The Commentariat -- March 24, 2013

Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone predicts a confrontation between the public and the government over its secrets: "It's all coming out. And when it isn't Julian Assange the next time but The New York Times, Der Spiegel and The Guardian standing in the line of fire, the state will probably lose, just as it lost in the Pentagon Papers case, because those organizations will be careful to only publish materials clearly in the public interest -- there's no conceivable legal justification for keeping us from knowing the policies of our own country (although stranger things have happened)." ...

     ... CW: curiously, in his list of secret-tellers, Taibbi ignores the case of James Risen, a New York Times reporter whom the government repeatedly subpoenaed to obtain the identities of his sources for a book he wrote. While it's true that the Risen subpoenas do not directly involve the NYT, they are mighty close. It appears the Obama administration is being very careful not to directly challenge the MSM, which are clearly covered by the First Amendment, but are instead going after individual whistleblowers, who have no institutional support.

Obama 2.0. Justin Elliot of ProPublica: "When President Obama nominated Ernest Moniz to be energy secretary earlier this month, he hailed the nuclear physicist as a 'brilliant scientist' who, among his many talents, had effectively brought together 'prominent thinkers and energy companies.' ... But beyond his job in academia, Moniz has also spent the last decade serving on a range of boards and advisory councils for energy industry heavyweights, including some that do business with the Department of Energy. That includes a six-year paid stint on BP's Technology Advisory Council as well as similar positions at a uranium enrichment company and a pair of energy investment firms." CW: if you think the deck is always stacked against ordinary Americans, you might not be paranoid.

Obama 2.0, Ctd. Edward Wyatt of the New York Times: "The resignation on Friday of Julius Genachowski after four years as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission again raises a thorny issue for President Obama: whether it will be possible to get the F.C.C. or Congress to help him fulfill a campaign promise to guarantee that the Internet remains free and open to businesses and users. Mr. Genachowski, who said on Friday that he would leave the commission 'in the near future,' pushed it in the direction of embracing rules against discrimination by Internet service providers in what content they carry or how fast they transmit it, an issue known as net neutrality."

There is no leadership. There is nobody you can sit across the table from and shake hands, make a deal with.... [They call me] to say 'what we agreed to Joe, we can't do.' The reason this is so dysfunctional now -- with whom do you make a deal? With whom do you speak to get something done? The problem is we have the tail wagging the dog in the Republican Party. -- Vice President Biden, on the Republican party

New York Times cartoonist Brian McFadden finds a D+ engineer who has some D+ solutions for the U.S.'s D+-rated infrastructure. I would note that McFadden's sub-par engineer isn't as stupid as Washington's Very Serious People -- he understands Krugmanomics.

Jeff Sommer: a money manager says it is in the self-interest, and the public interest, for major American companies to quit stashing their cash in foreign entities to avoid paying taxes. They should bring the money home & pay their taxes, as the rest of us do.

Garance Franke-Ruta of The Atlantic on the basics the public doesn't know about U.S. fiscal facts. Franke-Ruta doesn't say so, but this particular ignorance is both a product of the Republicans' successful disinformation campaign and why they get away with continuing their draconian policies. AND it is also partially, I suppose, a product of this ...

... Paul Krugman on the psychological roots of austerity. ...

... The post by Simon Wren-Louis, whom Krugman cites, is excellent, too.

The Good News. Erik Wasson of The Hill: "The Senate voted Friday night to oppose cutting entitlement benefits for veterans using a new method of calculating inflation [i.e., chained CPI].... The vote on the amendment was by voice vote, so its usefulness in quantifying Senate opposition to the proposal is minimal. The amendment is non-binding because it is attached to the budget resolution, which does not have the force of law." ...

The Bad News. Zack Colman of The Hill: "The Senate on Friday voted 62-37 to approve the proposed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline in an amendment to Senate budget." Ditto on the non-binding part.

Abby Rapoport of the American Prospect: Senate Republicans finally found a program they wanted to cut, & Democrats let them get away with it -- defunding political science research. CW: when you're the ignorance party & promoting ignorance is in your self-interest, you sure as hell don't want political scientists pointing out the flaws in your ignorant policy positions.

Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: "Determined to persuade Congress to act in response to [the Sandy Hook] shooting, [New York City Mayor Michael] Bloomberg on Monday will begin bankrolling a $12 million national advertising campaign that focuses on senators who he believes might be persuaded to support a pending package of federal regulations to curb gun violence. The ads, in 13 states, will blanket those senators' districts during an Easter Congressional recess.... In a telling sign of how much the white-hot demands for gun control have been tempered by political reality, Mr. Bloomberg's commercials make no mention of an assault weapons ban once sought by the White House and its allies, instead focusing on the more achievable goal of universal background checks." ...

... Igor Volsky of Think Progress: "During a heated debate about gun regulations on Sunday morning, ABC News’ Terry Moran accused Karl Rove of using 'Orwellian' language to scare people about background checks, noting that the federal government is not seeking to confiscate guns but rather keep them out of the hands of criminals and people who are mentally ill":

Paul Fahri of the Washington Post: "There's no doubt that many news organizations, including this one, missed important stories, underplayed others that were skeptical of the administration's case and acted too deferentially to those in power.... But 'failure' grossly oversimplifies what the media did and didn't do before the war, and it ignores important reasons the reporting turned out the way it did.... Thousands of news stories and columns published before the war described and debated the administration's plans and statements, and not all of them were supportive." Thanks to contributor Barbarossa for the link. ...

... Daniel Drezner on what he got wrong about "Operation Iraqi Freedom." And why.

Obama "Completely Conquers" Israel. Noga Tarnopolsky of Salon: "President Barack Obama's address to the Israeli people ... may herald a new direction for American foreign policy. Clearly aware of first term missed opportunities in the relationship with America's closest Mideast ally, Obama chose to crown his two day trip to Israel and the Palestinian Authority with a passionate, forceful speech addressed to a group of more than 2,000 Israelis." Here's the speech, delivered Thursday:

If you still think NAFTA was a good idea because it was Bill Clinton's project, read this excerpt from a book by David Neiwert, republished in Salon. What Neiwert writes about the effects of NAFTA is consistent with more detailed accounts I have read elsewhere.

Andrew Higgins of the New York Times: "... what began in Cyprus as just another episode in a now-familiar narrative of stingy, rich Northern Europeans versus put-upon, poor southerners has escalated into a bigger drama tinged with cold war-style language and strategic calculations involving not just money but also energy and even military power.... The Republic of Cyprus makes an unlikely strategic prize. But it sits atop a web of overlapping and potentially volatile fault lines -- between East and West, the European Union and Russia, and Greece and Turkey, whose troops occupy the northern part of the island. It also has natural gas in the waters off its coast toward Israel."

Papal Pals. Pope Francis went to Castel Gandolfo to visit Benedict XVI. ...

... Tracy Connor of NBC News: "Pope Francis suggested in an interview last year that the Catholic Church's rule that priests be celibate 'can change' and admitted he was tempted by a woman as a young seminarian." CW: Francis's (or rather Bergoglio's) theological reasoning is telling: "It is a matter of discipline, not of faith. It can change."

Right Wing World

Jonathan Chait of New York: right-wing world is a-Twitter and a-postin' the shocking news that Matt Yglesias, a semi-liberal columnist for Slate, purchased a pricey condo. "Some of our brightest conservative minds believe that this is hypocrisy, because liberals don't believe anybody should have anything nice. Or something. I'll let them explain." ...

... Paul Krugman: "The lesson here is never to take right-wing huffiness about the process of politics and political debate seriously. These guys don't actually believe in any rules at all; whatever rule they may lay down in one case, they'll break in an instant if they think they see an advantage."

Joshua Green of Bloomberg BusinessWeek: "As Mitt Romney struggled in the weeks leading up to the Michigan primary, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum nearly agreed to form a joint 'Unity Ticket' to consolidate conservative support and topple Romney.... But the negotiations collapsed in acrimony because Gingrich and Santorum could not agree on who would get to be president."

... Daniel Larison of the American Conservative: "Gingrich and Santorum were and are even less likable politicians than Romney, so they wouldn't have been more competitive in the general election. After all, nothing says victory like a scandal-ridden, eccentric former Congressman teaming up with an ex-Senator who lost his last election by 18 points." ...

... Jon Chait: "... given our current primitive gene-splicing technology, it would not have been possible to actually merge the two figures into one unstoppable helmet-haired, sweater-vested, world historical political giant with an epic Tiffany's account and a gross sexual neologism. ('Gingrum?' That's probably already the name for something disgusting.) ... If Santorum were really clever, he would have accepted the vice-presidential spot and waited for the inevitable Gingrich impeachment -- misappropriating funds for jewelry? starting a war with Mars without Senate approval? declaring himself president for life? all the above? -- and taken over then as a comparatively reassuring figure."

Blake Zeff of Salon: "... political reality -- and sheer math (over 46 million people now live below the poverty line) -- is now forcing a major political party [-- the GOP --] to speak to poor Americans." CW: one reason that Zeff doesn't really mention: Republican policies have guaranteed that poor people would make up a significantly larger & larger percentage of the nation's population; despite GOP efforts to stop them, millions of those poor people vote. ...

... AND then there is Roger Ailes -- the actual leader of the Republican party (negotiate with Ailes, Joe Biden) -- who is still bashing the usual suspects, as is his tawdry network, Fox "News." Eric Boehlert of Media Matters (republished in Salon) reports.

Paranoid Plot of the Day
Brought to You by Right Wing World

Winner. Apocalyse Soon. Americans need assault weapons to protect themselves from the coming Iranian invasion. Also, it's all Obama's fault (which I suppose goes without saying).

Runner-up: Patrick Gavin of Politico reports that conservatives/Fox "News" analysts, etc., see Jay Leno's reported ouster from NBC as a liberal plot to purge NBC of Obama detractors. CW: perhaps the humorless right should consider this: Jay Leno isn't funny.

News Ledes

New York Daily News: "Online reports of Syrian President Bashar Assad's death appeared greatly exaggerated Sunday. Arab media said Assad was purportedly shot by one of his Iranian bodyguards Saturday night and was in serious condition. He was supposedly taken to Al-Shami Hospital in Damascus, where surrounding roads were closed off.... But online updates said the Syrian leader's shooting was false and that he was alive and in high spirits. The conflicting reports highlight the chaos that continues to engulf the country...."

AP: "U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on an unannounced visit Sunday to Baghdad urged Iraq's leaders to halt Iranian overflights of weapons and fighters heading to Syria and to overcome sectarian differences that still threaten Iraqi stability 10 years after the American-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein." ...

... Reuters: "The head of Syria's main opposition group resigned on Sunday, saying he had taken the step so he could work with more freedom. Moaz Alkhatib, a former imam of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, was picked to head the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces in November after leaving Syria due to President Bashar al-Assad's crackdown on rebels." Al Jazeera report here. ...

... AP: "Israel's army said it fired a guided missile into Syria on Sunday, destroying a military post after gunfire flew across the border and struck an Israeli vehicle. The shooting along the frontier in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights was one of the most serious incidents between the countries since Syria's civil war erupted two years ago."

Reuters: "Afghan President Hamid Karzai will travel to Qatar within days to discuss peace negotiations with the Taliban, the Afghan Foreign Ministry said on Sunday, as efforts intensify to find a negotiated solution to the twelve year war. Karzai's trip to Qatar would represent the first time the Afghan president has discussed the Taliban peace process in Qatar, and comes after years of stalled discussions with the United States, Pakistan and the Taliban."

New York Times: "Eight days after hashing out a bailout deal that the financial world reviled and the Cypriot Parliament unanimously rejected, the Eurogroup of finance ministers and Cyprus officials plan to meet [in Brussels] Sunday night.... They face a deadline of Monday, when the European Central Bank has said that it will cut off the financing that is keeping Cyprus's teetering banks from collapsing." ...

    Update: "Struggling into the early morning hours to avoid a collapse of Cyprus's banking system, European Union leaders early Monday agreed on the outlines of a bailout package intended to keep Cyprus in the euro zone and rebuild its devastated economy. The emerging deal, struck after hours of meetings in Brussels, still needs to be approved by the 17 finance ministers from countries using the euro. It would drastically prune the size of the country's banking sector, whose size, largely built on the deposits of wealthy Russians, dwarfs the size of the tiny island nation's economy. The deal would scrap the highly controversial idea of a tax on bank deposits, although it would still require forced losses for depositors and bondholders."

Reuters: "Rebels in Central African Republic seized control of the country's riverside capital Bangui on Sunday, forcing President Francois Bozize to flee into neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, government officials said. At least six South African soldiers were killed in clashes with the rebels, a Reuters witness said. A United Nations source said the force, in the country to train the army along with hundreds of regional peacekeepers, was preparing to leave."

Washington Post: "The Defense Department said Thursday that it is delaying planned furlough notices to almost 800,000 civilian employees while officials analyze whether the stopgap budget Congress passed Thursday can avert some days of unpaid leave."

AP: "Former President Pervez Musharraf returned to Pakistan on Sunday after more than four years in exile, seeking a possible political comeback in defiance of judicial probes and death threats from Taliban militants." CW: and Dubya still doesn't know his name.

Washington Post: "A judge filed preliminary charges against former French president Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday, accusing him of abusing the confidence of an heiress during fundraising for his 2007 election campaign. The action by an investigating magistrate in Bordeaux was seen as a suggestion that Sarkozy sought to obtain illegal funds to finance his successful presidential run from [L'Oreal heiress] Lilianne Bettencourt, who is ranked as France's richest woman."

The Commentariat -- March 23, 2013

Not dead, just dead tired. I've been doing physical labor under a deadline & gave 42 of the past 48 hours to it, something like the last 36 without sleep. I also had no access to a computer or the Internets. When I finished, I came home, I fixed my husband supper (thanks to the reliable Burns family recipe: turn on the oven, put it in) & I went to bed. I'm back.

The President's Weekly Address:

     ... The transcript is here. ABC News story here.

... Joe Nocera: "... why can't we childproof guns? In an age of technological wizardry -- not to mention a time of deep sensitivity to the welfare of children -- why can't we come up with a technology that would keep a gun from going off when it is being held by a child? Or, for that matter, by a thief using a stolen gun? Or an angry teenager who is plotting to use his parents' arsenal to wreak havoc in a mall? It turns out — why is this not a surprise? -- that such technologies already exist.... Why aren't these lifesaving technologies in widespread use? No surprise here, either: The usual irrational opposition from the National Rifle Association and gun absolutists, who claim, absurdly, that a gun that only can be fired by its owner somehow violates the Second Amendment."

Paranoid Plot of the Day
Brought to You by Right Wing World

Pro-gun bloggers were furious when they saw James Bond, in 'Skyfall,' proudly showing off his new biometrically protected weapon. They were convinced it was a Hollywood plot to undermine their rights. -- Joe Nocera

Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "After a grueling, all-night debate that ended close to 5 a.m., the Senate on Saturday adopted its first budget in four years, a $3.7 trillion blueprint for 2014 that would fast-track passage of tax increases, trim spending gingerly and leave the government still deeply in the debt a decade from now. No Republicans voted for the Senate plan on Saturday, and four Democrats -- Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Mark Begich of Alaska and Max Baucus of Montana -- also opposed it. All four are Red State Democrats up for re-election in 2014."

Another Nominee Filibustered out of a Job. Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "The White House has withdrawn the nomination of Caitlin Halligan to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, weeks after Republicans filibustered a vote on her nomination for the second time. Halligan requested that President Obama withdraw her nomination.... In a statement, President Obama announced himself 'deeply disappointed' that Halligan could not get an up-or-down vote."

Kirk Semple of the New York Times: Eligibility for special visas is "an unintended consequence of --an immigration policy adopted last June by President Obama that allows young illegal immigrants, under certain conditions, to apply for the right to remain in the country temporarily and work.... Many have learned that they are eligible for other, more permanent, forms of immigration relief, like special visas for crime victims.... Deferred action allows recipients to work legally and live openly without fear of deportation. But it must be renewed after two years, and the program could be canceled by President Obama or his successors. As a result, illegal immigrants would generally prefer to obtain a green card or a visa that would open the door to permanent residency."

Emily Yellin, in a New York Times op-ed, on the enduring effects of rape.

Paul Haven of the AP: "U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry must decide within a few weeks whether to advocate that President Barack Obama should take Cuba off a list of state sponsors of terrorism, a collection of Washington foes that also includes Iran, Syria and Sudan. Cuban officials have long seen the terror designation as unjustified and told visiting American delegations privately in recent weeks that they view Kerry's recommendation as a litmus test for improved ties. They also hinted the decision could affect discussions over the release of jailed U.S. subcontractor Alan Gross, whose detention in 2009 torpedoed hopes of a diplomatic thaw."

Carol Leonnig & Luz Lazo of the Washington Post: "A top Dominican law enforcement official said Friday that a local lawyer has reported being paid by someone claiming to work for the conservative Web site the Daily Caller to find prostitutes who would lie and say they had sex for money with Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.). The lawyer told Dominican investigators that a foreign man, who identified himself as 'Carlos,' had offered him $5,000 to find and pay women in the Caribbean nation willing to make the claims about Menendez.... The Daily Caller issued a statement Friday saying that the information allegedly provided by the Dominican lawyer, Melanio Figueroa, was false." CW: luckily, the Daily Caller's denial is as believable as its "journalism."

Right Wing World

Charles Blow: "People like [Michele] Bachmann represent everything that is wrong with the Republican Party. She and her colleagues are hyperbolic, reactionary, ill-informed and ill-intentioned, and they have become synonymous with the Republican brand. We don't need all politicians to be Mensa-worthy, but we do expect them to be cogent and competent."

Local News

James MacPherson of the AP: "... North Dakota is now trying to enact the toughest abortion restrictions in the nation. The newly oil-rich red state may soon find itself in a costly battle over legislation foes describe as blatantly unconstitutional.... Lawmakers on Friday took a step toward outlawing abortion altogether in the state by passing a so-called personhood resolution that says a fertilized egg has the same right to life as a person. The House's approval sends the matter to voters, who will decide whether to add the wording to the state's constitution in November 2014."

News Ledes

AP: "Boris Berezovsky, a self-exiled and outspoken Russian tycoon who had a bitter falling out with Russian President Vladimir Putin, was found dead in southeast England on Saturday. He was 67.... The cause of Berezovsky's death was not immediately clear, and Thames Valley police said it was being treated as 'unexplained.'" The Guardian story is here.

New York Times: "Under persistent prodding from President Obama, Israel and Turkey resolved a bitter three-year dispute on Friday with a diplomatic thaw that will help a fragile region confront Syria's civil war, while handing the president a solid accomplishment as he closed out his visit to the Middle East." CW: earning a chip of that Nobel medal. ...

... AP: "President Barack Obama set aside the Middle East's tricky politics Saturday to marvel at the beauty of one of the region's most stunning sites, the fabled ancient city of Petra.... Obama's turn as tourist capped a four-day visit to the Middle East that included stops in Israel and the West Bank, as well Jordan."

Washington Post: "Two Marines were shot and killed late Thursday at the Officer Candidate School at Marine Corps Base Quantico, and the suspected shooter, also a Marine, fatally shot himself inside a barracks on the base.... Officials ... declined to publicly discuss a possible motive in the attacks but said the incident was neither a terrorist incident nor an attempt to cause mass casualties. They said the gunman and two victims were members of the same unit and knew one another." CW: in other words, just your usual murders among friends. Nothing to worry about, folks.

Reuters: "A white supremacist ex-convict who died in a roadside gun battle with Texas police was being investigated for possible links to the deaths of a Colorado prisons chief and a pizza delivery man, law enforcement officials said on Friday. Police said that Evan Spencer Ebel, a 28-year-old parolee from Denver killed by police on Thursday after a high-speed car chase through Decatur, Texas, was being investigated in connection with the death of Tom Clements, executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections."

New York Times: Cypriot "lawmakers took steps late Friday to revise a formula for obtaining a bailout of Cyprus's banks but faced strong signals that the plan would not pass muster with international lenders. The Parliament put off until later this weekend a vote on a crucial new proposal that would confiscate 22 to 25 percent of uninsured deposits above 100,000 euros through a new tax on account holders in one of the nation's most troubled banks."

AP: "China is trying to punish ally North Korea for its nuclear and missile tests, stepping up inspections of North Korean-bound cargo in a calibrated effort to send a message of Chinese pique without further provoking a testy Pyongyang government. Freight handlers and trading companies at ports and cities near the North Korean border complain of more rigorous inspections and surprise checks that are raising the costs to doing business with an often unpredictable North Korea. Machinery, luxury goods and daily necessities such as rice and cooking oil are among the targeted products, the companies said, and business is suffering."

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."