Listening to Now: Hard Working Americans - "Stomp and Holler"

By Richard K. Barry

This past week Todd Snider, a Nashville-based singer, and a handful of his associates released a great debut album full of “reinterpretations” of songs by some of the best in the business. Beside Snider, the band consists of Widespread Panic bassist Dave Schools, Ryan Adams/Chris Robinson guitarist Neal Casal, Great American Taxi keyboardist Chad Staehly and Duane Trucks.

From the band’s website:

Led by Snider’s intrepid vocals and backed by a band of ace players, the Hard Working Americans created fresh song arrangements to tell fresh stories of the everyman and women – the frustrated and downtrodden, the gritty and gorgeous, the blue-collar and no-collar folks that give this country backbone.

About the songs and the approach, American Songwriters says this:

The intent is to apply a fresh spin on this material, opening up the music to the player’s own, somewhat darker, tougher vision. That’s easy to do with Drivin’ ‘n Cryin’s “Straight to Hell” which becomes a teary, meditative lament here, a change from the original’s far more boisterous, sing-along rumble. A stripped down, slide guitar driven take on of Randy Newman’s “Mr. President (Have Pity on the Working Man),” is self-explanatory and remains as relevant today as when Newman released it on his 1974 classic Good Old Boys. The Americans open up, grinding like the Stones circa Exile on Main Street for Hayes Carll’s “Stomp & Holler” and drag Kimbrough and Tommy Womack’s “I Don’t Have a Gun” through the Muscle Shoals muck.

You can get the album for $5.99 on iTunes. Seems like a good deal.

(Cross-posted at Listening to Now.)

On the Hustings

(The Hill): "RNC tightens 2016 primary calendar, rules"

(Staten Island Advance): "Texas woman in Grimm fundraising case has court date postponed, 'in plea negotiations' with U.S. Attorney, court papers say"

(Washington Post): "Democrats see same-sex marriage as issue that will mobilize voters"

(New York Times): "Old Democratic name (Nunn) stakes bid on shifting Georgia"

(First Read): "Huckabee falls into the contraception trap"

Universality won't protect entitlements

By Frank Moraes

There is more out of the American Prospect/Democratic Strategist forum on entitlements. The last time I brought this up, it was to say, Democrats Work to Sell Out Liberalism. But today, I am here to agree in large part (although I still don't think the whole self-negotiation is a good idea). Ed Kilgore wrote, The Case for Greater Means-Testing of Retirement Programs. This, unlike the last article, seems to have gotten my fellow liberals a bit upset.

The big liberal argument against this is that if you make Social Security and Medicare just another welfare program rather than an entitlement, it will be open to cuts just the way welfare programs always are. But I don't think that's a reasonable assumption. Let's start with the fact that it wasn't a Republican who ended "welfare as we know it." What's more, even as entitlements, conservatives still attack the program. In fact, the very word "entitlements" have been successfully redefined by the right wing from "things we all pay into so things we are all entitled to" to "programs for those 'entitled' moochers." I don't see how universality helps to protect these programs.

Read more »

A.M. Headlines

(The Province): "Judge gives Texas hospital until Monday to remove brain-dead pregnant woman's life support"

(Associated Press): "Court gives nuns a compromise on health care issue"

(The Hill): "Simas heads up new office at White House"

(Roll Call): "Obamacare enrollment hits 3 million"

(Politico): "In Target’s wake, businesses plot Obamacare paths

Eric Church: "Springsteen"

By Michael J.W. Stickings

It isn't often that you'll hear country music here at The Reaction, but, you know, it's not all bad, and the Americana-folk-roots stuff that Richard and I like (he more than I) is certainly country-ish, and in any event however much I may detest the genre it's hard for me to resist a song called "Springsteen," you know, being a pretty big Springsteen fan myself.

So here's the video for "Springsteen" by Eric Church, a catchy tune that I find refreshingly romantic and sentimental in its look back at the "glory days" of one's teenaged years, when everything seemed possible and when those first few steps into sexual maturity seemed like the world. You know...

To this day when I hear that song, I see you standing there on that lawn
Discount shades, store bought tan, flip-flops and cut off jeans
Somewhere between that setting sun, I'm On Fire and Born To Run
You looked at me and I was done, we were just getting started

And...

Baby is it spring or is it summer
The guitar sound or the beat of the drummer
You hear sometimes late at night on your radio
Even though you're a million miles away
When you hear Born In The USA
Do you relive those glory days from so long ago

Ah, those were the days. Enjoy!

On the Hustings

(Wall Street Journal): "Bolton 2016? There may be opportunity for hawk in GOP debate"

(The Hill): "Boehner likes Bush for 2016 but not endorsing"

(New York Times): "Huge ‘super PAC’ is moving early to back Clinton"

(Sabato's Crystal Ball): "Senate 2014: A coin-flip"

(National Journal): "How the GOP hopes to make abortion a winning strategy"

A.M. Headlines

(New York Times): "Dinesh D’Souza is charged with using straw donors"

(TPM): "Huckabee: Gov't shouldn't help women who can't control libidos"

(Los Angeles Times): "Boehner on 'Tonight Show': Shutdown was a 'predictable disaster'"

(Washington Post): "McDonnell rejected plea offer to face one felony, spare wife any charges, avoid trial"

(New York Times): "U.S. willing to hold talks if Snowden pleads guilty"

This is CNNN: How CNN is becoming the Cable Not News Network

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Mediaite reports:

According to the Financial Times, CNN let go of more than forty senior journalists at the end of the year, with about half coming from sister network HLN, which Mediaite reported in November. CNN stressed that many of the employees, who worked in the Washington, Atlanta and Los Angeles officers, were close to retirement.

The move comes as new president Jeff Zucker attempts a redefinition of the network to include entertainment shows, documentary features, and more.

CNN stressed that it was not depleting its news gathering efforts.

"We're expanding the definition of news," a network spokesperson told FT's Matthew Garrahan. "We're not abandoning news by any stretch of the imagination... there will be more people working at CNN today than last year."

Look, I'm a huge fan of Anthony Bourdain, and I think Parts Unknown is a fantastic show. (If you haven't seen it, seriously, see it! It's amazing, like his old No Reservations.) And I like the fact that CNN is committing itself to shows like Bourdain's and Morgan Spurlock's Inside Man, another good one, as well as to documentaries and other long-form reporting programs.

But let's not mistake that for news, for hard journalism, which is, and will apparently continue to be, in embarrassingly short supply at CNN, much like intelligence is in short supply on the network's atrocious political shows like Crossfire.

It's promising that CNN is apparently committed to doing the news in expanded ways, but of course what we've come to see from it over the years, including recently under Zucker, is that reporting for the most part means sending dim-witted reporters out to strap themselves to telephone polls during hurricanes and to stake out courthouses to provide blow-by-blows on the minutiae of sensationalized criminal trials.

There are great reasons to tune in to CNN these days, and there's good reason to be encouraged that those reasons will continue, but "the news" isn't one of them, regardless of how many people it has on staff.

Virginia is for lovers, finally!

By Carl 

This item popped up last night:

New Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring says his decision to challenge his state's ban on gay marriage, rather than defend it on behalf of the state, is part of an evolution in his views on the subject.

Herring announced his decision to side with plaintiffs in lawsuits challenging the state's ban on Thursday, a reversal from the position of his predecessor, Republican Ken Cuccinelli.

The Democrat, who was elected in November and took office this month, said though he voted against same sex marriage in the past, his views have changed.

Think of it as evolution in action. While I'm not sure I like the political theater involved – either you're for it or against it, and expediencies should be damned – this is a better outcome than the reverse, pursuing such cases more actively.

See, it does two things, one good and one bad.

Read more »

On the Hustings

(WBUR): "Poll: Coakley strong in early phase of Governor’s race"

(Daily Beast): "Where is Rep Steve Stockman?"

(Real Clear Politics): "Obama's job approval points to 2014 trouble for Democrats"

(Roll Call): "Republican drops bid for Wolf’s seat in Virginia"

(Real Clear Politics): "T.W. Shannon weighs run for Coburn's seat"

Yes, Virginia

By Mustang Bobby

Via NPR:

Virginia’s new attorney general has decided to switch sides in an important case that is challenging the state’s constitutional ban on gay marriage.

In an interview with Morning Edition‘s Steve Inskeep, Democrat Mark Herring said his office will no longer defend the state’s ban on same-sex marriages.

“As attorney general, I cannot and will not defend laws that violate Virginians’ rights,” Herring said. “The commonwealth will be siding with the plaintiffs in this case and with every other Virginia couple whose right to marry is being denied.”

Herring was sworn in just days ago after , an election that also ushered in Democrat Terry McAuliffe to the governor’s mansion. Herring is taking over for Ken Cuccinelli, a Republican who ran and lost a bid for governor on a Tea Party platform and was a staunch defender of the gay-marriage ban.

Herring said as he came into office, he asked his staff to review Bostic v. Rainey and, after careful consideration, he came to the conclusion that the ban violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.

Expect the howls of outrage and the sadz from the usual suspects.

As Mr. Herring notes in the interview, Virginia has been in the battle over marriage equality before. In 1967, the state was on the losing side of Loving v. Virginia, the case that put an end to bans on interracial marriage. The Supreme Court declared that marriage is a fundamental right and that to deny it to couples based on their race was a violation of the Constitution. At the time, the losers were certain that allowing interracial couples to get married would destroy traditional marriage and make a mockery of the institution. Sound familiar?

(Cross-posted at Bark Bark Woof Woof.)

A.M. Headlines

(Washington Post): "Experts: McDonnell’s corruption trial will test line between political favors, official action"

(USA Today): "Poll: United we stand on wealth gap"

(Wall Street Journal): "White House seeks to avoid another lost year"

(The Hill): "Obama: 'Recommit' to abortion rights"

(Washington Post): "Virginia to fight same-sex marriage ban"

P.M. Headlines

(The Hill): "Target announces it will drop part-time employees from its healthcare plan"

(Salon): "The real problem with the American right: Aging, white radicals"

(The Week): "The sleeper issue that could help Democrats in 2014"

(First Read): "GOP's stars of 2009 fall from grace"

(Politico): "A power couple's private turmoil"

Putin on the Fritz

By Carl

Well, we’re literally days away from the opening ceremonies of the Sochi Olympics, and Vladimir Putin is starting to see his chickens come home to roost:

The Olympic teams of Germany, Hungary and Italy said Wednesday that they had received emails threatening attacks at the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, adding to mounting security fears two weeks before competition begins.

The International Olympic Committee told NBC News that it did not consider the threats credible and said that they appeared to be “a random message from a member of the public.”

Still, the threats arrived as Russian security forces were hunting for at least five suspected terrorists who may be plotting attacks against the Olympic torch relay or the games themselves, according to noticed posted in Sochi.

There’s a certain irony to Germany and Hungary receiving threats, as they were part of the Soviet Union’s sphere of influence. Whether these particular threats are credible or not, as the snippet here points out, there are definite terror threats in or arriving in Sochi.

Read more »

Chris Christie's tiny red box

By Frank Moraes

Chris Christie started his second term yesterday. I saw a bit of it. (I try to avoid these things because they are boring.) But one line really stood out to me, "We have to be willing to play outside the red and blue boxes the media and pundits put us in." That's interesting. I didn't know it was the punditsthat were putting politicians in these boxes; I thought it was the choice of each politician. You know: the way I'm a Democrat because I agree more with that party than with the Republicans.

Let's leave aside the fact that it is looking more and more like Christie has run New Jersey like an old political boss from Chicago where money trumps ideology. That's generally true of modern Republicans, anyway. But when it comes to ideology, Christie's "moderation" is phantasmagoric. You can see it in the writings of those political pundits who Christie claims try to put him in a box, but not in reality.

One of the main ways that Christie is "different" from the GOP generally is that he accepts climate change. But as I wrote before, "Christie's affirmation of climate change has been so weak as to be useless." What's more, in a Republican presidential primary, I suspect he would walk that back with something like, "Well, I don't know, I just think we should look into it." And that is pretty much the current state of climate change denial: we need more study! When it comes to workers rights and economic issues generally, he is absolutely ideologically pure. All that yelling at teachers? That's not just because he's an asshole; it is also because he hates unions. And finally, on social issues he is also absolutely ideologically pure. He's anti-choice. He's anti-gay.

Read more »

On the Hustings

(Tampa Bay Times): "PPP Poll: Charlie Crist 43%, Rick Scott 41 %"

(The Hill): "Podesta sharpens WH focus for midterms"

(National Journal): "Hillary Clinton super PAC starting to look more like the Obama machine"

(Daily Press): "Roanoke College poll shows Warner with commanding lead in Senate race"

(Roll Call): "House GOP reserves $725,000 in TV time for Florida special"

Virginia is for looters

By Mustang Bobby

Via the Washington Post:

Former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, were chargedTuesday with illegally accepting gifts, luxury vacations and large loans from a wealthy Richmond area businessman who sought special treatment from state government.


Authorities allege that for nearly two years, the McDonnells repeatedly asked executive Jonnie R. Williams Sr. for loans and gifts of money, clothes, golf fees and equipment, trips, and private plane rides. The gifts and loans totaled at least $165,000.


In exchange, authorities allege, the McDonnells worked in concert to lend the prestige of the governor’s office to Williams’s struggling company, Star Scientific, a former small cigarette manufacturer that now sells dietary supplements.


McDonnell, 59, is the first governor ever to face criminal charges in Virginia, a state that has prided itself on a history of clean and ethical politics, and the charges will probably accelerate a push for the legislature to tighten state ethics laws.


The criminal prosecution marks a stunning crash for a politician who was considered for the Republican vice presidential nomination in 2012 and who, just a year ago, was considered a credible prospective candidate for president.

Mr. McDonnell insists that he is innocent and blames it all on — wait for it — “overreach by the federal government.”

Wow. That’s a rather ironic statement from someone who tried to pass a law that required that women getting an abortion have a transvaginal ultrasound whether they wanted it or not.

If convicted, Mr. McDonnell could go to prison. I will leave it to others to come up with their own conclusions as to what kind of overreach he might face there.

(Cross-posted at Bark Bark Woof Woof.)

A.M. Headlines

(Washington Post): "McDonnell: ‘I repeat again, emphatically, that I did nothing illegal’"

(The New Yorker): "Snowden calls Russian-spy story 'absurd'"

(The Hill): "Case could destroy pillar of union power"

(Real Clear Politics): "Mike Lee to give Tea Party response to SOTU"

(CNN): "Kerry: 'No way' al-Assad can be part of a transitional government in Syria"

On the Hustings

(New York Times): "Parties seize on abortion issues in midterm race"

(Politico): "Jim Messina to aid Charlie Crist"

(MarketWatch): "Hillary Clinton’s no slam dunk in 2016, and more must-reads"

(The Week): "6 must-watch governor races in 2014"

(Politico): "Wendy Davis hits back at questions about bio"

Quote of the Day: Palin celebrates racial equality

By Mustang Bobby

Yes, please Mr. President, stop being black.

(Cross-posted at Bark Bark Woof Woof.)

A.M. Headlines

(Pew Research): "Obama’s NSA speech has little impact on skeptical public"

(Roll Call): "Boehner: Obama ‘must not allow politics to cloud his judgment’ on NSA"

(The Hill): "Sebelius makes MLK-themed ACA pitch"

(New York Times): "Hollande’s romances turn into a political spectacle in France"

(New York Times): "Rights group assails inaction on Syria"

P.M. Headlines

(Chicago Tribune): "Commemorations held across country to honor Martin Luther King Jr."

(MSNBC): "Study: Nearly half of black men arrested by age 23"

(New York Times): "For Christie and MSNBC, a messy divorce plays out in public view"

(Gallup): "In U.S., 67% dissatisfied with income, wealth distribution"

(The Week): "It's official: Republicans are done trying to kill ObamaCare"

On the Hustings

(The Oklahoman): "Rep. James Lankford to seek Senate seat, will announce Monday, sources say"

(The Hill): "Bush veterans eye office as the former president's image rebounds"

(Dallas News): "As Wendy Davis touts life story in race for governor, key facts blurred"

(The Hill): "Right says Republicans must get specific to roll back liberal tide"

(Roll Call): "GOP frets about year-end fundraising thanks to shutdown"

Martin Luther King, Jr.

By Mustang Bobby

Today is the federal holiday set aside to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday.

For me, growing up as a white kid in a middle-class suburb in the Midwest in the 1960′s, Dr. King’s legacy would seem to have a minimum impact; after all, what he was fighting for didn’t affect me directly in any way. But my parents always taught me that anyone oppressed in our society was wrong, and that in some way it did affect me. This became much more apparent as I grew up and saw how the nation treated its black citizens; those grainy images on TV and in the paper of water-hoses turned on the Freedom Marchers in Alabama showed me how much hatred could be turned on people who were simply asking for their due in a country that promised it to them. And when I came out as a gay man, I became much more aware of it when I applied the same standards to society in their treatment of gays and lesbians.

Perhaps the greatest impression that Dr. King had on me was his unswerving dedication to non-violence in his pursuit of civil rights. He withstood taunts, provocations, and rank invasions of his privacy and his life at the hands of racists, hate-mongers, and the federal government, yet he never raised a hand in anger against anyone. He deplored the idea of an eye for an eye, and he knew that responding in kind would only set back the cause. I was also impressed that his spirituality and faith were his armor and his shield, not his weapon, and he never tried to force his religion on anyone else. The supreme irony was that he died at the hands of violence, much like his role model, Mahatma Gandhi.

There’s a question in the minds of a lot of people of how to celebrate a federal holiday for a civil rights leader. Isn’t there supposed to be a ritual or a ceremony we’re supposed to perform to mark the occasion? But how do you signify in one day or in one action what Dr. King stood for, lived for, and died for? Last August marked the fiftieth anniversary of the March on Washington and Dr. King’s “I have a dream” speech. That marked a moment; a milestone. Today is supposed to honor the man and what he stood for and tried to make us all become: full citizens with all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship; something that is with us all day, every day.

For me, it’s having the memories of what it used to be like and seeing what it has become for all of us that don’t take our civil rights for granted, which should be all of us, and being both grateful that we have come as far as we have and humbled to know how much further we still have to go.

(Cross-posted at Bark Bark Woof Woof.)

A.M. Headlines

(Juan Williams): "GOP will rue O-Care focus"

(Time): "Obama on marijuana legalization: ‘It’s important for it to go forward’"

(Bloomberg): "Obama says racial animus blunts approval, New Yorker reports"

(Newark Star-Ledger): "Hoboken mayor discussed Chris Christie, Sandy aid allegations with U.S. Attorney, she says"

(USA Today): "MLK discusses Kennedy in rediscovered audiotape"

On the Hustings

(Washington Examiner): "In new film, a dramatic look at Mitt Romney's loss of confidence"

(Dan Balz): "The Republican Party’s uphill path to 270 electoral votes in 2016"

(Los Angeles Times): "Brown in unofficial campaign mode"

(The Hill): "Expanded map boosts GOP confidence"

(Roll Call): "DCCC makes major TV buy in Florida House special"

The rich versus the upper class

By Frank Moraes

Paul Krugman makes a great point in a blog post yesterday, The Myth of the Deserving Rich. But then he commits an error (which he does all the time) that drives me crazy. But first, let's talk about the article generally.

His point is that just as we try to justify the poverty of the poor, we try to justify the wealth of the rich. Well, we don't. But pretty much the entirety of the mainstream press and pretty much any politician with high aspirations. Of course, Krugman doesn't go into it, but there is a big reason for this: social unrest. I think it is the biggest issue that society will have to face over the next couple hundred years if we manage to keep civilization going that long. If we all admit that our society is hopelessly unjust, how will we deal with this? We want to create a society that encourages people to do good things with their lives. But it isn't a stupid person's fault that he is stupid.

Krugman, of course, is more interested in the injustice and social waste of not providing real opportunity to the children of the poor. I'm interested in that too. But I think the problem is much deeper than that and eventually we need to solve it if we are going to make progress as a society. Personally, I believe in guaranteed incomes. But that discussion can wait for another day. What's more, I'm sure there are other solutions that have not occurred to me.

Read more »

A.M. Headlines

(St. Louis Post-Dispatch): "Dem plans probe of NJ gov's office over Sandy aid"

(New York Times): "G.O.P. advice for Christie: Pick a better team"

(Newark Star-Ledger): "Bridge scandal, Hoboken allegation dog Chris Christie during his Florida fundraising trip"

(Los Angeles Times): "Budget deal trumps Tea Party agenda"

(Los Angeles Times): "Dianne Feinstein emerges as defender of spy agencies"