Friday, September 30, 2005
Open Thread
Thread more than thou showest, thread less than thou knowest, thread less than thou owest.
Spamalot
Everyone hates unsolicited mass emails promoting something. Just a reminder. And, no, that doesn't include people emailing me personally about things they think I might like. The key word is "mass."
Idiots Abroad
This quote was in Sid Vicious's column yesterday, and I suppose he just left it hanging because it was so obvious. But, sadly, it isn't actually obvious to enough people so we should spell it out. Karen Hughes:
Would someone please send Hughes a copy of our constitution? It'd be nice if, maybe, she actually knew what was and wasn't in it.
UNDER SECRETARY HUGHES: I haven’t really heard a lot of that. I had one person at one lunch raise the issue of the President mentioning God in his speeches. And I asked whether he was aware that previous American presidents have also cited God, and that our Constitution cites “one nation under God.” He said “well, never mind” and went on to something else. So he sort of was trying to equate that with the terrorists’ (inaudible). So I explained that I didn’t really think that was something you could equate. And he sort of dropped it and moved on. He was one of the opposition leaders in Egypt.
Would someone please send Hughes a copy of our constitution? It'd be nice if, maybe, she actually knew what was and wasn't in it.
Armor
One would think that if for no other reason it's currently rather costly and difficult replace dead soldiers that the Pentagon brass would be interested in providing body armor to troops in the field. There are of course less cynical reasons to want them to have body armor.
We're All Going to Die
Yesterday I was up in New York recording an episode of The Issue for Evolve TV which should be up in a couple of weeks. I had the opportunity to interview Graham Allison, which of course motivated me to read his recent book to prepare. Allison's book is about what we can do to prevent nuclear terrorism. It's a good book, alarming without being alarmist. That is, it's designed to scare us enough that we care enough to do something about it but not so much that we just crawl under the covers waiting for armageddon to come. In very simple and easy to read language it outlines the potential threat and has some sensible suggestions about what we should be doing. A lot of it is what should be common sense, but if it was common sense he wouldn't have had to write the book as the Bush administration would already be doing it.
Scariest stuff: we all have heard the phrase "tactical nukes" but man, we had some crazy ideas about what they could be used for...
One thing we presumably shouldn't be doing is putting nuclear plant security under the control of the vast crony capitalist industrial complex.
Scariest stuff: we all have heard the phrase "tactical nukes" but man, we had some crazy ideas about what they could be used for...
One thing we presumably shouldn't be doing is putting nuclear plant security under the control of the vast crony capitalist industrial complex.
Wow
Bennett gets Sister Souljahd by the prez.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House on Friday criticized former Education Secretary William Bennett for remarks linking the crime rate and the abortion of black babies.
"The president believes the comments were not appropriate," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said.
DeLay Lawyer: My Client is a Liar
This is hilarious:
(thanks to reader K)
The day after U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay's grand jury indictment, his lawyer and the jury foreman on Thursday appeared to contradict the Texas politician's assertions that he was not given a chance to speak before the jury.
The foreman, William M. Gibson Jr., a retired state insurance investigator, said the Travis County grand jury waited until Wednesday, the final day of its term, to indict him because it was hoping he would accept jurors' invitation to testify.
DeLay said in interviews that the grand jury never asked him to testify.
...
"I have not testified before the grand jury to present my side of the case, and they indicted me," said DeLay, according to the Associated Press.
Dick DeGuerin, the attorney representing DeLay, said Thursday that DeLay actually was invited to appear before the grand jury, where he would have been under oath. The Houston attorney was not yet on the legal team when DeLay was asked to appear, but he said other attorneys advised him not to testify — a decision DeGuerin supports.
(thanks to reader K)
7000 Opportunities
Time to mobilize the 101st:
(via First Draft)
The Army has not published official figures yet, but it apparently finished the 12-month counting period that ends Friday with about 73,000 recruits. Its goal was 80,000. A gap of 7,000 enlistees would be the largest - in absolute number as well as in percentage terms - since 1979, according to Army records.
The Army National Guard and the Army Reserve, which are smaller than the regular Army, had even worse results.
The active-duty Army had not missed its target since 1999, when it was 6,290 recruits short; in 1998 it fell short by 801, and in 1995 it was off by 33. Prior to that the last shortfall was in 1979 when the Army missed by 17,054 during a period when the Army was much bigger and its recruiting goals were double today's.
(via First Draft)
Judy Judy Judy
Digby has a good overview of some of the recent ins and outs. There appears to be a wee dispute between Miller's laywer and Libby's lawyer about the "confidentiality waiver." I think these confidentiality waivers have always been a little fiction designed to make everyone look good. Arianna gets it right:
So
it defies credulity for Miller, Sulzberger, and Bill Keller to keep insisting that Libby’s earlier waiver was coerced when Libby says that it wasn’t. I don’t have much good to say about the vice president’s chief of staff, but I don’t doubt that he knows the difference between being coerced and acting on his own free will. How deep is the Times’ contempt for its readers that they really think they’ll buy the “Oh, Judy finally has the right waiver” line?
The truth of the matter is there is no way that the New York Times editorial claiming “it should be clear…that Ms. Miller is not going to change her mind” can be squared with Ms. Miller changing her mind. And there is no way to accept at face value Miller’s grandstanding about “fighting for the cause of the free flow of information.” Who is she still trying to convince? Herself?
Open Thread
A poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the thread and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Gas
People gonna be hurting. Our local utility has put in for rate increases for the year totalling about 30% so far, and they can update it again in December...
It's still under most people's radar screen right now," said Carl Neill, an analyst at Risk Management Inc., a natural gas consultant and brokerage firm Chicago. "The public has absolutely no idea how high prices are going to be this year. It's going to be mind-boggling. Price are going to be 50 to 100 percent higher for residential consumers than in previous year.
Principles
Assuming Miller is intending to testify, it'll be interesting to see what the new line is from all of those who have spent the last few months writing outraged pieces about her courageous stand against an unjust government action. There certainly were people who thought she shouldn't have to go to jail who made reasonable, if ultimately insufficient, arguments to that effect. What was troublesome was how many of those making the case would, with calculated obtuseness, fail to really acknowledge what the issues were in the case. Fitzgerald was no out of control zealot, having exhausted all other avenues before even attempting to get limited testimony from journalists, and this was a complicated case raising a lot of issues which don't fit nicely into a Journalism 101 lecture on ethics.
Now that Miller has apparently done something she could've done months ago, just what was that principle she was upholding in the first place? And, will the Times ever follow up on this editorial from August:
Now that Miller has apparently done something she could've done months ago, just what was that principle she was upholding in the first place? And, will the Times ever follow up on this editorial from August:
As of today, Judith Miller has spent more time behind bars to protect privileged information than any other New York Times journalist. Reporters from other news organizations have endured longer jail time in the same important cause over the years, but for us and we hope for others, it should be clear after 41 days in a Virginia jail that Ms. Miller is not going to change her mind. She appears unwavering in her mission to safeguard the freedom of the press to do its job effectively.
If she is not willing to testify after 41 days, then she is not willing to testify. It's time for the judge and the prosecutor to let Ms. Miller go.
Judy Judy Judy
Free at last, free at last.
I'm guessing that's a typo and it should say "It couldn't be immediately..."
And Lou Dobbs just told me, 3 minutes ago, that Judy was still in jail.
WASHINGTON - Judith Miller, The New York Times reporter who has been jailed since July 6 for refusing to identify a source, has been released, The Inquirer has learned.
Miller left an Alexandria, Va. jail late this afternoon, a jail official said.
She was released after she had a telephone conversation with the Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, sources said. In that conversation, Libby reaffirmed that he had released Miller from a promise of confidentiality more than a year ago, sources said.
...
It could be immediately determined whether Miller has now agreed to testify.
I'm guessing that's a typo and it should say "It couldn't be immediately..."
And Lou Dobbs just told me, 3 minutes ago, that Judy was still in jail.
Hire Liberally
Shakespeare's Sis needs a job, presumably in or around northwestern Indiana section of greater Chicago.
Wanker of the Day
Ricky "Slick Rick" Santorum.
...and, uh, wow, just check out this story on the Santorums:
...and, uh, wow, just check out this story on the Santorums:
"When she met Rick, Karen was living with Tom Allen, an OBGYN who in the early-1970s cofounded Pittsburgh's first abortion clinic. It was a somewhat unusual pairing. Allen was the doctor who delivered Karen. She began living with him while an undergraduate nursing student at Pittsburgh's Duquesne University. She was in her early 20s, he was in his 60s.
"'When she moved out to go be with Rick, she told me I'd like him, that he was pro-choice and a humanist,' said Allen, an elderly but vibrant man, during a brief conversation on the porch of his Pittsburgh row home. 'But I don't think there's a humanist bone in that man's body.'"
Open Thread
A poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the thread and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Open Thread
Thread more than thou showest, thread less than thou knowest, thread less than thou owest.
Why It Matters
Steve Clemons:
However, if the Republican-Majority-Leader-to-be was preempted because he was gay, that is real news. I haven't heard the commentary yet, but several people have reported to me that CNN's Wolf Blitzer stated that Dreier was blocked at the last moment because he was pro-choice, from Southern California, and had "other issues" -- the last part stated in a low and halting voice.
If true, what is that about, Wolf? If Dreier -- who is one of the most powerful and, frankly, capable members of House Republican leadership -- Chairman of the powerful Rules Committee -- was stopped from stepping into the indicted Tom DeLay's seat because he was gay -- can we finally get beyond the blogs and onto the pages of the New York Times and Washington Post about this real news?
Dreier was blocked because he has a long-term, loving relationship with someone of the same sex. This has been documented on many fronts and is widely known by members of Dreier's own caucus. If the reality of this blocked Dreier's ascension, then the news has a duty not to keep this matter hidden.
I'm pleased by Tom DeLay's fall from grace. But I'm irritated by the main stream media's complicity in hiding the bigotry that runs unchecked through a significant quarter of the Republican party.
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Fristed
It's actually hard to imagine that Frist was in fact dumb enough to engage in a bit of insider trading, but if he was it sure does offer a fascinating glimpse into the guy. While this review of his book may be a bit over the top, if Frist really did do it then perhaps there's something to it:
But, still, look, if I'm a reasonably rich guy and I get elected to Senate and dream of running for president... I'm gonna put the goddamn stock portfolio in a goddamn blind trust. Aside from issues of ethics and legality (or issues of perception), I'd assume I'd have too much to worry about to spend my time day trading.
This is a fascinating study of the extraordinary mix of in-breeding, animal sacrifice, and corruption required to produce the world's worst human being. Coming from a family of mildly despicable cheats, the Frists had a leg up on normal human beings...but it still took an enormous amount of laboratory work and careful training to produce not just a self-involved twit but an unspeakable monster.
This book is Frankenstein of our century, a marvellous account of the line between science and morality, and the "Dr. Frist" character is a chilling reminder of the true evil inherent in all humanity...even if readers will find Dr. Frist himself an impossibly overdrawn character. Surely, no actual human could be so evil. Neverthless, he stands like Shelley's monster as an emblem of the path we as a species must never take.
By damning this "Dr. Frist" character and the bizarre process that created him, this sterling work serves as a moral guide, a hope for the future.
But, still, look, if I'm a reasonably rich guy and I get elected to Senate and dream of running for president... I'm gonna put the goddamn stock portfolio in a goddamn blind trust. Aside from issues of ethics and legality (or issues of perception), I'd assume I'd have too much to worry about to spend my time day trading.
Open Thread
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your thread; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
Reading the Tea Leaves
It sounds like DeLay's pretty much done. He may or may not be convicted, of course, and if he doesn't he'll likely manage to stick around in Congress for a little while, but it sounds like the DeLay era is over. David Brooks was on NPR, and he's a reliable peddler of a certain strand of Republican information. Things we learned: Bush never really got along with DeLay, conservative Republicans have come to believe that DeLay only wants more and doesn't have any genuine conservative principles (whatever they are), everyone just loves Blunt. Whatever the truth of any of these things, the fact that Brooks is peddling these storylines says that they're pushing him out permanently.
My guess is he'll decide at some point that it's much more fun (and lucrative) to retire to K street, if he manages to escape the pokey.
My guess is he'll decide at some point that it's much more fun (and lucrative) to retire to K street, if he manages to escape the pokey.
Sharks
It'll be interesting to see what kind of power grabs go on among House Republicans now. Sure, DeLay loyalists will be loyal... for awhile. But, at some point the tide will turn as DeLay becomes increasingly radioactive. At some point they'll all jump ship.
Will closet heterosexual David Dreier maintain the leadership position? We shall see...
Will closet heterosexual David Dreier maintain the leadership position? We shall see...
Spin
CNN mentioned about 50 times that Ronnie Earle was a partisan Democrat. A brief reminder:
While Earle is an elected Democrat, as Media Matters for America has previously noted, a June 17 editorial in the Houston Chronicle commended his work: "During his long tenure, Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle has prosecuted many more Democratic officials than Republicans. The record does not support allegations that Earle is prone to partisan witch hunts." This assertion supports Earle's own claim about his record; a March 6 article in the El Paso Times reported: "Earle says local prosecution is fundamental and points out that 11 of the 15 politicians he has prosecuted over the years were Democrats."
Two Years
There's no way God likes me this much:
A Travis County grand jury today indicted U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on one count of criminal conspiracy, jeopardizing the Sugar Land Republican's leadership role as the second most powerful Texan in Washington, D.C.
The charge, a state jail felony punishable by up to two years incarceration, stems from his role with his political committee, Texans for a Republican Majority, a now-defunct organization that already had been indicted on charges of illegally using corporate money during the 2002 legislative elections.
Fristed
Snoopy dance:
Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist faces a near-term ordeal unwelcome to anyone, particularly an ambitious politician: an official probe into his personal financial dealings by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The SEC authorized a formal order of investigation of Frist's sale in June of HCA Inc. shares, people with direct knowledge of the inquiry said yesterday. The order allows the agency's enforcement unit to subpoena documents and compel witnesses to testify, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the order hasn't been made public.
Merry Christmas
DeLay indicted on one count of criminal conspiracy.
...Dreier possible Majority Leader successor. Odd choice to lead the party of homophobia.
...DeLay has stepped aside.
...Dreier possible Majority Leader successor. Odd choice to lead the party of homophobia.
...DeLay has stepped aside.
Keep Bombing
So, there it is. The grownup post-9/11 foreign policy. Just blow some shit up and they'll come around.
Yeah, that'll work.
Yeah, that'll work.
Shorter Tom Friedman
All we are saying
Is give civil war a chance.
Is give civil war a chance.
That will become clear in the next few months as we see just what kind of minority the Sunnis in Iraq intend to be. If they come around, a decent outcome in Iraq is still possible, and we should stay to help build it. If they won't, then we are wasting our time. We should arm the Shiites and Kurds and leave the Sunnis of Iraq to reap the wind.
Open Thread
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your thread; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Merit
Lord Shafer writes:
So, diversity provides valuable diverse views which lead to improved reporting, but nonetheless looking for diversity is the opposite of considering people on the basis of merit?
This is ridiculous. Look, I'm comfortable with debates on the intrinsic value of diversity when it, say, comes to recruiting students or something similar [Personally, I think there are a variety of reasons aside from the correction of historical injustice why there is value in diversity, but that's a separate debate]. However, diversity of backgrounds on the news staff of a major metro paper clearly isn't just about obtaining diversity for its own sake. Diversity of background isn't simply, or even necessarily mostly, equivalent to racial or ethnic diversity. But, a major newspaper has to report on a variety of racial/ethnic/other communities. The point of diversity in these situations isn't simply to meet some sort of easy racial quota, it's to make sure that the reporters you have on staff can capably address a variety of issues.
Without a doubt, diversity can improve the newspaper quality by putting ears, eyes, and brains inside the newsroom that understand the world outside. So, how do you increase diversity? You recruit for it and you train for it. But that effort isn't always painless. It's predictable that when a minority is hired or promoted that someone on staff will suspect that a diversity calculator in the backroom made the personnel decision, not a human being who considered only merit.
So, diversity provides valuable diverse views which lead to improved reporting, but nonetheless looking for diversity is the opposite of considering people on the basis of merit?
This is ridiculous. Look, I'm comfortable with debates on the intrinsic value of diversity when it, say, comes to recruiting students or something similar [Personally, I think there are a variety of reasons aside from the correction of historical injustice why there is value in diversity, but that's a separate debate]. However, diversity of backgrounds on the news staff of a major metro paper clearly isn't just about obtaining diversity for its own sake. Diversity of background isn't simply, or even necessarily mostly, equivalent to racial or ethnic diversity. But, a major newspaper has to report on a variety of racial/ethnic/other communities. The point of diversity in these situations isn't simply to meet some sort of easy racial quota, it's to make sure that the reporters you have on staff can capably address a variety of issues.
Taxicity
A few people recently have encouraged me to write more about, or at least highlight what others have written, about policy. I often shy away from policy, aside from the more obvious stuff, believing for so long that we live in the age of anti-wonk. But, who knows, maybe that's changing.
In any case, we can begin with this about why we should raise gas taxes. We should, of course, though it would be political suicide. Still, it's worth discussing how we could potentially make raising the gas tax both even smarter and perhaps not quite political suicide.
Gas taxes and sales taxes generally are regressive. Regressive bad for good liberals. But, taxing purchases which have negative unpriced externalities simply puts the actual price more in line with the social cost. Consuming gas has unpriced, to the individual, effects on the environmnent and road congestion (and, while harder to quantify, presumably an impact on the cost of our foreign policies). So, increasing gas taxes brings the price of gas in line with its social cost, and therefore brings us closer to a more socially efficient level of gas consumption.
But that doesn't change the fact that gas taxes are still regressive. So, what to do? As the link explains, you offset proposed gas tax increases with decreases in other taxes - optimally other sales taxes, FICA taxes, user fees, or other mostly regressive taxes. That way you discourage the behavior without disproportionately impacting poor people.
In any case, we can begin with this about why we should raise gas taxes. We should, of course, though it would be political suicide. Still, it's worth discussing how we could potentially make raising the gas tax both even smarter and perhaps not quite political suicide.
Gas taxes and sales taxes generally are regressive. Regressive bad for good liberals. But, taxing purchases which have negative unpriced externalities simply puts the actual price more in line with the social cost. Consuming gas has unpriced, to the individual, effects on the environmnent and road congestion (and, while harder to quantify, presumably an impact on the cost of our foreign policies). So, increasing gas taxes brings the price of gas in line with its social cost, and therefore brings us closer to a more socially efficient level of gas consumption.
But that doesn't change the fact that gas taxes are still regressive. So, what to do? As the link explains, you offset proposed gas tax increases with decreases in other taxes - optimally other sales taxes, FICA taxes, user fees, or other mostly regressive taxes. That way you discourage the behavior without disproportionately impacting poor people.
The Op-Ed Which Wasn't Run
Rick Perlstein wrote this in the second week of September, and sent it to various major newspapers for submission. Rick has had great success in placing such things. It was rejected or simply ignored everywhere he sent it, including one major newspaper he's never been rejected from. There are times when being wrong gives your more credibility than being right, apparently.
A white friend who's volunteering in refugee shelters on the Gulf Coast tells me the kind of things he's hearing around the small city where he's working.
A pastor is obsessed that "local" women not be allowed near the shelters: "At a community meeting they said these were the last evacuees, the poorest of the poor"--the most criminal, being his implication, the most likely to rape.
My friend says: "There were rumors that there were basically gangs of blacks walking up and down the main drag in town harassing business owners." The current line is that "some of them weren't even evacuees, they were just fake evacuees trying to stir up trouble and riot, because we all know that's what they want to do."
He talked to local police, who report no problems: just lost, confused families, in desperate need of help.
Yet "one of the most ridiculous rumors that has gone around is that 'the Civic Center is nothing but inmates. It's where they put all the criminals.'"
I immediately got that uncanny feeling: where had I heard things like this before?
The answer is: in my historical research about racial tensions forty years ago. I'm writing a book against the backlash against liberalism and civil rights in the 1960s. One of the things I've studied is race riots. John Schmidhauser, a former congressman from rural Iowa, told me about the time, in the summer of 1966, he held a question and answer session with constituents. Violence had broken out in the Chicago ghetto, and one of the farmers asked his congressman about an insistent rumor:
"Are they going to come out here on motorcycles?"
It's a funny image, a farmer quaking at the vision of black looters invading the cornfields of Iowa. But it's also awfully serious. The key word here is "they." It's a fact of life: in times of social stress when solid information is scarce, rumors fill the vacuum. Rumors are evidence of panic. The rumors only fuel further panic. The result, especially when the rumors involved are racial, can be a deadly stew of paranoia.
In the chaotic riot in Detroit in 1967, National Guardsman hopped up on exaggerated rumors of cop killers would descend upon a block and shoot out the streetlights to hide themselves from snipers. Guardsmen on the next block would hear the shots and think they were under attack by snipers. They would shoot at anything that moved. That was how, in Detroit, dozens of innocent people were shot. In one case, a firefighter was the one who died.
And now, a similar paranoia has turned deadly in New Orleans too. The early report Sunday was that police shot at eight suspicious characters at the 17th Street Canal, killing five. On Monday the report was clarified: the victims were contractors on their way to work to fix the canal.
It's not that human beings haven't committed awful crimes amidst the toxic muck of New Orleans--just as they did in the urban riots of the 1960s. It's not as if the onslaught of poor, frightened, and alien-seeming evacuees aren't making life nerve-wracking in the many scattered towns where they are straggling in as refugees. With statistical certainly, they have.
But now New Orleans has filled with tens of thousands of Army, police, and National Guard soldiers. They are doing courageous, necessary work. But that are also operating in a cultural context rife with paranoia. Many of the people they are policing are armed as well--also possessed of a hair-trigger paranoia that might presume every shotgun-like crack, every snapped powerline, every detonated firecracker, is a sniper's shot aimed at them.
And now there is that New Orleans diaspora, poor black men ("fake evacuees"?) wandering around unfamiliar towns.
It is the job of all of us to help ratchet down the paranoia: not to let the rumors spread. So none of these people start firing on each other.
Paranoia is not the exclusive province of Iowa farmers forty years ago, or--urban snobs take note--Louisiana yokels in rural parishes now. In 1992, in New York City, during the Los Angeles riots, the word spread on certain street corners about rioters burning buildings and overturning cars just a few blocks away. All of it was fantasy.
But now, everyone with an email account can be implicated in the spreading of such fantasies--nationwide.
One of the most riveting early accounts of conditions in New Orleans was an email sent around by Dr. Greg Henderson. "We hear gunshots frequently," he wrote. It wasn't long before that got transformed, in the dissemination, into: doctors get shot at frequently. An Army Times article reported that desperate evacuees at the Superdome, terrified that losing their place in line might mean losing their life, "defecated where they stood." Now, it's easy, if you take a moment to think about it, to understand that happening to people, perhaps elderly and sick, under unendurable conditions of duress. As circulated on the Internet, however, another interpretation takes shape: these people are not like us. Them. Savages that, if they come to your town, might just be capable of anything. Even if they are just lost, confused people, in desperate need of help.
We can do better. We must do better.
Conspiracy
Oops:
WASHINGTON - A Texas grand jury’s recent interest in conspiracy charges could lead to last-minute criminal indictments — possibly against House Majority Leader Tom DeLay — as it wraps up its investigation Wednesday into DeLay’s state political organization, according to lawyers with knowledge of the case.
Conspiracy counts against two DeLay associates this month raised concerns with DeLay’s lawyers, who fear the chances are greater that the majority leader could be charged with being part of the conspiracy. Before these counts, the investigation was more narrowly focused on the state election code.
By expanding the charges to include conspiracy, prosecutors made it possible for the Travis County grand jury to bring charges against DeLay. Otherwise, the grand jury would have lacked jurisdiction under state laws.
Brownie - Big Liar
I caught this earlier but didn't have a chance to parse his exact words to be sure. Brownie is, in fact, full of shit.
Shameless
So, the right wing which spent weeks pushing stories of looting, rapes, and murder in New Orleans are now taking media reports about how such stories were exaggerated to mean that what happened in New Orleans wasn't as bad as we were led to believe.
It was bad because people had no food, no water, no shelter, no medical care, and most importantly, no help.
It was bad because people had no food, no water, no shelter, no medical care, and most importantly, no help.
"Euphoria"
So that's what we're calling "irrational exuberance" these days.
Sept. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said asset prices often fall after long periods of stability and perceived low risk create ``euphoria,'' comments that economists read as a warning about housing and bond prices.
``A decline in perceived risk is often self-reinforcing in that it encourages presumptions of prolonged stability,'' Greenspan told the National Association for Business Economics in Chicago today. ``History cautions that extended periods of low concern about credit risk have invariably been followed by reversal with an attendant fall in the prices of risky assets.''
Malaise
John's a wee bit upset at the Note for publishing what they claim is an advance copy of a Bush speech, when in fact it was a 1979 speech from Carter. I don't have a problem with that, but what I do have a problem with that is that they included this line in what they published:
A line which wasn't actually in Carter's speech and therefore doesn't appear in the copy they linked to. But, it's one of those factesque gems of history, so the Note of course had to recycle it.
Simply put, there is a malaise afflicting America.
A line which wasn't actually in Carter's speech and therefore doesn't appear in the copy they linked to. But, it's one of those factesque gems of history, so the Note of course had to recycle it.
The Story's the Thing
Richard Cranium responds to Weyrich's nonsense. He hits on Weyrich's version of the Prime Pundit Fallacy- since he's in it for the attention and media adulation everybody who ever puts themself out there is in it for the same reason. This is a fairly common misconception about bloggers. People are stunned if you, say, turn down a chance to appear on TV for 5 minutes, the assumption being that getting your sweet mug in front of a camera is the sole motivating goal in all of human existence.
But, what should be obvious is that people who blog behind pseudonyms aren't, in fact, doing it for fame and fortune (why anyone thinks one who desires fame generally would turn to blogging I do not know). The main reason people start blogging is that they want to, in some small way, occasionally have an impact on the public discourse. It's satisfying when it happens, whether or not it's accompanied by any "credit." Frankly, that part of it is usually a bit creepy.
But, what should be obvious is that people who blog behind pseudonyms aren't, in fact, doing it for fame and fortune (why anyone thinks one who desires fame generally would turn to blogging I do not know). The main reason people start blogging is that they want to, in some small way, occasionally have an impact on the public discourse. It's satisfying when it happens, whether or not it's accompanied by any "credit." Frankly, that part of it is usually a bit creepy.
Wanker of the Day
Noel Weyrich of the ridiculously irrelevant Philadelphia Magazine, which is about as much of a "must read" for Philadelphians as Siberia Daily.
Sully the Pooh
What the Poor Man says.
Perhaps I’m being overly-optimistic here, but it feels like we are a nation emerging from a very bad period, waking up, in a way, to be more like what we should be - a nation of well-intentioned, capable, and realistic pragmatists, and less like what it has been - a collection of spiteful, fearful, hateful, often deliberately ignorant fools. (Of course, I’ve felt this before - the country may hit the snooze bar a few times after this, too, but we will awake.) There will be a time, I hope, not too far from now, when the insanities which drive us today are no longer operational. I don’t mean to be pollyannaish about this - we may well find new insanities to keep us busy, and we may well continue in this decline forever. But we can do things to give us a chance at a better future, and one of those things is to prevent those people who have a track record of lying and fear mongering from having any influence on the national debate ever again.
Things That Make No Sense, Except When They Do
Wuuuuuuh?
On Saturday, Jane wrote:
Brown told congressional investigators Monday that he is being paid as a consultant to help FEMA assess what went wrong in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, according to a senior official familiar with the meeting.
On Saturday, Jane wrote:
And now I will leave you to guess where this bit of gossip came from, because I promised not to tell. But one of the above-mentioned folks called me this afternoon to say that according to sources within the Enquirer itself, the source for Bush's drinking story is -- an incredibly pissed-off, recently scapegoated head of a federal agency who thinks that BushCo. done him wrong.
Duck
I'm not sure when we call it a civil war, but here we are:
Camp al Qaim, Iraq -- A senior U.S. Marine commander said Monday that insurgents loyal to militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had taken over at least five key western Iraqi towns on the border with Syria and were forcing local residents to flee.
In an interview with The Chronicle, Lt. Col. Julian Alford, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines Regiment stationed outside the western Iraqi town of al Qaim, said insurgents in the area had been distributing flyers they called "death letters," in which they ordered residents of this western corner of volatile Anbar province to leave -- or face death.
"Basically, the insurgents say if they don't leave they will ... behead them," said Alford, who took command this month of about 1,000 Marines stationed in the dusty desert area populated by roughly 100,000 Sunni Arabs.
Monday, September 26, 2005
ITunes 5.0 - Crap
New Itunes version can't even manage to play a song without disruption/distortion unless literally everything else is shut down.
Fix it.
Fix it.
Serenity Now
Well, thanks to a kind reader I did get myself into see Serenity tonight, although the screening wasn't anything close to being full anyway.
Having seen the series on DVD, which I didn't like all that much until near the end of its run, it's hard to view the movie independently of that. Still, it probably works for the unitiated as a pretty entertaining action sci-fi movie with good humor. But more generally I'm increasingly under the impression that "that kind" of science fiction is just works much better on TV than it does on the big screen. It takes time to create an entire universe with its own rules, history, politics, technology, etc. It's generally not something all that well-suited to a 100+ minute format.
But, it's a fun movie. It would've been a good series on TV, and probably still could be.
Having seen the series on DVD, which I didn't like all that much until near the end of its run, it's hard to view the movie independently of that. Still, it probably works for the unitiated as a pretty entertaining action sci-fi movie with good humor. But more generally I'm increasingly under the impression that "that kind" of science fiction is just works much better on TV than it does on the big screen. It takes time to create an entire universe with its own rules, history, politics, technology, etc. It's generally not something all that well-suited to a 100+ minute format.
But, it's a fun movie. It would've been a good series on TV, and probably still could be.
Oil
Between calling for personal conservation and opening up of the strategic reserve, someone in charge appears to be a bit concerned about the oil and gas situation in the country.
Fact Free And Loving It
There are days I dream of being a right wing blogger. The ability to confuse baseless opinions with facts would make blogging much easier.
Land Use and Light Rail
Rocky Mountain News:
Without having actually seent he plans I'm somewhat skeptical. The only way to have genuine walkability is to reduce the amount of street level parking to levels that modern developers largely used to suburban development are uncomfortable with. Still, it'll be interesting to see whether sensible development can happen. This point in the article jumped out at me:
That, I think, is the key issue for this kind of development. Can you, outside the core of a major city, create spaces that people like which allow them the genuine opportunity to have a fewer number of cars than the number of driving age individuals in their household. The point isn't to try to create places where no one owns a car - people like cars and want to own them even if they're not strictly "needed" - the point is to make households less car dependent by providing them with some desirable walking/transit opportunities.
The rail line, part of the T-REX project between Broadway and Lincoln Avenue (south of C-470), will have 13 new stations, most of them on the west side of I-25. Plans are under way for new residential and commercial development that will create homes and workplaces for thousands of people within walking distance of the stations.
Without having actually seent he plans I'm somewhat skeptical. The only way to have genuine walkability is to reduce the amount of street level parking to levels that modern developers largely used to suburban development are uncomfortable with. Still, it'll be interesting to see whether sensible development can happen. This point in the article jumped out at me:
"We're talking about 1,000 or 2,000 residential units," said Madden. "There will be a lot of people buying who want to get rid of one car and have something new and exciting. It's something we're ready for."
That, I think, is the key issue for this kind of development. Can you, outside the core of a major city, create spaces that people like which allow them the genuine opportunity to have a fewer number of cars than the number of driving age individuals in their household. The point isn't to try to create places where no one owns a car - people like cars and want to own them even if they're not strictly "needed" - the point is to make households less car dependent by providing them with some desirable walking/transit opportunities.
Fristed
Mmm. Popcorn.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Blind trusts are designed to keep an arm's-length distance between federal officials and their investments, to avoid conflicts of interest. But documents show that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist knew quite a bit about his accounts from nearly two dozen letters from the trust administrators.
Frist, R-Tennessee, received regular updates of transfers of assets to his blind trusts and sales of assets. He also was able to initiate a stock sale of a hospital chain founded by his family with perfect timing. Shortly after the sale this summer, the stock price dived.
A possible presidential contender in 2008, Frist now faces dual investigations by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and the Securities and Exchange Commission into his stock sales.
...
Asked in a television interview in January 2003 whether he should sell his HCA stock, responded, "Well, I think really for our viewers it should be understood that I put this into a blind trust. So as far as I know, I own no HCA stock"
Frist, referring to his trust and those of his family, also said in the interview, "I have no control. It is illegal right now for me to know what the composition of those trusts are. So I have no idea."
Tim vs. the Mustache of Understanding
This week's Russert watch.
Arianna does make a very good point - media people deserve the same degree of scrutiny for their various pronouncements as do politicians on issues where they have significant influence. But, it's accountability free land for the elite pundits.
Arianna does make a very good point - media people deserve the same degree of scrutiny for their various pronouncements as do politicians on issues where they have significant influence. But, it's accountability free land for the elite pundits.
"Why Didn't Somebody Do Something"
Huckabee equates standing up to Democrats with standing up to Nazis.
Journamalism
This story about a fake DHS television show is pretty interesting - a really elaborate scam which was helped out by press participation, something left out of the main press acount.
Narratives
Funny how things sometimes turn out to be false:
We know that all of these stories helped delay help for people who needed it.
NEW ORLEANS — After five days managing near riots, medical horrors and unspeakable living conditions inside the Superdome, Louisiana National Guard Col. Thomas Beron prepared to hand over the dead to representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Following days of internationally reported murders, rapes and gang violence inside the stadium, the doctor from FEMA — Beron doesn't remember his name — came prepared for a grisly scene: He brought a refrigerated 18-wheeler and three doctors to process bodies.
"I've got a report of 200 bodies in the Dome," Beron recalled the doctor saying.
The real total?
Six, Beron said.
Of those, four died of natural causes, one overdosed and another jumped to his death in an apparent suicide, said Beron, who personally oversaw the handoff of bodies from a Dome freezer, where they lay atop melting bags of ice.
...
The vast majority of reported atrocities committed by evacuees — mass murders, rapes and beatings — have turned out to be false, or at least unsupported by any evidence, according to key military, law-enforcement, medical and civilian officials in positions to know.
"I think 99 percent of it is [expletive]," said Sgt. 1st Class Jason Lachney, who played a key role in security and humanitarian work inside the Dome. "Don't get me wrong — bad things happened. But I didn't see any killing and raping and cutting of throats or anything ... 99 percent of the people in the Dome were very well-behaved."
We know that all of these stories helped delay help for people who needed it.
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Brownies
The question isn't really how many Mike Browns are there. The question is when will they be replaced by competent people?
Ney
I admit to being somewhat surprised that Rep. Ney didn't drool on his shoes when I testified to his committee, but he still apparently has a wee bit of problem with the truth.
Boring
When I participated in a symposium at Grinnell College recently, FT columnist Jurek Martin asked what I thought about the recent decline in right wing radio ratings. I responded something to the effect that while I'd like to imagine it represented a major shift in the prevailing political winds and a general rejection of their product, I more just chalked it up to the fact that their basic story is getting rather old. It isn't just the Bush administration that was jumpstarted on September 11 -- it was also the entire conservative press who, after a decade of being all Clinton all the time, needed a new plot and a new cast of characters. Sure, the story never really changes much, but it at least requires a bit of scenery change and a recast now and then. Frankly, they're getting boring.
It occurs to me now, however, that this isn't just an issue with right wing radio. It's also rather true of the commentariat generally. While the talking head class has skewed seriously right for years, it's only fairly recently that the left has been almost entirely marginalized. Aside from whatever impact this has on the range of viewpoints available to the general viewing public, it also becomes incredibly boring.
It occurs to me now, however, that this isn't just an issue with right wing radio. It's also rather true of the commentariat generally. While the talking head class has skewed seriously right for years, it's only fairly recently that the left has been almost entirely marginalized. Aside from whatever impact this has on the range of viewpoints available to the general viewing public, it also becomes incredibly boring.
Living Liberally
Enjoyed my visit to Drinking Liberally World Headquarters and all the people I met and saw again. Thanks to DK's Justin, Katrina, Matthew, David and everyone else there whose too many names overflowed the tiny name buffer in my brain. Got a chance to catch up with Chris Bowers, Peter Daou, and Matt Stoller as well.
Franken was kind enough to drop by the evening event. He commented that what groups like drinking liberally are doing is building social capital, something which has value in and of itself.
Anyway, please feel free to attend your local drinking liberally chapter or start your own.
Franken was kind enough to drop by the evening event. He commented that what groups like drinking liberally are doing is building social capital, something which has value in and of itself.
Anyway, please feel free to attend your local drinking liberally chapter or start your own.
La Nooners
Our Dear Peggy is not happy with the boy blunder. Apparently what set her off were comparisons to Saint Reagan. I was especially amused by this:
Of course, Reagan did cut and run all the way to Grenada after the events in Lebanon.
The administration, in answering charges of profligate spending, has taken, interestingly, to slighting old conservative hero Ronald Reagan. This week it was the e-mail of a high White House aide informing us that Ronald Reagan spent tons of money bailing out the banks in the savings-and-loan scandal. This was startling information to Reaganites who remembered it was a fellow named George H.W. Bush who did that. Last month it was the president who blandly seemed to suggest that Reagan cut and ran after the attack on the Marine barracks in Lebanon.
Poor Reagan. If only he'd been strong he could have been a good president.
Of course, Reagan did cut and run all the way to Grenada after the events in Lebanon.
Pundit Fallacy Prime
Previously, Big Media Matt has written of the Pundit's Fallacy, the belief that whatever your pet political issue is also, miraculously, is the issue which will be massively popular among the electorate. I'd like to suggest, however, the Prime Pundit Fallacy is something different - that most people are like the pundits themselves, believing that being right is more important than anything else. True, perhaps, for the exalted members of the pundit class but certainly not true of everyone else.
Lord Weisberg provides us with the latest iteration of this.
Lord Weisberg provides us with the latest iteration of this.
Corruption
Apparently there's no level of corruption I can sink to which will score me free tickets to Serenity.
I actually don't know what sort of massive marketing power for such things this blog could provide, but I do tend to get the wrong kind of "free stuff." I currently do get a lot of copies of nonfiction books provided by the publishers, which is great, but I rarely manage to actually read the books in an especially timely fashion and don't ever really do much to help market them.
On the other hand, I'd be much more likely to watch/say nice things about movies and TV shows if I were to get preview tickets or DVD screeners. Even for books I tend to read more fiction than nonfiction, so it'd make more sense for me to be on those distribution lists...
btw, how many blogs does Yglesias have, anyway?
I actually don't know what sort of massive marketing power for such things this blog could provide, but I do tend to get the wrong kind of "free stuff." I currently do get a lot of copies of nonfiction books provided by the publishers, which is great, but I rarely manage to actually read the books in an especially timely fashion and don't ever really do much to help market them.
On the other hand, I'd be much more likely to watch/say nice things about movies and TV shows if I were to get preview tickets or DVD screeners. Even for books I tend to read more fiction than nonfiction, so it'd make more sense for me to be on those distribution lists...
btw, how many blogs does Yglesias have, anyway?
Neither Blood Nor Treasure
The 101st Fighting Keyboarders have only forked over $600 for their excellent adventure in Iraq.
Open Thread
Thread more than thou showest, thread less than thou knowest, thread less than thou owest.
Saturday, September 24, 2005
Fristed
This doesn't sound very good. And by not "very good" I mean really really funny:
Whether or not he's actually done anything illegal, Bill Frist can and should now be referred to in the press as "Senator Bill Frist, documented liar."
WASHINGTON Sep 24, 2005 — Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., was updated several times about his investments in blind trusts during 2002, the last time two weeks before he publicly denied any knowledge of what was in the accounts, documents show.
...
Frist, asked in a television interview in January 2003 whether he should sell his HCA stock, responded: "Well, I think really for our viewers it should be understood that I put this into a blind trust. So as far as I know, I own no HCA stock"
Frist, referring to his trust and those of his family, also said in the interview, "I have no control. It is illegal right now for me to know what the composition of those trusts are. So I have no idea."
Documents filed with the Senate showed that just two weeks before those comments, the trustee of the senator's trust, M. Kirk Scobey Jr., wrote to Frist that HCA stock was contributed to the trust. It was valued at $15,000 and $50,000.
...
On May 16, 2002, Scobey advised Frist that four investments were contributed to a Frist blind trust, including HCA stock valued at $500,000 to $1 million. A second letter the same day mentions the same four investments going into a different trust, but with different valuations, including HCA stock valued at $250,000 to $500,000
Whether or not he's actually done anything illegal, Bill Frist can and should now be referred to in the press as "Senator Bill Frist, documented liar."
Image is Everything
I don't know what's more stunning - that this story is true or that a White House source admitted it.
Paradigm Shift
Steve Soto gives us the latest developing Bush narrative. One thing is missing - how easy life has been with a deferential press.
Friday, September 23, 2005
Open Thread
Thread more than thou showest, thread less than thou knowest, thread less than thou owest.
Shorter Washington Post Editorial Board
Why would we want to waste our beautiful minds by watching the news or reading newspapers?
NYC Fun
Here are some events in NYC you may wish to attend this weekend. Not sure if I'll be at the Friday one but I'll be there Saturday. Also, I'll be doing a panel thingy 4-5:30 at the Tank on Saturday.
Buses
The crony incompetence of the Bush administration.
We begin this story with a compoany, Landstar Express America, which has a $100 million conract for disaster transportation.
Were they quick to respond? Sadly, No!
What happened next? Did Landstar finally pull out its disaster transportation plan which, presumably, the $100 million contract should've encouraged them to produce? Sadly, No! They did what any company hired to do that job would do - they desperately started hunting for help on the internet!
Could anything else have been done? Sadly, yes!
Does this story have a happy ending, in which the Karmic balance of the universe is restored? Sadly, No!
We begin this story with a compoany, Landstar Express America, which has a $100 million conract for disaster transportation.
Though it was well-known that New Orleans, much of it below sea level, would flood in a major hurricane, Landstar, the Jacksonville company that held a federal contract that at the time was worth up to $100 million annually for disaster transportation,...
Were they quick to respond? Sadly, No!
...did not ask its subcontractor, Carey Limousine, to order buses until the early hours of Aug. 30, roughly 18 hours after the storm hit, according to Sally Snead, a Carey senior vice president who headed the bus roundup.
What happened next? Did Landstar finally pull out its disaster transportation plan which, presumably, the $100 million contract should've encouraged them to produce? Sadly, No! They did what any company hired to do that job would do - they desperately started hunting for help on the internet!
Landstar inquired about the availability of buses on Sunday, Aug. 28, and earlier Monday, but placed no orders, Snead said.
She said Landstar turned to her company for buses Sunday after learning from Carey's Internet site that it had a meetings and events division that touted its ability to move large groups of people. "They really found us on the Web site," Snead said.
Could anything else have been done? Sadly, yes!
Peter Pantuso of the American Bus Association said he spent much of the day on Wednesday, Aug. 31, trying to find someone at the Federal Emergency Management Agency who could tell him how many buses were needed for an evacuation, where they should be sent and who was overseeing the effort.
"We never talked directly to FEMA or got a call back from them," Pantuso said.
Pantuso, whose members include some of the nation's largest motor coach companies, including Greyhound and Coach USA, eventually learned that the job of extracting tens of thousands of residents from flooded New Orleans wasn't being handled by FEMA at all.
...
The day the hurricane made landfall, Victor Parra, president of the United Motorcoach Association, called FEMA's Washington office "to let them know our members could help out."
Parra said FEMA responded the next day, referring him to an agency Web page labeled "Doing Business with FEMA" but containing no information on the hurricane relief effort.
On Wednesday, Aug. 31, Pantuso of the American Bus Association cut short a vacation thinking his members surely would be needed in evacuation efforts.
Does this story have a happy ending, in which the Karmic balance of the universe is restored? Sadly, No!
In a regulatory filing last week, Landstar Express said it has received government orders worth at least $125 million for Katrina-related work. It's not known how much of that total pertains to the bus evacuation.
Landstar Express is a subsidiary of Landstar System, a $2 billion company whose board chairman, Jeff Crowe, also was chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, one of the nation's premier business lobbies, from June 2003 until May 2004.
Whatever happens likely will be good for Landstar's bottom line.
Landstar's regulatory filing also said that because of Hurricane Katrina, the maximum annual value of its government contract for disaster relief services has been increased to $400 million.
Fristed
Ooops:
HCA gets subpoena to produce documents (HCA) By Michael Baron
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- HCA Inc. (HCA) said Friday it has received a subpoena from the U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York. The Nashville, Tenn., hospital operator said the subpoena calls for the production of documents, and HCA believes it relates to the sale of HCA stock by Sen. William H. Frist. It plans to cooperate fully with the subpoena. The stock closed Thursday at $45.90, down 3.2%.
Confused
There's been a lot of negative coverage of TSA airport screeners who didn't show up to work yesterday. But, presumably, plenty of them were living in mandatory evacuation areas - were they really supposed to stay on the job until noon today? Then what? Were the airlines going to fly them out on the last planes? Did anyone suggest that idea?
I understand the idea that certain public safety workers may have an obligation to stay on the job in emergency situations, but I really think it's a bit much to expect it of airport screeners.
I understand the idea that certain public safety workers may have an obligation to stay on the job in emergency situations, but I really think it's a bit much to expect it of airport screeners.
Open Thread
Thread more than thou showest, thread less than thou knowest, thread less than thou owest.
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Oy, Reporters
Ap:
I don't remember either of us saying anything of the sort. But, for the record, my opinion is that any regulations which place disclosure requirements onto bloggers which are not required of any other members of the media or which in any way open up bloggers to FEC scrutiny that other media are not subject to and which therefore the possibility of getting dragged into a complaints process would have a major chilling effect.
Commissioner Weintraub discussed how it seemed that the FEC would rule that paid political ads, such as anything run through blogads, would have to be disclosed by campaigns in the same way that other media advertising does, but that wouldn't put any disclosure requirements on the bloggers themselves. I don't see how that in and of itself would be a problem, unless the rules were written in a way which had unintended consequences.
The FEC, in its initial rules, had exempted the Internet.
Bloggers told the Committee on House Administration that regulations encompassing the Internet, even ones just on advertising, would have a chilling effect on free speech. The FEC vice chairman also questioned the necessity of any rules.
I don't remember either of us saying anything of the sort. But, for the record, my opinion is that any regulations which place disclosure requirements onto bloggers which are not required of any other members of the media or which in any way open up bloggers to FEC scrutiny that other media are not subject to and which therefore the possibility of getting dragged into a complaints process would have a major chilling effect.
Commissioner Weintraub discussed how it seemed that the FEC would rule that paid political ads, such as anything run through blogads, would have to be disclosed by campaigns in the same way that other media advertising does, but that wouldn't put any disclosure requirements on the bloggers themselves. I don't see how that in and of itself would be a problem, unless the rules were written in a way which had unintended consequences.
Fristed
Methinks the good Doctor could be in a wee spot of trouble:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- When Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist asked a trustee to sell all his stock in his family's hospital corporation, a large-scale sell-off by HCA Inc. insiders was under way.
Shares of the Nashville, Tenn.-based hospital company were near a 52-week peak in June when Frist and HCA insiders were selling off their shares -- just about a month before the price dropped.
...
Under Senate ethics rules, senators can directly order the sale of any asset known to have been in the trust before the metaphorical curtain was drawn. The senator also can communicate in writing matters of concern, including ''an interest in maximizing income or long-term capital gain.''
That is not how blind trusts normally work, said David Becker, who was general counsel at the SEC from 2000 to 2002. To avoid potential insider-trading conflicts, the beneficiary usually has no knowledge or participation in investment decisions.
If Frist was allowed to ask for stock to be sold, ''the question here is, How blind is blind?'' Becker said.
oy
People stuck:
HOUSTON Sep 22, 2005 — Wilma Skinner would like to scream at the officials of this city. If only someone would pick up their phone.
"I done called for a shelter, I done called for help. There ain't none. No one answers," she said, standing in blistering heat outside a check-cashing store that had just run out of its main commodity. "Everyone just says, 'Get out, get out.' I've got no way of getting out. And now I've got no money."
With Hurricane Rita breathing down Houston's neck, those with cars were stuck in gridlock trying to get out. Those like Skinner poor, and with a broken-down car were simply stuck, and fuming at being abandoned, they say.
"All the banks are closed and I just got off work," said Thomas Visor, holding his sweaty paycheck as he, too, tried to get inside the store, where more than 100 people, all of them black or Hispanic, fretted in line. "This is crazy. How are you supposed to evacuate a hurricane if you don't have money? Answer me that?"
Day in DC
Anyway, I was testifying to the Committee on House Administration, headed by Bob Ney, on regulating internet speech. Was a fairly last minute thing and I didn't have much of a chance to prepare a decent opening statement, but hopefully the basic points were there. Current and former FEC commissioners (saw the former panel, not the latteR) were testifying, along with Red State's Mike Krempasky and me. They put some space between us so we didn't kill each other.
Basically where we are is that the FEC is at the tail-end of a rulemaking process, which I testified for previously, regarding regulating political speech on the internet which they were forced to do by a judge. It's unclear, however, why they have yet to actually issue their ruling. It's possible they're dragging their feet either because they want and/or expect congress to intervene in some fashion nullifying anything they do, or because they're waiting for a ruling on the standing of those who filed the lawsuit which led to them being forced to do something (they didn't appeal the ruling itself, but if it's determined that there's a issue with the standing the ruling could be chucked out anyway).
The committee was exploring the issue generally, and in particular a Reid proposal in the Senate to essentially make the court case moot by changing the law. Not many members were present, and those who were clearly sided with a very hands off approach, however that's achieved.
If Congress gets involved there's always the possibility that they'll stick a bunch of other campaign finance related stuff in with it and I have no desire to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Judging from the testimony of the FEC commisioners who were there I'm much more optimistic than I was back during the summer when I testified. They seem to "get it" much more than they did before, and even a worst case scenario from the FEC would probably be nothing to get upset about. The only real concern I currently have is with unintended consequences - certainly it seems the FEC has the right idea, but the question is whether they understand the technology/issues well enough that they can craft rules which won't open the door to a bunch of problematic stuff.
Overall, I'm not too worried about this issue at the moment. One way or another I predict a decent outcome for the whole process.
Basically where we are is that the FEC is at the tail-end of a rulemaking process, which I testified for previously, regarding regulating political speech on the internet which they were forced to do by a judge. It's unclear, however, why they have yet to actually issue their ruling. It's possible they're dragging their feet either because they want and/or expect congress to intervene in some fashion nullifying anything they do, or because they're waiting for a ruling on the standing of those who filed the lawsuit which led to them being forced to do something (they didn't appeal the ruling itself, but if it's determined that there's a issue with the standing the ruling could be chucked out anyway).
The committee was exploring the issue generally, and in particular a Reid proposal in the Senate to essentially make the court case moot by changing the law. Not many members were present, and those who were clearly sided with a very hands off approach, however that's achieved.
If Congress gets involved there's always the possibility that they'll stick a bunch of other campaign finance related stuff in with it and I have no desire to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Judging from the testimony of the FEC commisioners who were there I'm much more optimistic than I was back during the summer when I testified. They seem to "get it" much more than they did before, and even a worst case scenario from the FEC would probably be nothing to get upset about. The only real concern I currently have is with unintended consequences - certainly it seems the FEC has the right idea, but the question is whether they understand the technology/issues well enough that they can craft rules which won't open the door to a bunch of problematic stuff.
Overall, I'm not too worried about this issue at the moment. One way or another I predict a decent outcome for the whole process.
"No Power"
In conservative world, one of the top 3 most powerful people in Congress has "no power" while some academic no one has ever heard of controls the Democratic party.
Open Thread
Thread more than thou showest, thread less than thou knowest, thread less than thou owest.
Open Thread
A poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the thread and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Creepy
Let's hope the Jet Blue airplane with landing gear issues makes it safely to the ground. As the MSNBC talker just pointed out, Jet Blue passengers have seatback monitors with DirectTV, and thus have the ability to watch live coverage [assuming it wasn't turned off] of their troubles...
Oink
It's sorta cute when the the right wingers start spinning their wheels over something not entirely awful. But they obviously haven't been paying much attention to what happens when a reporter gingerly questions these people on their pork. I saw Chuck Grassley on CNBC looking like he swallowed a giant slug when the host gingerly asked him about his indoor rainforest. It was actually yet another reminder about how little the Republicans have been challenged on any issue over the past few years - Grassley looked shocked that anyone would dare question him over such a thing.
The real test is what happens when they realize that the Republicans, who do indeed control the government, aren't going to give up a damn bit of their hard-earned pork. I'm sure the Clenis will make an appearance, somehow.
To put it another way, would YOU have the guts to get between Dennis Hastert and a bacon sandwich?
I thought not.
The real test is what happens when they realize that the Republicans, who do indeed control the government, aren't going to give up a damn bit of their hard-earned pork. I'm sure the Clenis will make an appearance, somehow.
To put it another way, would YOU have the guts to get between Dennis Hastert and a bacon sandwich?
I thought not.
Worshipping the Weather
There are certainly a large number of people who currently have a genuine interest in finding out where and when Rita will hit, but nonetheless there's something a bit creepy about the number of people in this country who are truly obsessed with tracking the weather...
Trifecta
The number of deep connections between prominent Republican players and individuals and groups who have since been connected with terrorism-related activities is one of the underexplored and underdiscussed topics of the last few years.
Journamalism
Or, how to pick a story straight out of your ass while pretending you did some work for it!
Say Anything
Mistah Kurtz, on Limbaugh, Nov. 2002:
I suppose broadly speaking Kurtz was correct, if by "policy" he means such things as Senator Clinton's apparent "policy" of murdering anyone who gets in her way.
Has the senator [Daschle] listened to Rush lately? Sure, he aggressively pokes fun at
Democrats and lionizes Republicans, but mainly about policy.
I suppose broadly speaking Kurtz was correct, if by "policy" he means such things as Senator Clinton's apparent "policy" of murdering anyone who gets in her way.
Open Thread
A poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the thread and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Seemingly Many Seem to Many
The NYT article on women in elite colleges just wanting to chuck it all for a rich man and babies was poblematic for a variety of reasons, but Jack Shafer hits on its most basic problem -- it was, without any genuine evidence, claiming to have unearthed a trend.
Such a trend may exist, but many bloggers seem to increasingly be under the impression that the article was crap journalism.
Such a trend may exist, but many bloggers seem to increasingly be under the impression that the article was crap journalism.
Got Your Back, Rep. Slaughter
I don't oppose primary challengers on principle, and when it comes to either open seats or races against incumbent Republicans my tendency is to stay out of them (though that's certainly a "rule" I might break at some point). But, Rep. Slaughter is one of "ours" and as she's been out there fighting the good fight rather than spending the time to raise mountains of cash as many incumbents do.
She's been a great supporter of issues important to the netroots, and she deserves our support in the primary and the general election if need be.
Rep. Slaughter has now been added to the Eschaton approved candidate list.
She's been a great supporter of issues important to the netroots, and she deserves our support in the primary and the general election if need be.
Rep. Slaughter has now been added to the Eschaton approved candidate list.
Chafee
I'm so old I remember when there actually were moderate Republicans who stuck with a principle or two.
Stock Tips
If you're so inclined, call the good Senator's office and find out if he has any other stock tips he'd like to share.
Washington, D.C.:
Office of Senator Bill Frist
509 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3344
202-228-1264 (fax)
Nashville:
Office of Senator Bill Frist
28 White Bridge Road
Suite 211
Nashville, TN 37205
615-352-9411
615-352-9985 (fax)
Washington, D.C.:
Office of Senator Bill Frist
509 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3344
202-228-1264 (fax)
Nashville:
Office of Senator Bill Frist
28 White Bridge Road
Suite 211
Nashville, TN 37205
615-352-9411
615-352-9985 (fax)
Fristed
Sounds like an SEC investigation is in order:
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a potential presidential candidate in 2008, sold all his stock in his family's hospital corporation about two weeks before it issued a disappointing earnings report and the price fell nearly 15 percent.
Frist held an undisclosed amount of stock in Hospital Corporation of America, based in Nashville, the nation's largest for-profit hospital chain. On June 13, he instructed the trustee managing the assets to sell his HCA shares and those of his wife and children, said Amy Call, a spokeswoman for Frist.
Frist's shares were sold by July 1 and those of his wife and children by July 8, Call said. The trustee decided when to sell the shares, and the Tennessee Republican had no control over the exact time they were sold, she said.
Hilarious
Republicans. They've even given it a military sounding name. Only a bunch of chickenhawks could do that:
They'll probably have some success pulling out the few bits of pork which go to Democratic districts. Oh, and I bet Jim Gerlach's train money will get pulled (along with any other public transit money they can get their hands on). I'm personally happy to kill the Medicare drug bill, but as a matter of pure politics I wouldn't mind Democrats running on a "Republican stole your Medicare drug plan" platform next year.
Presidential election campaign fund?
As for Nasa.... Mars, bitches, MARS!
WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 - Conservative House Republicans plan to recommend on Wednesday more than $500 billion in savings over 10 years to compensate for the costs of Hurricane Katrina as lawmakers continue to struggle to develop a consensus on the fiscal approach to the disaster.
At the top of a partial list of the potential cuts being circulated on Tuesday were previously suggested ideas like delaying the start of the new Medicare prescription drug coverage for one year to save $31 billion and eliminating $25 billion in projects from the newly enacted transportation measure.
The list also proposed eliminating the Moon-Mars initiative that NASA announced on Monday, for $44 billion in savings; ending support for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, $4 billion; cutting taxpayer payments for the national political conventions and the presidential election campaign fund, $600 million; and charging federal employees for parking, $1.54 billion.
"What House conservatives will demonstrate through Operation Offset is that there is more than enough room in the federal budget to provide for the needs of the families affected by Katrina without raising taxes," said a House Republican aide who is working with lawmakers on the proposals and who insisted on anonymity because the package would not be made public until Wednesday.
The suggestions are certain to draw serious opposition from other lawmakers who consider those programs essential, illustrating the difficulty faced by the majority Republicans in finding acceptable ways to offset the hurricane costs.
Before the list was made public, Representative Tom DeLay of Texas, the House majority leader, declared that delaying the Medicare plan was a nonstarter. Mr. DeLay also expressed skepticism that most lawmakers would want to revisit the transportation bill, saying he would be reluctant to sacrifice the projects that he won for his district in the Houston area.
"My earmarks are pretty important to building an economy in that region," Mr. DeLay said of the local projects he backed in the bill. A watchdog group said those items totaled more than $114 million.
They'll probably have some success pulling out the few bits of pork which go to Democratic districts. Oh, and I bet Jim Gerlach's train money will get pulled (along with any other public transit money they can get their hands on). I'm personally happy to kill the Medicare drug bill, but as a matter of pure politics I wouldn't mind Democrats running on a "Republican stole your Medicare drug plan" platform next year.
Presidential election campaign fund?
As for Nasa.... Mars, bitches, MARS!
Open Thread
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your thread; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
Pinch
I'd never seen a picture before. Explains a lot.
And, apparently, the Times and my local papers are going to pursue greatness by firing people.
Is Philadelphia the only city where the "tabloid" paper is a far superior product to the "respectable" broadsheet?
Shame they're both owned by the same company.
And, apparently, the Times and my local papers are going to pursue greatness by firing people.
Is Philadelphia the only city where the "tabloid" paper is a far superior product to the "respectable" broadsheet?
Shame they're both owned by the same company.
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Cat Fight
Tom Coburn (R-Blastocystia) says that DeLay told him that the Washington Times made up quotes.
From the transcript:
From the transcript:
DOBBS: Wait a minute. Senator, you can't say that. Congressman Tom DeLay says that this is the most efficient government he can imagine, that there's no fat in this government.
COBURN: Well, I talked with him today about that quote and that was not his quote. And you know ...
DOBBS: Whose was it? Whose was it, Senator?
COBURN: I'm worried -- I'm very -- well, I think -- it might have been manufactured. I'm not sure. The fact is, is we -- I know of $100 billion in cuts that we could make tomorrow that nobody would feel. Nobody would feel. And ...
If Not Diplomacy, Then What?
Yglesias is the only one beating this drum with any consistency, but it's an important drum to beat. The conservative foreign policy weenies when confronted by a state they don't like or state actions they disapprove of only have one answer - regime change. The first question is, of course, how do they plan to achieve that? The second question is, then what? It's as if the entire conservative foreign policy establishment has been replaced by the underpants gnomes.
Phase one: Announce policy of regime change
Phase two: ???
Phase three: Peeance and freeance!
Once upon a time phase two was invasion, but that's off the table now.
Phase one: Announce policy of regime change
Phase two: ???
Phase three: Peeance and freeance!
Once upon a time phase two was invasion, but that's off the table now.
Open Thread
Thread more than thou showest, thread less than thou knowest, thread less than thou owest.
Um, American Press Want to Touch This?
First the Independent and now the Guardian:
Iraqi authorities are preparing an arrest warrant for the country's former defence minister in connection with a massive fraud case involving the "disappearance" of more than $1bn from ministry coffers.
Judge Raid al-Radhi, who is head of Iraq's commission on public integrity, said yesterday that he had given Iraq's central criminal court a dossier of evidence against Hazim Shaalan, who was minister of defence under the former government of Ayed Allawi.
"What Shaalan and his ministry were responsible for is possibly the largest robbery in the world. Our estimates begin at $1.3bn [£720m] and go up to $2.3bn," Judge Radhi, who is Iraq's senior anti-corruption official, told Reuters.
The "robbery" is believed to include the signing of multimillion-dollar deals with companies to supply equipment that was sometimes inappropriate for the new army or was years out of date. It is also alleged that the ministry paid huge premiums for some military hardware.
Monday, September 19, 2005
WTF?
I haven't addressed this yet because various fuzzy versions have been floating around, but the basic storyline seems to have solidified:
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A British armored vehicle escorted by a tank crashed into a detention center Monday in Basra and rescued two undercover troops held by police, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official told CNN.
...
In a statement released in London, Reid did not say why the two had been taken into custody. But the Iraqi official, who spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity, said their arrests stemmed from an incident earlier in the day.
The official said two unknown gunmen in full Arabic dress began firing on civilians in central Basra, wounding several, including a traffic police officer. There were no fatalities, the official said.
The two gunmen fled the scene but were captured and taken in for questioning, admitting they were British marines carrying out a "special security task," the official said.
Don't Talk About the War
The anti-war position has always been very underrepresented in our media. That is, in part, due to the positions of many of the people in power, but not only. MSNBC couldn't even keep one hour of anti-war programming on per day (Donahue) before the war because of concerns about military contracts for its parent company how they would be seen.
Before the war, a majority of the people opposed it. It depended on how the question was asked, of course - a majority didn't oppose any war in Iraq, but a majority did oppose the war we were given (no UN support, etc...).
And, now, 59% of the public thinks going to war was a mistake. Still, that opinion is about as represented in the media as was the 60+ percent who approved of Bill Clinton during the impeachment follies.
Strange how these things work.
Before the war, a majority of the people opposed it. It depended on how the question was asked, of course - a majority didn't oppose any war in Iraq, but a majority did oppose the war we were given (no UN support, etc...).
And, now, 59% of the public thinks going to war was a mistake. Still, that opinion is about as represented in the media as was the 60+ percent who approved of Bill Clinton during the impeachment follies.
Strange how these things work.
Pork
What drives me nuts about pet projects such as the bridges to nowhere in Alaska isn't that they happen, it's that so many of them are mindbogglingly stupid. Funneling money to favorite projects is inevitably going to be a part of government, but if you could scam $464 million for mostly useless Alaskan projects couldn't you think of anything even marginally more useful than two bridges for 83 people?
Reconstruct This
So, the guy who oversees federal contracts gets arrested. Turns out he's a good buddy of Jack "Love Me Some Tom DeLay" Abramoff. As he was on the job through last week he must've had a hand in setting the Katrina procurement procedures, including allowing people to go ahead and charge up to $250,000 at a time on their credit cards. He's also, well, another hack with no experience in his field.
Mr. Safavian's wife? Oh, that's Jennifer Safavian. Her job? Chief counsel on oversight and investigations on the House Government Reform Committee.
Their latest job? Heading up the sham Katrina investigation...
Here's fairly recent article on Safavian which someone should start poking through. Note the headline on the Bush Administration Post Article.
Mr. Safavian's wife? Oh, that's Jennifer Safavian. Her job? Chief counsel on oversight and investigations on the House Government Reform Committee.
Their latest job? Heading up the sham Katrina investigation...
Here's fairly recent article on Safavian which someone should start poking through. Note the headline on the Bush Administration Post Article.
Kooks
Limbaugh, Friday:
Thankfully, Mr. Fineman has a friend who has clued him in and now he's written a breathless piece. "In other words, it's the Beltway versus the Blogosphere," writes Mr. Fineman. "What’s interesting is that Rosenberg is himself a Beltway creature, a preternaturally self-assured young insider with a cherubic face and a cold smile. He heads a group called the New Democratic Network and ran his own campaign for DNC chair. But the names he utters with reverence are net-based: organizers such as Eli Pariser and bloggers such as Daily Kos and Atrios. Rosenberg rejects that notion that the bloggers represent a new 'Internet Left.' It’s not an ideological rift, he says, but a 'narrative' of independence versus capitulation: too many Democrats here are too yielding to George W. Bush on the war in Iraq, on tax policy, you name it. 'What the blogs have developed is a narrative,' he told me the other day, 'and the narrative is that the official Washington party has become like Vichy France.' But even though Kerry eventually outlasted the Rebs, and even though Dean (for some weird reason) decided to become chair of the Democratic National Committee, the civil war didn’t end. It just went underground. The first sign of its re-emergence was Cindy Sheehan."
...
So what Mr. Fineman is saying here is the Democratic Party must become what the fringe kooks of the Democrat blogs, like Daily Kos and Atrios are. They're in the process of it already happening. How can this not be seen by people? There will be no patience for moderate Democrats. They're not going to be tolerated. The new face of the party must be a Cindy Sheehan type. And the Democrats better start listening, the story says, to people like all these other people who think that Bush has to be gotten rid of. The thing is, nobody reads these blogs, folks. Nobody reads them. That's the great thing. Other bloggers read it and that's it.
Another Pony for Holden
Though, uh, it's the world's smallest pony! So small you can't even see it!
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush's vow to rebuild the Gulf Coast did little to help his standing with the public, only 40 percent of whom now approve of his performance in office, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday.
Just 41 percent of the 818 adults polled between Friday and Monday said they approved of Bush's handling of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, while 57 percent disapproved.
And support for his management of the war in Iraq has dropped to 32 percent, with 67 percent telling pollsters they disapproved of how Bush is prosecuting the conflict.
The survey had a sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Fifty-nine percent said they considered the 2003 invasion of Iraq a mistake, 63 percent said they wanted to see some or all U.S. troops withdrawn from that country and 54 percent told pollsters they favor cutting spending on the war to pay for disaster relief.
...
His personal qualities hit fresh lows: Only 49 percent called him a strong and decisive leader, down from 54 percent in July and 51 percent in August. Just 42 percent said he cares about people like themselves, and 47 percent called him honest and trustworthy.
By contrast, 51 percent did not consider him strong and decisive, 50 percent would not call him honest and 56 percent said he didn't care about people like them.
Treasury Secretary Card?
FSM help us. All the people who told us during the transition to the Bush administration that now the "grownups would be in charge" should be forced to spend a few days swimming through the muck in New Orleans. There were plenty of grownups in the Clinton administration, and while none of them were perfect almost all of them were competent and qualified.
Rumsfeld?
Snow?
Brownie?
Chertoff?
Whitman?
Hooker-obsessed Ashcroft?
Porn-obsessed Gonzales?
On Vacation Cheney?
Feith?
Bolton?
Bremer?
Wolfowitz?
Rice?
Grownups? oy.
Rumsfeld?
Snow?
Brownie?
Chertoff?
Whitman?
Hooker-obsessed Ashcroft?
Porn-obsessed Gonzales?
On Vacation Cheney?
Feith?
Bolton?
Bremer?
Wolfowitz?
Rice?
Grownups? oy.
CF
I enjoy Kunstler's writing, even though there are some nontrivial areas where I disagree with him. In his latest entry he raises some good questions and really lays down his predictions. Will his semi-apocalyptic prediction for the near future come true? Stay tuned and find out. I know I'm not looking forward to my winter heating bill.
What we will leave behind is the certainty that we have made the right choices. Was it a good thing to buy a 3,600 square foot house 32 miles outside Minneapolis with an interest-only adjustable rate mortgage -- with natural gas for home heating running at $12 a unit and gasoline over $3 a gallon? Was it the right choice to run three credit cards up to their $5000 limit? Was I chump to think my pension from Acme Airlines would really be there for me? Do I really owe the Middletown Hospital $17,678 for a gall bladder operation that took forty-five minutes? And why did they charge me $238 for a plastic catheter?
All kinds of assumptions about the okay-ness of our recent collective behavior are headed out the window. This naturally beats a straight path to politics, since that is the theater in which our collective choices are dramatized. It really won't take another jolting event like a major hurricane or a terror incident or an H4N5 flu outbreak to take things over the edge -- though it is very likely that something else will happen. George W. Bush, and the party he represents, are headed into full Hooverization mode. After Katrina, nobody will take claims of governmental competence seriously.
The new assumption will be that when shit happens you are on your own. In this remarkable three weeks since New Orleans was shredded, no Democrat has stepped into the vacuum of leadership, either, with a different vision of what we might do now, and who we might become. This is the kind of medium that political maniacs spawn in. Something is out there right now, feeding on the astonishment and grievance of a whipsawed middle class, and it will have a lot more nourishment in the months ahead.
Bring on the Primary Challengers
I don't have any idea why any unions could consider supporting Republicans, but I'm certainly open to them helping to fund primary challengers to wayward Democrats. More generally, it's something the "Left," broadly defined, should be willing to do. While no incumbent wants to have a serious primary challenge, I'm almost never convinced by arguments that they actually hurt the prospect of the party retaining the seat. The legitimate threat (and occasional reality) of a genuine primary opponent would certainly do a lot improve the voting records of some in Congress.
Mistah Kurtz
The always reliable Kurtz joins in with those who think that decades of bamboozling people like him makes you a well-qualified person to oversee a massive reconstruction effort.
While We're on the Note
Maybe they missed the memo and thought International Talk Like a Pirate Day was actually International Talk Like a Fucking Moron Day, but what else is there to say about this statement:
What applicable experience does Rove have for overseeing a $200 billion reconstruction project? About as much experience as the Note has with the reality beyond their own asses, apparently. Note to the Note: Overseeing a massive political operation is not, in fact, they same thing as overseeing a massive reconstruction project. One involves much the same as your column does - an attempt to get people to believe in bullshit. The other involves actually getting something done.
The press and the Democrats are still demonizing Karl Rove's involvement in anything and everything, expressing shock and horror that a deputy White House chief of staff with wide-ranging applicable experience is helping to oversee the Katrina response.
What applicable experience does Rove have for overseeing a $200 billion reconstruction project? About as much experience as the Note has with the reality beyond their own asses, apparently. Note to the Note: Overseeing a massive political operation is not, in fact, they same thing as overseeing a massive reconstruction project. One involves much the same as your column does - an attempt to get people to believe in bullshit. The other involves actually getting something done.
Noted
Most of the time I allow myself to pretend that the people who write The Note are just typical members of the Beltway press with their heads lodged firmly up their own asses. But today they write something which makes it impossible to not realize that they are deliberately full of shit. Alterman writes:
Even without getting into a deeper debate about the political slant of the Post, this is ridiculous. Their first editorial, after his original nomination to the Court, was mostly positive, and demanded the Demcorats and liberal groups give him a "dignified confirmation process." They complained about Democratic treatment of Roberts in 2001. They regularly complained about Democratic obstructionism and repeatedly told Democrats not to use the tactics that Republicans used for years.
Miguel Estrada? Supported by the Post
Priscilla Owen? Supported by the Post
Michael McConnell? Supported by the Post.
The only nominee they opposed, I believe, was Pryror, and even as they were opposing him they would deride the Democrats for doing the same.
Whatever else the Post is, the idea that anyone working in the Washington press would've imagined for an instant that, barring some unforseen revelation, the Post would've opposed Roberts is ridiculous. The people writing for the Note are not that stupid, whatever their flaws, so there's only one thing left to conclude: they enjoy doing their part to continue to perpetuate the notion that the beltway media, of which the Washington Post sits on top, is liberal.
Corrupt.
- The Note insults our intelligence with the pretense that the conservative Washington Post editorial page is not conservative, writing, "Pigs flew on Sunday, when the Washington Post endorsed Roberts for Chief." Remember, they are the guys who told us what a great response the federal government had made to Katrina.
Even without getting into a deeper debate about the political slant of the Post, this is ridiculous. Their first editorial, after his original nomination to the Court, was mostly positive, and demanded the Demcorats and liberal groups give him a "dignified confirmation process." They complained about Democratic treatment of Roberts in 2001. They regularly complained about Democratic obstructionism and repeatedly told Democrats not to use the tactics that Republicans used for years.
Miguel Estrada? Supported by the Post
Priscilla Owen? Supported by the Post
Michael McConnell? Supported by the Post.
The only nominee they opposed, I believe, was Pryror, and even as they were opposing him they would deride the Democrats for doing the same.
Whatever else the Post is, the idea that anyone working in the Washington press would've imagined for an instant that, barring some unforseen revelation, the Post would've opposed Roberts is ridiculous. The people writing for the Note are not that stupid, whatever their flaws, so there's only one thing left to conclude: they enjoy doing their part to continue to perpetuate the notion that the beltway media, of which the Washington Post sits on top, is liberal.
Corrupt.
What do we have here?
This looks interesting...[well, just C&P the link maybe that'll not destroy the server]
http://www.evolvetv.tv/theissue
...PZ Myers has more info.
http://www.evolvetv.tv/theissue
...PZ Myers has more info.
Power Tools
Back before Power Line became "blog of the year" I had sort of put them on par with Adam Yoshida or Misha, essentially ignorant d-list 20somethingnutters not even qualified to be a local AM radio Limbaugh knockoff, who in another time would've been ranting away on streetcorners with their placards of doom.
So, it was fascinating to see them get all the attention, and subsequent traffic, for the Dan Rather situation - attention they got because they, being as it turned out middle-aged professionals - were more "respectable" than the Freepers or the Little Green Snotballs.
They're still nuts.
So, it was fascinating to see them get all the attention, and subsequent traffic, for the Dan Rather situation - attention they got because they, being as it turned out middle-aged professionals - were more "respectable" than the Freepers or the Little Green Snotballs.
They're still nuts.
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