The Commentariat -- December 20

Here's the page NASA sent me to for the lunar eclipse tonight & tomorrow a.m. AND here's an informative AP story.

Richard Cohen, in a New York Times op-ed, provides a primer on the winter solstice.

Check out the Neighborhood. The New York Times posts interactive maps that allow you to "browse local data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, based on samples from 2005 to 2009," that map four topics: (1) race & ethnicity, (2) income, (3) housing & families & (4) education. The Times warns, "Because these figures are based on samples, they are subject to a margin of error, particularly in places with a low population, and are best regarded as estimates."

** "Top Secret America." Dana Priest & William Arkin of the Washington Post: "... The United States is assembling a vast domestic intelligence apparatus to collect information about Americans, using the FBI, local police, state homeland security offices and military criminal investigators.... The government's goal is to have every state and local law enforcement agency in the country feed information to Washington to buttress the work of the FBI, which is in charge of terrorism investigations in the United States." This page links to other "Top Secret America" stories, published in July 2010. Here's a brief video, which ends with an interactive map locating intelligence agency sites.

John Harwood of the New York Times posts a brief interview of Harry Reid. ...

... Hateful Anti-American Schmucks. Ryan Grim: Two Amigos John McCain & Lindsey Graham take revenge on DADT repeal by rounding up votes against the New START treaty.

Ben Evans of the AP: "For a guy who insists that federal bureaucrats make too much money, incoming House Majority Leader Eric Cantor sure doesn't mind handing out handsome government raises of his own. Cantor, the Virginia Republican who has led the GOP charge this year to freeze federal salaries, has boosted his congressional office's payroll by 81 percent since coming to Congress in 2001.... Cantor and other GOP leaders are now pledging to cut their budgets by 5 percent when they take over the House in January.... Overall, congressional payroll expenses have climbed much faster than the civilian federal work force costs that lawmakers are now clamoring to freeze. Many of the most vocal federal critics have overseen growth that rivals or outstrips the executive branch's...."

Elisabeth Bumiller of the New York Times: "In the wake of the Senate vote to end the 17-year-old [DADT] policy..., military officials said they did not yet have a timetable for putting the change into effect. President Obama is expected to sign the bill early this week.... Under the terms of the legislation that passed the Senate on Saturday and the House earlier last week, the Defense Department will not carry out the repeal until [Defense Secretary] Gates, Mr. Obama and Adm. Mike Mullen ... 'certify' that the military is ready to make the change. After that, the legislation requires a 60-day period before the change takes place." ...

... Robert Burns of the AP: "Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos, who had argued against the policy change, said in a statement Sunday the Corps 'will step out smartly to faithfully implement this new policy' and that he would 'personally lead this effort, thus ensuring the respect and dignity due all Marines.'" ...

... Matthew Cooper of the National Journal: "Like African Americans and women, gays will likely find military service a springboard to other rights.... It's probably instructive that the Dream Act failed the same day the 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal passed. The Dream Act would have, among other things, given illegal immigrants who served in the military a path to citizenship.... Were it to pass it wouldn't be at all surprising if it turned out to be the opening of a much larger path to legalization. Such is the power of being able to serve in the armed forces." ...

... Mark Thompson of Time on the integration of women & gays into the military. "In another 11 years, we'll wonder just how 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' ever became the law of the land, and why it was allowed to stand for 17 years and ruin the careers of nearly 14,000 people." ...

... CW: I don't find Walter Shapiro's hypothoses too convincing, but his question wants answering: "Why are liberals winning the culture wars and losing the tax battle? Shapiro blames Hollywood &/or suggests, more plausibly, that "the American people are, at their core, libertarians -- suspicious of both the taxman and the government's attempts to regulate social behavior." ...

... AND Now for the View from the Right on DADT Repeal. Kyle of People for the American Way's "Right Wing Watch" posts extended excerpts from some of the usual suspects: the Family Research Council, the American Family Association, etc. Kyle notes that "judging by the early statements ..., this vote is literally going to mean the end of America."

Peter Walsten of the Washington Post: "In the wake of President Obama's tax-cut deal with Republicans, the White House is moving quickly to mend its strained relationship with the Democratic base, reassuring liberal groups, black leaders and labor union officials who opposed the tax compromise that Obama has not abandoned them."

Paul Krugman: "Free-market fundamentalists have been wrong about everything — yet they now dominate the political scene more thoroughly than ever."

Don Lee of the Los Angeles Times: "Perhaps the most sacred of all the sacred cows in the tax code, the home mortgage deduction has long been seen as crucial to a major element of the American dream — owning your own home.... But nearly a century after coming into existence, the mortgage deduction may face a day of reckoning. Although out of the spotlight while the lame-duck Congress thrashes to an end, the mortgage deduction issue is likely to resurface next year when the new Congress — including a lot more deficit-hawk Republicans — takes over."

There Are No Violins Tiny Enough. Nelson Schwartz & Susanne Craig of the New York Times: "Bonus season is fast approaching on Wall Street, but this year the talk ... is about a new club that no one wants to join: the Zeros... [who] are facing ... an annual bonus of ... nothing.... As a result of the 2008 financial crisis, Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs and banks like Citigroup raised base pay substantially in 2009 and 2010.... Even though employees will receive roughly the same amount of money, the psychological blow of not getting a bonus is substantial, especially in a Wall Street culture that has long equated success and prestige with bonus size."

Justices Sandra Day O'Connor & John Paul Stevens. Newsweek photo.** Justice Sandra Day O'Connor interviews Justice John Paul Stevens in Newsweek. Neither thinks highly of the Citizens United ruling. (Stevens dissented; O'Connor had left the Court before the case came before it.) ...

... Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: the Supreme Court faces the death penalty. CW: okay, maybe that's poorly-worded, but Barnes' article about how the Court decides on whether to grant or deny certiorari in death-penalty cases is interesting.

Republican Takeover of the South, Cont'd. AP: "Another prominent Louisiana Democrat has officially switched his party affiliation to the GOP, giving Republicans a majority control of the state House for the first time since Reconstruction." Via Ben Smith.

A History Lesson. David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post on the 20th Amendment, which was supposed to end lame-duck Congressional sessions. (CW: the history lesson really begins on page 2 -- the Post no longer lets me link to a single page. You can click on "print" to read the whole article on one page.) Here's an interactive timeline of lame-duck sessions, beginning in 1920.