The Commentariat -- June 5

No Commentariat today, as I'm on the road. I've posted an Open Thread on Off Times Square, though, so you can do the weading today.

Well, okay, a teeny bit of Commentariat:

Economics Nobel Laureate Peter Diamond defends himself in a New York Times op-ed against the arrogant, stupid Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) who has blocked Diamond's appointment to the Federal Reserve because Shelby says Diamond doesn't know enough. CW: It appears Diamond is defending himself because Obama won't bother. What a revolting state of affairs.

Andrew Martin of the New York Times: "The Obama administration’s main program to keep distressed homeowners from falling into foreclosure has been aimed at those who took out subprime loans or other risky mortgages during the heady days of the housing boom. But these days, the primary cause of foreclosures is unemployment. As a result, there is a mismatch between the homeowner program’s design and the country’s economic realities — and a new round of finger-pointing about how best to fix it." ...

... Michael Fletcher of the Washington Post: "Reversing the economic decline fueled by the housing bust is a paramount test for President Obama as he campaigns for reelection. The president’s challenge is particularly pressing in potential swing states such as Florida, Nevada and Arizona, where stubborn joblessness and the pain from the collapse in real estate is most acute. It is in these places where Obama will face pointed questions from voters who think the administration’s policies have done little to make things better." ...

... CW: what gripes me about the two stories above is that ultimately they're all about Washington politics -- how is Obama going to balance Republicans demands to do nothing for anybody? how is this double whammy going to affect Obama's chance for re-election? There is very little concern (less than none from those despicable, callous Republicans) for the actual victims of the economic crisis: people hit with a double whammy -- lost their jobs, losing their homes. ...

... CBS News reports on a bank foreclosure you'll actually like.

Howard Dean Poses Scariest Scenario Ever. Alexander Bolton of The Hill: "Howard Dean, the former Democratic National Committee chairman who helped Democrats capture the White House in 2008, warns that Sarah Palin could defeat President Obama in 2012. Dean says his fellow Democrats should beware of inside-the-Beltway conventional wisdom that Obama would crush Palin in a general-election contest next year."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Portugal’s Social Democrats unseated the governing Socialists with a resounding parliamentary election victory on Sunday, giving the next government a strong mandate to enact a tough austerity program in return for 78 billion euros, or about $114 billion, international bailout. Pedro Passos Coelho, the leader of the Social Democrats, is expected to become the next prime minister, at the helm of a center-right coalition government with the conservative Popular Party."

New York Times: "Israeli forces fired at pro-Palestinian protesters on the Syrian frontier on Sunday as they tried to breach the border for the second time in three weeks, reflecting a new mode of popular struggle and deadly confrontation fueled by turmoil in the Arab world and the vacuum of stalled peace talks."

New York Times: "Yemen’s embattled president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, arrived in Saudi Arabia on Saturday for urgent medical treatment of wounds sustained in a bold attack on the presidential compound, Saudi officials said, abruptly shifting the political calculus that has allowed him to cling to power despite months of protest and violence." ...

... Washington Post: "Hours after the Yemen’s president flew to Saudi Arabia for treatment of wounds sustained in a rocket attack, thousands of demonstrators flocked to the streets of the capital Sunday to celebrate what they billed as the latest ouster of an Arab autocrat."

New York Times: "Lawrence S. Eagleburger, a troubleshooting diplomat and senior foreign policy adviser to presidents who served the country for more than 40 years, including 42 days as secretary of state at the close of President George Bush’s term, died on Saturday in Charlottesville, Va. He was 80."

The Commentariat -- June 4

I've posted an Open Thread for today's Off Times Square.

The President's Weekly Address:

Charles Blow has a pretty good column on Republican policy: "... the modern doctrine of a compassion-free conservatism that’s using the fog of the fiscal crisis to push a program of perverse wealth inequality as sound economic policy: The only way to jump-start the economy is to slash taxes on the wealthy and on companies; the only way to compensate for the deficits that those tax cuts exacerbate is to slash benefits to the poor and vulnerable. It would be comical if it weren’t so callous."

Binyamin Appelbaum & Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Almost 25 million Americans could not find full-time work during May, but their plight has not spurred Washington into a collaborative response.... Neither party has suggested that the issue deserves the kind of urgent response that might require ideological compromises. The Federal Reserve, charged with minimizing unemployment, has indicated that it intends to stand back.... The central bank is immobilized by the same political forces as Congress, with conservative members of the Fed board and outside critics demanding that it withdraw the money it has pumped into the economy, and liberals arguing for additional aid."

I  meant to post this yesterday, but better late than never:

... In fact, it was Donald Trump who reminded me:

Representative [Eric] Cantor, who I like, said we don't want to give money to the tornado victims. And yet in Afghanistan we're spending $10 billion a month. But we don't want to help the people that got devastated by tornadoes? Wiped out, killed, maimed, injured -- we don't have money for them but we're spending $10 billion a month in Afghanistan? -- Donald Trump

Paul Krugman writes a short & sweet comparison of Obamacare & Ryancare. I should make that "Ryan-'care.' There's not much "care" in Ryancare.

Mitt Romney Gets Real. Ross Krasny of Reuters: "Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney broke with Republican orthodoxy on Friday by saying he believes that humans are responsible, at least to some extent, for climate change." Jerk. He probably thinks Lexington & Concord are in Massachusetts, too, & has no idea Paul Revere clanged some bells to warn the British that Americans had the right to bear arms.

"Paul Ryan for President? Forget It." Jonathan Bernstein in the Washington Post: "Nominating Ryan would make the election an argument over the GOP’s least popular policy proposal, instead of a referendum on the economy, which would be the GOP’s best chance of winning."

CW: sorry for all the Palin stories. I don't like to cover Palin because I think she's a sideshow, but when she's dominating the news, I must. A reader called her a moron the other day, and I thought that was a little harsh. Now that I've had to read a bunch of stories about her, I think the reader's comment was an insult to morons everywhere.

** "Hubris & Humility: Dana Milbank: "... Robert Gates, defense secretary to presidents George W. Bush and Obama..., set off on a tour of Asia and Europe, where he is receiving the gratitude of soldiers and the acclaim of allies.... The week’s dueling tours of Gates and Palin show the best and worst in American public life. Both call themselves Republicans, but he comes from the best tradition of service while she is a study in selfishness. He’s self-effacing; she’s self-aggrandizing. He harmonized American foreign policy; she put bull’s-eyes on Democratic congressional districts and then howled about 'blood libel.'” ...

... William Browning, writing a Yahoo! News commentary, makes an interesting point: "Sarah Palin must be running for president.... Her 'One Nation' bus tour ... is funded by Sarah Palin's political action committee. Political action committees are regulated by the Federal Election Commission.... Palin has to use this money to do either one of two things. She has to contribute all of her fundraising efforts to candidates in federal elections or run for a federal position herself."

Right Wing World *

Glenn Kessler, the WashPo fact-checker, fact-checks an interview Sarah Palin gave to Greta van Susteren while on her "One Nation I Know Nothing About" tour. Kessler writes, "Much of the interview consisted of fluffy stuff, but every so often van Susteren diverted into asking about policy issues." Kessler calls her answers "absolute whoppers." This of course has nothing to do with Palin's complete rewrite of Paul Revere's ride. See yesterday's Commentariat for that not-to-be missed history lesson from Right Wing World; using Kessler's standards, Palin could have got at least 16 Pinocchios out of a single paragraph (not to suggest Palin speaks in paragraphs; she doesn't even speak in sentences).

* Where facts never intrude.

News Ledes

AP: "British Apache and French attack helicopters struck targets for the first time in NATO's campaign in Libya, hitting Moammar Gadhafi's troops early Saturday near a key coastal oil city, the alliance said."

Reuters: "Senior al Qaeda operative Ilyas Kashmiri, regarded as one of the most dangerous militants in the world, was killed by a U.S. drone aircraft missile strike in Pakistan, an intelligence official and local media said on Saturday."

New York Times: "Alabama has passed a sweeping bill to crack down on illegal immigrants that both supporters and opponents call the toughest of its kind in the country, going well beyond a law Arizona passed last year that caused a furor there."

The Commentariat -- June 3

"The Mistake of 2010." Paul Krugman: "A look at some recent dismal economic data shows the results of a pivot away from jobs to other concerns," repeating the “'mistake of 1937,' the premature fiscal and monetary pullback that aborted an ongoing economic recovery and prolonged the Great Depression." ...

... I've added a comments page for Krugman on Off Times Square, but you can comment on other stuff, if you like.

The great corporations which we have grown to speak of rather loosely as trusts are the creatures of the State, and the State not only has the right to control them wherever need of such control is shown but it is in duty bound to control them. -- Teddy Roosevelt ...

... Ted Rall in Yahoo News: "No president since Nixon has followed TR's advice. The result of unbridled corporate corruption is disparity of wealth worse than much of the Third World, and 20 percent unemployment."

"When States Punish Women." New York Times Editors: "The Obama administration has rightly decided to reject a mean-spirited and dangerous Indiana law banning the use of Medicaid funds at Planned Parenthood clinics, which provide vital health services to low-income women.... Many ... fresh attacks on reproductive rights, not surprisingly, have come in states where the midterm elections left Republicans in charge of both chambers of the legislature and the governor’s mansion."

Tim Egan writes a stellar post on the impending closing of a quarter of California's state parks, the result of cuts to the state budget.

New York Times Editors: "... a week ago, Judge James Cacheris of Eastern Virginia’s Federal District Court struck down a century-old ban on direct corporate contributions to political candidates." But after legal blogger Richard Hasen wrote that the DOJ failed to include an important precedent (FEC v. Beaumont) in its brief -- and the judge therefore did not consider it -- Cacheris has asked for new briefs & has scheduled a do-over. 

Right Wing World *

Whirly-Gig: Why would anybody want this guy to be President? Just listen to him:

... Beth DeFalco of the AP: "After a firestorm of criticism, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie changed his mind Thursday and decided that he and the Republican Party would reimburse the state for his personal use of a state police helicopter, which includes two trips to watch his oldest son's baseball games.... A spokeswoman for Christie said the governor paid the state a total of $2,151 to cover the cost of two trips in which he flew from Trenton to see his son's baseball games...." ...

... New York Times Editors: It took Christie two days to decide to pay what appears to be a partial reimbursement to the state. "What makes the governor’s helicopter excursions especially galling is that he has spent the last year and a half demanding sacrifices from everybody else in his state."

Calvin Woodward & Jim Kuhnhenn of the AP fact-check Romney's announcement of his presidential candidacy: "In rhetorical excesses marking his entry in the presidential campaign, Mitt Romney said the economy worsened under President Barack Obama, when it actually improved, and criticized the president for issuing apologies to the world that were never made." CW: the AP doesn't actually have a Pants-on-Fire designation ...

... BUT PolitiFact does. It fact-checks this from Romney's announcement:

We are only inches away from ceasing to be a free-market economy. -- Mitt Romney

      ... and gave him the old Pants-on-Fire award for that whopper. They're planning to fact-check other remarks from his speech. CW: Republicans have bupkus. They can't win unless they lie. So they do.

Krugman adds, "Romney is not a stupid man; nor is he, as best one can tell, temperamentally an extremist. So he has to know that he’s talking total nonsense.... But Romney is willing to pretend to be an ignorant extremist to have any chance of getting the Republican nomination. So this ends up being a character issue: do you want a man that cynical in the White House?"

CNN's Brooke Baldwin reports on Sarah Palin's "history lesson," OR How to Make Michele Bachmann sound like a History Professor:

Paul Revere Warns the British: He who warned, uh, the British that they weren't going to be taking away our arms uh by ringing those bells and making sure as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be secure and we were going to be free and we were going to be armed. -- Sarah Palin

... As Mediaite's Frances Martel writes, "... Revere didn’t warn the British were out to take anyone’s arms, as he didn’t yell out 'the British are coming!', as the myth goes. He had to be quiet to not let the British know that he knew (sorry, but no bells either) they were coming – to seize weapons stores, actually – and history notes that his warning was likely something ... like “the Regulars are coming.” CW: ironically, Palin inadvertently was partially right about the Brits' taking Americans' arms. One of my forebears, Benjamin Wellington, is considered to be the first armed American captured in the Revolution. British Regulars stopped him as he was walking to Lexington Common to confront the British troops. Wellington told the Brits he was going hunting. Uh-huh. The encounter took place in the country, & the soldiers had no way to hold Wellington, so they took away his gun and let him go. He continued on to Lexington, got another gun & participated at Lexington Common. ...

... Tim Murphy of Mother Jones is insired to rewrite Longfellow's "Paul Revere's Ride":

Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere.
If the story doesn't sound like what you read on Wikipedia,
You know who to blame: the elite liberal media.

      ... Read Murphy's whole post for a recap of Republican presidential candidate's interesting reimagining of early American history.

* Where Republicans are big-spending emperors and Democrats are "jokes" and "hacks."

Local News

Jason Seher of MSNBC: "In a news release, the [Wisconsin] state Democratic Party accused the petition circulators [for recall of Democratic state senators] of perpetrating fraud. More specifically, Wisconsin state Democratic officials have told NBC News that Republican petitioners falsely identified themselves as state officials and lied to residents on the Menominee Indian reservation...."

News Ledes

New York Times: "The House of Representatives voted Friday to rebuke President Obama for continuing to maintain an American role in NATO operations in Libya without the express consent of Congress, and directed the administration to provide detailed information about the cost and objectives of the American role in the conflict." Forty-five Democrats supported the resolution.

President Obama spoke to workers at a Chrysler parts factory in Toledo, Ohio, this afternoon. New York Times Update: "If the 2012 election is about the economy, as most people think, then President Obama’s visit on Friday to this struggling manufacturing city on the Ohio-Michigan border captured as well as any day could the complicated campaign he is likely to face — playing both offense and defense, taking credit and deflecting blame."

New York Times: "The computer phishing attack that Google says originated in China was directed, somewhat indiscriminately, at an unknown number of White House staff officials, setting off the Federal Bureau of Investigation inquiry that began this week...."

Washington Post: "Former vice presidential nominee John Edwards was indicted Friday on federal campaign finance charges for allegedly using campaign donations to conceal an extramarital affair while he was running for president in 2008." The Raleigh News & Observer story is here. New York Times story here.

Washington Post: "Jack Kevorkian, the zealous, straight-talking American doctor known as 'Dr. Death' for his lifelong crusade to legalize physician-assisted suicide died on Friday at a Detroit area hospital, the Associated Press reported. He was 83 years old." New York Times obituary here.

New York Times: "After several months of strong job growth, hiring slowed sharply in May.... The Labor Department reported on Friday that the United States added 54,000 nonfarm payroll jobs last month, following an increase of 232,000 jobs in April. May’s job gain was about a third of what economists had been forecasting. The unemployment rate ticked up to 9.1 percent from 9.0 percent in April." Bloomberg story here.

Wall Street Journal: "People who work at the White House were among those targeted by the China-based hackers who broke into Google Inc.'s Gmail accounts, according to one U.S. official. The hackers likely were hoping the officials were conducting administration business on their private emails, according to lawmakers and security experts."

New York Times: "Moody’s Investors Service warned Thursday that it might downgrade the United States government’s sterling credit rating if Congress did not increase the nation’s debt limit “in coming weeks,” putting a spur to the sputtering talks between party leaders and the White House on a plan to restore fiscal stability. The warning, from one of the agencies whose assessments of creditworthiness help determine interest rates, amounted to a stern reminder from Wall Street to Washington that global financial markets are watching the budget battle closely and that a standoff or brinkmanship could have economic consequences."

New York Times: "The House will vote Friday on two measures that are strongly critical of President Obama’s decision to maintain an American role in NATO operations in Libya, reflecting increasing disenchantment among elements of both parties about the United States’ involvement in the conflict." Speaker Boehner decided to write a Republican resolution out of fear that the resolution written by Dennis Kucinich would pass with bipartisan support.

New York Times: "Syria’s military forces continued pressing to crush a three-month-old popular uprising on Thursday, shelling a string of southern and central towns even as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned President Bashar al-Assad that his legitimacy had 'nearly run out.'”

Reuters: "Former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic faced the U.N. war crimes tribunal on Friday as a defiant general who never lost a battle, denying the charges against him as 'obnoxious' and 'monstrous.'"

Washington Post: "The bacterium that has killed more than a dozen Europeans, sickened nearly 2,000 more and raised international alarms would be legal if it were found on meat or poultry in the United States."