This Week in the News

• Last week, Attorney General Alberto "Fredo" Gonzalez gave testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on his role in the firing of some 8 US attorneys. During his testimony, Gonzalez repeated the phrase " I don't recall" some 74 times and his testimony was roundly criticized by Democrats and Republicans alike. (Even Republican Senators Specter, Coburn and Sessions called for his resignation). Ganzalez' sad and dissembling spectacle, however, seemed to play well in the White House, where the President told reporters that Gonzalez' performance "increased my confidence in his ability to do the job." (real quote from the President). Asked what so inspired the President, Press Secretary Perino said that Gonzalez "answered honestly, truthfully and was as responsive to Congress as he could possibly be during hours of testimony..." (real quote). In others words, the President is proud that Gonzalez did not perjure himself. Perino continued: "we are trying to set the bar low for our last two years. Try not to commit felonies. Baby steps. baby steps....."
• 
  This week, (ok last) the Roman Catholic Church did away with the concept of Limbo. Limbo was the spiritual equivalent of a holding cell where the souls of children who died unbaptized were kept -- not the minimum security paradise of Heaven, but certainly not the gritty gen pop of Hell either. According to the Vatican, current residents of Limbo will be given vouchers for an eternity in Heaven as spaces become available. The vouchers can also be used for a long weekend at Caesar's' Atlantic City. Once Limbo is entirely depopulated, god is rumored to be in talks with the developers of luxury golf condominiums. According to Pope Benedict XVI, "We think potential buyers will realize what dead infants knew for years. It is as close to heaven as you can get without swallowing a lot of dogmatic palaver. Think of it like Georgetown in the 70s or Tribeca in the early 90s."
• 
  This week, Congress continued to hold hearings on the death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman and the capture and rescue of Army Pvt Jessica Lynch. More precisely, Congress is trying to discover why the Administration deliberately withheld some information about each situation, exaggerated certain details about each situation, and simply made up other parts of the stories. Notably, Congress is not investigating why the Administration's lies were repeated over and over again by some of the most respected news outlets in America. What would such an investigation uncover? To find out we asked Mikey Keygrip, V.P of News, Entertainment and Action Figures at CBS: "You have to understand, back in the 1960s you had news organizations that hired people called journalists. Well now those news organizations turned into the 'entertainment divisions' of 'media companies.' They stopped hiring dodgy old journalists and started hiring 'news personalities' with killer smiles and simply awesome hair. These folks didn't want to report what happened, when and why, because that can be pretty boring or depressing. Instead, we provide 'content' that both entertains and fulfills every American's god given right to feel just great about themselves. That means more heroes and more flags and not so much bodybags and screw ups."
• 
  This week, another installment of stupid god tricks. As many of you know, the family of Army Ranger Pat Tillman is very upset that they were lied to about the circumstances of their son's death in Afghanistan. While some would think the Tillmans' anger is driven by the deceit of their own government, Army Battalion Commander Jeff Kauzlarich, who commanded Tillman, has another explanation. Seems the Tillmans' anger comes not from being lied to, but from the fact that they do not believe in God. As Kauzlarich told ESPN, the Tillmans rage is caused by the fact that they are not Christian, if they were Christian, Kauzlarich said, the Tillmans would be blessed with serenity that would allow them to put their son to rest and ignore the abuses of their government. Asked about Kauzlarich's theory, Mary Tillman, the salty matriarch of Tillman clan, did confirm that her family does not practice any religion because "every time you walk into a church you meet some f--kwit like Jeff Kauzlarich."
• 
  This week, an actual zinger from an elected official. When V.P. Dick Cheney lambasted him for telling the President that the military battle in Iraq was lost, Sen Harry Reid (D Nev) responded that he felt no need to "debate a man with an approval rating of eight." Harry Reid ladies and gentlemen. He'll be here all week. Tip your waiter....
• 
  This week, the government's Office of Special Counsel announced that it is combining three probes into the behavior of Presidential advisor Karl Rove into on omnibus investigation of his 1) violations of the Hatch Act, 2) use of private e-mail to avoid record maintenance policies applicable to the White House and 3) Rove's role in the firing of US. Attorney David Iglesias allegedly for refusing to indict a Democratic lawmaker. Republican legislators had their collective knickers in a bunch over the possibility of prolonged hearings to be used for political ends. Said Alabama Republican Jess Sessions, "Time was special prosecutors were only used for really important things like determining if the President's Johnson was waxed and whether he should have disclosed said waxing in a lawsuit. Now someone destroys some documents and manipulates the judicial system and everyone is all like .... ooooh let's have a hearing. Shoot. makes me sick just to think about it..."

Moral and Intellectual Failure

Those are not my words. They belong to Lt. Col Paul Yingling whose recent article on the performance of military commanders is available at: http://www.armedforcesjournal.com.

Some commentators say that Yinglings willingness to speak out reflects tension between older officers in command positions and younger mid-career officers who are tired of their superiors' clay feet and over confidence.

"We strut, all of us, too much...."

The Fourth Estate

I watched Bill Moyers' program last night on the run up to the invasion of Iraq. (I have concluded the Tigers only win when I do not watch.) Not a lot of new material here, but a few great concessions from people in the news industry:

• CNN's Walter Isaacson admitted that he told his news staff to minimize coverage of civilian deaths in Afghanistan, and if such coverage was necessary, make sure that 9/11 was mentioned. Isaacson told Moyers he did this in response to complaints from "some powerful men in powerful corporations."
• Dan Rather stated that he was "ashamed" of his failure to do his job after 9/11.
• Phil Donahue stated that MSNBC had a policy in place that any single anti war voice on the network had to be "balanced" by two pro war voices. Moyers also discussed a memo from MSNBC indicating that Donahue's firing was, in part, traceble to the fact that other news agencies were questioning his patriotism.
• A reporter from the Washington Post walked through the placement of pieces supportive of the rationale for war (front page) as opposed to pieces questioning the rationales (back of the first section). Often the back page pieces completely undermined the material presented on page 1.
• Moyers also showed footage of a Bush press conference that strongly suggested the whole thing was scripted. That is, the President had a list of who to call on and what question they would ask.

Like a lot of folks, I believe that the press in this country has completely fallen down on its job, but I always though their efforts were undermined in very subtle ways. Moyers posits that Washington became the victim of groupthink and the "cool kids" were not questioning the rationale for war. If you wanted access, to get ahead, or make influential connections, you did not ask any hard questions. Moyers demonstrated that sometimes, this whole process was not so subtle.

Enough with the Semi Autos Already...

Yesterday I saw a poll showing that 60% of the American people support some form of unspecified greater gun control. That number is only slightly higher than historical figures for similar polls going back decades. So it would seem that Americans are disturbed by gun violence but still committed to the idea that the Second Amendment guarantees gun ownership to all (felony free) citizens.

Maybe it does. Maybe it doesn't. But lets assume that the 2nd Amendment prevents the government from barring the private ownership of weapons. Even with this assumption, the 2nd Amendment certainly does not guarantee the right to bear all arms. So let's start with the semi autos. No more nines, tens, 45s, 380s, pimpy little .32s or flightly .22s. From now on, if a civilian wants a handgun they go old school. Six (maybe seven shots) in a double action pistol. Either pull the trigger all the way or cock the hammer. No more 15 round clips and no more ability to lay down a string of bullets in a few seconds.

It makes no difference you say? I disagree. Such a proposal (Which I call Dock the Glock, or Minimize the Mayhem) would not erase all gun violence. But it certainly would minimize the damage, allow greater chance for escape, restore a firepower advantage to law enforcement and perhaps just as importantly, take away the air of invincibility that seems to come with carrying a semi automatic weapon.

Combine this measure with re-institution of our Assault Weapons Ban (which Congress let expire in the President's first term) and maybe you can lower the body count. The only folks who can really oppose this with a straight face are the NRA, but they would not be on board with anything anyway. Gun manufacturers will likely oppose it because semi autos are popular and can be sold at premium pricing (they are the SUVs of the gun industry). But I suspect there are a lot of gun owners and Second Amendment loyalists out there who would support this kind of pragmatic approach.

Because it represents a practical compromise in the gun debate, I can safely predict this proposal -- or anything similar -- will never see the light of legislative day.

David Halberstam

In the last six months it seems that all the wrong people are dying.

First, Molly Ivins, then Kurt Vonnegut and now David Halberstam. Irreverent truth tellers all, Halberstam was perhaps best know for his volumunous work on the Vietnam War, The Best and the Brightest, a tome that took the Kennedy Administration to the wood shed when most of the country was all moist eyed about Camelot and a bit thin- skinned about our bloody debacle in Southeast Asia.

It seems that Halberstam will be survived by a gaggle of grubby sycophants that are more concerned with their table assignment at the Washington Press Club and preserving their access to the rich and powerful than in actually relaying complicated truths to the American people.

I reprint below a bit from a 2005 essay in Vanity Fair that I (and apparently a lot of others) held on to:

We strut, all of us, too much. Our weaponry is so exceptional that our political
leaders need no allies-they dictate our plans, and if the allies do not agree
with us, they are called cowardly. Our businessmen are brittle, ever more sure
of themselves and their deals and their right to prosper on an ever grander
scale, whether or not they are competent at their jobs, even as they produce
less and less in terms of real goods. Our celebrities, so loudly heralded in
this entertainment age for what are often marginal talents, are more arrogant
and more self-indulgent than ever. Our athletes, when they go overseas for
international competition, are all too often an embarrassment in their personal
behavior.

When did all this happen? What are the roots? As we achieved
greater affluence in the 50 years after World War II, did we steadily become
more arrogant than our parents and grandparents, more convinced that we were
special and apart from other nations? Where is the country I thought I knew?
Where did our modesty go?

Once again, we are all a bit less.

McCain Melts Down

I see John McCain stepped in it again, lending a Beach Boys melody to his hope to "Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran."

Oddly McCain defended his "joke" by saying: ''My response is, Lighten up and get a life.''

Jesus John. In case you haven't noticed, we have been lighting people up and taking lives for quite some time now and a lot of people think it is not that fucking funny. Oddly, they see little humour in the specter of more civilian deaths. I know you fancy yourself the hyper macho warrior for whom a days bombing is but a day at the office for an old leatherneck ... but are you really surprised that many people are not quite as enamored of mass violence as you?.

I suspect the good people of Iowa and New Hampshire will hear quite about this self inflicted wound. You will deserve every attack ad, leaflet and direct mail.

This Week in the News

No formal post this week as I have been busy. However, a few random thoughts:

• I reviewed a good chunk of Atty Gen. Gonzalez' testimony yesterday. While the internal contradictions, numerous caveats, and tortured verbiage ("I now understand I had a meeting with President..) are fodder for comedy, it is sad that the nation's lawyer is such an obvious dissembler.
• I see that within the last two weeks that both George Will and Newt Gingrich have conceded that 1) global warming exists, 2) its caused by human factors and 3) the consequences merit immediate action. Considering that both these guys were formally in the "denier" camp, progress is being made.
• Big Pharma won a victory this week by killing the idea of negotiating drug prices . Once again we have a decision that provides a windfall to a small group while costing the rest of us.
• I see the White House is still insisting on the canard that any admission of a military defeat in Iraq is "not supporting the troops." I really don't blame the White House. What are they gonna do? Its the only card left in their hand. I blame anybody who still plays along with it.
• I heard John Kerry speak this week. I disagree with John Kerry on some things and sometimes his Boston marble mouth and the overwhelming dryness of his public persona gets annoying. But it still boggles my mind that any sentient being thought it was a good idea to vote for the President instead of Kerry.

You Are On the List

Fernando Rodney is now officially on my sh-t list. Bonderman gives up one run through seven and you lose the game in the tenth? All too familiar Fernando....

John Derbyshire Shoots Like a Spaz

I have avoided almost all media coverage of the West Virginia shootings on the presumption that American journalists are using this tragic event as an excuse to exercise their most sentimental and maudlin impulses. But one piece of commentary caught my eye. In the National Review, one writer castigated the students for not rushing their attacker. In support of his red blooded screed, John Derbyshire gives us this bit of infantry knowledge: "...just jump him. Handguns aren't very accurate, even at close range. I shoot mine all the time at the range, and I still can't hit squat. I doubt this guy was any better than I am. "

What a crackpot.

John, handguns, particularly 9mm and small caliber weapons like a .22 are very accurate at close range. That is why 32 people are dead. Your inability to "hit squat" with your weapon is more telling about your lack of skills than anything else. (As a general rule I have noticed that handguns are never accurate or inaccurate. Those wielding them, however, can be extraordinarily inaccurate or accurate.) Had you bothered to look down the range in your moments of frustration, you would realize that most shooters who keep their eyes open can hit quite a lot of squat at distances of less than 25 feet. John, I am not going to win any shooting competitions any time soon, but I am very confident in my ability to deliver a fatal shot with a 9mm handgun at such a distance.

John, you have outed yourself. Not only are you a bad shot, you are apparently too stupid to know that you are a bad shot and further seem to lack even the most basic knowledge of handguns. We rely on conservatives for so little, but we do rely upon you for an encyclopedic knowledge of all things sports and munitions related. For your inability to even serve this meager end, you deserve to be the butt of jokes. (In case you didn't get it John, that was a pun. The butt is the tail end of the pistol. Where your instructor puts that long thingy full of whatchmycallits before he tells you to get your hand out of the way of the slide and stop yanking the trigger like a spaz.)

This Week in the News

This week, radio talk show host Don Imus was fired from his job after calling the Rutgers women's basketball team a bunch of "nappy headed 'hoes." Rising to his defense, television talk show host Sean Hannity complained that Imus was simply influenced by hip hop music that often refers to women in similar terms. Apparently unaware of the irony involved in saying that 60 year old white man should be excused because he was following the lead of black rappers, Hannity went on to blame Imus' celebrated alcoholism on television ads that glamorize alcohol, Imus' smoking on the the macho image of the Marlboro man, and Imus' vaunted temper on violent video games. Hannity ended his appeal to take back America from the "p/c thought police:" "It is a sad day when an white man cannot hurl a racial slur at a group of college students over the airwaves without having to fear backlash."

This week, Salon.com published an interview with Harvard Professor Robert J Sampson on the issue of immigration. In a recently published paper, Sampson and his colleagues used decades of immigration data to show that immigrant populations are less prone to crime then native born Americans. More precisely, it takes three generations for the level of criminality in immigrant populations to catch up to that of native populations. If true, Sampson's work undermines the argument that legal and illegal immigrants contribute to rising crime rates. Contacted for comment, Perry Aerosol, Chair of the National Union for Republican Domination (NURD) noted dryly, "It is always a shame when someone puts the lie to our most cherished stereotypes and assumptions. However, we are confident that there is some other group of people we can blame for the ills of our society. " Suiting word to deed, NURD convened a meeting to consider a new national scapegoat. TWN was able to procures a partially complete set of meeting notes kept by one participant.

National Scapegoats -- Possible Candidates. Must be easily villified minority. Must tie to crime. Easily caricatured. See below:
Jews -- been there. done that
Feminists -- rely to heavily on Marge's income to support family. also no sex for weeks. Backlash possibility
Gays -- too effete and effeminate to commit violent crimes
liberal academics -- see gays above
Hillary Rodham Clinton -- three names. aliases? shifty eyes. lives in NY. possible candidate. responsible for most things bad.
Urban blacks -- why make too complicated. Keep it simple. Call Imus.

This week, presidential hopeful John McCain wrote and op -ed piece inwhich he argued that the US. surge in Iraq was working but the US media was not fairly reporting the success of our military forces. (The very next day, a bomb was detonated in the cafeteria of the Iraqi parliament in the heart of the heavily fortified Green Zone killing fifteen.) McCain castigated the liberal media and accused war opponents of not understanding what is at stake in Iraq. Once aboard the Straight Talk Express, however, the bus' magical truth telling powers took hold and a glassy eyed McCain took a different tack: "Iraq? Total f-cking disaster. Blood everywhere and not an end in sight. But what am I supposed to do? If I oppose the surge I am just like all the other candidates and I can kiss right wing money goodbye. That f-ck Romney and his f-cking hair will get it. Plus what about my credentials as the uber macho candidate? Manly men do not oppose manly surges."

This week the novelist Kurt Vonnegut died. This came as a blow to many people my age who read books. At a time when our so called leaders are so very adept at fanning the fires of our tribal love of guns, money and hubris he will be missed. I learned three things from the handful of Vonnegut novels and dumptruck of Vonnegut essays I read: 1) Kindness is something worth talking about. 2) We are all terribly flawed and equally insignificant. 3) Innocence is just as dangerous an any of the seven deadly sins. God Bless You Mr. Vonnegut.

This week White House officials admitted that many White House advisors may have used e-mail accounts issued to them by the Republican National Committee to conduct governmental business. As a result, many e-mails related to official duties that are supposed to be retained under federal law may have been destroyed. This includes e-mails related to the US Attorney Scandal. (Interestingly, one e-mail from disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff indicated that White House officials should use their RNC accounts when communicating with Abramoff to avoid retention of the e-mails.) Responding to the disclosure White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten stated, "To think there is anything improper here, one would have to assume that the government is somehow separate from the Party. That is not true. We know the state is the Party and the Party is the State. If you criticize the Party, you criticize the State. The marvelous glories of the Party are the marvelous glories of the State. He who betrays the Party betrays the State." Bolten then announced plans for national parade on the Washington Mall to be held on May 1 of each year. The parade, said Bolten, will have "tanks and everything."

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 1922-2007

So it goes.

Imus

Don Imus has, once again, proved himself to be, if not a tremendous bigot, then a tremendous fool.

It is sad state of affairs for the Rutgers women's basketball team. Sorry ladies. No matter how much you achieve -- scholarships, college education, sports glory -- no matter how much you succeed in this society and distinguish yourself among your peers, there is a 60 year old white man who, with a few words, can put you right back in the prison of a racial stereotype, can wipe away your achievements and reduce you to a crude caricature for millions of listeners. Sorry if you had the mistaken belief that your accomplishments entitled you to any respect. (With all the media coverage here, we seem to forget the 18-21 year old women who were subjected to an ugly and racist epitaph in front of millions of listeners).

I suspect there are a bunch of folks out there moaning on about Imus' First Amendment rights and prattling on about "pc this and pc that." First, I am not sure those rights protect Imus from being fired by his private sector employer. Second, I would have a lot more sympathy for Imus if he got in hot water after speaking truth to power, or offering some startling -yet -unpopular insight on the world, or took a principaled stand on some significant issue. Instead, he may get canned for being a bigoted old man out of step with his listeners. Imus was not delivering words of unconventional delphic wisdom, he was just delivering a gutter variety racial slur. This was not 'Give Peace a Chance," "Free Huey" or even "Impeach Clinton."

Third, many of these free speech neophytes are the same types of folks who like to tell us that market forces should reign supreme. Isn't it these same market forces that drove away three of Imus' main advertisers? If market forces should be allowed to drive a man out of the factory, why not a man off the radio? Isn't Imus just trying to sell a product that few are buying anymore? And if that is true, doesn't his employer have the right to walk him Spainish?*

Lastly, there is something karmic here. Imus made his living by potraying himself as a straight talker unafraid to say what was on his mind. That shtick made him millions. Live by the sword. Die by the sword.

*(Keep in mind that I believe there is an argument to be made for a free speech protection for all employees public or private. I don't like the idea of someone being fired from their job for expressing an opinion contrary to their boss'. On the other hand, I can see why an employer would want to retain the right to fire an employee whose speech hurts their ability to do business.)

Jesus Christ is Risen.. and He's +3 at Augusta

This weekend, Zach Johnson, the number 54 golfer in the world , won the Masters by holding off a late charge by Tiger Woods. It is always great to see a Major won by someone without a major name. But my admiration for Johnson, a native Iowan, faded a bit in the post game interview when Johnson proceeded to thank god for all his help on Augusta's tabeltop greens and for protecting him while Tiger prowled.

Isn't it just a little bit arrogant to think that Christ was somehow involved in your golf game? Is that what our notion of the Supreme Being has become? Some sort of exalted Life Coach, some kind of Best Buddy who offers sage advice in times of crisis? Is it any wonder that people have difficulty taking the notion of god seriously when so many believers blather on like he is just their own personal Oprah? It seems like Christiantity was a lot more credible before it became just another self help group. God is merciful, kind, and all knowing. Appearently he can help you stick your short irons as well.

The generic Democrat

A Hotline poll today showed that a generic Democrat beats a generic Republican by 18 percentage points in 2008. In response, the Clinton Campaign has promised to make every effort to be as generic as possible by election time... .

The Nerve...

Today's BBC news reports that members of the Royal Navy seized by the Iranian armed forces were blindfolded, handled roughly, subjected to psychological pressure and held in isolation by their captors. What kind of country .... oh .. never mind.... carry on.

This Week In the News

This week, the Media Research Center (MRC), a group dedicated to sniffing out the liberal bias in American journalism had its annual banquet and gave its "God, I Hate America Award" to .... Andy Rooney. That's Right. Andy "Cranky Old Man" Rooney. Not Katrina VandenHeuvel (Editor, of The Nation,), not Hillary Clinton, not Al Franken, not Bill Maher, but Andy Rooney, a guy who will tell anyone who will listen about his experiences in WWII and likes to think he put the "Greatest" in the Greatest Generation. The offending statement According to MRC, was the following opinion offered at the end of 60 Minutes:

Americans are puzzled over why so many people in the world hate us... We're
trying to protect ourselves with more weapons. We have to do it, I guess, but it
might be better if we figured out how to behave as a nation in a way that
wouldn't make so many people in the world want to kill us.

Contacted for comment, the MRC's Archibald "Arch" Fascisto commented, "Listen. We count on those Greatest Generations types to beat the war drums and lend the moral authority of the fight against Fascism in Europe to the fight against whatever enemy we have concocted in whatever backwater we say they live in. The last thing we need is one of these octegenarians exercising an independent streak."


This week, Republican Fred Thompson, most known for his role as a saavy District Attorney on TV's "Law and Order" announced that he would seek the GOP nomination for President. Thompson served a thoroughly unremarkable term as a Senator from Tennessee and is better known for playing authority figures (Generals, Admirals, and DAs) in the movies and on TV. While many questioned whether Thompson can actually convince Americans he can lead the country, Thompson's chief aide responded, "Our reading of the public mood in the last eight years is that the appearance of leadership is more important than actually exercising independent judgment in the public interest. What we want is someone who can mouth the words of the songs we want to hear and do so with the appearance of candor and integrity. As his acting credits attest, Fred is an awesome stand in for actual leadership. Whether its is hard boiled leadership, compassionate leadership, or even enlightened leadership, the man can create the illusion of leadership like nobody's business."


This week, the Supreme Court ruled that the Bush Administration violated the Clean Air Act when the Environmental Protection Agency refused to issue standards regarding carbon emissions from vehicles. The Court rejected the Administration's argument that the Environmental Protection Agency was created to protect business from environmentalists, not the environment from business.


This week, the British medical journal Lancet, published a study which ranked commonly used drugs based upon their physical effects, costs to society, addiction rate, and harm caused to individuals. Heroin and cocaine topped the ranking. Filling out the top ten were ketomine (special K, (4)) alcohol (5) and tobacco (9). Marijuana, ecstasy and LSD were ranked 11, 14 and 18. The study undermines drug classification systems in both England and the US, both of which treat canabis and other recreational drugs as being much more dangerous than alcohol or tobacco. Drug treatment advocates on both sides of the Atlantic have long argued for a reclassification of drugs more in line with their actual dangers. In response to the study the White House's Office of Drug Policy issued a statement: "Once again we are faced with a challenge to our policies from so called 'scientists' and all their ballyhooed 'evidence.' Well mister, for four decades we have been implementing a multibillion dollar policy that says all drugs are equally dangerous and will turn you into vegetable. Four decades of fighting a nation awash in drugs speaks for itself."


This week, the Wall Street Journal reported on the story of one Lt. Colonel Stuart Couch, a United States Marine, and lawyer, who volunteered to prosecute the case of Mohamedou Slahi, a suspected terrorist held at Guantanomo Bay, Slahi was accused of masterminding the hijacking of a United Airlines flight on September 11, 2001. That plan killed the co-pilot of the flight, a close personal friend of Lt. Col. Couch. After investigating the case, Couch refused to prosecute Slahi because he believed that Slahi's confessions had been procured through torture at the hands of US forces, specifically sexual humiliation, mock executions, beatings, and the threat of taking Slahi's mother into custody and allowing prisoners to rape her. No zinger line here because Lt. Col. Couch's actions are nothing but admiral. Even the most deranged of wars can produce heroes.


This week, they arrived in the night from the country's capitals of finance. They came on airplanes and high speed Amtrack shuttles. They took up space at the DC Hilton, The Capitol Marriott and the Watergate. They drank premium liquor and swaddled themselves in Prada, Gucci and Armani. They are lobbyists. Specifically, many of the 1,100 lobbyist hired by the pharmaceutical industry to stop passage of a bill winding its way through Congress. The bill allows the federal government to use its massive buying power to negotiate prescription drug prices for Medicare and Medicaid. This practice was expressly forbidden by the Bush Administration's Medicare Prescription Drug legislation (a/k/a the Pharmaceutical Executives Retirement Package act or "PERP") . Big Pharma, which last year spent $300 million lobbying Congress, defended its rent seeking behavior in high fashion: "What you see here is simply an exercise in the free market setting prices. No not the prices for drugs, stupid. But the price of congressman who can hand us the ability to unilaterally set prices whether we are selling you ten pills or ten million pills." Asked how the lobbying effort was going, the spokesperson noted: "As always we are seeing some price elasticity. Some of these guys roll for a T Bone at Mortons, some want discrete donations to their own PAC, and some want a six figure job for their spouse. We are negotiating on a case by case basis. "

Quote of the Week

"Cynicism opposite is not mindless optimism, but defiance." (This comes from a Spin magazine album review. I don't think it has much of anything to do with Arcade Fire's latest disk, but I like it. )

Today's Rose Garden Ramble

Today the President made some comments in the Rose Garden castigating Congress for daring to attempt to curtail his war by attaching a time limit for withdrawal to military appropriations. As has been his habit, the President hid behind "the Troops" and accused his opponents of undermining the safety of our boys (and girls) by trying to put a time limit on this folly. There is something richly ironic about accusing the Congress of not respecting the troops because they pass legislation that would get them out of harms way. In fact it is so ironic that I have to believe this argument will fly like a lead balloon.

Also lost in the shuffle is the fact that the President left himself open for just such a maneuver. In an effort to create some rosy budget numbers, the Administration did not include appropriations for Iraq in its 2007 budget and decided instead to rely on emergency appropriations such as this one. That strategy opened the door to allowing another branch of government to play in the Iraq sandbox. It seems the President was unwilling to take the political heat that a war budget would engender.

I am not sure this will play well for the White House. I sense the people have had enough of the retarded boy emperor* and are looking for an adult to manage the situation and tell him it is time to come home. (Of course whether this Congress is that adult remains to be seen.)

******

Interestingly, in the same address, the President attempted to paint his former campaign adviser and chief pollster, Matthew Dowd, as overly emotional about the war because he has a son serving. (Over the weekend, Dowd told the Texas Monthly that the President was living "in a bubble," and that "Sen. Kerry was right about Iraq.") Seems that there is always some psychological ailment or personal grudge that affects anyone who dare criticizes the President.

******

Last note on the Rose Garden press conference. (Which will be the last for a bit because the President is heading down to Crawford for five days of vay-cay.) Reading the transcript, I see the President also was at pains to criticize the Mideast tour undertaken by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, during which a Congressional delegation will meet with Syrian officials in the hope of enlisting their support in the Middle East. (This was one recommendation of the Iraq Study Group.) The President is upset because the meetings "send mixed messages to Syria" a country we are trying to isolate from "the mainstream." the President went so far as to chastise Pelosi for seeking a "photo op." I notice the President did not mention that at least three Republicans went with Speaker Pelosi, so apparently not everyone in the GOP agrees with his stance.

He also failed to mention that our attempts to "isolate" Syria apparently don't extend to our renditions to that country. The US has regularly sent detainees to Syria to be tortured under our program of extraordinary rendition. So I guess we are all about isolating Syria until such time as we need some guy waterboarded.

Refusing to deal with Syria is probably not good policy given their obvious self interest in the region. Worse, it seems to be bad policy topped with a generous helping of hypocrisy.

*Retarded boy emperor is not mine. It belongs to Bill Maher.

Immigration Schizophrenia

This morning on the news, I heard that some seven counties in and around Modesto California have passed resolutions condemning recent immigration raids that have led to the deportation of hundreds of farm laborers. Farm owners worry that Operation Return to Sender (Who thinks of these names?) may prevent them from getting their crop in, and may drive up prices on produce.

So let me get this straight. We dislike illegal immigration, except when we don't. The news story drives home the point that in solving the immigration riddle, we have to recognize our dependence on the cheap labor illegal immigrants provide. In other words, everyone is against illegal immigration, until the cost of strawberries jumps 35%.

Vegas books are now taking bets on what will win out, our consumerism or our nativisim. (I am taking consumerism even money.)

This Week In The News

This week, consumer electronics giant Circuit City announced that it was laying off some 3400 retail workers nationwide. According to one Circuit City Manager, the company is cutting "overpaid" workers whose hourly pay exceed the prescribed salary band for their position. (real quote) According to the company, these employees will be replaced by lower paid new hires. This will have the effect of eliminating many of the company's more senior and experienced employees. Commenting on the move, Circuit City spokesperson Louis Ampere stated: " For too long, we have allowed American workers to work under the faulty assumption that staying with a company, gaining experience and rising up the ranks was somehow a valid strategy. No more. I think the message we need to send is clear: stay stupid and stay cheap and maybe we will keep you around."

This week, D. Kyle Sampson, former Chief of Staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, offered testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee relating to the sacking of some eight US Attorneys. Sampson testified that his former boss was "not accurate" in stating that he had no role in the purge. Sampson also testified that White House figures such as Karl Rove and Harriet Miers were involved in the deliberations and that Miers and Gonzalez were the "decisionmakers" with regard to eight attorneys fired. After the hearings, even Republican Arlen Spector was forced to concede that the Department of Justice was in "disarray and possibly dysfunctional." (real quotes). In the wake of events, President Bush has decided to convene a retreat at his Crawford Ranch aimed at charting a new course in his trademark resolute, fake cowboy type of way. Among the breakout sessions will be: "Why Are We Such Big Fat Liars?" "Why Do We Step on Our Dicks All the Time? ('Cept You Condi.)" "Does There Remain a Portion of the Executive Branch We Have not Totally Fucked Up? and " Vice - Patriot or Vegetable.?"

This week, new data from the Department of Treasury shows that, based on 2005 tax revenue, the income gap in America continues to grow. More precisely, tax data shows that the incomes of the nations top 10% grew by 14% while the bottom 90% (a/k/a most of us) saw a 1% decline. The top one percent of Americans now own a larger portion of the nations wealth than ever before and that portion has doubled since 2000. Interestingly, this phenomena also shows up in tax policy. Since 1980, the top .01% of earners has seen their marginal tax rate drop more than any other income group. So the rich are making more than they ever did, own more than they ever have, and are paying less than they ever did in taxes. Asked if this state of affairs seemed... well ... a little whack... Republican economist Edward Laffer stated" Nope. Because what you call 'inequality.' We call 'rewarding initiative.' You see everyday the wealthy are doing brave and productive things like setting up offshore tax havens, placing their assets in untaxable trusts, backdating their stock options, 'rightsizing' their companies, ridiculously overpaying themselves through generous corporate compensation policies, and lobbying for even lower taxes and less corporate oversight. We have to reward that type of productivity.If we don't what will trickle down on the rest of us?" *

*By the way, we checked. Circuit City's CEO's compensation places him in the fabulous environs of the top 1% of American incomes.