The Commentariat -- December 12

One Explanation (see also Frank Rich, December 5):

** CW: James K. Galbraith, in a Harvard speech, the transcript published on AlterNet, makes a devastating, and I think accurate, assessment of President Obama's economic policy. Obama, Galbraith says, surrounded "himself with holdover appointments from the Bush and even the Clinton administrations: ... Geithner..., Bernanke, and ... Summers. These men have no commitment to the base, no commitment to the Democratic Party as a whole, no particular commitment to Barack Obama, and none to the broad objective of national economic recovery.... The President also chose to cover up economic crime.... On the larger economic policy front, the White House gave away the game from the beginning." Read it all.

CW: if you're interested in knowing why the government doesn't work for you, Tom Hamburger & Matea Gold, writing in the Los Angeles Times, have the answer: Washington politicians are all already working their asses off to raise campaign funds for the next election. Like any good employee, they work for the guys who pay them.

"A Tale of Two Christmases." Ylan Miu of the Washington Post: "At Tiffany's, executives report that sales of their most expensive merchandise have grown by double digits. At Wal-Mart, executives point to shoppers flooding the stores at midnight every two weeks to buy baby formula the minute their unemployment checks hit their accounts."

I'll go next year; I've gone every year. I think it's very, very, very important -- very important -- for us to show up at that State of the Union, because people today are more and more visual. What [people] see in front of them at the State of the Union is that federal government. And I would like them to see the judges too, because federal judges are also a part of that government. -- Justice Stephen Breyer

Louise Story of the New York Times writes a fascinating mystery/horror story of how nine big banks secretly control the derivatives market, won't tell what they're up, won't reveal how much money they make on derivatives or how much the actual cost is to consumers & won't let other financial institutions participate. To help us understand how they "work," Story makes this analogy:

It would be like a real estate agent selling a house, but the buyer knowing only what he paid and the seller knowing only what he received. The agent would pocket the difference as his fee, rather than disclose it. Moreover, only the real estate agent — and neither buyer nor seller — would have easy access to the prices paid recently for other homes on the same block.

Ian Shapira & Joby Warrick of the Washington Post: "Since releasing a vast cache of diplomatic cables this month..., WikiLeaks has been the focus of intense criticism.... But it has also engendered the frenzied support of an expanding and loosely defined global collective that seems intent on speaking out -- and in some cases waging war on WikiLeaks' behalf. The most prominent of those groups is known as Anonymous, which this past week sought to disable the Web sites of several U.S. companies as part of what it called Operation Payback.WikiLeaks has also drawn the support of traditional civil rights organizations and advocacy groups, which see the controversy surrounding WikiLeaks as an important test of U.S. commitment to freedom of the Internet."

Katie Zezima of the New York Times: Sen. Bernie "Sanders’s monologue, a marathon riff against the Obama administration’s plan to continue the tax policies of George W. Bush administration’s plan to continue the tax policies of , stirred Twitter users to a roar over the course of eight-plus hours, putting his name atop the social network’s 'trending topics' by Friday night. It garnered even more attention than when he was elected to the Senate in 2006 and was considered the first senator ever to identify himself as a socialist." ...

... Olbermann does a good job of highlighting Sanders' 8-hour floor speech:

Stephen Ohlemacher of the AP: "President Barack Obama's plan to cut payroll taxes for a year would provide big savings for many workers, but makes Social Security advocates nervous that it could jeopardize the retirement program's finances. The plan is part of a package of tax cuts and extended unemployment benefits that Obama negotiated with Senate Republican leaders. It would cut workers' share of Social Security taxes by nearly one-third for 2011."

Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "... at the halfway point of a first term in which Mr. Obama has mostly relied on the counsel of a tightly closed inner circle, Mr. Biden is taking a more prominent and influential role. With the departure of Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff and Mr. Obama’s need to negotiate with Congressional Republicans if he is to advance his agenda, the president is increasingly using Mr. Biden as a multipurpose emissary while continuing to seek his counsel behind the scenes.

Sam Roberts of the New York Times: "After World War II, American counterintelligence recruited former Gestapo officers, SS veterans and Nazi collaborators to an even greater extent than had been previously disclosed and helped many of them avoid prosecution or looked the other way when they escaped, according to thousands of newly declassified documents."

Robert Pear of the New York Times: in January Rep. Joe Pitts, (R-Penn.) will become chair of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, a move that "presages a major shift on abortion and family planning, according to opponents and supporters of abortion rights. Opponents of abortion gained about 45 seats in the midterm elections, and they count the next speaker, Representative John A. Boehner, Republican of Ohio, as a staunch ally, virtually guaranteeing more conflicts with the White House on the issue."

Andy Borowitz: "... twenty-four hours after former President Bill Clinton appeared at the White House to endorse President Obama’s tax plan, Mr. Obama is 'still looking for the right way to ask him to leave,' an aide confirmed today."

Frank Rich: The National Portrait Gallery has mounted an installation of same-sex themes in American portraiture. Included in the exhibit is a four-minute excerpt of a film by David Wojnarowicz titled "Fire in My Belly." Within the excerpt is an 11-second scene in which a "crucifix is besieged by ants that evoke frantic souls scurrying in panic as a seemingly impassive God looked on.... “Fire in My Belly” was removed from the exhibit ... some 10 days ago with the full approval, if not instigation, of ... the Smithsonian" because of a right-wing campaign against it, ginned up by, among others, "William Donohue, of the so-called Catholic League.... [Soon-to-be House Majority Leader] Eric Cantor called for the entire exhibit to be shut down and threatened to maim the Smithsonian’s taxpayer funding come January."

Here's video of the excerpt (I had to testify to Google that I was at least 18 years old to access it):

My comment:

The Smithsonian’s cowardice, I suspect, is its management's way of welcoming the new Congress & its official policy of medieval bigotry. Why is Defense Secretary Bob Gates so anxious to have DADT repealed within the week? Because the new Republican Congress will not repeal it. In the Senate, every Republican Senator but one voted against repeal last week, even though the public favors repeal, the majority of the military is cool with it (not that that matters), the top civilian and military leaders favor it, the courts will impose it, and basic human decency demands it. So the Smithsonian is falling into line with the political gang who are ready to take over Washington.

The Smithsonian management’s response to "the public" is not as dumb as you think. Its masters, after all, are the Congress, as Eric Cantor reminded them and us. Among the brilliant ideas of the Catfood Commission was this little-noticed one: charge entrance fees to the national museums. This of course would make the museums off-limits to many Americans who visit Washington, and other visitors would have to pick and choose carefully, skipping those museums they didn't consider must-sees. This is such a Republican idea: keep the riffraff out! Only the moneyed class will be allowed entree to the nation’s treasures.

Oh, and another thing – forget about women. Even though it is privately-funded, conservative legislators think a National Women's History Museum is superfluous. Right-wing Sens. Tom Coburn & Jim DeMint claim there are already enough museums about women -- like "the Quilters Hall of Fame in Indiana, the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Texas and the Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens in Washington." [Gail Collins, NYT, September 24] Really, girls, you've already got lilacs by the outhouse door!

So the Smithsonian poobahs bow first to anti-gay bias, and while they're at it, to fundamentalist Christian prejudices. Will we see an installation of anti-Semitic art next? Maybe a panoply of depictions of the devil looking ever-so-Jewish would fit the bill. How about a nice display of Confederate memorabilia to celebrate secession? Copies of some of the slave states' articles of secession would be great along with some tattered Stars & Bars and awesome portraits of Jeff Davis & Robert E. Lee. And by all means, let's have a paean to anti-feminist heroes. An audio-tour narrated by Sens. DeMint & Coburn would be a perfect accompaniment.

Our national museums are not repositories of cutting-edge art. Instead, they are reflections of who we are as a nation. And when our nation is operating under the thumb of right-wing prejudices, we are a nation of which real patriots must be ashamed.

     ... Washington Post Update: "The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, one of the principal sponsors of 'Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture,' demanded Monday that the Smithsonian restore the David Wojnarowicz video or the foundation would not fund future projects.... The Warhol Foundation is the first major funder to publicly voice outrage" over the Smithsonian's removal of "the Wojnarowicz work, 'A Fire in My Belly,' [which] contains 11 seconds of an image of ants crawling on a crucifix."

The Commentariat -- December 11

Adam Nagourney of the New York Times: "Richard M. Nixon made disparaging remarks about Jews, blacks, Italian-Americans and Irish-Americans in a series of extended conversations with top aides and his personal secretary, recorded in the Oval Office 16 months before he resigned as president."

The Irish have certain — for example, the Irish can’t drink. What you always have to remember with the Irish is they get mean. Virtually every Irish I’ve known gets mean when he drinks. Particularly the real Irish. -- President Richard Nixon, in an Oval Office conversation with Charles Colson, February 13, 1973, from newly-released tapes ...

      ... If you click on the link at the word "conversation" in this Times article, you can listen to the tape. ...

... Nixon's crude racial remarks remind Digby of Carl Paladino.

Ryan Grim: "The tax deal reached between President Obama and congressional Republicans could mean a higher tax bill for roughly one in three workers as a result of the Social Security tax cut Republicans pushed as a replacement for the current Making Work Pay tax credit. Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said many House liberals were opposed to the payroll tax cut because of its effect on the poorest workers. Progressives are also concerned that the tax cut will become permanent and undermine Social Security's funding stream and political support over time." ...

Ninety-nine point seven percent of American families will not pay one nickel in an estate tax. This is not a tax on the rich. This is a tax on the very, very, very rich. -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, during his eight-&-a-half-hour floor speech ...

... David Herszenhorn & Carl Hulse of the New York Times on the estate tax provision of the Obama tax-cut deal: "House Democrats ... have refused to vote on the bill without further changes.... The House Democrats would most likely substitute the estate tax parameters that were in place in 2009, with an exemption of $3.5 million per person and a maximum rate of 45 percent." ...

... Paul Kane & Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: the Congressional Black Caucus has joined Sen. Bernie Sanders in opposing the Obama-McConnell tax-cut deal. "... members of the Congressional Black Caucus -- considered President Obama's most loyal backers -- ... announced that the 'vast majority' of caucus members would oppose the plan as it is currently drafted." ...

The vast majority of CBC members are opposed to the estate tax provision, and to extending the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest two percent of Americans. We are extremely concerned that the cuts that could be made should this package pass would disproportionately hurt the poor, and low income communities and further erode the safety net. We don’t want to create a situation today that will exacerbate the conditions for Americans who are already hurting. That would be unfair and that would be unwise. -- Rep. Barbara Lee, D-California, Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus

I do think that a major part of our objection is that we feel that it’s going to be bad for African Americans. -- Donna Christensen, U.S. Virgin Islands Delegate

... Politifact fact-checked Bernie Sanders' assertion in a November 30 Senate floor speech that "In 2007, 'the top 1 percent of all income earners in the United States made 23.5 percent of all income,' which is 'more than the entire bottom 50 percent.'" Bad news, America -- it's true. Includes video.

'First of all I feel awkward being here,' Clinton said, when he first took the microphone. Nothing could be further from the truth.
-- Michael Scherer of Time ...

 ... President Clinton takes over the podium in the Brady Briefing Room:

Dan Balz of the Washington Post on the Bill Clinton Show. Balz concludes, "If Obama succeeds in winning the support he needs from his rebellious Democrats in Congress, he will owe that victory at least in part to Clinton."

Christian Science Monitor: "Senior Pentagon officials expressed frustration this week with the Senate’s failure to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, for his part, said the development “disappointed” him.... But in the near future, a series of directives recently put into place by Mr. Gates and other senior administration officials make it far more difficult for gay troops to be discharged from the military, even while the ban is still in place."

Lyndsey Layton of the Washington Post: Two Iowa egg farms drew most of the blame" for last summer's salmonella outbreak, but federal inspectors "have largely ignored eggs.... It was not until July, well after the recent outbreak was underway, that the government's first rules on safe egg production took effect."