Politics

Three out of four ain’t bad

by

by von Orin Kerr, tongue planted firmly in cheek, posts four "obvious lessons" from last night's near sweep by Republicans: 1. For Conservative Republicans: The America people reject Barack Obama and obviously want true conservative leadership. … 2. For Moderate Republicans: The American people obviously want old-fashioned economic conservatives who are moderate on social issues. … Read more

OSHA: Nevada is a Good Place to be a Bad Boss

by

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) last week issued a scathing indictment of Nevada’s OSHA program. Nevada has a well-deserved reputation for being a dangerous place to work. Last year, a spate of construction deaths on the Las Vegas Strip prompted a congressional hearing. The Las Vegas Sun won this year’s public service Pulitzer for exposing the carnage. Nevada inspectors told federal investigators that their superiors pressured them not to write up employers for willful violations of safety laws.

Fred Hiatt’s Strange Argument

by

by publius You'll be shocked to learn that Fred Hiatt opposes the public option.  You'll be further shocked that his argument doesn't make much sense. Hiatt's main concern is cost control.  He thinks (maybe correctly) that Congress is punting on controlling costs.  Instead, Hiatt wants Congress (1) to impose taxes on employer-provided health care benefits; … Read more

The Public Option’s Most Frustrating Opponent

by

by publius Despite its new momentum, the public option has a powerful new opponent — the White House.  It's incredibly frustrating.  Although Reid is close to getting 60 votes on cloture, Obama and Rahm (who, for all his bluster, is politically timid) are pushing for the "trigger," which is the same as nothing. The question, … Read more

Just Tax

by

by publius I have to admit that I don't like the idea of the government stepping in to dictate compensation levels, TARP funds or no TARP funds.  I'm certainly not morally opposed to it — heck, many of these people deserve far worse. The problem, though, is that I don't think the government is institutionally … Read more

Dancing In The Dark

by

Guest post by Gary Farber.  Gary's home blog is Amygdala, and he invites you to read him there.

[Eric Martin: My friend Gary is going to be pitching in for a couple of days as I adjust to the enhanced parenting techniques that my son is submitting me too.  And yes, sleep deprivation is torture.]

On December 31, 2009, three provisions of "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT ACT) Act of 2001," aka the "PATRIOT Act,"  sunset and expire.

Bills to reauthorize or amend these three provisions have been moving through the Congressional Judiciary Committees in the past two months.

The three sections are:  

SEC. 206. ROVING SURVEILLANCE AUTHORITY UNDER THE FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE ACT OF 1978. Section 105(c)(2)(B) of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1805(c)(2)(B)) is amended by inserting 'or in circumstances where the Court finds that the actions of the target of the application may have the effect of thwarting the identification of a specified person, such other persons,' after 'specified person'.

This is also known as "the John Doe" provision.

SEC. 215. ACCESS TO RECORDS AND OTHER ITEMS UNDER THE FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE ACT.

Also known as the section dealing with "national security letters," by which:

The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation or a designee of the Director (whose rank shall be no lower than Assistant Special Agent in Charge) may make an application for an order requiring the production of any tangible things (including books, records, papers, documents, and other items) for an investigation to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities [….]

The third is:

SEC. 805. MATERIAL SUPPORT FOR TERRORISM.

What are these about, and why should we care?, you ask. As the ACLU explains:

Read more

Get Your “Part E” On

by

by publius House Democrats are warming to renaming the public option "Medicare Part E."  The Hill reports: Say hello to “Medicare Part E” — as in, “Medicare for Everyone.” House Democrats are looking at re-branding the public health insurance option as Medicare, an established government healthcare program that is better known than the public option. … Read more

Reform’s “Clarifying Moment”

by

by publius We are (knock on wood) tantalizingly close to historic health coverage reform.  In the heat of today's debates, it's easy to forget just how big this is.  If we enact reform, it will instantly be one of the most important legislative actions in American history — remembered alongside the New Deal and the … Read more

Perry and the Politics of Capital Punishment

by

by publius Rick Perry has apparently decided to double down on Willingham.  After multiple articles came out documenting inappropriate political pressure on the investigation, Perry came out firing yesterday.  Here's the Houston Chronicle: Gov. Rick Perry on Wednesday defended his actions in the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham, calling him a “monster” and a “bad … Read more

And this is the point …..

by

…. Of calling the Democrats' stimulus package A Stimulus for Tomorrow (Part 11) by von Andrew Sullivan mentions a piece by Daniel Gross, which purportedly reminds "conservatives"* that it's too early to label the stimulus a failure because most of the money hasn't been spent yet. Here is my hand.  Here is my forehead.  Here is my … Read more

Snowe and the Logic of Defection

by

by publius Happy V-F Day — reform has finally escaped from Finance, with a Republican vote to boot.  And I am quite grateful to Sen. Snowe for doing the right thing in the face of almost certain reprisals.  It's not an easy thing to do, but she did it. Ironically enough, though, Snowe's vote is … Read more

Perry’s Saturday Night Massacre Continues

by

by publius Orwell once wrote, "[He] who controls the past, controls the future."  Texas Governor Rick Perry has apparently taken the lesson to heart.  He's now removed a fourth member of the Texas commission responsible for investigating whether Texas (and Perry) executed an innocent man.  It's whitewashing at its worst. By now, you're probably familiar … Read more

The Public Option Dialectic

by

by publius I'm not sure what the public option's current odds are.  But regardless of the final result, the public option debate itself has been a beneficial and clarifying one for progressives. Generally speaking, political and intellectual coalitions often benefit from schisms that clarify and strengthen the coalition's ultimate positions.  Sometimes, of course, these divisions … Read more

It’s not easy not being Bush

by

By Lindsay Beyerstein

Not bush nobel cat

It's already a truism that Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize for being not-George W. Bush. This talking point gets repeated as if it's a witty put down. It's supposed to trivialize the win. The implication is that Obama won just for showing up. On closer examination, winning for not being Bush is a pretty substantial distinction in its own right.

Most commentators implicitly assume Obama won just for what he's done as president or what he promises to do in office. In fact, Obama earned the prize for waging a successful campaign to unseat a ruling party that rejected the rule of law at home and abroad. Remember how hard that was?

Much has been made of the fact that nominations for the prize closed in February, just after Obama was sworn in. Obama did take some of his boldest steps towards peace to date during his earliest days in office. One of his first acts was to order the closure of prison at Guantanamo Bay. That was an courageous act of profound national and international significance. He also quickly repudiated the Bush administration's torture policies and shut down its secret prisons.

If the 2008 election happened in Africa or the Middle East it would seem obvious that an opposition leader who restored the rule of law and set about reintegrating his country into the family of nations would be racking up points towards a Nobel Peace Prize before he even took the oath of office.

Read more

Does Chris Christie look fat in this?

by

By Lindsay Beyerstein NJ governor Jon Corzine's new ad insinuates that his Republican opponent Chris Christie abused his status as a US Attorney to get lenient treatment for two serious traffic infractions. The ad sticks close to the facts: In 2005, Christie was pulled over for going 58 in a 40 zone. It turned out … Read more

A Non-Virtuous Cycle

by

by publius Previously obscure GA Representative Paul Broun thinks Pelosi is a "domestic enemy of the Constitution."  As a result, he's now getting a bunch of attention.  And while it's an obviously disturbing statement, my fear is that publicizing it only creates incentives for even more extreme statements. More broadly, the rising level of extreme … Read more

A Unified Theory of McCain

by

by publius Introducing a longer print article, Jay Newton-Small writes: John McCain returned to the Senate in 2000 a virtual liberal: throwing bombs at his Republican leaders (and especially George W. Bush). John McCain returned to the Senate in 2009 a virtual conservative[.] There's a pretty simple explanation for McCain's behavior over the past decade.  … Read more

Round Two

by

(Also known as: A Stimulus for Tomorrow, Part 10) by von Everyone should have seen this coming …. well, everyone who reads these here Wings of Obsidian.  From Salon (citing Bloomberg and The New York Times): Call it the the stimulus that dare not be named. Bloomberg reports that the Obama administration is considering "a mix of spending … Read more

[Podcast] Journo: I love my “socialist” kidney

by

Most people think of single payer health care in America as something akin to science fiction–a bold idea that might be possible someday, but certainly not an option in the here and now. Journalist Jennifer Nix points out that the U.S. already has single payer care, not only for the aged (Medicare) and the poor … Read more

ACORN Is Important After All

by

by publius In 2005, Peter Daou wrote a seminal essay called "The Triangle," which (among other things) examined the relationship between blogs and the "mainstream" media (MSM).  Daou's framework provides the best context for understanding the wingers' recent victory lap on ACORN.  As it turns out, the celebration has very little to do with ACORN … Read more

The GOP’s Medicare Hypocrisy

by

by publius Today's Post has a decent overview of Republicans' about-face on Medicare spending.  Demagoguing Medicare cuts is quickly becoming the GOP's go-to argument.  And it's hard to recall a more brazen and cynical act of hypocrisy.  It's an argument premised entirely on the assumption that the public — and seniors in particular — will … Read more

What Merkel Means

by

by publius I've already noticed some cheering in conservative quarters about the sweeping victory of Merkel's center-right coalition.  To the extent we're viewing the German election through domestic political lenses (and, as Americans, that's our God-given right), it's worth keeping relative baselines in perspective.  As Yglesias notes, much of Merkel's coalition would be considered fairly … Read more

The Benefits of McDonnell’s Thesis

by

by publius I haven't followed the Virginia governor's campaign as closely as I'd like.  But it seems clear that McDonnell was pretty much running away with it before his thesis emerged.  The views in his thesis have really wounded him — and rightly so.  It's not exactly a college-era exploration.  He wrote it at 34, … Read more

Howard Dean Talks Budget Reconciliation (Video Exclusive)

by

By Lindsay Beyerstein Last night, I quite unexpectedly scored an exclusive video interview with Howard Dean at the 92nd St YMCA where he was promoting his new book on health reform. I asked him about the chances that Democrats will try to use budget reconciliation to pass a health care bill and thwart a filibuster. … Read more

Did Palin Make Posner A Keynesian?

by

by publius Regardless of what you think of Posner, you have to respect his willingness to write an essay like that.  It's no easy thing, after decades of being on a different "team," to be that intellectually open to re-examining your basic foundations and assumptions.  It's an admirable trait — and I hope I would … Read more

Scenes from the UN General Assembly

by

By Lindsay Beyerstein A mysterious pro-Qadhafi group outside the United Nations in Manhattan. Col. Qadhafi delivered a bizarre 90-minute address to the General Assembly today. He touched on various themes including a protracted prison rape analogy, a theory about the next big thing in man-made influenza ("fish flu," you heard it here first), and a … Read more

La Chute

by

by von Since my flight got canceled this morning, I suppose that I have time to risk some questions to Publius' post:  "Afghanistan as Therapy".  Publius writes: [O]n the domestic front, the stimulus saved a lot of jobs — and helped stop the bleeding.  But the opposition was fueled by an ideological aversion to government.  … Read more

Live from the UN Summit on Climate Change

by

By Lindsay Beyerstein I'm posting from the UN Summit on Climate Change at UN HQ in New York. I'm wearing one of those special plastic translation earpieces. World leaders are here to talk face-to-face before the big climate negotiations to be held in Copenhagen in December. President Obama is scheduled to address this morning's opening … Read more

Unleash Senator Wyden

by

by von Senator Wyden (D-Ore.) has a health care bill.  As I've written in the past, it's a pretty damn good bill.   I'm not alone in liking it:  lots of other folks on the left and right do as well.  Moreover, unlike all the other major health care bills out there, Wyden's bill is genuinely bipartisan:  it … Read more

Protesting Against Imaginary Enemies

by

by publius I have mixed feelings about this weekend's protests.  On the one hand, I have a soft spot for marches like these.  Regardless of who sponsors them, lots of people made the effort to join the proud tradition of speaking out on the DC Mall on issues important to them.  That said, the amount … Read more