The Commentariat -- Ides of March 2013
I will be away most of the day today, so I won't be posting. -- Marie
Please sign the White House petition "Save Social Security." If you think means-testing is a good idea, see my argument as to why it is not -- it's the 12th comment in the Comments section. ...
... Greg Sargent: "Multiple reports out today suggest that Dem leaders in the House and Senate are edging towards supporting Chained CPI for Social Security as part of the 'grand bargain' Obama wants to replace the sequester with -- and that's already sparking sharp pushback from Congressional liberals." CW: there is no excuse for this. None.
John Broder of the New York Times: "President Obama on Friday will propose diverting money from oil and gas leases on federal lands to finance research on replacing hydrocarbons in cars and trucks."
Paul Krugman: "Way back in 2010, when everybody in Washington seemed determined to anoint Representative Paul Ryan as the ultimate Serious, Honest Conservative, I pronounced him a flimflam man.... Since then, his budgets have gotten even flimflammier.... This time around, quite a few pundits and reporters have greeted his release with the derision it deserves.... The Senate Democratic plan ... is ... an extremely cautious proposal, one that doesn't follow through on its own analysis.... The proposal from the Congressional Progressive Caucus ... calls for substantial new spending now, temporarily widening the deficit, offset by major deficit reduction later in the next decade, largely though not entirely through higher taxes on the wealthy, corporations and pollution." That's the plan Krugman likes. ...
... Steve Benen likes it, too: "... on Capitol Hill, when it comes to creating millions of jobs in a hurry, this is the only game in town" -- the CPC budget.
Ron Nixon of the New York Times: "A provision to keep Saturday [postal] deliveries, being considered as part of a Senate budget resolution, is similar to legislation that the House passed last week, but it is unclear what Congress can do to compel the Postal Service to continue delivering mail six days a week. The agency does not receive federal appropriations, getting nearly all of its $65 billion in revenue from the sale of stamps and other services."
"I Am Not a Sixth-Grader." Dianne Feinstein really does not Joe McCarthy, Jr., giving her a condescending lecture on the Bill of Rights:
... Update. Kevin Liptak of CNN: "Saying she felt 'patronized' by Senate colleague Ted Cruz, Sen. Dianne Feinstein explained Thursday why she felt the need to raise her voice in anger at the Texas Republican during a debate over gun control. 'I felt he was somewhat arrogant about it,' Feinstein said...." CW: funny, everybody else felt that way, too. With video.
Carol Leonnig & Peter Wallsten of the Washington Post: "A federal grand jury in Miami is investigating Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), examining his role in advocating for the business interests of a wealthy donor and friend.... Menendez has intervened in matters affecting the financial interests of Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen, seeking to apply pressure on the Dominican government to honor a contract with Melgen's port-security company, documents and interviews show. Also, Menendez's office has acknowledged he interceded with federal health-care officials after they said that Melgen had overbilled the U.S. government for care at his clinic."
Political scientist John Sides, writing in Salon, argues that the "47-percent" video had little to no impact on the presidential election. CW: one thing Sides doesn't mention in his post -- so maybe he & his colleague didn't test for it -- was potential voters' degree of certainty. It seems to me that the 47-percent remark would have the effect of cementing people's impressions of Romney. Up till then, anyone watching the election closely would know Romney didn't give a flying fuck for ordinary Americans, but casual voters probably did not have enough info to form an opinion. The 47 percent tape -- which got extensive media attention -- left little doubt about Romney's view of us unwashed masses.
Kevin Cirilli of Politico: "Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), once a staunch opponent of gay marriage, says that he now supports same-sex nuptials after his son told him he was gay." CW: typical of so many Republicans, Portman can dredge up some empathy only after a situation directly affects him. So sorry, I'm not impressed. This was a no-brainer before he found out his son was gay -- something he learned, BTW, two years ago.
... Update. Here's Portman's self-serving op-ed in the Columbus Dispatch. Something about God & soul-searching. ...
... CW Update 2. I see Steve Benen has precisely the same take I had: "Why must empathy among conservatives be tied so directly to their own personal interactions?" He adds,
It seems the key to American social progress in the 21st century is simple: more conservatives having more life experiences. Indeed, I'd be glad to introduce Republican lawmakers to more Americans who are poor, in the hopes they'll stop trying to cut health care programs; students, in the hopes they'll stop opposing education investments; women, in the hopes they'll stop opposing women's health care; and African Americans, in the hopes that they'll stop supporting voter-suppression tactics.... If [Portman's] son came out as unemployed, would the senator give another look to economic stimulus and extended jobless benefits?
Aruna Viswanatha & Emily Flitter of Reuters: JPMorgan Chase & Co ignored risks, misled investors, fought with regulators and tried to work around rules as it dealt with mushrooming losses in a derivatives portfolio, a Senate report alleged in a damning review of the largest U.S. bank's management. Senior managers at the bank were told for months about the bad derivatives bets that ended up costing the bank more than $6.2 billion but did little to rein them in, according to the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations report on Thursday."
Tim Egan has hopes for the pope. ...
... Jon Anderson in the New Yorker: "Whatever the truth, Francis the Humble, it would seem, has much to clear up about what he thought, how he behaved, and what he did during his country's Dirty War."
Right Wing World
Tim Murphy of Mother Jones lists "Nine CPAC Events We Initially Thought Were Parodies."
News Ledes
New York Times: "The United States will deploy additional ballistic missile interceptors along the Pacific Coast to increase the Pentagon's ability to blunt a potential attack from North Korea, in a clear response to recent tests of nuclear weapons technology and long-range missiles by the North."
New York Times: "Two affiliates of SAC Capital, the giant hedge fund, settled insider trading charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission for $614 million on Friday, in what the agency said was the biggest ever settlement for such cases. The settlements spare SAC's founder, the billionaire Steven A. Cohen, who hasn't been charged with wrongdoing. Mr. Cohen, one of the most successful hedge fund managers in the world, has long been considered a target of federal investigators."
AP: "... alleged victims of clergy abuse in the U.S. are demanding swift and bold actions from the new Jesuit pontiff: Defrock all molester priests and the cardinals who covered up for them, formally apologize, and release all confidential church files."
ABC News: "A critical eyewitness testified in the Steubenville, Ohio, rape trial this morning, saying he watched and recorded a high school football player accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl penetrate the alleged victim with his finger in the back seat of a car. Mark Cole, 16, was in the car with the defendants Trent Mays, 17, and Ma'lik Richmond, 16, as they drove from one alcohol-fueled party to his home on the night of Aug. 11. All three boys played football together at Steubenville High School."
Reuters: "Italy's new parliament sat on Friday for the first time since an inconclusive general election produced a political stalemate that meant deputies and senators were unable even to elect speakers for either chamber."
Share Article
Reader Comments (5)
WHAT A PRICK! I said to myself after seeing the video yesterday of Ted talking (lecturing) in that smarmy, condescending, professorial voice to our very own Mary Astor, Diane Feinstein. She put him in his place right and proper, but damn if he won't come back like some putrid odor that permeates a room. No amount of air freshener can do the trick––but let's hope that sooner than later this man stumbles over his own petard, gets a little scorched and comes back eating some humble pie. Fat chance, you say? And I say, but I can dream, can't I?
@PD Pepe I was also soooo gratified when Feinstein didn't let the little sociopathic's rambling "6th grade" lesson stand. After all the flourishes and 1st, 2nd, and 4th Amendment quotes, his arguments were very weak and even a lay person like me could point out the absence of facts and logic. The BS about "appreciating" Feinstein's "passion" put him square in my sites. Feinstein, short of bitch slapping him around the committee room, might have told him that she preferred passion for the country rather than his unrelenting passion for self-importance. He must have been in nappies when he got that penile brain implant that enabled him to grow into the monumental dickhead he is today.
Just read the item on the Senate investigation report about JP Morgan about trading losses.
"Bank executives to testify Friday after report claims company misled public during $6.2bn London Whale trading debacle.....
The report also concludes that Jamie Dimon knew about the sustained trading losses when he dismissed the incident as a “tempest in a teapot”
Only JP Morgan "executives" not Dimon are scheduled to appear because he's really skeeerd of Elizabeth.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/mar/14/jpmorgan-senate-investigation-london-whale
It is sort of too bad that Senator Feinstein got "passionate" about the gun problem, rather than also ripping up Senator Cruz on the false analogies he presented concerning the 1st and 4th amendments. We have laws that modulate your rights to speak, petition and assemble and most of them have been around for a long time. We have laws that define and circumscribe your right to remain free and unsearched, and they are used and judged all the time (this year seems to be a big year for the 4th amendment in the Supreme Court.) We have laws already that circumscribe your right to bear arms, and the NRA BS mantra has been "enforce them." So there is no question that laws can be written to modulate activities under the Bill of Rights. Feinstein should have called Cruz out for blatant demagoguery, big time, in addition to effrontery. He is a lawyer and knows better, yet plays to the basest of the base. This guy is going to be an even bigger embarassment then we can imagine.
Great to see Reality Chex poster Jack Mahoney took "first place" of the most recommend-eds on today's Krugman column over at the NY Times beginning with his salvo on the media, but with most of his fire aimed at Republicans, here's a bit:
"...Now that they have bled the country dry, they come back with their "who, me Ma?" innocent faces and try to convince us that the only way to save our nation's finances is to take money from the social insurance system into which we have all paid for most of our lives."
C'mon people, get that White House petition signed.