The Commentariat -- March 21, 2013
Ari Rabinovitch & Allyn Fisher-Ilan of Reuters: "President Barack Obama said on Thursday that settlement building in the occupied West Bank did not 'advance the cause of peace', but stopped short of demanding a construction freeze to enable negotiations to resume. Speaking at a joint news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Obama said he remained committed to the creation of an 'independent, viable and contiguous' Palestinian state, but said achieving that goal would not be easy." ...
... Mark Landler & Alan Cowell of the New York Times have more.
The Sequester Matters. Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "This isn't cancelled White House tours, these are real people losing pay and losing their jobs." In a video at the linked page, Kaczynski compiles "today's sequester news, as reported by local cable news outlets."
Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "The House by a vote of 221-207 passed a budget blueprint by Rep. Paul Ryan -- his third proposal in three years -- and was moving quickly toward final passage of a short-term funding measure to keep the government operating beyond the end of this month. The bill to avert a shutdown cleared the Senate on Wednesday." ...
... Jeremy Peters & Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "The irreconcilable views that the two parties hold on economics, public spending and the role of government could not have been in starker conflict [yesterday]. As House Republicans moved ahead with their latest attempt to dismantle President Obama's health care overhaul -- they voted on one measure that would do so on Wednesday and will vote on another on Thursday -- Democrats were holding a news conference in the basement of the Capitol heralding the third anniversary of the law’s passage."
Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "Despite a high-profile push by President Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., the assault weapons ban never had a chance of passage." ...
... They should actually do a real background check on everyone. -- John Boehner * ...
* ... Just Kidding. Steve Benen: "... a policy that requires real background checks on everyone is the centerpiece of President Obama's efforts to combat gun violence, and it's an idea that enjoys overwhelming support from Americans. But Republicans and the NRA continue to strongly oppose the policy, making Boehner's response on national television a pleasant surprise....[Jake] Tapper [of CNN] later reported that the Speaker's office said Boehner misspoke, and he only supports Justice Department background checks 'that are already required that are not necessarily done.' In other words, when Boehner endorsed 'real background check on everyone,' he did not mean that he actually supports 'real background check on everyone.'" Read the whole post.
Tom Edsall in the New York Times: "The Priebus report and Rove's Conservative Victory Project together mark a significant escalation in the battle between the center and the right over the soul of the Republican Party. What has yet to be determined is whether they are fighting over a patient who can be quickly resuscitated or a patient with a chronic but not fatal illness — or a corpse." ...
... Ed Kilgore: "... the prevailing issue isn't talking complacent conservatives into the kind of 'move to the center' that normally is the product of two consecutive presidential losses, adverse demographic trends, and abysmal party approval ratings. It’s stopping an even more drastic 'plunge to the right' in an environment where Rand Paul and Ted Cruz are becoming maximum GOP stars for arguing that moderation is the party's problem, and finding candidates to buck the trend is even harder than ignoring the elephant in the room."
New York Times Editors: people against who a temporary protective order has been granted should have to give up their guns.
Linda Greenhouse on the evolution of public and judicial attitudes about same-sex marriage: "With a majority of the public now supporting same-sex marriage (overwhelmingly among Democrats and young people, and even by a slim margin of Republicans under the age of 50), those who believe, as I do, that the Constitution acquires meaning outside the courts are seeing powerful validation."
Catherine Saint Louis of the New York Times: "The American A.academy of Pediatrics declared its support for same-sex marriage for the first time on Thursday, saying that allowing gay and lesbian parents to marry if they so choose is in the best interests of their children."
Peter Manseau, in a New York Times op-ed: in South America, Roman Catholic priests just get married. So maybe Pope Francis will come around. "For now the discipline of celibacy remains firm," [then-Cardinal Bergoglio] told Rabbi Abraham Skorka in a 2010 interview. "... For the moment, I am in favor of maintaining celibacy, with the pros and cons it has, because there are 10 centuries of good experiences rather than failures."
Local News
Jeff Mapes of the Oregonian: "Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown will present Oregon legislators with an ambitious plan Wednesday that would ensure that almost all eligible Oregonians are automatically registered to vote. Brown plans to unveil legislation that would use driver-license data and -- eventually -- data from other government agencies to register citizens." CW: some places are so civilized.
News Ledes
Denver Post: "The executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections Tom Clements, was killed in his home Tuesday night, according to a statement from Gov. John Hickenlooper."
Reuters: "Afghan President Hamid Karzai and NATO-led forces have reached an agreement on the departure of foreign troops from a strategically key province near the capital, coalition forces said, but it was unclear if U.S. special forces would leave."
AP: "A mortar shell explosion killed at least seven Marines and injured several more during mountain warfare training in Nevada's high desert, prompting the Pentagon to immediately halt the use of the weapons until an investigation can determine their safety, officials said Tuesday. The explosion occurred Monday night at the Hawthorne Army Depot, a sprawling facility used by troops heading overseas, during an exercise involving the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force from Camp Lejeune, N.C."
AP: "Computer networks at major South Korean banks and top TV broadcasters crashed en masse Wednesday, paralyzing bank machines across the country and prompting speculation of a cyberattack by North Korea."
ABC News: "In a study that's sure to shake up the soda ban debate, Harvard researchers have linked the sugary drinks to 180,000 deaths a year worldwide, 25,000 in the United States alone."
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Reader Comments (14)
This Israeli love affair makes me sick every time. Why must we profess our love every time we see each other?
Our "unbreakable bonds" and "eternal ties," are those accompanied by butt plugs and circle jerks when the lights go out?
If Obama had some real cajones he would demand a freeze on illegal settlement construction to Netanyahoo's FACE, rather than through the media sitting in the oval office.
Why do you think they blatantly disregard consensus international criticism and push on with their illegal colonization plans?
'Cause instead of spanking Obama's playing butt darts.
Why can't other states learn from Oregon and just register everyone possible to vote? Their is no peer pressure too many places. Bankers, MBAs and lawyers have no peer pressure from their friends or from their families not to cheat and strive for every dime. Politicians have no peer pressure to just selling out US workers to foreign workers with a fixed visa program.
There is not enough peer pressure to be better tomorrow than you are today, thus devoting today to moving forward. The devolution toward self interest in a rapacious and ugly manner seems regular if one thinks about things Paul Kennedy or Barbara Tuchman have written.
Organizationally, speaking the MBA-ification of businesses completely misses the value of esprit de corps and group advancement. Simply put, the metrics used in business and politics and education and too many other things are hopelessly unencompassing of the Values for a better world. The catalytic effect of employing neighbors on communities everywhere would serve as an example, exactly like the voter registration plan in Oregon should serve as an example.
The executive director of the Oregon Republican Party wants to take a "hard look" at a plan to register as many voters as possible.
What a surprise.
Although he concedes that having more voters is "not necessarily a bad thing" it's clear he can envision scenarios where it might be.
Perhaps he's worried that all those non-voters who said they'd vote for Obama, you know, had they been registered, would mean an unacceptable rise in Democratic voters. My initial reaction is to ask who cares what unregistered voters think. If they really cared about it one way or the other they'd get their asses down to wherever it is they need to go to fill out the forms (that is, unless registration had been made so onerous, byzantine, and scary that they'd rather stick needles in their eyes, which is the GOP goal in most instances).
Given the sturm und drang of the last presidential election we still had less than a 58% national turnout. Oregon's turnout of 83% is fairly astounding. Seems like Oregonians take their responsibilities as citizens seriously and perhaps that's the kind of spirit that encourages ideas like Secretary of State Kate Brown's to ensure that as many people as possible are registered. But there is also the fact that they place a priority on coaxing a maximum number of voters to the polls.
The ancient Romans would approve. Roman citizenship was highly valued in the pre-Christian world and Rome used the possibility of citizenship to encourage lands and people that came under her umbrella (either politically or militarily) to Romanize their own cultures. Not all peoples in those groups became cives romani, but those that did were expected to do their duty as citizens.
I doubt anyone took polls to see what citizens who did not hold the jus suffragiorum (right to vote) thought about upcoming candidates for the senate, but Rome was smart about encouraging everyone to work towards full participation. They saw it as a way to strengthen and renew the culture (also as a tool to control what otherwise might become unruly and disruptive sub-cultures).
Republicans today wish to keep everyone out who are unlikely to vote their way. Consequently, they seek an insular, isolated culture free from all but the most incestuous influences.
They would have made terrible Romans. They ain't so hot as Americans, neither.
Something I've noticed about Obama whenever he leaves a summit talk, a congressional speech, a plane arrival, etc. he always puts his hand on the back of whomever he is with or greets, gets behind the person as if to lead them. He does this with dignitaries that are visiting our country as he does with heads of state in other countries. After the speeches yesterday with Bibi, he walked over to him, they shook hands, then Obama put HIS hand on Bibi's back, let him go forward and they left the stage. I find these gestures telling and somehow paternal––it's as though Obama is the senior person here, the leader, the Papa ––it shows respect along with a sort of deference. Of course SOME people would say that just shows how Obama leads from behind––I say, fiddlesticks!
@PD Pepe. Could be an Obama mind meld technique. Sadly, its useless with asswipes.
I think that gesture is ingrained and he uses it in different situations to convey several messages compassion, camaraderie, warmth, I've-got-your-back and I have seen him do it with Biden when its a "shut up now" moment. The gesture fits my understanding of his personality.
Wonder how much of Oregon's voter turn out can be attributed to the fact that we don't have polling places--there's no need to get to anywhere except the mail box--and since you mark the ballot while sitting at your kitchen table, so to speak, there's enough time to consider or reconsider the issues before making your X.
PD and Diane,
Just the other day someone on NPR referred to this little mannerism on the president's part. Their interpretation was that it's a gesture that suggests support (the "I've got your back" thing) and a gentle way of pushing things forward. A succinct way of communicating both intentions.
Hey, at least it's not a creepy Dubya backrub, a la Angela Merkel.
"death by gun in all the major cattle towns combined between 1870-1885, Wichita+Abilene+Dodge+Ellsworth was 45." Eric Hobsbawm in The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/mar/20/myth-of-the-cowboy
It would appear that assault rifle bans are dead and pre-purchase criminal checks threatened. But what does that matter? Surely any measure is but painting over the blood stains. The American criminal justice system cannot afford to provide effective public defenders to poor people facing the death sentence. Where is the money to come from to police the purchase of tens of thousands of firearms? If C, in the commission of a crime, uses a gun that was purchased by A, how do you prosecute A who claims he sold the gun on to B? There are no records of any of the purchases/transfers in the history of the gun. The business of American justice is feeding the prison business not protecting the average citizen. Thus life for stealing a slice of pizza while taking as few measures as possible to prevent crime from happening.
Came across an intriguing (in a kind of disgusting way) piece put together several years ago by the people at Media Matters. This is a collection of clips taken from conservative punditry in which the concept of rape is removed from the real world, from the actuality of sexual assault, and transferred to the realm of metaphor to be used to describe (once again) how liberals, Democrats, and Obama viciously victimize poor, helpless wingnuts.
There's something very weird going on here. Listen to the vituperation as Limpbaugh, Beck, Savage, and other droolers scream out the word RAPE. And this was put together before most recent spate of right-wing disdain for whether or not there is any such thing true rape when it comes to women. In their minds, only THEY suffer this kind of assault. And it's always at the hands of liberals and progressives.
Their disconnect is so complete that they don't even seem to understand how outrageously stupid these metaphorical assertions of their own victimhood sound. Case in point, Beck describes himself and other wingnuts as a poor little girl crying "No, no, please, no..." and the government as Roman Polanski. If it were a real little girl being raped they'd line up to call her a slut.
Maybe one reason they can't wrap their tiny brains around the possibility of a woman being raped (in the real world) is that they're too concerned with their own asses.
So to speak.
Listen for yourself. Plenty to cringe at.
HELP! Wingnuts are being RAPED!
http://www.nationalmemo.com/iraq-wasnt-about-policy-it-was-about-ethics/
Another take on the Iraq war that agrees with RC posters.
Speaking of unethical behavior:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/opinion/the-sequester-hits-the-indian-health-service.html?ref=opinion
The last line sums it up nicely:
"The federal government cannot use its budget nihilism to avoid its moral and legal obligations."
Pew out with another news quiz
http://www.pewresearch.org/quiz/the-news-iq-quiz/
The cross tabs are worth a gander.
@JS: Too easy.
What the Iraq war actually cost the taxpayer. Cheney, Perle, Rummy, Yoo, et al have yet to apologize for that, much less own up to it. Ratf'r's
Oregon is a weird place--but is generally more concerned about the environment, voting rights, death with dignity--and other issues that concern our humanity--than other states. Our senators and congresspeople (except one) are progressive, savvy people. Like everywhere else, we have our "haters" and wing nuts, but there is an over-riding sense of fairness and concern here that I never experienced on the East Coast, or, for that matter, in the Midwest. I think in part it has to do with the reason people came here in the first place--i.e, could not afford California--did not feel at home on the East Coast or detested the barrenness and religiosity of the plains states. People who live in Oregon usually "want to be able to do their own thing." I have met more atheists (or, as I prefer to say, non-thesists) here than anywhere else I have ever lived. And some religious whackos, for sure. But they tend to be marginalized. Native Oregonians think everyone thinks as they do. HA!
Kate Brown is a rather typical Oregon politician. With the lousy weather we have so often, the political climate is one reason I stay.