Roland's Race Card

Ta-Neshisi Coates on the Roland Burris/Bobby Rush "racing" for Obama's Senate seat.

Enemy Combatants

Judge Leon has ruled that the gov't can hold 2 Gitmo detainees as "enemy combatants" - including the alleged driver/bodyguard of Osama Bin Laden.

U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon ruled on Tuesday that two Guantanam Bay detainees — nationals of Yemen and Tunisia — must remain prisoners of the U.S. military, finding that the government has proved that each is an “enemy combatant.” In the most significant of the two separate rulings, the judge concluded that the government does not have to prove that a detainee uses arms against U.S. forces or against forces of its coalition partners, in order to fit the judge’s definition of an enemy associated with Al Qaeda or Taliban.

Bush Reads!

.... a LOT it turns out. (via Auntie) Karl Rove writes in the WSJ about how voracious a reader our President is. Although he has great taste (and read a lot of books I'd like to read) I wonder how much governing you can do when you read more than a book a week ... I guess a genius could do both - but we know the answer to that.

Maybe W. and Sarah Palin should have a reading contest.

Russian Bailouts

(via Megan McCardle) Gazprom, Russia's state-run oil company, is now looking for a bailout. At least the recession hurts our "enemies" as well.

State Cuts

Read your Krugman. When I was in Chicago the snow-removal was atrocious. A lot of stock market loss can be theoretical to ordinary folks, but public works cuts affects everyone.

Year in Review

(via Ranger) Dave Barry has a funny syndicated article Sunday going through all the craziness of 2008. It's pretty funny:

How weird a year was it? Here's how weird:

O.J. actually got convicted of something.

Gasoline hit $4 a gallon -- and those were the good times.

On several occasions, "Saturday Night Live" was funny.

There were a few days there in October when you could not completely rule out the possibility that the next Treasury secretary would be Joe the Plumber.

Jim Carrey's Philosphy

An interesting article in the Atlantic on how Jim Carrey's acting is a showcase of existential philosophy. Make sure to check the video commentary too. It's an interesting thesis - and I think he's quite right.

Carrey is the single performer at his level who seems as though he’d be as happy in a Samuel Beckett play as in a summer blockbuster. Beckett would have dug him, I think—the wintry Irishman liked his clowns, the more existential the better

Ed Sec

E. J. does a nice op-ed on Arne Duncan, the new Education Secretary.

On a side note - the only pick I'm not real happy about so far is Tom Vilsak at Agriculture. I'm a big fan of Ag and Food reform, and I don't think that's going to come from Iowa.

De-Bunk Supply-Side

(via VH1) A great little post showing how dishonest supply-side economics and the "cut taxes and tax revenue will grow" idea is.

Man of the Year

Time named Obama "Man of the Year" (no surprise) - but these pictures from a freshman year photo shoot he did for a student's portfolio are pretty cool.

The Other Fitz

Yglesias reminded me that it was Sen. Fitzgerald (usually considered a flop of a Senator) who picked Patrick Fitzgerald as the US Attorney. And because Sen. Fitzgerald wasn't popular with his own party, and ended up not running - and sort of didn't care - he ended up picking a really good prosecutor instead of using the power to get a patronage pick. That's another reason why IL has so many public figures fall - because there's a good non-partisian US Attorney on the job.

Thoughts on Torture

Ross has a post on his mixed feelings about the Administration's torture "policy" - and I think it's a really honest piece.

But anyone who felt the way I felt after 9/11 has to reckon with the fact that what was done in our name was, in some sense, done for us - not with our knowledge, exactly, but arguably with our blessing. I didn't get what I wanted from this administration, but I think you could say with some justification that I got what I asked for. And that awareness undergirds - to return to where I began this rambling post - the mix of anger, uncertainty and guilt that I bring to the current debate over what the Bush Administration has done and failed to do, and how its members should be judged.

Plus, it's the first time I've heard the term Jus In Bello since college.

Another Senate Appointment

Salon speculates on who will take Salazar's seat.

Toon

The Illinois Whipping Boy

Great Read: Check out Frank Rich's perspective. I'd have to agree. Blago will get what he deserves - but a whole lot of others won't.

(p.s. - did you know Blago calls his Paul Mitchell comb the "football" and it's with his handlers at all times? Also, he hired R. Kelly's defense lawyer). Ok, back to the NYT:

Our next president, like his predecessor, is promising “a new era of responsibility and accountability.” We must hope he means it. Meanwhile, we have the governor he leaves behind in Illinois to serve as our national whipping boy, the one betrayer of the public trust who could actually end up paying for his behavior. The surveillance tapes of Blagojevich are so fabulous it seems a tragedy we don’t have similar audio records of the bigger fish who have wrecked the country. But in these hard times we’ll take what we can get.

Matthew, Mark, Luke .... and DUCK!

Man - that Iraqi sure is good at throwing shoes ... and to Bush's credit, he's pretty dodgy! Video is here.

Are Bribes Tax-Deductable?

From Jeffery Toobin's post in the New Yorker:

Otto Kerner, Jr., is usually remembered, if he is at all, as the leader of the Kerner Commission, in 1968, which evaluated the riots and other unrest that was then rocking American cities. He was governor of Illinois at the time, and went on to serve as a federal appeals court judge, but his later claim to fame may be of greater historical note. In 1969, he was charged in a corruption case where he and a subordinate received bribes from a racetrack owner in return for an expanded racing schedule. That particular scandal came to light because the owner tried to deduct the value of the bribes on her taxes. Paying bribes to the governor was, in her view, an ordinary business expense in Illinois in the late nineteen-sixties.

Endangered Species Axe

The Administration issued some new regulations changing the "formal consultation" requirements under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act. It has to do with polar bears and global warming ... they're big issues and EPA doesn't want to deal with them, so they're essentially allowing Agencies to just come to their own decision about whether a species will be affected by the proposed agency action.

The Cutting Room Floor

(via Sullivan) Here are some Obama logos that didn't make the cut.

The "Other" American Auto Industry

Fred Barnes has a really good article in the Weekly Standard on "transplant" auto makers. The success of foreign auto makers with plants in non-union southern states has been a quiet sub-plot in the auto bailout politics. The reason the Big Three stick together instead of let the others fail is because of "supply shock" - what's good for one is good for all. However, (I gather) foreign car makers must have their own supply lines which allow them to avoid any supply shock and kept them quiet throughout the whole bailout business. And the reason Shelby, Corker and all the other southern Senators are against the bailout is because their states have successfully attracted foreign car manufacturers. Part of the reason the Dems don't want Detroit to go bankrupt is because "restructuring" is usually a death knell for unions.

So - here are the real questions: is it important to have (1) an American name on the hood of a car (2) what constitutes a "good" job. First, as far as the economy goes, it doesn't really matter whether the plant is making Fords or KIA's as long as it's providing jobs and boosting the economy. Although the may make Nissans in Tennessee, I doubt you'll see George Strait driving a Pathfinder through Nashville. So I think we can agree that an American brand has mostly nastolgic value at this point. Second. if these southern plants are giving people "good jobs" then whether they're unionized shouldn't matter. This part is somewhat unexplored (or unknown to me). I thought the Big 3 paid $27/hr - while the transplants offered $23. Now, Barnes says it's upwards of $45/hr (which could still be partially b/c they have to out-do the UAW). Also, I wonder how the benefits are and how the working conditions are. I have heard that the transplants are better at making their workers happy, so maybe there's less of a need for the unions. Or maybe since they're in "right to work" states the problems are below the surface. But all told, the BIG reason Detroit is in a fix is because they gave good healthcare to their workers - and they have thousands of "legacy" retirees to pay for. Nissan's only been in the U.S. for 10 years, so they don't have any career employees retiring. So I wonder how good the transplant benefits are. Still - all told - this shows again how the lack of universal health care can place HUGE competititve burdens on some companies - to the extent that a famous brand like Ford could disappear.

Sorry for the ramble, I just wish we could discuss the real issues out in the open. Is it important for America to still build Ford's and Chevy's? And can you still get a good job with good benefits without a union. I think they way you answer these questions largely determines where you are on the bailout.

Che

NYT Mag has a quick review of "Che" staring Benicio Del Toro. I don't know much about Che, and it sounds like the movie is worth watching (if only for the historical accuracy it offers instead of reading an entire bio), but not necessarily a tour de force.

The trailer is here.

Also, I couldn't help but think while I was reading it that the Medeillan storyline in Entourage was knocking off "Che".

The Art of Distancing

A good Post article on how Obama avoided Blago at all costs. I can only think that if the "guilt by association" didn't work with Ayers and Wright - Obama's going to come through this fine. Especially since most people have been avoiding Blago like the plague for some time.

"Obama saw this coming, and he was very cautious about not having dealings with the governor for quite some time," said Abner Mikva, a former congressman and appeals court judge who was Obama's political mentor in Chicago. "The governor was perhaps the only American public officeholder who didn't speak at the convention, and that wasn't by accident. He's politically poisonous. You don't get through Chicago like Barack Obama did unless you know how to avoid people like that."

More Detroit Problems

Looks like the Detroit Free Press is going to substantially cut back on home delivery. . . more bad news for the "fish wrapping" industry.

3 Came In - Only 2 Walked Out

Ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer has an interesting idea posted in Slate on how to do the bailout right. He thinks that the government should put up the $25M - but only give it to two! Make the 3 compete for the funds and the Feds will pick the 2 plans that look the best. Intriguing.

Why don't we tell the current Big Three that $25 billion in capital is available—but only to two of them? The surviving two will be those that submit the best, and final, binding bids, supported by all the necessary constituencies: boards, managers, suppliers, vendors, creditors, and the UAW. The plans that are the best, as judged by a panel of private- and public-sector figures—Jack Welch, Warren Buffet, or Felix Rohatyn, plus Office of Management and Budget and Congressional Budget Office officials—are the plans that will get funded. The measures they will be judged by will be announced ahead of time and will be a combination of retained/gained market share, return on capital, jobs retained, and mileage and environmental efficiency gains. The company with the least impressive plan will be denied funding.

New Cabinet Appointments

From the Page. Steven Chu, from Lawrence Berkeley Nat'l Lab as Energy Secretary and Gov. Corzine CoS Lisa Jackson as EPA director.

Bio's here. . . An asian, a black, a latina and a lesbian.

Ashcroft v. Iqbal

SCOTUS heard arguments yesterday on an interesting "war on terror" case. Iqbal was rounded up post-9/11 in NYC and shipped overseas to be tortured ("rendition") for 7 months and left in solitary (the "grave"). Then he was brought back to the U.S. and everything was dropped. He's now living in Canada, but has brought a suit - essentially fought over trying to add John Ashcroft and Mueller as defendants and hold them accountable for their agencies' actions!

Unlikely. But a noble try. Here's SCOTUSblog and NPR's take.

Blago

So - the funniest thing I've heard about this whole thing is that when he was arraigned yesterday morning in front of the judge, the Gov'r was wearing sweatpants! That cracks me up.

On a related note, the Hill has a good wrap up on who Senate Candidates 1-6 most likely are.

Also, rumors that Rahm Emmanuel or someone else from the Obama camp snitched on Blago - which would look ideal for Obama ... but not sure that's what actually happened.

This is Funny

Blow it up if you need to - read all the details. Really funny.

Urban Re-Planning

(via Syd O) Part of making our lifestyle more sustainable has to do with urban planning. More high density, more public transportation, more centralized multi-use complexes ... in short, more communities, less commuting. David Brooks is concerned that Obama's stimulus will be too generic - will just throw money at existing projects - and will lack vision. He may be right, but I hope he isn't. Brooks is right that Obama would be wise to take this opportunity to really take a step forward in urban planning.

Blago

I know everyone's heard about the Gov'r arrest. And that Senate Candidate #5 is probably Jesse Jackson Jr. (the one that Obama didn't want and Blago considered picking just to spite Obama).

How many is that 2 of the last 3 or 3 of the last 4 Governors? IL does politics the old fashion way.

Also - he doesn't have to resign, and can still make the appointment. So it will be interesting to see how the seat is filled.

12 Days of "Holiday"

From Jeffery Goldberg:

Via Instapundit comes the news that Amazon has now banned the term "Christmas" from one of its advertising campaigns. It is now, on Amazon, "12 Days of Holiday," rather than "12 Days of Christmas."

Well, this Jew objects. I mean, for Christ's sake, it's Christmas. Can't we call a thing by its name? Hannukah is a minor holiday of a minority religion. New Year's Day is merely a day on the calendar. It's a holiday season because it's Christmas. I love Christmas. I don't celebrate it, but I love it; I love the season, the lights, the chestnuts, the message of peace. I love the way our most Jewish city, New York, looks on Christmas. "Holiday" isn't a holiday. It's a way of avoiding offense. But who, exactly, is offended? This is what I don't understand. I'm perfectly happy living in a country that is populated mainly by Christians, particularly Christians who show nothing but acceptance for their fellow citizens who happen to follow other religions. So it doesn't sit well with me that Christians now feel constrained to offer the anodyne "Happy Holidays" rather than a greeting that touches directly on the reason for our seasonal merriment.

So, my Christian sisters and brothers, feel absolutely free to greet me with "Merry Christmas," and I'll greet you right back. You can say "Happy Hannukah" as well, or "Happy Kwanzaa." Say, in other words, what you feel. The important thing is to not be afraid.

Town Business

A cool article from CSM on "scraper bikes" in Oakland, CA.

Nazi Science

(via Meghan McCardle) A good post on how Nazi science - albeit horrifying - is still "science" ... and some of it was pretty good (some wasn't, obviously).

The reason no criticisms were offered was because the prisoners were viewed as no different than experimental animals. Of course, these days, we would not subject even experimental animals to such injuries without providing them analgesia. In any case, examined from a strictly scientific standpoint, if proper controls were used and experimental methods adhered to, even studies like the ones above could be considered "good" science. The reason is that science is amoral. It is a method, a tool, to discover answers about reality and to try to understand how nature works. As such it has no morality one way or the other. As a method or tool, it can be used for good or ill. The same scientific method whose fruits have produced antibiotics and vaccines; cured childhood leukemia; increased our lifespan enormously in the last 100 years; allowed us to launch space probes; and given us television, computers, and MP3 players has also been used to make ever more powerful weapons, including the nuclear bomb.

Sexism

Many speculate that if Matthews runs for PA Senate he's going to have a problem with women (especially ex-HRC voters and N.O.W. etc.) because of his "string" of "sexist" comments. The famous one is when he said Hillary is a Senator because her husband "messed around" (I'm paraphrasing) and the rest of the comments are when he compliements pretty guests and women politicians, or asks how Pelosi can be less "grating".

First - why is the comment about Bill "messing around" sexist? It's not a generalization, it's a comment about Hillary in particular. It's just like saying W. is President because his dad was President, Al Gore was VP/Senator because his dad was a Senator, or that Caroline Kennedy is being considered for the NY Senate because her dad was JFK! Or that Jean Carnahan was elected Senator of Missouri because her husband died. These things don't disparage the individual or the sex (W. went to Harvard Business School, Caroline Kennedy is very smart and successful, HRC went to Yale, etc. - they're all incredible people) but these circumstances put people on the map despite their meritorious achievements. To assume that politicians get to where they are is simply because of merit, is rediculous. It's not diparaging to women to acknowledge the fact that when there are only 100 Senators in the country, you need something other than a good GPA to join the club - that goes for men and women. Now, there's a sexism problem if you only mention these external circumstances when it comes to women, and don't when you describe the Gore's, W.'s, etc.

Second - Matthews gets in trouble for complimenting pretty women (which is something that your mom taught you to do ... but forgot to mention that you can't do it in public). It's not surprising that good looking people tend to succeed in poilitics because, like Matthews gets pounced on for pointing out, there's a "cosmetic" side of success. Again, as long as you don't suggest that women are where they are simply because of their looks, I don't see why it's sexist to point out this aspect of the real world. I mean there are a lot of smart women on Fox, but the reason they're all on the same tv channel has nothing to do with their degrees. Additionally, has anyone noticed how gorgeous Jill Biden is? It's a fact. And she has TWO Ph.D's! Brains and beauty can co-exist, people. And when you get talking about the sex-appeal of men politicians you hear it alluded to variously from Cheney/Carl Levin all the way to Mark Udall. Politics is Imaging ... so we shouldn't pretend that a simple comment about someone's appearance means there's no substance underneath. That's its own case by case assessment: hot/smarties (Jill Biden) ... hot/dummies (Sarah Palin) ... ugly/smarties (Madaline Albright) ... ugly/dummies (no comment)

Third - along a similar line - the "grading" comment about Pelosi is the closest thing to a sexist comment, but also the most realistic hurdle for women in the public square - that is: women are easily strewn as "bitchy maternalists" or "empty bimbos." This is undoubtably a sexist interpretation because it's an overgeneralization of women from a male point of view. But it's a real image problem for women in power and - as long as it isn't reinforced - shouldn't be outside the scope of punditry.

No Job = No Health Care

Following up on the last post (via Yglesias) it's impossible to ignore the fact that because we have an employer-based health care system, the recession and job-losses create a double whammy:

As jobless numbers reach levels not seen in 25 years, another crisis is unfolding for millions of people who lost their health insurance along with their jobs, joining the ranks of the uninsured.

The crisis is on display here. Starla D. Darling, 27, was pregnant when she learned that her insurance coverage was about to end. She rushed to the hospital, took a medication to induce labor and then had an emergency Caesarean section, in the hope that her Blue Cross and Blue Shield plan would pay for the delivery.

Bailout $70/hr Union Workers?

.... not exactly. Jon Cohn at TNR has been doing a great job of debunking that misleading number (here and here). There are reasons to be against the bailout, but $70/hr labor isn't one of them. Essentially, UAW workers get on average $28/hr (about $62K/yr) - as opposed to non-union transplant car companies (say in Kentucky or Mississippi or Alabama) that pay on average $25/hr. The $70 figure comes from adding up all the retiree benefits that the Big 3 owe due to the fact that they've been around for 100yrs and have a ton of retired employees to take care of. The transplant companies haven't even been around long enought to produce retirees! (And - because they're non-union they're benefits are most likely lower). Furthermore, the UAW and the Auto Makers came to an agreement in '02 (I think) where the UAW would pay for retiree health care and benefits through a union-run trust fund partially funded by the Big 3. When it takes full effect, around 2011, the Big 3 will have those costs off their books and will have competitive labor costs with the Transplant companies.

Now, none of this helps the fact that the Big 3 are selling cars that nobody wants to buy ... which is a whole 'nother problem.

Feel free to draw any conclusions on employee-based health care, or corporate responsibility or unions from this as you will ... but the situation seems to be at least partially the product of the Big 3 traditionally offering a good job with good benefits and taking care of their workers PLUS the companies' 100+yr success PLUS the fact that these obligations can't be met in a recession.

Erasing God From History

Here's an interesting, short, post on how recent DC memorials and events have tried to whitewash any mention of "God."

Separation of church and state is vital to our liberty. But trying to scrub from American history or public life every reference to God or faith isn't just silly. It's inaccurate and misleading.

New Frontier

Frank Rich's column today reminds us that JFK's "best and the brightest" cabinet was originally a sarcastic phrase, based mostly on the fact that these young geniuses blazed us into Vietnam.

Halberstam wrote that his favorite passage in his book was the one where Johnson, after his first Kennedy cabinet meeting, raved to his mentor, the speaker of the House, Sam Rayburn, about all the president’s brilliant men. “You may be right, and they may be every bit as intelligent as you say,” Rayburn responded, “but I’d feel a whole lot better about them if just one of them had run for sheriff once.”

He thinks that Obama's economic team may potentially have the same problems as Kennedy's hubristic Nat'l Security team (and he really doesn't like Robert Rubin)

Well, nobody’s perfect. Given that John McCain’s economic team was headlined by Carly Fiorina and Joe the Plumber, the country would be dodging a fiscal bullet even if Obama had picked Suze Orman.

Urban Chicken Coops

Again - in the pursuit of sustainability - get yourself a chicken coop. But most cities won't allow roosters.

UFC Preview: Rampage

I don't follow UFC as much as most of you ... but I like Rampage, and here's his Atlantic profile.

Two Christmas Trees in NOVA

Peggy Noonan's Saturday piece is good. Btw - this is the second time this week I've heard criticism of "Homeland" (as in DHS) - Matthews was harping on how creepy it is ... now Noonan.

Ayers Breaks Silence

Bill Ayers pens a NYT Op-ed today on his past acts and is silence during the campaign.

How to Save Detroit

(via VH1) This is the best article I've read on the bailout - and most specific suggestion on how to do it ... the right way. Great information and knowledge on how the industry actually works and how to actually make it better. A good read. I haven't been able to make up my mind on the bailout, but I'd sign onto this plan.

Of course, nothing is guaranteed:

We can't be certain that the rescue will work. Even with the money, one or more of the automakers could end up in bankruptcy at some point in the future. But the timing makes the case for this kind of effort compelling. If GM stopped producing, a million people could easily lose their jobs, including employees at dealers and suppliers. (Note that "only" 1.2 million have lost their jobs so far in this already-severe recession.) Paying them $25,000 in unemployment compensation for a year would be an outright expenditure of $25 billion--to say nothing of the three-quarters of a million UAW retirees whose pensions the federal government would inherit, via the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, or the tax revenue lost when workers become unemployed. A $25 billion loan, at least some of which is bound to be repaid, seems like a pretty cheap alternative.

Sen. Matthews

For those of you following the speculation that my favorite pundit, Chris Matthews, may be running against Sen. Specter, Politico has some articles here and here on how he's getting heat for not quitting Hardball right now. I think it's a little premature ... why can't the guy ask some questions and put the feelers out without quitting his day job? Now, if he comes to a conclusion then he should for sure quit ASAP ... but if he's testing the waters he has the right to stay employed.

Btw - he'd be a great Senator.

Barney Frank Quote:

"At a time of great crisis with mortgage foreclosures and autos, [Obama] says we only have one president at a time," Frank said. "I'm afraid that overstates the number of presidents we have. He's got to remedy that situation."

Peoria

The Supreme Court agreed to hear the Al-Marri case on the President's authority to detain someone domestically without charging them with a crime. Al-Marri was seized in 2003 while he was a grad student at Bradley in Peoria, IL.

A Change in Ag Policy

Here's a quick post on possible Agriculture Secretaries. Farm Policy has to change, and just as the Secretary of Education has huge implications for what Education reform will look like, the Secretary of Agriculture give early insight into how far Obama will want to go. Let's hope for a bold pick.

What do you think, Carmi?

Hawaii 5 -(c)O(2)

Hawaii has committed itself to go almost completely to electric cars by 2012. This is good ... and "island" economy (figuratively and literally) to test it, short average driving distances, and a whole lot of renewables.

FOR SALE: Rocky Mountain News

The RMN reports that the RMN is up for sale. This is really sad - I like it better than the Post - and I doubt anyone's going to buy it ... so it'll fold eventually. Soon we'll be looking at a one "fish-wrapper" town.

Bailout anyone?

Brooks on Education

And how Obama's pick for Education Secretary has serious implications.

Take Advantage of the Bad Economy, Obama

E.J. has a good op-ed today:

Obama's luxury is that the economic demands of the moment almost perfectly coincide with his political interests. With even conservative economists urging Obama not only to cut taxes but also to spend and spend and spend some more, he has an opportunity to keep a whole raft of political promises all at once.

Middle-class tax cuts? Practically a done deal. New investments in green technologies? No problem. "Smart" meters to help households save on energy costs, plus a new electricity grid? A natural. Universal broadband? It's about future growth. Investments in medical information technologies? Good for jobs now; good later for cost containment, better treatment and health insurance reform.

Repeal Day

... as in "of Prohibition" is Tomorrow (Dec. 5th). Booze is a Constitutional right - exercise it. Also - you'd think this poster would be an argument in favor of booze! (via JB)

Scoff at a Prescient Man

NPR had a good segment on Pete Schiff, a market pundit who called the economic collapse back in '06 - and called it almost exactly - but was used as a punching bag and the but of jokes on CNBC and other market shows. MUST SEE: Here are some youtube clips that make his detractors look stupid while he's essentially reading a crystal ball. . . especially when the others are begging investors to buy stock in Bear Stearns, Merril Lynch, WaMu, etc.

Isn't Less Competition Good for the Survivor?

You'd think that if one of the Big 3 failed it' d mean more of a market share for the other 2 ... but - that's not true, they're actually all in it together. Why? Supply Shock - here's how.

Toon but True

Nat'l Mall Open for Inaguration

For the first time, the entire mall will be open for Obama's swearing in.

Gregory to Host MTP

I called it .... NBC named David Gregory to take over for Tim Russert on Meet the Press. No one can replace Russert, but Gregory's a solid reporter, good interviewer, and he knows the issues.

Now On to Afghanistan

Yglesias has a good post on moving the goal posts in Iraq based on the reduction of violence and people like Bill Kristol saying we've "won":

...it’s worth observing that absolutely integral to starting to achieve success in Iraq was the rolling strategic decision to abandon our main war aims. In particular, we’re now neither trying to create a strong Iraqi state, nor trying to create an Iraqi state that isn’t dominated by pro-Iranian forces, nor trying to create an Iraqi state that’s a base for American military power, nor especially trying to create a stable Iraqi democracy. I think all of those decisions were the right decisions, based in smart pragmatic thinking about Iraqi realities and American interests. But if we didn’t want to do that stuff, that we could have just not invaded in the first place. Which is exactly what we should have done!

Reform Bankrupcty Law

(via Auntie) READ Judge Leonard'st op-ed in the CSM on how reforming bankruptcy law would help solve the mortgage crisis. By allowing individuals to reorganize their crazy loans in bankruptcy, people can stay in their houses and the lenders will get more than they would in a foreclosure fire sale. Seems reasonable to me ...

Homeowners are the only ones who cannot modify the terms of their secured debts in bankruptcy. Corporate America flocks to bankruptcy courts to do precisely this – to restructure and reamortize loans whose conditions they find onerous or can no longer meet. Airlines are still flying and auto-partsmakers still operating because they have used this powerful tool of the bankruptcy process. But when the bankruptcy code was adopted in 1979, the mortgage industry persuaded Congress that its market was so tightly regulated and conservatively run that it should be exempted from the general bankruptcy rules permitting modification.

The Unconstitutional Bailout

The amount of money being thrown around by one person - Hank Paulson - described in the previous post really got me thinking about this George Will article from last week on how the bailout is unconstitutional. Essentially, Will argues that the "non-delegation doctrine" (which prevents one branch from abdicating it's power to another) prevents Congress from telling Hank Paulson to exercise powers that fundamentally belong to Congress. The law in this area is pretty lenient - which has allowed the huge growth in administrative agencies under Executive branch power - because Congress must only give an "intelligible principle" to the Agency being delegated power. Although courts rarely, if ever, find there's no intelligible principle it really makes you wonder what is the intelligible principle in this case: "grow the economy?" "fix it?" "run wild?"

Money's Flying Out the Door

(via VH1) Here's what Gregg Easterbrook has to say about the ridiculous amount of money being thrown around indiscriminately by the Treasury:

"Hey Hank, Somebody Just Called and Said His Company Needs a Billion Dollars. I Wired It. Sorry, I Forgot to Write Down the Company's Name." On Nov. 24, the Washington Post calculated the total cost of the bailout-a-rama may rise to $2.8 trillion, though the figure includes guarantees for loans that may end up being repaid, thus reducing the final tab. Just two days later, the Post recalculated to $4.7 trillion, after the Treasury Department ("Hey Hank, should this say billion or trillion?") made huge additional commitments to cover bad loans, again some of which may not fail. The $4.7 trillion figure equals the entire national debt on the day George W. Bush took office. One day after that, the New York Times calculated that so far this year the United States has actually spent $1.4 trillion on the bailout, while committing to as much as $7.8 trillion, if all loans default. The $7.8 trillion figure equals the entire national debt just three years ago.

The speed with which government is giving away money is breathtaking. In less than a year, the United States has casually added to the deficit -- with virtually no public accountability and in most cases without a vote of Congress -- at least $1.4 trillion, an amount equal to almost three times annual Social Security benefits. Anyone who a year ago had proposed doubling Social Security benefits would have been hooted down as fiscally irresponsible, even by senior citizen advocates. Last week, White House officials casually announced that an extra $800 billion -- more than the fiscal 2009 defense budget -- was being spent, without a congressional vote, without public accountability, sometimes without even knowing what the money is being spent on! (Treasury officials have said they do not know what AIG is doing with its billions in tax funds.) In 2007, Bush vetoed an additional $7 billion for health care for the poor, saying the country could not afford that much. Now taxpayers are on the hook for up to 671 times the figure Bush said was too high. Our children and their children will be paying for this mess in Washington for a long, long time.

Note 1: When all this started last winter -- back when Henry Paulson said that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would "never" be bailed out -- economic columnist and 2008 Nobel Prize for Economics winner Paul Krugman calculated that converting to present dollars and adjusting for GDP size, the 1990s Japanese financial restructuring had cost that country $3 trillion. Krugman predicted our meltdown would eventually cost America about the same. Krugman said this at a time when Paulson ("Hey Hank, five minutes have passed, what's your policy now?") was asserting in public that the damage would always be limited to the $29 billion given to Bear Stearns. Based on recent numbers, Krugman's prediction may prove eerily close.

Note 2: AIG, which has been shoveled $152 billion of your children's money without accountability, announced last week that new CEO Edward Liddy will work for $1 a year and receive no bonus. Sounds good, and media reports were favorable. But buried in the announcement is that Liddy is also receiving stock ("equity grants"). The announcement mysteriously does not say how much. With AIG selling for $2 a share -- the strike price of the grant would be the price when awarded -- even if the shares rose only to $5, a large block of stock acquired at $2 could be quite valuable. So how come AIG doesn't disclose how much taxpayer-subsidized stock its CEO is pocketing?

Also buried: Liddy "may be eligible for a special bonus for extraordinary performance." Have you ever read anything more transparently phony? A good guess is that no matter how the current CEO does, the board will find he deserves a "special bonus" that won't be announced until media attention has shifted to whatever the next scandal is. Sadly, reader Melanie Cleten of Providence, R.I., notes, "AIG's management has tricked taxpayers into handing the company $152 billion. What other corporate executives in history have brought in so much cash so quickly? Maybe they do deserve bonuses, unless we are fools." She leaves it there.

I Bet He Is!

(via TPM)

I'm reading an interesting article at the Journal about the second-try presentations the big three are planning to make to Congress. A very interesting read. But as much as we hear about executive compensation I was still a little struck by this line: Ford CEO Alan Mullaly "has earned close to $50 million in total compensation since taking the helm of Ford in 2006."

It was Mullaly who, when asked at that hearing whether he'd be willing to take a $1 salary in exchange for federal aid said: "I think I'm OK where I am."

The Bush Doctrine You Never Heard Of

Wow. After reading David Brooks today, I just realized that it was actually the Bush Administration that decided to scrap a nation-building foreign policy and go with a bottom up, all hands-on deck, soft-power approach to building international stability. Who knew? Now all Obama has to do is continue the job we've been doing since '06 with a National Security team that's dedicated to the Rice/Gates approach. Awesome! Put it on auto-pilot, Obama, and sit back.

What About the Toothpick in the Door?

Atlantic reporter Jeff Goldberg has stayed in 4 hotels that have been blown up - he's got some tips for staying alive in a terrorized hotel. . . like his own Worst-Case Scenario tip sheet.

Prairie State Solidarity

(via Halperin) Sen. Dick Durbin asked President Bush to commute ex-Gov, current felon, George Ryan's 6 1/2 year sentence. Ryan has served a year of his sentence for federal racketeering, fraud, etc.