The Commentariat -- June 22

I've added an Open Thread page for today on Off Times Square. Kate Madison & I have posted our comments on Tom Friedman's column. Update: Madison's & my comments have been squelched so far, so this is the place to read them. Update Update: My comment is now on page 2 (#39), but Madison's is nowhere to be found now on page 4 at #100.

"Climate of Denial." In a 7,000-word essay in Rolling Stone, former Vice President & popularly-elected President Al Gore calls out the Charlie Sheen-Donald-Trump-obsessed media & President Obama for failing to give proper attention to climate change. "... President Obama has thus far failed to use the bully pulpit to make the case for bold action on climate change." ...

     ... John Broder of the New York Times writes an overview article on Gore's essay.

Keith Bradsher of the New York Times on China's high-speed rail system which, despite problems, has "very real economic benefits ... and [poses] competitive challenges ... for the United States and Europe."

"Hostilities v. Torture." Adam Serwer has a great post on how the press is hammering Obama for his stupid definition of "hostilities" but largely gave Bush a pass on his tortured definition of "torture." "Indeed, media outlets mostly acquiesced to Bush’s argument — recall the New York Times’ decision to deploy euphemisms for 'torture' because Bush and his supporters had simply redefined the term.... President Obama faces what you might call a 'hack deficit.' ... Unlike with Bush, Obama doesn’t have a large stable of liberal legal scholars and commenters who are willing to pretend they don’t speak English in order to defend his policies."

Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "As Mr. Obama begins trying to untangle the country from its military and civilian promises in Afghanistan, his critics and allies alike are drawing a direct line between what is not being spent to bolster the sagging economy in America to what is being spent in Afghanistan — $120 billion this year alone. On Monday, the United States Conference of Mayors made that connection explicitly, saying that American taxes should be paying for bridges in Baltimore and Kansas City, not in Baghdad and Kandahar."

** Why Wal-Mart Discriminates against Women. Prof. Nelson Lichtenstein, in a New York Times op-ed, writes a fascinating takedown of Wal-Mart's "authoritarian corporate culture" and its history of "managerial bias," which invite, among other ills, discrimination against women.

Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: the Fed, not doing much to help the economy, has no intention to do more. Fed Chair Ben Benanke will answer reporters' questions this afternoon.

Like other misinformed people, I get all my news from "The Daily Show." Seriously, I did not know the details of this story till Jon Stewart brought it to my attention:

... Here's an update from CNN: "Kenneth Melson, acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, is expected to resign under pressure, perhaps in the next day or two, in the wake of the controversy over Operation Fast and Furious, two senior federal law enforcement sources said Monday." ...

... AND, oh yeah, why does the ATF have an acting director who does such boneheaded stuff? Because President Obama nominated long-time ATF agent & head of the Chicago ATF office Andrew Traver last November, and the NRA opposes him. The Senate, quavering in their jackboots, has stalled Traver's confirmation. Here's a Washington Post story dated June 20 on how that's going. Obama may appoint Traver as acting director upon Melson's expected resignation. The ATF "has been without a director since 2006."

Greg Sargent: the Democrats lost the deficit argument because they never presented their side. "... Americans only got to hear one side of this argument, so it’s only natural if they agree with it."

Dana Milbank: "I wish [Republican presidential candidate Jon] Huntsman luck in this noble pursuit, but the high road almost always leads to political oblivion. ...

... Stephen Colbert comments on Huntsman's candidacy, but likes Generic Republican better:

... FINALLY, Huntsman figures out how not to get caught telling lies in his announcement speech (as his rival, self-proclaimed "truth-teller" Tiim Pawlenty did) -- don't say anything. Glenn Kessler, the Washington Post's fact-checker, could not find any facts in Huntsman's speech to check.

Right Wing World

Art by Victor Juhasz for Rolling Stone.The Messenger of God. Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone has a terrific biographical piece on Michele Bachmann, and he has a message, too: don't laugh, because the loonier Bachmann seems and the more the "elite media" dismiss her incredible antics, the more her following of wacky true believers grows. This is a great read. Don't miss it.

Sen. Bernie Sanders on the Koch Brothers Social Security Liars Club:

In case you've been living on another planet (such as Right Wing World), here's all you need to know about Fox "News":

Million-Dollar Baby. Callista Gingrich sports a Tiffany's necklace.A Million Here. Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post: "Former House speaker Newt Gingrich had a second line of credit at ... Tiffany and Co. for as much as $1 million dollars, his presidential campaign acknowledged Tuesday. Joe DeSantis, a spokesman for Gingrich, said that the candidate’s personal financial disclosure filing, which is due within 30 days of his formal entrance into the presidential race, will 'show that the Gingriches had a $500,000 to $1 million line of credit at Tiffany’s, that it has a zero balance, and it has been closed.'” ...

... A Million There. Shannon McCaffrey of the AP: "Newt Gingrich's top two fundraising advisers resigned on Tuesday, and officials said the Republican candidate's hobbling presidential campaign carried more than $1 million in debt." CW: Too bad he cancelled his Tiffany's line of credit; he could have used it to pay off his debt.

News Ledes

** President Obama will address the nation at 8:00 pm ET. Christian Science Monitor: "President Obama’s Wednesday speech on his promised July drawdown of the 100,000 US troops in Afghanistan is drafted. But on circulating copies, there are still blank spaces where the final troop figures will go." ...

     ... Washington Post: "President Obama will face a stiff political challenge Wednesday in presenting his plan for a gradual end to the U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan. His prime-time address must remind a skeptical electorate and a concerned Congress that the country’s longest war remains worth fighting — and funding — for several more years." ...

     ... New York Times Update: "President Obama plans to announce Wednesday evening that he will order the withdrawal of 10,000 American troops from Afghanistan this year, and another 20,000 troops, the remainder of the 2009 'surge,' by the end of next summer, according to administration officials and diplomats briefed on the decision. These troop reductions are both deeper and faster than the recommendations made by Mr. Obama’s military commanders, and they reflect mounting political and economic pressures at home, as the president faces relentless budget pressures and an increasingly restive Congress and American public." ...

     ... Update: here is the prepared text of President Obama's speech. See video under June 23 Commentariat.

Washington Post: "In a statement..., at the end of a two-day policy session, the Fed acknowledged that the economic recovery has lost momentum. But, as widely expected, it said that it would allow a program of Treasury bond purchases — a move to pump $600 billion into the economy known as quantitative easing — to expire at the end of the month. The agency also said that it would keep interest rates near zero to try to stimulate growth." CW translation: "Tough luck, folks."

New York Times: "Republican leaders in the House of Representatives are moving to address head-on the escalating tensions over President Obama’s authority to continue the military mission in Libya, unveiling two proposals about the conflict late Tuesday that the chamber may vote on as soon as Thursday."

AP: "President Barack Obama has signed executive orders that lay out how far military commanders around the globe can go in using cyberattacks and other computer-based operations against enemies and as part of routine espionage in other countries. The orders detail when the military must seek presidential approval for a specific cyber assault on an enemy and weave cyber capabilities into U.S. war fighting strategy, defense officials and cyber security experts told The Associated Press."

NEW. Bloomberg: "JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)’s deal to settle a U.S. regulator’s claims that the bank misled buyers of mortgage-linked securities before the housing market collapsed echoed a case brought last year against Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) JPMorgan agreed to pay $153.6 million to end a Securities and Exchange Commission suit. The SEC alleged that the New York- based bank failed to tell investors in 2007 that a hedge fund helped pick, and bet against, underlying securities in the collateralized debt obligation they purchased. In July, Goldman Sachs paid a record $550 million for failing to inform clients in 2007 that it allowed a hedge fund that also bet against housing to help formulate the CDOs." CW: And nobody goes to jail.

Los Angeles Times: "John Bryson, the former Southern California utility executive nominated to be Commerce secretary, promised senators that he would have a 'relentless focus' on job creation as he tried to ease concerns that his environmental views were too liberal. Bryson, 67, faced some tough criticism during his confirmation hearing Tuesday for favorable comments he made in 2009 about legislation to limit carbon emissions. The concerns were largely from Republicans but also came from Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.)." CW: must not have Commerce Secretary who cares about environment. Must not be "too liberal."

New York Times: "The F.B.I. seized Web servers in a raid on a data center early Tuesday, causing several Web sites, including those run by the New York publisher Curbed Network, to go offline. The raid happened at 1:15 a.m. at a hosting facility in Reston, Va., used by DigitalOne, which is based in Switzerland, the company said. The F.B.I. did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the raid.... A government official who declined to be named said earlier in the day that the F.B.I. was actively investigating the Lulz Security group and any affiliated hackers."

Reuters: "Texas executed on Tuesday a man convicted of fatally shooting two people and paralyzing a third near Houston in 1998, despite evidence that he was mentally disabled. Milton Mathis, 32, was sentenced in 1999, before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to execute inmates with mental disabilities.... On Tuesday, a final plea to the Supreme Court to hear evidence of his mental disability was denied, and he was executed by lethal injection."

Los Angeles Times: "Speaking at a Soweto church thrust onto the front lines of the fight against apartheid, First Lady Michelle Obama on Wednesday urged young South Africans to conquer hunger and AIDS and to end violence against women. Addressing a crowded Regina Mundi Church, she singled out 76 young women from across Africa who were here for a U.S.-sponsored leadership forum. A White House official put the crowd count at 2,000." See video above.

Our Friends in Bahrain. AP: "A security court sentenced eight Shiite activists to life in prison Wednesday and issued long jail terms for 13 others in the latest blow by authorities waging a crackdown against protesters seeking greater rights in the Gulf kingdom.... The Ireland-based rights group Front Line condemned the verdicts and the use of military prosecutors." CW: no word from our State Department, I guess. See my comment on MoDo today.