29, 2012
My column in the New York Times eXaminer is on Tom Friedman's latest. My column won't take you long to read and is meant to suggest, implicitly, that you can spend even less time on Friedman. The NYTX front page is here. You can contribute here.
Michael Hastings of Rolling Stone: "As Occupy Wall Street spread across the nation last fall..., the Department of Homeland Security began keeping tabs on the movement.... The five-page report -- contained in 5 million newly leaked documents examined by Rolling Stone in an investigative partnership with WikiLeaks -- goes on to sum up the history of Occupy Wall Street and assess its 'impact' on everything from financial services to government facilities."
... Greg Sargent on the President's speech. ...
... Jamelle Bouie of American Prospect: "Obama Smash!" Yep.
CW: This bears repeating. New York Times Editors: "A wave of mergers between Roman Catholic and secular hospitals is threatening to deprive women in many areas of the country of ready access to important reproductive services." ...
... CW: So does this. New York Times Editors: "The state [of New Hampshire] extended the right to marry to all its citizens in 2009, but right-wingers vowed to overturn the law and now stand a good chance of doing so. Gov. John Lynch, a Democrat, has said he would veto such a bill, but the Republicans in both houses of the Legislature have veto-proof majorities.... Iintolerance, fear and an attempt to impose religious beliefs through the law [are the] motivations, and they have been evident in abundance. Representative David Bates, the Republican who filed the repeal bill, argues that homosexuality is a lifestyle choice...."
Igor Volsky of Think Progress: "Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) launched a pre-emptive strike against the GOP’s forthcoming budget during a committee hearing Tuesday morning, arguing that the Republicans’ plan to transform Medicare through 'premium support' would increase costs for seniors. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) is expected to release the party’s budget sometime next month, which will call for lowering federal health spending by providing seniors with a 'premium support' voucher to purchase insurance from an exchange of private health care plans." With a good video of Van Hollen questioning Medicare's chief actuary during a Congressional hearing.
Joby Warrick of the Washington Post: "Western spy agencies for years have kept watch on a craggy peak in northwest Iran that houses of one the world’s most unusual nuclear sites. Known as Fordow, the facility is built into mountain bunkers designed to withstand aerial attack. Iran’s civil-defense chief has declared the site 'impregnable.' But impregnable it is not, say U.S. military planners who are increasingly confident of their ability to deliver a serious blow against Fordow, should the president ever order an attack." CW: Maybe this article should be headlined "Washington Post Assists Obama Administration."
John Sides & Lynn Vavrek in Model Politics: "Mitt Romney’s most recent offhand remarks — about his wife’s 'couple of Cadillacs' and his friendships with NASCAR team owners — once again illuminated his privilege. Meanwhile, Rick Santorum’s challenge to Romney is built on his possible appeal to blue-collar voters — an appeal that could even help Santorum against Obama in November." Below are the results of a mid-February poll, in graphic form. CW: I'm not sure who the poll respondents are: voters, likely voters, adults???
Steve Kornacki of Salon: "... even if she wasn’t particularly helpful to them these past few years, [Sen Olympia] Snowe [R-Maine] is doing Democrats a huge favor now [by deciding not to run for re-election]. With Snowe in it, Democrats had virtually no chance of winning the Maine Senate race this year. Now they are likely to do so, given the state’s partisan bent. Two Democrats, Chellie Pingree and Michael Michaud, represent the state in the U.S. House now and are potential candidates. So is John Baldacci, who was governor from 2003 to 2011, and Tom Allen, who gave up his House seat after six terms in 2008 to run unsuccessfully against Sen. Susan Collins. The race is not a gimme for Democrats.... But it’s very, very winnable for them."
Right Wing World
NEW. Interesting post by Charles Pierce on Kelo v. Keystone XL pipeline. What's a winger to do?
Jon Stewart provides an update on GOP primary results & explains how to cover the news in Right Wing World. (Don't be surprised if this video doesn't load for you; the Comedy Central site is down for maintenance, & I had to go elsewhere for the vid; this one is problematic.)
Amy Gardner of the Washington Post writes an overview of what happens next in the GOP primary march. ...
... Sean Trende of Real Clear Politics employs his homemade delegate counter to conclude that "Assuming that none of the four candidates drops out of the race, it looks increasingly as if no one will be able to claim a majority of the delegates. The candidate with the best chance is Mitt Romney, but he probably wouldn't be able to wrap up the nomination until May or even June. The other candidates will probably have to hope for a brokered convention." ...
... Nonetheless, Dana Milbank writes Mitt Romney's nomination acceptance speech. Pretty much in Romney's own words, and pretty funny. The speech begins: "Fellow Republicans, as I stand here tonight to accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States, I feel like a million bucks. Actually, I feel as if I am worth between 150 and about 200 some-odd million dollars. It is difficult to say with certainty because some of it is in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Luxembourg and a Swiss bank account."
The Hypocrite of the Week Award comes early, thanks to Jed Lewison of Daily Kos, who produced this video:
... BUT ALL the GOP Presidential Candidates Are Hypocrites. Paul Krugman: "... as Republicans yell about Obama’s deficits and cry that we’re turning into Greece..., all of them, all of them, propose making the deficit bigger [than Obama's proposed budget]. And for what? For reverse Robin-Hoodism, taking from the poor and the middle class to lavish huge tax cuts on the rich. And I believe that all of them know this, too. It’s pure hypocrisy – and it’s all in the service of class warfare waged on behalf of the top 0.1 or 0.01 percent of the income distribution."
Michael Barbaro & Ashley Parker of the New York Times: "After a bruising week in which he drew unwanted attention to his wealth, by declaring that his wife owned two Cadillacs and that he was friends with Nascar team owners, Mr. Romney said he had made 'some mistakes,' acknowledging that those off-the-cuff comments had damaged his campaign.... As Republicans across Michigan headed to the polls, the race here took a volatile new turn with the admission from ’s campaign that it had begun urging Democratic voters to turn out at the polls on Tuesday and vote against Mr. Romney."
Conservative columnist Kathleen Parker of the Washington Post: "While Mitt Romney is merely guilty of saying things that make him seem disconnected from the lives of most Americans, Rick Santorum makes ideological statements that make him appear to be disconnected from the present tense."
Local News
Richard Fausset of the Los Angeles Times: "... a new bill picking up steam in the statehouse in Atlanta would allow human history's most famous Top 10 List [-- the Ten Commandments --] to be displayed in all Georgia government buildings, including schools.... The bill ... is well-positioned to pass the state Senate. Rather predictably, the group Americans United For Separation of Church and State is raising red flags about the bill, and sending a pretty clear message to Georgia lawmakers: Thou shalt not feign surprise when thou art served with a lawsuit." CW: One of the funnier straight news reports you will read. Apparently the Georgia state legislators have nothing better to do than defy the U.S. Constitution & the intents of the Founding Fathers they so revere. Thanks to Dave S. for the link.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-ten-commandments-bill-20121129,0,2606486.story
The GOP continues to be a fountain of tone deaf nonsensical legislation. How many jobs will this create? How will it reduce inequality? Is this really all they have to offer when ALEC's not writing the Bills?