The Commentariat -- November 19

The Weekend Open Thread is running on today's Off Times Square. And there's a bonus question!

President Obama's Weekly Address:

      ... Here's the transcript. Related AP story here.

On This Day, Seven Score and Eight Years Ago:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. -- President Abraham Lincoln, at the dedication of the soldiers' cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

... My column in the New York Times eXaminer, on Charles Blow's column, is here. Some excerpts:

This Week in Statistics has Blow worried about our declining belief in American exceptionalism. A new Pew Research poll found that only 49 percent of Americans agreed with the statement, '… our culture is superior to others.' ... What has Blow most concerned is the opinion of young Americans: ... among the 18-to-29-year-old demographic, Pew researchers found that just 37 percent said American culture was superior to other national cultures and 61 percent said it was not. Now, I see these results as a good thing.... Blow disagrees. What I see as hopeful, Blow sees as a sign 'we are settling into a dangerous national pessimism.' ... The Pew results actually suggest otherwise.

      ... Update: A NYTX reader cites this letter from Lynne Milnes to the New Yorker as a good example of an exception to U.S. exceptionalism. ...

      ... Update 2: for a different take on the Pew results, see Karen Garcia's post "Twilight in America," which incorporates a comment by Nan Socolow. Both essentially agree with Blow, though -- not surprisingly -- their remarks are more incisive.

These numbers are higher than we anticipated. There are more people struggling than the official numbers show. -- Trudi J. Renwick, the Census Bureau’s chief poverty statistician ...

... Jason DeParle, et al., of the New York Times: "When the Census Bureau this month released a new measure of poverty..., it began altering the portrait of national need. Perhaps the most startling differences between the old measure and the new involves data the government has not yet published, showing 51 million people with incomes less than 50 percent above the poverty line. That number of Americans is 76 percent higher than the official account, published in September. All told, that places 100 million people — one in three Americans — either in poverty or in the fretful zone just above it.... The size of the near-poor population took even the bureau’s number crunchers by surprise."

Here's a classic joke from Steve Martin. The joke was funny when Martin told it in 1978 because the premise was absurd:

You can be a millionaire... and never pay taxes! You say... 'Steve.. how can I be a millionaire.. and never pay taxes?' First: Get a million dollars. Now, you say, 'Steve... what do I say to the tax man when he comes to my door and says, "You... have never paid taxes'?' Two simple words. Two simple words in the English language: 'I forgot!' ...

... The premise is no longer absurd. Now you don't even have to say, "I forgot." It's all legal. Pat Garofalo of Think Progress: "In 2009, 1,470 households reported income of more than $1 million but paid no federal income tax on it, through their use of various tax loopholes and shelters. Tax rates for millionaires have fallen by 25 percent since the mid-’90s, while one quarter of millionaires currently pay lower tax rates than the average middle-class household." ...

... The One Percent are making a lot more than they were in 1986, but they're paying income tax at a rate 10 percent lower than in '86:

Charts by the Washington Post

Greg Sargent: "Yesterday Paul Ryan released a very serious looking report entitled: “A deeper look at inequality.” Ryan’s effort — a rebuttal to that recent CBO report on growing inequality that got so much attention — was applauded by conservatives as an important contribution to the debate." Sargent asked "Tim Smeeding, an expert on inequality at the University of Wisconsin, to evaluate his report. Smeeding’s verdict: Ryan’s effort is only 'half serious,' fails to prove its argument about inequality, and doesn’t offer any policy prescriptions that would fix the problem as Ryan himself defines it." CW: you have to read the whole post (it's neither long nor complicated) to see what a mendacious watercarrier-for-the-rich Ryan is. He's just reprehensible. ...

... Paul Krugman: "As usual, Ryan makes me think of Ezra Klein’s old line about Dick Armey: he’s a stupid person’s idea of what a smart person sounds like." ...

... NEW. Ezra Klein: It's great that Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) has taken a sudden interest in income inequality. It's not so great that his plan to address it increases income inequality.

In case you care about the Super Committee (and why should you?), Greg Sargent explains where they are and where they have been all along: "This, in a nutshell, is why the supercommittee is deadlocked: 1) Republicans believe that the better policy outcome would be for the wealthy to pay less in taxes towards deficit reduction. 2) Democrats believe that the better policy outcome would be for the wealthy to pay more in taxes towards deficit reduction. And that’s all there is to it."

Are You a Whistleblower? Maybe Not. CW: Last week, in our Off Times Square discussion of the Penn State scandal, I argued that people with high ethical standards still may not meet those standards when they themselves face an ethical crisis, especially one in which they must act immediately and/or when they are part of a culture that tolerates unethical behavior. As it turns out, academic research backs me up. Alina Tugend of the New York Times reports on a wide variety of studies and experiments that make my points. (Too bad she riffs off a David Brooks column!) Thanks to reader Diane F. for the link.

Please read Driftglass on David Brooks. He's hilarious. Adn 100 percent right, as he proves.

Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times: Sen. Scott "Brown [R-Mass], a freshman who harnessed populist Tea Party anger to win the seat once held by Edward M. Kennedy, has taken more money from the financial industry than almost any other senator: all told, more than $1 million during the last two years.... Of the 20 companies that accounted for the most campaign donations to Mr. Brown, about half were prominent investment or securities firms like Morgan Stanley, Fidelity Investments and Bain Capital.... Mr. Brown, in turn, has been an important ally at critical moments, using his swing vote in the Senate to wring significant concessions out of Democrats on last year’s financial regulation bill, including helping strip out a proposed $19 billion bank tax and weakening a proposal to stop commercial banks from holding large interests in hedge funds and private equity funds.... Several executives said that [Elizabeth] Warren’s entry into the campaign in mid-September had sparked renewed interest in Mr. Brown’s re-election." CW: BTW, Confessore blithely mischaracterizes Warren's support for the principles behind the Occupy movement. When does a myth become a reality? When it appears as fact on the pages of the New York Times, especially when it's a misstatement about a liberal.

Right Wing World

So has the Taliban moved to Libya or has Libya moved to Central Asia? You'll have to ask Herman Cain, who "clarified" his flubbed Libya response to a Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reporter by confusing Libya with Afghanistan. Or Pakistan. Or someplace:

     ... Alex Seitz-Wald of Think Progress: "First he attempted to blame the interviewer for not being 'specific' enough and for supposedly selectively editing Cain’s response. (Over five uncut minutes of his remarks are visible on the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s website.) Then, Cain erroneously claimed that the Taliban has taken control in Libya."

Hail to the Chief. Unbeknownst to the vast majority of Americans, Michele Bachmann has already been elected and sworn in as the POTUS. She's on the job, and no, President Bachmann is not going to let anybody waterboard her. See her response to the queston "If you think it’s not that bad, would you ever willingly submit to it, just to see what it’s like?” right under the video. Thanks to Jeanne B.

News Ledes

Washington Post: "The Libyan capital erupted in celebratory gunfire, singing and dancing as it was announced by militia commanders that Saif al-Islam, the favored son of former Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi, has been arrested on the border with Niger. He was detained while his supporters were trying to smuggle him out of the country, according to Othman Maigeta, one of several brigade commanders at a press conference...." Al Jazeera story here. ...

     ... AP Update: "The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said Saturday he will travel to Libya next week for talks with the country's transitional government on where Moammar Gadhafi's son Seif al-Islam will be tried."

Washington Post: "President Obama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao held an unscheduled meeting Saturday morning on the sidelines of a summit of Asian leaders on the Indonesian island of Bali, and the two briefly discussed the territorial dispute in the South China Sea that has unnerved some of China’s neighbors."

AP: "Syrian troops stormed Saturday a central town and a northwestern region in search of opponents of the government as pressure on Damascus intensified to end an eight-month crisis that has left thousands of people dead, activists said. The attacks on the town of Shezar in the central province of Hama and the restive Jabal al-Zawiya region near the Turkish border came a day after Syria agreed in principle to allow Arab observers into the country to oversee a peace plan proposed by the 22-member Arab League."

AP: "Police and protesters clashed for control of downtown Cairo's Tahrir Square on Saturday, after security forces tried to stop activists from staging a long-term sit-in in the symbolic site. Protesters attacked a police armored truck, shaking it and pummeling it with rocks. Earlier in the day, riot police beat protesters and dismantled a small tent city set up to commemorate revolutionary martyrs." ...

Reuters: "Myanmar vowed on Saturday to address concerns raised by U.S. President Barack Obama, outlining far-reaching plans to make peace with ethnic rebels, gradually release all political prisoners and relax controls on freedom of expression."

Al Jazeera: "The board of the UN's atomic watchdog has passed a resolution expressing 'deep and increasing concern' over Iran nuclear activities, following the Vienna-based body's recent highly critical report of the country's atomic programme. However, the text of the resolution, proposed by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Germany and 12 others, stopped short of reporting Iran to the UN Security Council or setting Tehran a deadline to comply."