Um, yeah, after going to Harvard Law School. In any case, the remaking of Michelle Obama's image has been a real (and deserved) PR triumph. And let's feast on those numbers: a 76-16 approval rating, per the Washington Post. That's better than Barack, whose 66-29 is pretty impressive for a guy who is about to expand the government more than anyone since Johnson and Roosevelt.
And look at these numbers for this question:
3. Do you think things in this country (are generally going in the right direction) or do you feel things (have gotten pretty seriously off on the wrong track)?
Right Wrong No Op
3/29/09 42 57 1
2/22/09 31 67 2
1/16/09 19 78 3
12/14/08 15 82 3
10/25/08 LV 13 85 2
10/11/08 RV 8 90 2
That's a pretty dramatic change since election day, 8/90 to 42/57 is a 67 point shift.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Go figure
The best pop single to come from an American Idol finalist in four seasons comes from last year's Mormon contestant. Not the little cherub boy but this one, whose live performance video comes courtesy of China's disregard for American copyright laws. It's hardly high art, but it would have been an MOR hit in the Carpenters' heyday. It makes sense: her best Idol performance came from that time as well.
Yes four seasons. What, you prefer "Jesus Take the Wheel?"
Yes four seasons. What, you prefer "Jesus Take the Wheel?"
Feinstein has Specter's back on EFCA
She may be gifted at holding up the bloody shirt around dead gay politicians, but she has never been a reliable vote for progressives.
Speaking of bloody shirts, why does she have the murderer's diary?
Speaking of bloody shirts, why does she have the murderer's diary?
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Political video of the day
Palin throws the entire McCain campaign under the bus, saying they weren't people she couldn't hold hands and pray with. Brilliant positioning, and nastiness of a level only she could deliver. Bravo!
Responses from TPM readers:
1. Apparently, there were no African witch doctors available.
2. Research question of the day: Did any of those campaign staffers happen to be Jewish?
3. She's the Fran Drescher of batshit-crazy, Bible-thumpin' governors.
Responses from TPM readers:
1. Apparently, there were no African witch doctors available.
2. Research question of the day: Did any of those campaign staffers happen to be Jewish?
3. She's the Fran Drescher of batshit-crazy, Bible-thumpin' governors.
Palin on McCain campaign staffers
Ouch! "And the McCain campaign, love 'em, you know, they're a lot of people around me, but nobody I could find that I wanted to hold hands with and pray."
That one hurts, and is a terrific salvo for the war over the future of the party.
That one hurts, and is a terrific salvo for the war over the future of the party.
Obama answers the pot question
He handled the politics and style of it perfectly and the substance most duplicitously.
Speaking of style, I still shake my head in disbelief whenever I see footage like this. That's the President of the United States and the First Lady. And they look gooooooood.
Speaking of style, I still shake my head in disbelief whenever I see footage like this. That's the President of the United States and the First Lady. And they look gooooooood.
News from Connecticut
Jody Rell is very, very popular. If she runs for Chris Dodd's senate seat, we've probably lost it. Other sleeper races that Democrats need to wake up about: Lincoln of Arkansas and Reid in Nevada. I am more optimistic about Colorado and Delaware.
Half of Delaware's senators freed from MBNA
Delaware finally has a senator who's worth a damn on domestic policy: Ted Kaufman. Although we believe death is scarier than incarceration for bankers (and given what surely awaits them afterwards, it's scarier than they realize--but then, if the moral consequences of their actions troubled them, they wouldn't be in the business of usury and theft).
But this is a great start. I would simply amend the Kaufman legislation to suggest confinement in a maximum security prison.
Kaufman may have been Biden’s handpicked replacement, but he’s taking a very different tack than his predecessor did when it comes to dealing with big-time financial firms.
As in threatening their execs with incarceration.
In an op-ed piece in The Philadelphia Inquirer earlier this month — a piece accompanied by a drawing of a corporate CEO in the stockades — Kaufman said the government must prosecute “local mortgage brokers or the biggest banks” if they engaged in crimes that contributed to the nation’s economic meltdown.
“Let’s enforce the laws that were on the books and throw those who broke them in jail,” Kaufman wrote. “I am not prejudging anyone. We may well find that only a few cases involved outright criminal behavior. And we must take care that our anger does not cloud our judgment. But if people rob a bank, they go to jail. If bankers rob people, they should go to jail, too.”
Kaufman explained his tough talk in an interview with POLITICO: “When you’re sitting around a meeting and somebody says, ‘Hey, last time somebody did this, they went to jail,’ it has a very salutary effect on what you do.”
Kaufman says he’s free to say such things because he has no plans to run for his seat in 2010. And while he won’t connect the dots himself, that means he doesn’t need the support of the financial firms that showered money on Biden.
If Kaufman becomes a folk hero in Delaware, maybe he can run for re-election?
A kinder view of Wall Streeters, meanwhile, from Nate Silver.
But this is a great start. I would simply amend the Kaufman legislation to suggest confinement in a maximum security prison.
Kaufman may have been Biden’s handpicked replacement, but he’s taking a very different tack than his predecessor did when it comes to dealing with big-time financial firms.
As in threatening their execs with incarceration.
In an op-ed piece in The Philadelphia Inquirer earlier this month — a piece accompanied by a drawing of a corporate CEO in the stockades — Kaufman said the government must prosecute “local mortgage brokers or the biggest banks” if they engaged in crimes that contributed to the nation’s economic meltdown.
“Let’s enforce the laws that were on the books and throw those who broke them in jail,” Kaufman wrote. “I am not prejudging anyone. We may well find that only a few cases involved outright criminal behavior. And we must take care that our anger does not cloud our judgment. But if people rob a bank, they go to jail. If bankers rob people, they should go to jail, too.”
Kaufman explained his tough talk in an interview with POLITICO: “When you’re sitting around a meeting and somebody says, ‘Hey, last time somebody did this, they went to jail,’ it has a very salutary effect on what you do.”
Kaufman says he’s free to say such things because he has no plans to run for his seat in 2010. And while he won’t connect the dots himself, that means he doesn’t need the support of the financial firms that showered money on Biden.
If Kaufman becomes a folk hero in Delaware, maybe he can run for re-election?
A kinder view of Wall Streeters, meanwhile, from Nate Silver.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
The Snuggie's success explained
The puzzle: why are they selling when home heating costs are going down? Best attempt: "Because people are sitting home unemployed watching commercials." Courtesy of reader G., who points us to some other fantastic new products.
Speaking of torture
Pity Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson, who tonight will have to pretend that this season's American Idol finalists compare to the supernatural confluence of geniuses they auditioned four decades ago in Detroit.
Smokey Robinson: The man who can do it all
One of our greatest songwriters is also one of our greatest singers. But can he play the $100,000 Pyramid?
But there's always a price to pay for perfection. In Smokey's case, that means he had to smile through this. The tears of a clown indeed.
Let us not end this post sadly, however. Instead, let's enjoy one of the' only extant live performances by the Spinners' classic lineup. From the 1975 Grammy Awards, "here's Mighty Love," featuring the great, inimitable Philippé Wynne, R.I.P.
But there's always a price to pay for perfection. In Smokey's case, that means he had to smile through this. The tears of a clown indeed.
Let us not end this post sadly, however. Instead, let's enjoy one of the' only extant live performances by the Spinners' classic lineup. From the 1975 Grammy Awards, "here's Mighty Love," featuring the great, inimitable Philippé Wynne, R.I.P.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
A feast of links in honor of a magician
The world's greatest interpreter is, by definition, better than Ronald Isley. And, here displaying shades of the cool she had in such abundance decades earlier. Key phrasing shifts: 0:23, 0:29, 0:51. Thankfully, she's never competitive when she does duets (well, with men anyway--this trainwreck is now dueling diva legend). Warning: the video is cut short.
Krugman v Summers
The whole point of electing Barack Obama was to move the Democratic Party away from Clinton-era policies. Populating his economic team with the same folks Hillary would have chosen is hardly what progressives voted for. Krugman's blog is, therefore, where the action has been over the last week. To get up to speed, it's wouldn't be a bad idea to read the last ten posts.
Perverse as ever
Fresh from its success in imprisoning and possibly killing hundreds of Tibetans as well as blocking the Dalai Lama's scheduled visit to South Africa, the Chinese government successfully cuts off access to YouTube.
Google said Tuesday that its YouTube video sharing Web site was being blocked in China.
The company said it first noticed traffic from China had decreased dramatically late Monday. By early Tuesday, it had dropped to nearly zero, the company said.
“We don’t know the reason for the block,” a YouTube spokesman, Scott Rubin, said. “Our government relations people are trying to resolve it.”
China routinely filters Internet content and blocks material that is critical of its policies. It selectively blocks videos from YouTube.
According to Reuters, Chinese government officials said Tuesday that they did not know about YouTube being blocked, but said that China was not afraid of the Internet.
“Many people have a false impression that the Chinese government fears the Internet. In fact it is just the opposite,” a foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters, according to Reuters.
YouTube, you will recall, hosted the infamous grass-mug horse cartoon.
Tibet is a democracy. And Beijing loves the Internet.
Google said Tuesday that its YouTube video sharing Web site was being blocked in China.
The company said it first noticed traffic from China had decreased dramatically late Monday. By early Tuesday, it had dropped to nearly zero, the company said.
“We don’t know the reason for the block,” a YouTube spokesman, Scott Rubin, said. “Our government relations people are trying to resolve it.”
China routinely filters Internet content and blocks material that is critical of its policies. It selectively blocks videos from YouTube.
According to Reuters, Chinese government officials said Tuesday that they did not know about YouTube being blocked, but said that China was not afraid of the Internet.
“Many people have a false impression that the Chinese government fears the Internet. In fact it is just the opposite,” a foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters, according to Reuters.
YouTube, you will recall, hosted the infamous grass-mug horse cartoon.
Tibet is a democracy. And Beijing loves the Internet.
WTF?
Josh Marshall on the Wall Street journal. The reporting sounds grimly accurate... and appalling:
Bankers were shell-shocked, especially when Congress moved to heavily tax bonuses. When administration officials began calling them to talk about the next phase of the bailout, the bankers turned the tables. They used the calls to lobby against the antibonus legislation, Wall Street executives say. Several big firms called Treasury and White House officials to urge a more reasonable approach, both sides say. The banks' message: If you want our help to get credit flowing again to consumers and businesses, stop the rush to penalize our bonuses.
Is there any chance we can make fraud on the scale of, say $100,000,000 or more a capital offense? This is a country where allegedly left wing leaders like Bill Clinton praise three strikes laws like California's. You know, the ones with these results:
Some unusual scenarios have arisen, particularly in California — the state punishes shoplifting and similar crimes involving over $500 in property as felony petty theft if the person who committed the crime has a prior conviction for any form of theft, including robbery or burglary. As a result, some defendants have been given sentences of 25 years to life in prison for such crimes as shoplifting golf clubs (Gary Ewing, previous strikes for burglary and robbery with a knife), nine videotapes (Leandro Andrade, received double sentence of 25 year-to-life for 2 counts of shoplifting), or, along with a violent assault, a slice of pepperoni pizza from a group of children (Jerry Dewayne Williams, four previous non-violent felonies, sentence later reduced to six years).
In one particularly notorious case, Kevin Weber was sentenced to 26 years to life for the crime of stealing four chocolate chip cookies (previous strikes of burglary and assault with a deadly weapon).[9] However, prosecutors said the six-time parole violator broke into the restaurant to rob the safe after a busy Mother's Day holiday, but he triggered the alarm system before he could do it. When arrested, his pockets were full of cookies he had taken from the restaurant.
In California, first and second strikes are counted by individual charges, rather than individual cases, so a defendant may have been charged and convicted of "first and second strikes", potentially many more than two such strikes, arising from a single case, even one that was disposed of prior to the passage of the law. Convictions from all 50 states and the federal courts at any point in the defendant's past, as well as juvenile offenses that would otherwise be sealed can be counted (although once a juvenile record is sealed, it cannot be "unsealed;" it does not exist any longer and there is no longer any record to be used as a prior conviction), regardless of the date of offense or conviction or whether the conviction was the result of a plea bargain.
Defendants already convicted of two or more "strike" charges arising from one single case potentially years in the past, even if the defendant was a juvenile at the time, can be and have been charged and convicted with a third strike for any felony or any offense that could be charged as a felony (including "felony petty theft" or possession of a controlled substance prior to Proposition 36 (see below)) and given 25 years to life.
A life sentence for stealing cookies. A greater sentence, really, than the one given to Bernard Madoff, who won't after all, live as long as the cookie thief.
When your crime is a billion times greater, why should you get the same sentence? The idea behind the three strikes laws is that punishment should have a deterrent effect. Fines and five year jail sentences are poor deterrents for people who can afford million dollar defense teams that can negotiate parole time down to a few months.
One of the sad things about America is its continual preference for punishment over progressive legal regimes. A wonderful example is gay rights: it's perfectly legal to discriminate against gays in employment because ENDA never passed, but the hate crimes bill mustered 60 votes in the Senate last year (only to be killed in conference by the Bush-(Mary) Cheney Administration.
So maybe the conservative solution is right in this case. If we can't get strong financial regulation in this country, let's deter financial fraud by using the death penalty that Republicans have succeeded in making our fellow citizens support 3-1. Bernard Madoff should have been sentenced to death by firing squad.
Arrogance and hubris were a big part of the story of the mess that Matt Taibbi documents so well in his must-read on the bailout. Nothing smothers that type of vibe better than the possibility of gruesome death.
It's not a solution, by any means. But it's the one most in keeping with our political culture. And what House Republicans would be against being tough on crime, particularly given their recent discovery of populism?
Bankers were shell-shocked, especially when Congress moved to heavily tax bonuses. When administration officials began calling them to talk about the next phase of the bailout, the bankers turned the tables. They used the calls to lobby against the antibonus legislation, Wall Street executives say. Several big firms called Treasury and White House officials to urge a more reasonable approach, both sides say. The banks' message: If you want our help to get credit flowing again to consumers and businesses, stop the rush to penalize our bonuses.
Is there any chance we can make fraud on the scale of, say $100,000,000 or more a capital offense? This is a country where allegedly left wing leaders like Bill Clinton praise three strikes laws like California's. You know, the ones with these results:
Some unusual scenarios have arisen, particularly in California — the state punishes shoplifting and similar crimes involving over $500 in property as felony petty theft if the person who committed the crime has a prior conviction for any form of theft, including robbery or burglary. As a result, some defendants have been given sentences of 25 years to life in prison for such crimes as shoplifting golf clubs (Gary Ewing, previous strikes for burglary and robbery with a knife), nine videotapes (Leandro Andrade, received double sentence of 25 year-to-life for 2 counts of shoplifting), or, along with a violent assault, a slice of pepperoni pizza from a group of children (Jerry Dewayne Williams, four previous non-violent felonies, sentence later reduced to six years).
In one particularly notorious case, Kevin Weber was sentenced to 26 years to life for the crime of stealing four chocolate chip cookies (previous strikes of burglary and assault with a deadly weapon).[9] However, prosecutors said the six-time parole violator broke into the restaurant to rob the safe after a busy Mother's Day holiday, but he triggered the alarm system before he could do it. When arrested, his pockets were full of cookies he had taken from the restaurant.
In California, first and second strikes are counted by individual charges, rather than individual cases, so a defendant may have been charged and convicted of "first and second strikes", potentially many more than two such strikes, arising from a single case, even one that was disposed of prior to the passage of the law. Convictions from all 50 states and the federal courts at any point in the defendant's past, as well as juvenile offenses that would otherwise be sealed can be counted (although once a juvenile record is sealed, it cannot be "unsealed;" it does not exist any longer and there is no longer any record to be used as a prior conviction), regardless of the date of offense or conviction or whether the conviction was the result of a plea bargain.
Defendants already convicted of two or more "strike" charges arising from one single case potentially years in the past, even if the defendant was a juvenile at the time, can be and have been charged and convicted with a third strike for any felony or any offense that could be charged as a felony (including "felony petty theft" or possession of a controlled substance prior to Proposition 36 (see below)) and given 25 years to life.
A life sentence for stealing cookies. A greater sentence, really, than the one given to Bernard Madoff, who won't after all, live as long as the cookie thief.
When your crime is a billion times greater, why should you get the same sentence? The idea behind the three strikes laws is that punishment should have a deterrent effect. Fines and five year jail sentences are poor deterrents for people who can afford million dollar defense teams that can negotiate parole time down to a few months.
One of the sad things about America is its continual preference for punishment over progressive legal regimes. A wonderful example is gay rights: it's perfectly legal to discriminate against gays in employment because ENDA never passed, but the hate crimes bill mustered 60 votes in the Senate last year (only to be killed in conference by the Bush-(Mary) Cheney Administration.
So maybe the conservative solution is right in this case. If we can't get strong financial regulation in this country, let's deter financial fraud by using the death penalty that Republicans have succeeded in making our fellow citizens support 3-1. Bernard Madoff should have been sentenced to death by firing squad.
Arrogance and hubris were a big part of the story of the mess that Matt Taibbi documents so well in his must-read on the bailout. Nothing smothers that type of vibe better than the possibility of gruesome death.
It's not a solution, by any means. But it's the one most in keeping with our political culture. And what House Republicans would be against being tough on crime, particularly given their recent discovery of populism?
Monday, March 23, 2009
And leading the Nielsens on Sunday night?
The President, who even beat out Desperate Housewives and the NCAA.
Piyush Opie Jindal: Looking dumber than ever
Turns out we do need to monitor volcanoes, at least in the real world, where you can't just exorcise them.
Maybe Stormy Daniels needs to take on the governor instead of Louisiana's other star Republican, the diaper guy.
Maybe Stormy Daniels needs to take on the governor instead of Louisiana's other star Republican, the diaper guy.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Dollhouse tonight
Bright of Joss Whedon to have the must-see episode of the season opposite Battlestar Galactica's finale.
Please thank the President of Notre Dame
For having the courage to invite the President to speak at Commencement. Right wing Catholic blogs are already up in arms.
John Paul II beatification
The date is allegedly set: April 2, 2010. Fine. It will only make the Church look worse to have fast-tracked the process when the truth comes out.
Risk for Democrats
Yes, Chris Dodd's disastrous situation in Connecticut is an extreme case. But the bottom line is that Democrats control two branches of government.
No question: it's outrageous that Republicans should even attempt to claim they are against corporate exploitation. Their anti-regulation philosophy (co-opted by Bill Clinton), is, after all, why we are in this mess.
But that will not matter to voters in November, 2010. If Democrats are seen as the party that let corporations exploit ordinary Americans, they will lose, and they will lose big.
And because Republicans are the party of corporate exploitation, Democrats will deserve to lose if they don't take advantage of their political power to force the Republicans to show their true colors.
So how's this for starters? How about a bill taking 75% of any corporate bonus over $2,000,000? How about looking at the top 10% of salaries (not bonuses) of Western European CEO's, doubling it, and creating a new 60% tax bracket? You better believe that every single Republican would vote against it. And it would not matter if it didn't pass. They would be on record. And Democrats would once again have control over the populist moment.
There are any number of similar measures we could pass--regulatory provisions on banks and corporations that activists have wanted for decades but couldn't pass because of Republican opposition and Democratic halfheartedness.
This is the moment. Republicans claim to be outraged at corporations. Let them prove it or let them burn.
No question: it's outrageous that Republicans should even attempt to claim they are against corporate exploitation. Their anti-regulation philosophy (co-opted by Bill Clinton), is, after all, why we are in this mess.
But that will not matter to voters in November, 2010. If Democrats are seen as the party that let corporations exploit ordinary Americans, they will lose, and they will lose big.
And because Republicans are the party of corporate exploitation, Democrats will deserve to lose if they don't take advantage of their political power to force the Republicans to show their true colors.
So how's this for starters? How about a bill taking 75% of any corporate bonus over $2,000,000? How about looking at the top 10% of salaries (not bonuses) of Western European CEO's, doubling it, and creating a new 60% tax bracket? You better believe that every single Republican would vote against it. And it would not matter if it didn't pass. They would be on record. And Democrats would once again have control over the populist moment.
There are any number of similar measures we could pass--regulatory provisions on banks and corporations that activists have wanted for decades but couldn't pass because of Republican opposition and Democratic halfheartedness.
This is the moment. Republicans claim to be outraged at corporations. Let them prove it or let them burn.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Video of the day
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Benedict: Jesus loves dead Africans
Especially when they die of AIDS.
Condom-hater-in-chief John Paul II and Sheikh Nur Barud must be thrilled.
Fortunately for his eternal soul, Legionary founder Maciel almost certainly liked it bare. It was the 70's, man.
Condom-hater-in-chief John Paul II and Sheikh Nur Barud must be thrilled.
Fortunately for his eternal soul, Legionary founder Maciel almost certainly liked it bare. It was the 70's, man.
Monday, March 16, 2009
The right kind of stimulus
Finally:
The country is using its nearly $600 billion economic stimulus package to make its companies better able to compete in markets at home and abroad, to retrain migrant workers on an immense scale and to rapidly expand subsidies for research and development. Construction has already begun on new highways and rail lines that are likely to permanently reduce transportation costs.
Too bad "the country" is China.
The country is using its nearly $600 billion economic stimulus package to make its companies better able to compete in markets at home and abroad, to retrain migrant workers on an immense scale and to rapidly expand subsidies for research and development. Construction has already begun on new highways and rail lines that are likely to permanently reduce transportation costs.
Too bad "the country" is China.
Supreme Court decision sets a precedent
The five Republican appointed male Catholics on the bench were solely responsible for the Heller decision last year. So far, this has been the primary result:
Two judges have struck down a part of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, named after the murdered son of John Walsh, the host of the television show “America’s Most Wanted.” The act says that people accused of child pornography offenses must be prohibited from possessing guns while they await trial.
That provision may well have been unconstitutional as a matter of due process even before Heller, as it seems to impose a punishment before conviction. But two courts have struck down the provision based partly on the fact that a fundamental constitutional right is at stake.
“A year ago, I might well have taken for granted the authority of Congress to require that a person charged with a crime be prohibited from possessing a firearm,” Magistrate Judge James C. Francis IV of the Federal District Court in Manhattan wrote in December. Heller changed that, he said.
“The right to possess a firearm is constitutionally protected,” Judge Francis wrote. “There is no basis for categorically depriving persons who are merely accused of certain crimes of the right to legal possession of a firearm.”
Two judges have struck down a part of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, named after the murdered son of John Walsh, the host of the television show “America’s Most Wanted.” The act says that people accused of child pornography offenses must be prohibited from possessing guns while they await trial.
That provision may well have been unconstitutional as a matter of due process even before Heller, as it seems to impose a punishment before conviction. But two courts have struck down the provision based partly on the fact that a fundamental constitutional right is at stake.
“A year ago, I might well have taken for granted the authority of Congress to require that a person charged with a crime be prohibited from possessing a firearm,” Magistrate Judge James C. Francis IV of the Federal District Court in Manhattan wrote in December. Heller changed that, he said.
“The right to possess a firearm is constitutionally protected,” Judge Francis wrote. “There is no basis for categorically depriving persons who are merely accused of certain crimes of the right to legal possession of a firearm.”
Sunday, March 15, 2009
A.I.G.
You'll be thrilled to know that billions of dollars of your tax money went to rescue foreign banks. That may represent a dilemma for the GOP. It shouldn't for the nativist sections of the Democratic Party.
If just four European banks received nearly 40 billion dollars, there is simply no reason for European governments not to have footed part of the bill in exchange for some worthless equity.
If just four European banks received nearly 40 billion dollars, there is simply no reason for European governments not to have footed part of the bill in exchange for some worthless equity.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Krugman right again
No one in the House or Senate wants to openly support a second stimulus bill. Maybe Bernanke's upcoming interview will help set the stage.
A Song for you
Enough of freaky archbishops and Republicans. Let us celebrate Aretha's Korean-American hatman.
What a great story:
As a young man, Mr. Song, 36, had no intention of taking over the business his parents, Han and Jin Song, started after emigrating from South Korea in 1982. After studying biochemistry in college, he left one semester short of a degree to pursue art studies at Parsons the New School for Design in New York.
When his parents refused to pay for more schooling, he sold a prized cello to pay for classes. He became so emerged in his new field that friends were convinced he would become a painter, Mr. Song said.
But he became burdened with student loans and had no evident way to pay them off. The answer, he found, lay in hats.
An early success came in a hat he designed from a chicken-wire base and covered with silk, chiffon and trimmings. Word of the creation, which cost $200 and up, flew through the hat world.
Boosted by that success, Mr. Song paid off his student loans and decided to embrace a millinery career, seeing in it a parallel to the principles of sculpture that he had studied in New York.
Today, he is helped by his parents, who supervise a cramped workroom where six women turn out about 100 hats a day, many to his customers’ specifications. Despite the volume, the work is painstaking; one seamstress’s time is devoted entirely to applying lace.
His sister, Lillian, manages orders (and her brother’s interview schedule). “We haven’t slept since the inaugural,” she said.
One irritant is that Mr. Song has already seen the Aretha Hat copied by competitors, with varying degrees of success. What imitators do not understand, he explained, is the hat’s construction. [...]
Ms. Franklin, a customer for 20 years, is the best known of Mr. Song’s avid buyers, who wear their hats to churches, synagogues and tea parties, and often display them in transparent boxes in their homes.
Entering his shop “is like eye candy for a woman,” said Crisette Ellis, the wife of Bishop Charles H. Ellis III, the pastor of Greater Grace Temple in Detroit, and one of the city’s most prominent churchwomen. “You don’t know which one to pick.” [...]
But his future may lie in loftier circles: the Aretha Hat apparently caught the eye of Queen Elizabeth, he confided, although Buckingham Palace has yet to place an order.
His ideal customer, though, is a little closer to home. Mr. Song said he would love to sell a hat to Michelle Obama, although she does not seem to have embraced hats — at least, not yet.
“That would be the best day of my life,” he said. “The best.”
What a great story:
As a young man, Mr. Song, 36, had no intention of taking over the business his parents, Han and Jin Song, started after emigrating from South Korea in 1982. After studying biochemistry in college, he left one semester short of a degree to pursue art studies at Parsons the New School for Design in New York.
When his parents refused to pay for more schooling, he sold a prized cello to pay for classes. He became so emerged in his new field that friends were convinced he would become a painter, Mr. Song said.
But he became burdened with student loans and had no evident way to pay them off. The answer, he found, lay in hats.
An early success came in a hat he designed from a chicken-wire base and covered with silk, chiffon and trimmings. Word of the creation, which cost $200 and up, flew through the hat world.
Boosted by that success, Mr. Song paid off his student loans and decided to embrace a millinery career, seeing in it a parallel to the principles of sculpture that he had studied in New York.
Today, he is helped by his parents, who supervise a cramped workroom where six women turn out about 100 hats a day, many to his customers’ specifications. Despite the volume, the work is painstaking; one seamstress’s time is devoted entirely to applying lace.
His sister, Lillian, manages orders (and her brother’s interview schedule). “We haven’t slept since the inaugural,” she said.
One irritant is that Mr. Song has already seen the Aretha Hat copied by competitors, with varying degrees of success. What imitators do not understand, he explained, is the hat’s construction. [...]
Ms. Franklin, a customer for 20 years, is the best known of Mr. Song’s avid buyers, who wear their hats to churches, synagogues and tea parties, and often display them in transparent boxes in their homes.
Entering his shop “is like eye candy for a woman,” said Crisette Ellis, the wife of Bishop Charles H. Ellis III, the pastor of Greater Grace Temple in Detroit, and one of the city’s most prominent churchwomen. “You don’t know which one to pick.” [...]
But his future may lie in loftier circles: the Aretha Hat apparently caught the eye of Queen Elizabeth, he confided, although Buckingham Palace has yet to place an order.
His ideal customer, though, is a little closer to home. Mr. Song said he would love to sell a hat to Michelle Obama, although she does not seem to have embraced hats — at least, not yet.
“That would be the best day of my life,” he said. “The best.”
The holy spirit of capitalism
Evangelicals have always placed their faith in the market. Now at least one church in Brazil finds opportunity in the Vatican's latest PR trainwreck:
Brazilian devotion to the Catholic Church has declined over the past several years. Whereas Brazil was once an almost entirely Catholic nation, only 74% of Brazilians today admit allegiance to Rome, with large numbers, especially the urban poor, having defected to Protestant Evangelical sects. Many more water down their Catholicism with dashes of African religions such as Candomble or spiritist beliefs such as Kardecism. Only recently has the decrease in Catholic affiliation seemingly leveled off.
Evangelicals have not projected a united pro-life platform in Brazil, certainly not one as monolithic as the Catholic Church's. But at least one major sect, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, has taken a stance that showcases its differences with its Catholic rival. The Universal Church's television channel TV Record recently aired spots featuring a woman declaring, "I decided who to marry. I decided to use the pill. With my vote I decided who'd be elected President. I decided to work so that I won't be discriminated against. Why can't I decide what to do with my own body? Women should be able to decide for themselves what's important."
But note: Opus Dei bishops like Sobrinho might end up paving the way for decriminalizing abortion in Brazil:
Although abortion is illegal, an estimated 1 million women each year have one. The poor are forced into clandestine clinics or take medication, while the better-off are treated by qualified physicians at well-appointed surgeries known to anyone with money and overlooked by colluding authorities. [...]
That secrecy has a price. More than 200,000 women each year are treated in public hospitals for complications arising from illegal abortions, according to Health Ministry figures. [...]
Those numbers shock the Catholic Church. But the Church's response to the Recife rape and abortion has shocked public opinion. Some Brazilians hope the controversy may compel the country to deal seriously with an issue that affects so many of its citizens. "Brazil wants to be a world leader, but the government can't guarantee equality for women," says Galli. "This is not a topic that anyone wants to debate."
John Paul II may have created a safe haven for the Opus Dei and Legionary pedophiles; at least, some might argue, he was pro-life. But the end result of his thirty years in the white hat may end up being a huge increase in funds for "medical practitioners" of the criminal underworld... and millions more dead babies. Santo subito!
Brazilian devotion to the Catholic Church has declined over the past several years. Whereas Brazil was once an almost entirely Catholic nation, only 74% of Brazilians today admit allegiance to Rome, with large numbers, especially the urban poor, having defected to Protestant Evangelical sects. Many more water down their Catholicism with dashes of African religions such as Candomble or spiritist beliefs such as Kardecism. Only recently has the decrease in Catholic affiliation seemingly leveled off.
Evangelicals have not projected a united pro-life platform in Brazil, certainly not one as monolithic as the Catholic Church's. But at least one major sect, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, has taken a stance that showcases its differences with its Catholic rival. The Universal Church's television channel TV Record recently aired spots featuring a woman declaring, "I decided who to marry. I decided to use the pill. With my vote I decided who'd be elected President. I decided to work so that I won't be discriminated against. Why can't I decide what to do with my own body? Women should be able to decide for themselves what's important."
But note: Opus Dei bishops like Sobrinho might end up paving the way for decriminalizing abortion in Brazil:
Although abortion is illegal, an estimated 1 million women each year have one. The poor are forced into clandestine clinics or take medication, while the better-off are treated by qualified physicians at well-appointed surgeries known to anyone with money and overlooked by colluding authorities. [...]
That secrecy has a price. More than 200,000 women each year are treated in public hospitals for complications arising from illegal abortions, according to Health Ministry figures. [...]
Those numbers shock the Catholic Church. But the Church's response to the Recife rape and abortion has shocked public opinion. Some Brazilians hope the controversy may compel the country to deal seriously with an issue that affects so many of its citizens. "Brazil wants to be a world leader, but the government can't guarantee equality for women," says Galli. "This is not a topic that anyone wants to debate."
John Paul II may have created a safe haven for the Opus Dei and Legionary pedophiles; at least, some might argue, he was pro-life. But the end result of his thirty years in the white hat may end up being a huge increase in funds for "medical practitioners" of the criminal underworld... and millions more dead babies. Santo subito!
Goodbye, Michael Steele
These quotes from his GQ interview should spell the end:
Q: Do you think homosexuality is a choice?
A: Oh, no. I don’t think I’ve ever really subscribed to that view, that you can turn it on and off like a water tap. Um, you know, I think that there’s a whole lot that goes into the makeup of an individual that, uh, you just can’t simply say, oh, like, “Tomorrow morning I’m gonna stop being gay.” It’s like saying, “Tomorrow morning I’m gonna stop being black.”
Q:So your feeling would be that people are born one way or another.
A: I mean, I think that’s the prevailing view at this point, and I know that there’s some out there who think that you can absolutely make that choice. And maybe some people have. I don’t know, I can’t say. Until we can give a definitive answer one way or the other, I think we should respect that. [...]
Q: How much of your pro-life stance, for you, is informed not just by your Catholic faith but by the fact that you were adopted?
A: Oh, a lot. Absolutely. I see the power of life in that—I mean, and the power of choice! The thing to keep in mind about it… Uh, you know, I think as a country we get off on these misguided conversations that throw around terms that really misrepresent truth.
Q: Explain that.
A: The choice issue cuts two ways. You can choose life, or you can choose abortion. You know, my mother chose life. So, you know, I think the power of the argument of choice boils down to stating a case for one or the other.
Q: Are you saying you think women have the right to choose abortion?
A: Yeah. I mean, again, I think that’s an individual choice.
Q:You do?
A: Yeah. Absolutely.
Granted, he proceeds to contradict himself by calling for the overturning of Roe v. Wade in the next sentence, but even so, it's time to stick a fork in him. GOP insiders don't like this token the way they loved Sarah Palin.
And here's the best part: the top two choices to replace him are Katon Dawson (best known for "his involvement with a whites-only country club"), and Ken Blackwell (the black secretary of state best known for suppressing the black vote in Ohio in 2004). Will the GOP go back to its base of white male southern racists or will it replace one black token with another, more submissive one? Stay tuned.
Q: Do you think homosexuality is a choice?
A: Oh, no. I don’t think I’ve ever really subscribed to that view, that you can turn it on and off like a water tap. Um, you know, I think that there’s a whole lot that goes into the makeup of an individual that, uh, you just can’t simply say, oh, like, “Tomorrow morning I’m gonna stop being gay.” It’s like saying, “Tomorrow morning I’m gonna stop being black.”
Q:So your feeling would be that people are born one way or another.
A: I mean, I think that’s the prevailing view at this point, and I know that there’s some out there who think that you can absolutely make that choice. And maybe some people have. I don’t know, I can’t say. Until we can give a definitive answer one way or the other, I think we should respect that. [...]
Q: How much of your pro-life stance, for you, is informed not just by your Catholic faith but by the fact that you were adopted?
A: Oh, a lot. Absolutely. I see the power of life in that—I mean, and the power of choice! The thing to keep in mind about it… Uh, you know, I think as a country we get off on these misguided conversations that throw around terms that really misrepresent truth.
Q: Explain that.
A: The choice issue cuts two ways. You can choose life, or you can choose abortion. You know, my mother chose life. So, you know, I think the power of the argument of choice boils down to stating a case for one or the other.
Q: Are you saying you think women have the right to choose abortion?
A: Yeah. I mean, again, I think that’s an individual choice.
Q:You do?
A: Yeah. Absolutely.
Granted, he proceeds to contradict himself by calling for the overturning of Roe v. Wade in the next sentence, but even so, it's time to stick a fork in him. GOP insiders don't like this token the way they loved Sarah Palin.
And here's the best part: the top two choices to replace him are Katon Dawson (best known for "his involvement with a whites-only country club"), and Ken Blackwell (the black secretary of state best known for suppressing the black vote in Ohio in 2004). Will the GOP go back to its base of white male southern racists or will it replace one black token with another, more submissive one? Stay tuned.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Joseph Stiglitz
Never trust a team mentored by a Clinton-era banker to do an economist's job. Let's hope the President is listening.
Monday, March 09, 2009
Never underestimate today's Vatican
The Curia comes through once again, this time in a truly spectacular tribute to the two popes who named every single one of its members.
A top Vatican official agreed with a Brazilian archbishop's decision to excommunicate the mother of a nine-year-old girl who had been raped by her stepfather and the doctors who aborted the girl's twins.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America said, "It is a sad case, but the real problem is that the conceived twins were innocent people and they had a right to live and should not have been killed."
Excommunication against those responsible for the abortion was legitimate, he said in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Stampa, March 7.
Doctors at a hospital in Recife, Brazil, performed the abortion March 4 during the girl's fourth month of pregnancy. Abortion in Brazil is illegal except in cases of rape or if the mother's life is in danger.
The girl, who weighed a little more than 66 pounds, reportedly had been raped repeatedly by her stepfather from the time she was six years old. The 23-year-old stepfather has been arrested and is also accused of raping the girl's 14-year-old handicapped sister.
In one fell swoop, the Vatican has crystallized the events of the last month. It has excommunicated two doctors and a mother while leaving the doors to salvation open to the man who repeatedly raped a child. Meanwhile, John Paul II and Cardinal Dziwisz protected the founder of the Legionaries of Christ for thirty years, despite published documentary evidence of his crimes against children. And Benedict was ready to lift the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying bishop.
John Paul II's actions were, ultimately, determined by the right wing views with which he hoped the Legionaries and Opus Dei would reconstitute the political order in Europe and the United States (oh, yeah, and fundraising). A few molestations here and there were a small price to pay. Bringing an anti-Semitic strain back into the Church was an equally small price to pay for Benedict, since SSPX would have given him a right flank.
On the one hand a raped daughter and raped seminarians. On the other, a pope who facilitated and honored the rapist and his order. On the one hand an excommunicated mom, on the other, the pope who lifted the excommunication against a Holocaust denier.
The movements that have made the Church a vehicle for hope over the centuries have rarely come from Rome. But all that emanates from the Eternal City these days is an overwhelming stench of right wing politics and unholiness. "By their fruits ye shall know them," Jesus said. We are fortunate to live at a time in which the poisoned fruit is so clearly marked.
A top Vatican official agreed with a Brazilian archbishop's decision to excommunicate the mother of a nine-year-old girl who had been raped by her stepfather and the doctors who aborted the girl's twins.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America said, "It is a sad case, but the real problem is that the conceived twins were innocent people and they had a right to live and should not have been killed."
Excommunication against those responsible for the abortion was legitimate, he said in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Stampa, March 7.
Doctors at a hospital in Recife, Brazil, performed the abortion March 4 during the girl's fourth month of pregnancy. Abortion in Brazil is illegal except in cases of rape or if the mother's life is in danger.
The girl, who weighed a little more than 66 pounds, reportedly had been raped repeatedly by her stepfather from the time she was six years old. The 23-year-old stepfather has been arrested and is also accused of raping the girl's 14-year-old handicapped sister.
In one fell swoop, the Vatican has crystallized the events of the last month. It has excommunicated two doctors and a mother while leaving the doors to salvation open to the man who repeatedly raped a child. Meanwhile, John Paul II and Cardinal Dziwisz protected the founder of the Legionaries of Christ for thirty years, despite published documentary evidence of his crimes against children. And Benedict was ready to lift the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying bishop.
John Paul II's actions were, ultimately, determined by the right wing views with which he hoped the Legionaries and Opus Dei would reconstitute the political order in Europe and the United States (oh, yeah, and fundraising). A few molestations here and there were a small price to pay. Bringing an anti-Semitic strain back into the Church was an equally small price to pay for Benedict, since SSPX would have given him a right flank.
On the one hand a raped daughter and raped seminarians. On the other, a pope who facilitated and honored the rapist and his order. On the one hand an excommunicated mom, on the other, the pope who lifted the excommunication against a Holocaust denier.
The movements that have made the Church a vehicle for hope over the centuries have rarely come from Rome. But all that emanates from the Eternal City these days is an overwhelming stench of right wing politics and unholiness. "By their fruits ye shall know them," Jesus said. We are fortunate to live at a time in which the poisoned fruit is so clearly marked.
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Hooray for Lula
Catholic leadership no longer comes from the Church.
The Brazilian president has criticised a Catholic archbishop for excommunicating several people who helped a young girl have an abortion.
The nine-year-old child underwent the abortion of twins she conceived after alleged abuse by her stepfather.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, himself a Catholic, said he regretted what he described as the cleric's deeply conservative attitude.
Brazil only permits abortions in cases of rape or health risks to the mother.
Doctors said the girl's case met both these conditions, but the Catholic Church said the law of God was above any human law.
The Archbishop of Olinda and Recife, Jose Cardoso Sobrinho, said the excommunication would apply to the child's mother and the doctors, but not to the girl because of her age.
But his actions were criticised by President Lula, who said: "As a Christian and a Catholic I deeply regret that a bishop of the Catholic Church has such a conservative attitude.
"The doctors did what had to be done: save the life of a girl nine years old.
"In this case, the medical profession was more right than the Church," AFP news agency quoted him as saying.
The girl, who lives in the north-eastern state of Pernambuco, was allegedly sexually assaulted over a number of years by her stepfather, possibly since she was six.
The Brazilian president has criticised a Catholic archbishop for excommunicating several people who helped a young girl have an abortion.
The nine-year-old child underwent the abortion of twins she conceived after alleged abuse by her stepfather.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, himself a Catholic, said he regretted what he described as the cleric's deeply conservative attitude.
Brazil only permits abortions in cases of rape or health risks to the mother.
Doctors said the girl's case met both these conditions, but the Catholic Church said the law of God was above any human law.
The Archbishop of Olinda and Recife, Jose Cardoso Sobrinho, said the excommunication would apply to the child's mother and the doctors, but not to the girl because of her age.
But his actions were criticised by President Lula, who said: "As a Christian and a Catholic I deeply regret that a bishop of the Catholic Church has such a conservative attitude.
"The doctors did what had to be done: save the life of a girl nine years old.
"In this case, the medical profession was more right than the Church," AFP news agency quoted him as saying.
The girl, who lives in the north-eastern state of Pernambuco, was allegedly sexually assaulted over a number of years by her stepfather, possibly since she was six.
Friday, March 06, 2009
Archbishop excommunicates nine year old
The Church of John Paul and Benedict strikes again. From today's Irish Times:
A Catholic archbishop has sparked controversy in Brazil by saying the mother of a nine-year-old girl who had an abortion on Wednesday following a rape is automatically excommunicated for allowing the procedure to go ahead.
Archbishop José Cardoso Sobrinho of Olinda and Recife also declared that according to canon law the doctor who performed the abortion is considered excommunicated, along with anyone else involved.
The child was raped by her stepfather, who has since admitted abusing her over the last three years. Abortion is generally illegal in Brazil but allowed in cases of rape or when the pregnancy endangers the mother’s life.
The child entered hospital in the northeastern city of Recife on Tuesday night, where she was given medication to interrupt the pregnancy, which doctors said was terminated by early Wednesday morning. She was pregnant with twins.
The archbishop’s statements have drawn condemnation from Brazilian politicians and caused disquiet among some theologians concerned by the difficulties raised by the case.
But Archbishop Cardoso Sobrinho has denied media reports that he personally ordered the excommunications. “I simply recalled what is in church canon law. Excommunication is automatic for those who participate in an abortion. I did not excommunicate anyone, just remembered the church’s law which says they are automatically excommunicated,” he said.
Before the abortion was carried out the archdiocese’s lawyers threatened to charge the mother with homicide, citing the Brazilian constitution’s guarantee to the right to life.
The doctor who carried out the procedure has defended his actions. “If the pregnancy had continued, the damage would have been worse, being a high risk pregnancy. The risk would have been of death or at the very least that she would never have been able to become pregnant again,” Dr Olímpio Moraes told O Globo newspaper.
“There are two legal justifications for abortion envisioned by the law, which are rape and risk to life. She [the girl] falls within the two and, as a doctor, I could not let a girl of nine years be submitted to this suffering and even pay with her own life.”
But Archbishop Cardoso Sobrinho has dismissed the fact that the abortion was legal under Brazilian law as irrelevant to the question of excommunication. “God’s law is above whatever human law. So when a human law is contrary to God’s law, this human law has no value,” he said.
For these two popes and their appointees, God's law isn't above human law when it involves Iraq or screwing the poor. Just when it involves screwing.
UPDATE: Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea grandissima culpa. As the article itself notes, it wasn't the nine year old who was excommunicated but her mom. And given the details of this case, that ought to make you feel a whole lot better!
A Catholic archbishop has sparked controversy in Brazil by saying the mother of a nine-year-old girl who had an abortion on Wednesday following a rape is automatically excommunicated for allowing the procedure to go ahead.
Archbishop José Cardoso Sobrinho of Olinda and Recife also declared that according to canon law the doctor who performed the abortion is considered excommunicated, along with anyone else involved.
The child was raped by her stepfather, who has since admitted abusing her over the last three years. Abortion is generally illegal in Brazil but allowed in cases of rape or when the pregnancy endangers the mother’s life.
The child entered hospital in the northeastern city of Recife on Tuesday night, where she was given medication to interrupt the pregnancy, which doctors said was terminated by early Wednesday morning. She was pregnant with twins.
The archbishop’s statements have drawn condemnation from Brazilian politicians and caused disquiet among some theologians concerned by the difficulties raised by the case.
But Archbishop Cardoso Sobrinho has denied media reports that he personally ordered the excommunications. “I simply recalled what is in church canon law. Excommunication is automatic for those who participate in an abortion. I did not excommunicate anyone, just remembered the church’s law which says they are automatically excommunicated,” he said.
Before the abortion was carried out the archdiocese’s lawyers threatened to charge the mother with homicide, citing the Brazilian constitution’s guarantee to the right to life.
The doctor who carried out the procedure has defended his actions. “If the pregnancy had continued, the damage would have been worse, being a high risk pregnancy. The risk would have been of death or at the very least that she would never have been able to become pregnant again,” Dr Olímpio Moraes told O Globo newspaper.
“There are two legal justifications for abortion envisioned by the law, which are rape and risk to life. She [the girl] falls within the two and, as a doctor, I could not let a girl of nine years be submitted to this suffering and even pay with her own life.”
But Archbishop Cardoso Sobrinho has dismissed the fact that the abortion was legal under Brazilian law as irrelevant to the question of excommunication. “God’s law is above whatever human law. So when a human law is contrary to God’s law, this human law has no value,” he said.
For these two popes and their appointees, God's law isn't above human law when it involves Iraq or screwing the poor. Just when it involves screwing.
UPDATE: Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea grandissima culpa. As the article itself notes, it wasn't the nine year old who was excommunicated but her mom. And given the details of this case, that ought to make you feel a whole lot better!
Beaver management
A Republican earmark. Don't miss Claire McCaskill tearing the Republican leadership a new one.
No hotties for VP?
Does this also mean McCain would have beat the Breck Girl?
A new study in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology -- summarized nicely by Tom Jacobs -- examines whether Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's sex appeal -- "the subject of endless media chatter in the weeks after she joined the ticket -- hindered her ability to make the case she was up for the job."
The bottom line: Participants who were more positive in their assessment of Palin's attractiveness also "rated her far lower in terms of competence, intelligence and capability, and were far less likely to indicate they planned to vote for the McCain-Palin ticket."
The Los Angeles Times: "All of which would seem to suggest that for any hope of success in 2012 or beyond, the 45-year-old governor needs to whack off that hair, pork up a bit and get some cheap, baggy pantsuits over at the Wasilla Wal-mart. And instead of that come-on wink that many thought they liked, she'd do well to develop an uncontrollable facial twitch."
A new study in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology -- summarized nicely by Tom Jacobs -- examines whether Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's sex appeal -- "the subject of endless media chatter in the weeks after she joined the ticket -- hindered her ability to make the case she was up for the job."
The bottom line: Participants who were more positive in their assessment of Palin's attractiveness also "rated her far lower in terms of competence, intelligence and capability, and were far less likely to indicate they planned to vote for the McCain-Palin ticket."
The Los Angeles Times: "All of which would seem to suggest that for any hope of success in 2012 or beyond, the 45-year-old governor needs to whack off that hair, pork up a bit and get some cheap, baggy pantsuits over at the Wasilla Wal-mart. And instead of that come-on wink that many thought they liked, she'd do well to develop an uncontrollable facial twitch."
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Louisiana outrage
Stormy Daniels is only at 1% versus David Diapers. We have 19 months of hard work ahead of us.
"Can I have a hooker with that limo?
The strange story of Sandy Roberts and "mini-Rush" Michael Steele.
Speaking of Rush, reader M. points us to David Plouffe's take. Timothy Egan's in today's New York Times is concise and devastating.
Speaking of Rush, reader M. points us to David Plouffe's take. Timothy Egan's in today's New York Times is concise and devastating.
The Telegraph shudders
The returned Churchill bust is freaking right wing Brits out. More reasonable ones are a bit more philosophical.
On these shores, meanwhile, we can just make fun of the wingnuttery surrounding the situation.
On these shores, meanwhile, we can just make fun of the wingnuttery surrounding the situation.
"We've got, like, four banks"
Krugman hits the Obama economic team hard.
Speaking of the professor, check this delicious paragraph from last week's piece on the savings glut:
And wide-open, loosely regulated financial systems characterized many of the other recipients of large capital inflows. This may explain the almost eerie correlation between conservative praise two or three years ago and economic disaster today. “Reforms have made Iceland a Nordic tiger,” declared a paper from the Cato Institute. “How Ireland Became the Celtic Tiger” was the title of one Heritage Foundation article; “The Estonian Economic Miracle” was the title of another. All three nations are in deep crisis now.
Speaking of the professor, check this delicious paragraph from last week's piece on the savings glut:
And wide-open, loosely regulated financial systems characterized many of the other recipients of large capital inflows. This may explain the almost eerie correlation between conservative praise two or three years ago and economic disaster today. “Reforms have made Iceland a Nordic tiger,” declared a paper from the Cato Institute. “How Ireland Became the Celtic Tiger” was the title of one Heritage Foundation article; “The Estonian Economic Miracle” was the title of another. All three nations are in deep crisis now.
You've heard of Freedom Fries
Now there's Christian salt.
Retired barber Joe Godlewski says he was inspired by television chefs who repeatedly recommended kosher salt in recipes.
"I said, 'What the heck's the matter with Christian salt?'" Godlewski said, sipping a beer in the living room of his home in unincorporated Cresaptown, a western Maryland mountain community.
By next week, his trademarked Blessed Christians Salt will be available at http://www.memphi.net, the Web site of Memphis, Tenn.-based seasonings manufacturer Ingredients Corporation of America.
It's sea salt that's been blessed by an Episcopal priest, ICA President Damon S. Arney said Wednesday. He said the company also hopes to market the salt through Christian bookstores and as a fundraising tool for religious groups.
Arney and Godlewski, 73, said a share of the proceeds will be donated to Christian charities, but neither would specify a percentage.
Rabbi Sholem Fishbane, kosher administrator for the Chicago Rabbinical Council, said marketing Christian salt as an alternative to kosher salt reflects, at best, ignorance about Jewish dietary laws. He said all salt is inherently kosher because it occurs naturally and requires little or no processing.
Certified kosher foods are not blessed by rabbis but examined by them to ensure that the food and its processing conform with Biblical passages regarding food preparation and consumption, Fishbane said. [...]
"The fact is, it helps Christians and Christian charities," he said. "This is about keeping Christianity in front of the public so that it doesn't die. I want to keep Christianity on the table, in the household, however I can do it." [...]
If the salt takes off, Godlewski plans an entire line of Christian-branded foods, including rye bread, bagels and pickles.
Food industry consultant Richard Hohman, of Tampa, Fla., said Christian branding is a clever idea that could do well in the Bible Belt. [...]
Rabbi Fishbane said he doesn't blame Godlewski for seizing a business opportunity, even one that plays on public misconceptions about kosher products.
However, "if it comes from a lack of knowledge on his end or, even worse, anti-Semitism, then I have an issue with that," Fishbane said. "I can't see anything good coming out of something like that."
Godlewski makes his aim clear: "There's no anti-Semitism. I love Jesus Christ and he was a Jew."
Retired barber Joe Godlewski says he was inspired by television chefs who repeatedly recommended kosher salt in recipes.
"I said, 'What the heck's the matter with Christian salt?'" Godlewski said, sipping a beer in the living room of his home in unincorporated Cresaptown, a western Maryland mountain community.
By next week, his trademarked Blessed Christians Salt will be available at http://www.memphi.net, the Web site of Memphis, Tenn.-based seasonings manufacturer Ingredients Corporation of America.
It's sea salt that's been blessed by an Episcopal priest, ICA President Damon S. Arney said Wednesday. He said the company also hopes to market the salt through Christian bookstores and as a fundraising tool for religious groups.
Arney and Godlewski, 73, said a share of the proceeds will be donated to Christian charities, but neither would specify a percentage.
Rabbi Sholem Fishbane, kosher administrator for the Chicago Rabbinical Council, said marketing Christian salt as an alternative to kosher salt reflects, at best, ignorance about Jewish dietary laws. He said all salt is inherently kosher because it occurs naturally and requires little or no processing.
Certified kosher foods are not blessed by rabbis but examined by them to ensure that the food and its processing conform with Biblical passages regarding food preparation and consumption, Fishbane said. [...]
"The fact is, it helps Christians and Christian charities," he said. "This is about keeping Christianity in front of the public so that it doesn't die. I want to keep Christianity on the table, in the household, however I can do it." [...]
If the salt takes off, Godlewski plans an entire line of Christian-branded foods, including rye bread, bagels and pickles.
Food industry consultant Richard Hohman, of Tampa, Fla., said Christian branding is a clever idea that could do well in the Bible Belt. [...]
Rabbi Fishbane said he doesn't blame Godlewski for seizing a business opportunity, even one that plays on public misconceptions about kosher products.
However, "if it comes from a lack of knowledge on his end or, even worse, anti-Semitism, then I have an issue with that," Fishbane said. "I can't see anything good coming out of something like that."
Godlewski makes his aim clear: "There's no anti-Semitism. I love Jesus Christ and he was a Jew."
Right wing Catholics
When they aren't supporting the Legionaries and Opus Dei, they're busy sliming Kathleen Sebelius for not being Catholic enough. Which, now that the Legionaries and Opus Dei have taken over the American Church, she isn't.
But there is some hope:
But even before the conservatives launched their assaults, more liberal Catholics began rallying to Sebelius. Catholics United, a progressive group, immediately issued a statement signed by 26 prominent Catholics describing Sebelius as "a woman of deep faith" who had expanded adoption programs, financed social services for pregnant women, promoted alternatives to abortion and signed a bill making the killing of a fetus a separate crime if a pregnant woman was murdered.
At the same time, a largely evangelical group, including the Rev. Joel Hunter, senior pastor of a Florida megachurch, and David Gushee, president of Evangelicals for Human Rights, put out its own pro-Sebelius statement noting that the abortion rate in Kansas declined 10 percent during her time in office.
The rapid mobilization behind Sebelius marked the emergence of an organized movement of religious progressives as a forceful counterweight to religious conservatives, and it brought home the centrality of abortion reduction to the overall argument.
But there is some hope:
But even before the conservatives launched their assaults, more liberal Catholics began rallying to Sebelius. Catholics United, a progressive group, immediately issued a statement signed by 26 prominent Catholics describing Sebelius as "a woman of deep faith" who had expanded adoption programs, financed social services for pregnant women, promoted alternatives to abortion and signed a bill making the killing of a fetus a separate crime if a pregnant woman was murdered.
At the same time, a largely evangelical group, including the Rev. Joel Hunter, senior pastor of a Florida megachurch, and David Gushee, president of Evangelicals for Human Rights, put out its own pro-Sebelius statement noting that the abortion rate in Kansas declined 10 percent during her time in office.
The rapid mobilization behind Sebelius marked the emergence of an organized movement of religious progressives as a forceful counterweight to religious conservatives, and it brought home the centrality of abortion reduction to the overall argument.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Vatican can be sued for abuse
A landmark Ninth Circuit decision.
But it will almost certainly be appealed. But can the Supreme Court be objective with five Catholics, three or four of whom are linked to Opus Dei?
Scalia himself hosted interns from the Legionaries of Christ just one month after Maciel himself was asked to "retire to a life of prayer and penitence" in 2006--a full nine years after the Hartford Courant's detailed exposé on his abuse.
Scalia, Thomas, Alito, and, if he were honest, Roberts, should recuse themselves from this case.
But it will almost certainly be appealed. But can the Supreme Court be objective with five Catholics, three or four of whom are linked to Opus Dei?
Scalia himself hosted interns from the Legionaries of Christ just one month after Maciel himself was asked to "retire to a life of prayer and penitence" in 2006--a full nine years after the Hartford Courant's detailed exposé on his abuse.
Scalia, Thomas, Alito, and, if he were honest, Roberts, should recuse themselves from this case.
Could Michael Steele be fired?
One can only hope. Firing their first black chair would be a PR nightmare, and the final victory for Mr. 11%.
Apology to Rush Limbaugh aside, new Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele is coming under fire from his own GOP troops to shut up and focus on his job of organizing the party and raising money, not fighting with his own political kind. Several Republican advisers to Congress and the previous Bush administration told Whispers that they are worried that the war of words is fracturing the party when it should be healing the division between conservatives and moderates in the wake of the 2008 election.
"What is amazing is that Steele was elected because of his communications skills, and it is those skills that are damaging the Republican Party. Before people begin to completely judge him as worthless, Steele needs to focus and knuckle down on building a strong foundation at RNC so we can begin rebuilding our majority," says a top GOP strategist who has worked for House and Senate Republican leaders. "If his implosion continues, RNC members are likely to call a special session to dump him for an effective chairman. There is not much patience for failure."
Apology to Rush Limbaugh aside, new Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele is coming under fire from his own GOP troops to shut up and focus on his job of organizing the party and raising money, not fighting with his own political kind. Several Republican advisers to Congress and the previous Bush administration told Whispers that they are worried that the war of words is fracturing the party when it should be healing the division between conservatives and moderates in the wake of the 2008 election.
"What is amazing is that Steele was elected because of his communications skills, and it is those skills that are damaging the Republican Party. Before people begin to completely judge him as worthless, Steele needs to focus and knuckle down on building a strong foundation at RNC so we can begin rebuilding our majority," says a top GOP strategist who has worked for House and Senate Republican leaders. "If his implosion continues, RNC members are likely to call a special session to dump him for an effective chairman. There is not much patience for failure."
Who's less popular than Jeremiah Wright?
Rush Limbaugh, who has just an 11% positive rating among voters under 40. And in those numbers lies the genesis for this week's spectacular framing coup.
Double repudiation
Obama isn't just having his new FEMA head introduced in New Orleans; on top of that, his choice was Jeb Bush's own emergency manager--a no brainer of a choice. It took some doing, after all, to find incompetents like Brownie and Chertoff.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
News from Hillaryland
No surprise here:
RACIST JOKES: “Nearly one in six Tennesseans has told a joke about Barack Obama’s race, and three-fourths say they’ve heard or read at least one, even though only 15 percent of Tennesseans say they would find such a joke funny.”
RACIST JOKES: “Nearly one in six Tennesseans has told a joke about Barack Obama’s race, and three-fourths say they’ve heard or read at least one, even though only 15 percent of Tennesseans say they would find such a joke funny.”
Smart politics
The Obama Administration gets it. Whatever the success of the stimulus overall, every single project it funds will be identified. And that means that every worker employed by it will be able to say, "I got a job thanks to Barack Obama."
And they'll also to tell their kids, "If the Republicans had their way, Mommy (and/or Daddy) wouldn't have jobs right now."
And they'll also to tell their kids, "If the Republicans had their way, Mommy (and/or Daddy) wouldn't have jobs right now."
Caroline avenged
David Paterson is now less popular than Eliot Spitzer.
And it's not just Republicans and independents.
Among registered Democrats in New York State, 30% think Paterson is doing an above average job while 65% disagree.
Say goodbye, governor.
Even better, his ratty pick for the Senate may go down with him.
If next year’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in New York were held today, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand would find a tough adversary in U.S. Representative Carolyn McCarthy. The two are in a statistical dead heat with Gillibrand receiving 36% of New York Democrats’ support and McCarthy garnering 33% of the vote. A large proportion of Democrats -- 31% -- are undecided. On the Republican side, members of the GOP would support former New York Governor George Pataki over Long Island Congressman Peter King in the Republican primary. Pataki bests King 56% to 32%, respectively.
And it's not just Republicans and independents.
Among registered Democrats in New York State, 30% think Paterson is doing an above average job while 65% disagree.
Say goodbye, governor.
Even better, his ratty pick for the Senate may go down with him.
If next year’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in New York were held today, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand would find a tough adversary in U.S. Representative Carolyn McCarthy. The two are in a statistical dead heat with Gillibrand receiving 36% of New York Democrats’ support and McCarthy garnering 33% of the vote. A large proportion of Democrats -- 31% -- are undecided. On the Republican side, members of the GOP would support former New York Governor George Pataki over Long Island Congressman Peter King in the Republican primary. Pataki bests King 56% to 32%, respectively.
Branding success
Also enjoying good numbers is first lady Michelle Obama, with 63% positive and 8% negative ratings. In September, her negative score was 31%, but her popularity has soared with her husband's, said Mr. Hart. "It's a his and her brand."
That would make her the most popular public figure in the country.
That would make her the most popular public figure in the country.
Branding catastrophe
Part II:
There was widespread approval of Mr. Obama's plans for Iraq, with 80% approving of his move to pull out most U.S. troops within 19 months. Two in three Americans said the U.S. has accomplished as much as can be expected in Iraq, compared with 27% who said more can be done.
And the public is mostly satisfied with the results, with 53% saying the war has been successful, up from 43% in July 2008. Sixteen percent say it is very likely there will be an all-out civil war in Iraq when U.S. troops leave, compared with 40% who thought that in June 2007.
The poll had bad news for the Republican opposition. By a margin of more than 2-1, Americans trust the Democratic Party over the Republicans to get the country out of the recession. Views of the GOP are near an all-time low. And more than half of all adults say that Republicans in Congress have opposed Mr. Obama's proposals more to gain political advantage, compared with 30% who say Republicans have done so because they are standing up for their principles.
By a huge margin, people say there is no more bipartisanship in Washington now than in the past. For that, they are most likely to blame President George W. Bush's administration and congressional Republicans. They put almost none of the blame on congressional Democrats or Mr. Obama.
There was widespread approval of Mr. Obama's plans for Iraq, with 80% approving of his move to pull out most U.S. troops within 19 months. Two in three Americans said the U.S. has accomplished as much as can be expected in Iraq, compared with 27% who said more can be done.
And the public is mostly satisfied with the results, with 53% saying the war has been successful, up from 43% in July 2008. Sixteen percent say it is very likely there will be an all-out civil war in Iraq when U.S. troops leave, compared with 40% who thought that in June 2007.
The poll had bad news for the Republican opposition. By a margin of more than 2-1, Americans trust the Democratic Party over the Republicans to get the country out of the recession. Views of the GOP are near an all-time low. And more than half of all adults say that Republicans in Congress have opposed Mr. Obama's proposals more to gain political advantage, compared with 30% who say Republicans have done so because they are standing up for their principles.
By a huge margin, people say there is no more bipartisanship in Washington now than in the past. For that, they are most likely to blame President George W. Bush's administration and congressional Republicans. They put almost none of the blame on congressional Democrats or Mr. Obama.
Branding catastrophe
For the GOP.
Here's one set of numbers we're releasing before the entire NBC/WSJ poll comes out at 6:30 pm ET: By a 48-20 percent margin, Americans believe the Democratic Party would do a better job of getting the U.S. out of recession than the Republican Party.
When this same question was asked back in 1990, the public was essentially split. In an October 1990 poll, 36 percent said Republicans would do a better job, versus 31 percent who picked the Democrats. And in December of that year, an equal number -- 33 percent -- sided with the Democrats and Republicans.
Here's one set of numbers we're releasing before the entire NBC/WSJ poll comes out at 6:30 pm ET: By a 48-20 percent margin, Americans believe the Democratic Party would do a better job of getting the U.S. out of recession than the Republican Party.
When this same question was asked back in 1990, the public was essentially split. In an October 1990 poll, 36 percent said Republicans would do a better job, versus 31 percent who picked the Democrats. And in December of that year, an equal number -- 33 percent -- sided with the Democrats and Republicans.
Perfect meme
The Democrats have got game. Now even the Senate Majority Leader is repeating it.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid put it in no uncertain terms today: Senate Republicans want Barack Obama to fail.
“It’s very clear they’ve made a decision they want President Obama to fail,” Reid told reporters, listing of a series of Obama proposals Republicans have lined up against, including the $410 billion omnibus spending package before the Senate this week.
When asked to name specific Senate Republicans who wanted Obama to fail, Reid would only say a “number of Republicans.”
“It’s very clear,” Reid said. “Some have said so, others have acted accordingly.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid put it in no uncertain terms today: Senate Republicans want Barack Obama to fail.
“It’s very clear they’ve made a decision they want President Obama to fail,” Reid told reporters, listing of a series of Obama proposals Republicans have lined up against, including the $410 billion omnibus spending package before the Senate this week.
When asked to name specific Senate Republicans who wanted Obama to fail, Reid would only say a “number of Republicans.”
“It’s very clear,” Reid said. “Some have said so, others have acted accordingly.”
Quote of the day
I was a little surprised at the speed in which Mr. Steele, the head of the RNC, apologized to the head of the Republican Party."
Wow
Just days after rejecting and denouncing, Michael Steele apologizes to the de facto chair of the Republican Party, Rush Limbaugh.
Hidden in that Times' piece
Is a fairly big item:
In the past decade, the Vatican has appointed Hispanic bishops to lead 12 dioceses in the United States, or about 6 percent of the 195 dioceses nationwide. With one exception, all are in the West and Southwest, including the dioceses of San Antonio; El Paso and Laredo, Tex.; Yakima, Wash.; and Sacramento, where Latino populations are flourishing. The exception was the archdiocese of San Juan, Puerto Rico, led by Archbishop Roberto González Nieves, who was reported to be under consideration to succeed the New York archbishop, Cardinal Edward M. Egan, who will retire in April.
San Juan's archbishop would have been a far greater success in New York than he has been, for better or worse, in Puerto Rico. Hopefully he'll be considered for a major urban appointment in the United States down the road.
In the past decade, the Vatican has appointed Hispanic bishops to lead 12 dioceses in the United States, or about 6 percent of the 195 dioceses nationwide. With one exception, all are in the West and Southwest, including the dioceses of San Antonio; El Paso and Laredo, Tex.; Yakima, Wash.; and Sacramento, where Latino populations are flourishing. The exception was the archdiocese of San Juan, Puerto Rico, led by Archbishop Roberto González Nieves, who was reported to be under consideration to succeed the New York archbishop, Cardinal Edward M. Egan, who will retire in April.
San Juan's archbishop would have been a far greater success in New York than he has been, for better or worse, in Puerto Rico. Hopefully he'll be considered for a major urban appointment in the United States down the road.
"A lost opportunity"
The Pope's choice for archbishop of New York barely knows Spanish. But Latinos already comprise half the city's Catholics.
But that would be a problem for Benedict and his fundraising fans in the United States, who are fervently Catholic, at least to the extent that the Pope's views match those of the Republican Party. For the Hispanic Church, unlike the Republican Party, is not quite as obsessed with homosexuality and abortion. It has, rather, a curious and terribly unchristian interest in the plight of the poor and other inconsequential but already born social actors.
Latinos are the future of the Catholic Church in America; the racism they encounter from the Republican leaders empowered by the last two popes will not be forgotten. As they slowly take over the institution in the coming decades, the impact on the Church's stance on American politics will necessarily change.
For that reason, the Democratic Party is actually better off in the long run with choices like Timothy Dolan and with the white American Catholic Church's support of racist Republican politicians. If Hispanics go from 60-40 Democratic to 80-20 Democratic, the shift in Church politics overall twenty years now will be that much more pronounced.
But that would be a problem for Benedict and his fundraising fans in the United States, who are fervently Catholic, at least to the extent that the Pope's views match those of the Republican Party. For the Hispanic Church, unlike the Republican Party, is not quite as obsessed with homosexuality and abortion. It has, rather, a curious and terribly unchristian interest in the plight of the poor and other inconsequential but already born social actors.
Latinos are the future of the Catholic Church in America; the racism they encounter from the Republican leaders empowered by the last two popes will not be forgotten. As they slowly take over the institution in the coming decades, the impact on the Church's stance on American politics will necessarily change.
For that reason, the Democratic Party is actually better off in the long run with choices like Timothy Dolan and with the white American Catholic Church's support of racist Republican politicians. If Hispanics go from 60-40 Democratic to 80-20 Democratic, the shift in Church politics overall twenty years now will be that much more pronounced.
Monday, March 02, 2009
50/50
You may think it unfair that artists like Madonna make their millions while ordinary Americans lose their jobs and incomes en masse. And it is, terribly unfair.
But Madonna has probably made billions for her record companies over the year. That money had to go somewhere. Would you prefer that most of that cash went to a talentless record executive and his staff and lawyers? Or to the actual creative talent that made their incomes possible?
Let's hope Eminem wins his lawsuit against Universal.
But Madonna has probably made billions for her record companies over the year. That money had to go somewhere. Would you prefer that most of that cash went to a talentless record executive and his staff and lawyers? Or to the actual creative talent that made their incomes possible?
Let's hope Eminem wins his lawsuit against Universal.
Can we recall Giethner?
I'm sure Robert Kuttner wishes we could.
On Friday, the Treasury made its latest deal with Citigroup to infuse even more public money into the essentially insolvent zombie bank. The terms were appalling. Basically, the government gets more preferred stock with little voting power. It can be converted to common stock, but if Citi goes deeper into the red, the government takes the loss. If by some miracle, Citi recovers, its shareholders get the gain. Once again, Treasury has declined to convert its de facto ownership into effective management control, preferring to bargain with Citi's executives at arm's length.
Geithner has also come up with the idea of subjecting the largest banks to "stress tests" to determine just how badly damaged their balance sheets are. This has been advertised as government examiners crawling all over bank records, but much of this belated effort will rely on the banks' own risk models--the same risk models that got the banks into this mess.
Come to think of it, where have the examiners been all along? Why wasn't there serious investigation of bank balance sheets all along? Why should stress tests be performed only after disaster has struck (shades of Hurricane Katrina)?
The worst culprit among the feeble regulators is the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, whose examiners are responsible for assessing the safety and soundness of the holding companies of Wall Street's largest banks. It was high risk speculative activities by holding company affiliates that put the big banks under water.
Who dropped the ball? You may recall that Secretary Geithner, before he assumed his present post, was president of the New York Fed Bank. According to a withering feature piece from Bloomberg, he was asleep at the switch, and far too cozy with the banks. Heckuva job, Timmy.
On Friday, the Treasury made its latest deal with Citigroup to infuse even more public money into the essentially insolvent zombie bank. The terms were appalling. Basically, the government gets more preferred stock with little voting power. It can be converted to common stock, but if Citi goes deeper into the red, the government takes the loss. If by some miracle, Citi recovers, its shareholders get the gain. Once again, Treasury has declined to convert its de facto ownership into effective management control, preferring to bargain with Citi's executives at arm's length.
Geithner has also come up with the idea of subjecting the largest banks to "stress tests" to determine just how badly damaged their balance sheets are. This has been advertised as government examiners crawling all over bank records, but much of this belated effort will rely on the banks' own risk models--the same risk models that got the banks into this mess.
Come to think of it, where have the examiners been all along? Why wasn't there serious investigation of bank balance sheets all along? Why should stress tests be performed only after disaster has struck (shades of Hurricane Katrina)?
The worst culprit among the feeble regulators is the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, whose examiners are responsible for assessing the safety and soundness of the holding companies of Wall Street's largest banks. It was high risk speculative activities by holding company affiliates that put the big banks under water.
Who dropped the ball? You may recall that Secretary Geithner, before he assumed his present post, was president of the New York Fed Bank. According to a withering feature piece from Bloomberg, he was asleep at the switch, and far too cozy with the banks. Heckuva job, Timmy.
Sad
But it's final proof that only someone with the mind of a child could believe in what's become of the Republican Party.
Sunday, March 01, 2009
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