Media Matters for America - Altercation by Eric Alterman

How long has this been going on?

Mon, 1 Dec 2008 14:48:58 EST

We've got a new Think Again column called "The Bush Legacy: War on the Press, Continued," here, which is part II of last week's column here, and a new Nation column called "Refs Worked (Redux)" about CBS and The Washington Post, which is here.

We've been repeatedly calling attention (here, here, and here) to the case of Aafia Siddiqui, an MIT grad and mother of three who the U.S. government claims is the new face of Al-Qaeda -- but her lawyers say Siddiqui has been essentially kidnapped by the CIA and tortured possibly to the point where she's mentally unfit to stand trial. (She was also shot and nearly killed at Bagram -- the military says she grabbed a soldier's gun and he fired in self-defense).

Who's telling the truth? We haven't really been able to say, as the American MSM has almost completely blacked out the story. The last major paper to write anything on Siddiqui was The Washington Post, which gave her case three sentences in a news briefing compiled from wire services, according to Nexis.

But Der Spiegel, the German magazine, has written a fantastic and lengthy story on the case, here, and it presents details that have never before appeared anywhere in the American MSM, so far as we're aware. Why a chilling account of what the American government may be doing has to appear in a German magazine, we're not sure, but it's worth a read -- especially if you happen to be an editor or producer stateside. Feel free to send it to one.

And speaking of fantastic, lengthy stories, here is yet another reason for the indispensability of The New York Times. It's only No. 9 on the most emailed list, and you don't win extra advertising for a story like this, but it's a big reason newspapers matter, and it will be more the pity when we lose this kind of thing, as it's all but irreplaceable. Glenn Greenwald has a follow-up here. I wonder if anyone in the MSM will ...

"What Do The Liberals Hope For?" in the face of an oncoming depression? Good question. A New Republic writer has the answer:

Who today in any camp on the left can have the optimism to believe that capitalism is capable of reforming itself? And who today can look forward with confidence to any outcome from the present chaos short of the establishment of a socialistic society -- not like the Russian: how could it be?

[...]

Yet these liberals, who presumably aim at socialism, still apparently pin great hopes on the capitalists. They draw up schemes for "planned economies" which are designed to preserve the capitalist system while eliminating some of its worst features-though so far as one can tell from what they write, they haven't the ghost of an idea of an agency to put even these into effect. The liberals of today are not a part of a progressive movement like the liberals of the Wilson-Roosevelt era. One can only suppose that they are hoping for some such movement, though it is not clear where it is coming from nor why, ... For one feels, as one reads them today, that, in spite of their expressions of moral and esthetic dissatisfaction, they are still sold like other middle-class Americans on the Values of the middle-class world which they criticize. You look in vain in any of their recent utterances for any really damaging attack on these values. ...Without, no doubt, being conscious of it, these writers seem unwilling to face the implications of the middle-class acceptance of the status quo-which involves at the present time the forcing-down of the working-class below the bare subsistence level in order that the owning-class may not be obliged to sacrifice comforts and luxuries -- a state of things always easy to ignore.

[...]

In fact, though they are better informed and more enlightened than the average American business man, their imagination does not extend much further nor their logic cut much deeper. Their political thinking is mediocre because their solidarity is middle-class. And this is a disappointment to one who bas read them in the past with profit. Writers of their intellectual eminence have no business to succumb to the influence of standards of living. What is at the bottom of the capitalist crisis is class-differences in standards of living with the special habits and ideas they involve and of which it is as bard for the ordinary person to divest himself as for the leopard to change his spots. It is bard for anybody; but if our professional illuminati can't break through them to some larger grasp of the world which is cracking up around us, we deserve all to be cooked together.

Get the joke yet? Well, it's here.

Interesting piece by Keith Gessen on Solzhenitsyn, Edward Said, and exile.

The funny thing about this interesting article about my favorite movie of the year, The Secrets, is this opening sentence: "It is likely to get lost in the swirl of holiday blockbuster movies about Australian cowboys, animated canines and a vampire with an identity crisis, but a quiet Israeli film that explores the world of ultra-Orthodox Judaism is also likely to touch off the same deep discussion here that it did when it opened in Israel last year."

Well, yeah, it got lost in the Times review on Wednesday last week, which gave it an extremely tepid review, buried deep in the paper, below that silly Australian thing, among much else that was completely unworthy. That crappy review is here.

From TomDispatch:

The 800-pound gorilla of American government that any administration must either face (or duck) is the Pentagon and its massive budget. Everything about Barack Obama's line-up of national security appointees already indicates that this administration will be ducking. In her latest TomDispatch post, Frida Berrigan, arms expert at the New America Foundation's Arms and Security Initiative, explores just what taking on the Pentagon would mean for Obama.

She considers its soaring budgets that leave it accounting for nearing half of all global military spending, more than what the next 45 nations together spend on an annual basis, as well as who's suggesting Defense Department cuts and what they would mean. She also considers the military-industrial complex and what key defense corporations are likely to push for, even amid worldwide economic desperation.

Finally, she sums up this way: "Unfortunately, when it comes to military spending and defense, the record is reasonably clear -- Obama is not about to go toe-to-toe with the military-industrial-complex." In fact, his campaign trail pledges and plans seem to indicate that, from expanding the Army and Marines to a surge in Afghanistan and a spike in defense spending to "reset" a military force worn out by war, we can expect more of the same.

She concludes this piece -- the only one of its kind you'll find anywhere -- this way: "As a candidate, Barack Obama stirred our imagination through his calls for a 'new era of international cooperation.' The United States cannot, however, cooperate with other nations from atop our shining Green Zone on the hill; we cannot cooperate as the world's sole superpower, policeman, cowboy, hyperpower, or whatever the imperial nom du jour turns out to be. Bottom line: we cannot genuinely and effectively cooperate while spending more on what we like to call 'security' than the next 45 nations combined.

"A new era in Pentagon spending would have to begin with a recognition that enduring security is not attained by threat or fiat, nor is it bought with staggering billions of dollars. It is built with other nations. Weapons come second."

Alter-reviews:

New Ryan Adams by Sal

Ryan Adams arguably hit his peak with 2001's Gold, and even that excellent release had a little too much filler compared to his (country) rock-solid debut Heartbreaker from 2000. Too many records in too little time knocked the wind out of Ryan Adams' creative sails, and since then his output, while not terrible, just hasn't achieved the "heavy-osity" of that early-millennium one-two punch. It's 2008 and Ryan Adams has matured, not to mention cleaned up. His new release, Cardinology, is his best in years.

On this new record, Ryan Adams seems focused. The first four tracks display the best of what he and the Cardinals can do- a little bit country and a little bit rock n roll. Both "Fix It" and "Magick" kick some butt in both the hook and melody department, and Adams' voice sounds reborn. There is a noticeable cohesion to the songwriting, as well as the band's attack, that seemed to be missing from the haphazard collection of songs on records like 29 and Rock And Roll. Cardinology is Ryan Adams back on solid ground.

Sal

Juno: Deluxe Edition, by Eric:

Juno was been one of the year's biggest film hits, and the same went for the soundtrack, which reached No. 1 on the Billboard digital album charts. There's no sequel for the film being planned (as far as I'm aware), but the soundtrack produced a second album already -- Juno B-Sides, which was released (digital-only, too) by Rhino over the summer. Now Rhino has pressed CDs and is releasing both soundtracks in a 34-track double-disc collection. It's a nice catch-up collection for those of us who feel too old to keep up with the young folks' music, and almost all of it is pretty good, at least. The disc also includes a 16-page booklet with never-before-seen storyboards and photos. More information is available here.

Lost -- Season 4, Blu-Ray

The shortest and most recent season of ABC's hit Lost is out on December 9 in DVD and Blu-Ray formats, in time for both the holidays and the fifth season's premiere, which is in January. I won't spend too much time talking about the intricacies of what takes place over these five discs, except to say that we finally and mercifully learn who is in the much-debated coffin. (I am actually still looking at the first season DVD, so I don't know what that means, but I plan to jump ahead...) The set also includes blooper footage, audio commentary, a look at the folks on the freighter and where they came from, plus a piece on how the crew transforms Hawaii into the deserted island we see on television. More information on the set, which is being released by Touchstone/Disney, is here.

Lyrics 1964-2008 -- Paul Simon

Simon & Schuster has released the first comprehensive collection of Paul Simon lyrics, simply titled Lyrics. The volume contains every song Simon has written, from the Simon & Garfunkel debut album, Wednesday Morning, 3 AM, through his most recent effort, Surprise. New Yorker editor David Remnick wrote the introduction, and correctly notes that, as valuable as having the beautiful words on a printed page, the book is best enjoyed by dedicated fans of the music. He writes: "What a book like this neglects, unless you have a particularly acute memory and encyclopedic ear, is the musicality of the songs. The danger of such a book is that it seems to ask the reader to consider the lyrics as verse, written for the page. But even the best songs, Simon's included, are utterly linked to the melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic qualities that go along with them." More information is available here.

Slacker Monday:

Name: Charles Pierce
Hometown: Newton, MA

Hey Doc:

"From the wilds of Borneo/and the vineyards of Bordeaux/Eskimos/Arapahos/ Move their bodies/To and fro."

Weekly WWOZ Pick To Click: "Po'k Bones And Rice" (Sam And The Soul Machine) -- While my Cabinet choices may not indicate it, I am no centrist when it comes to how much I love New Orleans.

Part The First: If there is a reason why CNN International isn't part of my basic cable package, I'd like to know about it. I remember when the Big Three decided to eliminate foreign bureaus and they told us that it didn't matter because the cable nets would pick up the slack. Well, they haven't, and that was painfully obvious this week with the coverage of the chaos in India. I like the BBC as much as anyone, but there's no logic behind a U.S. cable package carrying a British international news channel and nothing else.

Part The Second: The upset winner of our Biggest Knob In Knoxville contest is not resting on his laurels. Oh, no. Not him. He begins his reign promisingly by writing the single dumbest post in the history of the Intertubes.

Part The Third: A fine argument starter for the semi-long holiday weekend. So, I'll start. These people have completely taken leave of their senses. Any list of bad announcers that does not contain a single baseball announcer is prima facie worthless. Bad baseball announcers are worse than bad announcers in any other sport. They have more opportunities in a given game to inflict their badness on the rest of us, and all of them have to talk about, well, baseball, and there is nothing more boring in sports than listening to a baseball fan talk about baseball. It's like being rolled down a hill in a barrel with a butterfly collector. As the commenters here pointed out, where in the name of Ray Scott is Tim McCarver, or Joe Morgan, for pity's sake. What is wrong with these people?

Part The Fourth: I've come to enjoy the new, chastened, Not Insane Andrew Sullivan, but, having read this, "One the worst legacies of the Vietnam boomer syndrome has been turning complex foreign policy decisions -- which should ultimately be pragmatic actions in defense of national self-interest -- into idiotic left-right, patriot-traitor, soldier-hippie dichotomies. Abandoning that is part of Obama's promise," -- from this, I am compelled to ask Andrew if he owns either mirrors or any form of long-term memory, because, you know, wow.

Part The Fifth: Just in time for the holidays, revisionism for dummies. I can't say I'm fond of this new Iron Rule Of Presidents that says you get one free massive terrorist atrocity per term of office. But all the cats 'n kittens at Bill Buckley's Compost Shed seem to love it.

Part The Sixth: Next time I see Alan Colmes, I suspect he'll be more of a baritone.

Part The Seventh: Note to all TV news directors. If your political analyst comes to you in November with a proposal to do a piece on his "Thanksgiving Turkeys," throw that idiot out the window immediately. And, if any of you make this into an "annual feature," throw yourselves out right behind the analyst.

Part The Last: Stephen Davis has a new -- and very well-timed -- history of Guns N' Roses hitting the shelves this month. However, today, I learned something I did not know -- that Davis' Hammer of the Gods, his extraordinary account of touring with Led Zeppelin during the band's High Caligula Period, began as a magazine assignment ... for The Atlantic Monthly. Today, they'd probably send out Megan McArdle, and she'd write about market forces driving up the price of sand sharks.

Tennis coaches have a great term for catching your opponent off-balance. They call it "wrong-footing," where you make the opponent try to hit a forehand from a backhand stance, or vice versa, and the opponent ends up looking like someone fending off hornets with a flagpole, eventually falling down and thereby eliciting guffaws from the various titled Eurotrash ne'er-do-well's watching in the Sponsors' Box. I get a feeling right now that wrong-footing people may be the president-elect's greatest gift. He certainly did it to everyone he ran against on the way to becoming president-elect. Hillary Clinton never got a clean return at him and, as for John McCain, his campaign was permanently wrong-footed in that it had two left ones, and one of them never left his running mate's mouth anyway. And he's doing it a bit now with the national press. There's a narrative battling to be born -- that he is simply recycling the Golden '90s and that he can't, poor fella, give us The Change We Need because, you know, circumstances are circumscribing what he's trying to do. Well, he punted this storyline for about 50 yards in his most recent press conference, when he pointedly explained that, believe it or not, he's going to be directing policy for his administration. His barely concealed impatience with narrative-concocting questions is going to be a highlight of his press conferences as we go on.

And, while I recognize the right of every author to plug his most recent book -- a right I intend to practice very enthusastically next spring, by the way -- can we give a freaking rest to the Historical Comparison Of The Week competition, please? He's not Lincoln, Doris, or FDR, Jonathan. And Parson Meacham? He's damn sure not Andrew Jackson who, upon encountering Barack Obama for the first time, would have set him to work in the fields out behind the north 40.

(Regular) Correspondence Corner:

Name: Ben Miller
Hometown: Washington, DC

Mr. Alterman,

What do people realistically want to see happen to the Bush Administration? Do we want to see them punished for the laundry list of crimes? Or would we all be satisfied if everything (or as much as possible) became public knowledge and they had to admit publicly to what it is they did -- doing this may not punish these people in terms of fines, jail, etc. But it would leave no doubt in terms of how they are judged historically. It would also put a major dent in the Right-wing spin machine that is going to do its best to paint the Bush Administration in a positive light wherever possible, and bury everything it can't paint under the rug.

Personally, I don't think they will ever be brought to justice by a court of law. But why not force them to admit what it is they did -- start investigations, begin with the worst (lying the country to war) and work your way down. Grant total immunity from prosecution to Bush, Cheney, Rove, Gonzales, Rumsfeld, etc. Make them answer questions where the only potential criminal charges will occur if they lie. With these people, that still might not work. But I think if people really want answers for the last eight years, this may be the only way.

Also, actual charges will allow defense lawyers to put their spin on any case (see Libby, Scooter) and the Bushies to be made into martyrs. Immunity, and making them answer questions and say what they did, would undermine any attempt to portray them as victims.

Name: Carl Lowe
Hometown: Arab, Alabama

In reply to Charles Hinton who thinks that there should be "a great truth telling" about what went on in the Bush presidency. Although he suggests the creation of a special commission to bring out all the hidden dirt, he misses the fact that there's already in place a quick and easy process to bring out the truth from the confessions of those Bushies who were behind the scenes: It's called big book contracts with ridiculous advances. As soon as they find out how much they can make by dishing on the Bush administration's indiscretions, the Bush insiders will make sure we're overwhelmed by the "great truth telling."

Name: Mike Knight
Hometown: Indy

Doc,

According to this story, GM employees currently make the equivalent of $73 an hour, which *appears* to be more than double what the average worker makes (and is presumably an argument for cutting Detroit loose). But that wage includes "legacy costs" such as health and retirement benefits for current workers along with benefits for retirees.

In other words, as I understand it, NOT bailing them out means the automakers will also fold on pensions for (presumably) tens of thousands of retirees (hundreds of thousands?). Let's assume we go ahead and let Detroit fold; who's going to pay for the tremendous burden all these benefit-free retirees place on existing healthcare systems (and who will be unable to pay for those related costs)? My guess is we all will be.

It may be wishful thinking to believe we can simply let the automakers quietly die from their own excesses, but it simply isn't that easy.

My assumption is that a bailout will stake the automakers with enough money to underwrite those benefits (within an existing accounting framework for that function), at least for the time being, which seems to be a better position than simply forcing all those seniors and soon-to-be retirees to fend for themselves. And if in fact automakers can outline plans for regaining stability, then that plan must include how they'll pay for those pension costs, too, which again sounds like a better position than watching them fail.

But that's where the media comes in ... isn't it?

Name: Bob Wenning
Hometown: Chicago

This from Media Matters, where another right-wing radio host accuses Obama and the Democrats of an "anti-American" agenda.

The next time someone accuses anyone of anti-Americanism, will someone is the MSM please, just once, challenge the accuser's definition of what that is? What does that mean exactly? Is it treason? If so, that is not something particular to Americans. Instead, the "anti-American" charge is left out there for the target of the charge to defend when they don't even know what they are defending. It usually comes down to something the accuser vaguely does not like, but for which they have no other basis in fact. Or it is simply racism or other bigotry that the accuser disguises with the all-purpose "anti-American" charge?

Name: Michael Green
Hometown: Las Vegas, Nevada

Kathleen Parker, a right-wing columnist whom some right-wingers disowned for daring to suggest that Sarah Palin was unqualified for office, wrote a column about civic literacy, based on this quiz.

In turn, Thomas Mitchell, the editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, a right-wing daily, wrote a blog item about how literacy tests might be advisable, based on the results of this survey.

He also said he would devote his Sunday, November 30, column to this subject.

Note that the test answers include several celebrations of capitalist values. The entirely objective (ha ha) group conducting the survey is the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. If the test-taker -- and I did quite well once I realized that if I gave right-wing answers to the economic questions, my score would improve -- checks the ISI, s/he finds the directors include the chairman, Alfred Regnery -- as in the company that publishes right-wing books. The other directors include Richard Allen and Edwin Meese, two of the many ethically questionable members of Ronald Reagan's administration.

Now, if we designed a quiz asking some different questions -- for example, does the U.S. have a history of trying to impose its will on other countries, or of requiring liberal policies to rescue the economy from disasters created by right-wing policies, the answers might have been different, and Parker and Mitchell couldn't write about these things, because then they wouldn't be able to argue that Americans are stupid because they--we--don't happen to believe right-wing bilge as much as we used to.

Name: Michael Rapoport
Hometown:

Eric:

I saw Brian Wilson in concert two nights after you did, and had a similarly great time. (I defy anyone to be depressed after hearing the likes of "I Get Around" and "Help Me Rhonda" performed by the genius who wrote them.) What struck me the most was that Brian was downright chatty between songs, compared to the last time I saw him play two years ago, and dug deeper into his songbook ("Girl Don't Tell Me," "Salt Lake City") -- both of which I take as signs that this famously troubled man is getting more of his confidence back. Good for him.

It's a shame that his fine new album hasn't gotten more attention, I agree. In fact, if you take out those clunky spoken-word "narratives," I'd even defend a lot of the lyrics, which have Brian addressing his lost years ("At 25 I turned out the lights/'Cause I couldn't handle the glare in my tired eyes") and the loss of his brothers.

Name: Jeff
Hometown: Doha, Qatar

Well, it's not really my town, but I do live and work here. This week started with the grand opening of the Museum of Islamic Art, I. M. Pei's last and likely greatest creation (I've never seen a more beautiful building, inside or out). Friday, we have a concert titled "Raag Rang" by legendary Indian and Pakistani musicians Ustad Hussain Bakhsh Khan, Ustad Sajjad Ali, and Ustad Liyaqat Ali Khan. And we finish up the week with Bono meeting with 200 Education City students for the taping of a special edition of BBC's Doha Debates. And, of course, we have our usual abundance of sunshine and dust.

Eric replies: Well, I just got invited to Doha, last week, but I'm really hoping they work out that "can't get a drink" thing ...

The Dean's dilemma

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:40:59 EST

We remind the faithful, once again, of the brilliant observation by our favorite "Dean," David Broder. Referring to speeches given at a Democratic National Committee meeting in 2007, he said:

One of the losers in the weekend oratorical marathon was retired Gen. Wesley Clark, who repeatedly invoked the West Point motto of 'Duty, Honor, Country,' forgetting that few in this particular audience have much experience with, or sympathy for, the military.

Reason David Broder should retire already, No. 6,718:

In a little-noticed regulation change in March, the military's definition of combat-related disabilities was narrowed, costing some injured veterans thousands of dollars in lost benefits -- and triggering outrage from veterans' advocacy groups.

(The myth of pro-military conservatives was the subject of a Think Again column in May, here.)

A current Republican senator is apparently none too happy with his party. He told the Politico's Roger Simon that, for example, "The perception among Hispanics is that the Republican Party is the party of the rich. And, in many ways, it is." He also believes that "[p]eople want government in times of need," and that "John McCain was not a good messenger once you got past the issue of Iraq."

Who is this renegade? Dunno, exactly, as Simon inexplicably granted him anonymity for this piece. What is Politico's anonymous sources policy, and how does this example adhere? Most publications do not allow people to rag on other people without giving up their name; the purpose of anonymity is to get actual information to readers that would otherwise be unavailable. It would be nice to get a clarification of that outlet's policy on anonymous sources. Recall that they had a rough start in this regard, "breaking" two stories in one week, based on anonymous sources, that turned out to be flagrantly false.

In the meantime, we have started a little parlor game in a Daily Kos diary to see if we can figure out the identity of the mystery senator. (Simon provided a string of potentially revealing clues, including that he is a moderate on immigration, and campaigned with Sarah Palin.) Feel free to join in.

George Zornick writes: There's been a lot references to a supposed uproar amongst liberal bloggers over the potential Hillary Clinton nomination, usually employing some variation of the word "ablaze," and inserting the MSM shorthand for the left-blogosphere --"the liberal Daily Kos Web site."

Yeah, not so much.

The Return of McCain Suck-Up Watch: At least 15 CNN reports between November 10 and November 22 referencing Sen. John McCain's appearance at a November 13 rally in support of Sen. Saxby Chambliss' re-election bid failed to note that McCain reportedly criticized as "worse than disgraceful" and "reprehensible" a campaign ad Chambliss used during his 2002 race against then-Sen. Max Cleland. The only exceptions to this pattern occurred on November 13, when CNN's Rusty Dornin stated in two separate reports that McCain's recent appearance in support of Chambliss "raised eyebrows" and was "a little bit ironic," given McCain's previous criticism of Chambliss' ad. The rest is here.

If a tree falls in a forest, etc.

God, you funna fella.

Read my friend Deb's blog. Amazing, isn't it?

Correspondence Corner:

Name: Thomas Beck
Hometown: East Windsor, NJ

With all due respect to Mr. Nader, who certainly has the right to run for president, the problem is, he's running only for president. He's not building a party, he's not trying to elect congressmen and Senators and state legislators and mayors and governors. He has no chance of being elected -- he also has no chance of expanding the political discourse to include his region of the spectrum - because it's all about him. It's always about him. If Nader truly wanted to make a lasting difference in the American political arena (as opposed to the lasting difference he has already made in other areas), he would make it be about far more than just him. He'd start a real party and recruit talented like-minded people to run for other offices. Until he does that, however, he leaves himself open to the kind of criticism he has received (rightfully so, in my mind).

Name: Bob Thena
Hometown: Easton, PA

Ralph Nader ran in 2008?

I didn't notice....

Name: Carl
Hometown: Muscle Shoals

What mexluver05 lacks in spelling chops he makes up in vitriol. I don't think anyone is suggesting that Ralph Nader has no right to run for president or any public office. Instead it's a question of intent or purpose. I'm reminded of the old country music saw: "A gentleman is one who knows how to play the banjo -- but doesn't."

Name: Larry Howe
Hometown: Oak Park, IL

Eric --

Why won't Ralph Nader post to Altercation under his own name? Using the alias mexluver05 is not fooling anyone. How do I know this? Only an ego-maniac like Nader would insist that he's the reason that we're alive and well today. And all this time, I've been thinking that he's the reason we've had Bush as president.

Yes, Ralph, you had every right to run, and I have every right to hold you responsible for your contribution to what's transpired since.

Name: Charles Hinton
Hometown: Satellite Beach, FL

I watched Obama on the TV today as he introduced his economic advisers and thought of all the things that he had to fix in the coming months and years. There are so many critical things to fix, it seems likely that the crimes committed by the "Bushies" during the last 8 years will likely never see the light of day. Even though no one is likely to be punished I think there should be a great truth telling.

How could this all come about? Maybe it could work by means of a commission to which all with knowledge can tell all they know and provide the information on where the bones are hidden. And then the culprits could be offered immunity from prosecution if they confess the truth to all they did and likewise to all else they know.

And then prosecute only those that lie or leave truths untold.

Name: Cleo Jones
Hometown: Chicago, IL

I'm glad you're addressing Brooks Barnes' categorically unfair diatribe re Angelina Jolie. It was such a slap in the face to a young woman who spends so much of her time doing for others. I thought to myself, even if one takes Barnes' suggestions (no facts or evidence support his vague assertions, just quotes from one of the most notorious tabloid liars around, Bonnie Fuller from STAR magazine) on their face, the omission of Pitt from this article is either highly misogynistic or doubly insulting to him -- as he appears to be idly standing by doing nothing in Barnes piece. He's an afterthought throughout the entire piece. I think Barnes includes him once in parentheticals (saying, "with Pitt's help," he writes) -- well, where is Barnes' evidence to support even this? If Pitt "helps" Jolie with her "dirty work," (you know, 'helping' the world's less fortunate and all) then how much does he help her? 5% or 98%?

Furthermore, there was no "gotcha!" in this so-called "gotcha." It was a joke. Barnes goes back 6-7 years to Angelina's divorce from Billy Bob Thornton, which some say was causal because of her adoption of Baby Maddox. He then cites US magazine as asking her to tell her story (split/divorce/adoption) to them -- she refuses, but supposedly gives them a time and place to take pics of her and her son at the park. Again, no evidence -- and no named sources that this happened. So what does Barnes say Jolie gets out of this? Well, he claims, she appears "like a young mother unsuccessfully trying to have private time with her son." Am I missing something, Mr. Alterman? If Angelina had just left her apartment on the way to the grocery with her young son as part of her daily routine, and the paparazzi had snapped pics, wouldn't she STILL appear the same way?

Most of all, who writes "gotcha" stories on events concerning one of the most philanthropic couples in Hollywood that are YEARS in the past? If by some stroke of luck, Barnes is correct, and just happens to be a crappy writer who doesn't know how to support his premise -- just how angry am I supposed to be that People Magazine ditched the Country Music Award fashion spread in exchange for a couple of sidebars about AIDS in Ethiopia, courtesy of some Jolie-Pitt arm-twisting? A part of me wonders why I am so perturbed by this piece -- and the answer is, I guess if I had seen this headline and skimmed this story in The STAR at the checkout line at my local Walgreens, I wouldn't be having this reaction -- but the NYT? My God, this is just pathetic.

Name: Barbara
Hometown: Portland, ME

So, the financial market gets bailed out, but manufacturing doesn't. 300M jobs vs how many from the auto segment? GMAC is looking to become a bank, smart move on their part, look at the capital potential there is. Same management (came up through the ranks) that gave us Enron fraud and all the derivatives, gets rewarded by not being allowed to fail. Is Paulson requiring any heads to roll? Doesn't seem like it -- oh, I know, they had a plan. That's the difference.

The long haul issue for me is that we have become a nation that is run by consumer consumption. Not producing stuff -- but consumers buying stuff. How do we buy this stuff? On credit, apparently. So shouldn't we be trying to change this? To create an economy that is not "service" or financial services driven, but with something that creates more bang for the buck? Maybe that is what Obama is trying to do, with infrastructure and new technologies. But why doesn't the press do some real analysis on the "fundamentals" of the economy -- no, not the workers -- the economy. Until we get dialogue on that, I think we will be stuck looking for answers in all the wrong places -- like banks.

Name: Ken Filmer
Hometown: Staten Island, NY

Quick correction to your Brian Wilson review: The band consists of four members of LA's Wondermints, not the Peppermints. The band itself is just called the Brian Wilson Band. They are really terrific -- his music is rich & challenging, and they certainly rise to the challenge. Not a big fan of Hammerstein, I went instead to his Sunday night show at the lovely, newly renovated Wellmont Theatre in Montclair, NJ. It's great just to see Brian Wilson performing again after all he's been through. Every time I see him, he looks a little more involved and animated. Music heals!

Name: Scotty
Hometown: Richmond, VA

What's going on in my town? Well, this is the weekend we power wash the Confederate War Memorial. Then in December there's the denture festival downtown to look forward to, and then there's the wrasslin' and monster truck combo at the National Guard armory. I don't mean to brag, but I'm really stoked.

Those Washington bullets again

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:04:09 EST

Bravo for "Brangelina": This story is really interesting. We read, "When Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt negotiated with People and other celebrity magazines this summer for photos of their newborn twins and an interview, the stars were seeking more than the estimated $14 million they received from the deal. They also wanted a hefty slice of journalistic input -- a promise that the winning magazine's coverage would be positive, not merely in that instance but into the future."

But is it true? Time Inc. says, "These claims are categorically false. ... Like any news organization, People does purchase photos, but the magazine does not determine editorial content based on the demands of outside parties." The Times added: "The New York Times recently ran a feature article about Ms. Jolie; there were no restrictions on access."

Way back when, however, according to the article, "People magazine bid successfully for photos and an exclusive interview after she gave birth to her first child in 2006. Those pictures sold for an estimated $4.1 million, a sum that she and Mr. Pitt said they donated to charity."

But I had some questions, and so I sent this to the Times reporter who wrote the article:

Dear Brooks Barnes:

I planned to write a little something about your Angelina story on Monday and I was hoping to clarify a couple of points.

1) Is there any evidence on either side about the deal with Time? We are left with two competing claims.

2) In the past, "Brangelina" have asked for the $ not for themselves, but for charity. I assumed this was the case this time as well. But I saw no mention of that in the article. Do we know whether this is the case?

Thanks for your time,

ERA

I asked these questions because I have to say, I'm a big fan of these people. I love the way they lay bare the manipulation of the celebrity media and do so in the services of unarguably good causes. I love the way they separate these rich corporations from their money and turn it over to Cambodia orphans. In the past, I've seen articles where the Times accuses certain celebrities of demanding money without pointing out that they were doing so for charitable purposes. (This happened, I recall, to Dave Eggers.) It's an important component of the story here and I hope it wasn't left ambiguous because nobody thought it important. I'll let you know what, if anything, I hear in response.

I've been participating in a debate on the future of a liberal foreign policy begun by Peter Beinart at the website of the Council on Foreign Relations. The debate begins here, and my contribution, which was inspired by a post by Will Marshall, and with whose direction I found myself somewhat at odds, is here:

Well, I'm all for history informing contemporary debate, but I fear we liberals have already been condemned to repeat it. Will Marshall's post sent me back to my old Huey Lewis and Martha and the Muffins albums, back to the days of intraparty fights over Central America, the nuclear freeze, and Jesse Jackson vs. what he (unfairly) called "Democrats for the Leisure Class."

It's not as if liberals ever settled the question of just how much saber-rattling is necessary to ensure the trust of the American people regarding issues of national security, but presumably it is a great deal less than it was before approximately 67 percent of the country turned against a war that many liberals felt they had to support, regardless of its merits, to meet exactly these charges.

If the "tough-mindedness" of liberals were the central question facing Obama's foreign policy, well, ... the very notion is a logical non-sequiteur (sp?) because Obama would not be president. He was the more dovish of the two final candidates in the Democratic presidential primary and the more dovish of the two candidates in the general election. Indeed, it was this dovishness vis-à-vis Iraq back when it mattered that powered his candidacy and gave him the daylight he needed to run a credible campaign against Hillary Clinton in the first place. It was her "tough-mindedness" back in 2002 that destroyed her dreams of ever being president.

When the issue was faced during the primaries, Obama staked out the relatively dovish position of being willing to speak to our adversaries without apology. Attacked in typical hawk-dove terms by the Clinton campaign, his campaign offered this, to me, quite refreshing refusal to back down or walk away, but reaffirmed his argument from a position of strength. The "white paper" authored by then adviser Samantha Power read: "American foreign policy is broken. It has been broken by people who supported the Iraq War, opposed talking to our adversaries, failed to finish the job with Al Qaeda, and alienated the world with our belligerence. Yet conventional wisdom holds that people whose experience includes taking these positions are held up as examples of what America needs in times of trouble.... We cannot afford any more of this kind of bankrupt conventional wisdom."

My point is not to argue on behalf of "dovishness" per se, but on behalf of dealing with things as they are. Iraq and Afghanistan are miserably difficult problems without adding this unnecessary complication to their already fraught and complicated mixes (respectively). What's more, the most important foreign policy challenges facing the Obama administration do not lend themselves to this kind of dichotomy in the first place. Obviously the global economic crisis is first and foremost in this category as is fashioning a serious world-wide response to the threat of climate catastrophe. Worldwide food shortages, millions of displaced refugees, and festering Israeli-Palestinian problem with the added element of a potential Iranian nuclear threat require a degree of global cooperation that is both historically unprecedented but absolutely crucial to our own well-being and future security.

I am not much on democracy promotion given our record and given how difficult it is to do in the first place, and given how ambivalent I am about the true democratic yearnings of the many millions of people in the Arab world who hate us and would like to overthrow their (relatively) US friendly governments and install ones far less friendly. I would like to see us invest in strengthening the peace and security of the millions -- or is it hundreds of millions of people -- who lack it. Let us help create the conditions for middle-class life in their nations and a far more stable form of democracy will eventually take root, to say nothing of a much healthier global economy.

One area where I would invest heavily, however, is in the education of women. That strikes me as the single best investment a liberal foreign policy can make, and would naturally lead to fewer babies being born and far better conditions for those who are. I think Hillary Clinton is the perfect person for the job of Secretary of State in this respect. And I note that that dustup about talking to our enemies turned out to be not such a big deal after all, since well, she appears ready to take the job working for the guy who insisted on it.

"It's Mark Halperin's lips moving but Karl Rove doing the talking" Quote of the Day:

"Media bias was more intense in the 2008 election than in any other national campaign in recent history. It's the most disgusting failure of people in our business since the Iraq war," Halperin said at a panel of media analysts. "It was extreme bias, extreme pro-Obama coverage."

That's here.

From TomDispatch:

In 2005-2006, Nick Turse wrote at TomDispatch.com a "fallen legion" series, a kind of "wall" of honor for all those government officials honorable or steadfast enough in their duties that they found themselves often smeared and with little alternative but to resign in protest, quit, or simply be pushed off the cliff by cronies of the Bush administration. Now, in the last moments of this dishonored administration, Turse returns with a fitting -- and moving -- capstone piece for the honorably fallen in Washington. Think of this post on how Colin Powell's former chief of staff became a public truth-teller both on the realities of the Bush administration and on the horrors of a distant period in his life, his years in the Army fighting in Vietnam, as the last of TomDispatch's "fallen legion" series, a kind of memory piece -- lest we forget.

"Nations in flux are nations in need," begins Nick Turse's latest. "A new president will soon take office, facing hard choices not only about two long-running wars and an ever-deepening economic crisis, but about a government that has long been morally adrift. Torture-as-policy, kidnappings, ghost prisons, domestic surveillance, creeping militarism, illegal war-making, and official lies have been the order of the day. Moments like this call for truth-tellers. For Truth and Reconciliation Commissions. For witnesses willing to come forward. For brave souls ready to expose hidden and forbidden realities to the light of day. Lawrence B. Wilkerson is such a man."

The rest of the piece is the striking tale -- based on in person and email interviews -- of how Wilkerson, in 2005, began revealing the inner workings of what he called "a secretive, little-known cabal" in the Bush administration, making key national security policy -- and as well, the story of how the 31-year military veteran spoke out before Congress about his Vietnam years, including the killing of a Vietnamese girl in a "free fire zone" that has never left his conscience.

Wilkerson has been a genuine truth-teller for the American people, but also for American soldiers deployed into combat in counterinsurgency wars. Turse concludes:

"In speaking out about his Vietnam experience, Wilkerson has, indeed, added to the long record of civilian suffering as a result of America's wars abroad -- offering a stark lesson for U.S. troops yet to be deployed overseas. And for troops who have already served in America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, he has set an example of the ways in which they can continue to serve the United States by speaking out about all aspects of their service, even the dark portions that Americans often don't want to hear. The only question is: Will they have the courage to follow in his footsteps?"

Honoring our truth-tellers is an important act as a period of infamy ends.

Alter-reviews: Brian Wilson live, and Rosanne Cash and Joe Henry live

Bob Dylan was playing uptown on Friday night but I headed downtown to catch Brian Wilson. It's pointless to compare the two old warhorses -- each of whom did their breakthrough work approximately 42 years ago -- one thing you can be sure of is that a Brian Wilson show is going to put you in a good mood. A Dylan show, well, it's pretty much up to you, since it's never clear whether Bob is even really there. Brian, meanwhile, is always in a good mood. (Maybe it's the meds ...) It was the fourth time I've seen Brian in about four years. Each of the past three times, he had some big excuse for being there. The first time, was well, the first time. Then it was Smile, finally. Next came Pet Sounds. Each of these were not-to-be-missed events. This time, the focal point was Brian's new album, That Lucky Old Sun, which is much better than people would expect it to be. While the lyrics are sorta silly, the music is sophisticated and engaging. Brian and his terrific band, the Peppermints, did 50 minutes of Beach Boys stuff -- including my two favorites, "Do It Again" and "Marcella," before taking a break and them coming back and playing the entire album, followed by about another 40 minutes or so of stuff like "Fun, Fun, Fun," "Help Me Rhonda," etc., and a beautiful closer, "Love and Mercy." The hall was only two-thirds full or so, owing to the under-rating of the wonderful new record, but everyone there felt lucky to be so. More about That Lucky Old Sun here, and more about Brian here.

And forgive me, but I neglected to tell you all how terrific the show that Rosanne and Joe Henry did a couple of weekends ago at the Rubin Museum was. While the two performers don't sound similar, they share a sensibility and a critical intelligence that demands that each song either one writes or performs, must be taken to its lyrical and musical limits. I reviewed a show a few months ago at the Allen Room where Joe Henry, backed by an amazing band featuring Brad Muldau and Don Byron, did an incredible set that featured this amazing song he's written about running into Willie Mays going shopping for a garage-door clicker. It's a brilliantly oblique protest song, and he credited Rosanne with inspiring him to finish it. Last week at the Rubin, Rosanne credited that show -- which was the first time she'd been out to hear music post-brain surgery -- with inspiring her to want to write music again. So while Joe demurred when it came to playing that amazing song, these two musical soul siblings did an amazing, unamplified set that made all of us feel incredibly lucky to be there. Rosanne Cash's genuine official website is here, and Joe Henry's is here. Oh, and look, he's playing with Rosanne's ex of late. And Rosanne's Times blog is here.

What's going on in your city?

Correspondence Corner:

Name: mexluver05
Hometown:

Dear Mr. Alterman,

I just want to say Im sick and tired of your criticism of Ralph Nader and his running in the 2000 election. he had every right to run and Im glad he ran in 04, 08, and I hope in 12 he runs again. Im non-partisan but I am a libreal however I am shocked that you by in to this two party duopoloy and by your critisizims of Mr. Nader just proves that like most of the media you don't care if the people of america have a true democracy. Because of Ralph Nader your alive and well, let me put it that way to make a long story short, you think any of your democratic buddies give a fuck about me or you?? no, they don't and they never will. Excuse my language but somone needs to put your in place he has every right to run and keep running and I hope he does.

Name: Mike Knight
Hometown: Indy

Hey Doc,

I think by now there's been enough reporting about the Big 3 and the reasons to bail them out (or not). But I haven't seen too much (anything?) about what happens if we don't bail the fools out (that is, what is the very large ripple effect we should likely expect, and is it the better of the two devils). There's a good article here that glances on the issue, but I suspect there's plenty more story to be told before we cut them loose.

PS: A late thanks, but I, like others, could not have made it through the last 8 years without the insight and sanity found at both your old MSNBC site and this one ... really.

Name: BoogerP
Hometown: Brighton, MI

Eric,

For your consideration:

Be forewarned, the information shared is both wide and deep in breadth and scope, here.

As a former (contract) GM employee, I'd like to see America's Big Three automakers survive.

The reaction(s) on Wall Street gives credence to the sense that Wall Street has declared war on the middle class, regards "bail out money." Wall Street investors get the money, no questions asked. Not so for the automakers. Politicians appear to be kissing the asses of those that created this mess. They would deny help for these American workers.

Name: Jeff Borden
Hometown: Chicago

About the Palin video -- what the turkeys are being placed in is actually a large funnel, which allows the bird's head to poke out the bottom. The worker then cuts off the head, letting the turkey bleed out into the trough.

If this operation is like other live poultry shops I've seen, a worker will attach a set of metal clips to the turkey's feet and dunk it into a tank of scalding water to soften the feathers. After a brief soak, the bird will be dangled over a large metal cylinder outfitted with squared off spikes, which quickly pull out the feathers.

Once that step is complete, the bird is ready to be butchered, wrapped and sold.

Name: Susan
Hometown: Raleigh, NC

Hi Eric.

Reader of yours for many years ... and your books ... but a question about music, here.

Do you know why Bruce dropped "Long Black Veil" from his Seeger Sessions Tour?

It's a great tune and I was disappointed it wasn't out on his CD.

Do you know why? It's an incredible "rootsy/earthy" folk song that always reminds me somehow of those of us who want Bush/Cheney and their enablers.

Eric replies: He moves in mysterious ways, alas.

Slacker Friday

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:05:12 EST

We've got a new Think Again column -- the first in a series actually -- called "The Bush Legacy: War on the Press" and you can find it here.

Hey, great idea, Mike. I wonder if anyone beat you to it, bub.

From Eric Boehlert:

The conventional wisdom is quite clear: The press always turns skeptical and becomes combative when new presidents come to town. Except, of course, when the press does not. In truth, the model being touted today by media insiders didn't apply to the previous two administrations. That model didn't apply to Bill Clinton in 1993 because the press wasn't simply skeptical about his administration, the press savaged it. And the model didn't apply to George W. Bush in 2001, because instead of turning combative toward him, the press rolled over for the Republican. Read more here.

I know it's considered bad manners to speak ill of the dead, but...

Worst Band Name Ever, Press Release:

Rumored to be the brainchild of Robcore labelhead Rob Crow of indie wunderkinds Pinback, Goblin Cock is focused, primed, and ready to pull the pin on the follow-up to their mammoth debut Bagged And Boarded on Absoultely Kosher Records, which was nominated for three Plug Awards including Metal Album Of The Year.

With songs about undeniably HEAVY topics such as apparitional gloryhole afficienados, an "ode" to Native American Green Beret Vietnam War Veteran, hapkido karate Hippie Billy Jack [which rivals his own themed penned by original Satanic Black Metal Gods "Coven"], comic books [of course] and a Power-Ballad devoted to homoerotic fetish artist Tom Of Finland, Goblin Cock is taking yet another brave step in the re-defintion of TRUE METAL.

Boasting another iconic album cover by Star Wars: New Essential Guide to Characters And Magic Card artist Mike Sutfin, prepare for Lord Phallus to be the Farrah Fawcett of the 00's thanks to the foldout poster insert. Fans across the United States have already started duct taping their glasses to their heads in anticipation of the upcoming Cock Across America tour this January & February.

"No one really knows who they are.

No one knows exactly where they are from.

One thing is certain.

No one can leave a Goblin Cock show without at least a slight limp."

-- William F. Buckley [probably not]

Come With Me If You Want To Live Track Listing

01.) Hissless

02.) Loch

03.) Big Up Your Willies

04.) We Got A Bleeder

05.) Ode To Billy Jack

06.) Beneath The Valley Of The Island Of Misfit Toys

07.) Haint

08.) Mylar

09.) Tom's Song for [T.O.F.]

10.) Trying To Get Along With Humans

Slacker Friday:

Name: Michael Vandamm

Hometown: Greenbelt, MD

The estimable Mr. Engelhardt's piece that you borrowed on Thursday doesn't address the most obvious way in which to meet President Obama's (God, I love that expression) 16-month schedule for withdrawal from Iraq, namely by pulling back to Kuwait, where we can clean, disinfect, and shrink-wrap all of that unlovely hardware at a reasonable pace.

Name: Charles Pierce

Hometown: Newton, MA.

Hey Doc:

"Rubbing sticks and stones together/Makes the sparks ignite."

Weekly WWOZ Pick To Click: "Put a Spell on You" (Honey Island Swamp Band) -- Henry Paulson has offered me a hefty fee to make sure the world knows how much I love New Orleans.

Short Takes:

Part The First: If you needed yet another reason why Parson Meacham is a blight on American journalism in his capacity as editor of Newsweek, this ought to be it. And, sad but true, I guarantee you that at least three editors and a couple of fact-checkers saw this superstitious twaddle before it hit print. This is one of those stories that makes me wonder how some magazines work. I know that, in all of the ones for which I've ever written, I'd get edited and/or fact-checked within an inch of my life on this, and that's assuming it didn't get laughed out of a story conference right from jump, which it would have.

Part The Second: I have now read more about the Starland Vocal Band in one week on this blog than has been written about those mush brains in 30 years. Let me know when you've scheduled the extended Captain & Tennille Retrospective, so I can make sure I have a flight to Guam. Yeesh.

Part The Third: Oh, Christ, you should pardon the expression. Not this again. Let me clear things up for all you news directors out there. His Eminence, Cardinal Mulchforbrains there? He represents nobody but himself. He's a crank, a fool, a sidewalk loudmouth in a red beanie. Every time you come to him, he's going to spout the same nonsense, and sensible Catholics are going to sit back and wonder when they all died and left people like this in charge. At this point, it's bear-baiting. You want the "controversy" through which public idiocy drives your ratings. Knock it off, OK? Pax vobiscum.

Part The Fourth: Of course, with the ghost of hacko di tutti i hacki Halperin still haunting the place, it's probably wrong to expect much from ABC News, but, Jeebus Christmas, Wes Pruden is one short step removed from his shoeless, swamp-running segregationist ancestors. How is anything he writes worth highlighting? Ever?

Part The Fifth: People are starting to notice what I wrote about a few weeks ago as regards the talk-radio crowd's Roswellian theorizing about The Return of The Fairness Doctrine. (dum, du-dum, du-dummmmmmm!). Apparently, it's bled over into the Neolithic precincts of the print media as well. If you are struck by the irony of reading a free-speech diatribe by a man who then brags in his author ID about getting an Ice-T song yanked from the airwaves, well, you have no future on wing-nut welfare, kid. Anyway, as it happens, I attended Michael Harrison's annual New Media Conference, a kind of trade show for radio thugs, last year, as part of the research for this thing. And, I can assure you that, long before Barack Hussein Weatherman X was even a viable candidate, they were already wetting themselves over this issue. Remember, always, that without the tender feelings of the suckers, there is no talk radio. Ask this guy if you don't believe me. It makes me nostalgic for the War on Christmas.

Part The Last: I'd like to thank the citizens of Missouri for finally deigning to bring the 2008 election to a close this week.

It is important to remember that Michael Dukakis never recovered in the minds of many of the Heathers from the fact that he looked silly in a helmet while riding around in a tank. It is important to remember that Al Gore never recovered in many of those same minds from a bunch of stuff he never said or did. It is important to remember what kind of heat Barack Obama got from many of those same minds when he tried to bowl in Pennsylvania. It is important to remember all of that while watching this, the single most hilarious piece of video involving a politician ever filmed anywhere. I don't know what the best part of it is -- the fact that she goes blithely on while turkeys are fed into what appears to be a wood chipper behind her, and a torrent of blood overflows that little trough there, or the fact that the actual turkey slaughterer occasionally turns and smiles at the cameras. If there's any justice in the world, this little bit of Gobbler guignol ought to follow Princess Dumbass of the Northwoods for the rest of her career. The woman is fundamentally a public clown. She was one during the campaign.

She has been one during her extended post-election media blitz. She will be one when she addresses the dead-enders at the CPAC conference in January, where she will be wildly applauded. She will be one no matter what Cokie Roberts, that abject twit, thinks about how popular she is. Sarah Palin has no more business in national politics than does the guy behind her, grinning at the television people while he feeds the birds into a blender and the blood rises over his shoes. He's at least good at his job.

And, please, tell me I'm not the only person who, when they saw this for the first time, thought immediately of this. As God is my witness...

Name: Bill Dunlap

Hometown: Lake Oswego, OR

Eric:

Years ago, I used to fly the Washington-New York shuttle fairly often. As you may know, it was a real cattle-car operation. Once, around 1980, I was on a flight to New York that was virtually full when Diane Sawyer entered the cabin. From the look on her face you would have thought she was entering county lockup. I actually laughed out loud. It was probably her last flight in coach.

Name: Andy

Hometown: Carrollton, GA

Eric,

A student in my freshman world geography course came by to visit me yesterday. Initially, she was concerned about whether she would be able to earn a B in the course and regain her scholarship. As we talked, she let slip her profound despair over the larger "stuff happening" in the economy, which was leading her to view choosing a major as a futile exercise. What's the point?

As she explained, "This is happening because we have turned away from Christ, and he's not to be caught off guard by that. And now, 'many people' believe that we have elected the anti-Christ as our leader." When I asked, she explained that Obama's "Muslim upbringing," charisma, and "promises to do big things" revealed his true identity. She appeared stunned to hear that Obama is and was raised a Christian. Nevertheless, she continued, the only way out of the world financial crisis is for Christians "to drop to their knees."

I asked her if she thought Christians could, in that way, improve the job market by the time she graduated in five years. "No," she said, "I shouldn't even be here by then. I'm a true-believer, and we're supposed to not be around when the Antichrist comes. He'll reveal himself."

Yikes, what a depressing meeting on my daughter's first birthday.

Name: Tim

Hometown: Medford, NJ

Wow, Huckabee's reasoning sure appears to be airtight!

By his definition, if handicapped people aren't actually being physically beaten down, then why do we need those silly laws to protect their rights?

Without those laws, the worst that could happen would be minor inconveniences like parking problems, lack of ramps, lack of curb cutouts... oh, and discrimination in the workplace. How trivial can you get?! If they're not getting beat up, why so much concern for the handicapped? It's not like these issues affect their every waking moment or anything.

And what's with all those laws concerning women and their rights? What the heck, we already have laws on the books saying you can't physically abuse them. So why all the ruckus about allowing them to vote and get the same jobs as men and stuff? Apparently, some people want it all, handed to them on a silver platter!

Name: Charlie Azzolina

Hometown: Langhorne, PA

Huckabee says that they're not getting their skulls bashed? Matthew Shepard's parents might disagree. I grew up on the Jersey shore, and I knew guys who would cruise the boardwalks at night, pick up a gay guy, take him under said boardwalk where friends would be waiting... and they'd beat the crap out of the guy. Now, this was in the late '60s so the statute of limitations has run out, but still. Huckabee is full of it.

Name: Terry

Hometown: Cheyenne, WY

I am snob enough to consider myself a person with excellent musical taste. I am also a grandmother. On behalf of grandmothers with a passion for many genres of music, I take exception to a dis like music "appealing to grandmothers." If I had time, I would take on a few musical challenges around here. Remember when Gloria Steinem said, "This is what 40 looks like?"

Frankly, when all my music genre loves are said and done, I figure you gotta rock. Btw, how many great female musical artists might be grandmothers while they are reggaeing, rocking, folking, conducting. You get the picture. Personally, I've always thought the Starlight Vocal Band sucks, but that is just one grandmother's opinion.

Baby, you can drive my car...

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:25:06 EST

We've got a new Think Again column -- the first in a series actually -- called "The Bush Legacy: War on the Press" and you can find it here.

Yesterday in Washington, the CEOs of the big three automakers made their case to Congress for an industry bailout -- and they flew private jets! The mainstream media was all over this: CNN, Fox News, ABC News, The Washington Post's Dana Milbank, and many others headlined stories about the CEOs' extravagant mode of transportation. ABC News' headline read "First class not good enough for Auto Execs" before it was changed online; Diane Sawyer actually made an ABC News investigation package, which she led off thusly: "This morning, begging for money, while flying high. ABC News cameras catch the CEOs of big auto asking for a bailout, while flying on private jets."

Well, it was dumb, to be sure, but let's ask a question: Is Diane Sawyer really surprised to learn that CEOs travel in private jets? What does the head of ABC travel in? Hell, how about Diane, Charlie, George and all the rest of them. Ever see any of them in coach? These are people -- and I've heard it over and over -- who complain about having to "fly commercial." The talking heads on cable -- like Greta Van Susteren, who said "those CEOs must be out of their minds" -- are indignant only over the imagery. It's surely poor public relations, not to mention arrogant, at a time when the industry needs billions of dollars in public funds to stay afloat.

But are these journalists really angry about excessive executive compensation? I wish. Remember some of these stats I employed in Why We're Liberals?

According to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, the only taxpayers whose share of taxes declined in 2001 and 2002 were those in the top 0.1 percent, or Americans who earn more than $10 million a year. The following year their tax share declined by another million. These same lucky folks now pay a lesser share of their income in taxes than those making $100,000 to $200,000.

Meanwhile, the average hourly wage of a U.S. worker, according to the 2006 Economic Report of the President, fell, in constant 1982 dollars, from $8.21 in 1967 to $8.17 in 2005. This gap grew so large that a Fortune 500 CEO could expect to earn, in his first hour of his first day on the job, more than a minimum wage worker would make that entire year. (The CEOs of America's largest corporations [the Fortune 100] make an average of $17.6 million per year. That is $67,692 per day, or approximately $8,461 per hour. The federal minimum wage was, until 2007, $5.15 per hour or $10,712 per year for a 40-hour work week. It takes the average CEO 2 hours and 2 minutes to earn $10,712. The CEOs of Fortune 100 companies can earn $10,712 in an average of 1 hour and 16 minutes. See "Research Report: The Minimum Wage, CEO Pay and the Gap in Achieving the American Dream," Americans United for Change, January 2, 2007; David Cay Johnston, "Income Gap Is Widening, Data Shows," New York Times, March 29, 2007.)

Meanwhile, the Bush economic policies were deliberately designed to redistribute even more money to the extremely rich from the rest of us. Recall Vice President Cheney's response to Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill when the latter complained that new tax cuts would bust the budget: "We won the midterms. It's our due." By "our" Cheney was clearly referring to the wealthiest swath of American society, particularly its corporate elite, who financed the political careers of the president, the vice president, and their political allies, including those who sat in the CEOs' offices of Detroit's Big Three.

Sure, we'd love to see more stories on the earnings of the Big Three CEOs and their top underlings vs. both skilled and unskilled workers, the rate at which each has grown (or not) over the past 10 years, and so on. I'd like to see that for executive vs. worker compensation nationwide. But Greta Van Susteren hasn't done that story, nor have many of the rest. But this cheap outrage from the network's own million-dollar babies, well, forgive us if we pass.

We wrote a Think Again in April about network news -- we've all had problems with coverage on the three networks, for sure, but it still provides some of the best television journalism we have in terms of range and quality of reporting. The networks prepare taped, edited correspondent packages, which afford more precision and depth than the manic coverage of the 24-hour cable networks. Well, it wasn't just the recent sit-down with the Obamas. Jacques Steinberg has a piece in today's New York Times about the recent success of 60 Minutes, the CBS newsmagazine that was the most-watched television program in the country over the past two weeks. Steinberg writes that the show has stepped up its hard news coverage, reporting regularly from Iraq and Afghanistan, doing 20-minute packages on unsexy but important topics like credit-default swaps. Steinberg says CBS has protected the program from the staff cuts common at virtually every other news organization. If the president-elect was deciding to reward such investment and initiative, well, then, bully for him.

To be fair, 60 Minutes is also benefiting from a lack of competition; NBC isn't running its newsmagazine, Dateline, nearly as much as it used to, and "To Catch a Predator" packages aren't exactly hard news anyhow. ABC is still doing 20/20, but this week, for example, the featured interview is with Eliot Spitzer's former high-priced call girl, which the network advertises as "a continuation of [Diane] Sawyer's recent and exclusive reporting on prostitution." (Exclusive?)

So, imagine that -- a news program doesn't cut back staff position, takes on serious topics, and gets high ratings. Who'da thunk it

One of the more popular talking points these days is that the average auto worker makes $70 an hour, which is the fault of the big bad unions, who, by the way, are also at fault for the crisis in the automotive sector.

Trouble is, as any auto worker is surely and painfully aware, they don't make $70 an hour, or anything close to it. Felix Salmon has the fact-check here. What's more, in every other Western industrialized nation, they can expect government-provided health care, while, here, it is part of their compensation package and an awful -- actually unbearable -- drag on these companies' ability to earn a profit against their unburdened foreign rivals

George Zornick writes: From the New York Observer, a great piece:

"How Did Hillary Clinton Get Reported Into the State Department? It Exploded -- From NBC's Andrea Mitchell to Huffington Post, But Did Reports Precipitate Reality? 'It's Confusing,' Says Ben Smith"

It's here

We were going to write about the two-part wet kiss The Washington Post is giving Henry Paulson -- the first installment, "A Conversion in 'This Storm' " features probing quotes from Paulson like "[I]f you take charge, people will follow...Someone has to pull it all together" -- but Dean Baker says it best:

The point is extremely simple. There was a huge housing bubble that should have been visible to any competent economic analyst. The bubble was fueled by an enormous chain of highly leveraged finance. (As head of Goldman Sachs, Mr. Paulson personally made hundreds of millions of dollars from this bubble.)

It was entirely predictable that the housing bubble would burst and that its collapse would have a huge impact on the financial system and the economy as a whole. There is zero excuse for Paulson being caught by surprise by a "storm" that he helped create. The Post should not be in the business of covering up for Paulson's massive failure.

What are the chances Deborah Howell addresses this in her ombudsman column?

From TomDispatch:

"It's the ultimate argument," Tom Engelhardt begins, "the final bastion against withdrawal, and over these last years, the Bush administration has made sure it would have plenty of heft. Ironically, its strength lies in the fact that it has nothing to do with the vicissitudes of Iraqi politics, the relative power of Shiites or Sunnis, the influence of Iran, or even the riptides of war. It really doesn't matter what Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki or oppositional cleric Muqtada al-Sadr think about it. In fact, it's an argument that has nothing to do with Iraq and everything to do with us, with the American way of war (and life), which makes it almost unassailable."

He continues: "In a nutshell, the Pentagon's argument couldn't be simpler or more red-bloodedly American: We have too much stuff to leave Iraq any time soon. In war, as in peace, we're trapped by our own profligacy. We are the Neiman Marcus and the Wal-Mart of combat." Think of us not as the Spartans of 21st century war, but as Athenians abroad on steroids. And this is the argument that, this very week, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mike Mullen -- the man President-elect Obama plans to call into the Oval Office as soon as he arrives -- wheeled into place and launched like a missile aimed at the heart of Obama's 16-month withdrawal plan for U.S. combat troops in Iraq.

In the rest of his most recent post at TomDispatch.com, Engelhardt explores the way in which former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's Military Lite became a Military Heavy in Iraq and what key top military officials claim it will take to get all our troops and all our stuff, from helicopters and Humvees to ice-cream making machines and Porta Johns, out of that country. This argument has been the equivalent of a background hum in the withdrawal debate for the last two years. Now, it is sure to be a key part of what Barack Obama will hear when he meets his key military commanders and top Pentagon officials just after January 20, 2009.

Engelhardt concludes: "As Donald Rumsfeld so classically said, in reference to the looting of Baghdad in April 2003 after American troops entered the city, 'stuff happens.' How true that turns out to be. When it comes to withdrawal, the most militarily profligate administration in memory has seemingly ensured that the highest military priority in 2009 will be frugality -- that is, saving all American 'stuff' in Iraq. Irony hardly covers this one. The Bush administration may have succeeded in little else, but it did embed the U.S. so deeply in that country that leaving can now be portrayed as the profligate thing to do."

This week on Moyers: The Bill Moyers Journal and Exposé: America's Investigative Reports present an investigative story into tragic accidents resulting from natural gas explosions. The report is part of Blueprint America, a PBS-wide series on the nation's infrastructure. "Beneath the North Texas Dirt" follows Brett Shipp, a television reporter from WFAA in Dallas, who discovered that aging equipment connecting homeowners' gas lines to their gas meters was failing, causing horrific explosions. Shipp found evidence suggesting that for decades state regulators and local power companies ignored this fatal problem in the vital infrastructure that brings natural gas into hundreds of thousands of Dallas area homes

Correspondence Corner:

Name: Ken Widmann
Hometown: Davis, CA

Another absurd line in that Newsweek Obama = Antichrist? article is this: "The people who believe Obama is the Antichrist are perhaps jumping to conclusions, but they're not nuts" :..

Perhaps?

Awesome stuff. The people who believe in flesh-eating Martians are perhaps jumping to conclusions..

Name: Ann
Hometown: Amherst, NH

Eric,

While various bishops make harsh comments about Obama and the Catholics who voted for him (Cardinal Stafford, as reported in a letter today), it is also true that over half of all Catholics voted for him. The Pope is a theologian, and I am sure he realizes how silly all this apocalyptic hyperbole is.

Also, note that, unlike the U.S. Bishops, the Vatican routinely recognizes that it has to work with those whose positions on abortion they may disagree. In 2005, Julian Hunte cast a deciding pro-choice vote in St. Lucia, but received a Papal Knighthood for his work with the United Nations. Meanwhile, the U.S. bishops routinely overlook politicians who support the Iraqi war, capital punishment, and torture -- all contrary to official Church positions. So few people realize that Catholic social teaching is so much broader than abortion; it is sometimes called the Catholic Church's best-kept secret

Name: Sam Nixon
Hometown: Tempe, AZ

Dr. Alterman,

The Think Progress note on a potential investigation into the human rights violations of the Bush administration is right on and, to be sure, an inquiry is warranted. Alas, this is not the first mention of justice in the post-Bush era.

Although I shutter at the thought of an American president convicted of war crimes, such an investigation seems to be an issue of morality which parallels the purpose of the United Nations. It might be kind of nice to see that international laws also apply to those who devise them

Name: Ed Tracey
Hometown: Lebanon, NH

Professor, I'll certainly "go there" as far as the Starland Vocal Band is concerned. No, they are not my music (yikes, not even close).

But they are geniuses! Any band that can win a Grammy for Best New Group, appeal to grandmothers and -- by the use of schmaltzy music of the first magnitude -- get away with salacious lyrics such as "But you've got some bait a-waitin' and I think I might try nibbling" and "Why wait until the middle of a cold dark night?" ... well, I don't know about you.... but these are the sort of folks that I'd employ to solve the pressing problems of today

Name: Dave
Hometown: Austin

Paul Simon's "American Tune" remains one of my all-time favorite songs even after all these years (and why did "Kodachrome" get all the love from that album, anyway?). It's been especially relevant lately, given the misadventures and malfeasances of the Bush administration. At any rate, Willie Nelson did a mighty fine cover of it several years back.

Eric replies: On Willie's best album, too....

We bash gays, you decide

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:22:36 EST

Mike Huckabee -- past and probably future GOP presidential contender, and of course host of a Fox News show -- says gay rights is a "different set of rights" than civil rights, and notes that gays aren't getting their "skulls cracked," so nobody's rights are being violated. Well, that's not really true, as Think Progress notes, but, needless to say, physical violence shouldn't be the bar for discrimination in this country.

Of course, there's all this:

In the course of his mocking diatribe, Fox News host Greg Gutfeld inserted an off-color, homophobic joke about Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA): "Look, I don't dispute that aliens exist, but there are more urgent threats than wrinkly creatures with a knack for anal probing. But enough about Barney Frank."

After Dennis Miller said that President-elect Barack Obama "ought to flatten these punks at AIG [American International Group]," Bill O'Reilly stated, "OK, and then arrest Barney Frank, correct?" Miller replied, "Barney might want to be arrested." In response, O'Reilly said, "Oh, jeez. Ugh," and shuddered. He continued, "OK, Dennis Miller, everybody. I told you to hide the kids."

On The O'Reilly Factor and in a FoxNews.com article, Bill Sammon suggested that Rep. Barney Frank allowed his relationship in the 1990s with Herb Moses, a Fannie Mae official at the time, to improperly influence his conduct as a member of the House Financial Services Committee.

Radio host Lars Larson played a spoof "Barney Frank for President" advertisement, in which a person said: "Now remember, this Erection Day -- Election Day, vote for Barney Frank for President. I'm Barney Fag -- uh, Frank and I approve this massage -- message."

That's how the Fox Network, which employs Huckabee and much of the right-wing media, treats one of America's only openly gay politicians. But they don't crack his head, so, who's complaining, right?

George Zornick writes: Last week, we noted Washington Post ombudsman Deborah Howell's complaint that her paper was too favorable to Obama.

She's back with another column now, carrying her point even further. Howell says the Post should start employing a newsroom "fairness doctrine" of sorts, by hiring more conservatives.

Before we deal with that prescription, let's look again at Howell's diagnosis. We noted last week that Howell's complaint about excessive "laudatory" pieces on Barack Obama was odd because she counted stories about Obama's lead in the polls. I actually assumed Howell didn't realize such stories were part of her count, but she did: This week, she mentions the "drumbeat of polling stories saying Obama and the Democrats were likely to win" as one of the reasons "conservatives decided that The Post was cheerleading" -- complaints she hopes the paper will address by hiring more conservative reporters. (Maybe they won't write about the polls?)

Anyway, Howell also lists "recent news decisions that brought conservative complaints." Let's break down just one:

The Post put on Page 1 two long stories about "Troopergate" -- the allegation that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin fired her state's public safety commissioner because he wouldn't dismiss her ex-brother-in-law from his state trooper's job. One of the Page 1 stories reported a legislative investigator's conclusion that Palin had abused her power. When she was cleared by an Alaska Personnel Board report written by a self-described "loyal Democrat" investigator, the story was eight paragraphs long, under a one-column headline on an inside page.

So the Post fronted the newsworthy story about Troopergate and the legislative panel that condemned Palin, but not the one that cleared her. Aha! But consider: The legislative panel consisted of, well, legislators. That is, people who are free to say what they want about Palin. But the Alaska Personnel Board serves at the pleasure of the governor -- and Palin had the power to stop their investigation any time she pleased. That surely weights the news value of the two reports, but Howell doesn't mention that, nor does she mention the timing. The legislative panel's report was released two weeks before the election, at the peak of campaign-related coverage. The Alaska Personnel Board's report was released after dinnertime on the East Coast, on Monday, November 3. Which means the Post, on short notice, had to put the story into the Tuesday, November 4, edition of the paper. Gee, what else was happening on that day that might have crowded up the newshole...

Howell's complaints are about news coverage -- the good Lord and Fred Hiatt know the Post's opinion page ain't liberal -- and Howell explicitly calls for "[m]ore conservatives in newsrooms." I guess you'd have to just ask reporters for their voter registration cards -- Politico's Michael Calderone says he doesn't know any editor who would be comfortable doing this -- but Howell assures us that "newspapers have hired more minorities and women, so it can be done." This assumes not only that the news coverage is being hopelessly slanted by evil liberal reporters, a case Howell has not proven, but as Eric Boehlert notes, it also assumes that Republicans are actively being blocked from newsrooms, which Howell also can't prove. The obvious prescription here is a re-examination of how the Post chooses their ombudsmen.

From Think Progress:

CNN aired a story this afternoon reporting that human rights groups are urging President-elect Obama to "investigate whether the Bush administration is guilty of war crimes," specifically, torture techniques that were approved for use against terror suspects. CNN reporter Kelli Arena noted that human rights groups argue that torture should never be used, but that "[i]ntelligence experts say that would be a mistake." Which "expert" did Arena turn to, to make that case? Former White House Homeland Security adviser Fran Townsend. At no point did CNN identify Townsend as a former Bush official. Instead, she was labeled an "intelligence expert" and "CNN national security contributor."

This is the kind of thing we need to watch out for in the coming months, especially after Bush and most of his employees are out of office. There will be much deserved discussion about the Bush legacy, and if Karl Rove can get on television as a credible commentator -- often without any identification -- surely many others will as well.

Correspondence Corner:

Name: Jim Kruidenier
Hometown: Amherst, MA

Hey, Eric -- I can't speak to the Antichrist stuff, but things like the following don't seem uncommon. The recurring theme seems to be that America has made a terrible mistake and that there will be consequences (one letter I saw talked of God's judgment, etc.). I'm not in the business of disparaging other folks' articles of faith, and maybe the same kind of things appeared when Clinton was elected (or if Hillary or Edwards had been elected, the same kind of thing would be showing up), but, well, it makes me kind of nervous.

Name: John Moore
Hometown: San Francisco

Dear Dr. A,

Lest you remain under the mistaken impression that the Catholic Church's antipathy to our president-elect is limited to a single church in South Carolina, I attach the following article for your review.

Speaking at Catholic University, Cardinal James Francis Stafford delivered an incendiary attack on Obama and those who voted for him, warning of virtually apocalyptic consequences that will supposedly follow Obama's ascension to the presidency.

Note that Cardinal Stafford is not "merely" a cardinal. He heads the Vatican's Apostolic Penitentiary, and as such, is a high-ranking member of the Vatican hierarchy. As a former Roman Catholic, I can tell you that men that high up in the Vatican do not freelance. It is inconceivable to me that his speech was not vetted by the Vatican. So I'd have to disagree with your unwillingness to attribute such anti-Obama views to the Pope himself. I doubt Benedict XVI would have allowed anyone so close to his inner circle to deliver such a rant if it did not, in fact, reflect the Pontiff's own views.

Name: Wes
Hometown: Geneva, IL

Whatever differences there have been on foreign policy issues if Hillary becomes SOS I think we assume those have been resolved. If she takes the job, she does the work as determined by the boss. If he's a good boss, she'll be empowered to make plenty of decisions but within agreed upon parameters. What's so hard about that concept? That's the way it's always worked in Washington. Oh, and the rest of world, too. Jeez.

Name: Bill Dauphin
Hometown: Vernon, CT

This business of listing cool covers is addictive! Ron Curtiss' mention of Yes' Paul Simon cover ("America") reminded me that the Starland Vocal Band (yes, that Starland Vocal Band) does a truly gorgeous cover of Simon's "American Tune" on its eponymous debut album. If "Afternoon Delight" is the ridiculous, SVB's version of "American Tune" is the sublime.

They also do a brilliant take on the Emmylou Harris tune "Boulder to Birmingham," but that's not really a cover, as SVB founding member Bill Danoff co-wrote the song with Harris, and I believe the SVB recording predates Harris'.

Eric replies: SVB? Dare we go there? Paul did a nice version of "American Tune" on Colbert last night. I remember seeing him sing it for the Carter inauguration. Better luck this time...