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Sunday, May 01, 2005
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Being There. In
the event that a personal savings account approach is taken, allowing
them to invest in a home in addition to right now it's stocks, bonds
and other financial instruments. If people can invest in their own
home, they'll know it. They'll understand it. They'll take care of it.
And they'll enjoy it and they don't have to worry about mergers and
acquisitions and scandals and market share. And by the time they
retire, they're going to have a pretty good nest egg there and they
don't need as big a house, usually, because they don't want to be
cutting grass and trimming hedges, and that is good for the economy as
well.Sen. George Allen (R-Va.)
Meet the Press
May 1, 2005
(via Atrios)
PRESIDENT: Mr. Gardner, do you agree with Ben, or do you think that we can stimulate growth through temporary incentives? (Long pause)CHANCE THE GARDENER: As long as the roots are not severed, all is well. And all will be well in the garden. PRESIDENT: In the garden? CHANCE:
Yes. In the garden, growth has it seasons. First comes spring and
summer, but then we have fall and winter. And then we get spring and
summer again. PRESIDENT: Spring and summer. CHANCE: Yes. PRESIDENT: Then fall and winter. CHANCE: Yes. BENJAMIN RAND:
I think what our insightful young friend is saying is that we welcome
the inevitable seasons of nature, but we're upset by the seasons of our
economy. CHANCE: Yes! There will be growth in the spring! RAND: Hmmmm. CHANCE: Hmmmm. PRESIDENT:
Well, Mr. Gardner, I must admit that is one of the most refreshing and
optimistic statements I've heard in a very, very long time! Jerzy Kosinski
Being There
1979
Back in the early '80s, when I lived in Virginia, one of our Senators
(not John Warner, but a senile old fart named Scott) was voted the
dumbest man in the U.S. Senate. As it happened, I actually had met
Scott once or twice, and I can't say the honor was undeserved.
Nor was it unusual. The Old Dominion has been producing politiicans
of very little brain for many years now -- a case of reversion to the
mean, I suppose, after giving the nation the likes of Thomas Jefferson
and James Madison.
Even by the state's contemporary standards, though, Allen is a
dunce. One of the few politiicans, in fact, who could make people refer
to John Warner as "the smart one."
Which, needless to say, could make him a hot prospect for the GOP presidential nomination. [Whiskey Bar]
8:40:08 PM 
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Warren Buffett and Charles Munger on Social Security.
More opponents of Bush's Social Security "plans": Bloomberg.com: Top
Worldwide: Social Security: [Warren] Buffett and [Charles] Munger also
told shareholders of [Berkshire-Hathaway that] they oppose U.S.
President George W. Bush's plan to allow privatization of Social
Security because the government has a duty to take care of the
country's elderly. "The Republicans are out of their cotton-picking
minds on this issue," said Munger, a self-described right-wing
Republican. Social Security is "one of the most successful things that
the government has ever done."...
[Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal]
6:31:19 PM
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VT-Sen: Douglas out.
Bernie Sanders has a clear path to the Senate seat in Vermont, as
the only Republican of note in the state, Gov. James Douglas, doesn't want to lose to Bernie. Lt. Gov Brian Dubie now says he might enter the fray, either for the Senate seat or Sanders' vacated House seat.
[Daily Kos]
6:30:11 PM
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Treating an Oil Addiction.
John Cole's got a sensible post on the need for a new energy
strategy, but I think he forgets that he doesn't have a sensible party:
It never ceases to amaze me how silly many on the left are...
[Ezra Klein]
5:13:49 PM
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High praise.
John Rogers of KungFu Monkey says of Orac: I enjoy the way he
crotch-kicks modern medievalism with reason and science, while he seems
to be amused at the way I just mercilessly mock it into submission.
Despite our differing approaches,...
[Majikthise]
5:08:49 PM
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Jump In, Jack Ca$h! It's A Mass Gas Pass!.
Recently, King George announced his energy 'policy', which hasn't
exactly been playing to rave reviews. Even former President Clinton is
speaking out against the plans. In a manner similar to every other
economic aspect of the Bu$hevik regime, most of...
[The Left Coaster]
5:01:32 PM
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Free fallin' 
duh
Ferrer in need of first 'aide'
New staffers could save bid
By MICHAEL SAUL
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU
The
sudden departure of two top aides in Fernando Ferrer's campaign left
his Democratic rivals and political observers speculating yesterday
whether the embattled front-runner can save his stumbling mayoral bid.
But in an interview on WNBC-TV, Ferrer spoke out about his aides' exit and insisted it was not a major blow.
"Campaigns
and consultants have differences from time to time," Ferrer said in the
interview that will air today. "We had strategic differences in this
campaign."
Ferrer denied that his aides' decision to quit was
connected to his plummeting poll numbers or his controversial March 15
statement that he didn't believe the 1999 police shooting of Amadou
Diallo was a crime.
"At the end of the day, it's going to be my
name on the voting machine, not the name of anybody who works in my
campaign, not the name of any consultant," he said. "And I'm going to
ask people to vote for me on the basis of who I am, what I believe in
and where I want to take this city, our city."
Asked by WNBC's
Gabe Pressman to explain what the "strategic differences" were with his
former aides, Ferrer said, "Differences in strategy." He refused to
elaborate.
......................
Ferrer's campaign said yesterday that aide Jen Bluestein will replace Clanton. No successor was named for Axelrod.
The
departures came as a Marist College Institute for Public Opinion poll
showed last week that Ferrer had dropped 20 points in one month.
"There
is a general and growing belief that Freddy can't win," said Doug
Muzzio, a professor at Baruch College's Center for Innovation and
Leadership in Government. "The candidate has not sparkled. He's looked
reluctant and a bit aloof - it's not Freddy, and it's not good."
...........................
Steven
Cohen, a professor of public administration at Columbia University,
said it's still early enough in the campaign for Ferrer to mount a
turnaround.
"He has plenty of time to recover, so bringing in a new team can help him reformulate his candidacy," Cohen said.
"Nothing that's happened so far has been very good, but that doesn't mean it's irredeemable."
You
bet your ass that perception is growing. It is amazing how quickly his
campaign has collapsed. Diallo has been very bad for him, very bad. It
cut his support among the black working and middle classes. And now
Tony Weiner is making his move. Which isn't surprising in the
slightest. He campaigns hard.
He's lucky that Fields hasn't got a clue on how to capitalize on his misfortune.
Ferrer
has to back down on Diallo and come up with a real program for change.
Diallo pissed so many people off he has no clue. But the Marist poll
should be a hint at how bad it is. It is literally watching the black
city worker class flee his campaign. Why? Becuase of the near
uniformity of belief that the cops murdered Diallo in cold blood and
Giuliani helped them get off. While it may be fine for whites to call
it an accident, not too many black New Yorkers believe that.
Aides do leave, but this makes Ferrer's campaign look in disarray, more than it already does. [Steve Gilliard's News Blog]
5:00:25 PM
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Iraq, the secret US visit, and an angry military chief.
Iraq, the secret US visit, and an angry military chief Antony Barnett,
Gaby Hinsliff & Martin Bright | May 2The Observer - The legality of
the Iraq war exploded on to the agenda last week, causing chaos to
Labour strategy. Here we reveal the key US officials who persuaded
Britain that invasion was legal - and the astonishing reaction from our
military chiefs. In a series of interviews with key players on both
sides of the Atlantic, The Observer can for the first time reveal the
remarkable Washington summit attended by the Attorney General, Lord
Goldsmith, with leading legal officers in the Bush administration.
Goldsmith came back more 'persuaded' that the case for war was
'reasonable'.
[The Agonist]
4:58:41 PM
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The secret Downing Street memo.
David Manning | Britain | May 01
The
Sunday Times - Britain - Secret and Strictly Personal - UK eyes only
Iraq: Prime Minister's Meeting, 23 JULY This record is extremely
sensitive. No further copies should be made. It should be shown only to
those with a genuine need to know its contents.
[The Agonist]
3:15:28 PM
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Republicans hate country music, spread the word. Tell me again why liberals are supposed to be the elitists?
AUSTIN, Texas - Willie Nelson's name is off the road again.
ADVERTISEMENT
A state legislator had proposed naming a 49-mile stretch of Texas
Highway 130 being built around Austin in honor of the Texas country
music singer.
But two Republican senators, Steve Odgen of Bryan and Jeff Wentworth
of San Antonio, said they didn't want Nelson's name on the road that
crosses their districts, citing the musician's fondness for drinking
and smoking, and active campaigning for Democratic candidates.
Willie Nelson, along with drinking and smoking, are on the naughty
list in Republicanland. You can add those to the pile, alongside blow
jobs, the birth control pill, "The Daily Show", and non-Christian (aka,
good) rock bands. And it looks like they can't even pretend to embrace "South Park" anymore.
Once you get to the bottom of the list of verboten pleasures, the only
ways to get your jollies left are getting whipped by a $1,000 an hour
dominatrix and polishing your yacht. Who are the elitists supposed to
be again?
Via Norbizness. [Pandagon]
3:12:09 PM
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Stock Market Tanking? Sell Your House!.
On Meet the Press this morning:Senator George Allen (R-VA) may have
gotten in a bit over his head, this morning, on Meet the Press. On
private accounts, he suggested that Americans might have to sell...
[Political Animal]
1:02:15 PM
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Memewatch .
Let's see what's happening over at Memeorandum... Ah, this is good, Cliff May thinks being yelled at by Teddy Kennedy
is the same thing as hiring an obnoxious thug who can't get along with
anyone as a diplomat. It would take too long to explain to May things
he probably doesn't understand anyway, such as being elected (as
opposed to being shoved down your throat), or having to actually work
for a guy who wants you to tell lies for him and treats you like dirt
and - unlike the Senator - never apologizes. Conservatives have a lot
easier time being conservative if they don't have to consider thinks
like facts and context.The NYT on Uzbekistan as our latest place to outsource torture to. A CIA official pretends that we don't know we are enabling torture, so it's okay. Henry Farrell at Crooked Timber: Or
in other words, don't ask, don't tell. It is nothing less than
appalling that this has happened, is continuing to happen, and is an
official (if unacknowledged) US policy. Indeed, it's not only
appalling; it's criminal. No other conclusion is possible than that the
United States of America is deliberately and consciously shipping
people to third party regimes so that information can be tortured from
them. This is general knowledge. Yet it isn't being acted on. Those who
have introduced this policy and overseen it shouldn't just be forced to
resign. They should be prosecuted as war criminals. Absolutely. Frank Rich says that a funny thing happened on the way to South Park conservatism: In
the March 30 episode, Kenny, a kid whose periodic death is a "South
Park" ritual, lands in a hospital in a "persistent vegetative state"
and is fed through a tube. The last page of his living will is missing.
Demonstrators and media hordes descend. Though heavenly angels decree
that "God intended Kenny to die" rather than be "kept alive
artificially," they are thwarted by Satan, whose demonic aide advises
him to "do what we always do - use the Republicans." Soon demagogic
Republican politicians are spewing sound bites ("Removing the feeding
tube is murder") scripted in Hell. But as in the Schiavo case, they
don't prevail. Kenny is allowed to die in peace once his missing final
wish is found: "If I should ever be in a vegetative state and kept
alive on life support, please for the love of God don't ever show me in
that condition on national television." You and me both, kid.
John Cole
seems to have liked the piece, but others on the right feel it was
unfair because Rich didn't mention that the right-wing has really cool
guys like Mel Gibson on their side. (No, you don't get to be cool once
you espouse a loony religio-political philosophy that is to the right
of Opus Dei - sorry!)
Mario Cuomo
spoke up for the filibuster, and naturally, the wingnuts at Powerlie
have made up some more crap it. (Shouldn't the mainstream media
apologize for bringing these guys to our attention?) Armando at DKos
gives them all the respect they deserve.
[The Sideshow]
1:01:00 PM
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Bolton Thread #2. "Bolton Waits" (The Telegraph) Bolton Watch Part 2
Team Agonist | Ongoing
The Washington Note - Getting into the Personal: Dangerous Territory
for John Bolton Major epic-style exposes are emerging on John Bolton in
the Los Angeles Times and New York Times. Although Sonni Efron starts
with the contours of battle that existed between Richard Armitage and
Colin Powell on one side and Bolton on the other, she then delves into
personal vignettes from friends and colleagues, particularly at AEI.
Her piece starts: When John R. Bolton charged into the State Department
in 2001 as President Bush's top arms control official, he thought of
himself as a loyal Republican soldier on a mission into hostile
political territory, according to friends and colleagues. More at the
link. The previous Bolton Thread was too long, thus, we have a new one.
[The Agonist]
1:00:05 PM
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L'Affaire Sregna. Redacted Portions of the Sregna Report ~ AP, BBC L'Affaire Sregna
Kevin Drum | May 1
Political Animal - SGRENA REPORT GOODIES....The U.S. military released
a report last week clearing American troops in the March gunfire
incident that injured Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena and killed
Nicola Calipari, an Italian intelligence agent, as they were driving to
the Baghdad airport. Italian reaction has been outraged, and the
Italian government is expected to issue a report on Monday
contradicting many of the U.S. findings. More at the link.
[The Agonist]
12:59:18 PM
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JOURNAL: The Salvador Option.
As anticipated by this author, the DoD is now debating the broad
use of loyalist paramilitaries in Iraq. Newsweek reports on this active
debate. As the senior officer who leaked to Newsweek stated, "We have
to find a way to...
[Global Guerrillas]
8:33:09 AM
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Green Fades to Brown, Brown Fades to Black.
Here was an opportunity for President Bush to "think green" for a
change. Or at least think unplutocratically, just for the kicky novelty
of it. He could have proposed that a few of the military bases facing
closure be converted...
[James Wolcott]
5:35:12 AM
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My, My What Have We Here?.
We got ourselves a right devastating expose. Some of us always
suspected (i.e., believed in the marrow of our bones) that the fix was
in between Blair and Bush on the Iraq War. And now comes Ringing
Confirmation.
"REVEALED: DOCUMENTS...
[James Wolcott]
5:32:59 AM
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I Love You, But I've Chosen Darkness
If there was one moment when it should have become apparent to everyone
that the Great Iraqi Democracy Crusade and Country Bear Jamboree was a
boondoggle of EuroDisney proportions it probably came on this day, this
morning, this moment when the Iraqi governing council selected
convicted embezzler Ahmad Chalabi as it's "Oil Minister"...
- tbogg
[»«TBogg»«]
5:27:49 AM
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Well if San Diego didn't tip her off...
Local radio racist Roger Hedgecock takes his local band of
slackjawed rubes listeners to DC where concerned congressmen will nod
their heads as if they care never letting on that they are really
thinking about where their next lobbyist check will be coming from:
LaVerne Hidden no longer wanders her Dulzura property without a gun.
A.D. McFarlane wants to...
- tbogg
[»«TBogg»«]
5:23:03 AM
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Quote of the Day
This is a verry interesting one, by Laura Bush at the White House correspondents' annual dinner on Saturday:
Laura
Bush, who is often seen smiling sweetly at her husband's side, stood up
just in time to rescue the audience of political heavyweights and
Hollywood celebrities from Bush's retelling of a joke about steel rail
"cattle guards" that bombed before a Montana town meeting in March.
"Not that old joke -- not again," Laura Bush said, as her husband willingly relinquished the stage.
"I've
been attending these dinners for years and just quietly sitting there,"
the First Lady told the audience. "Well, I've got a few things I want
to say for a change."
One of her main targets was the president's bed time.
"I
said to him the other day, 'George, if you really want to end tyranny
in this world, you're going to have to stay up later,"' Laura Bush
said. "Nine o'clock and Mr. Excitement here is in bed, and I am
watching 'Desperate Housewives' -- with Lynne Cheney. Ladies and
gentlemen, I am a desperate housewife."
A joke, of course. What else could it possibly be?
[ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES]
4:33:44 AM
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Half-Solutions in Darfur
Nadezhda reports
that the African Union is planning on beefing up its peacekeeping force
in Darfur, from the woefully inadequate 2,300-strong force it has
currently, to 3,300 in May, and hopefully 7,700 by the end of
September. Even more importantly, it seems as if the AU force will now
be given a mandate to protect civilians rather than simply monitor the
sham-ceasefire between Khartoum and Darfur. The new mandate is, as I
have noted
in the past, an all-crucial step for the AU to be even remotely
effective. On our side of the equation, the U.S. is going to shell out
an extra $50 to $60 million to support the expanded force, and NATO will "consider" providing logistical help.
This
is good news, and certainly better than nothing. But for those of us
who, like me, believe that the AU alone will be insufficient to stop
the ongoing mass-slaughter and alleviate the humanitarian disaster
there—which has claimed up to 400,000 victims
and counting—this needs to be looked at much more critically. Because
in the end, these new steps are still not nearly enough. Not even close.
First, a bit of bone-picking. Justin Logan seems to think
that the AU has wanted to expand for a long time, and the only thing
stopping them was a lack of U.S. support, which has been undermined, he
says, by "knee-jerk" liberals who have been calling for invasion. Um,
no.
 One
of the main reasons many us have been calling for a Western
intervention is that it seemed like the AU had neither will nor desire
to expand its peacekeeping force. As the Congressional Research Service
pointed out in its report last month: "Many members of the African
Union do not share the view that a genocide is occurring in Darfur and
still consider the government of Sudan as the central player in the
resolution of the conflict and protector of civilians." The hold-up
here has long been not American liberals, but the AU itself, as the
Nigerian leadership has insisted that Africa alone
should handle problems in Africa, and then sat idly by and did nothing.
They seem to have shifted their stance of late, and I'd be interested
to find out why. (I'm guessing that pro-intervention African countries,
like Rwanda and Senegal, won over Nigeria.) But this is a big reason why liberal interventionists have been saying, "Fuck the AU, get NATO in there."
Anyway, now the AU's finally waking up. So what to make of their proposed solution? Here's Matt Yglesias:
I
think [expanding the AU is] almost certainly a better way to handle
this than a Western invasion of some sort or, more likely, doing
nothing while humanitarians plead for a Western invasion of some sort. Well, yes, in an ideal world, letting the AU handle everything is obviously better than invading. If
they can handle everything. And that's the key question: whether or not
the new AU deployment will be able to prevent as many deaths as humanly
possible. My answer? No, it won't be, not by a long shot. Look, at the
moment the AU is planning 7,700 troops by September. But even if you think that's a big enough force to police an area the size of France and deter the janjawid militias and secure humanitarian corridors and provide refugees safe passage home—and on the face of it this notion is sheer lunacy—it's still
a much-too-sluggish measure. Keep in mind that we're talking about four
more months of inaction, four more months of increased body counts. Do
note that the rainy season will soon get underway in Darfur, which will
only deepen the crisis—hampering aid delivery and spreading
disease—just as it did last summer.
Meanwhile, Jan Pronk, the
UN's envoy to the region, has said that the AU will need 12,300 troops
to "restore order to Darfur." Okay, fine, so assume this is
enough to secure order in a region the size of France, and deter
hostile militias who have no qualms about firing on even humanitarian
workers, and providing refugees safe passage, etc. etc. (Pronk's number
also seems ludicrous to me. Like Marine Capt. Brian Steidle,
who worked with the AU monitoring team, I think a peacekeeping force of
25,000 to 50,000 sounds much more realistic. And hey, it's not as if UN
peacekeeping estimates have never been wrong before—why, Pronk himself used to think
a mere 8,000 troops would suffice.) But even this expanded force of
12,000 wouldn't be ready until next spring at the earliest. In the
interim, there will be death and decay and lots of it. Now I don't know
what it takes to grab people by the coat-lapels and scream, "People are
dying right now, for fuck's sake," without getting waved off as
a whiney little "humanitarian," but if anyone has any suggestions, let
me know. Nevertheless, there's an element of urgency here that can't be
overlooked.
 Moroever, there's good reason to believe that an AU force of any size, even with NATO "logistical" support—should it ever be forthcoming—wouldn't be able to stop the janjawid
militias or the Sudanese security forces from massacring civilians in
Darfur. For one, I've seen absolutely nothing about rules of engagement
for AU forces against the janjawid—presumably they'll be largely useless—but it's a dead certainty that AU peacekeepers will not be authorized to engage Khartoum government forces, even though the latter have been just as thoroughly involved in the slaughter. That means Khartoum will just speed up the integration the janjawid into its police and army forces, as it has been doing in the past, and then continue butchering civilians unimpeded. Simple as that.
Second,
the genocidaires have been relying notoriously on the government's
airpower to strafe and bomb villages before sending in ground
militiamen for the kill. Exactly how does the AU think it's going to
stop this? The "no-fly zone" over Darfur, established in the ceasefire
signed last November, has been utterly useless, and has been violated
by Khartoum time and time again. At the bare minimum, that no-fly zone
needs to be enforced with NATO or U.S. airpower. Even this might be
insufficient, as it will be near-impossible for the West to stop
Khartoum's hundreds of helicopter gunships
from, er, "patrolling" the region low to the ground. Again, I'll defer
to military analysts here, but it seems likely that an effective
civilian protection force would have to involve destroying—or at least
threatening to destroy—much of Khartoum's air force.
So the case
for Western intervention still stands, at least if we want to avoid
turning "never again" into a sick, sick joke. Intervention wouldn't
amount to full-blown invasion, though I've stressed before
that it could be tantamount to an act of war, with potentially very
serious and bloody consequences. Or it might not. Personally, I think
it's a risk that needs to be taken, but I'm not going to pretend that
intervening will be an easy and cost-free solution.
Oh, one other note: As we all know, the Los Angeles Times reported
on Friday that the U.S. may be shirking both intervention and increased
pressure on Sudan's government all because we're getting such plum
counterterrorism intelligence from the ruling National Islamic Front.
Now I don't think that's the only reason we're hesitant on intervening
in Darfur, but it's probably a big one. Nevertheless, I think this is
exact the wrong way to go about things, but I'll have to talk about
that tomorrow.
- Brad
[Bradford Plumer]
4:32:13 AM
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Whoa. Ahmad Chalabi's going to be Iraq's oil minister? You kidding me?... [Ezra Klein]
4:28:23 AM
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© Copyright
2005
Michael Mussington.
Last update:
6/1/2005; 1:34:07 AM.
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