Monday’s Mini-Report

November 19, 2007

Today’s edition of quick hits.

* Congressional Republicans are still running for the exits: “In a surprise move, Rep. Mike Ferguson (R-N.J.) announced Monday that he will not be seeking a fifth term.” The 37-year-old Ferguson claimed, of course, that he wants to spend more time with his family, but it’s worth noting that he struggled to win re-election last year and would have been a top DCCC target next year. Ferguson is the 15th House Republican to retire this year, and the second from New Jersey this month.

* Ugh: “Wall Street resumed its slide Monday as Wall Street absorbed a gloomy outlook for the banking sector as well as bleak news from the National Association of Homebuilders. The major stock market indexes each fell more than 1.5 percent, with the Dow Jones industrial average giving up more than 200 points.”

* OPEC is getting tired of our weak dollar: “The Observer reports that during OPEC’s meeting this past weekend, leaders of the oil-producing nations ‘argued that pricing – and selling – oil using the crippled dollar was damaging the cartel.’ The meeting was supposed to have been private, but was mistakenly broadcast to the media for more than half an hour after a technician had incorrectly plugged the TV feed into the wrong socket.”

* We haven’t had any good Culture-of-Corruption updates in a while: “The investigation into Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) lives! Or at least investigators were doing some investigating this summer. Roll Call reports (sub. req.) that an FBI agent peeked at Lewis’ personal financial records in July of this year, along with those of former aides. The FBI also took a look at Rep. Ken Calvert’s (R-CA) personal records, as they did once before, about a year ago.”

* And speaking of scandal-plagued Republicans: “State Department Inspector General Howard ‘Cookie’ Krongard’s new strategy to get out of a possible perjury investigation? Begging.”

* Laura Rozen has the story about Freedom Watch’s deep-pocketed right-wing donors, who are “marketing language that could be used to sell a war with Iran.”

* Meanwhile, still other conservative hawks are pondering a military invasion of Pakistan. The dreaded O’Hanlon/Kagan combo writes, “We need to think — now — about our feasible military options in Pakistan, should it really come to that…. Pakistan may be the next big test.”

* McClatchy: “Despite the fact that Iraq and U.S. officials have made water projects among their top priorities, the percentage of Iraqis without access to decent water supplies has risen from 50 percent to 70 percent since the start of the U.S.-led war, according to an analysis by Oxfam International last summer. The portion of Iraqis lacking decent sanitation was even worse — 80 percent.” (thanks to R.K. for the tip)

* ABC News: “A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C. has opened an investigation into the role of Blackwater security guards in the shooting deaths of 17 Iraqi citizens in September in Baghdad, federal law enforcement sources tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com. A number of Blackwater security guards assigned to the ill-fated convoy have been subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury next week.”

* Interesting idea: “The term of choice in political giving these days is straight out of the world of finance — donors have become ‘investors.’ Now, liberal California venture capitalists have come up with the natural corollary — political ‘mutual funds.’ The new venture, being launched Monday, is the work of Andy and Deborah Rappaport’s New Progressive Coalition, a San Francisco-based organization they like to call the Charles Schwab of politics. Through a rigorous vetting system, the coalition identified 37 Democratic-leaning organizations and distributed them among three funds. The idea is to guide potential contributors through the myriad liberal causes and groups that dot the political landscape.”

* CBS’s Bob Schieffer blamed, well, everyone for problems in DC: “[M]y question is this: what do the following have in common: Legislation to provide health insurance for children; education legislation; energy legislation; the Farm Bill; funding the Iraq War; and legislation funding all federal agencies except the Pentagon next year? The answer is all of it is stalled in Congress, awaiting final action, tangled in the gridlock that the Republicans blame on the Democrats and the Democrats blame on the Republicans.” He didn’t say which side was right.

* According to Maj. Gen. Graham Binns, commander of British forces in Basra, violence fell dramatically after foreign troops withdrew from his area of Iraq. Hmm.

* The city of Philadelphia has given the Boy Scouts a sweetheart deal since 1928: use of the Beaux-Arts building for the annual rent of $1. Now, the city is giving the Scouts a choice, stop discriminating against gays or expect to pay the same rate as everybody else.

* It’s extremely frustrating to see Dennis Kucinich use “Democrat” when he means “Democratic.”

* Apparently, Fox News blames Nancy Pelosi for high gas prices.

* And finally, remember State Rep. Bob Allen (R) — aka, Florida’s Larry Craig? He was convicted last week on one misdemeanor count of solicitation for prostitution. Late last week, to the delight of Florida Republicans, Allen resigned from the legislature. The University of South Florida professor Susan A. MacManus, an expert in Florida politics, responded, “With the environment today and the anger of voters … it’s probably a good thing personally and professionally.” She added that a political comeback for Allen “would be difficult.” Apparently, if you’re an anti-gay Republican who offers to pay an undercover police officer to allow you to perform oral sex on him in a public park restroom, voters hold a grudge.

Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.

“Despite the fact that Iraq and U.S. officials have made water projects among their top priorities, the percentage of Iraqis without access to decent water supplies has risen from 50 percent to 70 percent since the start of the U.S.-led war, according to an analysis by Oxfam International last summer. The portion of Iraqis lacking decent sanitation was even worse — 80 percent.”

Whoa!

  • Item 1:
    Ruben Navarette, who sometimes has reasonable things to say about immigration, has a column today that must be intended to burnish his Serious Pundit credentials. It’s basic premise is horribly wrong. He writes:

    It’s one of the toughest and most divisive issues facing the American people. And how we respond will have a profound impact on future generations. Yet many elected officials refuse to even talk about it. President Bush proposed a plan to deal with the issue but couldn’t even get members of his own party to go along. Congress blew its shot at reform in a flurry of distortions, sound bites and fear-mongering. And most of the presidential candidates won’t go anywhere near the subject, perhaps sensing that it could cost them votes.

    The issue, of course, is Social Security reform. And you probably thought I was talking about immigration.

    The column has no mention about the unfunded mandates for Medicare and Medicaid, which dwarf Social Security’s supposed gap (by a factor of five or ten?). Or the tremendous national debt. Or the millions of uninsured. Or rapidly rising health care costs. Or Iraq. Or climate change.

    Item 2:
    Via the Rural Blog, the NYT Magazine reports about an international health care aid organization that paid a visit to Wise County, Virginia:

    And so each summer, shortly after the Virginia-Kentucky District Fair and Horse Show wraps up at the fairgrounds, members of Virginia Lions Clubs start bleaching the premises, readying them for RAM’s [Remote Area Medical] volunteers, who, working in animal stalls and beneath makeshift tents, provide everything from teeth cleaning and free eyeglasses to radiology and minor surgery. The problem, says RAM’s founder, Stan Brock, is always in the numbers, with the patients’ needs far outstripping what his team can supply. In Wise County, when the sun rose and the fairground gates opened at 5:30 on Friday morning, more than 800 people already were waiting in line. Over the next three days, some 2,500 patients would receive care, but at least several hundred, Brock estimates, would be turned away. He adds: “There comes a point where the doctors say: ‘Hey, I gotta go. It’s Sunday evening, and I have to go to work tomorrow.’ ”

    The U.S. has the best health care system in the world!

  • On Kucinich leaving out the “ic” on the dem word one time, it should be a monumental moment because it could possibly be the first mistake he’s ever made. My God, look long enough and sure enough you find something a candidate has done that is just wrong. Had to go searching to the “Plank” of all places to find it. It should be placed right below Edwards haircut and Clinton’s cleavage. For those at the Plank who think He’s loony and a leftist remember the truth always has a liberal bias. These are generalities and name calling when you have no facts or arguments to back it up. You are what we call dems with blinders on, narrow, closed minded blue dog centrists who can’t even see the trees much less the forest. Take all names out and state your stand on all the issues, then look up and see which candidate best fits those stands…then you have your answer. Get off the trivial bull that distracts from what is important.

  • meander #3 – thanks for those items, particularly item 2, which ought to be required reading for every American. I Googled RAM and Stan Brock. Thank God for organizations and people like these.

    I can just imagine Bush smirking and sneering after reading the story. “Now see,” he would say, “they should have gone to those emergency rooms, and they’d have all gotten proper American treatment.”

  • * Apparently, Fox News blames Nancy Pelosi for high gas prices.

    We had a troll here a few days ago, who used the same statistic to blame *all* Dems; Faux Noise has, simply, distilled it to a single name, to make it easier on its viewers to remember (the “gray beret” demographic has even shorter memory than the rest of TV audience).

    But, what would you have them do? Admit that Bush, with his anti-Midas touch, has screwed everything up so badly (Iran saber-rattling, dollar — and economy in general — down the sewer with no light and the end of the tunnel in sight, etc, etc, et bloody caetera), that everyone else in the world, still blessed with half a brain, is pulling out of their investments in US?

  • Now, the city is giving the Scouts a choice, stop discriminating against gays or expect to pay the same rate as everybody else.

    That meaty thud you just heard is the sound of every fRightWinger hitting the fainting couch.

    Bravo Philadelphia!

  • Re: RAMS

    Remember, the reason thousands of Americans are taking medical care in animal stalls is because men like George Bush want to be fantastically wealthy and poweful, and as a consequence of so many others’ being poor and weak, which is necessary for that to happen, is that some of the poor and weak will have to take this kind of medical care. At least if we had public-sponsored health care, that is on indignity they could forego.

    Not to mention all those victims overseas- the sweat-shop workers and the starving- who suffer horrible poverty so the plutocracy can have a lot of extra money in the bank.

  • Uh, let’s try this again:

    Remember, the reason thousands of Americans are taking medical care in animal stalls is because men like George Bush want to be fantastically wealthy and poweful. A consequence of so many others being poor and weak (which is necessary for Bush and his private school classmates to get what they want) is that some of the poor and weak will have to take this kind of medical care. At least if we had public-sponsored health care, that is one indignity the poor and weak could forego, even if they still had to suffer others as a consequence of the Scrooge McDuck money-lovers wreaking the consequences of their greed against all of us.

  • I think Iraq is a failed state, notwithstanding the recent and encouraging decrease in U.S. troops deaths. Iraq doesn’t have an effective political process, and doesn’t effective leaders, and can’t provide the people their basic needs, such as water, sewage disposal, and security. Iraq is presently literally anarchy. Division into three states (even if politically practicable) is a gamble.

    What I would speculate might stand a better chance of success is even further division than into three states or three confederated states. If Iraq was divided into polises– city-states like ancient Greece– then particular powerful groups could feel in control of their territories and not encroached upon by outside, alien groups. These states could be loosely confederated or independent, with perhaps some areas composed of several towns that are able to get along with each other. U.S. and international/UN military presence in some kind of an “over the horizon” position could police anti-social groups/militias that become problems. That the Brits observed Basra become less violent when they withdrew their troops from it gives me some encouragement that getting out of each other’s faces could be a big boon to peace and development in Iraq.

  • If Iraq was successful under the polis system, then naturally larger states would congeal (at least in a de facto sense) out of the polises due to the inherent strengths of economies of scale and increased (exceptional) talent that inevitably becomes available from larger labor pools. The problem is just that they/we are trying to force cooperation on too large a scale now when the populous are only able to achieve cooperation on a much smaller scale at this point.

  • I always get a little torqued when I read stories about the Boy Scouts and gays. Most people don’t seem to remember that the scouts also discriminate on the basis of religion. Non-theists (aka agnostics and athiests) are also banned.

  • How true # 14.

    It seems that for the Scouts compassion and understanding is only for those like themselves.

    • Comments are closed.