Saturday Reads
Posted: November 13, 2010 Filed under: morning reads | Tags: Asian Century, DADT, Juan Cole, Robert Gates, Study Leaks 46 Comments
'Cupcakes on a Book' by Rachel Montague
Good Morning!!!
First up, a couple of items from Politico.
Well, we can’t get any action on torture memos and evidence destruction, but Robert Gates is ordering a probe into leaks. Guess it’s only a problem if we know about it. This time the problem is who inkled the DADT pentagon survey before its time.
“The secretary strongly condemns the unauthorized release of information related to this report and has directed an investigation to establish who communicated with The Washington Post or any other news organization without authorization and in violation of department policy and his specific instruction.”
The Pentagon’s anger over the release of parts of the report aren’t based on national security concerns. Instead, the newspaper story appeared to foil a carefully orchestrated plan to make public the reports findings after they were due Dec. 1. Releasing aspects of the report would affect public perceptions just weeks before the issue is likely to emerge again in Congress. The newspaper article based on only parts of the report could undermine the overall integrity of the report’s findings, Pentagon officials said.
I suppose that means that all had to get their stories straight before we found out about it. I’m also thinking that some folks probably aren’t quite on board with it yet.
Raise your hand if you think Rick Perry is running for President. Yup, me too. He’s angling for some higher profile positions right now.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry will be tapped as the new chairman of the Republican Governors Association when the organization meets next week in San Diego, GOP sources tell POLITICO.
Perry recently released a book taking aim at the federal government and both the subject of the tome, “Fed Up!,” and his promotion of it have fueled speculation that he is eyeing a presidential bid.
Ah, Matt Yglesias wants to feel better about Obama and just comes out and says it in a post called ‘Results, Not Words’. Good luck with that.
I think that where a lot of progressive political junkies go wrong is that they think “blame Republicans for failing to pass plan to fix the economy” is a close substitute for “fix the economy.” In reality, the evidence that fixing the economy would help Democrats politically is overwhelming, while the evidence that the plan/block/blame strategy would work is non-existent. People like me and Atrios would feel better about President Obama and his team if they made public statements that indicated that he roughly agrees with our take on what ideally should be done, but people like me and Atrios are neither swing voters nor marginally attached voters. Our emotional state has very little political relevance.
Here’s Juan Cole’s take on Obama and Asia and what he calls The Asian Century. Bottom line: No one takes us seriously any more and they still don’t like us very much. Cole sees this from the diplomatic viewpoint. I’ve seen it from the same things in terms of trade and economics. It’s just a matter of time before we’re the little guys just like the Brits.
Just how weakened the United States has been in Asia is easily demonstrated by the series of rebuffs its overtures have suffered from regional powers. When, for instance, a tiff broke out this fall between China and Japan over a collision at sea near the disputed Senkaku Islands, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered to mediate. The offer was rejected out of hand by the Chinese, who appear to have deliberately halted exports of strategic rare-earth metals to Japan and the United States as a hard-nosed bargaining ploy. In response, the Obama administration quickly turned mealy-mouthed, affirming that while the islands come under American commitments to defend Japan for the time being, it would take no position on the question of who ultimately owned them.
Likewise, Pakistani politicians and pundits were virtually unanimous in demanding that President Obama raise the issue of disputed Kashmir with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his Indian sojourn. The Indians, however, had already firmly rejected any internationalization of the controversy, which centers on the future of the Muslim-majority state, a majority of whose inhabitants say they want independence. Although Obama had expressed an interest in helping resolve the Kashmir dispute during his presidential campaign, by last March his administration was already backing away from any mediation role unless both sides asked for Washington’s help. In other words, Obama and Clinton promptly caved in to India’s insistence that it was the regional power in South Asia and would brook no external interference.
This kind of regional near impotence is only reinforced by America’s perpetual (yet ever faltering) war machine. Nor, as Obama moves through Asia, can he completely sidestep controversies provoked by the Afghan War, his multiple-personality approach to Pakistan, and his administration’s obsessive attempt to isolate and punish Iran.
Here’s a cool list. It’s the World’s Richest Women. It’s also another sign of the Asian Century. Have you learned any Mandarin yet?
Topping the list is Zhang Yin, founder of a paper recycling company, who is worth $5.6 billion. She’s followed by two more Chinese women who are each worth more than $4 billion. To put that in perspective, Oprah ranked ninth with $2.3 billion and Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling is 20th with $1 billion. The numbers were compiled by the Hurun Report.
What explains the surge in China’s wealthy women? One answer appears to be an intense work ethic and strong ambition. According to a study completed earlier this year by the Center for Work-Life Policy, just over one-third of all college-educated American women describe themselves as very ambitious, versus two thirds in China.
Here’s another eye-popper: More than 75 percent of women in China aspire to hold a top corporate job, compared with just over half in the US. One of the more interesting findings from the study was that communism may have given women a boost, because it underscored that women could do whatever men could do. Who could have ever imagined that Maoist philosophy could be a calling card for capitalism?
Chinese women, like their American counterparts, still have a long way to go. Only 11 percent of the richest Chinese citizens are women and Chinese women have about a third less wealth than their male counterparts. Here in the US, the Census Bureau recently said that the number of women with six-figure incomes is rising at a much faster pace than it is for men. But overall, women still earn about twenty cents less on the dollar than men nationwide and only three percent of CEO’s of publicly-traded companies are women.
WAPO reports that the Supreme Court has declined to throw out DADT.
Rejecting a request by a Republican gay rights group, the U.S. Supreme Court refused Friday to stop enforcement of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy while a lower court hears a challenge to the ban.
Friday’s decision by the high court keeps in place the military’s ban on gays and lesbians serving openly as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit prepares to hear legal arguments in a case brought by the Log Cabin Republicans. The group is challenging the constitutionality of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and in September convinced a federal district judge to briefly block enforcement of the ban.
The 9th Circuit reversed the decision, which led LCR to appeal to the high court on Monday. The Justice Department argued the policy should continue as the court case proceeds.
The justices provided no comment with their decision, but Justice Elena Kagan recused herself from the case, the court said. Kagan previously served as the Obama administration’s solicitor general and helped develop the Justice Department’s strategy on the Log Cabin case.
Here’s an interesting tidbit from Salon. It seems that one of Sarah Palin’s top aides is funded by George Soros AND it’s something the Beckster overlooked in his all out attack on Soros as worst person in the world. Oh, wait, Soros as anti-American fascist commie pinko … Well, one of those things you call people who you want to make a living off … and no, this isn’t a gratuitous fire spouting liberal I obsess with Sarah Palin post. You can breathe easy now. I’m just intrigued by the irony of it all.
Glenn Beck spent the past week denouncing the liberal billionaire and philanthropist George Soros as a “puppet master” who is orchestrating a coup “to bring America to her knees.”
Given Soros’ alleged role plotting to destroy the United States, Beck and his Fox viewership might be surprised to learn that one of Sarah Palin’s top aides has been on Soros’ payroll for years.
That would be Republican lobbyist Randy Scheunemann, Palin’s foreign policy adviser and a member of her small inner circle. He runs a Washington, D.C., consulting firm called Orion Strategies. Scheunemann and a partner have since 2003 been paid over $150,000 by one of Soros’ organizations for lobbying work, according to federal disclosure forms reviewed by Salon. The lobbying, which has continued to the present, centers on legislation involving sanctions and democracy promotion in Burma.
Scheunemann’s client is the Open Society Policy Center, a DC-based advocacy group founded and funded by Soros. The Open Society Policy Center says on its website that it “encourages Congress and the Administration to press the military dictatorship in Burma to restore political rights and democracy.”
In the course of Beck’s three-day look at Soros’ network of organizations and his links to Democratic politicians, the fact that a top aide to a likely GOP presidential candidate has been retained by a Soros outfit did not come up.
So, my guess is the media is in a ratings war to find the bottom of the gene pool.
[MABlue’s picks]
A worthy Nobel Peace Prize laureate is finally free. You hear that China?
Aung San Suu Kyi walks free
Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi finally walked to freedom today amid massive cheers from elated supporters who flooded the streets outside her home in Burma.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who has been detained for 15 of the past 21 years, was greeted by jubilant crowds who had gathered in Rangoon in anticipation of her release.
Facebook wants to invade your privacy some more.
Facebook set to launch ‘Gmail killer’ email system
Facebook is set to launch its latest Google-taunting product on Monday: the long-anticipated Facebook email system.
The launch of an @facebook.com email is not itself a great surprise – the existence of a secret project officially known as Project Titan and unofficially as “Gmail killer” has been circulating since February.
But tech industry analysts believe that a Facebook email system, coupled to its popular photo and events programs, could become a comprehensive competitor to Gmail.
I always knew those vanity plates had some usefulness.
Vanity Plate Leads Police To Robbery Suspect
Hooksett woman was arrested and charged with robbing a pharmacy after a witness jotted down the vanity plate on her car as she left the area, police said
[…]
The license plate reported by the witness was B-USHER, which police said was registered to Bonnie Usher, 43. Usher was arrested at her home a short time later and charged with armed robbery.
How could a woman say “NO!” to this perfectly nice gentleman?
Man accused of trying to run down ex-girlfriend after rejected marriage proposal
Hernandez’s car had the proposal “Stacy Will You Marry Me?” written on the back window of his car, according to reports.
“She said no. He was a little unhappy with that,” Berg said.
Hernandez allegedly drove onto the sidewalk through some bushes and into the restaurant parking lot, narrowly missing the woman
peej
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Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Nice roundup, Dak. Did you notice how Juan Cole just HAD to bring up how Hillary is part at fault for Obumbles policy concerning Asia? How many ‘progressives’ ever blame Kathleen Sebillius for the garbage that is health care in this country? Asshats.
Rick Perry is my gov. We were unable to get Bill White in this election cycle and we are going to again pay the price. I’m just not sure why the fake appeal of a down home guy is so strong here when his policies don’t help those same people. It’s been evident that Perry has had his eye on the White House for awhile now. If you think the country is bad now, just wait until federal policy MANDATES that conservative ideology be taught to American youths (circa the very VERY conservative Texas School Board). Asshat.
John Smart has an eye opener about ‘Scarborough allure.’ Tounge in cheek 😀
http://johnwsmart.wordpress.com/2010/11/12/he-doesnt-know-what-hes-doing/
I’m not sure I understand Democratic philosophy. Why would you knock your own for getting work done? I am no fan of Obumbles, but Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen feels that he should have acquiesed even more to the GOP when it came to his health care bill. I wonder if he spoke out when Bush got torture through the senate. Hmmmmmm.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/44993.html
I was too late coming to last nite’s potluck, so I wasn’t able to get a dish posted before the next post came up. Today’s menu was a simple one – chicken and rice. I’ll try to get up a bit earlier for work next time…..
Hillary 2012
Thanks for the John Smart piece. Barnicle and Scarborough are insufferable, IMO, as are Mika and Geist, but reading the bits and pieces out there as this unfolds –as different people see it– is endlessly fascinating.
The one thing I know for sure is Obama supporters will accept no responsibility and will learn nothing, same as Bushies, which is why we’re going to keep sliding downward.
TheRock,
isn’t it normal to bring up Hillary Clinton for something that happened in the foreign policy arena and where she was actively involved?
She is an integral part of this administration.
Post the recipe anyway! I’m going to be copying some of the ones from last night. Next Friday, I think I’ll post some old Boston recipes. We have seafood up here too, you know.
Y’all are going to make me miss seafood? The only domestic seafood here is from the Gulf and after the oil spill I just can’t bring myself to eat it.
Heh, I hear that you guys get to skip the whole entire presidency of T Jefferson because the nutballs done there are miffed with the whole separation of church and state thing. *snort*
I was just reading it, and someone was hoping for a recipe for Scotch Eggs. Can you post yours, pretty please? 🙂
Thx for the Juan Cole link-I had no idea that the rare earths controversy was directly linked to territorial claims.
Juan Cole always has some interesting things to write about and has such an extensive background that I always learn something when he writes too. I’ve moved beyond his 2008 hubris. I think he’s still a keen voice.
Public perception? A majority of the public wants DADT repealed. The public isn’t the problem. Obama is the problem.
What ObamaCo is worried about is that by some fluke DADT will actually be repealed.
I can’t quite figure out why they — and more specifically Obama himself — don’t want it repealed, but it’s clear they don’t.
And while there have been a few gays fighting the good fight, I think a lot of gays are responsible for this as well. Their harebrained support of Obama while demanding nothing at all from him, coupled with their vain and lazy approach to what they like to think has been their “activism,” pissed away opportunities of a lifetime. They’re more concerned about being liked, Lady Gaga and clicking pictures of themselves with their really cool friends than doing what’s necessary to repeal DADT and DOMA. Only TheRock’s favorite word is appropriate: Asshats!
I can figure out why Obama doesn’t want DADT repealed. It’s very simple. He is a homophobe.
Nailed it!
E-X-A-C-T-L-Y
Say it ain’t so, and here I thought that little jaunt onstage with a guy who thought you could “cure” gay meant that Obama would be a friend to the gay community(rolling eyes).
Some days I really wonder if anything was rattling around in the heads of the minority groups that GAVE him the Presidency. I mean the guy votes present and you consider him the biggest femanist ever. He invites a preacher onstage that calls gay a disease but consider him an ally. What were these groups thinking and how low does your bar have to be to consider someone an advocate for you?
Let us remember that Juan Cole and Fire Dog Lake Marcy Wheeler ( U of Mich) were ardent supporters of Obama and regularly dumped on Hillary.
It should be interesting to see what happens when Canada exits Afghanistan. Remember that Canada has a conservative Harper at the helm. I think we are going to be in Afghanistan expending massive military sums for a corrupt government, Iraq will continue to be a quagmire and the Deficit Commision will be front and center. People are going to want to see the Middle East go away before Social Security goes. So – the next big event has to be the State of the Union where we will get insight into Obamas strategic thinking on all matters domestic and international. Or will he punt.
To be fair we need to recognize that Obama’s hands are tied because of the deficit. However he asked for the job and I think he is to lazy to work hard. In hindsight, Hillary probably is having second thoughts in takeing the Sec of State job
We’ll never forget about what happened in 2008, but at some point we have to move on. The way I feel is that I’ll never really trust people like Jane or Marcy, but they are doing good work now. If we can benefit from their greater presence on the web, that’s fine.
Any third party movement or primary challenge to Obama will take all kinds of people joining together. My philosophy is “take what you need and leave the rest.”
I agree, BB – I’ll never forget what happened in 2008 and doubt that I will ever fully trust people like Jane again. But, as you say, they are doing some good work now and it will be necessary for all of us who want our country back to work together for it.
Delphyne,
We just have to keep our wits about us and step back if they start drinking the koolaid again.
I completely agree. Right now we have to work with every one we can to stop what’s going on in many areas. I’m not about holding perpetual grudge matches. I’m just glad they woke up.
*Raises hand about Rick Perry*
Interesting bit about Palin’s foreign policy advisor being on Soros’ payroll. It further confirms my suspicion that the politics presented to us is nothing but performance art while the real power never really changes hands.
(Swooning)
Say it ain’t so. St Sarah has people backing her that have powerful monied interests? The puppets change and the puppeteers stay the same. Soros, Armey,etc, etc…….folks, meet the oligarchs who have managed to wrestle democracy from the hands of the electorate.
You all..thanks for the kind words. I love being mentioned by the grown ups….
also wow,. I have not been here in a while…great new look!
Cheers, John Smart
It’s great to see you here! Welcome.
Thx. We had to dust the old girl off and bring her out of file cabinet status. Glad to see you here and I still travel over to your digs frequently! You can see you’re on the blog roll!!!
Good day. Rick Perry for president is unthinkable. Great roundup!
Hi RalphB,
I can’t even imagine having Rick Perry as President. There are so many other Repubs who are unthinkable too. We just have to figure out a way to dump Obama and find someone who will actually put up a fight against whichever crazy the Repubs decide to nominate.
I know. I still can’t figure out who is worse. Jindal or Perry. They both have special places reserved in hell realms, I’m certain of it.
That’s sort of what I’m left with: contemplating what hellish figure will take the reins and thrust us into an even deeper cauldron. And in my naivete I wonder, Why? Why do we accept not having a choice between worse and worsest (i.e. vote for those with enough $$ to flood the airwaves with ads)? Why does Congress have the ability to pass laws (health care mandates, cutting SS) that the public utterly despises and we the people have no recourse? Why do we have absolutely no control of the majority of our tax dollars going to the war machine? It used to be that if you didn’t want those things, you voted Democrat, but now…
I’m sort of embarrassed to publicly ask such naive questions, and any political expert can clue me in on how “the process works” etc., but those answers merely obscure the essentials. If our representative government is so corrupted that it no longer functions as intended, if it no longer represents the citizenry, then…
Then…?
I’m at this point too. Sometimes it’s all too depressing and I just want t hide under the covers. Other times I feel like we, the people, can do this. We can pull our country back from the brink of complete corporate fascism. However, I’m not sure we are on the brink. I figure we are right in the middle of it.
I’m looking to history. How did the country escape the decades around the turn of the 20th C? The roaring 90’s? The robber barons of the 70’s and 80’s? Did we ever escape them?
Three words: Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Exactly BB, and his cousin before him.
So where oh where is our FDR? I think there are people who could rise to the occasion like he did. I don’t know that they’ll be elected though 😦
Great roundup, Dakinikat! I’m going to be reading for awhile now.
If anyone had any doubts that this nation is culturlally divided, you only have to look at the wide difference that exists between Massachusetts and Texas for a start. Or South Carolina and California. Mississippi and New York. The divergence is stark in the reality.
Some of these states have moved into the most ulta conservative portion of the electorate while others have become more liberal in how they elect their governing officials and the enactment of state laws.
The fact that Rick Perry can be re elected in Texas while Deval Patrick enjoys the same in Massachusetts is a clear indication that the nation is not moving toward the “center” as some would think.
That’s an interesting point. It’s even more interesting when you consider the results of the governing philosophies. TX fiscally is in better shape than Massachussets but it’s poorest people suffer meanwhile Massachussets seem to have a better safety net but it’s struggled moreso because of the economy and the economic cycle because that net comes at a cost.
I saw Aung San Suu Kyi’s release covered in our local paper and clicked over here to drop the link — and of course, you’ve covered it already! That’s the one piece of good news I’ve seen lately. I am so happy at Suu Kyi’s release.
Yes, it’s wonderful!!!!
You might find this interesting Dak.
I thought that Jane kinda missed part of the point because thev video only addresses domestic prices which actually become inflated when the dollar weakens. So the video only discusses half the story. Furthermore, no one seems to get that the Fed has a limited tool box and the bigger toolbox belongs to the President and Congress who have put their tools away.
Sheesh, there’s a lot of stuff in there that’s not true. The Fed doesn’t use the CPI to measure inflation and taxes are definitely not up. It’s an entire set of straw men arguments and a lot of wrong data. Hope not too many are watching that. Plus, if you check who owns the majority of Treasury Bills it’s government agencies, basically. Goldman Sachs doesn’t really do a big volume in Treasuries for pete’s sake.
Whatever the Fed uses to measure inflation is fucked. Prices for food and petroleum products are up and rising. If those, and other every day purchases, are not captured they need a new measure. The market basket was changed during Bush II and like everything else, they screwed it up.
I hope this back door stimulus, basically more money to the banksters, works better than the first time or we’re all hosed. It would be nice if the banksters would actually make some loans with this batch but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
They’re rising but they aren’t near what they were at peak where here gas prices were $4 a gallon and a loaf of white enriched bread was over a dollar. Things plummeted and now that the economy has shown some growth they’re starting to rise again. That wouldn’t be problematic except for the fact that everyone is already experiencing deflation. In order to save their jobs some had to take unpaid days off, some didn’t get a pay raise, some even took cuts and the absolute worst of the lot are the 10% trying to get by on unemployment. Even before the downturn the real dollar value of pay was at a diminishing capacity so deflation of goods and services was somewhat welcome for folks. The bad thing is if he strengthens the value of the dollar then it makes our exports less competitive which diminishes demand. By lowering the strength of the dollar he is attempting to compete and make our products more attractive abroad and hoping to bring some jobs back. Meanwhile it is painful for us domestically because inflation is not fun when your surviving on a lower income.
Gas and Food prices have seasonal trends. You can’t look at them with out de-seasonalizing them.
The GDP Deflator doesn’t use a market basket. Only the CPI does which is why no self-respecting economists uses the silly thing.
I think they’re only buying treasuries this time out. That’s not going to do much for the investment bankers. They’re never flush with the things which is another issue with that cartoon. Goldman Sachs isn’t a player at all in Treasuries. If you go to the FED’s website (BOG), you’ll see the majority of Treasuries are held by government agencies and entities, oddly enough.
Well taxes for individuals are in a lot of localities because the states are trying to make up for shortfalls in their budgets. The town next door to me got a slight property tax increase and a increase for restaurant food consumption of 1 cent so anecdotally I saw that as a truth. I keep a price book though and food prices have actually decreased from their peak before the crisis(bread was actually over $1) Fuel is also lower than last year I believe although I wouldn’t swear on it since I don’t record that. The prices being lower aren’t helping many though because they are surviving on unemployment so they took a pay decrease of substantial proportion. I’m not sure the Fed should be worrying too much about deflation because the horse is already out of the barn. People took pay cuts this year. The real dollar value of pay has been diminished for years now so even though inflation was fairly low people still weren’t able to keep up. I do understand though the Fed has a pretty small tool box and I really do think he gets that demand is problematic and jobs are problematic and he’s trying to address that the only way he can. He’s using his influence on the dollar value in the global market and essentially playing chicken with the Chinese.
It sounds horrible but I think the Fed’s actions wouldn’t have been nearly this controversial if the basket in the global economy weren’t primarily configured in terms of the dollar. I almost welcome a more diverse basket even if it means we have diminished clout in the global economy. Essentially our problems are the world’s problems because of the influence of the dollar in a lot of commodities. Anyway, that’s just me looking at it from an amateur economy student point of view. I tend to be better at micro so what do I know(shrugs).
I found the link through either TN guerilla woman or Suburban guerilla women so I know at least a few have read although not many had commented when I put my 2 bit defense of the Fed at FDL.
Fed uses the PCE not the CPI. The CPI is biased upwards and no one uses it anymore. We’ve had deflation recently, not inflation. You can’t always tell by prices by looking only in one part of the country and it’s not possible to tell about the inflation of a country from only a few things and not them all. It’s typical of Austrian school stuff … they don’t ever use data because it proves them wrong. They just ride those ad hoc fallicies to death.
Well that lasted all of a fast five minutes: Cindy McCain is now backtracking on her stance regarding DADT and now “supports” her husband’s position.
What a ridiculous bunch of hypocrites this nation produces.