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Category: Policy Page 12 of 35

We Are One? Really?

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On January 19, 2009

In DC, Policy, Politics, Society

This is a photograph of the the crowds at the We Are One concert this past Sunday:

All that space around either side and the end of the Reflecting Pool?  Space that “security” excluded the public from.  You know, the public – that giant blob of people at the bottom of the picture (who managed to get along just fine without the heel of the Secret Service and MPD bearing on them).  Worth contemplating, the mindset that makes it okay to exclude the public from what is perhaps the most public space in the country.

Photo Copyright Win Mcnamee / Getty Images

Call Me a Traitor – I’m Pulling for France

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On January 19, 2009

In Policy

Superfrenchie alerts us to a truly appalling exit move by the Bush Admin:

Less than a week before it leaves office, the Bush administration has sparked anger across the Atlantic by tripling the import duty rate on roquefort cheese to 300%, a move which the US hopes will “shut down trade” in the sheep’s milk product by making it prohibitively expensive.

The decision, part of Washington’s attempts to force the EU into dropping its ban on hormone-treated beef, was greeted with disbelief by the French government and by farmers in the south-western Aveyron region who depend on the industry for their livelihoods.

I’ll be buying a half pound of Roquefort this week.

Don’t Push It, Rep. Frank

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On January 19, 2009

In Policy, Politics

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Ma.) has been the Dems’ pointman on the bailout since last Sept.  While I was entirely unsurprised that he was carrying water for the financial industry, I didn’t think he’d say something as ridiculous as he did in this TPM interview. In this piece, he essentially says that “if ‘elites’ want the public to pony up their money in cases like this, they, the aforementioned ‘elites’ need to get serious about repairing and expanding the social safety net in the country …”, and then he goes on to suggest that the Federal gov’t should first pony up the money and then declare their expectations that the recipients will chip in to society.

Are you kidding me?

No, wait.

Are you fucking kidding me?

How many times can we get suckered like this?  Didn’t anyone else take the lessons from Lucy and Charlie and the football in Peanuts?   Thea Skocpol gets it right:

The idea that “elites” will “get serious about repairing the safety net” if they are FIRST given billions of dollars of payoffs to shareholders who made bad decisions is the height of naivete. There are no corporatist institutions in U.S. politics that can enforce this kind of bargain, that can corral all the interests and get them to carry through on mutual promises. That is why Obama and the Democrats will get for the people in general exactly what they push through right now and will squander opportunities if they give money and leverage to “elites” first!

And she notes that there are no “who could have known?!” excuses here:

This is what Ira Magaziner imagined with health care back in 1992 — that he could get up front understandings with powerful interests by giving them concessions in the Health Security proposals, and they would let it get through Congress later. (I remember sitting in his office as I took notes for BOOMERANG and having him complain to me that he could not understand why the business roundtable types “lied” to him about what they would do!) Of course, they turned on him the moment Congress got ahold of things.  Same thing will happen here.

No excuses, Rep. Frank.  Treat us like we’re stupid, and you’ll get treated in kind.

Sympathetic Coverage of Outsourcing in Our Future?

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On January 14, 2009

In Distribution, Policy, Society

Now that things are hitting a little closer to home for newspapers, maybe we’ll get some real journalism on the impact of outsourcing on American jobs:

On Wednesday, the Sun-Times Media Group, at a meeting in the Sun-Times led by CEO Cyrus Freidheim Jr., told their unions they needed to cut their overall wage and benefit packages by 7 percent; they asked the unions to come up with ways to do it.

[ . . . ]

Sure to be on the agenda too is an idea the company floated Friday afternoon at the Sun-Times. It’s to eliminate 25 to 30 jobs — about a fifth of the editorial jobs remaining at that paper — by outsourcing the copy editing and layout functions, possibly to India.

[ . . . ]

The Sun-Times Media Group would have to be in terrible shape to consider such an idea. To turn copy over to editors on the other side of the world whose idiomatic English is so different is to guarantee constant aggravation and frustration, not to mention published howlers.

They must mean different published howlers.

GOP: White and Smug

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On January 13, 2009

In Law, Policy, Society

It’s so not fair, that people keep implying that racism lies behind the Bush DOJ’s actions:

In that incident in August 2004, Voting Section Chief John Tanner sent an e-mail to Schlozman asking Schlozman to bring coffee for him to a meeting both were scheduled to attend. Schlozman replied asking Tanner how he liked his coffee. Tanner’s response was, “Mary Frances Berry style – black and bitter.” Berry is an African-American who was the Chairperson of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from November 1993 until late 2004. Schlozman forwarded the e-mail chain to several Department officials (including Principal DAAG Bradshaw) but not Acosta, with the comment, “Y’all will appreciate Tanner’s response.”

Just the sort of people you want in charge of Justice, no?

Metro, You’re Making It Really Hard

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On January 12, 2009

In DC, Policy, Politics, Virginia

I’m a big defender of the DC Metro system.   Sometimes I think it’s because I came from a city with a pathetic public transport system (hi, Atlanta!), and other times I think it’s because I can’t stand the sound of one more twit from New York talking about how great the system is back home.  But mostly I defend it because it’s a system that does a pretty good job – given its resources – of serving as circulation system for DC and its surrounding communities.  They’ve got a really difficult funding situation, though – they essentially have to go begging four masters on a regular basis (the Fed, DC, MD, and VA gov’ts) and suffer all the risks and political vagaries that go with that.  So, when faced with the rare chance to put their hands on some serious capital project spending power?  They flub it:

Unfortunately, when WMATA sat down to talk about what kind of projects they had that fit the criteria for economic stimulus, they only came up with $529 million worth of stuff. That’s better than being dishonest and trying to get their hands on billions of dollars worth of money to go waste.

But it also reflects a failure of vision, planning, and leadership. A well-run agency ought not become so cowed by the narrow horizons of conventional political wisdom that it’s left with this little to ask for when the situation changes.

Oh, I could think of something . . .

Lessig on Colbert

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On January 10, 2009

In Law, Policy, Society

Lessig takes his battle for intelligent public policy to the Stephen Colbert Show:

The Colbert ReportMon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Lawrence Lessig

From the interview:

Colbert: You say our copyright laws are turning our kids into criminals, because they’re keeping kids from doing all the remixing they want of pre-existing art and copywritten material, right?

Isn’t that like saying that arson laws are turning our kids into pyromaniacs?? They’re breaking the law! You can’t just throw the law out the window!

Lessig: “Totally failed war.” Is that familiar to you?

Colbert: No. No. You’re saying we need a surge?

“The Secret Service, they’re insane.”

By

On January 9, 2009

In DC, Policy, Politics, Virginia

Yup, Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va) is quote as having said that today, about the Fortress DC Lockdown the Secret Service seems to be planning.   Closing all of the bridges from Virginia to DC is bad enough, but making pedestrians prove that they have a right to be in their own neighborhoods?  Yeah, I think we might be approaching insane.

GOP Takes On the Tough (Imaginary) Issues

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On January 8, 2009

In Distribution, Law, Policy, Politics

Looks like the Republican rodeo clowns are already starting their show:

Republicans introduced a bill Wednesday that would bar Congress, President-elect Barack Obama and federal media regulators from bringing back the Fairness Doctrine, which they said would all but eliminate the talk-radio industry.

Maybe we can get a bill to bar bringing New Coke back, too?  As Steve Benen notes:

These guys aren’t pushing a bill to get rid of the Fairness Doctrine, because it’s already gone. They’re pushing a bill to prevent anyone from trying to bring it back — despite the fact that there is no meaningful effort to do so. TNR’s Marin Cogan recently wrote a great piece, noting that she couldn’t find anyone on the left who was serious about reinstating the policy. Cogan explained, “The prospect of being in the opposition often brings out the worst in conservatives — paranoia and self-pity.”

The Republican party likes to go on and on about responsibility and self-reliance, but they’ve got this whiny victimhood thing down pat.

Keep the Blackberry

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On January 8, 2009

In Distribution, Policy

Obama wants to keep his Blackberry.  From TPM:

Obama acknowledged in a nationally broadcast interview Thursday that the Blackberry is a concern, “not just to the Secret Service, but also to lawyers.”

Asked in an interview broadcast on NBC’s “Today” show whether the issue had been resolved, Obama replied, “I’m still in a scuffle around that.” He asked: “How do you stay in touch with the flow of everyday life?”

Enough with the mob mentality – no fingerprints, no records – that’s characterized the White House.   It may not be in the White House counsel’s best interest to have a Blackberry in Obama’s pocket, but it’s certainly in the public interest.

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