The Commentariat -- November 28

Illustration by David G. Klein for the New York Times.It's All Relative. In a New York Times essay, economics Prof. Robert Frank explains why the rich & near-rich won't suffer if their taxes go up. We know why the rich won't suffer -- they've got way more money than they'll ever spend. But the merely well-to-do won't hurt much either, even if they have to cut back a bit, because "recent psychological research suggests that if all in that group spent less in unison, their perceptions of their standard of living would remain essentially unchanged."

** Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "In a detailed, candid and critical essay to be published this week in The New York Review of Books, [Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, ret.] wrote that personnel changes on the court, coupled with 'regrettable judicial activism,' had created a system of capital punishment that is shot through with racism, skewed toward conviction, infected with politics and tinged with hysteria.... He will be on “60 Minutes” on Sunday night."

Glenn Greenwald on the Portland, Oregon accused terrorist kid Mohamed Osman Mohamud: "... it may ... be the case that the FBI -- as they've done many times in the past -- found some very young, impressionable, disaffected, hapless, aimless, inept loner; created a plot it then persuaded/manipulated/entrapped him to join, essentially turning him into a Terrorist; and then patted itself on the back once it arrested him for having thwarted a 'Terrorist plot' which, from start to finish, was entirely the FBI's own concoction." CW: I've been waiting for someone to make this point, & Greenwald does a fine job. In the accounts I've read, the only thing Mohamud did was try to detonate the dud; federal agents, by their own account, seem to have done everything else.

White House photo.Elizabeth Drew in the New York Review of Books: President "Obama’s biggest failure was not to be the leader that so many expected him to be. The jubilation that surrounded his swearing-in may have gone to his head.... Obama was, apparently in his own estimation, so smart and so adored that he seems to have felt no need to explain — and explain again — to the country what he was doing and to take the country along with him."

"Still the Best Congress Money Can Buy." Frank Rich: "America needs ... a leader or two or three — to restore not just honor or sanity to its citizens but governance that’s not auctioned off to the highest bidder." ...

... Read Karen Garcia's comment on Rich's column -- a tiny masterpiece that, even though it was buried near the bottom of Page 2 (#45), is one of the most recommended comments. Add your recommendation. ...

... Kim Geiger & Matea Gold in the Los Angeles Times: "Anti-incumbent anger and 'tea party' conservatives may have set the tone for this year's midterm elections, but it was mostly experienced political operatives — not fervent newcomers — who managed the money.... An analysis of campaign finance records and data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics found that 15 firms raked in more than $400 million just from the candidates, party committees and outside groups that advertised in federal elections."

Ezra Klein: "... in our efforts to solve our deficit and economic problems, we must be careful not to make our retirement problem worse."

Banksters Beware. Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times: "... one question at the heart of the foreclosure mess refuses to go away: whether institutions trying to take back a property can prove they even have the right to foreclose at all.... The United States Trustee Program, the unit of the Justice Department charged with overseeing the integrity of the nation’s bankruptcy courts..., is stepping up its scrutiny of the veracity of banks’ claims against borrowers." ...

... Brady Dennis of the Washington Post: "Assistant Treasury Secretary Michael Barr told members of the Financial Stability Oversight Council ... that federal investigators looking into problems with mortgage foreclosures throughout the country have found widespread and 'inexcusable' breakdowns in basic controls in the foreclosure process."

If Dick Lugar, having served five terms in the U.S. Senate and being the most respected person in the Senate and the leading authority on foreign policy, is seriously challenged by anybody in the Republican Party, we have gone so far overboard that we are beyond redemption. I’m glad Lugar’s there [in the Senate] and I’m not. -- John Danforth, former Missouri Republican Senator ...

... Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times profiles Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar who is going it alone among his Republican colleagues in supporting the no-brainer New START treaty. ...

... Walter Pincus & Mary Beth Sheridan of the Washington Post: "While trying to satisfy a lawmaker's concerns, the Obama administration is working around Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) in an attempt to gather the nine Republican votes needed to pass the ratification resolution for the strategic arms treaty with Russia this year."

Sandhya Somashekhar of the Washington Post: "Much of America may have moved on, but Joe Miller has not. More than a week after the last vote was counted in Alaska's closely watched U.S. Senate race, the Republican nominee continues to press his case in court in hopes of grabbing back a victory that once seemed inevitable."

Ron Moreau of Newsweek: the Taliban are tuckered out.

Donald McNeil in the New York Times: "Last week, a clinical trial showed that taking Truvada, a pill combining two drugs, once a day would greatly reduce a gay man’s chances of getting infected with [AIDS].... Although confirmatory studies are still needed, the practice — called 'pre-exposure prophylaxis' or 'prep' — will, in theory, also protect ... anyone else at risk.... Truvada has been sold since 2004." McNeil explains why it has taken so long for it to be tested as a "prep."

The (Toronto) Star: "... Former British prime minister Tony Blair and author, skeptic and professional oppositionist Christopher Hitchens debated the question: is religion a force for good in the world? Blair, who wrote in his recent memoir that he has always been more interested in religion than politics, took the view that it is a force for good. Hitchens, who has advanced esophageal cancer and scheduled his chemotherapy around Friday’s debate, not surprisingly, argued otherwise." The Guardian story here. The New Statesman has the full transcript of the debate. Here's a short clip:

     ... To watch the whole debate, go to this Daily Hitchens YouTube page & call up Part 2/9. The debate begins about 4:55 min. into Part 2. (Part 1 is some other guys talking). The following segments do not load automatically, so you'll have to click on them. The debate goes on through Part 9. (Or, for $2.99, you can download the whole thing at the Munk Debates site.)