Saturday, June 08, 2013

Conservative goals and the NSA

By Frank Moraes

Yesterday, I happened to hear David Brooks on NPR. He was asked about the huge NSA surveillance program. He said, "I'm somewhat bothered by the secrecy, but I don't feel it's intrusive. Basically, they're running huge amounts of megadata through an algorithm. That feels less intrusive to me than the average TSA search at the airport. And so I don't think it's particularly intrusive. It is supervised by the court. It has some congressional supervision." Okay, it's Brooks. What's the big deal?

Well, that morning, the Wall Street Journal editorial page wrote, "We bow to no one in our desire to limit government power, but data-mining is less intrusive on individuals than routine airport security." I think it is interesting that Brooks is brought on NPR as a "reasonable" Republican and he just spouts the WSJ editors. Brooks is not supposed to be just some random politician; he's supposed to be an independent thinker. But let's leave that aside.


Jonathan Chait wrote a good article yesterday, "Conservative Freedom Lovers: You're Doing It Wrong." In which he showed the cognitive dissonance in the conservative movement regarding issues of freedom. For example, noted that Jack Welch is a-okay with the NSA spying, even as he claimed that Obama was secretly manipulating the Jobs Report for his own nefarious purposes.


Or consider Roger Vinson, who was one of the lower court judges who struck down Obamacare. He claimed that if the government could force people to get health insurance, it could force them to do anything. So he's a big believer in freedom. Or at least certain kinds of freedom. As Chait noted, "Judge Vinson has reentered the news for having approved the National Security Agency's program of collecting all of the phone records in America."


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Friday, June 07, 2013

Vimeo of the Day: Mexican Cuisine

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Here's a remarkable, award-winning short film about "the taste of immigration in California," showing just what Mexican immigrants mean to the diverse food culture of that state (and, of course, of America generally):

Mexican Cuisine from Fran Guijarro on Vimeo.

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A.M. Headlines


(Washington Post): "Documents: US mining data from 9 leading Internet firms: companies deny knowledge"

(New York Times): "US confirms that it gathers online data overseas"

(The Hill): "House votes to defund Obama's 'administrative amnesty' for immigrants"

(Roll Call): "National Democrats buy airtime in Massachusetts special election"

(The Nation): "Revealed: Letters from Republicans seeking ObamaCare Money

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Thursday, June 06, 2013

P.M. Headlines


(The Guardian): "NSA phone records collection: anger swells after data revelations"

(New York Times): "President Obama's dragnet"

(The Week): "Meet Jeff Chiesa, the new senator from New Jersey"

(Bloomberg): "Gay marriage gains ground in poll as court readies ruling"

(The Daily Beast): "Susan Rice and John Kerry will battle for Obama's ear"

(Huffington Post): "John Dingell to become longest serving member in Congressional history"

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Presidential Campaign Songs: Andrew Jackson - "The Hunters of Kentucky"

By Richard K. Barry

President Andrew Jackson used the song in both his 1824 and 1828 campaigns. This version is sung by Tom Roush. It is also known as "The Battle of New Orleans" and "Half Horse or Half Alligator." It was written in 1821 to commemorate Jackson's victory over the redcoats at the Battle of New Orleans. I guess Jackson liked it enough to use in his campaigns for the White House, or someone did. 

It was written by Samuel Woodworth. The reference to this song says that it was sung the "way Irish singers sing old stories in narrative form," and performed to the tune of "Alley Croker" and "The Unfortunate Miss Bailey." I don't know if that means it was sung without accompaniment, as older Irish music can be. 

Oddly enough, Jackson's biggest political rival, Henry Clay, was actually from Kentucky though Jackson was from Tennessee. The fact is that so many men under Jackson's command in New Orleans were from Kentucky, hence the song. 

This version below, though very nice, seems a bit modern. 



(Cross-posted at Phantom Public.)

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In your face

By Mustang Bobby

Peter Beinart:

By appointing Susan Rice as his new national-security adviser and Samantha Power to represent the U.S. at the United Nations, Barack Obama is practically shouting a message to the Washington GOP: “I’m no longer afraid of you.”

It’s about damn time.

We saw a little flash of this backatcha from the president when Susan Rice was being roastedlast winter when she was being mentioned as the next Secretary of State, but that collapsed and we got John Kerry. Not that there’s anything wrong with Mr. Kerry, and I doubt that having a knock-down/drag-out over Ms. Rice in the Senate confirmation would have left the State Department hanging out there while John McCain and his wormtongue Lindsey Graham romped all over her on TV. But by making her the National Security Adviser — which does not require Senate confirmation and carries as much heft in actually running the country’s foreign policy as being Secretary of State — Mr. Obama is flipping off the Republicans and he doesn’t give a shit if they carry on about the “culture of intimidation” and how uppity arrogant he is.

Now let’s see if he sticks to sticking it to them.


(Cross-posted at Bark Bark Woof Woof.)

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The Missouri 8th stays Republican

By Richard K. Barry

Okay, no one is surprised by this, but Missouri state Rep. Jason Smith, R-Salem, won a special election earlier in the week over fellow state Rep. Steve Hodges, D-East Prairie, to replace U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson in the Missouri 8th. Emerson left in January after easily winning reelecting in November to become the CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperation Association, a Washington, D.C. trade group.

The Democrat in this race was a pretty right-wing guy, as you would expect in this part of the country. Hodges is pro-life and pro-gun rights, though local press reports say he combines that "with more traditional Democratic positions in favour of protecting social security, Medicare and the safety net."

Smith, soon to be Rep. Smith, ran a campaign on national issues like repealing ObamaCare.

Whatever the candidates ran on, this House seat has been Republican for 32 years and wasn't going to change hands this time.

Former Rep. Emerson looks interesting, though. As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted:
Jo Ann Emerson was viewed as a moderate in Congress. Though she enjoyed permanent popularity at the polls, it was clear that her district had shifted her right in recent years. She bucked her party on issues like her support of embryonic stem cell research and her vote to withdraw troops from Iraq. During the district's GOP vetting process for a replacement nominee last spring, one candidate after another vowed to move the district's seat further right.

Oh, well, another robot for Boehner.

(Cross-posted at Phantom Public.)

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Alberto Alesina wasn't right

By Frank Moraes

I guess Wonk Blog is trying to brandish it conservative credentials. This morning, Jim Tankersley wrong one the lamest economic articles I've read in weeks, The Era of 'Uncertainty' May Be Over. Will a Growth Boom Begin? It seems designed to give the austerity folks cover. It argues that all the signs indicate that "confidence" is increasing, and if the economy improves it must be that the conservatives were right all along! Most likely, as usual, the causation works the other way around: the improving economy has increased confidence. But that hardly matters, there are so many things wrong with what is effectively an austerity apologia.

The basis of the article is the daily news-based Economic Policy Uncertainty. It looks at what people are writing in newspapers and determines if times are more or less uncertain. Do people really believe that "uncertainty" is keeping the economy down? "It's a persistent [thought] among Republican lawmakers and business leaders of all stripes." While I know this is an ideological belief among Republicans, this just isn't true of business leaders. Survey after survey has found that a small percentage of businessmen think regulatory uncertainty is holding their businesses back. Consumer demand is a much bigger deal. And understandably so: no one is ever certain what the future will bring; business owners are used to this; the silly idea that businesses need "certainty" is just made up by conservative politicians. (Note: "economic certainty" is just another phrase for "demand.") By "business leaders" Tankersley means, "People who write for conservative business magazines." In other words: who cares?


Similarly, the article uses the Stanford-University of Chicago monthly economic policy index to show that "uncertainty" is down to the—Wait for it!—2011 level right before the Republicans caused the Debt Ceiling crisis. The stark downward fall in "uncertainty seems to be nothing more than a seasonal effect: it goes down at the beginning of every year. But it isn't even clear what the index means. It was markedly lower at the end of 2009. What exactly has happened to make things less uncertain now? I would argue that things aremore uncertain now than then: the Republicans are continuing to push another Debt Ceiling showdown. But in 2010, no one thought a major American political party was

crazy to do that. Now we know better.


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Behind the Ad: Conservative super-PAC attacks Sen. Mark Pryor on health care

By Richard K. Barry

Who: Senate Conservative Action


Where: Arkansas


What's going on: First Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) gets hit on gun control. Now he gets it on ObamaCare from the right.  In this ad, a group calling itself Senate Conservative Action slams Pryor for being the deciding vote on major health care legislation. The piece tees up a small businessman to say that Americans can either have health care or they can have jobs,  but they can't have both. 


The Hill:

The organization often backs conservatives in GOP Senate primaries, but it and the Club for Growth have been spending much of their early money ripping Pryor. That money seems designed to entice Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) to jump in the race, which Cotton is expected to do

Pryor is mighty vulnerable in 2014 and everybody knows it. From the left it's criticism for not supporting background checks. From the right it's ObamaCare. Funny things is that both of these attacks will hurt him and help him, we just don't know how things will balance out come election day.




(Cross-posted at Phantom Public.)

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A.M. Headlines


(CBS News): "Report: Feds getting phone records of all Verizon customers"

(NBC Politics): "Holder says he has no intention of stepping down"

(San Francisco Chronicle): "Markey, Gomez clash in first US Senate debate"

(Voice of America): "S. Korea accepts North's offer to hold talks"

(Haaretz): "Kerry to U.S. Jews: Next few days will determine Middle East fate for decades"

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Wednesday, June 05, 2013

P.M. Headlines


(USA Today): "Obama appoints Rice as national security adviser"

(The Jersey Journal): "Lautenberg's casket placed on Amtrak train in Secaucus"

(National Journal): "Republicans fuming over Chris Christie's decision"

(ABC News): "House talks on immigration reform near collapse"

(Washington Examiner): "Marco Rubio: I will vote against my own immigration  bill unless changes are made"

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Behind the Ad: The DNC and E.W. Jackson

By Richard K. Barry

Who: The Democratic National Committee

Where: Web ad


What's going on: It has been well-reported that Republicans have picked themselves a crazy one to run as lieutenant governor in Virginia. It's E.W. Jackson and he is going to be a real problem for Ken Cuccinelli, the man at the top of the ticket. 


We all know that it is frequently the case that parties have to stretch a bit to attack their opponents. With Jackson, no stretching is required.


In Virginia, candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run separately, so Cuccinelli didn't pick Jackson. But he's going to have to wear it nonetheless. 




(Cross-posted at Phantom Public.)

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The old ball game

By Carl

This is pretty sad, if you’re a baseball fan:
Major League Baseball will seek to suspend about 20 players connected to the Miami-area clinic at the heart of an ongoing performance-enhancing drug scandal, including Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun, possibly within the next few weeks, "Outside the Lines" has learned. If the suspensions are upheld, the performance-enhancing drug scandal would be the largest in American sports history.

Tony Bosch, founder of the now-shuttered Biogenesis of America, reached an agreement this week to cooperate with MLB's investigation, two sources told "Outside the Lines," giving MLB the ammunition officials believe they need to suspend the players.

One source familiar with the case said the commissioner's office might seek 100-game suspensions for Rodriguez, Braun and other players, the penalty for a second doping offense. The argument, the source said, is the players' connection to Bosch constitutes one offense, and previous statements to MLB officials denying any such connection or the use of PEDs constitute another.

Twenty players, including at least two league MVPs, one a probable Hall of Famer (sans performance enhancements).

I understand the need to cheat, particularly when the stakes are really high, and big money is a stake you can’t get much higher than. I can even understand that many of the cheaters involved started doping long before the issue was taken seriously at the major league level.

However, once it became clear that there was a new attitude in town, you have to ask yourself what kind of idiot would expose himself that way.

I suppose it was a matter of believing you could never be caught. Too, the clinic billed itself as an anti-aging clinic, a new code I suppose for less steroids, more biologic enhancements. You can rationalize cheating a million different ways.

But then there’s some ancillary issues that need to be addressed, and primarily, those involve the teams of these players: they get most of the benefit from these now-used up husks of humanity, but bear none of the responsibility or the consequences. It seems unfair for, say, Alex Rodriguez to be condemned and suspended – and likely stripped of any personal accomplishments in the time frame covered – but the New York Yankees get to keep their pennants and championships.

You want steroids out of sports? Hurt the teams. Hurt the sponsors of those teams. Athletes are interchangeable. They are cogs in a machine, albeit really well-paid and shiny cogs. They are, however, no different than the front office secretaries or the groundskeepers, and if any of them had been found to be breaking the law, they’d be summarily dismissed in order to minimize damage to the team.

Yes, players are under contract and the union will work hard to protect them, but a team that stands around and does nothing while it has to have some knowledge of what was going on ought to pay a price now.

Managers, both general and field, and owners may claim ignorance but as officers of an organization, that argument holds little water. After all, even the head of the IRS had to throw himself under the bus when that scandal broke, even if he had no personal knowledge of events beforehand. Punish the team, end the problem.

(Cross-posted to Simply Left Behind)

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Should ITC stop protecting patents?

By Frank Moraes

According to Wonk Blog, Bill Watson over at the Cato Institute is unhappy that the International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled that a number of Apple products infringed on Samsung patents. He rightly notes that there is duplication in the patent law system. But I have a problem with this kind of approach to our broken intellectual property (IP) system. And especially with regard to Apple—one of the most egregious patent trolling companies.

I don't know much about Watson, but I do know Cato. And they are not really for IP law reform. All Watson is arguing for is a limit to "forum shopping" where companies look around for the best place to sue. It's not even clear to me that such a minor reform would improve things. Depending upon how the law was changed, it might just make a system that is heavily weighted toward big companies even more so.
The bigger issue is that the whole IP system is broken. But in its big policy document (pdf), Cato doesn't even suggest any fundamental reforms. That's quite something for a group known for its extreme recommendations. But it is entirely typical of the fake free market philosophy of the libertarian group. It calls for making these laws more friendly to "competition" but never in a way that would upset the flow of corporate profits.

One interesting thing about the article that features Cato's Mr. Watson is that it is written by Timothy B. Lee. Who used to be at... Cato. If Wonk Blog wants to provide space to discuss this issue, it would be better off allowing Brad Plumer, who understand the the patent system fairly well. Or even better Dean Baker. (Admittedly, given that Baker attacks the Washington Post almost every day as "Fox on 15th Street," he would not be politically viable choice.) What's with the Cato boys getting the valuable space?

The article reads more like advocacy than reporting. No alternative points of view are even mentioned. And in the end, it seems that the point of the article is to keep cheap products flowing into the United States from overseas. It likely is the case that we ought to get the ITC out of the patent law business. But I'd like to see an opposing view. Or at least the view of some people who aren't wedded to the Cato pseudo-free market ideology.

(Cross-posted at Frankly Curious.)

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Dead horse

By Mustang Bobby

Republicans have introduced legislation to defund ACORN.

No, that is not a headline from 2010. That’s from yesterday.

Struggling with the bad publicity and loss of federal funds, ACORN dissolved in early 2010. Just to be sure, however, Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) included this language in a government funding bill introduced on May 28 of this year: “None of the funds made available in this Act may be distributed to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) or its subsidiaries or successors.”

Section 545 of a bill put forward the next day by Rep. John Carter (R-Texas) delves still deeper into faux certainty, extending the funding ban to “any prior appropriations Act.”

In fact, ACORN has no subsidiaries, because it has not existed for three years. Neither bill defines “successors,” but the broad language of the original 2009 funding ban left little room for leeway, extending to “Any State chapter of ACORN registered with the Secretary of State’s office in that State,” “any organization that shares directors, employees, or independent contractors with ACORN,” and any organization that “employs” someone “indicted” for violations that ACORN was initially charged with.

“Is it too late to defund Saddam Hussein?” mocked Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.).

Why are we paying these people?


(Cross-posted at Bark Bark Woof Woof.)

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A.M. Headlines


(Politico): "Christie slammed over special election"

(CBS News): "Michelle Obama confronts heckler at fundraiser"

(Roll Call): "Republican wins Missouri special election"

(Washington Post): "AP source: Tom Donilon resigns as Obama national security adviser, Susan Rice to take over"

(The Raw Story): "Chambliss blames military rapes on ‘the hormone level created by nature’"

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Tuesday, June 04, 2013

P.M. Headlines


(National Journal): "Republicans fuming over Chris Christie Senate decision"

(New York Times): "Obama picks 3 for top appeals court, setting up battle"

(The Hill): "Military brass oppose removing sexual assault cases from chain of command"

(Politico): "Harry Reid says immigration bill on floor next week"

(Roll Call): "Poll: Markey's lead increases in special election"

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Behind the Ad: Mitch McConnell should stop 'helping" Gabriel Gomez

By Richard K. Barry

Who: The Ed Markey Senate campaign

Where: Massachusetts


What's going on: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has been running around saying that Mass. Senate candidate Gabriel Gomez may be the key to the GOP taking back the Senate.


A sweeter sound was never heard by the Markey campaign as they put together an ad to remind voters in the typically blue state of Massachusetts that McConnell is the kind of Republican they particularly dislike and, much as Gomez tries to cleave to the centre, with friends like Mitch, no one, I'll bet, will believe him.


 

(Cross-posted at Phantom Public.)

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Bernanke's hypocrisy for the kids

By Frank Moraes

Ben Bernanke went to Princeton to talk to the graduates. And he said some interesting things. He took on the notion of meritocracy. I thought he hedged way too much. For example, he said, "Putting aside the reality that no system, including our own, is really entirely meritocratic." Did he really have to throw in "really entirely"? The gazelles on the savannas of Africa are a much better meritocracy than our country. The rich get to send their kids to better schools. The rich get to feed their children better. The rich get to provide better healthcare to their kids. The rich provide better social networks to their kids. Bernanke would have been more accurate to say, "We don't even come close to being a meritocracy."

From there he went on to the obvious point that seems to terrify most Americans: all people are not created equal. Some are smarter than others, prettier than others, stronger than others. I still don't understand how a society can justify allowing people to live in abject poverty for the sin of being born slow witted or just in the wrong place. I do understand providing incentives for the more capable among us, but the level of inequality we except and even applaud is totally unacceptable. Conservatives especially, but not exclusively, really do think that brilliance (for example) is a sign of moral superiority. Bernanke said that how smart we are is just a matter of luck. That is an obvious point, but somehow shocking to most people.

One thing that Bernanke does not discuss are luck in traits that is just as obviously but even more repellent to most people. We normally esteem people like Bernanke not just for their brilliance but for all of their hard work. The problem is that the hard work (if it really was) is as built into Bernanke as his brilliance. To take another example: imagine you are trying to lose weight. If you stay on your diet, it doesn't mean that you are morally superior to your friend who did not. The best you could say is that your will was greater than your temptation and his was not. You absolutely cannot say that your will was greater than his. We were all born with different crosses to bear.

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A new hope

By Carl

There’s a really interesting study that’s been released by the College Republican (Inc.) National Committee that bears a little discussion:

The College Republican National Committee released a report on Monday outlining the major challenges facing the GOP as it seeks to rebrand and redefine itself in the aftermath of the 2012 election. The survey criticizes the party’s singular focus on “big government” and “tax cuts” and calls on Republicans to become more tolerant and open on issues like same-sex marriage and women’s reproductive health.

Keep in mind, this report was released as a memo to the Republican, Inc. partyleadership to outline recommendations as to how the GOP, Corp. can fix not only its image but its ideology.

You can view the full report here (pdf). Skip ahead to page 84 and beyond for some eye-popping stuff. Let me highlight a few of the bulletpoints for you:


1) Focus on the economic issues that affect young people today: education, the cost of health care, unemployment.

3) Don’t concede “caring” and “open-minded” to the left.

4) Fix the debt and cut spending, but recognize that messages about “big government” are the least effective way to win this battle of ideas with young voters.

Those are practically progressive ideas. Those are warning shots to the future. But there’s more: young Republicans want the party to stop concerning itself with the issues of the far right religious right, particularly on unwinnable issues like marriage equality and the nuts (literally) and bolts of the anti-abortion crusaders. These issues, the College Republicans feel, are nearly irrelevant and only serve to reinforce the existing image of the party as scary and terrorizing. Likewise, the party positions on Latino voters and on rape and other women’s issues is driving people into the arms of the Democrats.

Which, as a lifelong Democrat, should make me feel good, but it really doesn’t. Let me explain why.

Should the Republican, Inc. party die, and it will, at this rate, voters will be left with two choices: Democrats and Teabaggers.

The dynamic that arises at that point is pretty ugly: the nation as a whole will be dragged rightward, as the Democrats no longer even have to give a passing thought to the progressive flank, while the Teabaggers engage in their own brand of terrorism and stultification of the national dialogue. Even if progressives could somehow grasp the Democratic leadership, we’d never be able to drive a progressive agenda, even with the surge in membership of frustrated and scared Republicans who seek refuge in our party from the putsch.

We need to work now to find a path to liberal enlightenment that will move the country leftward and more in line with the rest of the civilized world, and not be some weird hybrid mutation of Third World democracy and First World aristocracy.

(Cross-posted to Simply Left Behind)

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The kids are not all right

By Mustang Bobby

A new report from the College Republicans says that the GOP has totally trashed their chances with younger voters.

Titled the “Grand Old Party for a Brand New Generation,” the report is sharply critical of the GOP on several fronts. The study slams some Republicans’ almost singular focus on downsizing Big Government and cutting taxes; candidates’ use of offensive, polarizing rhetoric; and the party’s belly-flop efforts at messaging and outreach, even as the report presents a way forward and, at times, strikes an optimistic tone.
In the report, the young Republican activists acknowledge their party has suffered significant damage in recent years. A sampling of the critique on:

Gay marriage: “On the ‘open-minded’ issue … [w]e will face serious difficulty so long as the issue of gay marriage remains on the table.”

Hispanics: “Latino voters … tend to think the GOP couldn’t care less about them.”

Perception of the party’s economic stance: “We’ve become the party that will pat you on your back when you make it, but won’t offer you a hand to help you get there.”

Big reason for the image problem: The “outrageous statements made by errant Republican voices.”

Words that up-for-grabs voters associate with the GOP: “The responses were brutal: closed-minded, racist, rigid, old-fashioned.”

“[The] Republican Party has won the youth vote before and can absolutely win it again,” the report says, pointing to presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush who were competitive with that demographic. “But this will not occur without significant work to repair the damage done to the Republican brand among this age group over the last decade.”

Shorter version: “You know how you’ve always been? Stop being like that. Then everything will be really groovy.”


(Cross-posted by Bark Bark Woof Woof.)

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Michael Steele may run for governor of Maryland

By Richard K. Barry

I do understand that former RNC Chairman Michael Steele has tried to rehabilitate his image by appearing somewhat reasonable on the occasional MSNBC broadcast. Rachel Maddow talks to him like he's an individual of some integrity and we're suppose to buy that.

Now we hear that he is thinking about running for governor in his home state of Maryland.


The Hill:

"We're looking at it," Steele told MSNBC’s Chuck Todd on Monday. "You're going to take a look at the numbers. Maryland's a tough state, there are a lot of challenges there."

Martin O'Malley, the current governor, is having his own look at the presidency in 2016, but has to move on in 2014 due to term limits.
Steele had a rocky term as RNC chairman, with the organization frequently producing negative headlines about lavish spending. He lost his chairmanship to Reince Priebus in 2011, despite overseeing massive Republican gains in the 2010 election cycle.

My favourite Michael Steele moment has to be his claim that Afghanistan was a "war of Obama's choosing." Yes, there's a man I want to see leading a state government. 



(Cross-posted at Phantom Public.)

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A.M. Headlines


(Huffington Post): "Lindsey Graham: 'No evidence' White House directed IRS to target conservatives"

(Nate Silver): "How Christie can maximize the GOP's chances in New Jersey"

(Concord Patch): "Gomez, Markey to square off in first debate"

(New York Times): "U.N. panel reports increasing brutality by both sides in Syria conflict"

(Bloomberg): "Bulger trial may reveal a shameful period in FBI history"

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Monday, June 03, 2013

P.M. Headlines


(Politico): "Christie has broad sway over Frank Lautenberg succession"

(The Star-Ledger): "Sen. Frank Lautenberg's papers headed to Rutgers University for archiving"

(Washington Post): "Supreme Court upholds Maryland law, says police may take DNA samples from arrestees"

(CNN): "IRS controversy turns personal, nasty"

(New York Times): "Judge says Ft. Hood shooting suspect may act as his own lawyer in court"

(USA Today): "Study: More than a third of new marriages start online"

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War on terror with no name

By Frank Moraes

Terry Adams wrote a really good overview of the Glenn Greenwald-Andrew Sullivan debate about the definition of terrorism, Aren't Religion and Politics Both to Blame for War on Terror? Although he tries to be scrupulously fair, I'm afraid he comes down pretty far on the Greenwald side.

This reminds me very much of the left-right economic debate in this country. On the left, we say that economic stimulus is not often that effective in helping the economy. Basically, it is only useful when the economy is in a liquidity trap and that's only happened twice in the last century: first during the Great Depression and second now. This is not a radical theory. But on the right, the argument is rigid and extreme: stimulus never works. In this case, you have one side (the left's) that is simply the consensus view that pretty much everyone who isn't a ideologically dogmatic to the conservative cause agrees with. People who try to split the difference are just showing their ignorance.

In this terrorism debate we get much the same thing. On the left, we say that American foreign policy is a large part of cause of terrorism. When we bomb innocent civilians (accidental though it may be), we create enemies and make the people far more receptive to radical ideologies like martyrdom and jihad. This isn't to excuse the behavior or to say that this is the sole cause. Just as with the economic stimulus example, this is a nuanced position. On the right, we get Andrew Sullivan screaming that any notion of causation in terrorism is a form of apologia. And what's more that there is something special about Islam that makes it a violent religion.

I think what lies beneath this fight is really the ideology of what we wish to do. Greenwald and I would like to see the United States stop propping up dictators and trying to bomb our way to victory in the War on Terror With No Name. On the right they would like to see American hegemony throughout the Middle East. I'm sure that we on the left could be somewhat clearer about our aims. But on the right, I'm not even sure they are honest with themselves. Instead of admitting to their imperialistic goals, they claim that terrorism represents some kind of existential threat to the country. But as bad as 9/11 was, it was not an existential threat. And it is by far the worst we've seen.

The American people should be offered a clear and honest alternative. Do we want to be an imperialistic meddler all over the world? This has the upside that our corporations have great access to cheap resources and labor. And the people get the benefit of slightly cheaper prices. But the down side is that the War on Terror With No Name goes on forever while the threat only increases. Or do we want to be more modest in our conception of our national interests? This has the upside that it will cause fewer American and foreign deaths. But the downside is that corporate profits will be slightly lower and manufactured goods will be slightly more expensive.

I think that Americans are at heart a "live and let live" kind of people. I think that they would be horrified to get a good look at what our government does on our behalf. But maybe I'm wrong. The only way we can know is if the media start telling the truth. And the first step in that endeavor is to get rid of narrative that terrorism is an existential threat to the country and that the War on Terror With No Name is not about keeping America safe.


(Cross-posted at Frankly Curious.)

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A.M. Headlines


(CBS News): "Drumbeat grows: Should Eric Holder resign"

(NPR): "Darrell Issa calls White House Secretary a 'paid liar'"

(Politico): "David Plouffe rips Darrell Issa 'loose ethically'"

(Los Angeles Times): "'Tea Party' tempest brewing"

(New York Times): "Women in Senate confront Military on sex assault"

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Sunday, June 02, 2013

P.M. Headlines


(Politico): Darell Issa charges Washington involvement in IRS scandal"

(Newsday): "Schumer: Immigration bill will pass Senate; warns House GOP"

(Time): "Mitt Romney Inc.: The White House that never was"

(The Hill): "McCain: Assad now holds 'upper hand'"

(TPM): "What's happening in Turkey"

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Nothing fails like failure

By Richard K. Barry

The Hill is reporting that Mitt Romney would like to lend his name and profile to the 2014 election cycle.

Eric Fehrnstrom, a top adviser to Romney’s presidential bid who has remained close to the former Massachusetts governor, said Romney has already received requests from candidates and campaign committees for support.

“I wouldn’t be surprised to see him out on the campaign trail. He's already received a lot of requests to help candidates and party committees, especially on the fundraising side. Even though Mitt has ruled out another run for elective office, he wants to do what he can to help the party grow and become stronger,” he said.

While it would be very easy to be snarky about how much help Romney could actually provide to Republican candidates, there are probably ways in which he could be useful.

Ryan Williams, a spokesman for Romney during his 2012 bid, outlined three ways in which he expects Romney to help the candidates he endorses: “He can help them tap into his network, help them raise resources and help bring attention to their campaigns.”

Okay on the tapping into networks and resources, but would campaigns really want the kind attention he might bring? I'm just asking. He was, after all, a disaster as a campaigner. Let's just call it what it was.


They could always bring him out to say, "Hey, at least I'm not as bad as this guy."


(Cross-posted at Phantom Public.)

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Church of Hate

By Capt. Fogg

The old cliche has rats leaving a sinking ship.  Southern Baptists aren't that smart and it seems they do intend to go down with their foul and foundering wreck of antique bigotry.

Lifelong member President Jimmy Carter left that self-righteous ship of fools about 4 years ago over Church teachings about the subservient role of women and I'm waiting to see who tumbles into the lifeboats over the latest decision to dump the Boy Scouts because they decided on May 24th that they no longer are going to excommunicate gay Scouts.

It's a "Moral" thing you see and it's not really bigotry because they justify
it with some ancient political propaganda they somehow attribute to some god and so they can, in all good and righteous confidence recommend that Southern Baptist Churches all over the South withdraw support from about 100,000 scouts.  I wonder how many of those will, lacking something decent to do after school or in the Summer, lacking the impetus toward self-improvement will wander toward making bad personal decisions and wind up getting into trouble and into jail where predatory Southern Baptists can recruit them for the faith as though youth homes and penitentiaries  were prep schools and seminaries. 

Of course the SBC was a supporter of Slavery and Segregation because it was a moral thing and a Biblical one - not because they're a bunch of bigots and moral cowards. It's what God wants and who can question the absolute truth of anything someone put into God's mouth for his own purposes?

Yes, yes, they decided to stop beating that dead horse and renounced all that back in 1995 -- decades after the horse died but perhaps that's only because they had gays and women to turn to while blathering about God's word.  One wonders what they will choose as the next life raft when the world of decency, respect and morality, in due course rejects once again that rotting prison hulk of the Southern Baptist Convention.

(Cross-posted from Human Voices)

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A.M. Headlines


(New York Times): "China's economic empire"

(Washington Post): "Hagel chides China for cyberspying"

(Christian Science Monitor): "Massachusetts Senate race called 'toss up': Could GOP surprise again?"

(The Times-Picayune): "9 dead in latest tornadoes to strike Oklahoma, Missouri"

(BBC):  "Turkey assesses damage in Istanbul and Ankara protests"

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