Krugman looks for a word

Looking for a word

Unusually, I’m having a vocabulary problem. There has to be some word for the kind of person who considers his mild discomfort the equivalent of torture, crippling injury, or death for other people. But I can’t think of it.

What brings this to mind is this from Alberto Gonzales:

I consider myself a casualty, one of the many casualties of the war on terror.

This reminded me of Laura Bush’s remark on carnage in Iraq:

And believe me, no one suffers more than their president and I do when we watch this.

Remember this. And remember, too, that for long years these people were considered heroic patriots, defenders of the nation.

How much snow fell in Spokane Washington this month?

Nearly 60 inches.  That is a LOT of snow.  Spokane sits against the Rockies about 100 miles from the Canadian border, directly below some of BC’s best skiing country.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/12/31/spokane_buried_by_record_dec_snows/

From Sydney, where they just couldn’t wait any longer to get this ugly year behind them

Happy New Year.

Harold Pinter

Harold Pinter in conversation at the British Library

A few months before his death, Harold Pinter was interviewed by actor Harry Burton at the British Library to commemorate the donation of his archive. In this edited version of their conversation, Pinter reminisces about his years in rep theatre, talks about his relationship with his father, discusses his poetry – and explains why not everything Alan Ayckbourn says about him is true …

audio file here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/audio/2008/dec/31/harold-pinter-podcast

War propaganda

Haaretz notes the launch, by the Israeli military, of a YouTube channel.

The channel was launched as part of the army’s PR campaign to draw international support for its military operation on Hamas’ infrastructure in Gaza.

The channel is here: http://www.youtube.com/idfnadesk

As with Desert Storm, video footage taken from remote controlled weapons or from the vantage of the unit firing rockets are used as a propaganda tool.  “Isn’t this technology cool!?”

We don’t see the chests exploding or the heads on fire, of course.  That’s all the wrong reality.

As one observer put it on NPR radio several years ago, the signal difference between Al Jazeera and the US media in their the coverage of the Iraq war was that the US media showed the rockets being launched and Al Jazeera showed them landing.

Quote of the day – “famous duster-movie prop for sale” category

George Bush, 2001, talking to reporters about the Crawford ‘ranch’, his forever home…

“But when you’re from Texas — and love Texas — this is where you come home. It’ll be the house where I live in for the rest of my life. I like my own home, and I don’t mind the heat.”

Quote of the day – “Huh?” category

From Michael Gerson in today’s Washington Post.  Gerson, of course, was George Bush’s speech-writer.

Obama does not need the service of nymphomaniacs on his honeymoon.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/30/AR2008123002400.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

Today’s really stupid idea

Begin a huge military action or war in the hopes that it will optimize your electoral chances.

With national elections just over a month away, two of the three are vying for Israel’s top job. Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni both have led high-profile but fruitless efforts to achieve peace with the Palestinians; now, each is trying to win favor with Israelis by going to war.

All campaigning for the Feb. 10 vote has been temporarily suspended. But Barak, a former prime minister and ex-army commando, is expected to make the case that he can defend the country in times of crisis. Livni, meanwhile, is seeking to overcome concerns that as a woman who never served in the armed forces, she is not tough enough to lead Israel.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will not be a candidate in the elections and may be indicted on corruption charges. But the Gaza offensive could be his last chance to rehabilitate a legacy badly tarnished by Israel’s failure to achieve a clear-cut victory against the Lebanese Hezbollah movement in 2006.

Waiting in the wings is a fourth leading politician, former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu. He has long advocated military action in Gaza and, political analysts say, is well positioned to capitalize on Israeli anxiety if the rockets continue to fly.

continue reading here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/30/AR2008123003252.html?hpid=topnews

 

And from Haaretz…

Four days after the launch of “Operation Cast Lead” in the Gaza Strip, the first signs of a rift among the Israeli leadership over the campaign’s management began to emerge. Even though the IDF operation has thus far been considered a relative success (and the ministers who approved it have benefited from an improvement in their political standing as a result), a dispute has erupted among the country’s senior political echelon over the question of when to begin the process of winding down the operation.

 The disagreement is rooted in the antipathy that has taken hold among the major players on the Israeli side as well as the tense jockeying for votes. In addition, there remains much confusion in the decision-making process that is similar to that which was cited by the Winograd committee report which investigated the lapses during the Second Lebanon War.

There are many similarities to the Lebanese affair, only this time the differences of opinion are given greater public airing. Four days after the breakout of the Second Lebanon War, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni (and deputy IDF chief Moshe Kaplinsky) sought to set in motion a diplomatic process that would put an end to the fighting. Prime Minister Olmert balked.

In the current situation, the argument centers on an exit strategy…

continue reading here: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1051547.html

Franken remains ahead

Al Franken’s narrow lead in the race for a Senate seat from Minnesota grew slightly on Tuesday, as the State Canvassing Board completed its tally of challenged ballots.

That tally, which is unofficial, left Mr. Franken, the Democratic challenger and satirist, with a 50-vote margin over the Republican incumbent, Norm Coleman, in a statewide recount that has gone on for five weeks.

Lawyers for the Coleman campaign called Mr. Franken’s margin, which grew by four votes on Tuesday, an “artificial lead,” but the senator has not regained the lead of more than 200 votes that he had before the recount began. The count will remain unofficial pending a decision on the possible inclusion of 1,346 absentee ballots that county officials have said were mistakenly rejected.

The two campaigns have been unable to agree on how many of those ballots should be considered valid, and the State Supreme Court has ordered the campaigns and county officials to reach an agreement on the absentee ballots by Friday.

The dispute virtually assures that the canvassing board will not be able to certify a winner before next Tuesday, when the new Congress is to be sworn in.

If Mr. Franken’s lead holds, and Mr. Coleman files a court challenge over the election results, it is possible that the Democratic-controlled Senate could try to seat Mr. Franken provisionally.

A spokesman for the majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, expressed confidence on Tuesday that the five-member canvassing board would certify Mr. Franken as the winner.

“We’re keeping abreast of the situation and will make a decision with regard to Senate action at the appropriate point in the process,” the spokesman, Jim Manley, said in a statement.

But Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas and chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, signaled that his Republican colleagues were not prepared to accept the provisional seating of Mr. Franken.

“I expect the Senate would have a problem seating a candidate who has not duly won an election,” Mr. Cornyn said.

Despite the uncertainty, Mr. Franken said Tuesday that the race was nearing the “finish line.”

“I’m glad to be ahead, and as it appears that we’re on track to win,” he said, “I want Minnesotans to know that I’m ready to get to work for them in Washington on Day 1.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/31/us/politics/31minnesota.html

Today’s dunderhead

Sydney politician calls for topless sunbathing ban

On any given day, acres of tanned flesh are on view at Bondi Beach: men wearing the briefest of briefs, women sunbathing topless. But it wasn’t always so.

 

In the 1940s, a legendary beach inspector, Aub Laidlaw, patrolled the golden sands, ruler in hand, ensuring that men’s and women’s bathing costumes conformed to bylaws governing public decency.

Costumes had to cover at least three inches of thigh, as well as the entire front of the body, and wobbly bits had to be kept in place by robust straps. Laidlaw frogmarched 50 or more people a week off the beach, including, in 1945, the first woman to brave Bondi in a bikini, and in 1961, a group of men wearing Speedo swimming trunks.

The fanatical Laidlaw retired in 1969, eight years after the bikini was legalised, but now his ghost is once again stalking Sydney’s beaches. A Christian fundamentalist politician, the Rev Fred Nile, is calling for topless sunbathing to be outlawed, and he has received backing from several mainstream MPs.

While nudity is illegal in Australia except on designated beaches, local councils consider toplessness acceptable. Mr Nile wants the legislation tightened. “The law should be clear,” he said. “It must say: ‘Exposure of women’s breasts on beaches will be prohibited’.”

…“If you’re on the beach, do you want somebody with big knockers next to you when you’re there with the kids?”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/sydney-politician-calls-for-topless-sunbathing-ban-1217741.html

Smaller, more delicate knockers presumably fine.

Avalanche danger high in western mountain ranges

A combination of early-season conditions and later snowpacks have produced a particularly dangerous avalanche season in the west.  If you are a backcountry hiker, skier or snowmobiler take the appropriate precautions.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-avalanche-deaths30-2008dec30,0,2996294.story

Today’s ponder

If Jewish history was such that the Jewish homeland and subsequent state of Israel had been established far distant from any petroleum reserves, how different would America’s relationship with Israel be?

The occupation debate in Israel…most Americans are not hearing it

http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=33&Itemid=74&jumival=147

 

And Daniel Levy, Dec 28…

For many people, what has happened today between Gaza and Israel may have all too familiar a ring to it – Israel warns and then retaliates to an alleged or real Palestinian escalation of violence, there is Arab condemnation and international exasperation, eventually things de-escalate but according to Israel’s timetable as the U.S. prevents effective early international mediation, and we’re back to where we started – with the addition of more blood and death (many innocent, some less so), more wounded and more shattered families.

Most of those involved, often including Israel, tend to regret things not coming to a halt sooner. The Israel Defense Forces with their modern weaponry try to pinpoint targets but invariably, predictably, and painfully there are plenty of “misses”; the Palestinians – well their weaponry is by definition more crude, they use what is available and the results are correspondingly messy and indiscriminate. Bottom line – Arabs and Jews are killing each other – so what’s new?

And why on earth would America want to be involved?

Here’s the bad news folks – America is involved, up to its eyeballs actually. Today, after Israeli air-strikes that killed over 200 Palestinians in Gaza, the Middle East is again seething with rage….

continue reading here:  http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2008/12/daniel_levy_wha/

Today’s snark, courtesy Brad DeLong

A Word from the Soon to Be Ex-President

George W. Bush:

Think Progress: BUSH; Well, I have obviously made a decision to make sure the economy doesn’t collapse. I’ve abandoned free market principles to save the free market system. I think when people review what’s taken place in the last six months, uh, and put it all in one, in one, (sigh), you know, in one package, they’re realize how significantly we have moved…

 

Or realize how wrong Bush and his sycophants were in the first place.

If adhering to free market principles leads to an economic collapse, perhaps free market principles aren’t a good idea? The old-style Keynesians had a name for something that was a good idea: the mixed economy.

Stupidest man alive.

http://delong.typepad.com/

The election and issues

Frank Rich, Michael Tomasky, Thomas Powers and Martin Kettle in discussion (Oct 27)

http://fora.tv/2008/10/27/The_Election_Experts_Weigh_in_on_the_Big_Issues

Krugman on the recession, and possible bipartisan agreements on moving forward

Guest host Chip Reid asks Krugman if the recession is actually a blessing in disguise, because it opens the door for a 21st Century New Deal. Krugman agrees, but only if we let go of the myth of “bipartisan agreement”:

He’s [..] not going to get bipartisan consensus. He may be able to get some moderate Republicans votes. He may be able to get the moderate Republicans in the Senate – both of them — to go…vote with the Democrats. The point is, you look at what John Boehner is doing in the House right now, the House Republican Leader. He’s dead set against doing anything constructive right now. He’s actually soliciting on his website, saying if there are any credentialed economists who are willing to you know, say negative things about stimulus plans, please contact me. So no, it’s not going to be bipartisan, in the sense that leaders of both parties are going to get together. Reaching out across the aisle, trying to find some sensible people on the Republican side is not the same thing.

more here: http://crooksandliars.com/node/24869

Digby knows Newt

Who’s Their Daddy?

by digby

Newtie is becoming just insufferable lately and he’d better watch it or even some of his friends on the right are going to call bs on him. In response to that idiot sending out Limbaugh’s “Barack The Magic Negro” CD, he tells the New York Times:
“This is so inappropriate that it should disqualify any Republican National Committee candidate who would use it,” Newt Gingrich, a Republican former House speaker, said in an e-mail message. Referring to Mr. Obama, Mr. Gingrich said, “There are no grounds for demeaning him or for using racist descriptions.”

Please. I am all for conservatives coming over from the dark side. But the leadership of the movement that turned our politics into a cesspool simply can’t be taken seriously as arbiters of proper civility now that they are out of fashion. It “demeans” the whole idea.

Here’s a little reminder of Gingrich’s past advice on such matters:.

I think one of the great problems we have in the Republican Party is that we don’t encourage you to be nasty. We encourage you to be neat, obedient, loyal and faithful and all those Boy Scout words, which would be great around a campfire but are lousy in politics.

He also said this (in 1998) which proves what an astute political leader he is:

“Mr. President, we are going to run you out of town”

We know how that turned out don’t we?

I don’t mind Newtie trying to make a GOP comeback. And that he would do it by riding the post partisan zeitgeist is exactly what I would expect of a sleazy operator like him. But I will absolutely lose my grip if I see any Democrat embracing this wicked little bastard. He is as responsible for what the Republicans did to this country as Bush and Cheney, maybe more. To allow him even the slightest bit of credibility for this predictable oozing insincerity is to sow the seeds of their own demise.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/

Jim Webb sets sights on prison reform

Somewhere along the meandering career path that led  James Webb to the U.S. Senate, he found himself in the frigid interior of a Japanese prison.

A journalist at the time, he was working on an article about Ed Arnett, an American who had spent two years in Fuchu Prison for possession of marijuana. In a January 1984 Parade magazine piece, Webb described the harsh conditions imposed on Arnett, who had frostbite and sometimes labored in solitary confinement making paper bags.

“But, surprisingly, Arnett, home in Omaha, Neb., says he prefers Japan’s legal system to ours,” Webb wrote. “Why? ‘Because it’s fair,’ he said.”

This spring, Webb (D-Va.) plans to introduce legislation on a long-standing passion of his: reforming the U.S. prison system. Jails teem with young black men who later struggle to rejoin society, he says. Drug addicts and the mentally ill take up cells that would be better used for violent criminals. And politicians have failed to address this costly problem for fear of being labeled “soft on crime.”

It is a gamble for Webb, a fiery and cerebral Democrat from a staunchly law-and-order state. Virginia abolished parole in 1995, and it trails only Texas in the number of people it has executed. Moreover, as the country struggles with two wars overseas and an ailing economy, overflowing prisons are the last thing on many lawmakers’ minds.

continue reading here:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/28/AR2008122801728.html?wprss=rss_politics

Jesus christ it is about time someone with a sense of justice and a backbone took this on.   I really like Webb and this Elizabeth Drew essay on him in the NYRB is a very good read: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/21530

h/t TPM

Bush legacy project, Sunday’s newest iteration of the talking points

 

Laura Bush and Condoleezza Rice:

“Future historians will look kindly on his presidency”

“He kept America safe”

But we knew they would repeat these talking points (not merely because we’ve seen the memo describing them and their use but because george said this:

“See in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.”

Update:  and I just found this one from Karl Rove on Fox yesterday…

History though is going to be kind to him at the end. I’m absolutely confident of that.

How utterly surprising.

 

 

Greenwald on Politico’s top 10 scoops of the year list

Politico reviews the year in American “political journalism”

 

Politico‘s media reporter, Michael Calderone, does an unintentionally superb job of conveying the vapid, wretched soul of the American political media, with his list of what he calls — without any irony at all — “The Top Ten Political Scoops of 2008”:

(1) Katie Couric’s interview of Sarah Palin (CBS)

(2) McCain can’t say how many homes he owns (Politico)

(3) Obama’s “bitter” comment (Huffington Post)

(4) Sarah Palin’s shopping spree (Politico)

(5) Turmoil in the Clinton camp (Washington Post and Atlantic — “The behind-the-scenes tension was captured by the reporters in one memorable exchange: ‘[Expletive] you!’ Ickes shouted. ‘[Expletive] you!’ Penn replied. ‘[Expletive] you!’ Ickes shouted again.”)

(6) Jeremiah Wright tapes (ABC News)

(7) The Pentagon’s military analyst program (NY Times)

(8) Bickering in the McCain camp (NY Times Magazine)

(9) John Edwards’ affair (National Enquirer)

(10) Powell endorses Obama (Meet the Press)

It’s genuinely disappointing that the intense controversy over Barack Obama’s anemic bowling score and lapel pin, the riveting analysis of Hillary Clinton’s laugh and her cleavage displays, and Brian Ross’ groundbreaking  work in analyzing Hillary’s White House schedules in order to determine where exactly she was at the moment when Bill was with Monica Lewinsky, failed to at least merit an Honorable Mention by Politico.

Most notably, the only story on Politico‘s list that actually mattered in any meaningful way and to which one can apply the term “scoop” with a straight face — namely:  David Barstow’s superb exposé on the Pentagon’s domestic propaganda program — was the only story of the 10 that didn’t receive endless attention from our nation’s television journalists.  To the contrary, it was blackballed entirely.  There’s the central axiom driving coverage by our American media:  the more significant a matter it is, the less attention it receives (if one wants to be generous, one could also include the Couric-Palin interview as a marginally meaningful story).

continue reading here: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/12/27/journalism/index.html

And it ought to be noted that Politico is the only on-line news operation which has a chair in the WH political corps.  Here’s the wikipedia entry on the organization: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Politico