Wednesday’s Mini-Report

July 16, 2008

Today’s edition of quick hits.

* Well, that’s not good: “Prices paid by U.S. consumers jumped in June by the most since 1982 on spiraling costs for fuel and food, giving the Federal Reserve even more reason to be concerned about inflation. The cost of living soared 1.1 percent, more than forecast, after a 0.6 percent gain the prior month, the Labor Department said today in Washington. Excluding food and energy, so-called core prices climbed 0.3 percent, also more than anticipated. The figures underscore why Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke yesterday said inflation risks had ‘intensified.'”

* Shortly after Bush vetoed the bipartisan Medicare bill, both the House and Senate easily overrode his veto. Good.

* McClatchy: “Lebanon’s Shiite militia Hezbollah on Wednesday turned over to Red Cross officials two coffins believed to hold the remains of Israeli soldiers whose capture in 2006 sparked a 34-day war that reshaped political dynamics in the Middle East.”

* Something to keep an eye on: “Two top Pentagon officials said Wednesday they expect to be able to recommend troops cuts in Iraq this fall and will try to increase troops in Afghanistan. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said that he is hoping to send more troops to Afghanistan ‘sooner rather than later.'”

* Speaking of Gates, the Pentagon chief made a lot of sense this week, warning of the “creeping militarization” of US foreign policy: “It has become clear that America’s civilian institutions of diplomacy and development have been chronically undermanned and underfunded for far too long — relative to what we traditionally spend on the military, and more importantly, relative to the responsibilities and challenges our nation has around the world.”

* As a technical matter, the “surge” policy in Iraq is over. There are, however, 150,000 U.S. troops still in Iraq, which is about 15,000 more than when the surge began.

* No big surprise here: “President Bush has asserted executive privilege to prevent Attorney General Michael Mukasey from having to comply with a House panel subpoena for material on the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity.”

* Apparently, “perceived bribery” can be costly to one’s career: “Stephen Payne, a ‘GOP lobbyist and fundraiser with close ties to the White House has quit a Homeland Security Department advisory committee following allegations of influence peddling and quid pro quo donations to the Bush presidential library.'”

* This seems to sum up the situation quite well: “I simply have no words in the face of Liddy Dole’s attempt to attach Jesse Helms’ name to the PEPFAR renewal. Helms did everything he could to ensure the deaths of thousands of gay men from HIV in the 1980s and 1990s; he never recanted his despicable hatred of those who struggled alone with this disease in the darkest days of the epidemic, and did all he could to make sure nothing was ever done to help them. That he should be honored now, especially when he was single-handedly responsible for adding a unique stigma to HIV-positive people in immigration law is just … well, unfathomable.”

* House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) doesn’t think there wildlife in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Boehner doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

* The White House wants everyone to know that we’re not negotiating with Iranians, we’re simply engaging them in multi-party, diplomatic talks about the status of their nuclear program. But that’s not diplomacy. Not at all.

* Does Rahm Emanuel want to be Speaker of the House?

* Jon Stewart wasn’t especially impressed by the by the controversy surrounding the cover of the New Yorker.

* I seem to recall a couple of decent Maureen Dowd columns not too long ago. It was nice while it lasted.

* Check out DDay’s great post: “This Week in Torture.”

* As it turns out, the McCain campaign doesn’t always get along with reporters.

* If you haven’t seen the latest pictures from Mars, they’re pretty extraordinary. (thanks, R.K.)

* And be sure to check out Doug Feith’s testimony to a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on torture. I didn’t know, for example, that one can have their clothes removed, but not be naked. Feith is quite the informative fellow.

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

John Boehner (R-Ohio) doesn’t think there’s wildlife in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

I guess he’s been in Bushworld too long, where everything is the opposite of what you call it.

Either that or he’s just being a bonehead, as usual.

  • Oil is down to $134

    It is a lot closer to $100 than it was a few days ago.

    But I don’t have a clue about anything.

    I still think it is more likely that oil will hit $100 before it hits $200.

  • That video of Feith is unbelievable. I guess he’s arguing that you could remove some of a person’s clothes and they wouldn’t be naked. But of course we all know that the detainees have been stripped naked, and Feith knows that too I am sure. So next he will argue that some people like being naked, so taking their clothes could be humane. Likewise, some people like dogs, and some people are masochists, so having a dog snapping at their genitals might also concievably be humane treatment.

    Two words: The Hague.

  • President Bush has asserted executive privilege

    I dropped in here hoping to see commentary on this. So what does this mean for the investigation?

  • * Does Rahm Emanuel….

    How does this clusterf*ck of a human being get “the lion’s share of the credit” for taking the House back from the GOP in ’06? He screamed bloody murder about Dean’s 50-State Strategy, fighting it tooth and nail for months on end. He was one of the first to openly discredit Obama as an “also-ran.”

    And—he’s been a stickler for “the politics of status quo” for years.

    Youth is wasted, if it’s spent on a worn-out ideology….

  • “…Excluding food and energy, so-called core prices climbed …”

    This has alway bothered me. My main expenses, *ARE* basically
    food and energy. Especially in winter-time.

    I know that various economists (Krugman, et.al) will say, leaving off fodd/energy,
    is to smooth out (in so many words), month-to-month noise/volatility/spikes typical of
    food and energy, and not part of some vast conspiracy by the energy/food industries.

    My question is, how long will we go with month-over-month of food/energy price
    increases, without any corresponding increases in “core prices” (read: wage hikes)

    as it is, most of us (save for the lucky-ducky Have-Mores), are seeing
    in effect, month to month pay cuts ….

  • Check out David Gergen’s latest shitty article, entitled “What kind of leader would McCain or Obama be?” where he spews such garbage as “Ronald Reagan turned out to be a highly effective leader” and then asks a lot of questions about Obama’s potential leadership skills, but not McCain’s.

    http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0717/p09s01-coop.html

    I guess we’re all just supposed to know that McCain would be a great leader.

  • most of us (save for the lucky-ducky Have-Mores), are seeing
    in effect, month to month pay cuts ….

    What you are really seeing is a tax on your income. Any increase in the price of gas or electricity is, in effect, an energy tax.

    Increases in food prices are a living tax.

    How come Bush/McCain want to eliminate the Death tax, but don’t care about the Living tax??

    The Republican’ts care more about Dead people than Living people!!

  • Slightly off topic, but it seems pretty obvious that McSame isn’t going to win the general election, what with trailing Obama even in formerly red states (Montana, for example), even with the fawning press and assists from T_Blossom.

    So the question is, why run McSame if the wingnuts hate him, the New Pharisees (aka fundies) hate him, and no one on the RW is energized by him, especially in the viewpoint that if he did win, the easiest way to get immediate popularity is to throw W and Darth under the bus?

    My 2cents says that McSame drops out for any of a number of [age-related, I’d guess] reasons, probably shortly before or after the GOP convention. This allows the GOP to draft someone without the baggage McSame brings (Keating and bigamy, anyone, and how about that blond telecom lobbyist ~6 months ago?), with a very limited time for oppo research. Whether or not a VP selection has been made I’d say isn’t really relevant, since after trashing a Constitution, flouting GOP rules are child’s play. So, I’m thinking that McSame is there to take the brickbats of the D’s while Rove creates the headfake candidate for the general.

    Just remember, folks, that any change in WH philosophy almost guarantees investigations and prosecutions for those in this administration. No one currently in power will just let this happen. Can anyone see Addington or Cheney meekly clearing out their offfices on 1/20/09?

    So, who will it be? Cheney’s going to be sure that whoever it is will not make any moves to undo his masterpiece to Machiavelli, and will allow his continued influence. FWIW, there is no rule saying Darth couldn’t be President or VP, since the Presidential terms are defined, but the VP is not by the Constitution. But, his popularity is so lousy, he will not get elected on his own.

    My guess is Jeb Bush, who is moderately popular, could theoretically deliver FL, and certainly will not even consider sending his own brother to trial anywhere. While he does have S&L peccadillos (Silverado, if I remember correctly), it pales in comparison to the stuff every other Bushie will bring to the table, and in Darth’s mind, this MUST be a totally loyal Bushie, with enough perceived independence so the Jeb = W equation isn’t obvious. Jeb’s FL governor experience will be a plus in this scenario.

    The other alternative is that something happens to get the election canceled (remember the trial balloon floated in 2004) or otherwise “delayed” until security improves. The consequences then are pretty grim.

  • That Rahm Emanuel should ever consider that he should be speaker makes my blood boil.

  • Maybe its just me, but hasn’t Executive Privilege become the same as Cover up Privilege?

    Maybe we ought to have a Constitutional Amendment to allow the House and Senate to override Executive Privilege in closed session hearings? Everything will be recorded and all particpants will be under oath. Failure to appear has a 5 year mandatory prision term in solitary confinement. Also any attempt to use the “poor memory” defense will also result in 5 years to help you remember.

  • Maybe the Helms/PEPFAR thing is really a joke (not that I would ever accuse Liddy Dole of a sense of humor)–I mean, could you possibly imagine he would want to be associated with it?

  • Boehner doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

    He only knows what he’s told. When Republicans talk about ANWR, they look at pictures taken in winter, often aerial shots. Naturally, there is no wildlife to be seen. When Democrats talk about ANWR, they look at pictures taken in summer at ground level.

    Visiting ANWR in summer is a huge mistake, if they’re trying to increase support for drilling.

  • hey steve @ #6, that’s _my_ congressman you’re talking about and… oh, you’re right: he is a tool.
    never mind.

  • Jon Stewart, as usual, is effective at highlighting the nonsense masquerading as serious discourse about the New Yorker “issue.” If only the rest of the media, including much of the left-wing blogosphere, had his sense of perspective.

  • btw, rugger0, i believe siverado was neil bush, not jeb. it is hard to keep the bush brothers fuck ups straight, tho.

  • * Something to keep an eye on: “Two top Pentagon officials said Wednesday they expect to be able to recommend troops cuts in Iraq this fall and will try to increase troops in Afghanistan. — CB

    So, McCain was right after all: Obama *is* like Bush, when it comes to Iraq. Vote McCain in ’08; he’s the only one who wants us to stay there forever.

  • It’s not too hard to keep the Bush brothers straight. Neil is the greedy stupid one, George W. is the easily bored incompetent one and Jeb is the one who looks good only when compared to his pathetic siblings. Silverado was greed on a massive scale, so that would be Neil.

  • Speaking of Gates, the Pentagon chief made a lot of sense this week, warning of the “creeping militarization” of US foreign policy: “It has become clear that America’s civilian institutions of diplomacy and development have been chronically undermanned and underfunded for far too long — relative to what we traditionally spend on the military, and more importantly, relative to the responsibilities and challenges our nation has around the world.”

    I know that this isn’t politcally viable, but I’d be quite comfortable with Robert Gates as Sec of Defense in an Obama administration. Maybe it has to do with how he compares to his predecessor and colleagues in the Bush administration, but he strikes me as a breath of fresh air.

  • Maybe its just me, but hasn’t Executive Privilege become the same as Cover up Privilege?

    That’s because they’re not actually asserting Executive Privilege, they’re saying they can ignore subpoenas because they don’t think anyone should have any power over the Executive Branch, regardless of what the law and the Constitution say. Actual Executive Privilege requires explaining the matters for which the privilege is being invoked, and the supporting case for each. As looseheadprop at Firedoglake (an actual lawyer) explains, Mukasey didn’t even bother to make a motion to quash the subpoena, suggesting he knows his position is BS.

  • “Prices paid by U.S. consumers jumped in June by the most since 1982 on spiraling costs for fuel and food, giving the Federal Reserve even more reason to be concerned about inflation.”

    Help me out here, who was president in 1982?

    And to rugger0 @ #10: My conspiracy theory is that, on January 17th Bush will formally pardon Cheney of any wrongdoing, war crimes, etc.. On January 18th Bush will resign. And on January 19th President Cheney will grant Bush a full pardon for the same. And somehow they’ll both make a fortune off of the exchange.

    Hey, it would be no less ludicrous than the rest of the shit they’ve been pulling.

    Seriously, I look for Bush to go pardon happy in those blessed final hours.

  • And, thank God we have Jon Stewart to take a ridiculous media frenzy and blow it into proportion. Why no one in the “real” media can do this is beyond me.

  • Besides the Executive privilege is not in the Constitution and is not implied either, here is my argument.

    Since Executive privilege has been used and abused early on, yet in this case, seeking to find out deliberate and intentional National Security breaches exercised by President Bush and Company, they, or just about all his administration is being covered by a nonexistent privilege. Which is the funniest thing one could conceive in a practical over sight by either the Congress or the Supreme Court, incredible to think American law now approached this Reductio absurdum?

    Here America needs to see the deliberate intent that actually was always a “Closed Secret” of our government. Here is the kicker since it is always considered that no one is above the law, then we as citizens also have Executive Privilege, yes indeedy do.

    Both Clinton and Bush violated a basic law. So did many other presidents. Why because the citizen simply got stiffed over time and now many average American finally realize it. Those in the know in Mainstream Media totally connected to that inner circle keeping the electorate in the dark are to the core complicit illegal bastards of ideology.

    Think that’s funny yet a bigger reality similarly as America has a century old department that actually is unconstitutional that should not exist, that is the Federal Reserve Board. Here, America has an independent entity that regulates money, with interest that really is taxation. Was interesting how Ron Paul described it on CNN then was cut off to the viewers. Very laughable. Another laugh is now Allen Greenspan claims he did no wrong, after some critics underscore that Greenspan is responsible for cooking the numbers for the social security administration as being insolvent. Ladies and gentleman of America here we have Allen Greenspans wife daily opinionating on MSNBC. Yikes likely privy to trillion dollar insider deals. Sheesh.

    Surfing the Internet here is one reason given for Executive privilege:

    “”The Presidents Staff does not have to testify about documents and conversations related to the Office of the President. This allows the President and staff to communicate candidly and throw proposed solutions around and openly debate them amongst themselves without the public and press being involved. Otherwise everyone on the Presidents staff would be afraid to say anything for fear of retribution or legal problems. This would make the Presidents “Advisors” worthless if they must weigh every word in case a reporter or congressman/woman ever finds out.

    Sometimes people just have to play devils advocate in order to get to a correct solution!””

    Here is something to consider if all the Presidents advisors with good faith help the President defend the Constitution, why anyone would be afraid to answer to public over sight? Highly and likely they are all complicit to illegal actions, and are knowingly openly in not only contempt but openly operating as a felon’s breaching basic Constitutional values all that have channeled America to be we are today. Both parties, Democrat and Republican are guilty.

    Debate on this is way over due…

  • Why no one in the “real” media can do this is beyond me.

    They could, but they don’t. they don’t because their bosses, who make billions of dollars selling worthless crap, have a vested interest in keeping people stupid.

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