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President Barack Obama today discussed a G-8 agreement on climate change.
** QUICK HITS. The US has released, to Iraqi authorities, five Iranian “diplomats” captured in Iraq two years ago after purportedly causing a lot of trouble for American troops. The Iraqis will undoubtedly release them. The Obama Administration is continue to pursue its strategy of engagement with Iran. … House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declined to take up a resolution commemorating the life of pop superstar Michael Jackson. The City of Los Angeles is out about $1.4 million from Tuesday’s festivities. … No progress this afternoon in California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis. No new sniping, either, other than what I wrote about earlier in the day. This is a static storyline. … Nevada Senator John Ensign’s parents acknowledged giving about $100,000 to the family of the staff member he had an affair with. Her husband had been one of the top aides to Ensign, a former Senate Republican leader and right-wing presidential hopeful.
** OBAMA BEHIND THE SMILE: SID BLUMENTHAL’S FATE. I’ve known Sidney Blumenthal for a long time. He was a prominent writer for the New Republic, then the New Yorker, and became deeply involved with the Clintons, promoting them heavily during Bill Clinton’s run for the presidency and after. He ended up as a senior advisor in the White House, working closely with Hillary Clinton. After the Clinton White House days, he wrote books and wrote for the Guardian, and with the Clintons.
As time passed, Blumenthal moved from being something of an ideologist to an attack dog. Among his targets were Jerry Brown in the 1992 Democratic presidential primaries, George H.W. Bush in the 1992 general election, Bob Dole in the 1996 general election, and Barack Obama and John Edwards in the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appointed Blumenthal to a top position on her staff, as a counselor and messagemeister.
But the Obama White House, recalling Blumenthal’s opposition to Obama in the primaries, rescinded Clinton’s appointment of him to her own staff. Lest you think they are just nice guys who let bygones be bygones.
Hillary, incidentally, will give her first big speech as secretary of state next week, which I will cover in full.
** CALIFORNIA CRISIS UPDATE. At mid-day, there are no substantive developments on California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis. There is, however, more sniping.
The California Teachers Association has produced a TV ad attacking Governor Arnold Schwarzengger for proposing the suspension of Prop 98, which locks up much of the state budget for education spending.
As fights go, this is a remarkably static one. No one has put forward a credible alternative — i.e., one that can actually be passed and that itself passes legal muster — to the budget proposed by Schwarzenegger. Which is not a budget that I like. But, following the failure of the special election initiatives, the situation is what it is. And absent a federal bailout, which is quite unlikely, Schwarzenegger’s budget, in one permutation or another, is the only thing on the table.
** GALLUP POLL: WIDESPREAD SUPPORT IN ADVANCED INDUSTRIAL NATIONS FOR ACTION ON GREENHOUSE GAS REDUCTION. With newer industrializing countries such as China and India balking at action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, public opinion in more long-established countries is mostly strongly in favor of action.
A Gallup Poll shows that most citizens in industrialized/industrializing countries representing most of the world’s population take climate change very serious and want action taken to stop it.
Leaders from 17 major economies that account for roughly 80% of global emissions will engage in climate change talks Thursday on the sidelines of the Group of Eight (G8) summit in Italy. Nearly all of them represent nations where awareness of climate change is already high, except for Indonesia, India, and South Africa, where high percentages of residents have never heard of global warming or don’t have an opinion.
The G-8 summit is wrapping up in Italy.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is participating in the G-8 (group of eight advanced industrial nations) summit in L’Aquila, Italy. The time there is nine hours ahead of California.
Following his daily intelligence briefing, Obama began the day with a bilateral meeting with President Lula of Brazil in the G-5 Building.
Obama then met with G-8 national leaders leaders and the leaders of Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa, and Egypt at the Guardia di Finanz School.
Obama then took part in a working lunch of the leaders of the G-8, +5, Egypt, and six international organizations at the Guardia di Finanza School.
Then came a meeting with representatives of the Junior 8 at the Guardia di Finanza School.
Obama then attended a discussion on world trade at the Guardia di Finanza School.
Obama is now taking part in the Major Economies Forum discussion on the environment at the Guardia di Finanza School.
At 9:30 AM Pacific, Obama delivers a statement to the press regarding the Major Economies Forum discussion on the environment at the Guardia di Finanza School.
The more established industrial countries are at loggerheads with more recently industrializing countries on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
At 11:30 AM Pacific, Obama attends the G-8 dinner hosted by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano at the Guardia di Finanza School.
Meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden promotes the Obama economic recovery program in events in Cincinnati, Ohio and upstate New York.
In advance of today’s 10th anniversary of student protests in Tehran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed that his re-election last month was the most democratic in the world.
And there was more disorder in Iran, where perhaps a few thousand protesters turned out in various parts of Tehran on the 10th anniversary of student protests. They are protesting the promptly declared landslide re-election of radical Islamist President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The protesters were forcibly dispersed by Iranian security forces. It was the first attempt at demonstrations in 11 days.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger holds private meetings and discussions in and around the Capitol, focusing on California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis.
With no progress in talks, Schwarzenegger is considering another pay cut for state employees, an additional 5%, likely in the form of another unpaid furlough day.
That would bring budget crisis-induced pay cuts for California state workers to about 20%, certainly not what public employee unions had in mind for their members.
Schwarzenegger’s administration is also dealing with a budget complexity, caused by the Prop 98 education funding requirement, that could lead to a loss of some federal stimulus funding.
** OBAMA DOES MOSCOW, AND VICE VERSA. Flying to Italy Wednesday morning for the troubled G-8 summit, President Barack Obama departed Moscow after a very intriguing summit with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
This was the so-called “Reset Summit” to bring American/Russian relations out of the neo-Cold War depths they’d sunk to last year. It certainly succeeded at that, and at some other things as well, especially with regard to sharp reductions in nuclear weapons, aid for the US effort in Afghanistan, and a pullback on NATO expansion, a longtime thorn in the side of Russia. But other sticking points remained, on a US anti-missile shield and on Iran.
All amidst some notable intrigue, some of it generated from the Obama side. …
Unlike most of the rest of Europe, Russia is hardly in the grip of Obamamania. He’s certainly more popular than George W. Bush or John McCain, but that’s damning with faint praise. … From my new column.
** OBAMA’S CONSEQUENTIAL FIRST 4TH: NOKO, AFPAK, IRAQ, RUSSIA, PALIN (PALIN?!) Quite a consequential first 4th of July as president for Barack Obama.
Not only did he have 20 of daughter Malia’s schoolgirl friends over for a Camp David sleepover in honor of her 11th birthday on the 4th of July — just wait till her “Independence Day,” Dad — he had a few other things on his plate, as well as the barbeque for military families and the fireworks show. Not counting his inherited worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
North Korea was to have been the drama of the day. But it turned into a major fizzle. … From my July 4th column.
** THE GOP’S PALIN FOOD FIGHT: WHY NOW? You have to hand it to Sarah Palin. For a sideshow, she’s very good at being the center of attention. Even when she doesn’t want to be.
She had a few big controversies earlier this year — her on-again/off-again headlining of the big GOP congressional fundraiser, her pregnant teenage daughter, the usual Alaska stuff — but she’s hit the jackpot this week with a huge food fight among big name Republicans. What’s unexamined is this question: Why now? … From my July 2nd column.
** TRANSFORMATIVE: LE CINEMA DE MICHAEL BAY. I love the films of Michael Bay. In fact, they are so dramatic and compelling that …
Gotcha! I actually do not love the films of Michael Bay. I don’t hate them, either. And there are a couple that I like. But the fact that it is considered preposterous for a writer — a writer who writes about anything, even wallpaper — to not dismiss Bay’s work in the most vehement of terms points up a dramatic disconnect between the critical community and the movie-going audience.
Bay’s new flick, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, just took in an astounding $200.1 million at the domestic box office in its first five days of release. … From my June 29th essay.
** STAR TREK FIRSTS … 43 YEARS ON. … From my June 23rd essay.
** OBAMA AND THE AYATOLLAH. . … From my June 19th column.
** OBAMA’S CRISIS MANAGEMENT: NORTH KOREA, AGAIN. … From my June 12th column.
** REMEMBERING AMERICA: OBAMA’S D-DAY SPEECH AND TWO DAYS IN JUNE. … From my June 8th column.
** REPOSITIONING AMERICA: OBAMA’S CAIRO SPEECH AS THE ULTIMATE IN EVENT MARKETING. … From my June 4th column.
** TERMINATING THE DARKNESS: HOPE FLOATS, BUT ANXIETY ABIDES. … From my May 31st column.
** THE AVOIDABLE TRAGEDY OF CALIFORNIA’S PROP 8. … From my May 26th column.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, which I know as a former DemRussia advisor, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** SCHWARZENEGGER’S CALIFORNIA. Here is my series of five columns on the governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Los Angeles Times in debate last fall, prior to the global economic meltdown, with Pulitzer Prize-winning former Times reporter/editor Bill Boyarsky, whose columns are also included. Among them is what I’m sure is the first piece examining Schwarzenegger’s legacy as governor of California. Since he will actually be governor of California until 2011. No technology known to be disruptive to the space/time continuum was used in its preparation.
You can listen to my recent video webchat with Schwarzenegger here.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record last July 11th, crude oil is trading around $60 per barrel.
This is up about $26 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program. But oil has been slumping over the past week or so from recent highs on fears that the global economic recovery is happening too slowly.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum.
Read 
| Comments (54) |
The G-8 summit looks like it’s having trouble getting things done.
No revolution in Iran, I guess.
I feel very sad about Iran.
The Group of 8 is outmoded. The G-20 is what counts now.
Jonas Blane says:
July 9, 2009 at 9:15 am
The G-8 summit looks like it’s having trouble getting things done.
This is terrible.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger holds private meetings and discussions in and around the Capitol, focusing on California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis.
With no progress in talks, Schwarzenegger is considering another pay cut for state employees, an additional 5%, likely in the form of another unpaid furlough day.
That would bring budget crisis-induced pay cuts for California state workers to about 20%, certainly not what public employee unions had in mind for their members.
At least it’s a nice group shot.
Jonas Blane says:
July 9, 2009 at 9:15 am
The G-8 summit looks like it’s having trouble getting things done.
There is that …
But it should have been predictable.
Schwarzenegger’s opponents are proceeding under some false assumptions.
> Capitol Boy says:
July 9, 2009 at 9:44 am (Edit)
This is terrible.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger holds private meetings and discussions in and around the Capitol, focusing on California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis.
With no progress in talks, Schwarzenegger is considering another pay cut for state employees, an additional 5%, likely in the form of another unpaid furlough day.
That would bring budget crisis-induced pay cuts for California state workers to about 20%, certainly not what public employee unions had in mind for their members.
That’s true.
> Capitol Boy says:
July 9, 2009 at 9:44 am (Edit)
The Group of 8 is outmoded. The G-20 is what counts now.
Jonas Blane says:
July 9, 2009 at 9:15 am
The G-8 summit looks like it’s having trouble getting things done.
Ya think?
> Jonas Blane says:
July 9, 2009 at 9:16 am (Edit)
No revolution in Iran, I guess.
Good column on Russia.
L.A. Observed reports Gavin Newsom is in L.A. today, speaking at Town hall on health care. This guy must have a gazillion frquent flyer miles by now.
http://www.townhall-la.org/
Gavin who?
lol
Russia Today does some slick news videos. I don’t see much coverage of the G-8 summit on cable news. It’s like they’re exhausted from spending all their time talking about Michael jackson and Sarah palin or something.
Yeah, I like the column on Obama in Moscow, too. That Putin is quite a character.
Dana says:
July 9, 2009 at 10:17 am
Good column on Russia.
L.A. Observed reports Gavin Newsom is in L.A. today, speaking at Town hall on health care. This guy must have a gazillion frquent flyer miles by now.
http://www.townhall-la.org/
Ahmadinejad is another “character.” I accept he might have really won the election last month. But where does he get off calling it the “most open and democratic in the world?” He’s either brazen or nuts.
They should get it over with.
** CALIFORNIA CRISIS UPDATE. At mid-day, there are no substantive developments on California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis. There is, however, more sniping.
The California Teachers Association has produced a TV ad attacking Governor Arnold Schwarzengger for proposing the suspension of Prop 98, which locks up much of the state budget for education spending.
As fights go, this is a remarkably static one. No one has put forward a credible alternative — i.e., one that can actually be passed and that itself passes legal muster — to the budget proposed by Schwarzenegger. Which is not a budget that I like. But, following the failure of the special election initiatives, the situation is what it is. And absent a federal bailout, which is quite unlikely, Schwarzenegger’s budget, in one permutation or another, is the only thing on the table.
The only good thing is they aren’t talking about Michael Jackson ALL the time.
Jack Aubrey says:
July 9, 2009 at 11:09 am
Russia Today does some slick news videos. I don’t see much coverage of the G-8 summit on cable news. It’s like they’re exhausted from spending all their time talking about Michael jackson and Sarah palin or something.
There is that.
Or?
> Jack Aubrey says:
July 9, 2009 at 11:12 am (Edit)
Ahmadinejad is another “character.” I accept he might have really won the election last month. But where does he get off calling it the “most open and democratic in the world?” He’s either brazen or nuts.
Thanks. He is that.
> Jack Aubrey says:
July 9, 2009 at 11:10 am (Edit)
Yeah, I like the column on Obama in Moscow, too. That Putin is quite a character.
Dana says:
July 9, 2009 at 10:17 am
Good column on Russia.
Thanks.
The Gavster, incidentally, has spent nearly a year during his time as mayor of San Francisco traveling outside California.
Imagine if Villaraigosa or Schwarzenegger tried that …
> Dana says:
July 9, 2009 at 10:17 am (Edit)
Good column on Russia.
L.A. Observed reports Gavin Newsom is in L.A. today, speaking at Town hall on health care. This guy must have a gazillion frquent flyer miles by now.
http://www.townhall-la.org/
Another 5%? So much for the 14th amendment and my due process rights.
Get your union to stop making a fool of you.
Newsom is a complete fraud. The only thing he’s good at is screwing his campaign manager’s wife and keeping her quiet with city funds.
Bill Bradley says:
July 9, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Thanks.
The Gavster, incidentally, has spent nearly a year during his time as mayor of San Francisco traveling outside California.
Imagine if Villaraigosa or Schwarzenegger tried that …
> Dana says:
July 9, 2009 at 10:17 am (Edit)
Good column on Russia.
L.A. Observed reports Gavin Newsom is in L.A. today, speaking at Town hall on health care. This guy must have a gazillion frquent flyer miles by now.
http://www.townhall-la.org/
The 14th Amendment?
I’m not sure how that applies to the California budget crisis.
> tom says:
July 9, 2009 at 1:44 pm (Edit)
Another 5%? So much for the 14th amendment and my due process rights.
That is one nasty dude who does slimey stuff.
** OBAMA BEHIND THE SMILE: SID BLUMENTHAL’S FATE.
Good for Barack! He had to take Hillary for her skills (and to neutralize the Clintons), he doesn’t have to take their hatchet men.
Better.
TRIATHLON says:
July 9, 2009 at 2:22 pm
There are different types of revolutions. Tehran 2009 is not Paris 1789. But it’s also evident that a significant number of Iranian elites, for whom legitimacy in the eyes of the world is very important, see that the mullahs overplayed their hand. Seeds have been planted, the veil pulled away, if you will.
Revolutions don’t work according to news cycles. The situation in Iran doesn’t look settled to me. This may play out for years.
>BB:
Ya think?
>> Jonas Blane says:
No revolution in Iran, I guess.
I finally read your Moscow Summit column. Nice stuff, I would love to have been a fly on the wall with Obama and that Putin cat.
Obama’s good in his G8 press conference.
Thanks.
> Len says:
July 9, 2009 at 3:54 pm (Edit)
I finally read your Moscow Summit column. Nice stuff, I would love to have been a fly on the wall with Obama and that Putin cat.
I hope that’s true. But, in the meantime, we will be dealing with the people we expected to be dealing with, who are exactly the same people they were before.
> Clutch J says:
July 9, 2009 at 3:51 pm (Edit)
There are different types of revolutions. Tehran 2009 is not Paris 1789. But it’s also evident that a significant number of Iranian elites, for whom legitimacy in the eyes of the world is very important, see that the mullahs overplayed their hand. Seeds have been planted, the veil pulled away, if you will.
Revolutions don’t work according to news cycles. The situation in Iran doesn’t look settled to me. This may play out for years.
>BB:
Ya think?
>> Jonas Blane says:
No revolution in Iran, I guess.
I was wondering if they would go for Sid. The fact that Hillary couldn’t get one of her great favorites on her own staff is quite intriguing.
> Capitol Boy says:
July 9, 2009 at 3:31 pm (Edit)
Good for Barack! He had to take Hillary for her skills (and to neutralize the Clintons), he doesn’t have to take their hatchet men.
I was mystified by the announcement of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State and I am still bewildered by it. For many reasons, I suspect a speech delivered at the CFR, no less, will not raise the profile of the Secretary of State, at least in the ways she hopes.
It will be very surprising to me if she continues in this position into the second term of an Obama-Biden administration…assuming, of course, that there will be a second term.
I’m liking the outcome of the Moscow summit the more I think about it. Obama got the best of the Russian leaders, but leaves them feeling respected. Putin feels he out-machoed Obama yet without besting him.
I wrote about it at the time. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-bradley/sos-hillary-clinton-maste_b_144908.html
It’s a political masterstroke by Obama which mousetrapped the Clintons.
Plus she is a good choice. She has huge presence outside the country as an almost president and former first lady.
> Elizabeth Miller says:
July 9, 2009 at 6:33 pm (Edit)
I was mystified by the announcement of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State and I am still bewildered by it. For many reasons, I suspect a speech delivered at the CFR, no less, will not raise the profile of the Secretary of State, at least in the ways she hopes.
It will be very surprising to me if she continues in this position into the second term of an Obama-Biden administration…assuming, of course, that there will be a second term.
Thanks for that link!
“It’s a political masterstroke by Obama which mousetrapped the Clintons.”
That may be but, it’s a masterstroke that still leaves me with lots of questions. I can’t believe that I didn’t comment on that…it must have been before I found your column there. It’s just as well – my posts on that one would have surely been in multiple parts and far too long. Now, it’s all just a lot of water under the bridge.
I just finished re-reading it. One of your best efforts! It’s playing out just as you forecasted.
Yes, most concise analysis of the scene.
What new video today?
This is not a legal opinion or advise but my personal opinion as to my situation and my rights. The 14th amendment states “nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”. The Supreme Court has held that civil service employment can be property for the purposes of the 14th, and that a hearing before a person can be deprived of employment(Cleveland Board of Education v. Loudermill, 470 U.S. 532 (1985)).
As an “full-time” employee with a civil service appointment and an employment contract, I have a legitimate expectation that the State will continue my employment, that I will not be terminated without a hearing, and that I have the right to appeal any adverse actions against me to the SPB. These rights were bargained for in exchange for a substantially substandard level of pay. I know becasue I have been recruited numerous times by private employers. Arnolds unilateral reduction in my employment to “less than full-time” without providing me any chance to appeal his decision denies me my procedural due process rights under the 14th amendment. In my case Arnold saves no money since I am paid with special funds which cannot be used to balance the general fund. As applied to me Arnolds decision is irrational. How far will Arnold be allowed to go? Will I be educed to ½ time, ¼ time. The irritating thing is that Arnold already has the power to reduce the State payroll through the layoff process. Does anyone know why he has chosen to use furlohs instead?
“Does anyone know why he has chosen to use furloughs instead?”
Maybe it provides more flexibility or can be done by fiat versus layoffs involve having to consult with the unions before being implemented? If he exceeds his authority the lawsuit to clarify could take months to wind its way through tjhe legal process — sort of like stealing transit funding and years later being told to give it back. Meanwhile you had the money and let tomorrow worry about the consequences. That is the 95814 way of doing things.
That’s not a bad explanation.
The courts have already reaffirmed his power to invoke furloughs.
My guess is that pay cuts are preferable to more layoffs for a couple of reasons.
It keeps everyone working. It is simpler than firing people and then hiring/rehiring after the budget gets redone. And it ratchets up pressure on the public employee unions from all their members, not just the ones who have been fired. (And are thus no longer members.)
> tom says:
July 10, 2009 at 7:51 am (Edit)
This is not a legal opinion or advise but my personal opinion as to my situation and my rights. The 14th amendment states “nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”. The Supreme Court has held that civil service employment can be property for the purposes of the 14th, and that a hearing before a person can be deprived of employment(Cleveland Board of Education v. Loudermill, 470 U.S. 532 (1985)).
As an “full-time” employee with a civil service appointment and an employment contract, I have a legitimate expectation that the State will continue my employment, that I will not be terminated without a hearing, and that I have the right to appeal any adverse actions against me to the SPB. These rights were bargained for in exchange for a substantially substandard level of pay. I know becasue I have been recruited numerous times by private employers. Arnolds unilateral reduction in my employment to “less than full-time” without providing me any chance to appeal his decision denies me my procedural due process rights under the 14th amendment. In my case Arnold saves no money since I am paid with special funds which cannot be used to balance the general fund. As applied to me Arnolds decision is irrational. How far will Arnold be allowed to go? Will I be educed to ½ time, ¼ time. The irritating thing is that Arnold already has the power to reduce the State payroll through the layoff process. Does anyone know why he has chosen to use furlohs instead?
Obama, the Pope, Iranian protesters.
> Jonas Blane says:
July 10, 2009 at 6:35 am (Edit)
What new video today?
Thank you.
> sergei says:
July 10, 2009 at 2:18 am (Edit)
Yes, most concise analysis of the scene.
Which one is that? Moscow summit, Hillary appointment …
> Clutch J says:
July 9, 2009 at 9:12 pm (Edit)
I just finished re-reading it. One of your best efforts! It’s playing out just as you forecasted.