P.M. Headlines

(New York Times): "Mr. Menendez's ethics problem"

(CNN): "Perry to visit California, recruit business for Texas"

(Reuters): "Tight budget may force Pentagon to cut forces: general"

(Crooks and Liars): "Bill Mahar blasts Donald Trump for suit over orangutan joke"

(Chicago Tribune): Northeast blizzard: 5 dead, hundreds of thousands left without power"

Listening to Now: Anat Cohen and John Pizzarelli - "I Wanna Be Around"

By Richard K. Barry

I play some clarinet. Mostly I'm a sax player. Well, actually, mostly I'm a civil servant, but I play a few different instruments when time allows. While no expert on jazz clarinet, it does seem to me that it gets short shrift compared to other "sexier" instruments like sax, guitar, piano, trumpet, etc. Don't get me wrong, maybe there are a bunch of high profile jazz clarinet players, but they don't seem to get the same kind of notice when I leaf through my monthly edition of Down Beat.

 Just to give myself some cover, I did find a blog post a couple of years old with the title: "The Rise and Fall of the Clarinet," which makes the case in a much more thorough manner.

 Thinking of no more clever way to find out who the current crop of jazz players are on the old licorice stick, I consulted the aforementioned Down Beat Magazine and their readers poll for the clarinet category. I'm not quite sure how the voting works, but I assume the names listed below were the bright lights from which their readers were encouraged to choose in the most recent round of voting. In any case, Anat Cohen won the category in 2012.

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Big problem for Chris Christie

By Mustang Bobby

I’m not going to make snarky comments about New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s size or weight. I don’t like it when people make fat jokes — or skinny jokes, for that matter. It’s childish and not a lot different than making jokes about someone’s sexuality or race. Trying to shame them into “doing something” about their appearance to make them fit into some kind of societal norm is bullying.

And it’s not as if Gov. Christie doesn’t know that his weight is a part of his public image. He joked about it on David Letterman. But that doesn’t give others the right to pile on, and the former White House doctor who concern trolled about him last week was out of line.

His response to the doctor was to pick up the phone, call her at home, and yell at her. If you’re planning on running for president some day, showing that you have anger management issues isn’t exactly a selling point.

We already knew that he has a short fuse. That may be an asset in some settings, but it’s not exactly a quality you want in a person who has aspirations to access to the nuclear codes and the 82nd Airborne.

This clip from The West Wing pretty much sums it up.

Chris Christie needs a C.J. Cregg.

(Cross-posted at Bark Bark Woof Woof.)

Condoleezza Rice: In the footsteps of Gerald Ford

By Richard K. Barry

According to Yahoo Sports, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice nailed a spectator in the forehead with an errant shot at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am tournament.

The ball smacked the female fan in the forehead, causing what was later called concussion-like symptoms and while the lady that got hit wouldn't give her name, Rice got an assistant to get her number so she could later contact her to make sure she was alright.

Speaking as an absolutely terrible golfer, I have nothing but sympathy for Ms. Rice (and her victim).  Sure, the professionals hit that stupid little white ball every day with the whole world watching. But for the rest of us, the idea of doing it not only with the cameras rolling but with throngs of people in close proximity providing fine targets, well, it's all too much.

If I had been in Condi's place, there would be bodies strewn about everywhere - no question.

Long ago, President Ford did the same thing (maybe more than once).  He thwacked some poor spectator with a golf ball, which was aired over and over again on television, giving Chevy Chase and the team at Saturday Night Live plenty of material.  In fact, Bob Hope once quipped, "It's not hard to find Jerry Ford on the golf course - you  just follow the wounded."

Oh, that Bob Hope. Like I said, I'm glad I'm not famous and no one follows me around when I'm on the links. That's good for everyone.

Presidential signing statements

By Frank Moraes

A political scientist at Florida International University, Kevin Evans explains, Why the Obama Administration Has Issued Fewer Signing Statements. It's quite interesting, because I actually didn't know anything about Obama's signing statements. I remember being really mad about Bush's. But Obama just hasn't gotten much press on this issue.

There are different kinds of signing statements, of course. In fact, most are not harmful at all. Some of them are nothing more than, "This is important legislation and if it weren't for the fact that the United States currently has pretty much the Platonic Ideal of a president, this would never have become law." As we all know, President Bush was the king of the most pernicious form of signing statements, the constitutional challenges: "I'm signing this bill, but there are details that I don't feel I have to abide by." This would be like the anti-torture legislation which Bush signed by noted that he didn't accept that minor bit about not torturing people.

Bush filed twice as many of these signing statements than all other presidents combined! I couldn't believe that a president with a congress that gave him every damned thing he wanted would be so picky in his signing statements. It was the best illustration (and maybe my first) that the Republicans had become a proto-fascist political party. Even the smallest limitation of executive power had to resisted and resisted in the strongest possible terms. But that was then. How is the current president who gets just about nothing he ever wanted doing?

Read more »

A.M. Headlines

(Politico): "Obama's Treasury pick hits Cayman Islands snag"

(Roll Call): Obama to help House Democrats recruit candidates"

(Politico): "Obama hails Panetta in farewell ceremony"

(New York Times): Shooting suspect's racism allegations resound for some"

(Washington Post):"Boston digs out from massive blizzard"

Liberty Leading the People by Delacroix defaced at museum in northern France

By Michael J.W. Stickings

One of the world's most famous paintings, Liberty Leading the People (La Liberté guidant le peuple) by the great French romantic artist Eugène Delacroix, has been vandalized by a young woman with a marker at a museum in northern France: 

A statement from the Louvre-Lens, an extension of the famous Paris-based Louvre which only opened last December, where the incident took place, said the painting "could be easily cleaned" and is being examined by a restorer.

A report in Le Figaro newspaper claims the woman wrote "AE911" near the bottom of the canvas which is alleged by unnamed sources quoted in the French press to be a reference to a 9/11 conspiracy theory.

Whatever she wrote, and for whatever reason she did it, I consider this a crime against humanity.

P.M. Headlines

(Politico): "Sequester cuts a time bomb for GOP?"

(The Hill): "Report: Jackson Jr. signs plea deal"

(CNN): "Rand Paul to deliver tea-party response to Obama, GOP"

(Politico): "Bill Clinton to Democrats: Come up with a plan"

(ABC News): "Hacker gains access to Bush family emails, photos"

Christie gets testy

By Richard K. Barry

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was once again employing that trademark charm of his when he called a former White House doctor a "hack" for suggesting he was at risk of dying in office because of his weight. He also told her to "shut up" unless she examined him, according to ABC News. 

Said Christie: "If she wants to get on a plane and come here to New Jersey and asks me if she wants to examine me and review my medical history, I'll have a conversation with her about that. Until that time she should shut up."

This was First Read's take:

We’ve seen a lot of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) this week, talking about -- and joking about -- his weight. We also saw him get serious in a back and forth with an Arizona doctor – and former White House doctor – who suggested Christie lose weight because she’s afraid he’d die in office. Christie took offense. It makes for good cable fodder, but let’s not miss the bigger picture. Why did this topic come up? Christie decided to bring it up. This is about Christie trying to confront, ON HIS TERMS, what would be one of his biggest obstacles if he launches a presidential bid in 2016. He knows this is a hurdle; he knows it’s not an insignificant one. The biggest thing is he has changed his tone on this, becoming much more open about it, even hinting that he’s on a program and that people would notice if it’s working relatively soon. As late as last year, Christie’s standard response was essentially: my weight is my business, period. Not anymore. If you needed a hint that Christie is trying to get it together to run for president, this is it. There’s every chance Christie can use his battle with weight issues to connect to average Americans. It’s something everyone can relate to. But Christie has to look like he DOES care about this issue. And this week, he’s done a 180 and indicated he cares.

The first thing to note is that a president's medical records, or those who might aspire to the office, are a matter of great public interest, and you don't have to be a fan of The West Wing to know that. Second, I didn't go to medical school but I don't think that's required to understand that someone of Gov. Christie's size is in serious danger of living a much shorter life than those who are not his size.

Maybe Christie can use the issue to connect with average Americans, especially those who don't like to hear friendly advice only meant to help. Christie may have changed his tone on his weight problem, but it's still not a good tone. 

Rand Paul is no hero

By Frank Moraes

You've probably read about Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle getting murdered by a comrade at a shooting range. It became a bit of a dust up due to libertarian wackjob Ron Paul tweeting out, "Chris Kyle's death seems to confirm that 'he who lives by the sword dies by the sword.' Treating PTSD at a firing range doesn't make sense." I don't see what the big deal is; Paul is showing his usual level of tact and discretion. And there is real wisdom in the second part of that tweet. Maybe part of the problem is the whole culture of guns and manly back slapping. But no one is really interested in that.

They are, however, interested in grandstanding about how Ron Paul could be so rude. (This, from a man who thinks anyone careless enough not to have insurance should just be allowed to die. The Hippocratic Oath can bite Dr. Paul!) One such person is his pretend libertarian wackjob son, Rand Paul. He told that bastion of ethics in news, breitbart.com: "Chris Kyle was a hero like all Americans who don the uniform to defend our country."

Really? All Americans who don the uniform to defend our country are heroes? That surprises me, because so many serial killers have donned the uniform to defend our country. Jeffrey Dahmer, for example, did so. I don't think of him as a hero. Nor do I think of the guy who killed 16 civilians last year in Kandahar as a hero. I tend to think that most of the people in the military would agree with me. That is why they have court-martials; people in the military dishonor the traditions of the military—all the time.

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A confederacy of dunces

By Mustang Bobby

Sometimes I think I should do just a collection of links to the latest outbursts of stupid without comment, much in the same way I do the Short Takes every morning. That way you could see what the far side is up to in a short burst and then get on with your day. Trust me, there’s no shortage of material.

For instance:

BOISE – Coeur d’Alene Sen. John Goedde, chairman of the Idaho Senate’s Education Committee, introduced legislation Tuesday to require every Idaho high school student to read Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” and pass a test on it to graduate from high school. 

When Sen. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene, asked Goedde why he chose that particular book, Goedde said to laughter, “That book made my son a Republican.”

Teaching high school kids to be greedy bastards? Isn’t that redundant?

Or this genius:

In a recent interview, [Alabama State] Senator Shadrack McGill, said he wants to introduce a personhood bill that will define life as beginning at conception. This is nothing new — fifteen states introduced personhood bills in the 2012 legislative session alone –but McGill’s interview is instructive because it illustrates just how dangerous and unhinged Forced Birth ideology has become. 

First, McGill compares unfertilized eggs to eagle eggs — yes – eagle eggs:

“Did you know you can be charged up to $250,000 for destroying an eagle egg, but you can destroy babies in the womb?” 

Um… bald eagles are a protected species because they are on the endangered species list. Humans are not.

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Hugh Everett alive and well in Virginia

By Frank Moraes

When I first started studying physics seriously, Einsteinian relativity really bugged me. It just didn't make sense. So I worked really hard to understand it—harder than I ever worked to understand any other kind of physics. And I never had an epiphany. Instead, I just accepted it. Relativity was just the way the world was. Things that are moving very fast relative to each other simply behave in ways that my intuition based upon things moving slowly did not prepare me to understand. Dr. Einstein or: how I learned to stop worrying and love relativity.

By the time I got to quantum mechanics, I was a Zen Master. It bothers you that reality is just a cosmic poll of individual quantum occurrences? The cow is slow but the earth is patient, Grasshopper! Or more to the point: shut up and solve your equations! And as time went on, I took some amount of solace in the belief that theories were not reality. One thing they don't tell you in school: the very best theories might be accurate to within one part in a million. But no theory is perfect. And that makes reality a whole lot more interesting.

It also makes our place in the cosmos a lot more tenuous. As physicists bombarded atoms with more and more energy, I came to believe that we were likely just banging our metaphorical head against the box of reality that we were caught in. After all, with paradoxes in pure math, how could our physical reality be any less bizarre? At first, this led me to think that quantum mechanics must just be an outcome of our limited perception of a greater reality.

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Breeding distrust

By Mustang Bobby

John Brennan will go to Capitol Hill today for his confirmation hearing as the next director of the CIA. Thanks to the news about the memo on drones, it should be an interesting hearing.

Whether or not you think killing people — Americans or not — by remote control is a good or a bad idea, or whether you think the level of secrecy around it insulates us as a people from the harsh things our government does in our name, the part that gets to a lot of people — myself included — is that the attitude of the people who knew about it turns out to be “Trust us.” As anyone who has grown up beyond the age of ten knows, when you have to tell someone to trust you, you shouldn’t.

I don’t buy into all the conspiracy nutsery (see below), but I also believe trust is binary: you either have it or you don’t, and winning it back is not just a matter of “Well, we mislead you on this, but the next time, trust us.” It becomes a loop.

Charlie Pierce gets to it.

It is now beyond cliche to observe that government secrecy “breeds distrust” in our institutions. What is never mentioned is that, if you breed enough distrust in the institutions — or, more to the point, if the activities of the institutions breed distrust in themselves — the trust people once placed in them has to gosomewhere. And, generally, it goes into dreams and schemes and circus clowns that the people dream up themselves. The very real use of drones, and the very real possibility that they will be in general use in domestic law-enforcement before very long, because we’re more than already halfway there now, already have combined to set the paranoid imagination fully a’bloom. Government secrecy and deception blurs the line between genuine fears over the decline of civil liberties, and the wild-assed fantasies of the black-helicopter crowd. If you want to see the true destructive power of Droneworld in this country, look deeply into the Id of the democratic political imagination. There are angry, feral creatures in there, stalking the ruins, howling for blood.

There are those who will never trust the government or any elected official. They fully believe that once someone becomes a public servant they are secretly led into the cabal and become “one of them.” They’re the ones who start looking for pods in the basement. It’s when the rest of us start thinking that there might be something to it that we get into real trouble.

(Cross-posted at Bark Bark Woof Woof.)

A.M. Headlines

(Washington Post): "Looming US defense budget cuts lead to uncertainty for deploying members of military"

(Washington Post): "Brennan defends drone strike policies"

(Politico): "Some in GOP want sequester deal"

(Reuters): "House Democrats unveil gun control package, mirrors Obama's"

(New York Times): "Business and labor unite to try and alter immigration laws"

P.M. Headlines

(NBC News) "Stay off the roads: East Coast residents warned to stay home as winter storm approaches"

(Politico): "Brennan hearing exposes 'trust deficit' between Hill, CIA"

(The Plum Line): "Dems will offer GOP spending cuts to avert doom"

(CNN): Panetta, Dempsey defend US response to Benghazi attack"

(Telegraph): "Cameron threatens to veto EU budget"

Pass the popcorn!

By Carl

Oh boy, this is going to be great!

"There is now an out in the open civil war within the Republican Party," conservative Iowa radio host Steve Deace wrote in a Politico op-ed this week.

He's right.

Karl Rove has launched a new group, the Conservative Victory Project, which will aim to select GOP Senate candidates, weeding out future Todd Akins and squashing the prospects of anyone deemed unelectable.

It's not sitting well with conservatives. Its first purported opponent is Steve King, a very conservative congressman with a history of colorful comments, who may be considering a run for Senate in Iowa.

After pantheon of Tea Party campaign groups (The Club for Growth, FreedomWorks and Tea Party Express) bashed the new effort, on Wednesday a cluster of conservative leaders demanded the new organization fire its spokesman, Jonathan Collegio, for calling Brent Bozell, a pundit who runs the conservative Media Research Center, a "hater" in a recent radio interview. Collegio had alleged that Bozell, a critic, has an ax to grind against Rove.

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Cantor's big speech

By Frank Moraes 

Eric Cantor gave a speech and I think it sucked. What are the odds?

Ezra Klein provides a nice rundown of all of Cantor's policy proposals. He isn't too impressed either, but I think he gives Cantor far too much credit.

There is one big way that the Republicans could signal that are changing: they could talk seriously about the jobs crisis in America. But they won't do that. To some extent, they must believe that the public wouldn't really buy it. After all, for the last few years (and especially the last couple of months) the Republicans have been hammering on this issue. But it is always in a vague and negative way. John Boehner uses pretty much every opportunity to slam President Obama for not doing anything to create jobs.

The problem for the Republicans is that it has been all to clear that they are against any legislation that would actually help the jobs crisis. Instead, when they talk about jobs, everyone rightly hears, "Let's cut the taxes of rich people!" So it isn't surprising that Cantor didn't touch this issue. The truth is that the only Republican idea for creating jobs is to cut the taxes of rich people. Since they cannot think outside that paradigm, it is probably all for the best to say nothing.

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Must destroy Republican Party

By Frank Moraes 

The same day that House Republicans are proposing to save $600 billion in defense spending by cutting 10% of all federal jobs, the United States Postal Service announces that it is cutting delivery of first class mail on Saturdays. These are linked together. You can file them under "stupid things we do because Republicans are crazy." Let's look briefly at what this all means.

The Postal Service cut has been a long time in coming. Back in 2006, during the lame duck after the Republicans lost control of the House and Senate, the Republicans passed a poison pill that required the Postal Service to pre-fund their retirement program. This is a requirement that no other business has and was put in place because, well, Republicans are evil. That really is what this all comes down to. The Republicans want to kill the Postal Service. Sure, there is the added benefit of helping out our corporate overlords at UPS and FedEx. But it is mostly about trying to destroy anything the government does well. See: Republicans just know that the government can't do anything well. That's why government programs like the Post Service (which is in the Constitution that they supposedly love so much) and Medicare and Social Security must be destroyed. If reality doesn't conform to your ideology, change reality, because your ideology could not possibly be wrong! 

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Can the GOP turn that frown upside down?

By Richard K. Barry

One of the things often said about politics is that it's not enough to be against things, campaigns and candidates need to let voters know what they are for. It may be a truism that negative campaigning works, but at a certain point it helps to turn it around and give people a sense of your vision, of what you would do -- at the very least that you're not just cranky as a matter of course. 

Perhaps Republicans are starting to catch on. The Washington Post reported that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) said in a speech on Tuesday that Republicans need to "'focus our attention really on what lies beyond the fiscal debates' and to create 'conditions for health, happiness and prosperity.'"

The Post even reports that Cantor is trying to let new media work for him:

As is fashionable these days, Cantor even came up with a catchy Twitter hashtag for his rebranding effort: #MakingLifeWork.

Okay, maybe the party of "leave me the hell alone and get off my goddamn lawn" can turn things around and sweeten up its image. It will be fun to watch. 

Dr. Jekyll and President Hyde

By Frank Moraes

My friend Andrea gets mad at me when I rag on the president too much. To her, Obama is so much better than Bush that we should just be grateful that we don't have a complete fucking idiot in the White House. But here's the thing: I am grateful. I usually defend myself by saying, "I think Obama is the best president we could ever expect to have!" But this is more a statement of my terrifying level of cynicism than it is of my opinion of Obama.

Let me pull back for a moment. If I were in the Senate and I got to question John Brennan today, I would have only one question for him, "Do you want to be head of the CIA?" I assume his answer would be, "Yes." And that would tell me everything I needed to know. "Then I'm afraid, Mr. Brennan, that you are not qualified to run the CIA. I'm very sorry. I hope you will spend the rest of your life volunteering at a local homeless shelter. The second to last place we can afford to put a power hungry asshole in charge is at the CIA."

The very last place we can afford to put a power-hungry asshole in charge is the presidency of the United States. I suspect that when Obama was a community organizer, he was a great guy. He was the kind of guy who should be the President of the United States. But once he started to be noticed as a member of the Illinois State Senate? And certainly, by the time he became a United States Senator? He'd been corrupted.

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Out of control: The Republican myth of Obama's deficits

By Mustang Bobby

One of the many knee-jerk GOP memes is that President Obama has exploded the deficit and is spending our nation down the road to oblivion and it's getting worse with every passing moment.

Yeah, except it's not true:

The federal budget deficit in 2013 is projected to be $845 billion, the first time the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has forecast a deficit below $1 trillion under President Obama.

The reduction in the budget deficit comes after Congress approved higher tax rates on households with annual income above $450,000. 

 
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The "Oh, crap" moments of the 2012 campaign

By Richard K. Barry

Just to prove politics can be fun, First Read asked some campaign insiders from the Romney and Obama sides about their "Oh, crap" moments of the 2012 campaign:

Eric Fehrnstrom of the Romney campaign answered Gingrich winning South Carolina; Beth Myers of the Romney camp said it was Romney's three-state loss to Santorum (on Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri); Romney strategist Stuart Stevens said it was the close primary race in Michigan; Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said it was their worry that Romney might wrap up the nomination after the New Hampshire primary.

I might have thought Eric Ferhnstrom would have said his "Oh, crap" moment was when he realized he actually used the Etch-A-Sketch imagery to describe how Romney would supposedly pivot away from radical conservatism after he got the nomination.  And I can't believe no one from the Romney campaign cited the first time they saw the 47 percent video. 

As for Obama's crew, I think maybe their moment was really when they realized their candidate forgot to show up for the first debate. That was mine.

In more general terms, Republicans across the country must have had their collective moment when they surveyed the stage at any one of the GOP nomination debates seeing Gingrich, Paul, Bachmann, Santorum, Cain, Perry, and Romney, and thinking, "this is the best we can do? -- oh, crap."

A.M. Headlines

(CBS News): "At Brennan hearing, US drone policy in the spotlight"

(New York Times): "Obama plans fund-raising trips to aid Senate and House candidates"

(The Hill): "Biden delivers impassioned plea to House Democrats on gun control"

(Boston Herald): "Clinton machine ready to roll Biden"

(Reuters): "Carney sets high bar to changes at the Bank of England"

P.M. Headlines

(USA Today): "Military services outline their spending cut plans"

(The Hill): "Rubio to deliver GOP response to Obama's State of the Union"

(Foreign Policy): "GOP senators call for delay in Hagel committee vote"

(Reuters): "Postal service to cut Saturday mail"

(Slate): "Fox News ends the Dick Morris era"

New poll puts Rep. Steve King at a disadvantage in Iowa Senate race

By Richard K. Barry

It's goods news and bad news for hyper-conservative Rep. Steve King (R) who is considering a run in 2014 in Iowa to replace retiring Democratic Senator Tom Harkin. On the one hand, King is well out ahead of any potential GOP challenger for the Republican nomination. On the other hand, he is well back of any Democratic candidate who was tested in a recent Public Policy Polling survey. 

As PPP writes:

We tested three different iterations of the GOP candidate field for next year, and King leads by at least 19 points in each one of them. In a four candidate scenario he gets 41% to 22% for Tom Latham, 10% for Kim Reynolds, and 9% for Bob Vander Plaats. In a three candidate field that doesn't include Reynolds he gets 42% to 23% for Latham and 19% for Vander Plaats. And in a head to head with Latham he leads 50/27.

But, as they continue:

The problem for Republicans is that King would start out at a significant disadvantage in a general election. The most likely Democratic candidate, Bruce Braley, would start out 11 points ahead of King at 49/38. The three other Democrats we looked at lead King by substantial margins as well- Tom Vilsack would lead King 49/39, Chet Culver would lead 48/41, and Dave Loebsack would lead 47/40.

Make no mistake, Steve King is one of those hardcore crazy Republicans who appeals to the base but will have a hell of time in the general election, just the kind of senate candidate that scares the hell out of people like Karl Rove, the Conservative Victory Project,  and other Republicans interested in taking back the Senate. 

How sweet would it be to add King's name to the list that includes O'Donnell, Angle, Mourdock, and Akin?

Debt interest burden

By Frank Moraes

A couple of days ago, Dean Baker published one of his weekly "Robert Samuelson is an idiot" articles, It's Monday and Robert Samuelson Is Confused. It's a good article. I always look forward to Mondays because Samuelson is a Very Serious Idiot and Baker really does have something to say about him every week. So click over and read it, if you like. However, I bring it up, because Baker touched on something that I would like to expand on.

Baker often pushes an important idea that very few people talk about: government debt versus debt interest burden. Let me explain this with an example. Assume a country named Freedonia. Currently, long-term (30 year) bonds on Freedonia debt pay 1%. Freedonia needs to borrow $100, so they issue a bond for it. This means that their debt is $100 and their debt interest burden is $1 (1%) per year. Now let's suppose that the Freedonia economy starts to improve so that next year, the bond rate jumps way up to 3%. The government still has all its $100 debt locked into a 1% bond, so nothing changes—at least not for another 29 years when the $100 principle will be worth almost nothing anyway.

The person who holds the $100 bond will lose out in this situation. He is now making $1 per year. But if he made the same investment now (in long-term bonds), he would get $3 per year. So his bond is effectively only worth $33 now. Indeed, if he wanted to sell it, he would only get $33 for it (See Afterword below). So the government of Freedonia could borrow $33 (by issuing a new bond) and buy back last year's $100 bond. Thus, the government would have decreased its debt by two-thirds! Woo! Now Freedonia only owns $33!

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Tagged out

By Mustang Bobby

Via TPM:

Tagg Romney, son of former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, said on Monday that he has decided against a run for Secretary of State John Kerry’s Senate seat in Massachusetts.

[...]

“I have been humbled by the outreach I received this weekend encouraging me to become a candidate for the US Senate. I love my home state and admit it would be an honor to represent the citizens of our great Commonwealth. However, I am currently committed to my business and to spending as much time as I can with my wife and children. The timing is not right for me, but I am hopeful that the people of Massachusetts will select someone of great integrity, vision, and compassion as our next US Senator.”

I guess the trees weren’t the right height this time.

(Cross-posted at Bark Bark Woof Woof.)

Wrong again, Bill!

By Frank Moraes

Bill Maher was at it again this Friday night on Real Time. It is sad to see, but he seems to be listening to a lot of Very Serious People. Last week, he was bashing disability and assuming that Americans were getting lazier. This week, he was bashing old people. He noted that we spend $4 on every senior citizen for every $1 spent on children. He also said that on average, Americans put in $150,000 into the entitlement programs, but receive $300,000 from them. I haven't been able to verify either of these claims, but let's just assume he's right. (The numbers sound about right, even if they are also probably deceptive on their surface.)

On the first issue: there are a couple of ways you can look at this. You could say, as I do, that this is wrong and we ought to spend more money on our children. Or you could say, as Maher seems to, that we should spend much less on our older citizens. I don't go along with that. We can afford just about anything we want. Our entitlement programs are miserly by European standards. When I see senior citizens on the bus, I think they can use more help, not less; they don't seem to be getting over on the system.

As bad as all this is, it is the second issue where I get really mad. Maher completely ignores the fact that there are two numbers: inputs and outputs. If we want to make entitlements cost neutral, we could increase payments. We could, for example, raise the Social Security tax cap. But that isn't even brought up. In fact, no mention of increased revenue is mentioned at all by anyone on the panel.

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Polishing a turd - cont.

By Mustang Bobby

The GOP is still at it.

Eric Cantor is set to give a speech tomorrow in which he is supposed to take new rhetorical steps designed to “soften” the GOP’s image. However, Ron Fournier reports that there will be no softening of GOP ideology, only a softening of tone:

The speech will attempt to cast the House GOP’s traditionally conservative policy agenda in terms that appeal to parents, explaining why school vouchers, tax breaks, repealing the health care law, and other Republican standards would “make life work better.” [...]

Cantor plans to ask Congress to require universities to warn students when their academic majors lack employment opportunities; to repeal the tax on medical devices, a provision of Obama’s health care overhaul; and to shift spending from political sciences to “hard” sciences such as cancer research.

One thing he won’t do is moderate Republican policies. Cantor is talking about a change in tone, not ideology, which begs the question: With a demographic tide threatening to crush the modern GOP, is it enough to just tweak talking points?

Short answer: No.

As Greg Sargent points out, there are three prongs to the GOP plan for revival: Change the tone, not the message; rig the system so that they win elections with fewer votes; and hope for a Messiah to save them from the wasteland they’re in now.

None of those plans change the constant: the majority of Americans don’t like what the party is selling, and they’re getting tired of being played for suckers.

(Cross-posted at Bark Bark Woof Woof.)

Hillary Watch 2016: The Website

By Richard K. Barry

I do realize it will get mighty tiresome as we read every twitch to determine what Hillary Clinton will or won't do in 2016. In a bit of news that probably means absolutely nothing, she has a new website at HillaryClintonOffice.com. It has a picture of the former secretary of state and a form for contacting her. 

Much as I think she will run, one thing I do know for sure is that she ain't goin' away. 

Mah-Muled

By Carl

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited what should be nominally friendly territory: Cairo, Egypt.

Not so much, it turns out:

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran, endured the humiliation of having a shoe thrown at him today as his visit to Egypt turned sour.

The trip, the first by an Iranian leader since the overthrow of the Shah 34 years ago, had been intended as a triumphant occasion that healed the rift created when Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel.

But as Mr Ahmadinejad left the al-Hussein mosque in Islamic Cairo a bearded man burst through the crowd and twice tried to throw shoes at him.

Also, while the cat's away, the mice will play:

A former Iranian prosecutor and associate of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was freed without explanation after two days of detention, state-run media reported.

Saeed Mortazavi was arrested by judicial officials on Feb. 4 after a dispute between Ahmadinejad and long-term rival Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani exploded in public, with the two trading accusations of wrongdoing and improper conduct in the presence of lawmakers.

During the parliamentary session, Ahmadinejad showed a video apparently featuring Mortazavi and which the president maintained, implicated Fazel Larijani, the speaker’s brother, in fraudulent business dealings.

Mortazavi had been held on unspecified charges and no details were given on why he was released from Evin prison at dawn today, according to Fars and Mehr news agencies reports.

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A.M. Headlines

(MSNBC): "The GOP's image problem: Eric Cantor to the rescue?"

(Los Angeles Times): "House Republicans debate legal status for immigrants"

(USA Today): "Obama-GOP still battling over taxes"

(Politico): "John Boehner throws cold water on Obama sequester plan"

(CNN): "Hagel approval all but certain"

(Xinhua): "Tsunami strikes Solomon Islands"

P.M. Headlines

(Kansas City Star): "Obama urges short-term budget fix, but GOP balks at more revenue"

(The Guardian): "John Brennan faces grilling over drone leak as senators demand answers"

(Washington Post): "House Republicans signal openness to some gun measures"

(CBC): "British lawmakers vote in favour of same-sex marriage bill"

(Public Policy Polling): "Dems start out ahead in Iowa Senate election"

Guns and Christianity, reductio ad absurdum

By Michael J.W. Stickings

CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) tweeted at 3:17 PM on Tue, Feb 05, 2013:

Arkansas Legislature approves bill to allow concealed guns in churches. (link)

(https://twitter.com/cnnbrk/status/298888180273381377)

And it all comes together...

The final merger of a bloodthirsty gun culture and an enslaving religion based on a grotesque blood sacrifice.

Welcome again to the death throes of the American Empire -- from the NRA-GOP alliance to Columbine to Aurora to Sandy Hook to the streets of any major city to the redneck countryside to the churches of Arkansas.

Land of the "free," home of the "brave."
And truly insane.

Guns and children and the gun crazies with their heads up their asses

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Read this very powerful piece at Slate:

What does the body of a 6-year-old girl look like after a Bushmaster AR-15 assault rifle's high-velocity bullets rip through her? The average 6-year-old girl weighs about 44 pounds and stands around 3 feet 9 inches tall. The size of her organs and the diameters of her arteries and veins, bowel, and bones are much smaller than an adult's. But a 6-year-old girl is not a miniature adult; her organs are more vulnerable and less protected by bones. So when a high-velocity projectile like a .223-caliber bullet, traveling at approximately 2,000 miles per hour, from an assault weapon like a Bushmaster AR-15, enters her body, all hell breaks loose. If that bullet pierces her chest wall into her heart, it will cause her heart to explode, and if it passes within 3 inches of her aorta, the shockwaves will tear it open. If it slices into her arm, it will shatter her humerus into so many fragments that it will no longer be recognizable as a bone. If it spirals into her brain, the cavity and damage the bullet causes will be so extensive that her head will break apart.

Guns kill kids. In 2010, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2,694 children and teens in the United States died because of a firearm. Another 15,578 children and teens were injured. Every 30 minutes, a child is killed or injured by a gun. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the largest organization of pediatricians, recommends that conversations about guns and gun safety start during a prenatal visit and be repeated every year as part of anticipatory guidance. Those conversations start with a question: "Do you own a gun?"

And yet the NRA, its Republican allies (like Florida's Rick Scott), and the various other gun nuts who believe in a deeply flawed interpretation of the Second Amendment and who have succumbed either to paranoia or to fetishism, and often to both, are trying to block even this, seeking to prevent doctors from engaging in any sort of discussion about guns with their patients -- this in a gun-crazy culture with a pandemic of gun violence. 

As I wrote last night, it's time for Americans, governing themselves, to put an end to this madness.

Archaeologists find Richard III: deformed, unfinished, sent before his time

By Michael J.W. Stickings

You'll know him from Shakespeare, if not so much from history, given that Shakespeare was playing loose with the facts, but oh, so quotable he was:

But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks, 
Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass; 
I, that am rudely stamp'd, and want love's majesty 
To strut before a wanton ambling nymph; 
I, that am curtail'd of this fair proportion, 
Cheated of feature by dissembling nature, 
Deformed, unfinish'd, sent before my time 
Into this breathing world, scarce half made up, 
And that so lamely and unfashionable 
That dogs bark at me as I halt by them; 
Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace, 
Have no delight to pass away the time, 
Unless to spy my shadow in the sun 
And descant on mine own deformity: 
And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover, 
To entertain these fair well-spoken days, 
I am determined to prove a villain 
And hate the idle pleasures of these days. 

This following the famous "winter of our discontent" line.

Well, much mystery has surrounded the end of Richard III, but it appears that at long last he has been found:

A skeleton found beneath a Leicester car park has been confirmed as that of English king Richard III.

Experts from the University of Leicester said DNA from the bones matched that of descendants of the monarch's family.

Lead archaeologist Richard Buckley, from the University of Leicester, told a press conference to applause: "Beyond reasonable doubt it's Richard."

Richard, killed in battle in 1485, will be reinterred in Leicester Cathedral.

Yes, poor Richard, such an ignoble end, killed in battle and ending up under a car park.

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How desperate are Massachusetts Republicans?

By Michael J.W. Stickings

One word: Tagg.

Okay, a few more: Tagg "I want to punch President Obama in the face for being mean to my daddy" Romney.

But it won't be Tagg, and it won't be Ann either, and of course Scott Brown wants nothing to do with another Senate run.

And so now what? What will Republicans do to try to win the seat left open by John Kerry's move to the State Department? 

[T]he state GOP's leader tells the [Boston] Herald that they don't even care if their candidate has name recognition. "If you think back, Scott Brown wasn't a name, he was a state senator who worked his way up," she said. "I think what GOP candidates have to offer voters in Massachusetts is a fresh face and a new direction, and I think that's the take-away from our candidates, whether they be a name or not." So if you're at all interested in the job, don't let lack of experience or a set of nearly nude photos from your college days hold you back.

A fresh face? A new direction? Yeah, sure, whatever. The only way the Dems lose this seat is if they pick a terrible candidate, self-destruct, and hand it to the GOP.

And they never -- cough-cough, Martha Coakley, cough-cough -- do that, right? 

After egotistical grandstanding rooted in vindictive bitterness, McCain clears the way for Hagel

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Politico:

Sen. John McCain appears to have cleared the way Monday for Chuck Hagel to be the next secretary of defense.

The Arizona Republican, who has been a prominent voice in the debate over Hagel, said Monday he would oppose any attempt to filibuster the nomination, likely dooming any attempt by Senate conservatives to sustain a protracted procedural fight to delay Hagel's confirmation.

"I do not believe that we should filibuster," McCain told POLITICO. "To vote against is entirely the judgment of each individual senator, but a filibuster I think would be inappropriate."

Asked if he would vote for cloture if a filibuster were mounted, McCain answered, "Yes."

Not to say that Hagel, regarding whose nomination I continue to be mixed, gave a great performance, but he deserves the job, or, at least, the president deserves to have his pick confirmed.

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