The Commentariat -- March 4
** Katharine Seelye of the New York Times: "Three weeks after a scathing grand jury report accused the Philadelphia Archdiocese of providing safe haven for as many as 37 priests who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse or inappropriate behavior toward minors, most of those priests remain active in the ministry. The possibility that even one predatory priest, not to mention three dozen, might still be serving in parishes — 'on duty in the archdiocese today, with open access to new young prey,' as the grand jury put it — has unnerved many Roman Catholics here and sent the church reeling in the latest and one of the most damning episodes in the American church since it became engulfed in the sexual abuse scandal nearly a decade ago."
Paul Krugman: "Though we finally seem to be climbing out of a very deep hole, many people on the political right want to send us sliding right back down again."
Boehner Sets Up Lucy's Tee, Invites Obama to Kick. Alexander Bolton of The Hill: "Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has privately assured President Obama that House Republicans will not attack him if he makes a proposal to reform entitlement spending, according to sources familiar with the offer. Moreover, Boehner has personally promised Obama that he will stand side-by-side with him to weather the strong political backlash expected from any proposal to cut entitlement costs." ...
... Boehner Wants the President to go First Because ... Naftali Bendavid & Janet Hook of the Wall Street Journal: "House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday that he's determined to offer a budget this spring that curbs Social Security and Medicare, despite the political risks, and that Republicans will try to persuade voters that sacrifices are needed."
Worse than a Banana Republic. Karen Garcia has an excellent post on a Human Rights Watch report on U.S. workplace laws: "The Human Rights report story, which was buried in last week’s Times and got little corporate media attention, points out that the United States is an 'extreme outlier' when it comes to family-friendly workplace policies. Of 179 other countries in the developed world, the USA is alone in not providing mandatory, extended paid maternity leave. And contrary to the constant haranguing of our politicians that social safety net programs are the cause of our deficit, the truth is that nations with humane employment laws actually do better economically." Read her whole post. You can read the HRW report here.
The USSR on Lake Mendota: "Lil Bird," writing in the DailyKos, reports that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's team herded a small group of older protesters in to listen to his budget address. State troopers sat them in the back of the chamber on folding chairs & controlled their every reaction, manhandling & detaining a few who obeyed their every command. Read the whole post. If this is true, and I don't really doubt it, as reader Walt W., who sent me this link, wrote, "It's enough to make you gag."
Aluf Benn of Haaretz: Realpolitick may force Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to move from hard right to center. Two reasons: (1) "U.S. President Barack Obama’s veto against the condemnation of West Bank settlements at the UN Security Council brought home to Netanyahu that Israel has no more friends in the international community." (2) "Domestically, Netanyahu has taken a dive in public opinion polls...."
Alan Cowell, a Paris-based correspondent for the New York Times, on "how the West dealt with [Muammar Gaddafi,] the Libyan leader, over many years, escorting him into a kind of respectability that offered commercial advantage for those prepared to make the pilgrimage to his Bedouin tent — the accolade he sought from a world that once spurned him." Cowell, who is British, is particularly hard on the governments of both Tony Blair & David Cameron.
Don Walker of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "State officials said Thursday that damage to the marble inside and out the State Capitol would cost an estimated $7.5 million.... Many of the papers and banners posted in the state Capitol were put up using painter’s tape, which is employed to minimize effects on walls." CW: (1) If you believe the state's estimate, then you'll believe those people Bill O'Reilly showed protesting in shirtsleeves in front of palm trees were, as he implied, violent teachers in Madison in winter. (2) Alternatively, maybe Scott Walker has a buddy in the marble restoration business.
Right Wing World
Tim Egan of the New York Times on fiction by Mike Huckabee.
Nate Silver rates the Newt's chances for winning the Republican presidential nomination: "Despite his being more certain to run than several other candidates, betting markets put Mr. Gingrich’s chances of winning the nomination at 15-to-1 against; those seem like about the right odds for such a parlay." ...
... Jeanne Cummings of Politico gives a withering account of "Newt Gingrich’s bizarre launch of his expected 2012 presidential bid." ...
... BTW, I found somebody else -- well, an anonymous somebody else (I hate that!) -- who refers to Gingrich as "the Newt." "NotGeorgeEliot," as nearly as I can tell, is writing a novel which s/he calls "TwitLit" on the 2012 Republican presidential race. NGE is writing this "novel" on Twitter. I've retweeted his first few entries on my account (link above), & they're okay. We'll see how it goes. He's concentrating on Newt so far. -- Constant Weader
Bobby Jindal's Bad Day. Jan Moller of the New Orleans Times-Picayune: "Gov. Bobby Jindal defended the work of his wife's charity Thursday as he sidestepped questions about the unregulated donations flowing into the Supriya Jindal Foundation for Children from oil companies, technology firms and other interests that have business before the state." Gov. Jindal's relationship with his wife's foundation were the subject of a New York Times report we linked yesterday. ...
... Will Sentell of the Baton Rouge Advocate: "Gov. Bobby Jindal labeled as 'ridiculous' and 'silly' a newspaper story Thursday that said there are links between Louisiana firms doing business with state government and also making contributions to a foundation overseen by his wife." ...
... Frank James of NPR: "The Times doesn't claim there's anything illegal about any of this. But the optics, as political consultants would say, sure aren't good. And the touchy tone taken by the governor's people isn't what a crisis manager would recommend either." According to the "governor's people," "... if you raise any questions about what many reasonable people would see as a potential if not clear conflict of interest, obviously the problem is with you, you partisan hack."
Steve Benen: Rep. Trent Franks (R-Az) is calling for President Obama &/or AG Holder to be impeached for refusing to continue to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court. "In a more sensible political environment, this would make Franks a laughingstock, and probably cost him his chairmanship of House Judiciary Committee's panel on the Constitution. In our political environment, it's just considered Thursday."
Local News
Robert Annis of the Indianapolis Star: "The state’s top election official will face seven felony counts, including voter fraud, perjury and theft, a special prosecutor said today. [Republican] Secretary of State Charlie White was accused of intentionally voting in the wrong precinct during the May 2010 primary, a potential felony." Ben Smith points out that White is "a political ally of governor Mitch Daniels."
News Ledes
Wisconsin State Journal: "Two local news organizations sued Gov. Scott Walker Friday for alleged failure to respond to their requests for e-mails that the governor claimed were overwhelmingly in favor of his controversial budget repair bill....'The governor said he had gotten more than 8,000 e-mails as of Feb. 17, with "the majority" urging him to "stay firm" on his budget repair bill,' Isthmus News Editor Bill Lueders said. 'We're just trying to see these largely supportive responses.'" Here's the Isthmus story. ...
... Walker Blinks. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Gov. Scott Walker notified unions Friday of impending layoffs if a budget-repair bill isn't passed in the next 15 days.... Walker warned Thursday that he would issue the notices on Friday that would affect up to 1,500 state employees. The actual notices, however, did not spell out how many people could be laid off, and a spokesman for the governor said the layoffs could be reduced by employee retirements." ...
... Wisconsin State Journal: "The state 'closed the Capitol impermissibly' when it began restricting public access to the building, a Dane County judge ruled Thursday, ordering the limits be lifted no later than 8 a.m. Monday.... Judge John Albert said the state may impose 'reasonable restraints' on the time, place and manner of future protests. He also ordered the state Department of Administration to remove protesters ... after 6 p.m. when it normally closes...." ...
... Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "With a final group hug and a rousing rendition of 'Solidarity Forever,' the last large group of demonstrators left the state Capitol Thursday night, hours after a judge ordered their removal."
McClatchy News: "A bloc of Senate conservatives, led by South Carolina's Jim DeMint, flexed their muscles Thursday, pledging to block any bill they alone deem wasteful or unconstitutional. Seven other GOP senators joined DeMint's effort, including three freshman he helped elect in November, and veteran Sen. John McCain of Arizona...."
AINA: "International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that in the past two days, thousands of Muslims have razed five churches and the homes of two evangelists in Asendabo, Ethiopia. Christian leaders are asking for protection after the Muslim attackers continued burning churches even after the federal police were sent to the town."
New York Times: Federal "prosecutors filed 49 federal charges Friday against Jared L. Loughner, the suspect in the , accusing him of murdering and attempting to murder five federal officials but also of killing four constituents of Representative Gabrielle Giffords who were attending a public event she sponsored, and injuring 10 others waiting in line to talk to her."
New York Times: "The N.F.L. and the players union have agreed to extend negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement for seven more days."
New York Times: "Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s government struck hard at its opponents Friday, waging fierce battles to wrest control of the town of Zawiya from rebel troops and firing on peaceful protesters after Friday prayers in Tripoli, witnesses said. At least 13 people were reported dead in Zawiya, 25 miles west of Tripoli." ...
... New York Times: "In what has become something of a weekly appointment for displaying disaffection with unresponsive governments across the Arab world, thousands poured into the streets across the region after noon prayers on Friday. There were only scattered reports of violence outside of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s harsh crackdown on demonstrators in Libya."
Bloomberg: "U.S. employers added 192,000 workers in February, amid an improving economy and more seasonable weather, and the unemployment rate unexpectedly declined to 8.9 percent, the lowest level since April 2009."
New York Times: Bradley Manning, who has been charged with leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks, continues to be subjected to harsh or unusual treatment while in solitary confinement at Quantico Marine Base. ...
... Update: "Pfc. , the Army intelligence analyst accused of leaking government files to , will be stripped of his clothing every night as a 'precautionary measure' to prevent him from injuring himself, an official at the Marine brig at Quantico, Va., said on Friday. Private Manning will also be required to stand outside his cell naked during a morning inspection, after which his clothing will be returned to him, said a Marine spokesman...."
Reuters: "China will beef up its military budget by 12.7 percent this year, the government said on Friday, a return to double-digit spending increases that will stir regional unease. The country's growing military clout has coincided with a more assertive diplomatic tone, evident in spats last year with Japan and Southeast Asia over disputed islands, and in rows with Washington over trade, the yuan currency and human rights."
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