The Commentariat -- February 5, 2012
My column in today's New York Times eXaminer: "Ross Douthat, foe of women’s reproductive rights, uses his column today to complain about the 'frankly brutal coverage' in 'the media frenzy' surrounding the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s decision to renege on contracts to fund mammograms for poor women. 'You would think,' he writes, that 'all these millions of anti-abortion Americans simply do not exist…. On the abortion issue, the press’s prejudices are often absolute, its biases blatant and its blinders impenetrable.' Oddly enough, Douthat is angry about the lack of coverage of anti-choice Americans in a matter in which, according to the Komen Foundation, abortion rights played no part." The NYTX front page is here. You can donate here.
Prof. Larry Lessig in Salon: "What Obama must do if he is to make American democracy possible again is to speak boldly, not practically, about reform.... He needs to begin the process of persuading the nation that fundamental reform is necessary and possible.... He must stop, by his silence, defending the status quo.... Outside Washington, in the grassroots of American politics, Democrats, independents and Republicans all support a radical change in how we fund campaigns.... There is overwhelming support for the idea of limiting the role of independent expenditures in political campaigns."
Mike Konczal in Salon: "Privatizing the government is one of the most active projects of the early 21st century.... The fraud and waste that often come with outsourcing these services has been well-documented.... Rather than solving problems with government, privatization often amplifies those issues to new extremes."
Prof. Christina Romer, in a New York Times opinion piece, explains why manufacturing should not be singled out as the only business sector to get special tax breaks and other government support. Other sectors could potentially produce better results for the economy.
Colbert v. the Court. Dahlia Lithwick in Slate: "... in the history of the Supreme Court, nothing has ever prepared the justices for the public opinion wrecking ball that is Stephen Colbert.... Colbert has spent the past few months making every part of Justice Anthony Kennedy’s majority opinion in Citizen United look utterly ridiculous. And the court, which has no access to cameras (by its own choosing), no press arm, and no discernible comedic powers, has had to stand by and take it on the chin.... The institutional aloofness that allowed the Roberts court to pen such a politically naive decision is the same blind spot that precludes them from even understanding, much less responding to, the media criticism."
Katie Ryder of Salon speaks to writer Arthur Goldwag about right-wing haters & conspiracy theorists. They've always been around, but they're more visible now. An interesting read.
Emily Flitter of Reuters: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg keeps up his fight for gun control; he'll appear in a D.C. rollover ad during the Super Bowl with Boston Mayor Thomas Menino; Bloomberg paid for the ad.
AND cartoonist Brian McFadden has some tips on how to have a highbrow Super Bowl halftime. Personally, I'd turn down the sound on the teevee during Madonna's performance & ramp up something like the famous habanera L'amour est un oiseau rebelle" from Bizet's "Carmen" (Anna Caterina Antonacci performs it here):
Right Wing World
David Schwartz of the Las Vegas Sun: "Mitt Romney’s easy victory in Nevada’s Republican presidential caucuses might, in the long run, be less important than the fact that a surprising number of Republicans who could have participated Saturday chose to stay home. Republicans’ disappointing turnout foreshadows difficulty energizing GOP voters in Nevada, a key swing state in November’s general election."
** New York Times Editorial Board: "... the conservative legal battles of our modern times are being waged by the most powerful, often against the weak and oppressed. They began with a carefully planned and successful effort to reshape the courts to be sympathetic to conservative causes. They are largely aimed at narrowing rights, not expanding them — except where property and guns are concerned. And beginning with the Reagan administration, conservatives ... sought to remake law into a weapon of aggressive action.... The political influences on these major cases are important by themselves, but also as a reminder that the makeup of the court for the next generation, and thus the law’s direction, are likely to be determined by the 2012 election."
Worse Than Bush. Contributor P. D. Pepe made an important point in yesterday's Commentariat, which bears repeating: Romney's tax policy is worse than the Bush tax cuts. As Ezra Klein wrote a few days ago, "Romney's tax policy, described simply, is to extend the Bush tax cuts and, then on top of that, sharply cut taxes on corporations, the wealthy, and upper-middle class investors, while letting a set of tax breaks that help the poor expire. The result, according to the Tax Policy Center, would be a $69 tax cut for the average individual in the bottom 20 percent and a $164,000 tax cut for the average individual in the top one percent. And Romney would pay for this through unspecified cuts to domestic programs." That is, "he wants to lower the tax burden on people like himself, and pay for it by cutting programs for the poor and seniors.... His tax plan ... is the most moderate plan of any candidate in the GOP primary."
Local News
Indianapolis Star: "Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White (R) was convicted of six felonies early [Saturday] morning, and consequently lost his job.... A jury convicted White of three counts of voter fraud, two counts of perjury and one count of theft. He could face six months to three years in prison on each of the counts.... The charges stemmed from confusion over where White lived when he campaigned for secretary of state in late 2009 and 2010. White claimed that he lived at his ex-wife's home on the east side of Fishers. But the jury convicted him based on allegations that he actually lived in a townhouse on the opposite side of town.... The townhouse was outside his Fishers Town Council district." ...
... AP: White was the state's top elections official! Gov. Mitch "Daniels (R) quickly appointed White's chief deputy, Jerry Bonnet, as interim secretary of state." But state Democratic "Chairman Dan Parker said the party will seek to have its 2010 candidate, Vop Osili, who lost to White by about 300,000 votes, certified as secretary of state this week. A civil judge in Marion County ordered the state to declare Osili the winner in December, saying White wasn't an eligible candidate because he had lied about where he lived on a voter registration form."
News Ledes
New York Times: "Egyptian authorities have referred 19 Americans and two dozen others to criminal trials, justice ministry officials said Sunday, as part of a politically charged investigation into the foreign financing of nonprofit groups that has shaken the 30-year alliance between the United States and Egypt. The referral flies in the face of increasingly urgent warnings to Egypt’s military rulers from President Obama, cabinet officials and senior Congressional leaders that the investigation could jeopardize $1.55 billion in expected American aid this year, including $1.3 billion for the military.On Saturday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she personally warned the Egyptian foreign minister, Mohammed Amr, during a security conference in Munich."
New York Times: ", the billionaire casino executive keeping Newt Gingrich’s presidential hopes alive, has relayed assurances to Mitt Romney that he will provide even more generous support to his candidacy if he becomes the Republican nominee, several associates said in interviews here."
... Washington Post: "After a likely second-place finish in the Nevada caucuses Saturday, former House speaker Newt Gingrich sought to dispel the idea that he might drop out of the Republican presidential nomination any time soon, promising a hotel ballroom filled with reporters that he will fight on to the convention in the summer."
Reuters: "Western and Arab countries responded with outrage on Sunday after Russia and China vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to give up power. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said she was 'disgusted' by the vote, which came a day after activists say Syrian forces bombarded the city of Homs, killing more than people in the worst night of bloodshed of the 11-month uprising. 'Any further bloodshed that flows will be on their hands,' ambassador Susan Rice said...." ...
... Guardian: "US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has called for greater cooperation between the US and Europe to isolate tyrants such as Syrian president Bashar Assad and promote democracy in the Arab world."
... Al Jazeera: "Arab states will not stop their efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis even though their bid to secure UN backing was blocked by Russia and China, the Arab League's secretary-general has said."
Reuters: "Protesters demanding a swift presidential election and an early handover of power by the army hurled rocks at police guarding the Egyptian interior ministry on Sunday and were forced back with volleys of tear gas." Al Jazeera story here.
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