NFB – a Canadian national treasure

Davos ecomonic forum

http://fora.tv/2009/01/28/World_Economic_Forum_Update_2009_The_New_Economic_Era

Obsession realized

The woman who gave birth to octuplets this week conceived all 14 of her children through in vitro fertilization, is not married and has been obsessed with having children since she was a teenager, her mother said.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/01/31/us/AP-Octuplets.html

Calls for sanity from down where Republicans actually have to make government work

GOP Governors Press Congress to Pass Stimulus Bill

NEW YORK – Most Republican governors have broken with their GOP colleagues in Congress and are pushing for passage of President Barack Obama’s economic aid plan that would send billions to states for education, public works and health care.

Their state treasuries drained by the financial crisis, governors would welcome the money from Capitol Hill, where GOP lawmakers are more skeptical of Obama’s spending priorities.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/01/31/us/AP-Stimulus-GOP-Governors.html

Today’s fun political quiz

Two classic film stories, both have Christmas and its message of mercy, forgiveness, and charity (and the converse of these) as the subject, both utilize a device of divine intervention, and both portray individuals who are profoundly changed in character and/or in perspective as to their relationships with the community around them.

Here’s your quiz task.  Identify which character represents the modern movement conservative.  Refer to text for clues.  I’m going to go pour a coffee and you should be done when I return.  Please begin.

Story #1

character A

First Collector: At this festive time of year, Mr. Scrooge, it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute.
Ebenezer: Are there no prisons?
First Collector: Plenty of prisons.
Ebenezer: And the union workhouses – are they still in operation?
First Collector: They are. I wish I could say they were not.
Ebenezer: Oh, from what you said at first I was afraid that something had happened to stop them in their useful course. I’m very glad to hear it.
First Collector: I don’t think you quite understand us, sir. A few of us are endeavoring to buy the poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth.
Ebenezer: Why?
First Collector: Because it is at Christmastime that want is most keenly felt, and abundance rejoices. Now what can I put you down for?
Ebenezer: Huh! Nothing!
Second Collector: You wish to be anonymous?
Ebenezer: [firmly, but calmly] I wish to be left alone. Since you ask me what I wish sir, that is my answer. I help to support the establishments I have named; those who are badly off must go there.
First Collector: Many can’t go there.
Second Collector: And some would rather die.

character B

Ebenezer: I’ll send it to Bob Cratchit, and he shan’t know who sent it. It’s twice the size of Tiny Tim!

---

Mrs. Dilber: Merry Christmas, Mr. Scrooge! In keeping with the situation!

---

Ebenezer: [singing] I don’t know anything, I never did know anything, and now I know that I don’t know, all on a Christmas morning. I must stand on my head, I must stand on my head!

Story #2

character A

Mr. Potter: [to George Bailey] Look at you. You used to be so cocky. You were going to go out and conquer the world. You once called me “a warped, frustrated, old man!” What are you but a warped, frustrated young man? A miserable little clerk crawling in here on your hands and knees and begging for help. No securities, no stocks, no bonds. Nothin’ but a miserable little $500 equity in a life insurance policy.
[Potter chuckles]
You’re worth more dead than alive!

character B

George: Just a minute — just a minute. Now, hold on, Mr. Potter. You’re right when you say my father was no business man. I know that. Why he ever started this cheap, penny-ante Building and Loan, I’ll never know. But neither you nor anybody else can say anything against his character, because his whole life was…Why, in the twenty-five years since he and Uncle Billy started this thing, he never once thought of himself. Isn’t that right, Uncle Billy? He didn’t save enough money to send Harry to school, let alone me. But he did help a few people get out of your slums, Mr. Potter. And what’s wrong with that? Why…Here, you’re all businessmen here. Doesn’t it make them better citizens? Doesn’t it make them better customers? You…you said…What’d you say just a minute ago?…They had to wait and save their money before they even ought to think of a decent home. Wait! Wait for what? Until their children grow up and leave them? Until they’re so old and broken-down that they…Do you know how long it takes a working man to save five thousand dollars? Just remember this, Mr. Potter, that this rabble you’re talking about…they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath? Anyway, my father didn’t think so. People were human beings to him, but to you, a warped frustrated old man, they’re cattle. Well, in my book he died a much richer man than you’ll ever be!

Classic – Franken and O’Reilly

Und, ven you look at ziz peecture, vat comes to your mind?

Iraqi soldier in humvee guarding polling station.  The flowers are nice.

h/t andrew sullivan

Today’s quote – “There will always be an England” category

From The Times of London

Saturday, October 29, 1825–OLD BAILEY: Mr. Segeant ARABIN sat till 10 o’clock, and tried some cases (with a Middlesex jury), but none of them were of any interest.

stolen from Brad DeLong

Dignity

And one thought leads to another

A random thought occurs

Satan was the world’s first disgruntled former employee.

So, how’s that obstruct strategy going, fellas? Plus more on Limbaugh

Pollster.com has a Obama favorable/unfavorable graph posted (which I can’t figure out how to capture and add here, so you’ll have to go look over there…but do go look, it’s amazing)

http://www.pollster.com/polls/us/fav-obama.php

Mark Blumenthal – “The Limbaugh Brand”

http://www.pollster.com/blogs/the_limbaugh_brand.php

Update: doubling down

That’s the word from ThinkProgress, which Friday afternoon offered a round up of the latest in Republican obstructionism. While Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions offered a none-too-thinly veiled threat of a GOP filibuster (“I think its going to take 60 votes to pass the bill”), Arizona’s John Kyl said he would explore “whatever parliamentary possibilities are in front of us.” Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) promised to join the effort, announcing, “I would be a part of it.” And on Thursday, Chuck Grassley (R-IA) told Robert Siegel on NPR that a filibuster of the Obama package passed by the House could be in the cards:

SIEGEL: By the way, Senator, we always just assume that anything in the Senate requires 60 votes because there will be a filibuster threat. Is that right? Does this bill need 60 votes to pass?

GRASSLEY: Yes.

SIEGAL: It does?

GRASSLEY: Yes.

The revelations are just the latest signs that Senate Republicans will violate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s pledge three weeks ago “I don’t think this measure’s going to have any problem getting over 60 votes.” Referring to almost $300 billion in tax cuts already incorporated by the Obama administration, McConnell said:

“It could well have broad Republican appeal and make it much more likely that the measure passes with broad bipartisan support, which is what the new president would like and what we would like.”

http://crooksandliars.com/jon-perr/senate-republicans-may-filibuster-obama-s

Mitchell and the Middle East and the lobby thing

From Glenn Greenwald:

Meanwhile, advocates like Abe Foxman are actually criticizing Obama for Mitchell’s appointment on the revealing ground that Mitchell is too “even-handed” — an absurd criticism that, unsurprisingly, is defended by people like The New Republic’s Jonathan Chait, in a piece entitled “The Case Against Even-Handedness.”  Notably, AIPAC has said nothing regarding their position on Mitchell’s appointment.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/

More related stuff from Eric Alterman (hoping he blogs at the Nation half as regularly as he blogged over at Media Matters):

Writing in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, the celebrated author and patriot David Grossman termed the Gaza operation “just one more way-station on a road paved with fire, violence and hatred,” and added, “our conduct here in this region has, for a long time, been flawed, immoral and unwise.”

When Foxman and Kristol have the guts to go after Grossman–who, after all, lost his son two years ago in a war both men supported from the comfort of their armchairs–then perhaps we might take seriously their complaints about the relatively moderate sentiments expressed by Moyers. Until then, I fear, we must chalk up their ideological fanaticism and their moral and intellectual confusion as yet another casualty of this endlessly destructive conflict.

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/altercation/403118/police_on_my_back

The new RNC chair as seen by Koppelman at Salon

Michael Steele, forever failing upwards

It took a record number of ballots, but former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele has pulled out a victory, and will be the next chair of the Republican National Committee.

Steele defeated South Carolina GOP Chair Katon Dawson on the sixth ballot, 91-77. 85 votes were needed for victory.

I’ll post more thoughts on what this means shortly.

Update: At first glance, this appears to be the kind of step forward that the Republican Party needs to be successful in the years ahead. As I noted in an earlier post, the race for RNC chair came down to a choice between an African-American moderate and a Southern white man with a troubled history when it comes to racial issues. Clearly, for a party that’s increasingly relegated to representing only Southern whites, the RNC’s voting members made the right choice, at least judging by that factor alone.

Steele does hold some promise when it comes to attracting minorities to the GOP. He was unsuccessful in his 2006 Senate race, true, but he did manage to pull 25 percent of the black vote, quite an accomplishment for any Republican in Maryland.

On other fronts, though, Steele’s a questionable choice. He hasn’t displayed a ton of political acumen — he’s won elected office only once, and he didn’t head that ticket. He lost the aforementioned Senate race, and, before that, couldn’t even win a GOP primary for state comptroller; he placed third, in fact. His tenure as head of the Maryland party wasn’t brilliant, either, and he repeatedly had trouble recruiting candidates. (In his defense, it’s not easy to be a Republican in the state.) Along the way, he’s made some serious missteps: He got in trouble in 2006 for making some unguarded remarks disparaging then-President Bush to a group of reporters. His name was supposed to be kept off the comments, but when it quickly became obvious who was responsible, Steele tried to lie his way out of the gaffe. Also in 2006, he attracted unwanted attention when, speaking before a Jewish group, he compared stem cell research to medical tests that the Nazis conducted on prisoners during the Holocaust. The GOP better hope this victory is a sign that he’s learned some hard lessons –he already has a tough fight ahead of him in trying to win over the party’s conservative wing, which doesn’t fully trust him because of his membership in the more moderate Republican Leadership Council.

And while Steele’s personal resume looks impressive from afar, it’s not nearly as pretty up close. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University and then got a law degree from Georgetown University, true. That said, though, he initially flunked out of Hopkins, and while he did pass the bar in Pennsylvania, he failed it in Maryland. His record as a businessman wasn’t stellar, either. A consulting firm he founded never turned a profit, and was a serious drain on his finances. Shortly after he began his run for lieutenant governor, Steele ran into trouble because of a $25,000 loan his sister had given to his campaign for comptroller that he’d never paid back. Then, there were revelations of an additional $35,000 in personal debt, as well as more than $100,000 he’d taken out of two retirement accounts in order to support his family, leaving a balance of less than $600 at the time the news broke. He suffered further embarrassment over his finances when it was revealed that the Republican Party was paying him a consulting fee of $5,000 a month during his campaign for lieutenant governor.

Update: And if you want to read 86 pages of opposition research on Steele (and you’d have to be wayyyy more invested in thinking badly of the fellow than I am) turn here:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0109/The_book_on_Steele.html?showall

h/t Greg Sargant at The Plum Line

Update:  And in response to John Lofton’s comment below, here’s Mr. Zappa

Haaretz editorial

The final two paragraphs:

Israeli voters must know that the Obama government will be intolerant of construction in the settlements, as well as measures that hurt the Palestinians, such as closures and checkpoints. It will make every effort to bring about a two-state solution. Anyone for whom Israel’s relations with the United States is important must vote for parties that support a peace agreement with the Palestinians, out of the recognition that the right-wing parties that support settlement expansion jeopardize Israel’s international standing as well as its security, both of which are dependent on American support.

This message is also geared toward Israel’s political leadership, particularly Benjamin Netanyahu, who is leading in the opinion polls. His platform, which rejects the creation of a Palestinian state, and his statements in favor of “natural growth” in the settlements, place him on a collision course with Washington – especially if the senior partner in his coalition is Avigdor Lieberman.

read the full editorial here:  http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1059437.html

God loses a WOMD

And the Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, certainly before 10, and stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him, “Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.  For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart and that’s gonna screw you big time because you don’t have serotonin uptake inhibitors”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/solved-the-mystery-of-why-locusts-swarm-1520409.html

Not good

Governments across Europe tremble as angry people take to the streets

France paralysed by a wave of strike action, the boulevards of Paris resembling a debris-strewn battlefield. The Hungarian currency sinks to its lowest level ever against the euro, as the unemployment figure rises. Greek farmers block the road into Bulgaria in protest at low prices for their produce. New figures from the biggest bank in the Baltic show that the three post-Soviet states there face the biggest recessions in Europe.

It’s a snapshot of a single day – yesterday – in a Europe sinking into the bleakest of times. But while the outlook may be dark in the big wealthy democracies of western Europe, it is in the young, poor, vulnerable states of central and eastern Europe that the trauma of crash, slump and meltdown looks graver.

Exactly 20 years ago, in serial revolutionary rejoicing, they ditched communism to put their faith in a capitalism now in crisis and by which they feel betrayed. The result has been the biggest protests across the former communist bloc since the days of people power.

more here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/31/global-recession-europe-protests

Update: Protestos Rally in Anger at Russia’s Economy

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/01/31/world/AP-EU-Russia-Protests.html

Because it’s beautiful

Just a little personal remembrance

Ingemar Johansson of Sweden, who knocked out Floyd Patterson in 1959 to win the world heavyweight boxing championship, only to lose two more brutal title fights to the American in the next two years, died late Friday night in Kungsbacka, Sweden, according to friends and family. He was 76.

When my twin brother and I were small fellas, we’d pull up chairs with dad in the kitchen to listen to the big boxing matches on radio.  Raw oatmeal in tall glasses with milk and a heap or two of sugar was the ritual snack for these occassions.  Dad was a boxing fan and thought we ought to be, too.  Actually, he thought we ought to be boxers and provided boxing gloves and one of those hanging thwakkatta thwakkatta thwakkatta punching bags.  I was a perfectly crappy boxer in part because I thought there were better ways to hurt my asshole brothers and because I was blind without my glasses on (sequence is – blur then pain, more blur more pain).

But listening with dad and twin on the radio to those evening fight broadcasts along with the oatmeal and dad’s detailing of the fellows and their lives and their boxing styles makes for a very warm set of memories.  The Johansson fights were in there.

Yikes. What’s a party to do? What is the nation to do?

From Charles M. Blow at the NY Times:

[Republicans are] in trouble, and they know it.

Take a look at these statistics:

1. According to a poll conducted by The New York Times and CBS News this month, only 21 percent of respondents said that they consider themselves Republicans. This was the lowest percentage for that response since The Times started asking the question in 1992. By comparison, nearly twice as many respondents said that they consider themselves Democrats.

The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

2. In a Pew Report issued on Thursday, a similar sentiment surfaced:

“More than six-in-ten Americans (62%) say they have a positive opinion of the Democratic Party, compared with 40% who say they have a favorable opinion of the Republican Party. The current Democratic favorability advantage is the largest measured in nearly two decades. The widening gap is primarily a result of an increase in favorable views of the Democratic Party since the election, up from 57% in late October 2008.”

Gallup

3. According to a Gallup report issued on Wednesday, the Republicans have a party identification advantage in only five states. Those states have a grand total of 20 electoral votes. (You need 270 to win.)

There isn’t, of course, unanimity among Republicans/conservatives as to how they might best move so as to regain a competitive position in the public mind and electorally.  But we can roughly divide them into two camps – “moderate or it’s doom” and “moderation is the path to doom”.  Colin Powell or Rush Limbaugh.

But the more moderate voices have been marginalized and dis-empowered within the party over the last three decades (see Nina Easton’s “Gang of Five” on Rove, Abramoff and Norquist’s strategy for removing moderates beginning with their tenures with the College Repubicans – it’s a very good book, by the way…she wrote it before marrying a Republican strategist and subsequent work at Fox).  Talk radio and Fox, particularly, have provided a broad and effective propaganda campaign which has pushed the party and movement to its present extremes.  Hundreds of millions of dollars have been donated by ultra-conservative agents (Scaife, Bradley Foundation, Coors etc) to support the more extremist candidates, policies, ‘think tanks’ and other propaganda or organizational efforts.  So we’ve ended up in a position where moderates in this party and movement are darn near extinct.

And it isn’t merely that they are rare, they are also relatively powerless.  When Bill Buckley’s son Cristopher spoke out and advised moderation, that didn’t turn the party or the staff at National Review (which his father had founded), rather Christopher was pilloried and forced to resign his position at the NR.  When a Republican congressman spoke out last week and suggested Limbaugh was not the best voice the party might listen to for direction, he was forced to grovel in apology within 24 hours.  During the first debate for RNC chair, all candidates understood they had no option other than to answer “Ronald Reagan” to the question “Who was the greatest President ever?”.

Further, the conservative movement has, over the recent decades, built up internal organizational systems which carry the extremist notions down into local party operations, into school boards, into hospital boards, into the chapters of College Republicans and into large sectors of the religious community.  If you were to ask who or what might be educating young republicans in a moderate or more historically grounded set of notions about what ‘conservatism’ is, or has been, or can be, there aren’t many hopeful answers to that question.

Given these realities, which have been validated by the emerging strategies evident in how Republicans in Congress and the Senate (not to mention the propaganda operations which feed and support the movement) are proceding in relation to the Obama administration, we have no good reason to imagine that the right will be able to change or evolve in the direction of moderation and bipartisan effort for the forseeable future.  We have much reason to presume they will continue as they are presently.  My guess is that it will take another two electoral cycles, with continuing losses in both, to significantly change the internal dynamics of the party and movement.  I believe that will be so even if the economy continues to decline, as looks certain, and even if that decline becomes shockingly severe.

All of this (and note I haven’t even brought into consideration the reactionary influences that will certainly arise from enormous financial/corporate interests who benefit from things as they are)  presents a significant challenge for the Obama administration and for all of us who desire functioning governance and a civil, tempered and thoughtful communitarian polity.

If I have this even close to being an accurate reflection of real states of affairs, then what this administration must do is:

1) operate with honesty, integrity and transparency

2) create a broad and substantial marketing/propaganda operation which will match and exceed what the right now has in place BUT which is dedicated not to the goal of gaining/maintaining power, rather to the goal of transmitting facts and balanced analyses of our situation AND agressively pointing up where falsehoods, deceits and logical flaws are being pushed into the national dialogue along with identification of who is perpetrating them.

3) understand very clearly that your marketing/propaganda efforts will be mostly ineffective if they are not informed by contemporary understandings of how people are really moved and motivated (George Lakoff, Drew Westen, etc).  One reason the right has been so much more effective in this sphere is, at least in part, because this knowledge and the techniques which arise from this knowledge exist mainly within the business community (see, as one important example, Larry Tye’s “The Father of Spin – Edward L. Bernays and the Birth of Public Relations).

4) continue the very promising grassroots organizational efforts and methodologies which this team has developed over the period leading up to the election because you are definitely going to need them if merely to counter what the right has developed over the last decades.

5) do allow the various relevant investigations into likely Bush administration illegalities to move forward and discern the facts of these matters because Americans will be less informed, stupider and poorer citizens if they believe things that are false and disbelieve or do not know those things which are true.

And now I’ll stop talking.