The Commentariat -- Sept. 5, 2013

** Alex de Waal & Bridget Conley-Zilkic of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts, in a New York Times op-ed: "What's missing [in the Obama plan to strike Syria] is a political effort to seek peace. No talks are scheduled. The regional power brokers -- Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which support the rebels, and Iran, which backs Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad -- are at odds. American military action without a peace process involving all actors would only intensify the two-year-old war.... The only aim of intervention should be peace...." The authors incorporate the writings of William Harcourt, a/k/a "Historicus," who argued against British intervention in the American Civil War. ...

... ** Fareed Zakaria in Time: " What exactly is the goal of this military action? The Administration says it is simply to reinforce a global norm against the use of chemical weapons.... The reality is, the U.S. has now put its credibility on the line. It will find it extremely difficult to keep its actions limited in a volatile situation. And were it to succeed in ousting Assad, it would be implicated in the next phase of this war, which would almost certainly lead to chaos and the slaughter or ethnic cleansing of the Alawite sect (to which Assad belongs) and perhaps of other minorities, as happened in Iraq." Read for the last graf on George Bush Pere. ...

... C. J. Chivers of the New York Times: "... many rebels have adopted some of the same brutal and ruthless tactics as the regime they are trying to overthrow. As the United States debates whether to support the Obama administration’s proposal that Syrian forces should be attacked for using chemical weapons against civilians, [a] video [showing rebels killing soldiers in cold blood], shot in April, joins a growing body of evidence of an increasingly criminal environment populated by gangs of highwaymen, kidnappers and killers." CW: The page includes what I surmise is the video; I didn't click on it. ...

... Joby Warrick of the Washington Post: "Top intelligence officials in two Middle East countries said they have examined the potential for bioweapons use by Syria, perhaps as retaliation for Western military strikes on Damascus. Although dwarfed by the country's larger and better-known chemical weapons program, Syria's bioweapons capability could offer the Assad regime a way to retaliate because the weapons are designed to spread easily and leave few clues about their origins, the officials said." ...

... Rick Gladstone of the New York Times: "In the shadow of a confrontation over whether Syria's government had attacked civilians with internationally banned chemical munitions, a rights group, [Human Rights Watch,] reported Wednesday that Syrian armed forces had repeatedly used cluster bombs, another widely prohibited weapon, in the country's civil war." ...

... Mike Lillis of the Hill: "Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is asking House Democrats for more input in the Syria debate. In a 'Dear Colleague' letter to her caucus -- Pelosi's second in as many days -- the Democratic leader urged lawmakers to voice their concerns about President Obama's proposal for military strikes against the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Pelosi's request is part of a broader effort to formulate a resolution for Syrian intervention that can pass through the House in the face of widespread misgivings from rank-and-file members on both sides of the aisle." ...

... Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "A divided Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday approved an authorization of force against the Syrian government, setting up a showdown next week in the full Senate on whether President Obama should have the authority to strike. The 10-to-7 vote showed bipartisan support for a strike, but bipartisan opposition as well. Republicans voting yes included Senators John McCain of Arizona, Bob Corker of Tennessee and Jeff Flake of Arizona. Democrats against the authorization included Senators Tom Udall of New Mexico and Chris Murphy of Connecticut. The Senate's newest member, Edward Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, voted present.... The committee's bipartisan leaders pressed forward with a resolution limiting the duration and nature of military strikes, while Mr. McCain demanded more -- not less -- latitude for the military to inflict damage on the government of President Bashar al-Assad." ...

... Sahil Kapur of TPM: "Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) -- the congressman who yelled 'you lie' during President Obama's 2010 State of the Union speech -- asked Wednesday if the administration's decision to attack Syria was made to distract from other 'scandals' like Benghazi and the IRS." ...

     ... CW: over there on supposedly MSM CNN, supposedly straight reporter Jessica Yellin (Mrs. John King) defended Wilson as a MOC who genuinely mistrusted the President. ...

     ... Steve Benen: "Now, I can appreciate a wild-eyed conspiracy theory as much as the next guy, but even by House GOP standards, this is just stark raving mad. First, the 'scandals' Wilson believes in don't exist; things are going fairly well for the Affordable Care Act; and sequestration was Republicans' fault." Benen notes that Wilson was joined by all-around conspiracy loon Jeff Duncan (RTP-S.C.). ...

     ... Charles Pierce comments on Duncan. ...

... Dana Milbank: "Officials say the evidence is incontrovertible that Assad used sarin gas against his people. Lawmakers emerging from secret, classified briefings seem to agree. But while members of Congress are coming around to an attack on Syria, the American public remains skeptical. Why? Maybe it's because the government won't let them in on the secret." ...

... CW: Peter Baker of the New York Times didn't mention this in the story I linked yesterday re: President Obama's joint presser in Stockholm, but it is important. Peter Nicholas & David Gautier-Villars of the Wall Street Journal: "Mr. Obama said on Wednesday that he could order strikes against Syria even if Congress doesn't authorize them, but that 'we will be stronger as a country in our response if the president and Congress does it together.'"

Elections Matter. Jeremy Herb of the Hill: "The Obama administration will begin providing veterans benefits to same-sex couples after the Justice Department said Wednesday it would not enforce a law restricting them. Attorney General Eric Holder wrote in a letter to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) that the Justice Department would not enforce a federal statute providing benefits only to opposite-sex spouses. The administration's decision is being made in response to the Supreme Court striking down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in June."

Explainer-in-Chief. Jason Millman of the Politico: "Former President Bill Clinton, recruited by the White House to explain the misunderstood health law, is looking to play Obamacare peacemaker. In a highly-anticipated speech from his presidential library, Clinton challenged Republicans to finally work with Democrats to improve on President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement instead of constantly trying to undermine it."

... New York Times Editors: "A new Census Bureau report documents the alarming percentages of people in Texas and Florida without health insurance. Leaders of both states should hang their heads in shame because they have been among the most resistant in the nation to providing coverage for the uninsured under the Affordable Care Act, the law that Republicans deride as 'Obamacare.'" CW: Almost all Floridians will pay for the bad behavior of America's Second-Worst Governor & his cohort, first because they have unleashed the insurance industry from rate regulation, & second because calculated into those new, higher rates will be a surcharge to cover Flordians on the George Dubya Bush Emergency Room-Only Plan. (Scott did want to accept Medicaid aid; the doofuses in the state legislature said no.)

Linda Greenhouse on a little-known Oklahoma abortion case that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear this term, this one threatening early-first-term "medication abortions." CW: every time I read about men passing anti-abortion laws "to protect women," I get furiouser & furiouser.

Ryan Grim of the Huffington Post: "Current and former White House officials wary of [Larry] Summers have been reluctant to criticize him, leaving the field open for his active team of supporters. But as it becomes increasingly clear that the president is willing to nominate Summers in the face of intense opposition, that reluctance is fading.... Obama and others in the White House who support Summers were deeply impressed by his ability to navigate the financial crisis. Administration officials who endured the tumultuous crisis period -- and many people who didn't -- assume the next crisis is a matter of when, not if. Obama has confidence that Summers would be effective in handling such a crisis, while he barely knows [Janet] Yellen." CW: these "former senior officials" need to be willing to put their names to their Larry-Is-a-Dick remarks if they want me to cite them. ...

... Atrios: "If you think another financial crisis is inevitable, you're doing it wrong. They aren't earthquakes. They aren't 'acts of God.' They're a product of the system. If they're inevitable, it's because you (the people in charge) are presiding over a system that makes them inevitable."

Wednesday "President Obama participate[d] in an event at the Great Synagogue in Stockholm honoring Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat and honorary U.S. citizen who worked courageously to save lives while serving as Sweden's special envoy in Budapest during World War II":

     ... AFP Update: "US President Barack Obama will ask Moscow what happened to Swedish Holocaust hero Raoul Wallenberg after he was taken into Soviet custody and disappeared in 1945, Wallenberg's family told Swedish media."

The Baby-Cam Is Spying on You. Edward Wyatt of the New York Times: "On Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission took its first action to protect consumers from reckless invasions of privacy, penalizing a company that sells Web-enabled video cameras for lax security practices. According to the F.T.C., the company, TRENDnet, told customers that its products were 'secure,' marketing its cameras for home security and baby monitoring. In fact, the devices were compromised. The commission said a hacker in January 2012 exploited a security flaw and posted links to the live feeds, which 'displayed babies asleep in their cribs, young children playing and adults going about their daily lives.'"

Local News

Michelle Smith of the AP: "Gov. Lincoln Chafee is not running for a second term, he said Wednesday in an announcement that surprised his political opponents and closest advisors alike and takes him out of what was expected to be a fierce primary in his new Democratic Party. The governor, who became a Democrat in May, has struggled with poor approval ratings and is a reluctant fundraiser, although he said on Wednesday he liked being governor and thinks he would have won re-election. But he described campaigning as hugely time-consuming, and said the state faces so many serious challenges that he wouldn't be able to effectively be governor and run for governor at the same time."

David Ferguson of the Raw Story: "Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R)'s family and business partner have been receiving payments from a secret Political Action Committee called Real PAC. Half a million dollars of the money donated to the PAC has come from corporate health care interests which -- like the governor and Georgia state Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens -- oppose the implementation of the Affordable Care Act ... According to investigative reporter Jim Walls of Atlanta Unfiltered, the PAC hasn’t filed taxes or the required financial disclosures in two years, and the information it did file for 2011 was incorrect. Contributors to Real PAC include Aetna, Humana, Blue Cross, United Health care and other interests that want to keep health insurance premiums and other costs as high as possible." ...

     ... CW: Thanks to contribution James S. for the lead. Here's my favorite sentence in the story: " The PAC's treasurer, former state ethics chairman Rick Thompson, protested that the PAC money is not just for Deal's re-election, but for 'Republican causes.'" (Emphasis added.) The part about Hudgens boasting that he is doing everything he can to obstruct ObamaCare makes me think it's high time the DOJ file charges him & other flagrantly obstructionist officials for failing to comply with federal law. They would squeal to the heavens, but they probably would start enforcing the law.

CW: Gail Collins discusses the New York City mayoral candidates, paying scant attention to Anthony Weiner, who is running 4th in a field of four, if I'm not mistaken. Fortunately, Weiner doesn't need Collins' help in calling attention to himself. ...

... Happy New Year! Kaili Joy Gray of Wonkette has a hilarious take on this "Talmudic dialogue" between Anthony Weiner & a citizen who called Weiner a scumbag, to which Weiner responded that the citizen was a jackass, etc., etc.:

     ... Update. "Married to an Arab": In today's Comments, Haley S. writes that the AP reports, "In another video, released by the Weiner campaign later Wednesday, the man can be heard saying 'married to an Arab,' presumably a reference to Weiner's Muslim wife, Huma Abedin...." I located & listened to a tape posted by TPM, which is here. The confrontation begins at 3:45 min. in. Somebody definitely says "... married to an Arab," but I'm not 100 percent sure it was the same heckler who made the remark. At the moment the remark was made, the heckler was paying his bill, so he might have made the comment to the clerk. But later, during the confrontation, the guy expresses sympathy for Weiner's wife. Weiner himself, notably, vociferously defends himself but never defends his wife, so it's also not clear he heard the "married to an Arab remark," especially since he was leaving the bakery at the time, it was noisy, he was some distance from the heckler & had his back to him. There are three sides to every story.

Gubernatorial Race

Washington Post Editors: Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli (RTP) is lying about his poast sponsorship of anti-contraception, "personhood" legislation.

News Ledes

Al Jazeera America: "Thousands of Walmart employees are striking Thursday in cities across the United States, demanding better pay and protesting the firing of those who previously demonstrated against the company -- the country's largest private employer, with 1.3 million American workers. The strike comes just one week after fast-food workers staged walk-outs at fast-food restaurants in 60 U.S. cities to call for hourly pay of $15 instead of minimum wage. According to strike organizers, many Walmart workers earn the minimum wage, which varies from state to state but typically hovers near $7 to $8 per hour."

Al Jazeera America: "The gigantic Rim Fire raging in and around Yosemite National Park began when a hunter allowed an illegal fire to escape, investigators from the U.S. Forest Service Law Enforcement Investigations and Tuolumne County District Attorney's Office reported Thursday."

Reuters: "The number of planned layoffs at U.S. firms surged in August to their highest in half a year, with industrial goods manufacturers the hardest hit, a report on Thursday showed. Employers announced 50,462 layoffs last month, up 33.8 percent from 37,701 in July...."

AFP: "Iran will support Syria 'until the end' in the face of possible US-led military strikes, the chief of Iran's elite Quds Force unit was quoted Thursday by the media as saying. Iran is Syria's main regional ally and some analysts believe a wider goal of US President Barack Obama's determination to launch a strike against the Damascus regime is to blunt Tehran's growing regional influence and any consequent threat to Washington ally Israel."

AP: " A 'large' explosive targeted the convoy of Egypt's interior minister Thursday in Cairo's eastern Nasr City district, the first attack on a senior government official since a coup toppled the country's Islamist president two months ago. The minister, Mohammed Ibrahim, survived the attack, which damaged the convoy's cars and injured at least eight people, including two policemen and a child seriously. There were no fatalities."

The Commentariat -- Sept. 4, 2013

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Opening a three-day trip overseas at a delicate moment for his presidency, Mr. Obama challenged lawmakers and allies to stand behind his plans for a cruise missile attack on the government of President Bashar al-Assad in retaliation for what the Obama administration has concluded was a chemical attack that killed 1,400 people in the suburbs of the Syrian capital, Damascus, last month." ...

... Mark Landler of the New York Times: "Speaker John A. Boehner said on Tuesday that he would 'support the president's call to action' in Syria after meeting with President Obama, giving the president a crucial ally in the quest for votes in the House. Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the No. 2 House Republican, quickly joined Mr. Boehner to say he also backed Mr. Obama." ...

... Jonathan Allen & Jake Sherman of Politico: "While most top congressional leaders have vowed to back President Barack Obama in seeking authority to launch missile strikes, there's little evidence that they can -- or even want to -- help him round up the rank-and file-Republicans he'll need to win a vote in the House. Several lawmakers and aides who have been canvassing support say that nearly 80 percent of the House Republican Conference is, to some degree, opposed to launching strikes in Syria. Informal counts by Obama allies show that support in Congress for Obama's plans is in the low dozens." ...

     ... Here's the Washington Post's whip count. ...

... Tom Shanker & Michael Gordon of the New York Times: "Two cabinet secretaries [John Kerry & Chuck Hagel] who fought during the Vietnam War and a four-star general [Martin Dempsey] whose views on intervention were shaped by command tours in Iraq appeared before the Senate [Foreign Relations Committee] on Tuesday to argue the Obama administration's case for Congressional authorization to attack Syria over chemical weapons use." ...

... Lives hang in the balance, but John McCain found the hearing totally boring:

"Senator John McCain plays poker on his IPhone during a U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing where Secretary of State JohnKerry, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey testify concerning the use of force in Syria...."

     ... ** UPDATE: Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "Members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee reached an agreement late Tuesday on wording of a new resolution authorizing U.S. military force against the Syrian government. The resolution would permit up to 90 days of military action against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, beginning with 60 days and the option of 30 more pending President Obama's notification of Congress, according to a copy of the resolution provided by Senate aides." See further terms in story, which is a breaking story at this point (8:45 pm ET).

... The Times is liveblogging "developments in Washington and around the world on the deliberations about a possible military strike on Syria." ...

... Scott Clement of the Washington Post: "Americans widely oppose launching missile strikes against the Syrian government for its alleged use of chemical weapons, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll that finds little appetite for military action across the country despite a growing drumbeat in Washington. Nearly six in 10 oppose missile strikes...." ...

... Ryan Lucas & Lori Hinnant of the AP: "France's government offers a preview Wednesday of what the Obama administration faces next week, as [French] lawmakers debate the wisdom and necessity of a military response to a chemical weapons attack in Syria that killed hundreds." ...

Juan Cole: "Bombs are seldom the answer to geopolitical problems." Thanks to P. D. Pepe for the link. ...

... Damned If He Does; Damned If He Doesn't. Dana Milbank: "Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, is in a spirited debate -- with himself." First, Inhofe was against the President's "inaction," then last week he said the country was too broke for military intervention, now he writes he's against inaction. "As Inhofe's conversion on the road to Damascus indicates, Republicans don't like what Obama is doing in Syria -- whatever it is.... On Tuesday, House Republican leaders took steps to build support for authorizing the use of force. Still, they protected their right to criticize Obama when things go wrong. House Speaker John Boehner said he would support the resolution, but his office issued a statement saying, 'It is the president's responsibility to make his case.'" Majority Leader Eric Cantor: "ditto." ...

... Andy Borowitz (satire): "Appearing on the Fox News Channel, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) told host Sean Hannity, 'If we're trying to send a strong message to [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad, I can think of no better way to do that than by defunding Obamacare.'" ...

... Maureen Dowd: "Once more, we see the magnitude of the tragedy of Iraq because the decision on Syria is so colored by the fact that an American president and vice president took us to war in the Middle East on false pretenses and juiced up intelligence, dragging the country into an emotionally and financially exhausting decade of war and an identity crisis about our role in the world.... It's up to President Obama to show Americans that he knows what he's doing, unlike his predecessor."

When not on his iPhone, John McCain chews up Fox "News" anchor-bigots like Brian Kilmeade. Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link:

New York Times Editors: " The [federal government's] move to recognize all same-sex couples' marriages ... makes state bans on same-sex marriage look even more discriminatory." For instance, "Now that same-sex married couples are eligible for federal benefits under rules that don't apply to civil unions, New Jersey's insistence that civil unions are equivalent to marriage is plainly wrong."

"Summers the Shiftless." Paul Krugman: As Binyamin Appelbaum reported in yesterday's Times [linked in yesterday's Commentariat], "the rising odds of a Summers appointment to the Fed is already having a chilling effect on the economy. A Yellen appointment would clearly have represented something new at the Fed -- not just because she is, as Garrison Keillor used to say, a person of gender, but also because she has been a strong and consistent monetary dove, and took that position before it was fashionable. Summers, on the other hand, while he often expresses unconventional views when not in office, has a strong tendency to revert to conventionality when in office. And leaving Summers the person on one side, just think of the historical connections: can you imagine a stronger signal that the same old regime is staying in place than choosing a Robert Rubin protege at this late date? So the apparent decision to appoint Summers is a strong anti-regime-shift signal on Obama's part...." ...

     ... CW: the one thing we have learned about Obama is that he is a very conventional guy. When he says or does something that appears "liberal," it is only because that something is a policy liberals have been advocating since he was in knee-pants -- or before. When he was running for office, we could tell ourselves that his retro policies were political moves designed to win re-election. Guess what? He's still a retro kinda guy. Ergo, Fed Chair Larry. P.S. I don't think Summers the Shiftless will be feting Krugman the Wise any time soon.

Robert Levy, chairman of the libertarian Cato Institute, formerly known as the Charles Koch Foundation & still controlled by the Koch brothers, in a New York Times op-ed, argues that states' attempts to nullify federal regulations -- like federal gun laws -- violate the Constitution. "I fully support those who see risks in the expansion of federal power, particularly when it comes to intrusions on basic rights like gun ownership. However, to defend those rights, we can't begin by flouting the very document that inspires that fight in the first place: the Constitution." CW: Levy's piece surely will upset fellow libertarian Li'l Randy.

Craig Whitlock & Barton Gellman of the Washington Post: "Al-Qaeda's leadership has assigned cells of engineers to find ways to shoot down, jam or remotely hijack U.S. drones, hoping to exploit the technological vulnerabilities of a weapons system that has inflicted huge losses against the terrorist network, according to top-secret U.S. intelligence documents."

News Ledes

Cleveland Plain Dealer: "Ariel Castro, the man sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison for the abductions of Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, is dead. Castro was found hanging in his cell at 9:20 p.m. Tuesday at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient, south of Columbus, said ... a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction." ...

... AP: Castro "is believed to have committed suicide, a prison official said."

AP: "The family of World War II hero Raoul Wallenberg will ask President Barack Obama for help in their quest to find out what happened to the Swedish diplomat who vanished after being arrested by Soviet forces in 1945. Wallenberg's niece, Marie Dupuy, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the family will present a letter to Obama at a memorial ceremony for Wallenberg that the president is set to attend Wednesday in Stockholm."

The Commentariat -- Sept. 3, 2013

In Search of a Third Musketeer, McCain & Graham Tap Obama. Jackie Calmes, et al., of the New York Times: "The White House pushed forward aggressively on Monday for Congressional approval of an attack on Syria as President Obama got tentative support from one of his most hawkish Republican critics, Senator John McCain of Arizona, for a 'limited' strike -- as long, Mr. McCain said, as the president did more to arm the Syrian opposition. After an hourlong meeting with Mr. Obama at the White House, Mr. McCain emerged with Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, to say that the two senators' discussions with Mr. Obama in the Oval Office had been 'encouraging'" ...

... Evidently, the lonesome duo needed a Constitutional scholar in their coterie. ...

On CNN just now, McCain says Congress overruling Prez on a national security matter would set dangerous precedent. -- Greg Sargent, tweet today ...

... Jonathan Bernstein, in the Washington Post: "The 'McCain Doctrine Is Nonsense.... To remind Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) of the basics of the Constitution: Congress and the president are co-equal. That's true in general, and it's true of 'national security matters' in particular. The president is commander-in-chief, but Congress not only has the power to declare war, but also the responsibility for funding the armed forces, the diplomats and, well, everything else in the government." ...

... The Big News, Charles Pierce Translation: "The president had Senator Angry Grampy and Senator Huckleberry, the presiding geopolitical thinkers in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body, over today to discuss Syria, and to give them the opportunity to stand on the White House lawn afterwards and call him a dithering dilettante whom they will support if he stops his dithering and his dilettanting and give them the Great Big Boom Boom in Syria that they want." Also, Abyssinia. ...

... Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: Tea Party Republicans & neocon-hawky Republicans split over the use-of-force against Syria. "'Right now, the easy Republican vote looks like the vote against Obama,' said Michael Goldfarb, a neoconservative lobbyist and writer. 'Ten days from now, a vote against Obama could look like a vote for Assad, especially if Republicans succeed in blocking U.S. action, and Assad goes on to prevail, having used chemical weapons, with Iran at his side.'" ...

... Gerald Seib of the Wall Street Journal: "The formula for legislative victory [on a use-of-force resolution] starts ... with [Obama's] own Democrats, runs through the still-powerful pro-Israel caucus and ends with a band of Republican hawks who have been far more eager for action in Syria than has the president now seeking their help." ...

... E. J. Dionne elaborates on why President Obama had to go to Congress in this instance. ...

... Fred Kaplan of Slate: " Those who have long urged Obama to do something about Syria, and then criticized him in recent days for doing something (just because it’s Obama who’s doing it), will now have to step up and take a stand.... Who knows? Maybe we will learn -- contrary to the experience of the past decade -- that a democracy can go to war in a full and open vote without deceit." ...

... ** Garance Franke-Ruta of the Atlantic provides a list of all the times Congress has passed a declaration of war or authorization to use military force. Franke-Ruta also links to the Congressional Research Service reports from which she cribbed. ...

... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post whips the House & Senate for members' likely votes on the resolution to use force in Syria. The Post provides an interactive feature that lets you see where MOCs stand. Post staff will update the feature as members weigh in &/or change their positions. ...

... Alex Seitz-Wald of the Washington Post: "After spending much of the past four years decrying President Obama's alleged overreach in circumventing Congress, neoconservatives are furious with the president for ... deciding to consult Congress before attacking Syria."

... Kim Willsher of the Guardian: "The French government has published an intelligence dossier that it says shows the forces of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, carried out a 'massive and co-ordinated' chemical attack that is believed to have killed hundreds of people. A nine-page document, published at around 7pm French time on Monday, stated the information had come from "France's own sources" and was based on a detailed technical analysis of evidence supplemented by "additional elements gathered in co-operation with our principal partners'." Le dossier est ici. ...

... Elliot Hannon of Slate: "In a letter to U.N. leaders, Syria has called on the international organization to protect it from 'any aggression' directed at the country following the regime's alleged use of chemical weapons. The letter, from Syrian ambassador to the U.N., Bashar Ja'afari, is addressed to U.N. secretary general Ban Ki-moon and President of the Security Council Maria Cristina Perceval." ...

... Former NATO commander James Stavridis, in a New York Times op-ed: "The North Atlantic Treaty Organization must be part of an international effort to respond to the crisis in Syria, beginning immediately with punitive strikes following the highly probable use of chemical weapons by President Bashar Al-Assad's regime. The president, the secretaries of defense and state, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff should all approach their counterparts to secure NATO action. Such action could be justified based on self-defense, owing to the threat posed to Turkey, a NATO member that has backed Mr. Obama's call for an American-led intervention; the overall threat posed by weapons of mass destruction; and, more controversially, on the evolving international doctrine of a 'responsibility to protect.'" ...

... Julie Pace of the AP: "For President Barack Obama's new foreign policy advisers, the first test of their willingness to undertake military action wound up being a stark lesson in the president's ability to overrule them all.... As Obama grappled with putting military action to a vote in Congress, he didn't consult his foreign policy team. Instead, he sought out Denis McDonough, a longtime adviser who now serves as his chief of staff."

Greg Miller, et al., of the Washington Post: "A 178-page summary of the U.S. intelligence community's 'black budget' shows that the United States has ramped up its surveillance of Pakistan’s nuclear arms, cites previously undisclosed concerns about biological and chemical sites there, and details efforts to assess the loyalties of counter­terrorism sources recruited by the CIA. Pakistan appears at the top of charts listing critical U.S. intelligence gaps. It is named as a target of newly formed analytic cells. And fears about the security of its nuclear program are so pervasive that a budget section on containing the spread of illicit weapons divides the world into two categories: Pakistan and everybody else."

Max Seddon of BuzzFeed: "Following his cancellation of a bilateral meeting with President Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Barack Obama may infuriate the Kremlin further by meeting Russian human rights activists, including LGBT rights groups, during his upcoming trip to St Petersburg for the G20 summit."

Just Thinking about Larry Summers Terrifies Wall Street. Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: "The spreading expectation that President Obama will name Lawrence H. Summers to lead the Federal Reserve Board appears to be working against the central bank's efforts to stimulate the economy. The jitters even have some analysts betting that a Summers nomination could lead to slower economic growth, less job creation and higher interest rates than if the president named Janet L. Yellen, the Fed's vice chairwoman." CW Note: this is a straight news report, not an opinion piece. Hope President Obama can take a few moments out of his busy schedule cajoling the massive coalition of the unwilling to read the Times this morning.

Fernanda Santos & Heath Haussamen of the New York Times: "The decision by clerks in six of New Mexico's most populous counties to start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples has added a sense of urgency to a fight that some of the state's top political leaders had seemed in no hurry to join." New Mexico is the only state that has no law sanctioning or forbidding same-sex marriage.

Washington Post Editors: "Congress enacted the Affordable Care Act. The Supreme Court found most of its provisions to be constitutional. Republicans, having opposed the bill and supported the legal challenge to it, are entitled to be unhappy about the outcome, though in our view they are wrong on the merits. They are not entitled to obstruct and flout the laws of the United States. On the contrary, they have an obligation to cooperate in good faith with wholly legitimate laws duly passed and reviewed by all three branches of government." ...

Much to everyone's surprise, Ted Cruz has videotaped a TV ad the purpose of which is to lie about ObamaCare.

... Kevin Bogardus of the Hill: "Labor has watched with growing annoyance as the White House has backed ObamaCare changes in response to concerns from business groups, religious organizations and even lawmakers and their staffs. They ... don't understand why their concerns so far have fallen of deaf ears.... The key issue are union members who are among the roughly 20 million people who use non-profit multi-employer 'Taft-Hartley' health plans. Unions want the administration to change ObamaCare so that those plans are treated as qualified health plans that can earn tax subsidies.... Without those subsidies, employers may have the incentive to drop the plans and force workers onto the insurance exchanges."

Lobbyists Kill People. Margaret Clapp, et al., in a New York Times op-ed: a "legal" drug cartel is causing life-threatening & deadly shortages in generic drugs. Congress has allowed this to continue "because of the enormous political clout of the industry's lobby, which includes the Healthcare Supply Chain Association and the American Hospital Association." CW: another example of why we need a Constitutional Amendment reforming campaign financing.

Slow Gnus Day

Here's a Reuters report linked especially for contributor James S. who complains Monday was a slow news day: "A motorist said intense sunlight reflected from the 'Walkie Talkie' -- one of several flashy towers under construction in The City, London's historic financial district -- warped his Jaguar which he had parked across the road. The skyscraper's developers said they were seeking to rectify the problem which they blamed on the position of the sun at certain times of day." CW: Yes, evidently their engineers were unaware of the rotation of the earth & all that astrology stuff. Spin, Galileo, spin.

Right Wing World v. "Family Guy"

The National Memo: "At the Right Online conference this weekend -- where conservative activists were treated to a free night at Universal Studios thanks to the Koch brothers -- [conservative blogger Bill] Whittle explained how Hollywood is systematically destroying the Republican Party:

... if you're a young person out there today and you can finish the theme song from Family Guy, then all the anti-American, anti-capitalist, anti-Christian, anti-morality messages of Family Guy are in your head as completely and thoroughly as that theme song is. -- Bill Whittle ...

The show's dad once described the two symbols of the Republican Party as 'an elephant, and a big fat white guy who is threatened by change.' ... The best part of the accusation that Family Guy is destroying the GOP is that the network that airs the show, of course, is Rupert Murdoch's Fox Broadcasting Company. -- The National Memo

      ... The post includes a portion of an episode of "Family Guy" that illustrates the utility of government. Thanks to Barbarossa for the link.

News Ledes

Reuters: "Russia raised the alarm on Tuesday after detecting the launch of two ballistic 'objects' in the Mediterranean Sea but Israel later said it had carried out a joint missile test with the United States. There were no reports of missile strikes on Syria. Syrian state sources said the missiles had fallen harmlessly into the sea...."

AP: "Egyptian helicopter gunships fired rockets early Tuesday at militants in the northern Sinai Peninsula, killing at least eight and injuring 15 others in an ongoing campaign to put down Islamic radicals who have escalated attacks in the largely lawless region, Egypt's official news agency said."

AFP: "Tokyo on Tuesday unveiled a half-billion dollar plan to stem radioactive water leaks at Fukushima, creating a wall of ice underneath the stricken plant, as the government elbowed the operator aside. Acknowledging global concerns over the 'haphazard' management of the crisis by Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his administration will step in with public money to get the job done."

Reuters: "The Philippines accused China on Tuesday of violating an informal code of conduct in the South China Sea by planning new structures on a disputed shoal, as China's premier told Southeast Asian leaders Beijing was serious about peace. Friction over the South China Sea, one of the world's most important waterways, has surged as China uses its growing naval might to assert its vast claims over the oil- and gas-rich sea more forcefully, raising fears of a military clash."

AP: "Microsoft is buying Nokia's line-up of smartphones and a portfolio of patents and services in an attempt to mount a more formidable challenge to Apple and Google as more people pursue their lives on mobile devices. The 5.44 billion euros ($7.2 billion) deal announced late Monday marks a major step in Microsoft's push to transform itself from a software maker focused on making operating systems and applications for desktop and laptop computers into a more versatile and nimble company that delivers services on any kind of Internet-connected gadget."

AP: "Verizon will own its wireless business outright after agreeing Monday to pay $130 billion for the 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless owned by British cellphone carrier Vodafone."