The Commentariat -- January 6, 2013
My column in today's New York Times eXaminer is on Ross Douthat's fantasy short-short story "Boehner, American Hero."
Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "On Friday, a top Senate Republican, [John Cornyn {Texas}] signaled that members of his party should be prepared to play hardball and be willing to accept the kind of consequences in each previous fight they've threatened but managed to avoid. House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) likewise insisted that Republicans hold the line, telling his members they must demand that every dollar they raise the debt limit be paired with commensurate spending cuts. But other Republicans counseled caution, warning that pressure from the business community and the public to raise the $16.4 trillion federal borrowing limit renders untenable any threats not to do so and will weaken the GOP's hand if their stance is perceived to be a bluff."
Steve Peoples of the AP: "The Republican Party seems as divided and angry as ever. Infighting has penetrated the highest levels of the House GOP leadership. Long-standing geographic tensions have increased, pitting endangered Northeastern Republicans against their colleagues from other parts of the country. Enraged tea party leaders are threatening to knock off dozens of Republicans who supported a measure that raised taxes on the nation's highest earners."
Reed Abelson of the New York Times: "Health insurance companies across the country are seeking and winning double-digit increases in premiums for some customers, even though one of the biggest objectives of the Obama administration's health care law was to stem the rapid rise in insurance costs for consumers. Particularly vulnerable to the high rates are small businesses and people who do not have employer-provided insurance and must buy it on their own.... Regulators are now required to review any request for a rate increase of 10 percent or more; the requests are posted on a federal Web site, healthcare.gov, along with regulators' evaluations."
Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "The White House is weighing a far broader and more comprehensive approach to curbing the nation's gun violence than simply reinstating an expired ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition, according to multiple people involved in the administration's discussions. A working group led by Vice President Biden is seriously considering measures backed by key law enforcement leaders that would require universal background checks for firearm buyers, track the movement and sale of weapons through a national database, strengthen mental health checks, and stiffen penalties for carrying guns near schools or giving them to minors...."
"More Guns = More Killing." Elisabeth Rosenthal of the New York Times: "I recently visited some Latin American countries that mesh with the N.R.A.'s vision of the promised land, where guards with guns grace every office lobby, storefront, A.T.M., restaurant and gas station. It has not made those countries safer or saner. Despite the ubiquitous presence of 'good guys' with guns, countries like Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Colombia and Venezuela have some of the highest homicide rates in the world." ...
... Slipping into a Banana Republic. Steve M. of No More Mr. Nice Blog: ... "is it really surprising that plutocracy advocates want to hollow out America's middle class and create a class structure more like those in Latin America (where U.S. corporations have traditionally found cheap, willing workers), while their pro-gun allies want us seeing one another as (literally) mortal enemies, while we lose focus on what the plutocrats are doing to us economically? Is it unreasonable to see these as two aspects of the Third World-ization of America?"
Maureen Dowd writes an appreciation of Joe Biden. This comes, not surprising, at the expense of President Obama, & appropriately at the expense of John Boehner. ...
... Here's Biden swearing in Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) -- and his son:
... AND here is Joe being Joe during the mock swearing-in photo-op:
Read this Daily Caller headline & you'll understand why the denizens of Right Wing World are confused about the debt ceiling & think President Obama is going to write himself a "blank check."
Glenn Greenwald in the Guardian: "... at the very least, [Chuck] Hagel's confirmation [as Secretary of Defense] will be a much-needed declaration that some mild dissent on foreign policy orthodoxies and Israel is permitted. It will shatter AIPAC's veto power and dilute the perception of the so-called "pro-Israel community's" unchallengeable power. It will ensure that there is at least some diversity of viewpoints when it comes to debating endless war, belligerence v. negotiations, and MidEast policy. It will highlight the typically-suppressed differences within the GOP and the country about America's war posture." ...
... Fighting for Figs. On January 4, Michael Moore wrote, "... back in 2007, Chuck Hagel went totally crazy and told the truth about our invasion of Iraq. Here's what he said: 'People say we're not fighting for oil. Of course we are. They talk about America's national interest. What the hell do you think they're talking about? We're not there for figs.'" ...
... Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard responded with characteristic outrage. Let's let Moore explain in this open letter to Kristol: "Anyway, I see you're mad that back in 2007 former Sen. Chuck Hagel said that we were obviously 'fighting for oil' in Iraq. You explain this was 'vulgar and disgusting' and 'could be the straw that breaks the back of Hagel's chances' to be Obama's next Defense Secretary." So more goes on to highlight "four other prominent people [Friends of Bill's] who've said the same thing." Glenn Greenwald recommends you read the post. Read the whole post.
Art by Victor Juhasz for Rolling Stone.Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone: the bank bailouts of 2008-2009, and subsequent humungous gifts of cash from us to them "built a banking system that discriminates against community banks, makes Too Big to Fail banks even Too Bigger to Failier, increases risk, discourages sound business lending and punishes savings by making it even easier and more profitable to chase high-yield investments than to compete for small depositors. The bailout has also made lying on behalf of our biggest and most corrupt banks the official policy of the United States government." Thanks to contributor cowichan for the link. ...
... Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times: "A settlement [by federal agencies] reportedly in the works with big banks will soon end a review into foreclosure abuses, and it means more of the same: no accountability for financial institutions and little help for borrowers.... [The reported terms of the settlement reveal] it is another gift to the banks.... 'The O.C.C.-Fed review is just another flawed outreach program designed to fail,' said Ned Brown, a legislative strategist.... 'The servicers rolled the regulators.'"
Maggie Haberman of Politico: "President Barack Obama's 2008 campaign was fined $375,000 by the Federal Election Commission for campaign reporting violations -- one of the largest fees ever levied against a presidential campaign.... The fine -- laid out in detail in FEC documents that have yet to be made public -- arose from an audit of the campaign, which was published in April."
AP: "Speaking out for the first time since he resigned, retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal takes the blame for a Rolling Stone article, and the unflattering comments attributed to his staff about the Obama administration, that ended his Afghan command and army career." ...
... Michael Gordon of the New York Times reads McChrystal's new book. CW: Sounds like a payback book, if a somewhat muted one.
Scott Shane of the New York Times, John C. Kiriakou, a former CIA officer, will be the first CIA employee to go to prison for leaking to reporters. Kiriakous was a source for Shane.
In the wake of the Newtown massacre, Susan Jacoby, in a New York Times op-ed, takes a stab at explaining atheism & urges atheists to speak out more. CW: One notion that Jacoby sidles up to, but doesn't write, is something that has been really irritating me -- the way the gun lobby tacitly uses faith in an afterlife to make gun crimes more palatable -- by promoting the notion that gunshot victims suddenly become "angels in heaven." As long as there's a perceived upside to the sudden death of a healthy person, then our "freedoms" and "right" to tote around assault weapons don't come at too high a price.
Alex Dobuzinskis of Reuters: "A planned yearlong centennial celebration of Richard Nixon's birth is due to kick off on Sunday at his presidential library in Southern California, with military honors and the laying of a wreath by the eldest daughter of the late 37th U.S. president.... The Richard Nixon Foundation plans to observe his complicated legacy with various events throughout the year, starting with the event on Sunday at the official Nixon library run by the foundation and the National Archives in Yorba Linda, California -- his birthplace."
News Ledes
AP: "Syrian President Bashar Assad has outlined a new peace initiative that includes a national reconciliation conference and a new constitution. Assad, however, says the initiative can only take roots after regional and Western countries stop funding what he called militant extremists fighting to overthrow him. Assad spoke Sunday in a rare speech addressing the nation, his first since June." Al Jazeera story here.
Reuters: "Venezuelan lawmakers re-elected [Diosdado Cabello,] a staunch ally of Hugo Chavez, to head the National Assembly on Saturday, putting him in line to be caretaker president if the socialist leader does not recover from cancer surgery.
Reuters: "A U.S. drone strike killed at least 10 people suspected to be Taliban fighters in Pakistan's northern tribal areas on Sunday, intelligence sources said, days after another drone strike killed a top militant leader in the area." The Al Jazeera story reports that the drone strikes killed at least 16 suspected Taliban militants.
AP: "The [National Hockey League] and the players' association said they reached a tentative agreement early Sunday to end a nearly four-month-old lockout that threatened to wipe out the season. A marathon negotiating session that lasted more than 16 hours, stretching from Saturday afternoon until just before dawn Sunday, produced a 10-year deal that still must be ratified by the players."
Al Jazeera: "Gerard Depardieu, the French actor who says he is quitting his homeland to avoid higher taxes for the rich, has received a Russian passport and met with President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin has said."
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Reader Comments (13)
Okay, I know--I am on a Chuck Hagel as Sec Def roll. I hope this soon will be a done deal, and I can let go of my ramblings. Until then--I read today that Michael Moore supports Hagel.
Moore wrote in "Chuck Hagel Told the Truth About Iraq:"
....."But what you probably haven't seen - because everyone has forgotten - is that back in 2007, Chuck Hagel went totally crazy and told the truth about our invasion of Iraq. Here's what he said:
"People say we're not fighting for oil. Of course we are. They talk about America's national interest. What the hell do you think they're talking about? We're not there for figs."
*********************
Can imagine what Chuckie will be sayin' about Afghanistan. ("We're not there for the poppies.") Except maybe we are--in a "higher" form . The war mongers will go (even more) crazy? Can't wait. And what an interesting idea to have as Sec Def a person who has been in combat (Vietnam), been wounded and turned completely against the whole idea of war as "helping other countries." And yet is a Republican!
This is gonna be worth watching.
http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Hugh-Bailey-There-is-no-argument-for-doing-4168568.php
A rational argument for fewer guns, especially assault rifles.
Marie, your comment about the NRA (and many others) using heaven as an excuse for murder needs to add one more thing that 'heaven' supports. WAR
@Marvin: That's, as you said, the noxious effect of faith in an afterlife. It's one thing to gaze at the firmament and wonder if there might be more to life than we know or, possibly, can ever know, but to believe so fully in some version of personal immortality that it cheapens the only life we know in fact has throughout history provided an excuse for the most awful behaviors humans are given to.
I think of The Children's Crusade, genocides beyond numbering, jihads that follow the perennial pattern of "if you can't covert 'em, kill 'em," and now I guess I have to think of the NRA, which apparently also stands at the right (where else?) hand of God, using the ineffable to excuse their own avariciousness and disdain for the lives they say (hypocritically, to no surprise because they are standing on the right where hypocrisy flourishes) they wish to protect.
When Jesus said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me," I cannot imagine he had Newtown in mind. But what do I know? I'm not as close to God as is the NRA.
Here's a good case for the misperception of Al-Jazeera among Americans....
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/01/2013149124977775.html
Once the news of the Current TV deal went out, a few here joked about its comparison to Fox News "Islamic style" and what not. I couldn't really tell if it was sarcasm or serious, but in the former case, I think you're underestimating the quality of Al-Jazeera "news." Clearly it's got issues and an agenda to follow. It critiques Israel on its every move, which we should be doing since their colonization of Palestine is against international law and no amount of looking the other way will ever improve the situation. You won't hear any in-depth reports on extremists from their friendly neighbor Saudi Arabia nor anything about inequalities in Qatar, particularly among the vulnerable immigrant population which comprises 80% of the population.
http://www.hrw.org/middle-eastn-africa/qatar
But as an international news outlet, I've been watching their channel for a few years now and IMHO the quality is excellent. They often bring in a rich diversity of scholars to add to the debates and its certainly not the revolving door of talking heads available on US networks. The documentaries they do are top notch and follow up on pertinent, controversial subjects rarely discussed in US media. Here in SW Europe the only US news channel I get is CNN international and its quality is frankly abysmal. Impertinent subjects coupled with Establishment pundits means real news comes around very little if ever. For real US news I come to the Sista'.
The biggest quality Al-Jazeera could bring to American viewers is a fresh look outside the US borders. Al-Jazeera is based in Qatar, which has tons of money to invest in their program to make it competitive internationally. Thus, at the same moment that US media shuts down the majority of their international bureaus because of lack of finances, Al-Jazeera has people reporting on local events throughout the world. I've been able to follow the Arab Spring and all of Africas ups and downs thanks to them and no thanks to CNN.
I had never connected the NRA and the "few more angels in Heaven" baloney until now. It may be a comfort to some of the parents, but I hope that when their grief becomes a quiet constant in their lives after months or years of tears, they band together and speak forcefully for the assault weapon ban, more stringent background checks, etc. and I hope the government listens.
Sorry, CW, I just can't get myself to a place where I can celebrate Nixon's centennial.
Re: One more angel; Do you all remember what the brother of the pro footballer turned warrior; Par Tillman, said after he was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan? Some god boy said Pat was in heaven; his brother who also enlisted in the Army retorted; "My brother isn't in heaven, He's fucking dead."
Re: one more devil: The man responsible for the cover-up of Pat Tillman's death by friendly fire has a new book out. Stanley McChrystal isn't fucking dead, he's making money selling books.
Speaking of Lies, Videos, Lies, Movies, and Lies, Lies, Lies (Oh, have I repeated myself?)
A friend e-mailed me a link to Naomi Wolf's article in the Guardian, UK. Wolf wrote about the movie: Zero Dark Thirty's Torture Lie
"...By peddling the lie that CIA detentions led to Bin Laden's killing, you have become a Leni Riefenstahl-like propagandist of torture."
"This also sets a dangerous precedent: we can be sure, with the "propaganda amendment" of the 2013 NDAA, just signed into law by the president, that the future will hold much more overt corruption of Hollywood and the rest of US pop culture. This amendment legalizes something that has been illegal for decades: the direct funding of pro-government or pro-military messaging in media, without disclosure, aimed at American citizens. "
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/15403-zero-dark-thirtys-torture-lie
@ MAG:
'illegal for decades: the direct funding of pro-government or pro-military messaging'
Seriously? What do you consider those lines in movies thanking the airforce/army/marines/........? Or can hollywood directors tell you the going hourly rate for a $13B aircraft carrier? My guess is a flattering image of the USN. Couldn't be cheaper. In every sense.
@Victoria:
I'm with you on Nixon. I still can't believe I voted for that son of a bitch three times beginning in 1960 (my first election). He's the reason that I left the Republican Party, never ever to return.
I'm sure that the standards of judgement are falling much faster than I can perceive: Celebrating Nixon's centennial? Why? That's like celebrating Bernie Madoff's birth. And then there is this guy in New York with a huge megaphone who puts the words Boehner and hero in the same zip code?
If ever proof were needed that the 24/7 news cycle and the wikipedia-ification of information is killing thought processes and killing human grey matter, the celebration of anything Nixon and hero worship of Boehner is proof analysis takes a back seat to copy word-count.
I'm of the mind that not clicking on the scrawlings of Douthat or Brooks or Will or Kraut will show their paymasters that the public sees their chosen blowhards as past their expiration date. When I read that Michael Moore bit about the complete disregard for the truth of Kristol and his friends past statements, I am gladdened that I turned my tv off years ago. Keeping Kristol on rotation as a "very serious person" is a travesty when the power of his megaphone is considered. Imagine one time Gregory or Stephy or Sheiffer calling Kristol a liar and a fabricator who divides not enlightens. That would be good TV.
The unenviable task of an educated electorate is wallowing through deception and drivel posing as learned knowledge.