My best advice to House Republicans is--let President Obama cut the budget he actually knows what he is doing.
Yesterday's budget announcement by Hal Rogers was met in Washington with jeers and boos. The Washington Post noted that the Republicans cut anything that would have created a job and not only that but they didn't slash the deficit as advertised. They basically wiped out their own cuts through an unnecessary and unwanted increase in defense spending.
Pete DeFazio (D-Oregon) took to the House floor yesterday to ridicule the cuts proposed by the GOP. His bottom line was that the deficit is terrible so let's cut what is wasteful and unneeded. So out of his hat he proposed cutting the farm subsidies to unproductive farms and the oil tax credits. He pointed out that Exxon/Mobil's quarterly profits were the largest of any country in the history of the world and they pay no taxes in the United States. The total savings from DeFazio's modest suggestion would be around $45 billion and surpass the total the GOP's cuts.
The Republican Study Group, which houses the extreme right of the party, vowed to war with the House leadership for further cuts.
Meanwhile, Rachel Maddow seems to have stumbled onto the story of the House follies as a new unfolding story. Last night she pointed to the fact that 4 out of five bills brought to the floor by the GOP were defeated, including the bill to cut UN funding. To explain this strange phenomenon she brought back Michael Steele, who she has rehabilitated. Actually, the two of them together make for good television. What she quizzed Steele about was his statement months earlier that the GOP might not be ready to govern. Steele gamely tried to explain the GOP needed to get its sealegs. But his explanation was wholly inadequate. Maddow is intuitively onto to something about the chaos of the GOP controlled House.
The failure to pass the Patriot Act, the UN de-funding is simply unbelieveable when you realize that the House leadership generally doesn't bring a bill to the floor unless they know they have the votes. You don't simply allow votes just to say you did them--even in teabag nation. If you remember the nail-biting votes on healthcare and financial reform,it was widely and accurately reported that Nancy Pelosi wouldn't allow the bill on the floor unless she knew she had the votes. And there she liked to have about a 6 vote wiggle room. Here it seems you have a basic organizational breakdown with the GOP. After all they have an overwhelming majority. Their Whip is not whipping. No one seems to be home. They can't count.
Another aspect of the House chaos is this very strange phenomenon of bills, including their proposed budget,not going through committee. In other words,there was no staff work on the budget proposal except for the ideological desires of the leadership and some right-wing staffers. While Rogers could hype the cuts as the largest budget cuts ever--I doubt it--there was no there there. Already the corporate masters are starting to voice disagreements with the budget proposals. After all, if you hire your chiefs of staff from corporate lobby shops, you should at least use them to strengthen your budget approach. Apparently, this is no longer true. And if not corrected, what we will see is more mayhem.
Michael Steele knew better than to argue that the Republicans hadn't been in control for awhile. It was only 4 years ago they had the House. The talent is there to find people who actually know how to write laws if they cared to.
A writer from the Center for American Progress posted an op-ed on Huffington Post that details how a budget is supposed to be made and what House members don't understand. There exists a basic mechanics to appropriations, which has to be understood just to recognize the meaning of the budget you write. Apparently,House Republicans have just thrown the laws of economics out the window.
One of the weirder hearings was Ron Paul's on the role of the Fed. Before we heard from Bernanke, who was appointed by George W after all, we heard the new ideological voices of the GOP. First witness up was Thomas DiLorenzo, revisionist historian who wrote a biography of Abraham Lincoln portraying him as a tyrant and despot. DiLorenzo also serves as an adviser to an organization that supports secession--like today not just a cheerleader for the old confederacy. When pressed on this by the Democrats, he said that "Oh that, that was last year." So will the Right forgive Barack Obama for having a coffee in his first campaign over at Bill Ayers' house? Puh-Lease.
But the second witness was even goofier because I fear the man actually has greater traction among today's Right. He was a professor who is an advocate of the Austrian School of Economics. This is the talisman for libertarians and the Right. Those watching the mid-terms might have seen the Maine Tea Party urge a "return to the Austrian school in economics." Ron Paul asked whether the United States should return to the gold standard. The answer was yes,it can't hurt. But the argument of the witness was that the heyday of the United States' economic development was 1870-1920. In other words, they want to take the country back--to the 19th century.Asked whether returning to that style economics would doom the country to regular cycles of financial panics and collapse, he answered in the affirmative. He also claimed that the Great Depression was no big thing--it was only temporary. Ron Paul tried to push on the witness that the creation of FDIC and the FED only exacerbated the Depression and we would have come out of it sooner without the New Deal.
Step back for a moment--the Great Depression generated a consensus that our capitalist system needed to be regulated and its worst excesses corrected. Today, the new GOP doesn't believe this.Ron Paul's witnesses are people who would have spent the rest of their lives on the margins of our politics but now are accepted by one major party as experts. That is scary.
I've come to the conclusion that it would be best if the House were controlled today by followers of Lyndon LaRouche. Bear with me. LaRouche worshipped FDR and always argued for a national industrial policy. While he is as crazy as Paul on the Fed, he would at least propose things that could actually lead to the creation of jobs. What really is stunning is that the House GOP proposals not only do not create jobs but because certain agencies would be cut by 19% they would lead to increased unemployment across the board and a certain double dip recession. Poor Bernanke tried to explain to the Committee that the economy was recovering and much of the unemployment was cyclical but that if more jobs weren't created soon than there would be the issue of structural unemployment. I happen to think we already have the issue of structural unemployment.
You know we're facing ideological problems with Republicans when you have to defend Richard Nixon. Nixon was the one who ended the gold standard and created the EPA.
The GOP lost one member yesterday when his Craiglist entry went viral. Dating while married is not a good political move,especially when you go on line. Rivera will be next--I know I was wrong that he would be first.
The problem with the new House is what do you do when the debt ceiling has to be raised. How can you even explain this to people, who didn't even know the Patriot Act was going to be voted the other day? Or what was in it? Or what about the 13 House Republicans who refused federal health insurance and voted for the repeal of healthcare and now complain that their families may be denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions? Hello? What did you think you were repealing? You won't have known because they were no hearings to inform members about what was in the bill they were repealing. They thought they were repealing socialized medicine and death panels. So how can you explain the debt ceiling to people who are so clueless?
I think Rachel Maddow is exploring the fundamental issues of the House. Others are focusing on the outrageous human cost of the cuts when the rich get their tax break and other policy matters. But the total disorder of the House business is so fundamental, it poses an existential threat to Congress as a functioning body of government.
Remember over 80 new members of the House were elected by people that could not spell basic words on their campiagn signs.
Will the House GOP pay a political price for this? I don't believe so because I don't think too many Americans remember what Congress does. Look at the polls on the last Congress, the majority of Americans didn't believe it did anything, even though historians rank it already as one of the most productive in history. I also belive that there is a large segment of the population that actually believes that healthcare reform was actually repealed. When the House reaffirms our motto as "In God We Trust", at least one-third of Americans will believe that this Congress created that slogan.
We are now in the age of magical political thinking.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Gutting the Future--The House Budget Cuts
Hal Rogers, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, unveiled today a plan to cut $32 billion from the budget, which would make it the largest cut in the federal budget in history. The budget calls for 15% spending cuts in all discretionary funding, except with slight increases in military spending. None of the entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare are touched. It is rumored that teabaggers are demanding an additional $26 billion in cuts.
Naturally almost all the targets of the heaviest cuts are President Obama's priorities. Subsidies for alternative energy sources are eliminated. Over 60 programs are completely extingished. The Americorps Volunteer Program, all family planning programs,public broadcasting,community policing programs,the weatherization of homes and office buildings,aid to education, and food and safety inspection are all curtailed. The cuts affect heating and housing subsidies to the poor, Indian health care,the Women,Infant and Children program to provide food for low-income pregnant women, mothers and roung children are all cut drastically.
Only yesterday, Vice President Joe Biden outlined a $54 billion high-speed rail program to rennovate our transportation system. All high-speed rail projects are not funded in this House budget. Also, all road construction and transportation subsidies are eliminated, once a program with enormous bipartisan support.
Aid to education, another priority of the administration, has been severely cut. Pell Grants to disadvantaged students will be cut dramatically. Aid for special education is also cut.
Not only is scientific research cut but , most importantly, health research necessary to lower health costs in the future. The EPA will have its budget cut 18% because it was to start monitoring carbon emissions this year. The war against regulatory agencies continued with slashes to food safety and inspections under the new food safety program created last year.
And the House Republicans, who have insisted from Day 1 that the health reform bill will require massive new IRS hires,(Not True) slashed the IRS budget.
From a political point of view, the aim of these cuts is meant to sabotage all the gains of the last two years on domestic legislation. FYI--President Obama's proposed cuts to military alone double the amount of funds "saved" by these cuts. However, the military actually is increased by the Republicans.
The second targets of the cuts are all the boogeymen the Right have created. For example, Americorps, first created under Bill Clinton and expanded through George W and President Obama, is Glenn Beck's infamous private army for Obama. NPR deserves to die because it fired Juan Williams. There can be no alternative transportation to automobiles and those who consumed Koch Oil. The EPA created by Richard Nixon is a believer in Global Warming and must be stopped. The slash to the IRS is really a pay back to very wealthy donors that are afraid that Obama will use the IRS for political purposes to audit their wealth. All the cuts to education are aimed at penalizing minority communities.
All the budget cuts linked to a more efficient use of energy and the development of alternative energies should be understood in the light of the Wikileaks revelation this morning that American diplomats are convinced that Saudi Arabia deliberately over-estimated their oil reserves by 40%. The consequence is that Saudi Arabia can not flood the market anymore to keep prices down. It also means that other countries will be competing more intensely for oil supplies. Only the truly stupid do not invest in the development of alternative energy sources and invest in other energy efficient modes of transportation.
From President Obama's call to become more competitive, this GOP budget is a recipe for disaster. There is nothing here for the future of the country. There is no sense of the public good and certainly no sense of the needs for the future. It is fascinating that so little money--budget-wise--can actually foreclose the nation's future.
The early newspaper accounts of this are that the Senate and the President won't let it stand and this is all to satisfy the GOP base. Rubbish. This is amateur politics that is playing with fire. The House GOP with little vindictive Ricky Cantor at the helm is trying to Mau-Mau President Obama. If this were sincere politics, you would have seen more give on the military budget since both Gates and Obama wanted it cut. Instead,you have an ideological budget drawn in to gut America's prospects for the future.
Yes, we know that the GOP only care about power and taking back the Presidency in 2012. But we have already lost a decade in our development. Simply blocking any positive steps now to score political points could lead to another lost decade in the United States. it's not like you can put everything on hold until you win in two years and then start up the engines. Life and economics don't work that way.
Naturally almost all the targets of the heaviest cuts are President Obama's priorities. Subsidies for alternative energy sources are eliminated. Over 60 programs are completely extingished. The Americorps Volunteer Program, all family planning programs,public broadcasting,community policing programs,the weatherization of homes and office buildings,aid to education, and food and safety inspection are all curtailed. The cuts affect heating and housing subsidies to the poor, Indian health care,the Women,Infant and Children program to provide food for low-income pregnant women, mothers and roung children are all cut drastically.
Only yesterday, Vice President Joe Biden outlined a $54 billion high-speed rail program to rennovate our transportation system. All high-speed rail projects are not funded in this House budget. Also, all road construction and transportation subsidies are eliminated, once a program with enormous bipartisan support.
Aid to education, another priority of the administration, has been severely cut. Pell Grants to disadvantaged students will be cut dramatically. Aid for special education is also cut.
Not only is scientific research cut but , most importantly, health research necessary to lower health costs in the future. The EPA will have its budget cut 18% because it was to start monitoring carbon emissions this year. The war against regulatory agencies continued with slashes to food safety and inspections under the new food safety program created last year.
And the House Republicans, who have insisted from Day 1 that the health reform bill will require massive new IRS hires,(Not True) slashed the IRS budget.
From a political point of view, the aim of these cuts is meant to sabotage all the gains of the last two years on domestic legislation. FYI--President Obama's proposed cuts to military alone double the amount of funds "saved" by these cuts. However, the military actually is increased by the Republicans.
The second targets of the cuts are all the boogeymen the Right have created. For example, Americorps, first created under Bill Clinton and expanded through George W and President Obama, is Glenn Beck's infamous private army for Obama. NPR deserves to die because it fired Juan Williams. There can be no alternative transportation to automobiles and those who consumed Koch Oil. The EPA created by Richard Nixon is a believer in Global Warming and must be stopped. The slash to the IRS is really a pay back to very wealthy donors that are afraid that Obama will use the IRS for political purposes to audit their wealth. All the cuts to education are aimed at penalizing minority communities.
All the budget cuts linked to a more efficient use of energy and the development of alternative energies should be understood in the light of the Wikileaks revelation this morning that American diplomats are convinced that Saudi Arabia deliberately over-estimated their oil reserves by 40%. The consequence is that Saudi Arabia can not flood the market anymore to keep prices down. It also means that other countries will be competing more intensely for oil supplies. Only the truly stupid do not invest in the development of alternative energy sources and invest in other energy efficient modes of transportation.
From President Obama's call to become more competitive, this GOP budget is a recipe for disaster. There is nothing here for the future of the country. There is no sense of the public good and certainly no sense of the needs for the future. It is fascinating that so little money--budget-wise--can actually foreclose the nation's future.
The early newspaper accounts of this are that the Senate and the President won't let it stand and this is all to satisfy the GOP base. Rubbish. This is amateur politics that is playing with fire. The House GOP with little vindictive Ricky Cantor at the helm is trying to Mau-Mau President Obama. If this were sincere politics, you would have seen more give on the military budget since both Gates and Obama wanted it cut. Instead,you have an ideological budget drawn in to gut America's prospects for the future.
Yes, we know that the GOP only care about power and taking back the Presidency in 2012. But we have already lost a decade in our development. Simply blocking any positive steps now to score political points could lead to another lost decade in the United States. it's not like you can put everything on hold until you win in two years and then start up the engines. Life and economics don't work that way.
Take A Walk on the Far Side
We left Sarah Palin trying to trademark her name in line with the Roberts Court, Limited's desire that all Americans become corporations. It seems her problem is she forgot to sign the paperwork drawn up by her lawyer so there may be a wait. The former Mayor of Wasilla bowed out of an event to honor wounded veterans because she complained about threats against her. Police authorities reported no threats against her but it doesn't really matter since the veterans event coincided with the night of the first presidential debate for the Republicans. She wanted to keep her calender clean just in case there is a groundswell of support. Sister Sarah seemed to adopt the new anti-Reagan mood of Republicans by saying that the country is going down in ruins. This is the sunny, optimistic face we've come to appreciate in the new conservatives.
Bristol Palin says she may run for office now that she has the experience of giving birth. That one event has made her a darling for the abstinence crowd where she gets $12-15,000 per speech. Now she is to become an Arizona talk show host. On top of that she has penned a 302-page memoir probably titled "In Search of My Mother". She probably will be interviewed by Greta Von Cistern once it's been released.
Sarah Palin's Mormon sidekick Glenn Beck has accelerated his apocalyptic vision of the end of civilization as we know it. This has finally caused conservatives to yelp that he is "marginalizing himself" like he wasn't before. Little Bill Kristol dumped on Beck's hallucinations in his Weekly Standard claiming he wasn't any better than the John Birch Society. The National Review reported that Republican bigshots have met with Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes to get them to reign in Beck now that he is wrecking the Egyptian freedom mantra that former Bushies are reviving. They argue that all GOPers will be tarred with the same brush. Chris Matthews did a superb job reporting on the John Birch roots of Glenn Beck's recent barkings on the caliphate and Red Chinese and Russian Communist involvement in Cairo. Matthews broadcast a clip from the new John Birch CEO--isn't it great how everything is marketized?--who basically laid out the John Birch line which is almost identical to Beck's recent rants.
The criticism of Beck by Kristol and the National Review hasn't dampened Rush Limbaugh and Drudge from picking up the mantra of the global threats posed by the downfall of Hosni Mubarak and a change in Cairo. While this split is interesting on the right, virtually no Americans are paying any attention to Cairo according to the latest polling data.
Middle East expert, Huckabee of Judea opined in Jersulem that the Palestinians shouldn't be allowed to have any land on the territory of ancient Israel and should ask for only land from other Arabs. Since Jordan is on the land of ancient Israel, this makes the nearest place for a Palestinian state-- Iraq.
More right-wing organizations are boycotting CPAC because of their invitation to GOProud, the gay organization. Now the fat is really in the fire because Gary Johnson, the former Governor of New Mexico, who is for gay rights, the legalization of medical marijuana and is pro-choice, has been invited to address the group. This has ignited further attacks on CPAC from the religious Right. Strangely, the attacks are all aimed at Grover Norquist, who they blame for all the hippie-loving, pot-smoking behavior. It is said that Grover, who is married to an Arab woman, favors creeping Sharia law, which normally doesn't favor pot-smoking.
Former Minnesota Governor Palenta snarked that Sister Sarah bowed out of CPAC because the speaking fee was too low. The Governor, himself a would-be presidential candidate,vowed to reinstate DADT and refused to answer the question whether gays should serve in the military at all. Burnishing his presidential credentials, he came out last year against evolution and tried in his last days of Governor to outlaw abortion. Palenta is seen as trying to outflank Rick Santorum,whose name became synonymous with the excretions from anal sex, for the social conservatives. Santorum's presidential bid got a boost from George Will, who claimed Santorum had a credible shot at the nomination.
The authors of a new Montana Nullification Law sent me their vision. Montana will be voting on a constitutional amendment where the state can ignore any federal law it doesn't like. The authors are oblivious to the Civil War but it doesn't matter. The state also wants to create an unregulated state militia. The idea is floating around conservative circles. Virginia's own Attorney General wants to create a militia so that the state doesn't have to implement the repeal of DADT for the National Guard.
In five states where Republicans seized the governorships,the first order of business during the economic crisis was to try and outlaw abortion. Some efforts are old throwbacks like Ohio's heartbeat law, which would outlaw the procedure if a heartbeat could be heard or seen by a sonogram.
Bristol Palin says she may run for office now that she has the experience of giving birth. That one event has made her a darling for the abstinence crowd where she gets $12-15,000 per speech. Now she is to become an Arizona talk show host. On top of that she has penned a 302-page memoir probably titled "In Search of My Mother". She probably will be interviewed by Greta Von Cistern once it's been released.
Sarah Palin's Mormon sidekick Glenn Beck has accelerated his apocalyptic vision of the end of civilization as we know it. This has finally caused conservatives to yelp that he is "marginalizing himself" like he wasn't before. Little Bill Kristol dumped on Beck's hallucinations in his Weekly Standard claiming he wasn't any better than the John Birch Society. The National Review reported that Republican bigshots have met with Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes to get them to reign in Beck now that he is wrecking the Egyptian freedom mantra that former Bushies are reviving. They argue that all GOPers will be tarred with the same brush. Chris Matthews did a superb job reporting on the John Birch roots of Glenn Beck's recent barkings on the caliphate and Red Chinese and Russian Communist involvement in Cairo. Matthews broadcast a clip from the new John Birch CEO--isn't it great how everything is marketized?--who basically laid out the John Birch line which is almost identical to Beck's recent rants.
The criticism of Beck by Kristol and the National Review hasn't dampened Rush Limbaugh and Drudge from picking up the mantra of the global threats posed by the downfall of Hosni Mubarak and a change in Cairo. While this split is interesting on the right, virtually no Americans are paying any attention to Cairo according to the latest polling data.
Middle East expert, Huckabee of Judea opined in Jersulem that the Palestinians shouldn't be allowed to have any land on the territory of ancient Israel and should ask for only land from other Arabs. Since Jordan is on the land of ancient Israel, this makes the nearest place for a Palestinian state-- Iraq.
More right-wing organizations are boycotting CPAC because of their invitation to GOProud, the gay organization. Now the fat is really in the fire because Gary Johnson, the former Governor of New Mexico, who is for gay rights, the legalization of medical marijuana and is pro-choice, has been invited to address the group. This has ignited further attacks on CPAC from the religious Right. Strangely, the attacks are all aimed at Grover Norquist, who they blame for all the hippie-loving, pot-smoking behavior. It is said that Grover, who is married to an Arab woman, favors creeping Sharia law, which normally doesn't favor pot-smoking.
Former Minnesota Governor Palenta snarked that Sister Sarah bowed out of CPAC because the speaking fee was too low. The Governor, himself a would-be presidential candidate,vowed to reinstate DADT and refused to answer the question whether gays should serve in the military at all. Burnishing his presidential credentials, he came out last year against evolution and tried in his last days of Governor to outlaw abortion. Palenta is seen as trying to outflank Rick Santorum,whose name became synonymous with the excretions from anal sex, for the social conservatives. Santorum's presidential bid got a boost from George Will, who claimed Santorum had a credible shot at the nomination.
The authors of a new Montana Nullification Law sent me their vision. Montana will be voting on a constitutional amendment where the state can ignore any federal law it doesn't like. The authors are oblivious to the Civil War but it doesn't matter. The state also wants to create an unregulated state militia. The idea is floating around conservative circles. Virginia's own Attorney General wants to create a militia so that the state doesn't have to implement the repeal of DADT for the National Guard.
In five states where Republicans seized the governorships,the first order of business during the economic crisis was to try and outlaw abortion. Some efforts are old throwbacks like Ohio's heartbeat law, which would outlaw the procedure if a heartbeat could be heard or seen by a sonogram.
Our House is a Very,Very Nice House with Two Cats in the Yard
Today President Obama lunches with the House Republican leadership, which basically has nothing else to do.
Little Ricky Cantor blasted President Obama's speech before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce because government should not tell business to create jobs. This from the man who said the first job of the new Republican majority in the House was to create jobs.
Rachel Maddow had a fun segment on the rigorous schedule of the new House--two weeks on, two weeks off, plus holidays including St.Patrick's Day. The schedule leaves little time to get any work done.
But our guys are on the job. Today begins the debate on re-affirming that our national motto is "In God We Trust", which the co-sponsors claim was true from our founding. Actually, it became official in 1956. Previous to that our motto was E Pluribus Unum but we don't believe that any more. The first use of "In God We Trust" was on our currency during the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln was under pressure from abolitionalist evangelicals to seize the moral high ground in the civil war. Southern Christianity claimed secession was divinely inspired and the northern preachers wanted to take away the religious legitimacy from the South. Hence, Lincoln's compromise. But it sure will be a great debate with no one remembering how the motto got started in the first place.
The Prussian-like discipline of the new Republicans was on display with their snap vote on the Patriot Act. Because they cirucmvented the normal calender, passage needed a 2/3rds vote. The teabaggers rebelled on three clauses--FBI wireless wiretaps, library checks, and the lone wolf clause that allowed federal surveillance of individuals, not connected to terrorist groups. The Act was defeated, now making Democrats the number 1 party in national security.
"Grand Theft" Issa plans to subpoena all the names and records of every Freedom of Information Act request of the Obama Administration to determine whether the administration is playing games with them.
Peter King, the former hero of Bosnian Muslims, now will be holding hearings on why the Muslim community doesn't cooperate with the police departments. No police departments are testifying because they know all their tips come from the community. Instead, King is calling forth leaders of the Muslim community--like Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Just kidding.
Little Ricky Cantor now will move next week to insure that no money will be allocated to implement Health Reform.
Joe Pitts is sponsoring A Protect Life bill, which calls for penalties against health insurance companies who cover abortion procedures. This is the second bill in a week to restrict the right of choice.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen will be holding hearings on cutting off funding to the United Nations and ending foreign assistance.
Meanwhile, Gentleman John Boehner is saddled with the recent National Enquirer expose of his affairs with two women.
The FEC is looking into Michelle Bachmann's $1.5 million election slush fund for improprieties. The Feds are looking into newly elected teabagger Rivera from Florida, who has been voted most likely to leave Congress the soonest.
The fireworks will really begin when President Obama releases his budget, which will be declared Dead on Arrival. Paul Ryan is sharpening the knives to kill virtually everything, including government as we now know it.
Little Ricky Cantor blasted President Obama's speech before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce because government should not tell business to create jobs. This from the man who said the first job of the new Republican majority in the House was to create jobs.
Rachel Maddow had a fun segment on the rigorous schedule of the new House--two weeks on, two weeks off, plus holidays including St.Patrick's Day. The schedule leaves little time to get any work done.
But our guys are on the job. Today begins the debate on re-affirming that our national motto is "In God We Trust", which the co-sponsors claim was true from our founding. Actually, it became official in 1956. Previous to that our motto was E Pluribus Unum but we don't believe that any more. The first use of "In God We Trust" was on our currency during the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln was under pressure from abolitionalist evangelicals to seize the moral high ground in the civil war. Southern Christianity claimed secession was divinely inspired and the northern preachers wanted to take away the religious legitimacy from the South. Hence, Lincoln's compromise. But it sure will be a great debate with no one remembering how the motto got started in the first place.
The Prussian-like discipline of the new Republicans was on display with their snap vote on the Patriot Act. Because they cirucmvented the normal calender, passage needed a 2/3rds vote. The teabaggers rebelled on three clauses--FBI wireless wiretaps, library checks, and the lone wolf clause that allowed federal surveillance of individuals, not connected to terrorist groups. The Act was defeated, now making Democrats the number 1 party in national security.
"Grand Theft" Issa plans to subpoena all the names and records of every Freedom of Information Act request of the Obama Administration to determine whether the administration is playing games with them.
Peter King, the former hero of Bosnian Muslims, now will be holding hearings on why the Muslim community doesn't cooperate with the police departments. No police departments are testifying because they know all their tips come from the community. Instead, King is calling forth leaders of the Muslim community--like Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Just kidding.
Little Ricky Cantor now will move next week to insure that no money will be allocated to implement Health Reform.
Joe Pitts is sponsoring A Protect Life bill, which calls for penalties against health insurance companies who cover abortion procedures. This is the second bill in a week to restrict the right of choice.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen will be holding hearings on cutting off funding to the United Nations and ending foreign assistance.
Meanwhile, Gentleman John Boehner is saddled with the recent National Enquirer expose of his affairs with two women.
The FEC is looking into Michelle Bachmann's $1.5 million election slush fund for improprieties. The Feds are looking into newly elected teabagger Rivera from Florida, who has been voted most likely to leave Congress the soonest.
The fireworks will really begin when President Obama releases his budget, which will be declared Dead on Arrival. Paul Ryan is sharpening the knives to kill virtually everything, including government as we now know it.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Donald Rumsfeld--American Philosopher and Hero in Error
Dobnald Rumsfeld's memoir is finally out. We should take a moment to contemplate his primary contribution to our understanding:
"Reports that say something hasn't happened are always interesting to me because as we know,there are known knowns:there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns:that is to say we know there are some things we know we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns--the ones we don't know we don't know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tends to be the difficult one."
I would love to teach a college course just on that quote. It has already been turned into poetry and the opening premise of a book of art criticism. Stay tuned for more revelations from Rummy.
"Reports that say something hasn't happened are always interesting to me because as we know,there are known knowns:there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns:that is to say we know there are some things we know we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns--the ones we don't know we don't know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tends to be the difficult one."
I would love to teach a college course just on that quote. It has already been turned into poetry and the opening premise of a book of art criticism. Stay tuned for more revelations from Rummy.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Send in the Goons...Where are the Goons?..They are Right Here.*
Apologies to Stephen Sondheim
For the past two days,organized goon squads have attacked the pro-democracy protesters throughout Egypt. The good news is that Mubarak has agreed not to run for President again, his son has made the same announcement and Vice President Selieman also agreed. The head of state media defected today to the demonstrators and now is acting as a whistleblower about the crackdown on journalists. Journalists from all our major networks have either been attacked or detained for hours. Amnesty International has also been arrested.
This all looks like the last gasp of a regime that is dying in front of our eyes. Secretary of State Clinton has spent two days on the horn first denouncing the killings yesterday and later today the repression against journalists. Unfortunately for the government, there is no one around who bought into their narrative about the demonstrators being violent and infiltrators. Instead we saw the Egyptian people act in an orderly manner and even break out in joyous celebration.
I still feel President Obama should have been tougher with Mabarak and insist that the transition occuring Now, means he doesn't participate. That was John Kerry address two days ago and was the proper one. In the day and a half since the speech,the military, which had acted properly, went into a neutral mode and refrained from seperating the goon squads from the demonstrators. It was as if they had to see whether the uprising could be repressed through intimidation and force. Even Vice President Selieman said he would not negotiate until the demonstrations ended. Today, he started talks even though demonstrators still held the Square.
Hopefully the administration is quietly telling the military that all aid will be suspended until such time as a transition plan to democracy is approved, which incorporates the opposition forces. That is the word coming from the Senate today. Senator Leahy from Vermont was quick to say that all the aid in the pipeline would not be going to a regime that is repressing its people. President Obama should make this explicit because the longer the transition perior the more likely the situation will become radicalized. And this seems to be what Mubarak is banking on. He claimed today that he would be willing to step down immediately except there would be chaos. In fact, if he had made such an announcement on Tuesday,the transition would have gone calmly and orderly. Once the government unleashed the goon squads,chances have increased for anarchy and increased political violence.
The biggest concern has come from those trying to factor in Israel's interest in the situation. The more radical conservatives in the U.S. have painted a stark picture of Mubarak versus the Muslim Brotherhood. At this stage of the uprising, the protestors have been incredibly disciplined in controlling the Islamist element. The alternatives are not that sharp indeed. First,it is highly unlikely that anyone either in Egypt or abroad will demand the dissolution of the army as we did in Iraq. The Egyptian military is well aware that it gets the $1.5 billion in aid from the United States for supporting the Peace Accords. It's hghly unlikely that in any transition they would jeopardize that assistance.
Then there is the obvious. Mubarak is an 83-year old cancer survivor, who has run the country for 30 years and walked off with $40 billion. Even if he had declared his candidacy for the elections, he would be 89 at the end. The man is physically and politically a dead man walking. And this is your bulwark against extremism? You've been dealt a bad hand. But that hasn't stopped the extreme Right from defending him. Freepers actually sided with the goon squads today and yesterday,"even if Obama doesn't like it". Frank Gaffney has put forth the thesis that the Obama Administration at "the highest levels" has been infiltrated by the Muslim Brotherhood and are simply carried out their agenda. So far,the Brotherhood has maintained a low profile because they know their presence would panic the world community and another Algeria would happen--when the military stopped the democratic process.
The Obama Administration is haunted by the spectre of the Iranian Revolution and how the hostage crisis brought about the defeat of Jimmy Carter. Remember that was Ted Koppel's rise to power,,,theme song..."185 Days America held hostage." There are a number of more serious policy types looking at all the ways to avoid another Iran. You could view the sending of the Marins to guard the embassy as a sign the Obama Administration were pro-active in avoiding a hostage situation. Iran hovers over all these considerations. Others point to how the Cedar Revolution morphed into a Hezbollah dominated Lebanon. Of course, you could also look at Iraq becoming a colony of Iran courtesy of the last administration.
What's interesting is how widespread the Arab uprising has gone. Algeria responded to the demonstrations there by instantly buying more foodstuffs and announcing today that it would lift its 19-year state of seige. It's curious that Egypt has not mentioned anything about lifting its permanent state of emergency or sanctioning those responsible for the killings and woundings of demonstrators. Almost all the special powers of the state remain in force. While Yemen's president took the Tunisian and Egyptian leads and announced he wouldn't run again, the demonstrations in Yemen have gotten larger and now penetrate into the rural areas. The Sudan decided to preempt larger demonstrations and cracked down on the university, the source of opposition activity in the Arab world. But the Sudanese opposition remains undeterred and have up the stakes for tomorrow's rallies. The king of Jordan read the tea leaves earlier and moved quickly to dismiss the government and promised yet again reforms.
If you like to bet, I would favor Algeria, Tunisia and Jordan coming out of this in better form than I would Egypt, the Sudan or Yemen. It is also clear that Turkey has stepped up to the leadership position in the area of political change in the region.
The situation has produced some real howlers from American politicians. Debating Howard Dean, Newt Gingrich claimed that Reagan would have known how to handle the situation. Newt admitted that Reagan had been focused on the Soviet Union but he would have studied "radical islam" and prevented its spread. Unfortunately for Newt, the Gipper had another view of the situation. He withdrew from Lebanon immediately after the Marines were bombed and the CIA station chief was captured and tortured. He sold arms to Iran to fund the contras and he supported Islamists fighting in Afghanistan,including some of today's leaders of the Taliban. The late Jeane Kirkpatrick before she died said that one of the worst mistakes of the Reagan Administration was withdrawing from Lebanon. It's hard to get to Newt's statement from the Big Ron's own actions.
One of the aspects of this Egyptian situation is that it may free us from retaining our Cold War view of the Arab Middle East. It is the last region of the world where the orginal authoritarian regimes we once supported still exist. The events in Cairo are like the last days of the Nixon Doctrine, which called on the United States to preserve stability through a series of American-supported strongmen. Perhaps soon, we will see the Saudi dictatorship meets its demise. Then we can think creatively again and not be stuck in the past, which has seen its day.
It will be interesting to see what edtorial slant Fox news will have in the next few days now that their crew was attacked and beaten by pro-Mubarak goons.
As for me, I am off to the Midwest to count the bodies from the storm of the century.
For the past two days,organized goon squads have attacked the pro-democracy protesters throughout Egypt. The good news is that Mubarak has agreed not to run for President again, his son has made the same announcement and Vice President Selieman also agreed. The head of state media defected today to the demonstrators and now is acting as a whistleblower about the crackdown on journalists. Journalists from all our major networks have either been attacked or detained for hours. Amnesty International has also been arrested.
This all looks like the last gasp of a regime that is dying in front of our eyes. Secretary of State Clinton has spent two days on the horn first denouncing the killings yesterday and later today the repression against journalists. Unfortunately for the government, there is no one around who bought into their narrative about the demonstrators being violent and infiltrators. Instead we saw the Egyptian people act in an orderly manner and even break out in joyous celebration.
I still feel President Obama should have been tougher with Mabarak and insist that the transition occuring Now, means he doesn't participate. That was John Kerry address two days ago and was the proper one. In the day and a half since the speech,the military, which had acted properly, went into a neutral mode and refrained from seperating the goon squads from the demonstrators. It was as if they had to see whether the uprising could be repressed through intimidation and force. Even Vice President Selieman said he would not negotiate until the demonstrations ended. Today, he started talks even though demonstrators still held the Square.
Hopefully the administration is quietly telling the military that all aid will be suspended until such time as a transition plan to democracy is approved, which incorporates the opposition forces. That is the word coming from the Senate today. Senator Leahy from Vermont was quick to say that all the aid in the pipeline would not be going to a regime that is repressing its people. President Obama should make this explicit because the longer the transition perior the more likely the situation will become radicalized. And this seems to be what Mubarak is banking on. He claimed today that he would be willing to step down immediately except there would be chaos. In fact, if he had made such an announcement on Tuesday,the transition would have gone calmly and orderly. Once the government unleashed the goon squads,chances have increased for anarchy and increased political violence.
The biggest concern has come from those trying to factor in Israel's interest in the situation. The more radical conservatives in the U.S. have painted a stark picture of Mubarak versus the Muslim Brotherhood. At this stage of the uprising, the protestors have been incredibly disciplined in controlling the Islamist element. The alternatives are not that sharp indeed. First,it is highly unlikely that anyone either in Egypt or abroad will demand the dissolution of the army as we did in Iraq. The Egyptian military is well aware that it gets the $1.5 billion in aid from the United States for supporting the Peace Accords. It's hghly unlikely that in any transition they would jeopardize that assistance.
Then there is the obvious. Mubarak is an 83-year old cancer survivor, who has run the country for 30 years and walked off with $40 billion. Even if he had declared his candidacy for the elections, he would be 89 at the end. The man is physically and politically a dead man walking. And this is your bulwark against extremism? You've been dealt a bad hand. But that hasn't stopped the extreme Right from defending him. Freepers actually sided with the goon squads today and yesterday,"even if Obama doesn't like it". Frank Gaffney has put forth the thesis that the Obama Administration at "the highest levels" has been infiltrated by the Muslim Brotherhood and are simply carried out their agenda. So far,the Brotherhood has maintained a low profile because they know their presence would panic the world community and another Algeria would happen--when the military stopped the democratic process.
The Obama Administration is haunted by the spectre of the Iranian Revolution and how the hostage crisis brought about the defeat of Jimmy Carter. Remember that was Ted Koppel's rise to power,,,theme song..."185 Days America held hostage." There are a number of more serious policy types looking at all the ways to avoid another Iran. You could view the sending of the Marins to guard the embassy as a sign the Obama Administration were pro-active in avoiding a hostage situation. Iran hovers over all these considerations. Others point to how the Cedar Revolution morphed into a Hezbollah dominated Lebanon. Of course, you could also look at Iraq becoming a colony of Iran courtesy of the last administration.
What's interesting is how widespread the Arab uprising has gone. Algeria responded to the demonstrations there by instantly buying more foodstuffs and announcing today that it would lift its 19-year state of seige. It's curious that Egypt has not mentioned anything about lifting its permanent state of emergency or sanctioning those responsible for the killings and woundings of demonstrators. Almost all the special powers of the state remain in force. While Yemen's president took the Tunisian and Egyptian leads and announced he wouldn't run again, the demonstrations in Yemen have gotten larger and now penetrate into the rural areas. The Sudan decided to preempt larger demonstrations and cracked down on the university, the source of opposition activity in the Arab world. But the Sudanese opposition remains undeterred and have up the stakes for tomorrow's rallies. The king of Jordan read the tea leaves earlier and moved quickly to dismiss the government and promised yet again reforms.
If you like to bet, I would favor Algeria, Tunisia and Jordan coming out of this in better form than I would Egypt, the Sudan or Yemen. It is also clear that Turkey has stepped up to the leadership position in the area of political change in the region.
The situation has produced some real howlers from American politicians. Debating Howard Dean, Newt Gingrich claimed that Reagan would have known how to handle the situation. Newt admitted that Reagan had been focused on the Soviet Union but he would have studied "radical islam" and prevented its spread. Unfortunately for Newt, the Gipper had another view of the situation. He withdrew from Lebanon immediately after the Marines were bombed and the CIA station chief was captured and tortured. He sold arms to Iran to fund the contras and he supported Islamists fighting in Afghanistan,including some of today's leaders of the Taliban. The late Jeane Kirkpatrick before she died said that one of the worst mistakes of the Reagan Administration was withdrawing from Lebanon. It's hard to get to Newt's statement from the Big Ron's own actions.
One of the aspects of this Egyptian situation is that it may free us from retaining our Cold War view of the Arab Middle East. It is the last region of the world where the orginal authoritarian regimes we once supported still exist. The events in Cairo are like the last days of the Nixon Doctrine, which called on the United States to preserve stability through a series of American-supported strongmen. Perhaps soon, we will see the Saudi dictatorship meets its demise. Then we can think creatively again and not be stuck in the past, which has seen its day.
It will be interesting to see what edtorial slant Fox news will have in the next few days now that their crew was attacked and beaten by pro-Mubarak goons.
As for me, I am off to the Midwest to count the bodies from the storm of the century.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
They'll Selling Postcards at the Hanging
Over 2 million have gathered at Cairo's Liberation Square to demand the end of the Mubarak regime. Hosni Mubarak is 82 years old, has been in power for 30 years, and has siphoned off $40 billion for himself and his family. Put a fork in him, he's done.
Whatever is going on in Egypt, it's about the Egyptians and not me or you. But a successful democratic revolution would have the effect of liberating us from the remains of the Cold War structure in the Middle East. This morning King Abdullah of Jordan dismissed his government. The Ben Ali regime in Tunisia has already been toppled by the Jasmine Revolution. There are riots in Morocco against King Hassan and student riots against the regime in Khartoum. Yemen is experiencing demonstrations and protests aimed at toppling the regime. And Syria is looking on the whole scene very warily.
If the Egyptians succeed, expect to see the fire spread across the rest of North Africa and into the Saudi peninsula. Then we will not have to support autocratic regimes anyway in the world. What a relief!
So far the Egyptian protests have been dominated by secular youths, who are stranded in a culture which doesn't provide any opportunity. Only today do we see the Muslim Brotherhood begin to play a role in organizing the demonstrations and that may be more in Alexandria. So far they have played a very cautious game, knowing that they have become the boogey-men in Egyptian politics and throughout the world. From the view of Egyptians themselves, the Muslim Brotherhood is seen as too old, too antiquated and simply not with it. After the run of Islamist movements, maybe the Middle East has settled down for some real democratic change for a while.
The American response may not be as enthusiastic as supporters of the demonstrators may want. But how do you throw an ally under the table gracefully and not encouraged a replay of the Iranian Revolution? So far, the Egyptian military probably the most trusted institution in the country has sent all the right signals, vowing not to use force on the demonstrators and publicly acknowledging the rightness of their demands. There is even some talk about a senior military official taking control temporarily until a democratic transition can be put in place.
The Israelis are having heart attacks. After deliberately alienating their closest ally, Turkey, through some public displays of undiplomatic behavior and then the attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, Israel is left with only the 82-year old Egyptian President as their sole remaining friend in the Middle East. This discomfort has been channeled through the various commentaries in the United States. Egyptian opposition figure, Mohammed El Baradei is accused of being a puppet of Iran and then the Muslim Brotherhood. Mike Huckabee appeared yesterday before the Knesset to denounce the Egyptian events. Others like Roger Cohen of the Washington Post,Dick Morris on Fox News and some leading officials of major Jewish organizations have warned of an imminent threat by the Brotherhood. It's simply too late in the game to scare anyone.
The leadership of both our parties are trying to play this straight and encouraging a transition in Egypt. But the Right never disappoints. Red State blamed the demonstrations on ....drumroll... Bill Ayers, who apparently had been in Egypt protesting on behalf of the Gaza flotillas months back. They also blamed the State Department and our trade union movement. Rush Limbaugh and other right-wing talk show hosts claimed that President Obama had supported the demonstrators for the past two years and was plotting a Muslim Brotherhood take-over in Egypt since the time of his Cairo speech. Christwire called on their leader, Sarah Palin, to urge an American invasion of Egypt to present the status quo. Glenn Beck said that this was like Sarajevo--referring to WWI, not the Bosnian conflict. According to his worldview, Russia will make a mad sweep and take over Europe and the Chinese will seize the Persian Gulf to trigger cataclysmic change in the world.
There is no right time for change. It happens when people are no longer afraid of a repressive regime and stand up. I wish them all the luck in the world and hope Egypt becomes a democratic state. The ripple effects of such an event around the region would be a welcomed change from the political stalemates that exist in most Middle East and North African countries. It seems groups like Al Qaeda are left high and dry by these developments. Al Qaeda even complained in Yemen that the demonstrations were a Christian-Shiite conspiracy.
Maybe we'll see King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia hanging from lampposts one of these days. That is one show I want to see.
I've spent the last few days listening to the talking heads and our networks trying to explain what's going on. The only people who seem to make any sense are the people at Al Jazeera, who have soared in their coverage and established themselves as this age's new CNN. To them,I take my hat off. Unfortunately, the American coverage remainded me of a time five years ago when I had an epiphany while listening to NPR that no one in D.C. knew what they were talking about. Apparently, it's still true.
Whatever is going on in Egypt, it's about the Egyptians and not me or you. But a successful democratic revolution would have the effect of liberating us from the remains of the Cold War structure in the Middle East. This morning King Abdullah of Jordan dismissed his government. The Ben Ali regime in Tunisia has already been toppled by the Jasmine Revolution. There are riots in Morocco against King Hassan and student riots against the regime in Khartoum. Yemen is experiencing demonstrations and protests aimed at toppling the regime. And Syria is looking on the whole scene very warily.
If the Egyptians succeed, expect to see the fire spread across the rest of North Africa and into the Saudi peninsula. Then we will not have to support autocratic regimes anyway in the world. What a relief!
So far the Egyptian protests have been dominated by secular youths, who are stranded in a culture which doesn't provide any opportunity. Only today do we see the Muslim Brotherhood begin to play a role in organizing the demonstrations and that may be more in Alexandria. So far they have played a very cautious game, knowing that they have become the boogey-men in Egyptian politics and throughout the world. From the view of Egyptians themselves, the Muslim Brotherhood is seen as too old, too antiquated and simply not with it. After the run of Islamist movements, maybe the Middle East has settled down for some real democratic change for a while.
The American response may not be as enthusiastic as supporters of the demonstrators may want. But how do you throw an ally under the table gracefully and not encouraged a replay of the Iranian Revolution? So far, the Egyptian military probably the most trusted institution in the country has sent all the right signals, vowing not to use force on the demonstrators and publicly acknowledging the rightness of their demands. There is even some talk about a senior military official taking control temporarily until a democratic transition can be put in place.
The Israelis are having heart attacks. After deliberately alienating their closest ally, Turkey, through some public displays of undiplomatic behavior and then the attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, Israel is left with only the 82-year old Egyptian President as their sole remaining friend in the Middle East. This discomfort has been channeled through the various commentaries in the United States. Egyptian opposition figure, Mohammed El Baradei is accused of being a puppet of Iran and then the Muslim Brotherhood. Mike Huckabee appeared yesterday before the Knesset to denounce the Egyptian events. Others like Roger Cohen of the Washington Post,Dick Morris on Fox News and some leading officials of major Jewish organizations have warned of an imminent threat by the Brotherhood. It's simply too late in the game to scare anyone.
The leadership of both our parties are trying to play this straight and encouraging a transition in Egypt. But the Right never disappoints. Red State blamed the demonstrations on ....drumroll... Bill Ayers, who apparently had been in Egypt protesting on behalf of the Gaza flotillas months back. They also blamed the State Department and our trade union movement. Rush Limbaugh and other right-wing talk show hosts claimed that President Obama had supported the demonstrators for the past two years and was plotting a Muslim Brotherhood take-over in Egypt since the time of his Cairo speech. Christwire called on their leader, Sarah Palin, to urge an American invasion of Egypt to present the status quo. Glenn Beck said that this was like Sarajevo--referring to WWI, not the Bosnian conflict. According to his worldview, Russia will make a mad sweep and take over Europe and the Chinese will seize the Persian Gulf to trigger cataclysmic change in the world.
There is no right time for change. It happens when people are no longer afraid of a repressive regime and stand up. I wish them all the luck in the world and hope Egypt becomes a democratic state. The ripple effects of such an event around the region would be a welcomed change from the political stalemates that exist in most Middle East and North African countries. It seems groups like Al Qaeda are left high and dry by these developments. Al Qaeda even complained in Yemen that the demonstrations were a Christian-Shiite conspiracy.
Maybe we'll see King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia hanging from lampposts one of these days. That is one show I want to see.
I've spent the last few days listening to the talking heads and our networks trying to explain what's going on. The only people who seem to make any sense are the people at Al Jazeera, who have soared in their coverage and established themselves as this age's new CNN. To them,I take my hat off. Unfortunately, the American coverage remainded me of a time five years ago when I had an epiphany while listening to NPR that no one in D.C. knew what they were talking about. Apparently, it's still true.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)