The Commentariat -- June 21, 2014
Internal links & photo removed.
CW: Thanks to Reality Chex readers who contributed to Bob Hicks/Barbarossa's ALS Association fundraising campaign. Bob's page is here. Bob has made a huge contribution to Reality Chex, & readers' appreciation for that is surely a part of the reason for their generosity in helping find a cure & mediation of this debilitating disease.
White House: "In this week's address, the President previewed the first-ever White House Summit on Working Families, where he will bring together business leaders and workers to discuss the challenges that working parents face every day and lift up solutions that are good for these families and American businesses":
You are the Internal Revenue Service. You can reach into the lives of hard-working taxpayers and with a phone call, an email, or a letter you can turn their lives upside-down. You ask taxpayers to hang on to seven years of their personal tax information in case they are ever audited, and you can't keep six months' worth of employee emails? -- Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), to IRS Director John Koskinen at a House committee hearing yesterday ...
... David Joachim of the New York Times: "A congressional hearing examining how the Internal Revenue Service lost thousands of emails sought by investigators turned confrontational on Friday, with Republicans on the panel accusing the I.R.S. commissioner of lying. 'Sitting here listening to this testimony, I don't believe it,' Representative Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, told the commissioner, John Koskinen, at a hearing of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. 'That's your problem. No one believes you.'" ...
... John Dickerson of Slate: "It's hard to think of a federal agency that is less forgiving about record keeping. If you are audited, the IRS wants you to move fast. Not only do you have to keep your records for years, as Ryan says, but the IRS wants you to move quick like a bunny. And the entire process has one subliminal message to it: 'I don't believe you.'" CW: Sounds like Dickerson's audit didn't go well.
Greggers interviews Rand Paul (full interview to be aired tomorrow on Press the Meat):
Greggers: Do you think Dick Cheney is a credible critic of this president?
Paul: I think the same questions could be asked of those who supported the Iraq War. You know, were they right in their predictions? Were there weapons of mass destruction there? That's what the war was sold on. Was democracy easily achievable? Was the war won in 2005, when many of these people said it was won? They didn't really, I think, understand the civil war that would break out. And what's going on now -- I don't blame on President Obama. Has he really got the solution? Maybe there is no solution. But I do blame the Iraq War on the chaos that is in the Middle East. I also blame those who are for the Iraq War for emboldening Iran.... Iran is much more of a threat because of the Iraq War than they were before -- before there was a standoff between Sunnis and Shiites. Now there is Iranian hegemony throughout the region.
Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post: "More than 400 large U.S. military drones have crashed in major accidents around the world since 2001, a record of calamity that exposes the potential dangers of throwing open American skies to drone traffic, according to a year-long Washington Post investigation. Since the outbreak of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, military drones have malfunctioned in myriad ways, plummeting from the sky because of mechanical breakdowns, human error, bad weather and other reasons...."
Simon Maloy of Salon: "... it's kind of funny to see Republicans so eager to declare the Obama presidency over. Right now, Barack Obama is the best thing they have going for them. Their governors are mired in criminal investigations, their leaders are being thrown out of office, and they're at each other's throats as they face down political oblivion. The only thing holding them together is hatred of the man in the Oval Office."
Dana Milbank: "The real split among congressional Republicans is between the bomb-throwers and the legislators. On Thursday, the bomb-throwers lost badly. Those who followed the old-fashioned rules of politics -- building relationships, trading favors, balancing regional interests -- prevailed. That's how to understand why [Kevin] McCarthy [Calif.], with his 72 percent conservative rating, trounced the 100 percent [Raul] Labrador [Idaho]" in the vote for House majority leader.
Dana Ford of CNN: "The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted Thursday to allow pastors to marry same-sex couples in states where it is legal. The church also voted, by an overwhelming majority, to change the language about marriage in the church constitution to 'two persons' from a 'man and a woman,' according to More Light Presbyterians, a group that supports gay rights. To take effect, that change would need to be approved by a majority of 172 local presbyteries, which have a year to vote, the church said in a statement." ...
... Laurie Goodstein of the New York Times: "After passionate debate over how best to help break the deadlock between Israel and the Palestinians, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted on Friday at its general convention to divest from three companies that it says supply Israel with equipment used in the occupation of Palestinian territory. The vote, by a count of 310 to 303, was watched closely in Washington and Jerusalem and by Palestinians as a sign of momentum for a movement to pressure Israel to stop building settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and to end the occupation...."
Jada Smith of the New York Times: "Financial disclosure reports released by the Supreme Court on Friday showed that book royalties continued to fill the bank accounts of certain justices, while most bolstered their incomes with teaching assignments."
Presidential Election 2016
Josh Rogin of the Daily Beast: "Hillary Clinton is known as a champion of women and girls, but one woman who says she was raped as a 12-year-old in Arkansas doesn't think Hillary deserves that honor. This woman says Hillary smeared her and used dishonest tactics to successfully get her attacker off with a light sentence -- even though, she claims, Clinton knew he was guilty."...
... A bit more from Allie Jones in Gawker.
Igor Volsky of Think Progress: "Rick Santorum appeared to make the case for greater government involvement during a speech at the Faith & Freedom Coalition on Friday, adopting a populist message at odds with Republican rhetoric. The former Pennsylvania senator, who is exploring a 2016 presidential bid, quoted President Ronald Reagan to make the case for a more robust government that can provide assistance to lower and middle income Americans. He argued that the Republican would 'be appalled today' by GOP lawmakers who tailor their policy prescriptions to conservative orthodoxy rather than the economic problems at hand." CW: Yeah, I'll bet Santorum -- who seems to be reinventing himself again -- is still "appalled today" by sex. Also, I wonder if his new populist message applies to blah people, too. ...
... There Are Two Li'l Randys. AP: "Describing a nation 'in a full-blown spiritual crisis,' Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul on Friday vowed to fight against abortion for the rest of his political career, joining a parade of ambitious Republicans courting religious conservatives as the early jockeying for the next presidential contest intensifies. 'What America needs is a revival,' Paul declared while addressing the Faith and Freedom Coalition. Paul, a libertarian favorite who often downplays the Republican Party's focus on social issues, plunged into an aggressive defense of 'unborn children.'" CW: I wonder what would happen if Mrs. Li'l Randy found herself accidentally in a family way tomorrow. See also NBC interview excerpt above, where Paul shows he can also speak like a rational person. ...
... Where the Votes Are. Charles Pierce: "If he is who he claims to be -- Play along, OK? -- Rand Paul should have been able to give this conference a good old leaving-alone, instead of showing up to convince people that he is more anti-choice than thou. He knows what he needs to do to be a nominee. He knows who really sets up the hoops, and he knows how and when to jump." ...
... Joe Coscarelli of New York: "Nothing says God Bless America like peeing on the president."
Joan Walsh of Salon doesn't think much of the GOP's star lineup for 2016. The choices are scandal-plagued governors Walker & Christie, Tea Party firebrands Cruz & Paul or past-their-sell-by-dates Romney & (Jeb) Bush: "Reporters who are busy inventing rivals for Hillary Clinton in 2016 ought to put their imagination into coming up with presidential candidates for a party that truly needs them." CW: But, seriously, is Clinton so much hotter? I'd like to invent some Hillary rivals, & I'm not alone. I wouldn't be surprised if Rand Paul were the GOP nominee, & I think it's possible he could beat any Democratic candidate. If he looked & sounded less like a twerp, he'd be a shoo-in. Republicans want a president who looks like a B-movie star, like their special favorite president. Can't you see Ted Cruz in a black-&-white oater?
A Little Way Beyond the Beltway
Laura Vozzella of the Washington Post: "Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe vetoed portions of the state budget Friday and vowed to defy the legislature by expanding Medicaid without its approval, setting up a legal showdown with Republicans even as he averted a government shutdown."
News Lede
Guardian: "The US has signalled its mounting concern over modern-day slavery in Thailand and Qatar after it downgraded both countries on its human trafficking watchlist following revelations of appalling maltreatment of migrant workers."
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Reader Comments (9)
Ha! Had no idea what an "oater" is––never heard that term. But certainly an apt position for Cruz. For those here as ignorant as I, here you go:
Oater: A Western movie or TV show.
Origin: !950s: derivative of OAT with an allusion to horse feed: compare with "Horse opera".
Some light must have shown down on those Presbyterians for them to get with the 21st century. A friend of mine tells the story of her ex husband's mother, who was Lutheran, saying about someone: "Well, you know what the problem is with that woman, don't you? She's (in a whisper) a Presbyterian. You have to be careful of them, you know, they'd just as soon smite you into hell and back if you let them. Under those Presbyterian exteriors, so proper and prissy lies pure vengeance or something like that––makes the skin crawl."
Have we come a long way, baby?
PD,
There are Presbyterians and there are Presbyterians. The PCA flavor can certainly be as described by the mother-ex-law. My experience with PCA is strong male authority and an almost disbelief of homosexuality.
I was raised in the (USA) version. There was (from the perspective of a minor) a right way to do things, but the "Love thy neighbor as thyself" was the strongest teaching, and I grew up with a sense that all people were "neighbors" and deserved attention and respect. We had intellectually challenging sermons by male and female pastors. The young children in Sunday school built arks and tried to part the waters with a hair dryer, but the grown-ups were encouraged to go beyond the stories.
It is hard to tell which is which. The First Presbyterian Church in our city is the PCA version, the First Presbyterian in a neighboring city is USA. Look for the rainbow banners.
@Marie: Thanks you for the link to Bob's site––couldn't get it yesterday. And B.––nice to see ya all smiling––love the hat!
Not that any of the loyal RCers haven't noticed, but I think we can officially declare that mainstream journalism has learned absolutely nothing after the Iraq debacle. Giving the architects of war an opportunity to talk directly to the public, blowing up their egos and rewriting history, without hardly a whimper of their criminal negligence, clearly shows just how badly damaged the credibility is of the fourth estate.
Some journalists have indeed vowed never again to be duped so wholeheartedly and rightfully so have used their positions to inform Americans of the dirty past of the lying rat pack that have crawled back in front of the lights. Yet until this standard journalistic practice returns to the mainstream, the average person will listen to Paul Wolfowitz plotting new war strategies and never make the connections to his historical involvement in this very war.
I'm currently reading "Amusing Ourselves to Death" by Neil Portman, recommended by a friend. Amazing to think it was originally written in 1985, even before rapid political polarization took hold via the teevee, before the flood of Hollywood magicians began mixing their cinematic skills with advertising science, before the 24/7 news cycle that invades our homes with non-news at every instant of every day. The book hardly even dabbles into the revolutionary world of the internet and certainly would have some choice words to say about the devastating effects of the rise of Twitter to social discourse and logical, well-stated arguments.
Today is definitively the reign of the sound bite. Prior context need not apply.
The response to my appeal from RC'ers is overwhelming! You are the kindest, most rational group of men and women, I've ever encountered. Special thanks to Marie, the Constant Weader, for bringing us together on her site, which is obviously a labor of love.
I can't begin to thank you all. Or y'all as they say in these parts.
Bob Hicks/Barbarossa
Sad to say my beard turned white some time ago.
Q
I hate to agree with La Palin, but her description of "Lamestream Media" is unfortunately accurate. Dick Cheney? Give us a break! And Glenn Beck: Not One More death in Iraq.
As someone stated the MSM are always chasing the latest shiny object. VA? What's that? Oh that was yesterday! Today it's all Iraq, all the time.
I'm with Glenn Beck on Iraq. Not one more. Maliki had his chance. He made his bed; let him lie in it.
Barbarossa
Do you have an opinion about the VA crisis?
I'm inclined to believe the guy from the IRS. The computer crash occurred in 2011 - before the Tea Party started screaming. Congress has been cutting back on funding for the IRS for years. Money for good IT support and hardware has been in short supply. Lousy IT is a feature of 'starve the beast'. And if anyone is to be disbelieved- it is Paul Ryan or any damned Republican. And I support Koskinen in his refusal to turn over any more documents to the House committee until their internal inquiry is finished. The House then cherry picks the information and releases it to the public without context and nicely massaged to fit their own special narrative.
Also, I cannot believe that urinal puck. That despicable and vile piece of Republican 'marketing' ought to be on the front page of every paper, blog, and broadcast news program in America so everyone understands the complete depravity of the Republican party.
@Haley Simon: I was as shocked as you were about the urinal pucks, and taken with your suggestion that their pictures be posted on front pages everywhere. Sadly, I think one reason we won't see this is that Republican behavior to President Obama has been so bad, for so long, that many have been desensitized to it, including reporters. And the press hasn't helped the situation, starting with their willingness to publish allegations that Obama was not a citizen when he had just been elected in a landslide. It's all been downhill since then. Peeing on the image of the president would seem to be hitting rock bottom, but I'm not holding my breath on that one. That the nation is not more shocked by the behavior of the rabid right is truly alarming. This is just one more sorry example.