Lunchtime Digestion of Yesterday's Reading

Yesterday, I printed out the following articles/op-eds for the day's reading:

Matt Yglesias' Sept. 18th article: Obama's foreign policy advantage
NY Times: Democrats set terms as bailout debate begins
NYTimes (as recommended by the lovely staff of the American Prospect): Conservatives Try New Tack on Campuses
NYTimes: 2 Candidates Urge Greater Oversight in Bailout Plan
Robert Reich at TPM: What Wall Street Should do to Get Its Blank Check
Economist: Global Finance is being torn apart; it can be put back together again

I know, these weren't the bulk of my usual sources. But the bailout is so out of my comfort zone I was testing the waters in the mainstream.

Oh, this one is from last week, but on a gray cloudy day like yesterday, a newsreel like this one left me with such a warm, hot-cocoa-and-breakfast-in-bed comfort: Palin's Transparency Proposal Already Exists in DC (the punchline fills you with joy!)

I think Yglesias puts foreign policy discussion (and specifically its recent absence in the campaigns) into a single, beautiful sentence:

"Pocketbook concerns are always dear to the electorate, but it would be nice for voters to give some consideration to the question of whether the right lesson to learn from the Bush years is that we need a president who believes strongly in the power of war to solve problems."

I do so appreciate the earnest and well-researched opinions of my like-minded sources here, but wonder, considering how explicitly the Obama camp is drowning out all other issues with the booming economic wails of today, would giving voice to Matt's distillation above really ring so poignant to the swingvoter?

In moments of cynicism like this, I'm happy to report that in the last week, the greatest most sobering go-to is FiveThirtyEight, which means the pretty site is plastered with blue. Today there was a link to the blog of the professor that my brother recommended but whose name I'd forgotten: Tom Holbrook. He supposedly knows his shit with election stats and trends and bumps. I recommend checking out his site.

Now, because my lunchbreak is almost over, I also wanted to get out a comment I read last night at Echidne of the Snakes. She's writing about the bailout and Paulson's heinous proposal to BE the invisible hand, the sentiment rocketed me back to October 2001 and the Patriot Act.

"One part of me thinks that the draft had those totally unacceptable bits about no laws allowed for the very reason that people would get up in arms about them and then any compromise would seem like a victory, while in reality the industry and its cronies got exactly what they wanted." Read her post here.

So it seems, from my timid gauge of "what's happening out there, man," Paulson and Bernanke will not exactly get their way. Is it a sign of not being jaded enough that I almost want to giggle at their ridiculous backing: "yes, it's not the perfect plan, but we need to do something right now! now! really, this very instant! do it! do it!" Which really begs, quis custodiet ipso Paulson?

more later.

Weekend Laundry List

OK, because I'm a nice person, my first reaction when I read that after McCain's new anti-Obama ad attaches the Fannie Mae CEO to the latter campaign as an advisor, said CEO retorted that he had no such connection, was to wonder while shaking my tired little head: who is feeding McCain his information? I mean, the amount of lies that are coming from the campaign voicebox is staggering. Could it be a strategy? That the masses will absorb the talking points, and when the talking points are exposed as fallacy, it won't really matter? Or is there a staff out there who just keep forgetting to factcheck? I'm surprised that campaign managers and staffers aren't getting fired like clay pigeons.

But then again, reading about McCain's embarrassing blunder on the Spanish-language radio show (which was in English and then translated), one could worry that a combination of hubris, exhaustion, and interventionist reflexes motivated that response. Of course, that's pretty alarming in itself.
Here are the articles I referenced above:
"said CEO retorted"
(note how it was the Post that first linked Obama to Raines. Bad Post! Very very bad!)
"embarrassing blunder"
Talking Points Memo summary of the whole thing.

A couple other pieces I wanted to add:
Obama is not only fighting voter suppression in Michigan (lost your house, lose your vote), but is actually filing a complaint that extends to the GOP tradition of suppressing the votes of various demographics that typically vote dem. (Prof. Farley has a whole section in his blog GOP Disenfranchisement.) Remember the voter card scam from 2004? Wow. Here's the whole complaint.
If you don't remember the voter card 80-pound scam in Ohio, I suggest a lexis-nexis search for Blackwell, 80-pound, 2004.

I heard an interesting take on TrooperGate on the Rachel Maddow show, which really needs a better clip editor, regarding the nature of the trip to DC Monegan was supposedly fired for, and then found this on cbs. It irks, that Palin's advisors are puttin' the raucus on Monegan's traveling to DC, saying that the trip wasn't authorized (it was). Which leads us all, I hope, to ask: what's wrong with seeking federal cash for a program to prevent sexual violence? So that's the real reason, eh, not that he wouldn't fire the trooper. Great PR kids.

Please do check out the facts page of Alaska's domestic abuse and sexual assault stats, available here.
Then check out the Alliance for Reproductive Justice in Alaska, which also features a story on Palin not being the women's candidate (scroll down home page). Thanks to RH Reality Check for the links.

Taking this to the next logical step, it's illuminating to take the following together:
a) as the states' leader in rapes, Alaskan enforcement agencies have jurisdiction over native populations
b) a recent amnesty int'l study reports: "The United States government has created a complex maze of tribal, state and federal jurisdictions that often allows perpetrators to rape with impunity -- and in some cases effectively creates jurisdictional vacuums that encourage assaults.... Due to a complex set of laws, state, rather than federal, agencies provide law enforcement. [Alaska] has sought to restrict tribes from exercising criminal jurisdiction while at the same time failing to provide adequate law enforcement."
c) Palin's rape-kit charging in Wasilla (which would've been illegal observing the Violence Against Women Act)....
That leads a reader like myself to see her policies as not only anti-women but passively oppressive of the native population.

So because Alaska's funding for victims of sexual assault comes from the fed, and state agencies in Alaska enforce the law, does that mean they could get moneys without observing the VAWA? Hmm.

Well, take a breath. How about some uplifting news?

My brother pointed me to FiveThirtyEight today, which has the first report I've seen on the cell phone influence in national polling. And it's hard not to feel better: "Six of the seven [] cellphone-friendly pollsters have had a Democratic (Obama) lean, and in several cases it has been substantial. On average, they had a house effect of Obama +2.8 []. By comparison, the control group had essentially zero house effect [], so this would imply that including a cellphone sample improves Obama's numbers by 2.8 points. (Or, framed more properly, failing to include cellphones hurts Obama's numbers by []2-3 points)." Read the findings here.

Juan Cole's coverage today of the huge Islamabad bombing and the day-to-day in Iraq, is a must-read as usual.

I'm in over my head with the bailouts and the new mysterious expenditures Bush is requesting, but Dean Baker usually helps in this arena.

Because I enjoy reading about McCain being wrong, this one (McCain's Stem Cell Position Contains Scientific Error) was nice to see, and includes my favorite quote so far today: "The vote mentioned in his statement came on the Fetal Farming Act of 2006, signed into law by President Bush. But though the bill was unanimously approved in the House and Senate, its sponsors were criticized for failing to make clear that "fetal farming" doesn't exist."

Did you forget about Iran for a couple days while the economy went down the shitter? Some people didn't. This got an embarrassingly small note in the Boston Metro paper.

Do you have friends who think they might have to pay more taxes under one candidate or another? find out with this awesome widget Ezra Klein linked America to: Will Obama Raise My Taxes?

articles and analyses I'm reading this morning

Newsreel:

This is the side-by-side presentation of Barack Obama and John McCain's answers to the 14 questions that would have made up the science debate, but will not be televised, like the Scientific and Technical Awards that nobody watches before the Oscars.

Analysis of how the histories of the two candidates offer some insight into their reaction to the flailing economy.

"A Look at McCain's Economic Council: The People Who Tell Him 'The Economy Is Strong"

The Post's coverage of Palin, who I am really getting tired of. Let's move on, shall we?

TAPPED has a brief on Obama's following up with the MI GOP and their nasty voter suppression.

More later.

optimism

Not to be a jinx-y mc-jinx, but I have to say it's nice to report that certain practices of the Mc"factually challenged" Campaign are getting the spotlight. So I'm feeling optimism today. Optimism and anger are not mutually exclusive.

TAPPED has my favorite quote from the Republican primary debates, from McCain: "I am prepared. I am prepared. I need no on-the-job training. I wasn't a mayor for a short period of time. I wasn't a governor for a short period of time."

First off, there's Rove saying there's a "100 percent truth test" that McCain's ads go beyond. I love that he believes there's a test, and that he has a duty to remark when the line is crossed.

This is tied into all the coverage of McCain lying. A lot. = actual, if tentative coverage. Like the press is the oft-abused child to the manipulative fear mongering of McCain's unbalanced step-father. Finally finding its voice! Anyway, finally a few reporters have remembered their f-ing job. And the gentle nature of Barack Obama's campaign response irks the liberal blogosphere. Although the memo released to the media has the best line not on television: "McCain would rather lose his integrity than lose an election."

So the great maverick went on The View and lied, and then was accused of lying, and said he didn't. Which is a lie. And that's getting attention today, which is something, eh? Thinkprogress has a page on all of his flip-flops (he claimed to the Ladies that no one could pin one on him). There's also a fact-checking link machine for all the lies. Lots of fun bouncing around the "series of tubes" reading about these!
And isn't it a little pathological to actually say out loud that Palin has never accepted earmarks as governor?

Talking Points Memo had a great comment about how the press is handling the lying. The distinction is made between media striving for accuracy in reporting, the communication of a balanced and fair story, and the media outlets more concerned with balance than accuracy. This offers some explanation for what has happened to 24-News and major newspapers in the country weakened under the force of Rovian fear-mongering. The classic example of balance over accuracy when some stories don't need both sides reported is that when a story about the holocaust gets coverage, there is no obligation to give any time at all to the groups who believe it didn't happen. Because those groups are wrong. Therefore, an arena where balance is the most important will likely fall victim to inaccuracy or at least dependence on less-than reputable sources. Am I going too far? After all, I don't watch a lot of 24 hour news, or read USA Today...

Linking back to present coverage, last week there was a lot of the-truth-is-always-stretched-during-campaigning, like there's less obligation to report inaccuracies when they happen regularly, or when most people are expecting to be lied to. Then, in order to not get accused by the McCain whiners camp that reporting is unbalanced, speeches from the Obama camp are scraped for lies too. But McCain lying doesn't obligate a report on lying in the campaign. It could, with sufficient evidence. But going on about future republican reform and how "the fundamentals of the economy are strong" is its own story. Screw balance. He lies. That's a great article. Period.

OK, here are the articles I printed to read last night:
The extensively-researched article from the Sunday Times that everyone is talking about. It links perfectly to the painfully witty cartoon with W.'s Dr. Evil to Madam Palin's Mini-Me. Once Elected, Palin Hired Friends and Lashed Foes

On my To-Read-At-The-Gym list (yeah, I'm wicked cool) is this report from Philip Gourevitch in the New Yorker: Letter from Alaska.
Gourevitch wrote "We Wish to Inform You That Tomorow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda" which is a heartbreaking and important book about visiting Rwanda just after the genocide ended in 1994. For that he earned my respect, and I look forward to his perspective on Palin.

so..... there's much that should be added, or at least disseminated. but this was going to be about optimism, and I'm still feeling pretty good.

Because I didn't have a blog when the POW thing was going down hardcore

Although I never thought it would come to this, I think after all the interviews, references, ads, and temper tantrums, I now understand that being a prisoner of war (and especially, not having a table) is the greatest preparation for being president. ever. Who would have known that being "starved, beaten, tortured, and maimed for life" would actually prepare a man to preach the gospel of foreign policy and lead the country rationally, when many would conjecture that so many years of the same would cause "lasting psychological trauma"?

Last afterthought: if you missed John Kerry's speech at the DNC, you missed the trump card. As I was watching MSNBC the next morning covering Clinton's speech, you could hear him and the cheers in the background. They skipped over the best speech of the night. Not that Bill's speech didn't offer the essential quotes to round out the evening of acclamation. Kerry was on point! And he makes a great point about the two McCains. Young McCain = guilty pleasure of Daily Show fans. Old and Prickly McCain = would "make Cheney look like Ghandi."

The One... story about Sarah Palin that I got all riled up about with no one to talk to

Of all the stories getting attention, then getting fact-checked, and remaining in some spotlight (the AP tells me what the world follows) about Sarah Palin, I'm surprised that this piece, via feministing, hasn't entered the arena.

While she was mayor of Wasilla, victims of sexual assault were charged ($300-$1200) for the rape kits at the hospital/clinic. Someone on opedna commented that Illinois also did. Some research from other readers unearthed that Illinois actually has coverage for up to $27,000 for rape victims, insured or not, for care- and they'll never even get a bill. Guess which Senator running for prez was behind that?
Read on... http://opedna.com/2008/09/08/wasilla-police-billed-sexual-assault-victims-for-rape-kits/
and about the Illinois part: http://opedna.com/2008/09/09/important-updates-to-wasilla-police-billed-sexual-assault-victims-for-their-own-rape-kits/

Articles I'm Reading This Morning

This is my first blog post. Very exciting.

The impetus to start the blog, however, was a whole bunch of news that got me all worked up.

Not a Homeowner Anymore? We Think You Shouldn't Vote!

Sometimes even reading how "factually challenged" the GOP was at the RNC can be frustrating.

Paul Farmer talked with Amy Goodman about Haiti. thanks for the link Tida!

And I just found this one, written by Laura McGann about Palin and Alaska. Haven't finished it, and it's a couple days old, but I've been waiting for it.

Back to work!