The Commentariat -- April 23

I've posted comments on Collins, Nocera & Blow on the Off Times Square page. In their usual weekend scramble, the Times is still holdng back my comments on Nocera & Blow (at 11:00 am ET), each of which -- for one reason or another -- is not bad.

The President's weekly address:

Paul Krugman: "The claim that only rich people pay taxes is a zombie lie — something that keeps coming back no matter how many times it’s killed by evidence.... High-income people pay the bulk of the federal income tax. But that’s not the only tax! And while the income tax is quite progressive, the payroll tax — the other major federal tax — isn’t; and state and local taxes are strongly regressive.... The overall system is barely progressive at all":

... Jonathan Chait of The New Republic with a more detailed explanation of how the right gets away with this zombie lie. Short answer: they focus on the federal income tax. "The right seems to have an unlimited number of talking heads, columnists, and pseudo-economists willing to peddle this nonsense."

Obamacare Pays Off -- for Insurance Companies. Karen Garcia learns health insurance companies are making record profits -- partly because claims are down. The insurance companies credit the low claims to bad weather; Garcia credits "deductibles, the co-pays and all the other out of pocket expenses" that the insureds can't afford.

President Finds Manning Guilty. Guess We Can Skip the Trial. Michael Whitney of Firedoglake: "In a discussion yesterday with Logan Price, a Bradley Manning supporter who was part of a group of activists who sang a song during the President’s San Francisco fundraiser, President Obama flatly stated that Bradley Manning 'dumped' documents and that 'he broke the law.'” Here's the videotape:

The Last Liberal Turns out the Lights. Jonathan Weisman of the Wall Street Journal: "Jared Bernstein, Vice President Joe Biden‘s economic adviser and one of the longest serving economists in the Obama White House, will leave the administration at the end of the month, a White House official said. Mr. Bernstein, a liberal voice in an increasingly centrist White House, will join the liberal-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. He is also in advanced talks to be an on-air commentator for Bloomberg News Service’s television network.

Josiah Ryan of The Hill: Maine Sen. Susan "Collins is the first Republican senator to state publicly that she will not support the Ryan budget." ...

... Zaid Jilani of Think Progress: "All across America, a Main Street Movement has broken out to defend the middle class against right-wing attacks on labor rights and basic public services. In recent days, this movement has turned on GOP House members who voted to effectively end Medicare and turn seniors over to private insurance companies when they approved Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) radical budget bill. On Tuesday, Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) was the latest congressman to face the ire of Main Street America during a town hall event with constituents who stopped being polite and started getting real.

Right Wing World *

I think [voting] is a privilege, it's not a right. Everybody doesn't get it, because if you go to jail or if you commit some heinous crime your rights are taken away. This is a privilege. -- Kurt Zellers, Speaker of the Minnesota State House. Zellers, a Republican, was advocating for requiring voter ID cards, which would likely lower the "privilege" among more left-leaning citizens: students, the poor .

The right to vote is explicitly referenced in several constitutional amendments, in addition to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
-- Eric Roper, Minneapolis Star Journal reporter

These comments by Speaker Zellers reveal a lack of seriousness about protecting one of our basic constitutional rights. Perhaps this explains why Speaker Zellers is so willing to pass a photo ID requirement that makes voting more difficult for Minnesotans despite our long tradition of civic participation and election integrity. -- State Rep. Ryan Winkler, DFL party

I fully understand it's a right we all have. I probably should have said it a little bit better at that late hour at night. -- Kurt Zellers, after criticism

CW: I haven't linked to any stories about Sen. John McCain's "We are all Libya rebels" lap for the very reasons Steve Benen illuminates.

Oh, rats, I missed Krauthammer Day, which was yesterday. Matt Yglesias: "... today is Charles Krauthammer Day, marking the eight anniversary of one of the greatest remarks of all time:

Hans Blix had five months to find weapons. He found nothing. We’ve had five weeks. Come back to me in five months. If we haven’t found any, we will have a credibility problem.

"In a related development, Krauthammer continues to be employed as a major television commentator and newspaper columnist."

* Where facts never intrude.

Local News

She's B-a-a-ack! With the resignation of Sen. John Ensign & his likely replacement to be Rep. Dean Heller of Nevada's second Congressional district, Sharron Angle is back in the news. Jon Ralston of the Las Vegas Sun: "The state GOP, which is petrified of the prospect of Sharron Angle winning the CD2 special election, has obtained a legal opinion that says the special election must be done through a nominating process through central committees -- an interpretation that, coincidentally, could hurt Sharron Angle's chances. The letter, from Reno attorney David O'Mara, also buffs up Secretary of State Ross Miller as the greatest, most non-partisan SOS ever (so he'll obviously do what we want him to do.). ...

... David Catanese & Alex Isenstadt of Politico with more on the political future of Sharron Angle.

News Ledes

New York Times: "Syrian security forces fired their weapons into crowds of mourners in at least three towns on Saturday as tens of thousands of people buried protesters who were killed a day earlier in the worst bloodshed since the uprising began last month. Human rights activists and witnesses said at least 11 people were killed on Saturday." AP story here.

New York Times: "Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, agreed on Saturday to leave power after 32 years of autocratic rule, according to a top Yemeni official, but only if the opposition agrees to a list of conditions, including that he and his family be granted immunity. Opposition leaders said they were prepared to accept most of the terms of the deal, which both they and a Yemeni official said would establish a coalition government with members of the opposition and ruling party. The president would turn over authority to the vice president."

Washington Post: "Residents of the besieged western city of Misurata ventured downtown for the first time in weeks Friday as rebels celebrated regaining control of the city center and said they hoped deployment of U.S.-armed Predator drones could help them drive Moammar Gaddafi’s forces out completely. ...

... McClatchy Update: "Forces loyal to Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi began withdrawing from the besieged western city of Misrata on Saturday, Gadhafi officials said, the first shift away from what has been an escalating urban war for control of Libya's third-largest city."

AP: "The Pentagon says the U.S. Air Force has carried out its first Predator missile strike in Libya." ...

... Al Jazeera: residents of Ajdabiya, Libya, name their largest square for documentary filmmaker Tim Hetherington, who was killed in Libya earlier this week.

New York Times: "More than 30 medical workers are missing in Bahrain, an American rights group said Friday, in the latest indication that the country’s health care system is being drawn into Bahrain’s confrontation with pro-democracy campaigners."

New York Times: "A federal appeals court on Friday reopened the criminal case against four former American military contractors accused of manslaughter in connection with a shooting that killed at least 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in 2007. Criminal charges against the former employees of Blackwater Worldwide had been dismissed in December 2009 by a federal judge in Washington, who criticized the Justice Department for its handling of the case and ruled that prosecutors had relied on tainted evidence."

Washington Post: "The Senate Ethics Committee is pushing ahead with its investigation of Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) despite his announcement that he would resign, an unusual move that, legal observers said, demonstrates the panel’s resolve to at least issue a public rebuke."

AP: "A plane carrying first lady Michelle Obama this week came even closer to a big military cargo jet than previously reported, the National Transportation Safety Board said Friday. The distance between the two planes closed to 2.94 miles before air traffic controllers at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington directed the first lady's plane to abort a landing...."

New York Times: "Persistent public suspicions about corruption and mismanagement that swirl around Egypt’s secretive deal to sell natural gas to Israel prompted Egypt’s public prosecutor on Friday to extend the questioning of former President Hosni Mubarak for 15 days, judicial officials said."

Reality Chex & the NYT Paywall -- Part III

As I suggested in Part II, the way I think the Times is handling non-subscriber hits is this:

The Times counts all of your hits, however you get to a Times page. Once you get close to 20, they send you warning notices that you're nearing your max, again -- no matter how you got to those particular Times stories. But when you hit 20, if you link to the Times site via Reality Chex or another Website, you can keep on keepin' on. The purpose of the warning notice, then, is to scare you into subscribing.

If you look at the URL on a Times story you've linked via Realty Chex or another site, it may have some stuff after the <html?> that the Times is using to ID/track where you stand. Next month, you'll go through the same thing. Unless & until the Times changes its policy, don't worry about it.

"Unscrupulous People." Yesterday, I linked to a post by Jeff Bercovici of Forbes, who writes, "The New York Times’s online paywall, the most closely watched experiment in the news business, is working like a charm, say its creators." They already have 100,000+ subscribers. "Meanwhile, paywall dodging has been less of a problem than was anticipated, said Martin Nisenholtz, the Times Co.’s digital chief. 'We’re seeing far less effect from the so-called workarounds than we in fact modeled,' he said. The dodgers aren’t a concern, he said, because 'they’re people who would likely never pay in any event.' And if they turn into a bigger problem, Nisenholtz added, 'we have a broad range of ways to combat these unscrupulous people.'” [emphasis added]

Here's an exchange I had with Bercovici regarding his post:

Constant Weader: 

Interesting, but the Times is still playing headgames with nonsubscribers. I have a noncommercial Website/blog where I have always linked Times articles, & I didn’t change my policy when the paywall went up. According to a letter from the publisher addressed to Times readers to announce the paywall,

Readers who come to Times articles through links from search, blogs and social media like Facebook and Twitter will be able to read those articles, even if they have reached their monthly reading limit.

But when they linked thru my site, my readers started receiving notices that they were on their last (or nearly last) 'free' article. So I wrote to the Times to ask them to clarify their policy. I received a response from one Andrew Smith in Customer Service, who wrote,

All non-subscribers to the New York Times (either a digital subscription or a print subscription) are limited to twenty articles per month.

The behavior described by … your readers when accessing that editorial is consistent with how we designed our new metered model for access to NYTimes.com.

In view of the apparent contradiction between Mr. Sulzberger’s stated policy & Mr. Smith’s letter, I again asked Smith (& I sent a copy to Sulzberger) to clarify. No response.

As nearly as I can tell, based on many letters from readers, the Times is “counting” reader hits, but even after they’ve reached their 20/month max, the Times is letting readers link through my Website.

But they won’t say so.

Bercovici:

I was confused by that myself, and I think they didn’t do a great job of explaining it upfront. Like you, I was under the impression that views via social media and blogs were uncounted, when in fact you can use up your quota that way; it’s just that AFTER your quota is used up you can continue to access articles via those links.

In short, Unscrupulous People, Bercovici and I have come to the same conclusion, no thanks to any confirmation from the Times.

The Commentariat -- April 22

While I stand behind my firm belief that I have not violated any law, rule, or standard of conduct of the Senate, and I have fought to prove this publicly, I will not continue to subject my family, my constituents, or the Senate to any further rounds of investigation, depositions, drawn out proceedings, or especially public hearings. For my family and me, this continued personal cost is simply too great.
-- Sen. John Ensign, in a statement announcing his resignation

Yes, if there's one thing John Ensign worries about, it's putting his family through a difficult ordeal. -- Steve Benen

Paul Krugman: "... the budget proposal from the Congressional Progressive Caucus is not going to happen — but then neither is the Ryan plan. And unlike the Ryan plan, it actually makes sense."

"Patients Are Not Consumers." Paul Krugman: "The idea that ... doctors are just 'providers' selling services to health care 'consumers' — is, well, sickening. And the prevalence of this kind of language [coming from Republicans] is a sign that something has gone very wrong not just with this discussion, but with our society’s values." See comments from Kate Madison, Karen Garcia & me others (held back on the Times site but not here!) on the Off Times Square page.

Brooks Does Broadway. David Brooks sees the musical/satirical comedy "The Book of Mormon." "The religions that thrive have exactly what 'The Book of Mormon' ridicules: communal theologies, doctrines and codes of conduct rooted in claims of absolute truth." He goes on to extol the virtues of "rigorous theology" and "rigorous codes of conduct." We need rules!

Tim Egan compares Donald Trump to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who currently on trial for a sex scandal involving underage prostitutes.

Robert Reich: "... the center of America isn't near halfway between the two sides. It's overwhelmingly on the side of the President and the Democrats. I'd wager if Americans also knew two-thirds of Ryan's budget cuts come from programs serving lower and moderate-income Americans and over 70 percent of the savings fund tax cuts for the rich -- meaning it's really just a giant transfer from the less advantaged to the super advantaged without much deficit reduction at all -- far more would be against it. And if people knew that the Ryan plan would channel hundreds of billions of their Medicare dollars into the pockets of private for-profit heath insurers, almost everyone would be against it. The Republican plan shouldn't be considered one side of a great debate. It shouldn't be considered at all." Read Reich's whole post.

Lori Montgomery of the Washington Post: "President Obama’s deficit-reduction plan 'falls short' of targets set by House Republicans and Obama’s own fiscal commission and would be unlikely to stabilize borrowing, according to a new independent analysis. The analysis, by the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, found that the plan Obama unveiled in a speech last week would require the nation to borrow another $7 trillion during the next decade, compared with about $5.5 trillion under the House Republican [Ryan] budget and about $5.3 trillion under the recommendations offered in December by Obama’s fiscal commission." CW: in other words, all of the plans raise the deficit over the next decade. CW: bottom line -- eliminating Bush tax cuts on the rich won't do it. Solution -- raise taxes on the rich & eliminate all the corporate loopholes. The Congressional Progressive Caucus budget does this and more. ...

     ... CW Update: Oh, good. Here's Michael Tomasky -- who covers U.S. politics for the Guardian -- agreeing with me. He calls the CPC budget "the only responsible budget in town." ...

... Or, as Ezra Klein explains it, "House Republicans voted to make the Ryan budget law. But the Ryan budget includes $6 trillion in new debt over the next 10 years, which means that to become law, the Ryan budget would require a substantial increase in the debt ceiling. But before the Republicans agree to increase the debt ceiling so that the budget they passed can become law, Republicans are demanding the passage of either a balanced budget amendment that would make the Ryan budget unconstitutional or a spending cap that the Ryan budget would, in certain years (and if you’re using more realistic numbers, in all years), exceed.” ...

... Howard Gleckman of the Tax Policy Center adds: "... any lawmaker who voted for the budget deal that funds the remainder of this fiscal year or who opposed the measure because it cut spending by too much ought to be impeached if he does not also vote to increase the debt limit.... Having voted to run up the bill, it is utterly irresponsible to prohibit the government from borrowing the money to pay it. More importantly, there is no fiscal plan now on the table that would balance the 2012 budget, and thus stop adding to the debt."

Dana Milbank: Andrew "Breitbart’s criticism of fellow conservatives is part of a new wave of infighting on the right. Three months after gaining control of the House, cracks have begun to appear in the conservative coalition.... This loss of discipline in the conservative movement is the natural byproduct of its rise to power."

Nate Silver: Republican "Gov. Brian Sandoval of Nevada is expected to appoint Dean Heller, currently the Republican incumbent in the state’s Second Congressional District, to replace Senator John Ensign, who is resigning.... Nothing about today changes" Mr. Heller's odds of winning the election. He remains "a modest favorite in the race, just as he was before."

Here's a handy little graphic showing how George W. Bush's policies created the deficit. That little dark line way down at the bottom of the chart shows what the deficit would have been without Bush's "help." Via Jonathan Capehart the Washinton Post:

Right Wing World *

Justin Elliott of Salon writes that he interviewed half-a-dozen reliable sources, each of whom had reason to believe that Sarah Palin was pregnant in early March 2008 and is therefore the mother of Trig. One source was then-AP journalist Steve Quinn who said Palin showed him her expanded abdomen some weeks before Trig's birth, & he observed she was pregnant. CW: okay, there's the evidence I was looking for & haven't seen printed anywhere. So I stand corrected.

Steve Benen: the Republican health insurance plan is still "go to the emergency room." How do we know? Because they keep saying so, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour being the latest advocate of that "plan." Benen calls it "the most inefficient system of socialized medicine ever devised" because of course "it's extremely expensive to treat patients this way, and it would be far cheaper, and more medically effective, to pay for preventative care so that people don't have to wait for a medical emergency to seek treatment."

NEW. While concurring with Andrew Sullivan's criticism that Republican Washington "elites" who are aghast at Donald Trump's popularity among their base have only themselves to blame for it, Driftglass also lets Sullivan have it for his selective amnesia. This 2006 post by Driftglass, which he cites in the current post, is quite worth reading, & the five intervening years haven't changed the general tenor & thrust of Right Wing World tactics. ...

... The Birth of Birtherism by Ben Smith & Byron Tau of Politico: "... as Obama marched toward the presidency, a new suggestion emerged: That he was not eligible to serve.... That theory first emerged in the spring of 2008, as Clinton supporters circulated an anonymous email questioning Obama’s citizenship."

... Kirk Johnson of the New York Times: "Around the country, the [birther] issue has proved to be a sure winner for the conservative base, with bills popping up in more than a dozen state legislatures to force future presidential candidates to prove their citizenship." CW: in case you think some of the backers of these bills might be stupid, take a look at the twisted logic of this Georgia state legislator whose birther bill didn't pass:

If one state passes, and the Obama administration basically ignores the requirement and does not qualify for the ballot in that state, that would send a very strong signal that we have a situation in the United States where someone who is not eligible is occupying the White House.
-- Mark Hatfield, Georgia Republican legislator

     ... Here's some similar logic: If I ignore a lunatic's demand to take off my shoes & show him my toes, then I must have twelve toes. ...

... Donald Trump takes a page out of Joe McCarthy's playbook and, discussing his "birther" investigation in Hawaii, tells CNN hosts, "I have people that have been studying it and they cannot believe what they're finding.... We're looking into it very, very strongly. At a certain point in time I'll be revealing some interesting things":

... The Best-Laid Schemes.... Michael O'Brien of The Hill: "If Donald Trump's flirtation with running for president is a bid to boost ratings for his reality TV show, it doesn’t appear to be working. Trump ... has been surging in polls measuring support for the GOP presidential hopefuls. But the ratings for the 11th season of NBC’s 'The Apprentice,' which is featuring celebrity contestants, hit their lowest point for the season last Sunday, even as Trump was enjoying prominence in a slew of presidential headlines." CW: maybe Trump is running for president as a back-up plan for when NBC fires him.

Alex Seitz-Wald of Think Progress: "Fracking is a relatively new and untested technique, but [Sen. Jim] Inhofe insisted that there’s nothing to worry about, as he claimed fracking has 'never poisoned anyone” nor ever contaminated groundwater.' ... Just yesterday, a blowout at a Pennsylvania natural gas well engaged in fracking spilled thousands of gallons of toxic chemical-laced water, 'contaminating a stream and forcing the evacuation of seven families who live nearby as crews struggled to stop the gusher,' the AP reported. Inhofe referenced the Pennsylvania spill in his interview, but said that it has 'nothing to do with fracking' because it was a stream, not groundwater that was contaminated."

* Where facts never intrude.

News Ledes

President Obama releases a statement on the violence in Syria (Full statement on the White House site):

The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms the use of force by the Syrian government against demonstrators. This outrageous use of violence to quell protests must come to an end now. We regret the loss of life and our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of the victims, and with the Syrian people in this challenging time.

New York Times: "Senator John Ensign’s resignation letter allows him to leave office just one day before he was to have to answer questions under oath about whether a $96,000 payment to the family of his former lover was illegal, designed to keep the affair from becoming public, according to people familiar with an investigation of Mr. Ensign’s activities.... Two leaders of the Ethics Committee — both the top Democrat and the top Republican — ... are likely to take the unusual step of issuing a statement that details evidence of wrongdoing uncovered in a 22-month investigation that was the largest in more than a decade...."

New York Times: "As Syrian security forces unleashed a deadly crackdown on demonstrators, protests on Friday remained peaceful elsewhere in the Middle East with tens of thousands of protesters taking to the streets following noon prayers."

New York Times: "Syria deployed police officers, soldiers and military vehicles in two of the country’s three largest cities on Thursday ahead of a call for nationwide protests that will test the popular reception of reforms decreed by President Bashar al-Assad as well as the momentum that organizers have sought to bring to a five-week uprising." ...

     ... New York Times Update: "Security forces in Syria met thousands of demonstrators with fusillades of live ammunition after noon prayers on Friday, killing at least 73 people in the bloodiest day of the five-week-old Syrian uprising, according to protesters, witnesses and accounts on social networking sites."

New York Times: "The secretary general of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council traveled to the Yemeni capital, Sana, on Thursday to offer the embattled president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, a deal to solve Yemen’s current political crisis. A Yemeni government statement promised an official response within 24 hours. The arrangement calls for the president to hand over power immediately and step down in 30 days, and sets up new presidential elections 60 days later, a Yemeni official said...."

Los Angeles Times: "President Obama sought to bolster California supporters Thursday by arguing that his administration has achieved a number of key goals, from healthcare reform to tax cuts, while acknowledging that delivering on the promises he made in 2008 has been more difficult than he had expected."

Washington Post: "BP will make a $1 billion down payment on the costs of restoring ecosystems damaged by last year’s 87-day oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the worst in U.S. history, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Interior Department announced Thursday."

Securing the Tipper Gore Vote. AP: "The Obama administration asked the Supreme Court Thursday to reinstate a policy that allows federal regulators to fine broadcasters for showing nudity and airing curse words when young children may be watching television. The administration is seeking the high court's review of appeals court rulings that threw out the Federal Communications Commission's rules against the isolated use of expletives as well as fines against broadcasters who showed a woman's nude buttocks on a 2003 episode of ABC's 'NYPD Blue.'"