The Commentariat -- February 20
From Pete Seeger's 90th Birthday Concert, Madison Square Garden, May 3, 2009. Featuring Billy Bragg, Mike & Ruthy Merenda, Dar Williams, New York City Labor Chorus. Many thanks to reader Dave S:
... Steven Verberg of the Madison, Wisconsin State Journal: "... a new report by the liberal Economic Policy Institute ... looks at total compensation -- pay and benefits together -- and found that public workers earn 4.8 percent less than private sector employees with the same qualifications and traits doing similar jobs.... Average compensation for public workers is higher because the jobs they do -- such as teaching -- require a relatively high level of education..., said a senior policy analyst at the institute. Yet the typical Wisconsin public sector employee with a bachelor's degree makes less than $62,000, compared to more than $82,000 in the private sector...." ...
... Karoli of Crooks & Liars has a terrific post on a Fox "News" "bulletin" that supposedly outs doctors for giving fake medical excuses to teacher-protesters who have called in sick to their schools during the Wisconsin protests. The content of the Fox "bulletin" is Breitbart creative crap embellished by a Koch brothers-backed "think tank." With video. CW: I don't know why Fox even bothers to occasionally report actual news. It's so much more fun to make your own.
... Monica Davey of the New York Times profiles Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin. CW: the profile isn't going to make you like him any better. ...
... Brady Dennis of the Washington Post tells the same story: Walker has a history of taking irresponsible anti-union actions. And he's proud of it. ...
... Alex Altman of Time has more on Wisconsin's budget figures, suggesting that Walker's $137-million deficit projection may be more-or-less correct. Also, Read Paul Dirks' comment, #3.
... Chris Hayes & Naomi Klein of The Nation explain why the Wisconsin protests matter:
Frank Rich: "Republicans are adrift with a shortfall of substance, offering the president a golden chance to seize the moment."
Maureen Dowd on writers behaving badly, which some think is exascerbated by the anonymity, accessibility and speed of the Internet & other social media.
David Herszenhorn of the New York Times: "The House vote Saturday to slash more than $60 billion from the shows how powerfully the anti-spending fervor of the fall elections is driving the new Republican majority’s efforts to shrink government. It puts the two parties on a path to a succession of showdowns over the deficit and the nation’s growing debt.... The Democratic-controlled Senate has signaled that it will not consider anything approaching the scale of cuts approved by the House, setting up a standoff that each side has warned could lead to a shutdown of the federal government early next month.... Treasury Secretary quickly criticized the House package.... The White House had threatened to veto the bill even before it was approved."
New York Times Editors: "The Pentagon needs to jettison the ancient formula that guarantees each service its accustomed share of taxpayer dollars.... For a decade, the Army and the Marines have been pushed to their limits while the Navy and the Air Force have looked for ways to stay useful and justify their budget shares. Updating the formula to reflect a more realistic division of labor would wring significant savings from the Air Force and the Navy.... The [Congressional] Republican leadership, in particular, does not make even the pretense of fiscal responsibility when it comes to military spending."
Jonathan Weisman of the Wall Street Journal: In a "heated White House meeting..., top Senate Democrats tried to scotch efforts by Majority Whip Richard Durbin to include Social Security in comprehensive deficit-reduction negotiations, illustrating the challenge facing the bipartisan talks."
The CYA State Secrets Doctrine. Eric Lichtblau of the New York Times: Now that it appears the computer software Californian Dennis Montgomery claimed could catch terrorists was a hoax, the federal government seems to be "trying to avoid is public embarrassment over evidence that Mr. Montgomery bamboozled federal officials.... Federal officials ... are going to extraordinary lengths to ensure that his dealings with Washington stay secret.... The Justice Department ... has gotten protective orders from two federal judges keeping details of the technology out of court [and] says it is guarding state secrets...." The government has paid Montgomery $20 million. Here's the backstory in a nutshell:
A onetime biomedical technician with a penchant for gambling, Mr. Montgomery is at the center of a tale that features terrorism scares, secret White House briefings, backing from prominent Republicans, backdoor deal-making and fantastic-sounding computer technology.
... CW: what's the difference between the CIA & the Keystone Kops? Uniforms.
"Socialism with Cheerleaders." Steven Pearlstein of the Washington Post: "The National Football League is one of the most sucessful monopolies in history.... The secret to the NFL's success is its ability to maintain the legal structure of 32 supposedly independent teams while operating with most of the advantages of a single business entity.... In a very disciplined way, it has added teams, extended the length of the season and increased the number of nationally televised games each week of the season. It has been so skillful in playing one city off another that it squeezed taxpayers for $500 million a year in stadium subsidies for many years. And it has so cleverly structured the sale of television rights that networks routinely wind up overbidding...."
Jon Kosman of the New York Post: the private equity firm Bain Capital, in which Mitt Romney held a controlling interest, made a fortune by buying and "bankrupting five profitable businesses that ended up firing thousands of workers." CW: some media observers see this column as a Rupert Murdoch hit job. I have no idea.
CW: I don't think what Soros says to Fareed Zakaria here is particularly earthshattering, but the clip is getting a lot of attention on the Web, so I've posted it:
Local News
"My Polluted Kentucky Home." Novelist & non-fiction writer Silas House in a New York Times op-ed on the toll exacted on residents by mountaintop removal and other coal mining practices, both legal and illegal:
The coal companies, the news media and even our own government have all been complicit in valuing Appalachian lives less than those of other Americans. Otherwise, it might be harder for them to get that coal out as quickly and inexpensively as they do.
News Ledes
New York Times: "Union leaders urged Wisconsin teachers to return to work at schools that are open on Monday, but large protests were expected to continue at the Capitol against a plan to cut collective bargaining rights and benefits to state workers." ...
... Fox "News": "Gov. Scott Walker said the 14 minority Democrats who left Madison on Thursday were failing to do their jobs by 'hiding out' in another state. And Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said his chamber would meet Tuesday to act on non-spending bills and confirm some of the governor's appointees even if the Democrats don't show up -- a scenario that should outrage their constituents." ...
... Wisconsin State Journal: "A marching, chanting crowd of 68,000 people thronged Madison’s Capitol Square on Saturday.... Supporters of Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to effectively end collective bargaining for the state’s public employees and increase their pension and health payments stood toe-to-toe and nose-to-nose with pro-union protesters.... A contingent of 120 Madison Police officers was supported by officers from the Capitol Police, State Patrol and the Dane County Sheriff’s Office. Also on the streets were deputies from sheriff’s departments from [other] counties.... There were no arrests...."
Al Jazeera: "There are reports of renewed anti-government protests in Iran, with demonstrators taking to the streets in several cities across the country. There have also been clashes between protesters and security forces, posts on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter said on Sunday. There were also reports of one protester being shot dead in Tehran, a story denied by government official in state media."
... New York Times: "The Obama administration on Sunday condemned Libya’s use of lethal force against peaceful demonstrators, pointing to what it said were 'multiple credible' reports that 'hundreds of people' had been killed and injured in several days of unrest. In the administration’s strongest statement on the escalating violence in Libya, the State Department said that it was 'gravely concerned' about the reports and that the number of deaths was unknown because of a lack of access to many parts of the country by news organizations and human rights groups." ...
... Guardian: "Muammar Gaddafi's son went on Libyan TV to defend his father's 41-year rule of Libya as protests spread to the capital Tripoli. The most violent scenes so far of the wave of unrest sweeping the Arab world were seen as Gaddafi relied on brute force to crush what began last week as peaceful protests but now threaten his regime." ...
... AP: "A doctor in the Libyan city of Benghazi says his hospital has seen the bodies of at least 200 protesters killed by Moammar Gadhafi's forces over the last few days. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he fears reprisal." ...
... New York Times Update: "Libyan security forces opened fire once again on Benghazi residents as they attended a funeral procession for the dozens killed the day before by the same government forces."
... New York Times: "Teachers, lawyers and engineers marched into Pearl Square on Sunday, joining an emboldened opposition whose political leaders demanded that the king dissolve the government and fire his uncle, who has held the post of prime minister for 40 years, before they agree to enter into talks." ...
... Washington Post: "The White House had been working quietly for several days to undergird efforts by [Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa] and a small group of other Bahraini leaders to end the crackdown and begin implementing some of the political and economic changes demanded by protesters.... The White House's efforts were complicated by deep divisions within the Bahraini government as hard-liners ... sought to quickly crush the protest movement...."
AP: "Oil from the BP spill remains stuck on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, according to a top scientist's [Samantha Joye] video and slides that she says demonstrate the oil isn't degrading as hoped and has decimated life on parts of the sea floor. That report is at odds with a recent report by the BP spill compensation czar that said nearly all will be well by 2012."
AP: "Jittery Chinese authorities ... staged a concerted show of force Sunday to squelch a mysterious online call for a "Jasmine Revolution" apparently modeled after pro-democracy demonstrations sweeping the Middle East. Authorities detained activists, increased the number of police on the streets, disconnected some mobile phone text messaging services and censored postings about the call to stage protests at 2 p.m. in Beijing, Shanghai and 11 other major cities."
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