The Commentariat -- February 9
The Editors of the New York Times get it mostly right: "The United States and the European Union ... badly miscalculated when they endorsed Egypt’s vice president, Omar Suleiman, to lead the transition to democracy. Mr. Suleiman ... appears far more interested in maintaining as much of the old repressive order as he can get away with.... So the United States and its allies will have to lay down a clear list of steps that are the minimum for holding a credible vote this year and building a democracy."
... CW: what the editors get wrong, I think, is that choosing Suleiman was a "miscalculation." I think the Obama Administration & European leaders know exactly what kind of a man Suleiman is. He's what they want. ...
... Mark Landler & Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates have each repeatedly pressed the United States not to cut loose Egypt’s president, Hosni Mubarak, too hastily, or to throw its weight behind the democracy movement in a way that could further destabilize the region.... There is evidence that the pressure has paid off. On Saturday, just days after suggesting that it wanted immediate change, the administration said it would support an 'orderly transition' managed by Vice President Omar Suleiman." ...
... Blake Hounshell of Foreign Policy: "Ironically, by kidnapping, detaining, and then releasing [Google executive Wael] Ghonim -- instantly turning him into a nationwide celebrity -- the regime may have just created an undisputed leader for a movement that in recent days has struggled to find its footing, seemingly outfoxed by a government skilled in the dark arts of quashing and marginalizing dissent." Here's the interview of Ghonim made by an independent Egyptian network (it's labeled "Part 2," but Part 1 is the interviewer describing her contacts with Ghonim). If you can't see the English-language captions, press the CC in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. Cursor through for the rest of the interview:
... Tom Cohen of CNN: Press Secretary Robert Gibbs criticizes comments by Egyptian VP Omar Suleiman, calls remarks "unhelpful." With video. CW: big whoop.
** Adam Goldman & Matt Apuzzo of the AP: "In the years since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, officers who committed serious mistakes that left people wrongly imprisoned or even dead have received only minor admonishments or no punishment at all, an Associated Press investigation has revealed.... Though Obama has sought to put the CIA's interrogation program behind him, the result of a decade of haphazard accountability is that many officers who made significant missteps are now the senior managers fighting the president's spy wars."
Lee Fang of Think Progress: "Nearly every Republican voted against the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, commonly known as the stimulus. But the majority of the GOP caucus later took credit for dozens of successful local stimulus jobs and projects.... Now, Republican leaders are coalescing around a proposal to 'cancel unused spending authority in the 2009 stimulus bill' that could block funds from flowing to ongoing stimulus projects."
Taxes Are Too Damned Low. AP: "... as a share of the nation's economy, Uncle Sam's take this year will be the lowest since 1950.... And for the third straight year, American families and businesses will pay less in federal taxes than they did under former President George W. Bush, thanks to a weak economy and a growing number of tax breaks for the wealthy and poor alike. Income tax payments this year will be nearly 13 percent lower than they were in 2008, the last full year of the Bush presidency. Corporate taxes will be lower by a third, according to projections by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office." ...
... Taxes may be too damned low, but Republicans spent what taxpayer money they got on luxurious accommodations for themselves. Christine Wade of the Tampa Tribune: "They rented an exclusive waterfront mansion, wined and dined at five-star restaurants and hired family members and friends, all on the taxpayers' dime. Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele's 2012 convention team based in the Tampa Bay area raked up nearly $1 million in charges – using a line of credit backed by federal funding – before they were fired by the newly elected party chairman [Reince Priebus] last month."
Paul Kane & Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "House Republicans suffered an embarrassing setback Tuesday when they fell seven votes short of extending provisions of the Patriot Act, a vote that served as the first small uprising of the party's tea-party bloc. The bill to reauthorize key parts of the counter-terrorism surveillance law ... required a super-majority to pass under special rules reserved for non-controversial measures.... With most Democrats opposing the extension, the final tally was 277 members in favor of extension, and 148 opposed. The Republicans ... made plans to bring the measure back for a quick vote later this month under normal rules, requiring only a simple majority for passage. They blamed House Democrats for the bill's downfall...."...
... Funny thing was, Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) dared the teabaggers to vote for the Patriot Act extension. Before the vote he said, "I am hopeful that members of the Tea Party who came to Congress to defend the Constitution will join me in challenging the reauthorization." And two dozen of them did vote against the extension. ...
... NEW. Glenn Greenwald on the Tea Party & the Patriot Act. "... what happened last night highlights the potential to subvert the two-party stranglehold on these issues -- through a left-right alliance that opposes the Washington insiders who rule both parties." CW: my favorite sentence: "Yesterday, on the very same day that the Obama White House demanded that Egypt repeal its 30-year-old 'emergency law,' it also demanded enactment of the House GOP's proposal to extend America's own emergency law -- the Patriot Act -- for three more years with no new oversight...."
I didn't raise taxes once. -- President Barack Obama to Bill O'Reilly ...
... PolitiFact puts the President's statement to the test, & finds numerous instances where he signed legislation that raised taxes. (I guess PolitiFact didn't give the President a "Pants on Fire" rating because a depiction of the POTUS's pants on fire lacks the dignity accorded the office.) ...
... CW: I don't know what happened to the video of Bill O'Reilly's interview of President Obama, but at some point I guess Fox took it down. I found a YouTube copy, though, so if you missed it you can watch it here (scroll down a bit). If Fox takes this one down, too, you're on your own! Sorry about that. ...
... AND Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post fact-checks former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld. "His assertion that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had 'thrown out' weapons inspectors is a common misperception, often repeated by former Bush administration officials." Kessler gives Rumsfeld four Pinocchios, the worst rating, which Kessler calls a "Whopper."
Vice President Biden speaks about the Administration's plan to build a 21st century infrastructure with investments in roads, bridges and high-speed rail. It runs 30 minutes -- hey, Biden is long-winded:
... Ashley Halsey of the Washington Post: "The Obama administration plans to spend $53 billion on high-speed and intercity rail over the next six years. Vice President Biden and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood made the announcement Tuesday morning during an appearance at Philadelphia's 30th Street Station.... President Obama's budget for fiscal year 2012, which is to be unveiled next week includes $8 billion for the plan.The rest of the money will be allocated over five years, officials said."
"Rich Take from Poor...." David Dietz of Bloomberg News: "Since 2003, some of the world’s biggest financial companies, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., U.S. Bancorp, JPMorgan Chase and Prudential, have taken advantage of a federal subsidy that will cost taxpayers $10.1 billion.... Investors have used the program, called New Markets Tax Credits, to help build more than 300 upscale projects, including hotels, condominiums, office buildings and a car museum, on streets far from poverty.... Money spent on high-end development could have been used to build more than 1,000 job-training centers, medical clinics and schools."
The "Widows Tax." Kimberly Hefling of the AP: "Tens of thousands of the nation's war widows find it perplexing and downright disrespectful to their late military husbands: In order to fully collect on insurance their husbands bought for them when alive, they must marry another man. And to qualify, the widows must remarry when they are 57 or older. Those who remarry earlier miss out, as do widows who never remarry.... Time after time, members of Congress have promised to help the 55,000 affected widows, but laws passed to help them have only created a more complicated system...."
Lori Montgomery & Brady Dennis of the Washington Post: "States that have borrowed ... from the federal government to cover ... unemployment benefits would get immediate relief from the Obama administration under a plan to suspend interest payments for the next two years. Obama also would suspend automatic hikes in the federal unemployment tax.... But starting in 2014, Obama would target companies for sharply higher payroll taxes." ...
... Update. Jonathan Weisman & Damian Paletta of the Wall Street Journal: "Republicans on Capitol Hill responded with hostility Tuesday to [the] White House proposal...." CW: you know it must be good if Republicans hate it.
Ann Telnaes of the Washington Post comments on Justice Clarence Thomas' "impartiality." Click on the cartoon to watch the animation:
Center for Constitutional Rights: "... two torture victims were to have filed criminal complaints, with more than 2,500-pages of supporting material, in Geneva against former U.S. President George W. Bush, who was due to speak at an event there on 12 February. Swiss law requires the presence of the torturer on Swiss soil before a preliminary investigation can be opened. When Bush cancelled his trip to avoid prosecution, the human rights groups who prepared the complaints made it public and announced that the Bush Torture Indictment would be waiting wherever he travels next." Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link.
Right Wing News
Ron Paul, one of the most outspoken opponents of the Federal Reserve, held his first subcommittee hearing as chairman of a House subcommittee overseeing the central bank today. His star witness was econ prof Thomas DiLorenzo, an Abraham Lincoln-hating secessionist. CW: I am not making this up. Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: Rep. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) directly took on DiLorenzo for his membership in the League of the South, an organization that has been designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a 'neo-Confederate' hate group advocating for Southern secession. Clay then rattled off a list of some of DiLorenzo's articles, including 'More Lies about the Civil War,' 'In Defense of Sedition,' and 'The First Dictator-President,' which examines 'how Lincoln's myth has corrupted America.'" Mike Konczal has some background here. (Via Krugman) ...
... The Apple Doesn't Fall Far from the Tree. Alexander Bolton of The Hill: "Rand Paul has broken with tradition by eschewing the unwritten rules for freshman senators: Keep a low profile, learn the chamber’s arcane procedures and cozy up to senior colleagues.... Paul is one of three founding members of the Senate Tea Party Caucus, which has set itself up as a tacit rival to the Senate GOP leadership."
Scott Keyes of Think Progress has a nice little item that lists some of the phony excuses Congressional Republicans make for taking government-subsidized health insurance even while voting against the Affordable Care Act for everybody else, but Keyes' favorite was Rep. Bill Posey (Florida) who said he didn't know if he was a federal employee. And we are subsidizing his insurance policy.
News Ledes
Politico: "Virginia Democratic Senator Jim Webb plans to announce today that he won't seek reelection, the Senator confirmed Wednesday. Webb appeared likely to face a rematch with former Senator George Allen, whom he beat in a bruising 2006 contest. He had expressed ambivalence about the prospect of another run, and has said he never planned a life in politics." New York Times item here.
Washington Post: "Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is able to speak: She asked for toast at breakfast one recent morning. Her ability to say even just a word, a month after being shot in the head, pleased her family, friends and doctors."
Al Jazeera: "The embattled government of Egypt had not met even a minimum threshold of reforms demanded by the people of the country, the White House said on Wednesday, warning that massive protests will likely continue until real reforms are instituted. In a sharp escalation of rhetoric..., Robert Gibbs, president Barack Obama's spokesman, suggested that some Egyptian leaders thought they could wait out the protesters...." ...
... AP: "Thousands of workers went on strike Wednesday across Egypt, adding a new dimension to the uprising as public rage turned to the vast wealth President Hosni Mubarak's family reportedly amassed while close to half the country struggled near the poverty line." ...
... New York Times: "Protesters demanding the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak appeared on Wednesday to have recaptured the initiative in their battle with his government, demonstrating a new ability to mobilize thousands to take over Cairo’s streets beyond their headquarters at Tahrir Square and to spark labor unrest.... In the most potentially significant action, about 6,000 workers at five service companies owned by the Suez Canal Authority — a major component of the Egyptian economy — began a sit-in on Tuesday night...."
... Washington Post: "Opposition groups accused the Egyptian government Wednesday of trying to draw out the process of amending the constitution after Vice President Omar Suleiman said that the only way forward was through 'dialogue' or a 'coup.'" ...
... Guardian: "The [British] foreign secretary, William Hague, has warned Israel against allowing the Middle East peace process to become a casualty of turmoil in the region, urging it to tone down 'belligerent language' over protests in Egypt and other neighbouring states."
New York Times: "Prosecutor Edmondo Bruti Liberati announced on Wednesday that his office had enough evidence to ask a judge to waive preliminary hearings and call for an immediate trial of [Italian Prime Minister Silvio] Berlusconi on charges that he paid for sex with a 17-year-old and abused his office by calling the police to intervene on her behalf after she was detained for petty theft in May."
New York Times: "Military discussions between North and South Korea ended on Wednesday with no improvement in their badly strained relations and no agreement about whether to hold more substantive talks in the future. A Defense Ministry official in Seoul said the talks ended abruptly at 2:30 p.m. when the North Korean delegation 'unilaterally walked away from the table and out of the meeting room.'”
Reuters: "Armed pirates seized a U.S.-bound oil tanker carrying Kuwaiti crude off the coast of Oman, the ship's Greek manager said on Wednesday, in an area where Somali seaborne gangs operate."
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